Mnemotechnic – Awards (Smalltown America)
‘Shallow Goals’ kicks off Mnemotechnic’s album in style. Full of piss and vinegar, this track stinks up the place in no time. It’s a stormer and would have you on the dancefloor in seconds. It’s over in no time and you’re left reeling. And that’s kind of the problem here. Throughout the rest of the...
Review: Maria Minerva, Half Moon Theatre, Cork – 02.02.2013
Photo: Bríd O’Donovan It has to be said – it’s fucking cold. Saturday night in the Half Moon and everyone here still has their jacket on. It’s not helped by the layout tonight – the Big Empty Room version of the Half Moon – and the fact that there must be oh, at least half...
Review: Grave Lanterns, The Pavilion, Cork – 31.01.13
Photo: Bríd O’Donovan Having heard a lot of good things about Grave Lanterns – not least from Emmet and Ronan’s writeups of their previous gig – I was keen on Thursday last to see them first-hand. With the Cork band family tree they have behind them, the members’ credentials were in no doubt, and it...
Office Playlist – Jan 2012
Kieran suggests some drifting electronica and a couple of “lost” treasures to help with those January blues… Sullen Tone – Sullen Tone Electronic Explorations Mix (SoundCloud 2012) Sullen Tone is a Record Label founded by London-based electronic duo Old Apparatus. Reposted by Paper Dollhouse – This beautiful organic-electronic mix comes from late 2012, and feels...
Review: Honningbarna/Girl Band – The Pavilion, Cork, 17.11.12
6 things you need to know about the Honningbarna /Girl Band gig 1. GIRL BAND did a solid job of shaking The Pavilion’s fixtures The 4 Dublin lads peddle a nice line in scratchy guitar effects, moaney-droney-cum-screamy-shouty vocals, damaged drums, slippy basslines. ‘You’re a Dog’ is a great track. 2. GIRL BAND to their credit...
Taraf de Haidouks – Cork Opera House, 26.10.12
Lou Reed once said, “Nothing beats 2 guitars, drum and bass.” Tonight we get pretty close with 3 accordions, 3 fiddles, flute, cymbalom(!) and double bass. It’s frosty, and we’re freezing as we get to the Opera House, who are running a tight ship tonight. It’s coming up to half eight and Taraf de Haidouks...
Taraf de Haidouks, this weekend
Thank God the Taraf de Haidouks concert in the Opera House this Friday is not seated. The music from this band of random-aged Romany folksters often sends such a rush of blood to the head, chairs would have been flying through the air as if it were a clear summer’s afternoon on Dame Street. Last...
Shonen Knife – Crane Lane Theatre, Cork, 12.10.12
Photos: Simone della Fornace Full photoset here Shonen Knife brought a great big smile to the Crane Lane Friday night. Their enthusiasm is completely infectious. From the minute the trio show up onstage, each with a SHONEN KNIFE scarf aloft, there is a great fun vibe, with the full house lapping up their headbanging hair...
windings – I Am Not The Crow (Out On A Limb Records)
windings is the name of the band and Stephen Ryan has taken a circuitous route to this point in time, having moved this band from solo side project curio to main event, extending the band from one to five, and swapping the loudness of giveamanakick for fuller sonic range. And then keeping the loudness anyway....
The Cast of Cheers/Kowalski – The Pavilion, Cork, 23.09.12
Kowalski is one of the most comon Polish surnames out there. Over here, the name has always conjured up a level of underground cool, mainly due to the character of that name in the 70s road movie Vanishing Point; or later due to the nineties Primal Scream album and track that was named after the...
Dott & Hunk – The Pavilion, Cork, 08.09.12
A post-Picnic lull hangs over Cork city as this is the first Saturday afterwards, and with most gig goers tapped out, a free gig sounds like just the thing. Tonight’s bill at the Pavilion serves up a double portion of girl-driven garage pop with Dott and Hunk, and the only boys in sight are the...
The Fall – The Pavilion, Cork, 21.07.12
Photography: Simone della Fornace “Doesn’t your whole body throb with longing every time you hear their name? Of course it does.” - John Peel The Fall’s first time back in Cork since their stunning show in the Spiegeltent a few years back, sees the same lineup intact. There’s a middling crowd in place by 9...
