This year has been an absolutely stellar one for Irish music – it’s heartening to listen to releases by Irish bands that aren’t ‘good for an Irish band’, they’re ‘damn well good for any band’ and would stand up to Pitchfork’d acts from Portland or NY or San Fran or wherever the new cool hub…

We all love writing about subjects close to our hearts, and clearly one thing I care a huge amount about is the music scene in Cork. I may not live there anymore, but I’m in the city regularly and love hearing about the new nights and events that are on. I feel lucky to be…

Modern funk maestro Dam Funk (real name: Damon Riddick- ‘Dam’ should be pronounced ‘Dame’) is a trooper – one of the most positive forces working in music today, he has an independent spirit that truly shines when he speaks about his love for music. He has an unerringly energetic and forward-thinking approach but at the…

Sad news. Ari Up, the lead vocalist for The Slits, passed away yesterday (Wednesday 20 October). According to her family (which includes stepfather John Lydon), she died following a serious illness. The Slits will forever be remembered for their in-your-face performances, and the way they shook up the punk scene. Formed in 1976, (when Ari…

    Dublin band Talulah Does the Hula has four female members and one male. The women, like many (but not all) of us females, are into fashion and make-up, and dress up when they go onstage. Their retro style often means vintage dresses, stockings, tights, high heels. Nothing outlandish, always beautifully styled and often…

Some of us visit new countries and take home a neon snowglobe, or a plastic rendering of the Eiffel Tower; tacky, useless souvenirs consigned to a life coated in dust.  Memories are kept by tagging digital photographs, captioning them with a pithy comment.  Holidays over, on to something new. But for Hauschka, otherwise known as…

If, like me, you were otherwise engaged last Sunday evening*, then you missed Sweet Oblivion on 2FM. (Along with a host of other 2XM shows of course!) But fear not – here’s the Soundcloud link, where you can listen to your heart’s content. Here are some recent shows if you’d like to see what Sweet…

Nearly every freaking new band making the blog rounds at the moment is producing songs that are clearly influenced by growing up in the 80s. You know, they’re pop, but distorted pop, they sound like they were recorded in their basement between video game bouts, with The Lost Boys on the TV, that sort of…

Musicians love promotion, no? Actually, no. A lot of them don’t like to yap on about themselves. Some, because they are contrary arses. And some, because they want to cultivate an air of mystery around their music, and not focus on the ‘creator’. Is that a bit self-aware? Does it – ironically – take away…

Oooh, here we go – the first full-length track from Benoit Pioulard’s new album, Lasted, here for us to listen to. So. Excited. I’ve ordered the special edition album (I’m a sucker for anything unusual or handmade when it comes to my favourite musicians) and hopefully I’ll have it in my hands in a few…