• SOAK – Grim Town

    April 25, 2019 - By 

    A northern voice cuts through the chatter; “this train is for the following categories of passenger only—recipients of universal credit or minimum wage, the lonely, the disenfranchised, the disillusioned, the lost, the grieving”. You pull your jacket closer to fend off the chill air that fills the carriage, wiping at the window with your free hand. It’s foggy outside, you make out nothing but a few barren trees and distant hills. With a heave the train begins to move, and before the conductor has even announced the destination you know where you’re going. Bridie Monds-Watson’s (aka SOAK) sophomore album Grim…

  • Earl Sweatshirt – Some Rap Songs

    December 11, 2018 - By 

    Some Rap Songs sees the welcome return of Thebe Neruda Kgositsile, otherwise known as Earl Sweatshirt. Since joining Tyler the Creator’s Odd Future collective as a 15 year old prodigy, the LA-based MC has rightly staked a claim as one of the best in the business, delivering deeply personal rhymes with a level of literacy and complexity that few of his peers can match. Some Rap Songs comes three years after release of his sophomore effort, the highly acclaimed I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside. Earl has had a lot to contend with in that time, including the…

  • Elaine Malone – Land

    September 12, 2018 - By 

    On first listen, Elaine Malone’s debut EP Land seems to have arrived in timely fashion. Built upon a homespun foundation of spartan guitar picking and Malone’s darkly burnished vocals, the release seems to encapsulate the end of summer with its rain storms, dimming evenings and the creaking resurgence of central heating systems country wide. This autumnal cosiness proves to be something of a red herring though, acting as sumptuous camouflage for a release at least partially strewn with dark themes and blood chilling turns of phrase. On ‘Vonnegut’ Malone wastes little time grabbing the listener’s attention, intoning the arresting opening…

  • At The Drive-In w/ Brand New Friend @ Vicar Street, Dublin

    July 11, 2018 - By 

    When Brand New Friend take to the stage of Vicar Street, the four fresh-faced Northerners unleash a wall of noise on the reasonably-sized audience that has congregated to cheer them on. The Castlerock four-piece have been causing a stir in the Irish music scene over the past year, playing a hugely successful set at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend and releasing their debut album, Seatbelts For Aeroplanes. Onstage, they have a definite sense of self-assurance, and it’s well deserved. Kicking off with their song ‘Cold’, the groups influences are immediately evident. Think Weezer featuring Hayley Williams and some questionable (but forgivable) synth lines. They’re…

  • Snowpoet – Thought You Knew

    June 22, 2018 - By 

    Two years on from its well-received eponymous debut on Two Rivers Records, Snowpoet returns with a sumptuous offering of sweet melodies, meditative textures and poetic lyricism. Snowpoet is now part of Dave Stapleton’s Edition Records – one of the UK’s most progressive labels, and one with for big ears for some of the most adventurous music currently produced in Europe. Essentially the song-writing vehicle for vocalist Lauren Kinsella and bassist Chris Hyson, Snowpoet has played in everything from a duo to a quintet setting, though here the duo is joined by core Snowpoet collaborators Josh Arcoleo on tenor saxophone, Nick…

  • Young Fathers @ The Academy, Dublin

    March 30, 2018 - By 

    To describe Dublin’s Academy as packed would be an understatement. Bodies have been piling in in rapid succession after a slow trickling start. The main floor is shoulder to should with sweating teeming masses barely able to contain their anticipation for the Scottish hip-hop trio Young Fathers‘ arrival. The crowd tonight is beyond hyped up. There’s an intense positivity within all the anticipation that fuel some of the night’s most powerful moments. Thirty minutes after the opening DJ finishes his surprisingly enjoyable set of chipmunk soul and reggae cuts, the house lights dim and stage beams with white light. Three…

  • Soccer Mommy – Clean

    March 12, 2018 - By 

    Any child on a football pitch who takes the time to look down the touchline will be sure to see an eclectic bunch of fans: Passing dog walkers, aggressive and overly-stimulated dads who kick every ball and question every decision, mates and their crossed fingers for public embarrassment, and the unsung heroes, their mothers, sacrificing valuable weekend hours week in and week out watching a sport they may not have the faintest interest in, just to be there for that moment when their kid finally gets that goal. Somewhere down the line, Sophie Allison, AKA Soccer Mommy took at least some…

  • Dublin Podcast Festival: S-Town @ Bord Gáis

    October 20, 2017 - By 

    On the penultimate night of the first Dublin Podcast Festival, the Bord Gais theatre played host to Brian Reed, creator of S-Town. The somewhat sparse crowd was treated to a sixty-minute conversation and a Q & A session which included previously unheard clips and stories from the podcast. Beginning with an excerpt from a conversation with John B. McLemore, the anti-hero of the podcast; the audience was thrust back into the world of Bibb county, Alabama, or Shit town as it’s affectionately known. The night was billed as ‘A new way to tell a story’ and this theme was explored…

  • The Jesus and Mary Chain @ Vicar Street, Dublin

    October 19, 2017 - By 

    It seems that there’s a different vibe in The Jesus & Mary Chain camp since the release of Damage and Joy in March of this year; antagonism replaced with affability and scorn with humour. It’s in and around six months ago that the band visited The Academy with their first studio album in almost twenty years fresh off the presses, and tellingly on that outing it was Psychocandy material that made up the bulk of the setlist. Not so in Vicar Street – their seminal debut rears its head, but tonight’s is a much more rounded selection and the band…

  • My Dad Wrote a Porno @ Vicar Street, Dublin

    September 25, 2017 - By 

    There’s a sense of giddy anticipation in the air as Vicar Street fills up to the brim with die-hard fans and casuals alike. On the third night of Dublin’s inaugural podcast festival one of the biggest hitters in the world of podcasts is in town to debut a brand new chapter in the erotic adventures of Belinda Blumenthal. I am, of course, talking about My Dad Wrote a Porno, the smash hit comedy which has been downloaded over 50 million times and has been given the seal of approval by celebrity guests such as Elijah Wood and Michael Sheen. Jaime…