• Longitude 2016: Friday

    ‘None of you are Muslim, are ya?’ says the taxi driver coolly. It’s a remarkably, calmly delivered piece of xenophobia, proving that the sun even has a good effect on bigots. So though it may have made for a frosty entrance it provides a good talking point in the slow moving traffic as we make our way to the start of the flat-footed, full-blooded, bloated, banter-filled beginning of festival season proper. Because today is day one of Longitude 2016 a festival with a good reputation, an impressive line-up and the most important headliner of this year. So while sitting in…

  • Inbound: Hare Squead

    In this installment of Inbound we chat to Jessy and Tony from Dublin based hip-hop trio Hare Squead about the foundation of their sound, sidetracking profanity, their forthcoming debut album and more. Photos by Alessio Michelini. So tell us about Hare Squead. Who are you, and what’s your deal? We are just three polite boys from Dublin who like to sing and perform, and make people happy. We want to be joyful and energetic and we want to spread that to other people. Discuss each members individual strengths and traits and what you bring collectively. We decided to write these about each other, just…

  • Cork Music Trail: Ones to Watch

    It would seem that MTV have remembered what their (previously-orphaned) acronym stands for, turning their attention away from mouth-breathing reality-show nonsense, and on to music, of all things. With the announcement of the Shepard Fairey-directed Rebel Music calling attention to youth subcultures around the world and the transcendent tunes that soundtrack their lives, the idea hits that the floundering music-channel grandfather has either finally realised the error of its ways and is earnestly trying for relevance, or has just been subject to the law of diminishing returns. Either way, the cable & satellite success story of the 1980s wobbles its way to Cork…