It’s “an ode to boys who modify their Ford Fiestas with gleaming rims, booming sound systems, gaudy LED lights and spoilers the size of Samuel Beckett Bridge”.
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
Dean: Swimmers Jackson’s breezy guitar pop is right in time for summer
“One of the year’s best Irish albums so far … this is an album for summers outside of urban trappings, right in time for the season.”
Posted inCulture Desk
Dean: Chósta’s downtempo electronica is chilly, mellow and hauntingly beautiful
His first album, Twilight Transmissions, is “an impressive manifesto from a premier voice in Irish electronic music right now”.
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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.”
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.”
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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.”
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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”.