His first album, Twilight Transmissions, is “an impressive manifesto from a premier voice in Irish electronic music right now”.
Author Archives: Dean Van Nguyen
Dean Van Nguyen is a cultural critic and music journalist for The Irish Times, The Guardian, Pitchfork, Bandcamp Daily and Wax Poetics, among others. As well as pop culture, he writes about identity, youth, race relations and Dublin.
Posted inCulture Desk, Feb 22nd, 2023
Dean: New Pagans’ Second Album Pulls Together Many Strands of Rock History
On it, they “incorporate various styles, tones and flavours … Most dominant is a feeling that this is music that could appear in a 1990s Hollywood teen comedy and/or teen slacker flick.”
Posted inCulture Desk, Jan 11th, 2023
Dean: Meryl Streek’s Avante-Punk Music Screams in Anger at the Tuam Scandal
Throughout his debut album, “796”, the musician returns time and again to the tragedy, ensuring his fury hits every deserving target.
Posted inCulture Desk, Nov 30th, 2022
Dean: Forty Years Later, The Virgin Prunes’ Debut Album Is Still a Gothic Post-Punk Masterwork
“Now, to mark its 40th anniversary, a new reissue has been released, offering the perfect chance for rediscovery.”
Posted inCulture Desk, Oct 26th, 2022
Dean: Sorcha Richardson and Aoife Nessa Frances Epitomise Dublin Indie Excellence
Both have new albums out, and they’re both Irish album-of-the-year contenders, writes our reviewer.
Posted inCulture Desk, Sep 14th, 2022
Dean: Jermiside and The Expert’s Intercontinental Rap Alliance is About Humanity’s Worst Impulses
“Across a full-length album, Jermiside and The Expert fit together like puzzle pieces, complementing each other’s styles as two separate entities that synthesise perfectly.”
Posted inAug 17th, 2022, Culture Desk
Dean: TraviS X Elzzz Are Taking Drill Music Seriously
“The duo are in the great lineage of rappers who quickly pass the mic back and forth, providing the ying to the other’s yangs, two kindred souls kindling together.”
Posted inCulture Desk, Jul 13th, 2022
Dean: Coolock’s RikShaw Makes Catchy Rap Songs for the Summer
His three-song project “Limited Edition”, due for release 15 July, is “the sort of music you could listen to every week of a permanent summer”.
Posted inCulture Desk, Jun 8th, 2022
Dean: Kayleigh Noble Makes Woozy R&B Music For Conditions of the Heart
And it’s all “performed by a woman who has developed a style that lets her tell it in the smoothest way possible”.
Posted inMay 4th, 2022, Opinion
Dean: Fontaines D.C. Update the Formula
The Dublin-born post-punk band’s third album, “‘Skinty Fia’ proves their peak is either not over, or not here yet”.