RADIATORS – GHOSTOWN 40th Anniversary Reissue – Double CD (Chiswick Records 2019)
There are few albums as ingrained in my head as GHOSTOWN, and while I thought it would be an easy one to rattle off a few words about, the act …
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MORE FUN IN THE NEW WORLD – THE UNMAKING OF LA PUNK – John Doe with Tom DeSavia and friends (Da Capo Press 2019)
When UNDER THE BIG BLACK SUN was published in 2016, I mistakenly expected it to be a biographical piece on X as told by John Doe. There’s certainly a worthy …
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RAMONES – Road to Ruin – 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Rhino 2018)
When ROAD TO RUIN was released in September 1978, it was the first of many watershed moments for the Ramones. Where the first 3 albums were a natural progression of …
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EXTRAVISION – DEMO cassette (Art For Blind Records 2018)
It has been a long time since I purchased a cassette. I wouldn’t exactly say I’m repellant to the format… from black shelled and orange-labeled BASF LH SMs to ubiquitous …
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THE NUMBER ONES – ANOTHER SIDE OF THE NUMBER ONES 7” EP (Static Shock Records 2018)
Sporadic comes in many forms and The Number Ones, amongst other things, have sporadic down to a fine art with a gap of 3 ½ years since the release of …
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STRANGE PASSION – Explorations in Irish post punk, DIY and electronic music 1980-83 (CacheCache / Finders Keepers Records 2012)
About 4 years ago, a certain rabid and dedicated blogger compiled 7 volumes of a very excellent bootleg series called Synthesizers Rules 1978-1983 ( cough! ) collating a diaspora of proto …
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PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED – One Drop EP (PiL Official Ltd label 2012)
Public Image Limited is an entity that has been with me since that beautifully skewed performance of FLOWERS OF ROMANCE on Top Of The Pops several centuries ago. The unlikelihood …
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The RADIATORS From Space – SOUND CITY BEAT ( Chiswick Records 2012 )
Scattered throughout the minefield of modern music, albums of covers have been recorded by musicians and non musicians for infinite reasons – influence (Ramones), homage (Bowie), lack of ideas (Metallica), …
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WHERE WERE YOU? – DUBLIN YOUTH CULTURE & STREET STYLE 1950-2000 ( Garry O’Neill / Hi Tone Books 2011 )
The prevailing habit of documenting Dublin’s youth has always been to roll out tales of stale bread, carbolic soap, ten to a bed and death by TB before the age …
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XENO AND OAKLANDER – SET AND LIGHTS ( Wierd Records )
There’s an instinctive symbiosis that comes with a rare few synth-based duos… something vaguely detectable in the quality that’s difficult to put in words… like a digital genetic compatibility… whatever …
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