There’s something about Placebo – or more specifically, Brian Molko. The Londoners are a wonderfully morose, throbbing headwrecker of a rock act, but it’s Molko’s lyrics that make them truly exceptional. He pours his soul into taking in heartache, androgyny, desolation and drugs, and tonight’s career spanning set does a great job of putting that […]
There’s an enormous sense of anticipation at the Olympia as an audience awaits the London collective to take to the stage. A muffled kick drum pulsates through the dark auditorium while Jungle’s trademark twin keyboard workstations stand silhouetted against a dimly lit backdrop. All Tvvins have only finished moments before after providing a remarkably energetic […]
It was October 2011. Death From Above 1979 had reformed after a five-year hiatus and were playing London. A merry bunch of us boarded a plane to Heathrow knowing that a night of watching our lost heroes perform in the flesh would be capped off in the wee hours by the scintillating prospect of Ireland […]
Ash Wednesday night in the dirty auld town and the Olympia beckons as the lost boys and girls of yesteryear gather in its fittingly fading Victorian splendour to pay homage to the most enigmatic of the Eighties indie greats, Echo & The Bunnymen. A going concern for nigh on forty years and with a past […]
“Yaaaay, another slow song about my feelings. Yay”, shouts Rebecca Taylor as she welcomes Charles Watson, her Slow Club partner, and two touring band-mates back to the stage. The stage in question, with this being a functioning church, is an alter replete with flickering candles and atmospheric lighting gels. Taylors exclamation is a perfect snapshot […]
Colin Meloy voice’s – with the rounded vowels of an 18th century English sea dog – is the only sound in the room aside from his guitar as The Decemberists play the first song from their latest album, live for the first time. It’s every bit as evocative as on record, especially pared down to […]
Despite the rumblings of new music on their horizon, Los Angeles noise terrorists HEALTH stick largely to the same script tonight in the Olympia Theatre as the last time State caught them. That was almost two years ago at Forbidden Fruit and though they were ensconced in a tent, pervading sunlight and general mid-afternoon festival […]
An alternative hip-hop duo consisting of Chief Excel and Gift of Gab, the two members of Blackalicious both bring unique elements to the table – classic breaks and samples from the former and intelligent, tongue twisting raps from the latter. Their sound may draw heavy inspiration from classic hip-hop, but their experimental nature has differentiated […]
A swift return to the Mercantile after our January launch gig saw three more of our Faces of 2015 take to the stage for the second of our live shows for the year. Pockets (pictured) are in town for two shows and it’s testament to their rapid progress that they can deliver largely different sets […]
German folktronic-reggae might not be the first thing that comes to mind on a cold Thursday night in Dublin, but in the vicinity of Dublin’s Vicar Street there is an eclectic enough mix of punters it somehow makes perfect sense. What else could bring out such an age diverse and all out random bunch of […]
Listening to Nixon for the first time in over a decade as I travel to Dublin, it dawns on me that, while I had always considered Lambchop to be rooted in American folk and country music, songs like ‘You Masculine You’ and ‘Up With People’ seem to be as steeped in the tradition of American […]
There are bands who re-unite, do the tour, trot out the hits and never release any new material. There are bands who reunite, record an average new album and slavishly play all of the new album and none of the hits. Then there are bands like The Afghan Whigs, who upon calling it a day […]
Seemingly with the weight of expectancy of a thousand Dublin post-punk drone rock fans, Girl Band have been on a fast and steep trajectory over the last year. Having signed a worldwide deal with Rough Trade of late, the four-piece band are tipped for greatness and a packed Twisted Pepper housed home-town gig which could […]
With our magazine and mixtape attracting interest from readers around the world, our Faces of 2015 came alive on Friday. The night, as will the year to come, belonged to the four acts who helped make it so special and provided proof that the hype machine gets it right from time to time. Belfast’s Robocobra […]