Rebel Phoenix: Museum - An authentic Dublin voice with an impressively dexterous flowThe rapper’s latest album establishes him as one to watchFri Sept 15 2023 - 05:30
‘My mum would sign me to sleep every night, and they’d be these huge, intricate stories she painted with her hands’Dublin Fringe Festival 2023: In Resonance, Chloe Commins fuses aerial arts with her experience of growing up as a child of deaf adultsSun Sept 10 2023 - 05:45
Fizz: The Secret to Life – a burst of engaging pop from a supergroup with a differenceAn impressive debut that’s fun but never silly or excessive from Irish indie-pop musician Orla Gartland, her English counterpart Dodie and friendsFri Sept 08 2023 - 05:00
Malaprop’s hot topic: ‘We like people to leave wanting to generate a conversation’ Dublin Fringe Festival 2023: Hothouse, the theatre company’s new show, intertwines family drama with climate change – and throws in a few musical numbers for good measureWed Sept 06 2023 - 05:15
Soda Blonde: Dream Big - Dubliners return with a bolder, more forthright, more experimental affairThe quartet’s second album shakes off the shackles of their past guise, Little Green CarsFri Sept 01 2023 - 05:00
Future Islands at Collins Barracks: Even Samuel T Herring seems taken aback by the phones, pints and arms aloft in ecstasyIt’s the band’s biggest headline show in Ireland – and the frontman sells every song with chest-thumping, floor-slapping passionFri Aug 25 2023 - 10:28
Slowdive: Everything Is Alive – Hope, optimism and gorgeously pitched songsReading shoegazers are not ready for heritage-act statusFri Aug 25 2023 - 05:00
Margaret Glaspy: ‘I can only speak from my own experience of being on the road and getting s**t from men all the time’ The American singer’s new album includes some pointed humour, as well as a track whose single take was the only recording she could manage of itSat Aug 19 2023 - 05:15
The View: Exorcism of Youth – Rousing choruses, but this could be any noughties indie bandThe band’s longevity has arguably been at the expense of progressFri Aug 18 2023 - 05:00
Rhiannon Giddens: ‘I’m trying to add to what it means to be an American’ Previously renowned as a translator and reviver of folk songs, the North Carolina-born, Limerick-based musician is releasing her first album of completely original materialSat Aug 12 2023 - 05:00
Margaret Glaspy: Echo the Diamond – The best-kept secret in indie rock?The American artist’s third record sets her apart from her peers in a multitude of waysFri Aug 11 2023 - 05:00
Miles Kane: One Man Band – In serious need of a few fresh ideasSome tracks on the singer’s fifth album sound eerily close to Arctic Monkeys cast-offsFri Aug 04 2023 - 05:00
Cian Ducrot: Victory – Accomplished debut turns personal trauma into musical goldThe Cork native and former classical flute student is an assured storyteller with an innate understanding of melodyFri Aug 04 2023 - 05:00
Birdy had her first hit Skinny Love at 15. But at 27 she’s ready for new beginnings The singer-songwriter talks about pushing through insecurity, struggling with social media despite having 18m followers and heartbreakSun Jul 30 2023 - 08:27
Georgia: Euphoric – The singer’s third album gets better with every listenThis is a pop record with the right balance of depth and frivolityFri Jul 28 2023 - 05:00
Rita Ora: You & I – Romantic bliss and some baffling Fatboy SlimMultifaceted Londoner delivers functional breezy album but is capable of far betterFri Jul 21 2023 - 05:00
David Long and Shane O’Neill: And You Can’t Dream That – Indie stalwarts still have fire in their bellies Fine collection of songs from former Into Paradise and Blue in Heaven front men whose chemistry has remained intactFri Jul 21 2023 - 05:00
Greta van Fleet’s hard rock playbook: ‘Led Zeppelin is at the very top of our list’Bluesy hard rockers and Grammy-winners from Michigan have been accused of copying the greats, but they don’t mindSat Jul 15 2023 - 05:00
Mahalia: IRL - An R&B artist of talent and attitude who plays it too safeThe young Leicester musician’s commanding presence begins to flag around the album’s midpointFri Jul 14 2023 - 05:00
Martha Wainwright: ‘Hopefully I can write another Bloody Mother F***ing Arsehole, as that’ll pay the mortgage’After her forthcoming brace of Irish gigs, the singer plans to take a year off to digest all that has happened since her divorce, and to begin writing againThu Jul 13 2023 - 05:24
Anohni and the Johnsons: My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross – Ambitious and importantThis is the singer’s first album in seven years and it sees her tread a more soulful path than beforeFri Jul 07 2023 - 05:30
Keeley: Floating Above Everything Else – An unusual album buoyed by its infusion of 1980s and 1990s jangle and fuzz-popAn obsession with the unsolved murder of German teenage backpacker Inga Maria Hauser in 1988 has permeated much of Keeley Moss’s workFri Jun 30 2023 - 04:45
Malachy Tuohy: I Cross This Universe – Riptide Movement frontman undone by sombre balladryWithout bandmates to bounce ideas off, this debut solo album, written during Covid lockdowns, comes across as insular and heavy-handedFri Jun 23 2023 - 05:20
Queens of the Stone Age: In Times New Roman – their most visceral album in yearsFollowing the Mark Ronson-produced Villains, the band's new album is something of a return to earlier fare, self-produced and dispensing with any collaboratorsFri Jun 16 2023 - 05:45
Janelle Monáe: ‘They’re literally trying to erase us by law, and we have to fight back’Her new album, which she calls her ‘blackest and queerest yet’, is a riotous party with a serious messageSun Jun 11 2023 - 05:20
Tom Grennan: ‘I’ve got a big heart. And I’ve got a sensitive one, too’The singer-songwriter says he feels he’s an arena artist and wants to be a global star – but he still finds time for a night of Guinness drinking with his Irish cousinsSat Jun 10 2023 - 05:00
King Krule: Space Heavy – A patchwork quilt of styles that slowly unravelsArchy Marshall’s hard-to-categorise fourth album lacks focusFri Jun 09 2023 - 05:00
Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears: ‘I would love a reunion ... Hopefully it’ll happen someday’Since the band’s hiatus, the US singer has been busy, busy, busy, but he remains devoted to pop, with his new album, Last Man Dancing, proving just thatSun Jun 04 2023 - 05:00
Foo Fighters: But Here We Are – Dave Grohl processes a year of grief and lossThe shadows of drummer Taylor Hawkins and Grohl’s mother, Victoria, loom large, but this is still a loudly life-affirming collectionFri Jun 02 2023 - 05:30
Noel Gallagher: ‘I think things were better pre-internet, I think that’s a fact’The High Flying Birds leader and former Oasis guitarist has very strong views on AI music. And the internet. And social media. And pretty much everything elseSat May 27 2023 - 05:00
Sparks: The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte – More joyfully eccentric pop from the Mael brothersThe LA duo’s 26th album follows their musical film Annette, but behind the pomp and theatrics and absurdity is a firm grounding in realityFri May 26 2023 - 05:00
Stephen Shannon: Fathoms – The beauty is in this album’s small momentsA multi-layered album that bridges the gap between electronica and orchestrationFri May 19 2023 - 05:00
Ed Sheeran: Subtract – Open-hearted, honest and schmaltz-freeSincerity without sentimentality can go a surprisingly long way on the star’s fifth solo albumFri May 05 2023 - 11:09
Alison Goldfrapp: The Love Invention – Plenty of dance floor glitter but a lack of heart and melodyDebut solo album whets the appetite for the return of her partnership with Will GregoryFri May 05 2023 - 05:15
Jessie Ware: Making music that is to be enjoyed – ‘have a dance, have a snog and put my music on to soundtrack it’The Londoner’s admirers have always wondered why she hasn’t quite cracked the mainstream but she’s ready for it nowFri Apr 28 2023 - 14:56
The National: First Two Pages of Frankenstein – thoughtful, evocative and a tad underwhelming These slow-burning songs never quite ignite, despite the arguably incongruous presence of big-name guestsFri Apr 28 2023 - 05:30
Freya Ridings: ‘I always felt embarrassed to feel happy, because sad songs are like, my living’Ridings thought she had to be ‘the sad song girl’, but now, with her second album, she is embracing happiness like never beforeSat Apr 22 2023 - 05:00
Nathan Connolly: The Strange Order of Things – Forgettable fare from Snow Patrol guitaristThis pleasant solo album feels like a missed opportunity overallFri Apr 21 2023 - 05:00
Ken O’Duffy: Sing the Songs – Former Saville frontman’s 1960s-influenced second album is solid but formulaicIf you are familiar with the Dubliner’s oeuvre, nothing on this lockdown-penned album will surprise youFri Apr 14 2023 - 05:00
Ellie Goulding: ‘I enjoy the idea that I could be a character and I don’t necessarily have to be myself any more’After a pandemic and changes in her personal life, the singer and songwriter has gone in a new direction for her latest album and says ‘I just hope it will be an escape for some people’Sat Apr 08 2023 - 05:00
Ellie Goulding: Higher than Heaven – Joyful escapism and gratifying, dependable popThe thirtysomething returns to her unashamedly accessible rootsFri Apr 07 2023 - 05:09
First Class & Coach: Neon Hip – West Cork’s best-kept musical secret unleash a fine second albumA hugely enjoyable record that benefits from Geraldine Thomas’s charismatic, pliable yelpFri Apr 07 2023 - 04:55
Mimi Webb: ‘I’m incredibly grateful for TikTok. I really don’t think I would be here without it’The British singer on stardom, debut album Amelia and looking forward to visiting her Irish familySat Apr 01 2023 - 05:06
David Kitt: Idiot Check - Folk, pop and experimentation collideAs experimental as Idiot Check gets, it is always anchored by Kitt’s distinctive voice and devotion to melodyFri Mar 31 2023 - 05:30
King Cedar: Everything More, & Other Stories - Irish folk meets Californian productionAfter some US musicians found a session in a Bangor bar a few years ago, it led Co Down musician to record debut album as King Cedar in LAFri Mar 24 2023 - 05:15
Lana Del Rey: Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd – Long, maudlin and one of her best albums yetThe star’s ninth album is one of her most confounding to date. But that’s not necessarily a bad thingThu Mar 23 2023 - 13:41
Ailbhe Reddy: Endless Affair - Indie pop cedes to quieter, more vulnerable songs on an excellent second albumShe should have been a star by now, but this album will surely tee Ailbhe Reddy up for the big time.Fri Mar 17 2023 - 05:15
Fight Like Apes: ‘Things are so different now. It’s cool to be sober; it’s cool to go to therapy’Going back to the songs of their youth has been therapeutic for the newly reunited Dublin bandSat Mar 11 2023 - 05:00
U2: Songs of Surrender – A cynical cash grab? Put your preconceptions asideThese ‘reinterpreted’ tracks are a reminder that, whether you like them or not, U2 have some exceptional songs in their back catalogueFri Mar 10 2023 - 00:01
Joesef: ‘I feel like I’m poised for action no matter what anyone throws at me’The Scottish singer is verging on the big time, feted by Elton John and now building a North American followingWed Mar 08 2023 - 06:00
