Music Features

Conrad Ashton was nine years old when he witnessed Pete Townshend's exhilarating stage presence at Live 8, changing his life forever. He knew he wanted to make music and soon after picked up a guitar. By the age of eleven, he was writing…

Charlie Parker would have been a chin-stroking one hundred years of age this month. Kloop. Mop. Rebop. Apocalypse. Happy birthday, with a whirlwinding flurry of breathless demisemiquavers on top. He was Bird. His nickname. And we were bird…

James Millier is back with his beautiful new single ‘Discover New Memories Together’, a song that he penned during lockdown. Millier truly writes from the heart, and his themes are always very personal. He is first and foremost a poet,…

California quintet West of House have released their debut album Crescendo of Silence and we’ve taken a listen. You should too. West of House creates music that will connect people worldwide, crossing genre lines while provoking real…

If I could have it back All the time that we wasted I'd only waste it again If I could have it back You know I would love to waste it again Waste it again and again and again If there's one album that will forever define the end of my…

I miss Dublin. I miss Howth and the Wicklow Mountains. I was born in Brooklyn, but have spent most of my life on Staten Island. This past month, as the virus has displaced ordinary life, I’ve stopped watching news. Recently a friend from…

In absolutely every aspect, the public sector has been severely affected by COVID-19. Unemployment is reaching heights unseen in years and the anxiety filling the atmosphere is smothering us all. No market or sector is safe, and the music…

Folks, lockdown is shite craic. I’m lucky enough to still be working from home, but some of us don’t have that luxury. Our local creatives are especially vulnerable. Some have already lost their job, others are at risk because of the…

Post-punk as a term is both vague and misleading. It grew in tandem with the initial punk rock movement of the ‘70s, as opposed to being born out of it. It kept the DIY work ethic but thrived on sonic experimentation and a broader range of…

Cross-genre experimentation has been a big part of this year in music. Lil Nas X broke the record for the longest charting number 1 record on Billboard. He actively created a trap-country fusion song in 'Old Town Road'. He picked the right…