• Brockhampton – Saturation III

    December 19, 2017 - By 

    Every great party has a moment where you wish it would go on forever. That point where you look around the room and hope against all hope that it could just go on and that the obligations that tomorrow always brings might never arrive. But part of you knows they will. Brockhampton’s latest record feels like the sonic equivalent of that moment. Saturation III is the end of one era for this 14 man boyband, troupe that seems simultaneously assured of itself and its future, but also not quite ready to let go of that perfect moment before reality sets in.  There are few stories from…

  • Nava – Tapestry

    December 14, 2017 - By 

    On paper, it might not sound like the most symbiotic of sonic juxtapositions (depending on taste, obviously) – “a groundbreaking group of young musicians exploring the relationship between the ancient musical cultures of Ireland and Persia.” But in Nava’s self-released debut LP Tapestry, what could easily have fallen into cacophonous territory instead finds its feet in blissful euphony; as much in thanks to the unconventional folk outfit’s mixed bag of musical lineages as the sheer musicianship of its members. Half exploration of traditional expressions of Irish folk (courtesy of Paddy Kiernan and Niall Hughes) and half observance of traditional Persian folk mediums…

  • Mango & MathMan – Wheel Up

    December 13, 2017 - By 

    There’s a storm brewing on this island. For a nation of people who pride ourselves on our artists’ ability to twist and contort the English language masterfully, it’s surprising that our hip-hop scene has taken so long to come to fruition. Where in the past we would have had the likes of Messiah J and The Expert to represent us on the international stage, we’ve slowly but surely been building up a roster of top-tier artists. In recent years, Rejjie Snow, Kojaque, Hare Squead and Limerick’s Rusangano Family – to name but a handful –have proven without much doubt that we…

  • Glassjaw – Material Control

    December 11, 2017 - By 

    Oddly specific as this is, 2017 might be the year for semi-defunct post-hardcore bands from the early 2000s to release long-awaited followups. At The Drive-In dropped In•ter a•li•a in May after a 17-year gap. Before the news of Jesse Lacey’s alleged history of sexual exploitation saw the band being rightly cancelled, Brand New released Science Fiction. Even Quicksand released Interiors nearly two decades after their last broadcast. Now, almost out of the blue, Glassjaw who, aside from a few scattered EPs, have been silent since 2002’s Worship and Tribute have quietly released Material Control. Glassjaw were never as influential as ATD-I or inspired quite the level…

  • Penguin Cafe Orchestra – Union Cafe

    December 9, 2017 - By 

    Fact: penguins are not festive. Don’t be fooled every time you see one stuffed into a garish Christmas jumper on the front of your greeting cards, and join me and my national campaign in returning them to the sender with a ‘must do better’ message attached. Some species live in areas as tropical as the Galapagos Islands, whilst none, whatsoever, live in the northern hemisphere, supposedly the headquarters of Father Christmas’ operations. Every time we see the ludicrous line up of one fuzzy friend between the big man himself and a polar bear part of my zoological soul dies, and…

  • U2 – Songs of Experience

    December 5, 2017 - By 

    When was the last time you were really excited by anything U2 did? You could say The Joshua Tree tour, but really that was just multimillionaires hawking nostalgia at exorbitant prices. Musically, U2 haven’t crafted anything of real weight in over a decade. The last album that most people seem to unambiguously like is All That You Can’t Leave Behind, but all that should be cited as is the ultimate example of playing it safe. Consider their previous LP, Songs of Innocence. What do you remember? Odds are the only thing that comes to mind from that fustercluck of a…

  • Björk – Utopia

    November 27, 2017 - By 

    A concise title is such lovely gift. Being able to neatly summarise a complex and expansive piece of art is a pure form of poetry. Björk’s latest LP has one of those titles: Utopia. Of all the words that she could pluck out of her expansive multilingual dictionary, why did a word which such loaded connotations leap out at her? On a global scale, any form of utopian ideal is running threadbare as pretty much everything around us falls into a state of disarray. In the context of Björk though, this is her first album after the emotionally raw exploration…

  • Five to Two – How Tall Do You Think You Could Grow (If You Wanted to Be So Tall)

    November 25, 2017 - By 

    Crudely speaking, size can be determined by a multitude of factors including environment, competition and space to grow into. Handily, for the sake of this review, the same biological principles can be transferred to culture, and as a subsection, music. Let’s put the Dublin jazz scene under the microscope here for a minute. In terms of environment, JJ Smyth’s has consistently flown the flag for Dublin’s jazz and blues scene for years, but is limited by its size and accessibility, whilst Sugar Club is arguably the best suited venue but is a challenge to book for jazz promoters amongst events…

  • Sufjan Stevens – The Greatest Gift Mixtape

    November 24, 2017 - By 

    The release of Sufjan Stevens’ last album proper, 2015’s Carrie & Lowell, proved him to be an artist still very much at the top of his game. A decade on from the breakthrough of Illinois, the album saw him swap that record’s lavish arrangements, and follow up The Age of Adz’s oddball electronics, for a return to the hushed folk and introspection found on 2004’s Seven Swans, this time themed around his parents in the wake of his mother’s passing. The album’s tracklisting seemed so perfectly formed – he tended to play all eleven tracks at subsequent live shows, as…

  • Hüsker Dü – Savage Young Dü

    November 23, 2017 - By 

    We should all be eternally grateful to the Numero Group. Their tireless efforts to ensure that some of the great quasi-lost nuggets of our popular culture get rediscovered and granted a level of respect that they were deprived of upon their initial release. Their reissues and remasters are rich and varied, encompassing the likes of hardcore luminaries Unwound as well as forgotten soul star and transgender icon Jackie Shane. While the label has been working at an awe-inspiring level, they’ve recently outdone themselves. Savage Young Dü is a 69 track tome tracking the early years of the seminal Hüsker Dü, one…