Oisín Kealy Not so much a side-project as an attached-at-the-side-project, Evelyn Evelyn is not only one of the must thinly veiled musical hoaxes in history, but also one of the most interesting and affecting (barring of course Joaquin Phoenix’s foray into hip-hop– that was a hoax, right?). Dresden Dolls’ Amanda Palmer and long-time friend/collaborator Jason [...]
Oisin Kealy Support is important. Pillars, counsellors, bras — if all of these things suddenly disappeared there would be disastrous, and in some cases humourously puerile, consequences. Support bands, ideally, should warm up a crowd for the main act. A carbon copy is not what you want, but it is always good practice to attempt [...]
Oisin Kealy Bryce Dessner will be best known as a member of The National, but this guest star-studded extracurricular effort may prove much more timeless than anything his day job has produced so far. The album begins on a high with Cocodrillo, a polyphonic jungle hymnal. Vocal articulations rebound and reflect off each other, unaccompanied, [...]
Oisín Kealy sees what is on offer at this year’s Celtic Connections festival The Swell Season – Glasgow City Halls – 16/01/2010 Marketa Irglova, looking very Celtic in a green dress more Riverdance than rock and roll, kneels down with a toy keyboard beside Glen Hansard, past lover and current musical soulmate, and the two [...]
Oisin Kealy speaks to Stewart Henderson about his record label, Chemikal Underground Did you start Chemikal underground primarily as an outlet for your own band, The Delgados? Well actually, I’ll disabuse that notion right from the start. The Delgados were certainly the first band to be released, but Chemikal Underground was not created by us [...]
Oisin Kealy As with her acting, Charlotte Gainsbourg’s music tends towards emotional minimalism. Her last album made for pleasant listening but carried little weight; certainly not enough to put any strain on the legs of a coffee table. IRM is thankfully a much less anaemic affair, and though it may be useless to scramble for [...]
Oisín Kealy checks in with punk pioneer Toyah Wilcox Does it feel like thirty years since It’s a Mystery? No, because I performed it six weeks ago to thirty thousand people, it’s remained completely constant. I don’t really think back, I’ve got too much going on. I feel absolutely no connection to the eighties at [...]
Oisín Kealy It would be hard as a student not to have come into contact with Bret Mckenzie and Jemaine Clement’s subtly brilliant brand of musical burlesque. If you happen to be deaf, you will at least know them as the reason animal jumpers are now in improbable vogue. After spending their best on last [...]
Oisín Kealy Burnt out pumpkins strewing the hall, an out-of-control bonfire across the street spewing smoke across Byres Road, people walking home at 8am dressed as Snap, Crackle and Pop — I don’t even need to leave my flat to see the signs: it’s Christmas. Halloween should really just be rebranded “Christmas launch night; with [...]
Oisín Kealy Walking to the Barrowlands in the daytime is somehow harder for me than at night. I don’t recognise these streets when the sun is, if not out, at least buried behind a mountain of rain clouds, and as such am slightly derailed on my way to this interview on an absolutely miserable day. [...]
