OK, it’s pissing rain in Dublin and you’re not on your way to the Bloc Weekend. Instead of moping about the house, get down to the Academy tonight to see Ricardo Villalobos – the one DJ Bloc didn’t manage to nab. Expect anything from minimal techno to marching drums and obscure vocal house gems.
Heads…

Armed with slabs of vinyl, an 808 and “beats that go (((BOOM))) (((BOOM))) (((BOOM)))”, electro pioneer Egyptian Lover lands in Dublin this Friday for a rare live show. He’ll be joined at the Grand Social (formerly Pravda) by his accomplice MC Jamie Jupiter for some Computer Power.
After nearly three decades of fusing Kraftwerk-style melodies,…

According to a Twitter announcement from promoters Choice Cuts, Wu-Tang Clan member Raekwon ‘The Chef’ is set to cook up a storm by performing his album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx in Dublin. The gig is said to be on March 16 at the Button Factory, so it should kick Paddy’s Day off with one…

Bobby Farrell of Boney M is heading to the great glitterball in the sky after being found dead in his St Petersburg hotel room, aged 61. Farrell was the only male member of the iconic 1970s disco group.
In a turn of events that’ll get conspiracy theorists working overtime, Farrell died on the same date…

The sweat’s dripping off the Tripod walls but MC Djum Djum is bringing Big Freeze chic indoors – bouncing around the stage in a puffy parka jacket. It’s a half an hour in and his frantic African scat singing is whipping the crowd into a frenzy while the frazzled marimba samples on ‘Afro-Left’ take us…

It’s up there with CBGB’s, the Hacienda and Studio 54 as an iconic music venue, and now Paul McCartney has given the thumbs-up to a gig in London’s 100 Club this Friday, December 17.
It’s the Beatles icon’s smallest gig in over a decade — only 300 fans will get tickets for the lunchtime gig…

November has once more been re-dubbed Movember, in tribute to brave men of Ireland who have spent the month cultivating – often ridiculous – facial hair in order to raise funds for the treatment of prostate cancer. In celebration, we bring you the top ten ‘taches in musical history:
1. Nick Cave
First the No…

“We have truly embraced the darkness and the chaos of the seas,” hails MC Exile Eye halfway through Melodica Deathship’s voyage into deepest, darkest hip-hop waters. It’s fair to say the Dublin-based crew are in uncharted territories – this has to be the only nautical-themed hip-hop record out there, sailing along like a phantom ship…

Shuffling on stage in a manky checked dressing gown, fluffy slippers, straggly hair and three-day stubble, Chilly Gonzales has that spaced-out aura of a man who’s just rolled out of bed to watch Jeremy Kyle for the day. But then he silently takes the stool at the grand piano and lets his fingers to the…

Back in 2000, Therapy? Released So Much For the Ten Year Plan – a retrospective that tried to make sense of their contrary career path up until then. Blasting the door off its hinges in the early ’90s with the rabid industrial mini-albums Baby Teeth and Pleasure Death…, they gave grunge the fingers with

There’s always a hint of romance behind a ‘mixtape’ lovingly compiled by a pal (or more likely a potential suitor), and in this case it just happens to be Milo Cordell, one half of 4AD poster-boys The Big Pink. Look, he’s even designed the psychedelic cover for you, his fingers all gooey with sellotape and…

It’s fair to say no one’s really here for the new stuff. Herbie’s just back from headlining the Cork Jazz Festival where he picked up the Guinness Jazz Legend award, and that’s what the people have paid their 50 bucks for. Then again, he’s touring The Imagine Project… – a hit and miss world music

Doom’s doing an Axl – he’s pushing two hours late, there’s a whiff of mutiny in the air and that metal mask might have to save him from flying bottles. The Supervillain has ‘previous’ in this territory – his legacy of cancelled shows and infamous use of imposters mean we already had a bad feeling…

Alice Glass is some force of nature. She’s writhing around the stage exorcist-style, strangling herself with leads as first song ‘Fainting Spells’ gabba beats and waspy synths slice through the strobe-lit Academy. She’ll spend most of the show on her back, kicking her spindly legs, or crawling over the crowd after countless stage-dives. Crystal Castles…