Humble Serpent is a new record label launched at possibly the worst time you could pick to launch a record label. Sean Finnan caught up with one of the founders, vinny dermody, a 17 year veteran of Ireland’s independent scene with The Jimmy Cake to find out what kind of a contrary bastard starts a label at a time like this.
Get Into The Groove.
They say the past is another country, but in the case of Ireland – it’s probably more like a parallel fecking looniverse. Rashers Tierney caught up with John Byrne to talk about the strange land that gave birth to the utterly fantastic Quare Groove compilation.
Scratch That Itch.
Above: Patrick O’Brien captures the masked hip-hop crusader in his natural enviroment. From co-founding Galway’s Community Skratch games, being a member of the Vince McMahon scratch super-group to making some seriously innovative music as one half of one man duo Deviant and Naïve Ted, Andy Connolly has been a cornerstone of Irish hip-hop and electronica for over a decade. Martin Leen took the brave step and left Dublin for the … Read More
Give It A Listen.
Above: Breen outside All City with a copy of his EP which came out on Vision Collector. Then his mix from the Deee Deeeeee Hur first birthday in Jigsaw. Breen is one of the founders of Dublin Digital Radio – ddr. which has become a real little community hub for Dublin’s outsider dance scenes. He’ll be one of the heads taking care of upstairs in The Wiley Fox after our screening on December … Read More
The Sonic Roots.
DJ Mek delivers this stomper of a mix delving into the primordial soup of modern dance music. It’s part of RTE2FM’s Masterclass series and is a seriously spine-tingling schooling. Here’s what he had to say about it himself: “I went diggin through New York & L.A. ElectroFunk classics. Old skoolers will remember some of these jams from when Streetsounds mix albums ruled the day in UK, Ireland & Europe. Younger … Read More
Send Into Outer Bass.
Above: When two become one! A link up between the Rise Up and Subversion Sound Systems. Photo credit: Off-Beat Photography. Rashers Tierney surveys the Irish sound system scene ahead of a big tribal gathering in Galway. He takes in eight different crews and leaves the technically baffling chat of hogs, tops and tweeters out of the loop, to instead rewind through their history and what drives them to build their … Read More
Up The Dubplates.
Above: Enda Starr running the controls for the weekly Firehouse show on Radio Na Life 106.4 FM. Find out when to lock in over here. Rashers Tierney caught up with Paul from the legendary Firehouse Skank to hear about hauling the first proper sound system to Ireland in the early 1990s, friends pissing in the wrong place at a rammers gig and that all essential UK link up. Mick T-woc … Read More
Uptown, Top Skanking.
With Townlands Carnival beckoning this weekend, the lads at Rua Sound have put out a mix to get you into them festival vibes. It’s full of that 160 rolling goodness and features a few dubs from their extended fam. Sadly, we’ve yet to make it down to Townloands Carnival – but it’s Goat Shed, Riddim Shack and Sub Atomic line ups look bleddy ace. Save it for the car journey … Read More
It’s A London Thing.
With Grenfell Tower still bowling us over, here’s a track from late 2016 that captures some of the raw rage of a divided London. It’s from Jammz and was put on his I Am Grime label. It’s essentially a refix of Scott Garcia’s 1997 UK garage classic It’s A London Thing. While the original bumped along with a good time swagger, Jammz flips the mood on this one to dish some reality … Read More
Dun Talkin.
The reality music of Jinx Lennon shows us that we can engage with everyday life and not go under. Influenced as much by post punk and hip hop the Dundalk man is a different breed of singer songwriter altogether. He released two albums in 2016 after a six year break. We packed Martin Leen off up to Dundalk for a chat with the lad. So there has been a long … Read More