That music’s lost its taste, so try another flavour: Chart Music

This blog has always been behind the times. It doesn’t wear this as a badge of honour, partly because it can’t be bothered to go out and find one. The tragedy of it is that I Have Grave News took a six year hiatus (and no one noticed because they were all getting on with […]

Ghosts of music past

I heard a well-known pop song from 2003 on the television the other night. I was watching a lifestyle programme of some kind, I can’t even remember what, but the song immediately brought a smile to my face. I tapped along. As I recall, it came out around the time my first child was born. […]

Talk about pop music, talk about pop music…

Music criticism is no place for the squeamish Over the past decade, I’ve found that being a music critic of any repute requires a thicker skin than most musicians could dream of owning. Putting an opinion out there, into the vast muddle of public irritation and apathy, requires a lot more gumption than people might […]

Marr, Morrissey and the notion that comebacks don’t work

Last week, as I write, this blog and its beloved went to see Johnny Marr play at that lugubrious Dublin venue, The Academy. For anyone in their 40s who had seen The Smiths in their heyday (i.e. any point in their brief career), it was an extraordinary experience. Johnny Marr has finally settled back into […]

Saviours of Irish rock? The return of 79Cortinaz

They’re back! Back?! BAACK!! Carlow’s foremost rock ‘n’ roll sons (i.e. band) 79Cortinaz have risen from the grave and seem intent on returning to the studio to entertain us with further adventures in rural indie guitar rock. They released their debut album Hopioki in early 2008, before apparently breaking up in December of that year. […]

I never never want to go home, because I haven’t Gok Wan…

Clever old spammers. No sooner is Gok Wan in Dublin to peddle his range of retro frames at Specsavers than the cookies get to work trying to find appropriate blog posts to spam. Congrats to the cookies, then, for finding several posts on IHGN which, for some obscure reason, seem to suggest that I’m a […]

2002 – A Hella Good year for music?

This week, BBC 6 music is a decade old, a fine landmark for a station which almost didn’t make it this far. Thanks to the efforts of listeners and well-wishers, it was saved from the chop, and thank heavens. The station’s birthday celebrations have kicked off in earnest this week and, as these things tend […]

Dear reader, meet Screenreader

At the end of January this year, young Cork trio Screenreader released their self-produced debut album Disconnect The Dots. On first listen, there’s little doubt that it’s a “homemade” record but it doesn’t take long to grow on you. It’s a charming triumph of aspiration and conviction over quite obvious fiscal restriction. These are […]

Working class heroes?

A wafer, God’s sake. For some obscure reason, the shockingly awful song “Blue Riband Blues” is stuck in my head today. This song, sung by Mike Berry in the 1980s’ commercial, advertised Blue Riband biscuits – lightweight chocolate-covered wafers that were “the very thing”, as my late Granny used to say, to have with a […]

Jeremys #4: Healy

Fourth in a “series” of short tributes to well-known people called Jeremy There was a short period of time when Jeremy Healy was a hero of mine. Back in 1982, before I really knew what clothes were for, I was smitten by a pair of musical designer tramps called Haysi Fantayzee, featuring Jeremy ‘Jeremiah’ Healy […]