It wasn’t the central relationship that I cared most deeply about in Joanna Hogg’s film The Souvenir.
Category: Discussions
Short story: Beara
I went on a trip to the Beara Peninsula with two of my best friends – the bad bitches Kim and Vicky – two years ago. We stayed in a gorgeous old house that opened at the back onto the sea (they filmed Ondine next door, a few years earlier) and ate breakfast watching the boats pull…
The final Sweet Oblivion on 2XM… and Camden Crawl Dublin gigs
Tonight will see the last Sweet Oblivion go out on RTÉ 2XM at 11pm. It has been a hard decision to make, but for now I’ve decided to take a break from the show. Sweet Oblivion has been going out on the digital station for almost four years, and aside from a year or two’s break…
[Pics] Moving house
My mum moved house last month, out of the family home where we had lived for more than 20 years. I took these photos during the move, feeling restless and strange about the house being emptied of everything that had meant ‘home’ since I was a child. I’ll miss the squeaky step at the bottom…
HMV closure, nostalgia, memories and music
Photo by me It feels like another lifetime, but in reality it has only been just over a decade since going to HMV (or Virgin Megastore, the other record store chain in Cork City when I was growing up) was a Big Thing for my peers and I (and, if you’re reading this, most likely…
Low, Arthur Russell, Lord Huron, Benoit Pioulard
Pic by me, Dublin There are few things better than going through a phase of listening to the same artist for a week after not listening to them for quite a long time. That immediate feeling when you put on the first track is like a restorative sigh – you can instantly relax into that…
A rush and a push and 2013 is ours
Pic: Me/Declan Kelly When the rush and stress that is the end-of-year best-of lists (all those hyphens is enough to bring me out in a rash) is over, it’s time to start imagining what lies in store for the next 12 months of music. Being honest, I go through phases with music (and with blogging…
Interview: Vicky Langan
I’m delighted this is finally online – an interview I did with my friend Vicky Langan (performance artist/experimental musician/event curator) about her work and inspiration. I’ve been really curious for a long time about what motivates her, so it was great to get to chat about it. After we did the interview, we took some…
Podcast & Column: NewFound Sounds
Now is a very exciting time to be involved, in any way, with Irish independent music. It’s not that the music being made now is necessarily better than in times past, or more important, but that the game itself has changed. It is easier and cheaper to access recording materials; it’s easier and cheaper to…
Community of Independents & Hard Working Class Heroes Festival
If you’re someone with an interest in the Irish music scene as a whole, a great festival to give you an insight into what’s going on here is Hard Working Class Heroes. Yes, it doesn’t cover every single band in the country but it’s a good snapshot of what’s happening nationwide. One interesting aspect to the…