Formed in Cork in 1980, Microdisney brought the wildly different talents of two of the city by the Lee’s most legendary musical sons, Cathal Coughlan and Sean O’Hagan, together in the one band.
In many ways Microdisney exemplify the difficulties facing any band who feel that they have something valid and non-conformist to say but are also driven by a desire to bring that vision to as wide and diverse an audience as possible. Within those terms of reference, 39 Minutes may be a definitive offering.
CATHAL COUGHLAN has long been among the most articulate and angry of Irish songwriters. Here, he talks to JONATHAN O BRIEN about his new album, money problems and adapting to middle-age
With the last broadcast up for a Mercury and Slane just around the corner, Jimi Goodwin of Doves is happy to enthuse about Planxty, U2, The Streets and Sean O'Hagan. Just don't call his band "the new Radiohead"
On the surface 1988 was a promising year for Irish music with memorable vinyl provided by The Stars Of Heaven, Something Happens!, A House, Cypress Mine! and the sadly defunct Microdisney – but beneath that veneer, all is not as well as it might seem.
Foburg, a concept album of sorts, features sections of Flannery’s Mounted Head, the song-cycle with visual elements he premiered last year in Cork, as part of the city’s European Capital of Culture celebrations.
As he prepares for the release of his band s third album, Cold And Bouncy, high llamas mainman
sean o hagan tells an awestruck
nick kelly exactly why there s always been a Beach Boys element to his music.
You know him as the straight-talking turkey and Eurovision contender. But, in the confines of his 'pad', Dustin also turns out to be quite the indie rock connoisseur.
She’s one of the chief movers in the Cork music scene. But what does Cork Rocks’ founder Francesca Brown get up to when she’s back at base? Photos by David O'Mahony.
Throughout the '90s and beyond, The Frank And Walters were effectively a lone beacon for Cork rock. But over the last year all that changed, with the emergence of an exciting new scene in the city, centred around the Cork Rocks phenomenon. If the momentum can be maintained, there's enough outstanding young bands strutting their stuff to ensure that the city by the Lee becomes the focus for unprecedented A&R interest.
. . . or overlooking Fountainstown beach in Co. Cork, anyway. METISSE have everyone talking, owing to the sheer unique nature of their music. KEVIN BARRY met them.
STEREOPHONICS are on the up-and-up, their popularity growing without the band making concessions to the London-based music media. GEORGE BYRNE met them to talk about drink, drugs, writer s block and their upcoming Slane support slot.
Mini Pics: MICK QUINN.
The Sultans of Ping may have a penchant still for fetishwear and dirty three-minute pop songs but they’re definitely mellowing as Stuart Clark discovers when he meets Niall O’Flaherty and Pat O’Connell for
afternoon tea. Pix: CATHAL DAWSON
Cakes: Mr. Kipling
To coincide with the release of the Today FM DJ’s double-CD compilation tracking the history of alternative rock in Ireland, Tom Dunne talks to Jackie Hayden about the state of Irish music, singer-songwriters versus guitar bands and the role of Irish radio.
In international terms Ireland’s musical profile was probably never higher than in ’88, with Chris De Burgh, U2 and Enya playing musical chairs for the British No. 1 slot, and Sinead O’Connor and Hothouse Flowers making inroads in the US (despite the squabbling at home).
One might have thought that such a wild and woolly year would have produced a more extraordinary selection of records to mull over in these last weeks.
IF ANYONE deserves to be a fabulously wealthy rock star, it's Cathal Coughlan. For the past 15 years, he's churned out classic after classic, with nary a hint of a high-maintenance blonde, a spell in tax exile or a week in the Priory.
The Llamas records are truly lush affairs, drawing on everything from Beach Boys-style dream pop-harmonies and continental, Gainsbourg-referencing strings to ethnic rhythms and mellow post-rock ambience to create a dazzling aural tapestry.
Catering For Headphones beats with an experimental heart, backed up by superb musicianship and genuinely moving songs of real artistic and musical merit. Refreshingly inventive, often magical and consistently brilliant.
In Ireland, conspicuous celebrity replaced politics. The press didn’t get to interview the Taoiseach so they documented the social activities of his Press Secretary P. J. Mara.
End of term reviewers are a bit like film censors. As they reel in the year, there is a tendency to cut and paste according to their own prejudices and passions.
She may not be a native but Carol O'Beirne, Red FM chief executive, has fallen head-over-heels in love with her adopted home town of Cork. Here, she shares some of the city's secrets with us.
All things considered, the past twelve months are unlikely to be considered essential in the rock’n’roll scheme of things. It was a year when few new acts came to the public eye and those that did weren’t breaking any particularly new ground.
Each Man Kills The Thing He Loves can't but arrive as a Big Statement. The Virgin Prunes were always elitist, dissembling, treacherous spies in the house of Irish rock.
‘That’s entertainment’ was the message of the year but not as Paul Weller intended it, for in 1986 popular music was closer to mass entertainment as Declan McManus’ pater knew it than any year since Elvis Presley swivelled his hips on the Ed Sullivan show.
