• Yo La Tengo – Stuff Like That There

    September 8, 2015 - By 

    There’s something inherently calming about Yo La Tengo. They’re a fundamentally solid band, the kind who, at worst, release records that you don’t like rather than outright bad ones. They’re these reliable old workhorses whose every album is going to give you a least one thoroughly pleasant gift. They don’t make records that you eagerly watch the calendar for, but rather ones that provide a humble, unassuming announcement of their presence and let you discover them for yourself. Everything about them is decidedly pleasant, which leads us to their latest LP, Stuff Like That There. Stuff is a cover album…

  • Parquet Courts w/ Cian Nugent & The Cosmos @ Limelight, Belfast

    September 6, 2015 - By 

    It would be a surprise if Parquet Courts play a gig of this size in Belfast again. The Brooklyn-via-Texas quartet are squeezing in this trip up north after gigs in Galway and Limerick, and before an appearance down at Electric Picnic the next night. Not very practical perhaps, but for a band in thrall to the pre-internet era of following your own muse free from promotional “practicalities,” it makes perfect sense. This is an early show at the Limelight. Good news for Parquet Courts fans who want an early night, bad news for any staff with the difficult task of…

  • Parquet Courts w/ Oh Boland, Cian Nugent & The Cosmos @ Roisin Dubh, Galway

    September 4, 2015 - By 

    From the offset of tonight’s festivities it is made plainly clear that no one will be leaving this room with ears as healthy as they were when they came in. Getting things going, local institution and ever-progressing garage maestros Oh Boland (below) break into their brand of screechy, uplifting and loud jams. Guitarist and vocalist Niall Murphy flaps about the stage like a moustachioed Crash Bandicoot while the rhythm section of Eanna MacDonnacha (bass) and Simon McDonagh (drums, backing vocals) provide equal measures of sweaty energy. The songs sound like taking a trip to the beach on a sunny day, except…

  • Fuzz w/ Exploding Eyes @ Whelan’s, Dublin

    September 4, 2015 - By 

    With garage and psych rock undergoing a serious resurgence over the last couple of years, most fans would agree that artists such as Thee Oh Sees, The Fresh & Only’s and Ty Segall have spearheaded its modern day rebirth. The latter name on that list – Ty Segall – in particular, would be viewed as being rather prolific due to the multitude of releases that he has put out since his self-titled 2008 debut. Since then he has collaborated on full length albums with White Fence, Mikal Cronin and most recently with tonight’s headliners Fuzz. As a result of it…

  • Call Super – Migrant

    September 3, 2015 - By 

    Call Super’s bios on Twitter and Tumblr read “confuse, construct”. It’s important to bear in mind when navigating his ever-growing catalogue — just when one thinks he’s settled on a style or direction, he upends expectations and jumps into something either head-bangingly intense or daringly mellifluous. Following the impeccably layered and textured Suzi Ecto full-length for Houndstooth last year his next release was the two-track Fluenka Mitsu EP for Greek label Nous Disques, the first of which sounded nothing like anything he’d released before. Rolling, rumbling melodies run unchecked for 10 solid minutes on ‘Fluenka’s Shelf’, while thunderous echoes abound overhead…

  • Historical Documents of the Irish Avant Garde

    September 2, 2015 - By 

    Did a radical pianist in 1950s Dublin really inspire Jean Michelle Jarre’s landmark recording Oxygene? What drove the “strange feckless sound without apparent order” of the Keening Women’s Alliance – an improvising vocal group – in late 1950s Cork? What did one woman’s experiments on the Blasket Islands on the sounds of the wind and sea reveal about the Irish language? Could bees have inspired church-organ drone music in early twentieth century Leitrim? Who was behind rural, multi-media trance sessions in the late 1940s, and who on earth went to them?  What did free improvisation have to do with British…

  • The Weeknd – Beauty Behind the Madness

    September 2, 2015 - By 

    Hailing from Toronto and one of Canada’s hottest talents right now alongside Drake, R&B singer The Weeknd drops his newest record Beauty Behind The Madness. With a number of hit singles before the release, something huge is expected from vocalist Abel Tesfaye for his sophomore album. The lyrical content of previous work often contained stories of sex, drugs and drink, and although there are a few songs with strong such references, the lyrical theme has been diluted on the record, and involves more of a sombre tone of hurt and relationships. Abel expresses the stories with a soulful voice that…

  • The Jimmy Cake @ Hangar, Dublin

    September 1, 2015 - By 

    It was a long time in coming, but when it was announced that Dublin’s The Jimmy Cake were returning to the recording studio, the news was met with a huge sigh of relief amongst their fans. With their last record Spectre & Crown, having garnered a lot of critical acclaim on its release back in 2008, the forefathers of Ireland’s instrumental scene, must’ve surely felt more than just a smidgen of pressure when going into record what would end up becoming their fourth full-length, Master. With Saturday night’s gig acting as Master’s official launch celebration, it was in no way…

  • Sufjan Stevens @ The Helix, Dublin

    August 31, 2015 - By 

    Once impressively prolific, new music by Sufjan Stevens comes along at a much slower pace these days, so the anticipation for tonight’s show, the first of two sold out shows at The Helix and the opening date his European tour, has been building for a while. After an support set from bluesy mother and son duo Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear, Sufjan and his unassuming looking band take to the stage, and it’s immediately clear that we’re in for a very different show from when he last visited these shores four years ago. For a start, we’re all seated,…

  • MCM Comic Con Dublin 2015

    August 31, 2015 - By 

    MCM Comic Con recently returned for the second year running at the RDS in Dublin, bringing stalls catering for everything from Pokemon plushies to carded Star Wars collectible figures. Fans could get up close and personal with stars from Game of Thrones, Once Upon A Time, Arrow and various well known voice actors. There was even wrestling matches on the hour with appearances from WWE legends Scotty Too Hotty and Grandmaster Sexay. This year had a very strong turnout from cosplayers who went the extra mile with their anime and video game character creations. Amongst them we met Stormtroopers, scouts from Attack on Titan,…