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Frank Ocean Blonde About three years ago I went to see Frank Ocean in Dublin’s Phoenix Park and in truth, it was a largely disappointing gig. Everyone was there to see The Killers, who were headlining, and Frank played a quite subdued,…

Welcome to THE PLAYLIST, where we pick a theme and, er, make a playlist around it. Sometimes you might get an essay, other times you might get just one sentence as a precursor to the laser-focused audio delights that await below. Joshua…

Chance the Rapper Coloring Book It has been fascinating to watch the recent industry reactions to the changing way that people consume music. Instead of some artists only making their work available for purchase upon release, the new…

Rusangano Family Let The Dead Bury The Dead Rusangano Family’s debut album Let The Dead Bury The Dead, like most powerful art, relies upon themes that have been around ever since people began to record their feelings in the form of the…

ZAYN Mind Of Mine In describing his new album, Mind of Mine, One Direction alumni Zayn Malik - aka ZAYN -  has cited a number of interesting artists as being influential on his first solo effort: Tupac Shakur, R Kelly, Prince…

Kendrick Lamar untitled unmastered. Kendrick Lamar’s latest release came about from what seems to be a particularly bizarre set of circumstances. LeBron James – speaking for fans everywhere – took to Twitter in late February to bemoan…

The 1975 I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It It has been fascinating to observe just how intent the entire music industry is on ruining everything for itself all over again in recent years. An…

Amid controversy and expectation, Yeezy's latest finally dropped this week. Joshua Hughes tackles a divisive, tempestuous record in The Life of Pablo. Has Kanye gifted a world he often seems out of touch with to a genius piece of art or…

The fourth in our series of Kanye West retrospectives sees Joshua Hughes argue the merits of the cold, clinical and courageous 808s & Heartbreak... 808s & Heartbreak (2008) The weight of expectation is something that can feel…

Justin Bieber Purpose One of the greatest unsung (:D) talents of many popular musicians is the ability to be utterly dislikeable people in many ways behind the scenes, yet still make music that is both affecting and rings true. Nobody…