This is our first time doing this. No long tradition, no rulebook — just a year of listening, writing, arguing, revisiting, and occasionally changing our minds. The Hidden Awards grew naturally out of what The...
Editorial Team
Latest News
Emma LawlorBruno Mars Announces Tour After a Decade
The Romantic Tour Global music icon Bruno Mars today announced The Romantic Tour, his first full global headline tour in nearly a decade, alongside the release of his new single “I Just Might.” This announcement marks...
Caitlin ConnorsIrish Artists Triple Chart Share
Ireland’s music industry is celebrating a significant achievement. Domestic artists now make up more than 21% of the Irish Top 100, showing a threefold increase in chart share over recent years. In a market that has...
Akshita Siddhapura
Tori SheehanMorrissey Starts 2026 Of by Cancelling Concerts
New Year, same old Morrissey, the former Smiths singer, has officially cancelled his California concerts “due to an adverse reaction to a prescription medication”. The now 66-year-old has issued a statement. “Please...
New Music Reviews
Chain Yer Dragon
By GooseOver the last few years, Goose have steadily built a reputation as a band willing to blur the lines between rock, jam, funk, and soul. Known just as much for their live chemistry as their studio work, the band has...
Matt Lucey
The Blues Is My Biography
By Billy Branch and the Sons of BluesWhen it comes to modern Chicago blues, few names carry as much weight as Billy Branch. A master harmonica player and longtime torchbearer of the genre, Branch has spent decades making sure the blues stays alive. With...
Heavy Metal
By Cameron WinterFrom the mind of Cameron Winter: Cameron Winter’s thoughts Cameron Winter is an American singer songwriter that you may already be acquainted with. Not only has he become one of the most interesting and unique...
Adam Kenny
Stardust
By Danny BrownDanny Brown returns with his seventh studio album, Stardust. A beginning of sorts, it’s his first release while sober, and sees a new direction to his music. With elements of hyperpop, EDM and industrial hip-hop...
Ronan O'Brien
Blizzard
By Dove Ellis2025 was another stellar year of new releases. While new releases can often be overlooked in December, I stumbled upon a gem with Dove Ellis’ debut album, Blizzard. Dove Ellis Hailing from Galway, Dove Ellis moved...
The Red Album (vol.2)
By Carsie BlantonAfter a busy year spent touring and fighting for her convictions, Carsie Blanton returns with the second volume of The Red Album. This new effort, self-produced and crowd-funded and available for free on her website, is...
Richard BodinEssentials Albums
Messe pour le temps présent
By Pierre Henry, Michel ColombierThe 1960s were a period of profound transformation. Across Europe, a post-war generation was questioning inherited structures, demanding greater freedom, and reimagining the role of art in society. Music, cinema, visual...
First Impressions of Earth
By The StrokesGive or take a month, it’s been twenty years since The Strokes released their third studio album, First Impressions of Earth. While the album was slightly criticised upon release as their weakest, I disagree...
Let us tell you a story
Ring Out the Old: George Harrison’s ‘Ding Dong, Ding Dong’
George Harrison’s Ding Dong, Ding Dong has often been dismissed as a seasonal curio — a festive footnote in a catalogue otherwise filled with spiritual searching, quiet introspection, and musical depth. Yet beneath its...
Playlist
Don’t Miss Them – vol.1
With so much great music constantly slipping through the cracks, we’re trying something new. Alongside our usual reviews and features, we’ll now be curating regular playlists — released with key drops or gathered...
Live Shows
Kneecap Claim the Three Arena and Make It Theirs – 16 december 2025, Dublin
A Milestone, Not Just a Gig There are gigs that feel like nights out, and there are gigs that feel like milestones. Kneecap’s sold-out show in the Three Arena was unmistakably the latter. This was not just another stop...
An Luimníochach Mascáilte
BC Camplight Lights Up Dolan’s Kasbah in Limerick – November 21, 2025
Back in July, I discovered this new artist: BC Camplight. When I say « new », of course I mean new to me, as he has been around for 20 years already, and I had completely missed him. His latest album, A Sober...
Latest Movies
Anaconda
By Tom GormicanSome films don’t want to change your life. They just want to distract you from it, ideally with something ridiculous, loud, and utterly unconcerned with logic. Anaconda (2025) lands firmly in that tradition, a reboot...
Peter Burrows
Tron: Ares
By Joachim RønningWhen I first saw Tron as a child growing up in Ireland, arcades were still the stuff of American legend. We’d heard whispers of neon-lit dens filled with machines that swallowed quarters and spat out high scores, but...
Latest Interview
Syd Matters Returns: Jonathan Morali Looks Back and Ahead
When I discovered Syd Matters twenty years ago following the good advice of a friend, I automatically took a liking to him. My friend told me: « think Robert Wyatt, Nick Drake, and Grandaddy… His name is Syd...
Books
A River Runs Through It
Last year, to celebrate the 10 years anniversary of Limerick-based band Anna’s Anchor, photographer Keith Kelly was tasked to assemble a photo exhibition. The idea evolved into a coffee-table book that was published...
Older Articles
First band online: The Doo-Wop Queens of Particle Physics
Have you ever wondered what was the first photo ever uploaded on the web? Le Baiser by Robert Doisneau? Man on the Moon, maybe ? Nope… Nothing like that. Have you ever heard of Michele de Gennaro, Angela Higney...
A Cool Cat Christmas Playlist
If there’s one word to describe Christmas, it’s tradition. Before the commercialisation and consumerism of the festive period, Christmas was a much simpler time. While this may be putting years on ourselves...
In the Belly of the Eternal Draw
By Citrus CitrusComing from Italy, Citrus Citrus is quietly making its mark on the country’s growing psychedelic scene. After a first self-produced album, Albedo Massima (2023), the quintet returns with its second full-length, In The...
Friend
By Medi and the Medicine ShowMedi and the Medicine Show might not be a household name just yet, but Friend feels like the work of a band that knows exactly who they are. There’s an honesty running through the album — not flashy, not overproduced —...
All Washed Up
By Cheap TrickCheap Trick are one of those bands that feel like they’ve always been around, whether you actively listen to them or not. Their music lives in that sweet spot between classic rock grit and power-pop polish, and All...
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
By The Smashing PumpkinsThirty years ago, Billy Corgan and the band wanted to create a double album. What they conceived instead was a triple album; a journey of the cosmos and emotions in 28 songs. The Marvellous, Splendid, Magnificent...
Rubber Soul
By The BeatlesOn December 3rd, Rubber Soul turned 60 years old, and it’s hard to overstate just how important that is — not just for The Beatles, but for popular music as a whole. Six decades later, the album still feels fresh...
My Generation
By The WhoIn December 1965, The Who had already made a name for themselves when they released their debut album: My Generation. The band had acquired a dedicated audience through epic live performances, and had released a few...
Horses
By Patti SmithFifty years ago, Patti Smith and her group ventured into Electric Lady Studios. What they left with became a seminal and cultural piece, flinging open the doors for the punk scene that followed. This is the enigmatic...
Giants & Monsters
By HelloweenBack to the Power: How Giants & Monsters Rekindles Helloween’s I hadn’t listened to a Helloween album in a long time. I’d pretty much lost interest in them back in the ’90s after they released a couple of terrible...
David Moya
A Quiet Riot Inside
By Neptune BloodWith so much music constantly being released on a global scale, it’s often easy to miss local acts with real talent. Luckily, my ears were opened to neptune blood courtesy of their debut EP, A Quiet Riot Inside...
Sweet Little Angel
By Buddy Guy, Joe BonamassaTwo Legends I have, in the past, sung the praises of both Joe Bonamassa and Buddy Guy. It really is a special time to be alive, when both of these giants get to play together. From Buddy Guys massive impact on the music...
Son of Spergy
By Daniel CaesarDaniel Caesar returns to the scene with the release of his fourth studio album, Son of Spergy. With maturity, humility and self-discovery, Caesar’s beautiful vocals are a blessing in themselves. Daniel Caesar A...
Jackie Deluxe Will Have His Revenge On Castlebar
By The Béchamel BoysSelf-proclaimed “pint-punkers”, The Béchamel Boys strut their stuff on their newest single. Absurdity, humour and incredible energy, these boys are anything but creamy. The Béchamel Boys A band that is...
Modern Mythologies
By David KeenanPoet & composer David Keenan returns with his fourth studio album, Modern Mythologies. Bringing forward the old Irish tradition of storytelling through the lens of a modern world, the Dundalk native beautifully...
