• Pixies – Head Carrier

    October 7, 2016 - By 

    Let’s get this out of the way right away – Pixies are obviously one of the greatest bands of all time. During their original run from 1986 to 1993, they amassed one of the most perfect discographies any band has ever managed. That includes the sometimes wrongly overlooked Bossanova and Trompe le Monde, which easily match up to their predecessors, and even the B-sides collection is pretty solid. So in a way it’s understandable that for years after their 2004 reunion, fans were apprehensive about the idea of any new material, particularly in the wake of that year’s now rightly forgotten one-off single ‘Bam Thwok’. Kim…

  • Pixies w/ Bleeding Heart Pigeons @ The Marquee, Cork

    July 14, 2016 - By 

    Hands up who loves the Pixies. That’s what I thought; who doesn’t? They’re one of those bands that does not require an introduction. Suffice it to say, they pioneered the loudQUIETloud technique, Kurt Cobain admitted to ripping them off, and their combination of cacophony and bubblegum pop continues to endure and influence thirty years after their formation and twenty nine years after the release of their debut EP Come On Pilgrim. They’ve also now been back together pretty much as long as they were broken up as odd as that may seem. Since their reunion, they have had a mixed…

  • Label Mixtape #003: 4AD

    March 10, 2015 - By 

    A label based on aesthetic principles, 4AD has spent over 30 years being everything you think it is not. Initially founded by Ivo Watts Russell in 1980 as a vehicle to release music by bands at the centre of the nascent goth scene, the label quickly established a style and format that would lead to it becoming one of the most iconic record labels of the 80s.With records clad in immaculate Vaughn Oliver sleeves, the label originally specialised in floaty, gothic ambience, before encompassing world music, dance music, and – perhaps most significantly – the cutting edge of the US…

  • Arcade Fire, Pixies @ Marlay Park

    July 1, 2014 - By 

    The first of the Marlay Park summer shows kick off with the rather unusual pairing of Arcade Fire and Pixies. The chamber-pop grandness of Arcade Fire is a world away from the alt-rock rawness of Pixies, and so there seems to be two divisions of fans among the crowd; those for Pixies and those for Arcade Fire. Not that this led to any trouble or violence of course; it merely creates an atmosphere where some fans appear somewhat uninterested in half the show. Pixies bring  their manic alt-rock to the stage with plenty of gusto and hit home from the off…

  • In Photos: Pixies @ Marlay Park

    July 1, 2014 - By 

    Despite cutting their set short by fifteen minutes (“technical problems”, you understand) boundlessly influential Boston band the Pixies triumphantly returned to Dublin on Sunday, June 29, to support the ever-masterful Arcade Fire at Marlay Park. Our photographer Aaron Corr was there to shoot their set.

  • Gigs of the Week: Arcade Fire, Hands Up Who Wants To Die, Wellington Weekender

    June 23, 2014 - By 

    The World Cup has proven to be quite the entertaining sporting event thus far (even if it hasn’t been very kind to England). If you can manage to pull yourself away from the spectacle, there are the usual host of gigs and festivals happening right across the country throughout the week, so let out Gigs of the Week help you out in finding the best football alternative. The Wellington Weekender: Delorentos, Girls Names, Lisa O’Neill and more – The Workman’s Club, Dublin; Friday June 27 – Sunday June 29 Well, how about this for an absolute cracker of a festival? Check…

  • Pixies – EP-2

    January 13, 2014 - By 

    Where were you the first time you heard The Pixies? I remember. I was fourteen years old, in the school hall talking about music with a friend of mine. He gave me his generic MP3 device to hear this strange and wonderful thing he’d just discovered. It was Debaser. There are very few things that can conjure the feeling that came over me when I first heard Kim Deal hammer those F notes into submission. For a brief moment, I seemed to have found everything I was looking for. First love is a thing of wonder. It’s been nearly a…

  • Tickets go on sale for Arcade Fire and Pixies @ Marley Park

    December 13, 2013 - By 

    Tickets for Arcade Fire and alt-rock pioneers Pixies at Dublin’s Marley Park on Sunday, June 29 have gone on sale. Set to be one of the most must-see Irish summer shows of 2014, the event was announced on Tuesday afternoon. Along with confirming the show – as well as a date at Cork’s Marquee on June 30 – the Pixies revealed Paz Lenchantin from A Perfect Circle and Zwan as their new bassist. Co-produced by former LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy, Arcade Fire released their fourth studio album, Reflektor, back in October. Tickets for the show – priced at €61.50 – are available to…

  • Playlist: Literature In Music – From Mastodon to Kate Bush

    October 16, 2013 - By 

    On what would have been his 159th birthday (pending a range of frankly inconceivable factors), the status of Oscar Wilde as one of literature’s greatest wits and stylistic visionaries is one completely set in stone. Having permeated the music and lyrics of innumerable composers bands from Prokofiev to the Smiths down the ages, it got us thinking: “Hey, wait a minute! There’s tonnes of songs written about (or that reference) novels and books not necessarily written by Oscar Wilde. That justifies a Spotify playlist, surely?” Admittedly, not the greatest “Eureka!” moment in history but perservere we did in the name of…