Discussions
-
Twin Shadow – Dublin date announced
A Dublin date has been announced for new kid on the block and current Sweet Oblivion fave, Twin Shadow. If you haven’t heard of this young fellow (aka George Lewis Jr) then please run to this website and have a listen to his debut album, Forget, for free. Being that I am a fan of…
-
It’s Not Unusual
File this under ‘essential weird listening’: a recording of a broken fairground calliope playing songs like ‘It’s Not Unusual‘, ‘Moon River‘ and ‘Those Were the Days’. Wonky, off-kilter and gloriously offbeat, the songs sound like they’re being performed by a troupe of drunk clowns. The stuff of nightmares, perhaps, but captivating all the same. I…
-
Swear I’m Not Paul’s in the Red
Fellow Irish blogger Swear I’m Not Paul recently recorded a very funny pilot for RTE‘s online show Red, where he waxes lyrical about some of his favourite Irish bands at the moment and tells us about quirky videos on youtube. Have a look at the video here, and if you like what you see then…
-
Sista Mix-A-Lot
Remember mixtapes? It’s strange to think that just a decade ago cassette tapes and by extension mixtapes were a big part of my life, and other music-obsessed teens’ social and cultural lives. When I was a kid, I’d tape myself and my sisters singing and play-acting, or myself and my cousin singing songs we’d written…
-
Cork Rock City
About a day after I’d submitted my article to the Irish Times on Cork’s underground, I discovered that the Drop-D site was about to release a free download of music by Cork bands. It’s a particularly good omen that Cork has had the national spotlight shone on its music scene twice within the space of…
-
Bigmouth Strikes Again
The Smiths nerds unite! I love this: A presenter with BBC’s Springwatch, Chris Packham, casually slips in one Smiths reference in each of his episodes. If, like me, you feel a warm glow of pride when you watch this, you’re probably very far gone in terms of music nerddom. If you were in Chris’s place,…
-
For Your Eyes & Ears: Orange Juice – Rip it Up – Top of the Pops
This Orange Juice video is gold, GOLD I tell you! My favourite bits: *The super-smiley dancers in front of the stage (especially the woman miming the lyrics) *The dancers in spandex and short shorts – especially when they start ripping up sheets of paper (around 2.15mins) *Edwyn’s awful miming (so funny!) and Malcolm and David’s…
-
Groom’s Golden Age
One of the best things about moving to a new city is finding new music – discovering bands that may not be well known (yet) in your previous home town, or bands that simply haven’t fallen onto your radar. When I moved to Dublin two years ago, Groom were one of the bands I was…
-
Open ears: New Music Roundup
Melodica Deathship Irish hip hop is a pretty small market, and I often feel that those who become hip-hop musicians/rappers are particularly brave souls. When you think of hip hop, you don’t often picture an Irish guy or girl at the mic, but thankfully there are people brave and talented enough to break into this…
-
Windings Grows Old Like J
You can’t fight the ageing process – no matter how much you try and deny Old Father Time, he’s going to visit you eventually. Even a hefty dose of botulinum toxin won’t stop him. One man who recently found himself preoccupied with growing older is Windings, aka Steve Ryan (and band), and he came to…
Sweet Oblivion 