Earlier this year, the Tallaght rapper Curtisy released the debut album What Was The Question? one of the finest Irish rap albums, nay, Irish albums of the year. With a Deluxe version of the album out now, I spoke to Gavin Curtis aka Curtisy about starting out rapping in 2021 and meeting Ahmed, With Love and making their first song 'Men On A Missio…

Episode 267 with Andrea and Niall sharing their favourite music of the month. [Patreon Preview] In this episode, Nialler and Andrea kick off the chat with Halloween experiences, Andrea stays up for the Trump show, and advocates for leaving Twitter you guys. Then we highlight our favourite tracks and albums from October, including new albums from Ir…

Tyler, The Creator dropped his seventh studio album Chromakopia on Monday morning after only announcing the album a matter of days before release. As one of the most compelling album artists in rap, and an artist who is on a great run of records including Flower Boy (2017), Igor (2019), Call Me If You Get Lost (2021), how does Chromakopia stack up?…

Niall chats to Ray O'Donohue, the recently appointed Night-Time Economy Advisor for Dublin City. What is a night mayor? A night czar? A night-time economy advisor? Well, my perception of what it entails is someone who advocates and advises local city council policy and decision-making on what is required in order to make the city more liveable at n…

The Scottish duo's 1998 debut album is the subject of this month's Listen Closely listening party and podcast. Boards Of Canada's debut album Music Has The Right To Children on Warp Records/SKAM is a modern classic, a highly evocative collection of music, operating like a fading childhood memory, a creeping nostalgic collage of analogue electronic …

From now on, the Best of the Month episode is Patreon-only. Public subscribers get the first 25 minutes or so. Patreon members get to hear the whole episode on their member feeds or on Patreon direct. Episode 263 comes at us fast with Niall Byrne and Andrea Cleary's monthly music recommendations. Chatting Indie Sleaze, a reason to be cheerful with …

Last Friday, Culture Night in Dublin, the Tola Vintage shop in Temple Bar's annual block party was shut down by the Gardaí, and three people were arrested. The police actions were met with criticism for the use of excessive force and suggestions of an underlying racial motivation. The Gardaí's statement about the matter cited "public safety concern…

From now on, the Best of the Month episode is Patreon-only. Public subscribers get the first 25 minutes or so. Patreon members get to hear the whole episode on their member feeds or on Patreon direct. It’s the Nialler9 Podcast’s monthly episode where Niall and Andrea recommend albums and songs of recent weeks. Episode 261 of the Nialler9 Podcast fe…

Episode #260 of the Nialler9 Podcast is a long overdue Andrea deep dive into the life and times and music of Josh Tillman aka Father John Misty - Andrea's Cool Big Guy. Over nearly TWO HOURS, Andrea takes us through the highlights of his albums: Fear Fun, I Love You, Honeybear; Pure Comedy, God's Favourite Customer and Chloë and the Next 20th Centu…

Niall is joined by journalist and arts writer Aoife Barry to review the fourth album from the Fontaines - new chapter, new label, new look, new sound for the band? Romance signifies some change from the Fontaines, their first on new label XL Recordings, they have graduated from the indie producer du jour Dan Carey with James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, B…

From now on, the Best of the Month episode is going Patreon-only. Public subscribers get the first 20 minutes or so. Patreon members get to hear the whole episode on their member feeds or on Patreon direct. It’s the Nialler9 Podcast’s monthly episode where Niall and Andrea recommend albums and songs of recent weeks. Episode 258 of the Nialler9 Podc…

Siobhan McClean aka shiv is an Irish-Zimbabwean producer, singer-songwriter of neo-soul, RnB and lo-fi hip-hop who has shared two songs from the forthcoming debut album the defiance of a sadgirl this September, 'Limerence' and 'Cherry Pie', the latter featuring Kojaque, and produced by Gaptoof. I spoke to Shiv about the nature of collaborating and …

Exploring a subset of electronic music made in France from the years 1996 to 2004. It's the latest episode in the Niall explains a dance music genre to Andrea series. What is French Touch? For some it means house music of French origin of the '90s and 2000s. For me, it's more defined. French Touch is more of a subgenre almost exclusively made by Fr…

From this episode going forward, the Best of the Month episode is going Patreon-only. Public subscribers get the first 20 minutes or so for free but to hear the whole episode you'll have to sign up to Patreon to hear all 70 minutes of the podcast. It’s the Nialler9 Podcast’s monthly episode where Niall and Andrea recommend albums and songs of recen…

It's our annual look at the contenders for the song of the summer. There's no formula for writing a song of the summer, the same way that you can't guarantee a Christmas classic, but there are some ground rules that seem to apply for most of the songs in contention every year. As noted by Mark Savage's The secrets of a hit summer song piece, some k…

It’s a new album special as we take a deep dive into Charli XCX’s sixth album brat. On Episode 253 we are joined by Kelly Doherty (of The Vinyl Factory, Satellite Towns and formerly Nialler9) to discuss all things brat from the clubby rollout to the surprising vulnerability and insecurities on Charli’s latest record. We put in context of her career…

It’s the Nialler9 Podcast’s monthly episode where Niall and Andrea recommend albums and songs of recent weeks. Episode 252 of the Nialler9 Podcast and we are excited and enthusing about music of May. There are songs from Kynsy, His Father's Voice, PinkPantheress, Clairo, Kawaii Hoe and Charli XCX. And albums this month from Papa Romeo, Billie Eilis…

On Episode 251, Niall gets the chance to talk about one of his favourite all-time records from his favourite band. "Don’t try this at home on your dad’s stereo — only under strict hip-hop supervision.."] Join Niall and Andrea to hear why Beastie Boys' fourth album from 1994 Ill Communication is one of the best around - with chat about how the band …

It’s the Nialler9 Podcast’s monthly episode where Niall and Andrea talk about the albums and songs they loved this month. It's episode 250 (!) of the Nialler9 Podcast and we are sharing our enthusiasm for albums from Curtisy, Rachel Chinouriri, Jessica Pratt, Bálordabreen and tracks from Chappell Roan, Jamie xx, Baby Rose / BadBadNotGood, Sloucho, …

Episode 249 of the Nialler9 Podcast and we have a grab bag free-range episode with Niall and Andrea discussing: Hozier is the first Irish artist in 34 years to get a US #1 The Kendrick, Drake, J. Cole rap beef The reaction to Taylor Swift's Tortured Poets Department The Electric Picnic lineup Lankum, CMAT and Jazzy nominated for Ivor Novello Awards…

The West Kerry DJ and radio presenter Cian Ó Cíobháin marks 25 years of An Taobh Tuathail, his alternative new music show which has been running for five nights a week on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta since 1999. Cian joins us to pick 6 tracks to represent his radio show over the years, and to discuss his process, DJing and how he has managed to present…

Episode 247 is a deep dive into a seminal '90s debut album from Fiona Apple. Fiona Apple – Tidal (1996) The debut album from the then 18 year-old American singer-songwriter established the artist’s unique raw songcraft that blends pop, rock, and jazz. Featuring the songs ‘Criminal’, ‘Shadowboxer’, ‘Sleep to Dream’, and ‘The First Taste’, Tidal is a…

Niall and Andrea are talking about the A B, and Cs of Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé’s eighth studio album on Episode 246. A for America B For Beyonce C for Country (and D for Discourse) This 80 minutes and 27 track album, serving as Act 2 in the Renaissance trilogy, was purported to be Beyoncé's country album. That's not what has bolted from the stables. …

It’s the Nialler9 Podcast’s monthly episode where Niall and Andrea talk about the albums and songs they loved this month. Episode 245 is a ping-pong new disco recommends, with music discussed from Waxahatchee, Adrianne Lenker, New Jackson, Tatyana, Travis & Elzzz, Glass Beams, Charli XCX, Havvk, Group Listening, Two Shell / FKA Twigs and Mildlife (…

This month's deep dive Listen Closely album is: Portishead - Dummy (1994) The debut album from the Bristol trio of Geoff Barrow, Beth Gibbons, and Adrian Utley was released during the summer of Blur’s Parklife and Oasis’s Definitely Maybe. Dummy was a darker, stranger record that would become a trip-hop classic that paired hip-hop, jazz, and electr…

Today's episode is a bit of a grab bag of news items, but musicians speaking truth to power is a common theme. Niall and Andrea discuss: Lankum winning the Choice Music Prize and their speech that encouraged the boycott of Israel Kneecap's show of Solidarity with Palestine on the Late Late Show & their US TV debut All the Irish bands including Knee…

It’s the Nialler9 Podcast’s monthly episode where Niall and Andrea talk about the albums and songs they loved in the last four weeks. Episode 242 is a return to the music recommends corner, featuring new album picks from Fynch, Thee U.F.O, Declan McKenna, Mohammad Syfkhan and new songs from Adrianne Lenker, Brittany Howard, Niamh Regan, Jessica Pra…

On this near-annual episode, Niall and Andrea are joined by writer and journalist Sophia McDonald to discuss the 10 nominated albums in this year’s Choice Music Prize Irish album of the year 2023 category, as chosen by 11 judges. The albums are: Grian Chatten – Chaos For The Fly (Partisan Records) The debut album from the Fontaines DC frontman. CMA…

The hosts of the Nialler9 Podcast (Niall Byrne and Andrea Cleary) in conjunction with The Big Romance present the Listen Closely series of listening parties, a night featuring a focus album from an artist we love on the last Wednesday of the month. To accompany the monthly listening party on Wednesday February 28th – 7.30pm @ The Big Romance, we pr…

On this week's pod, it's a deep dive into an album from one of our perennial favourites, as it celebrates 20 years. It's the turn of the MF DOOM and Madlib's classic 2004 album Madvillainy by Madvillain, a dense, psychedelic, colourful rap album that quickly cemented itself as one of the best rap albums of all time when it came out on Stones Throw …

The Nialler9 Podcast returns for another season and new year. After taking January off, Niall and Andrea are back discussing what has been happening in music since we closed off the year with the Best of 2023 episodes including Pitchfork's downsizing, the state of music journalism and the Enshittification of online music discovery and discourse, an…

Our final podcast of the year is the fun rapid-fire Podcast Awards! In a year where AI, touring became more difficult for musicians, and Spotify squeezed the emerging artists, We give out awards for things like: Best live gig Best live performance Villain of the year Thing we'd like to go away Best opening song lyric Best bagpipes solo The Alan Mag…

It's the second of our end of year podcasts as Nialler and Andrea Cleary talk 12 albums they loved this year. Featuring albums from Lankum, Boygenius, Noname, Andre 3000, Olivia Rodrigo, Rachael Lavelle, Lana, Kara Jackson, Mitski and more. Next episode: The Nialler9 Podcast Awards 2023. Special thanks to Georgia Hallion for editing this podcast ep…

Episode 235 features Nialler and Andrea Cleary highlighting some of their favourite songs of the year. We are talking tracks we loved from Lankum, Lana, Big Thief, Troye Sivan, CMAT, The Hives, Sofia Kourtesis, Mustafa, Olivia Rodrigo, Rachel Lavelle, Overmono, boygenius and more. All killer no filler. Next episode: Albums of 2023. Special thanks t…

Episode 234 is the latest in the occasional series of the podcast - Andrea's favourite weird little guy. Nialler and Andrea Cleary take a big overview of the main discography of one of our favourite songwriters. Sufjan Stevens is a Detroit Michigan artist, songwriter, composer and multi-instrumentalist who has a deep catalogue of studio albums draw…

On this week’s podcast, episode 233, we are talking about what we learned from fairly shocking Britney Spears’ new autobiography The Woman In Me. Nialler and Andrea Cleary are joined by pop culture writer and DJ Louise Bruton to discuss the chilling details that Britney Spears reveals about her career and private life. That includes her treatment b…

It's the Nialler9 Podcast's monthly episode where Niall and Andrea talk about the albums and songs they loved in the last four weeks. Episode 232 has an exoskeleton theme of accidental spooky picks as we feature new albums from Kojaque, OXN, CMAT, Sufjan, Earl Sweatshirt & The Alchemist and new songs from The Last Dinner Party, I Dreamed I Dream, J…

This week's episode is a chat around the sale of Bandcamp from Epic Games to Songtradr. With streaming paying pennies or less than for many artists, the independently-driven music platform Bandcamp is the last bastion of online revenue making for many bands - allowing musicians to sell their music digitally, and on vinyl or CD direct to their fans.…

The Fandom of Taylor Swift is something that I find so fascinating, particularly the massive surge in popularity in the last 3 or 4 years. Where Taylor couldn’t sell out Croke Park in 2018 on her Reputations tour, her current Eras tour as we’ve discussed before on the podcast, crashed Ticketmaster and has seen such a huge unprecedented demand that …

English electronic musician Kieran Hebden has been a constant artist in my life’s history of listening to music. Recently, the artist has exploded in popularity in his DJ partnership with Skrillex and Fred Again.., but as we’ll discuss, headlining Coachella this year, was just a natural culmination of two decades plus of music making and collaborat…

It's the Nialler9 Podcast's monthly episode where Niall and Andrea talk about the albums and songs we loved in the last four weeks. On Episode 228 we are album focused with new LP chat about records from Mitski, Cleo Sol, The Alchemist, MIKE and Wiki; Olivia Rodrigo, Soda Blonde, Natalia Beylis and an EP from Soccer Mommy. There are songs from Anni…

On Episode 227, we are joined by the acclaimed music writer Bob Stanley, the man behind one of Niall's favourite books Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop and a member of indie-pop group St. Etienne. To celebrate 10 years of Faber Books are reissuing Yeah Yeah Yeah (with a new chapter taking it up to present day) , along with its prequel Let's …

The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu, the JAMs, the Timelords, The KLF. Episode 226 is a look at the UK band that simultaneously topped the pop charts while being divisive art provocateurs. Two British men, the Scotsman Bill Drummond and Englishman Jimmy Cauty created a notorious music project that engulfed the charts, aggravated the art world, upset th…

It's the Nialler9 Podcast's monthly episode where Niall and Andrea talk about the albums and songs they loved in the last four weeks. On Episode 225 we have album recommendations from The Hives, Citrus Fresh and Noname along with song inclusions from Sufjan, Diners, BadBadNotGood, Cartin, Barry Can't Swim and Olivia Rodrigo. Plus what's consuming y…

Episode 224 is a deep dive into the discography of electronic music pioneer Aphex Twin. t's Richard D James, "the godfather of IDM", "the Mozart of Ambient,", the mischievous enigmatic man who I shook hands with once, the artist born in Limerick who has been making weird electronic music since he was the age of 14 for over 35 years now. As Richard …

Episode 223 of the Nialler9 Podcast is a return to the festival field with Nialler9 and Andrea Cleary. We review last weekend's All Together Now Festival in Waterford. Niall shares his experiences of the festival's fourth year, a weekend in which ran the weather gamut from rainy to windy, muddy to sunny. We talk highlights and lowlights, the mud, t…

It's the most popular monthly episode where Niall and Andrea share what's moved them musically from the month of July. On Episode 222 we have selections from Big Thief, Sarah Crean, Andrea's pick of the Barbie soundtrack, another of Niall's song of the summer contenders, Fizz, Aluna, Mitski, The Hives, girlfriend, albums from Blur and Joanna Sternb…

30 years ago this week, Singer Sinead O’Connor sparked outrage when she tore up a picture of the Pope during her musical performance on Saturday Night Live. The fallout of that action is at the centre of Kathryn Ferguson's new documentary about Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares - which is in cinemas this Friday. Following the release of last year'…

This is a rewind of an episode from 2021. Today's episode is all about my favourite subgenre of disco and dance music - Italo. What it is, where it came from and why it's so enduring. Italo disco is a European form of electronic disco that proliferated throughout Europe in the early '80s. It’s a catch all term for 80s electronic pop of mostly Itali…

For a subgenre deep dive, Niall takes a dip into the idea of Balearic music, and finds out that it's not as easy to explain as he first thought. Balearic is often thought of as a signifier of music that is evocative, sun-kissed and downtempo, but as our deep dive discovers Balearic is a feeling, an approach, that encompasses those things but also c…