Culture
/
On The Record

Jim Carroll

Music, Life and everything else

Irish music

The fleet foxes: John Sheahan and The Dubliners in 1970 John Sheahan: portrait of the fiddler

Maurice Sweeney’s elegent portrait of the quiet one from The Dubliners reminded you of the musician’s evergreen skill and grace

Fight Like Apes and the quest for twenty grand Lend me your face: Fight Like Apes hit the FundIt trail

The Irish band’s quest for €20,000 from their fans has already raised some ire in certain quarters

Girls_Names The age of niche

Why the most exciting and innovative music and art can be found in the magins – and why the mainstream is content to ignore it

Just how many musicians live and work in Dublin?

New Orleans may hype its music and musicians, but isn’t it time that Dublin did something similar with its music makers?

Two Door Cinema Club’s old-fashioned rise

It’s December 2009 and Two Door Cinema Club are playing the last of that year’s shows at Dublin’s now departed Crawdaddy. The band’s debut album is still a few months away so the venue is busy, but not quite full …

Go north if you want to catch tomorrow’s talent now

The north is having a moment again. Ahead of the third Belfast Music Week, which runs from November 4 to 11, it’s worth stepping back and checking the ongoing health of Northern Ireland music. Be it the strong current showing …

Hard Working Class Heroes preview

It’s nearly time. From Thursday until Saturday, the annual Hard Working Class Heroes festival will take over a selection of Dublin city-centre venues again. There’s a full dancecard for the weekend, between the nightly gigs (including, DOI, the now annual …

How Rory Gallagher found a new niche in sports songs

It’s the song of the week. Indeed, if you’re from Donegal, it’s probably the song of the year. You simply couldn’t escape “Jimmy’s Winning Matches” this week, with even the venerable Morning Ireland blasting it out two days in a …