• Soulé @ Lost Lane, Dublin

    October 2, 2019 - By 

    Off the back of a very successful year, young Balbriggan artist Samantha Kay aka Soulé upped her game at the end of September by headlining her own show at one of Dublin’s newest music venues, Lost Lane. Soulé’s music has achieved huge success on Spotify with ‘What Do You Know’ notching 2 million streams to date, and one of her latest tracks ‘Love Tonight’ garnering over 4 million, as well as hitting No.1 on Irish radio charts last May. The electronic pop artist was opened up to a wider audience in April 2019 when she performed ‘Love Tonight’ on the Late…

  • Bill Callahan @ Vicar Street, Dublin

    October 2, 2019 - By 

    I found myself in the smoothest taxi ride I’ve ever fell upon, gliding from leafy Portobello to its friendly neighbour Mr. Vicar Street on a light mellow Sunday evening to witness my first ever Bill Callahan show, having been a long time fan of his work. It was pleasant from the off as I took the role of reviewer and made immediate conversation with fans of all kinds outside, soaking up all their knowledge like a musical magnetic sponge. There was Ben all the way from the USA who raved about the crazy support band Dallas Acid, whom he enthusiastically described as “……

  • Nealo w/ C.o.B and Jeorge II @ The Grand Social, Dublin

    October 2, 2019 - By 

    In the crowded smoking area of The Grand Social, fans and members of Ireland’s Hip Hop scene have congregated for a triple threat from some of the community’s heavy hitters. Tickets are presented at the door, wrists are stamped and drink is confiscated from a few younger attendees. Starting off the evening is Cork native C.o.B. Blasting the audience with a blend of old school horrorcore and contemporary trap beats, C.o.B parades the stage thrashing about whilst illuminated by glaring red visuals. While it may not be everybody’s cup of tea, a select few audience members at the base of…

  • Pixies @ Olympia Theatre, Dublin

    September 28, 2019 - By 

    As soon as this gig was announced a few months ago, it was always going to be a scramble for tickets, and so it transpired as it sold out in a matter of minutes. Having the chance to witness one of – if not the most – influential alt-rock bands of all time in such intimate surroundings wasn’t lost on anyone.  The history of Pixies pre and post their 2004 reunion is a well-trodden tale and it’s clear from both fans and critics alike, that the idea to release new music, hasn’t exactly hit the heights of their initial time…

  • Ad Astra

    September 27, 2019 - By 

    Science fiction has undoubtedly been a bit lacking in quantity and quality in recent years, and so you could be forgiven for getting excited after watching the trailer for Ad Astra, the latest from The Lost City of Z‘s James Gray, which translates from Latin as ‘To The Stars’. And it is indeed very impressive on the visuals and production front, especially with the stunning opener and its ‘space antenna’ scene. But once we get into the thick of the film’s story, with its space noir, whodunnit feel, it turns rather predictable, possibly hollow and scientifically ridiculous. An all-star cast couldn’t save this…

  • The Goldfinch

    September 27, 2019 - By 

    “I don’t need to tell you about loss”, Nicole Kidman’s grieving mother tells the grown-up Theodore (Ansel Elgort), her one-time foster guest when his mother was killed in a bombing. But actually, she does — she, or someone — anyone — needs to tell us something interesting about it, because no-one else is making the effort. Adapted from Donna Tartt’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2013 novel by screenwriter Peter Stroughan and director John Crowley, The Goldfinch is a wounded bird in a box office tailspin, and you can see why. It is a silly, bitty and a little embarrassing, too desperate to be “about” things, too unrelaxed to…

  • Fleabag @ Wyndham’s Theatre

    September 27, 2019 - By 

    There’s a feeling we have all gathered here for one last fix. We know the characters. We know the material. We even know the storyline. It’s as if die-hard fans have reunited for one last acoustic performance of their favourite band. Instead of singing along to their favorite songs, they’re mouthing the punchlines of crude jokes before erupting into laughter at a line they’ve heard 10 times before. Within two minutes we’ve already been flashed her black lacy bra from underneath her plain red pullover and been told that shes not obsessed with sex, but she just can’t stop thinking…

  • Girl Band – The Talkies

    September 27, 2019 - By 

    Like a bucket of red paint into white, Girl Band’s explosion in the Irish music scene half a decade ago proved a new year zero for the country’s underground scene. Their modus operandi was laid out with ‘Lawman’ and a simple, radical rework of Blawan’s ‘Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage’.  By the time 2015 debut LP Holding Hands With Jamie came out, they were primed for success. Eschewing the role of traditional rock instrumentation, it was seemingly the sound of four people left in isolation, handed a stack of experimental techno 7”s and traditional rock instruments, and…

  • Charli XCX – Charli

    September 25, 2019 - By 

    Charli XCX has become a pop touchstone, and the woman everyone is clamouring to collaborate with. In the last two years alone, she has worked with BTS, Diplo, Cardi B, Clean Bandit, and Taylor Swift – not to mention the artists she collaborated with on 2017’s Pop 2. Charli XCX is the benchmark of the late 2010’s pop; heavily influenced by contemporary dance music and produced in tandem with PC Music, it’s messy, fun, outrageous, and appropriately melancholic. Pop 2 was, rightfully, critically acclaimed. How does Charli compete? On collaborations alone, Charli is standout. The release of the album was…

  • Pixies – Beneath the Eyrie

    September 24, 2019 - By 

    Complaints about Pixies’ latter-day output – that is, their two LPs of post-reunion material, 2014’s Indie Cindy and 2016’s Head Carrier – have been plentiful, and loud: it’s not the same without Kim Deal, whose gifts for odd yet propulsive rhythm and sense of unnerving harmony had contributed so much to their sound before she left the band in 2013; it recalls too often Black Francis AKA Charles Thompson’s solo work, lacking the demented energy that defined their early material; the biblical, literary, and cinematic references, once deployed wittily, now sound laboured or even self-parodic. The criticism hasn’t been entirely unfounded. The urgency that infused their…