The first time I saw this album is forever imprinted in my mind; the way it felt, touching the strange textural painting on the cover and then flipping it over to read such song titles as ‘Violence To Violence’ and ‘Bring On Stigmata’. These were the soft and cuddly titles that put my heart a-flutter...

It’s tough to pick a single favourite Irish album. Astral Weeks is perhaps the greatest, most perfect Irish album ever recorded but maybe it would be a bit too obvious a choice. The fact that it was recorded in 1968 might suggest that nothing has bettered it in the past 43 years and there’s little...

It’s Cork in the late 70’s and I’m a 9-year old with an early addiction to 7-inch singles. The Cars’ ‘Just What I Needed’, Dr Feelgood’s ‘Milk and Alcohol’ and numerous Blondie singles are played repeatedly at home. I spot a new record by a band called U2 in the window of Pat Egan’s record...

Cork 1995: a time of uniform, bad religion and hurling; ancient corridors of sporting rivalries, bullshit and my Leaving Cert. Soon to be, with the help of God, replaced by girls, alcohol and music. In my first week at college my friend, Billy Ramsell, handed me a cassette copy of Whipping Boy’s Heartworm and it...

I’ve always cared more for the musical elements of a song, with the lyrics coming second. Sometimes a distant second. This was the case when I first started listening to The Fatima Mansions. After hearing a blistering section of ‘Blues for Ceausescu’ on the radio late one night, I came away with the impression of...