People tend to look at me like I have two heads if I mention I haven't been to Other Voices. It's treated as a pilgrimage by industry heads, musicians, and the Irish Music Sickos that I keep company with. And me not going isn't
I promised a Fourth Best radio show some day, and now I'm making good on that promise immediately
the duo's "get a life!" is a short album showing years of evolution and a wide array of influences for both producer and rapper, so here it is in their own words; the international and local names that move them, the many sessions, the singular hater in the comments, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
living with music on The Computer in the platform age, fear of slop, and the messy first steps towards a contemporary Irish music archive.
Each year, Fourth Best recognises an Irish record that deserves a bigger place in the end-of-year conversation. It might not be the best album of the year. But it might be the fourth. Today, what the future sounds like, and the groundswell that will take us there, plus a brief trip to Cork.
an interlude before the fourth best album of the year piece
reflecting on Rory Sweeney's solo return to the boundary of the silly and the sublime, live on stage at the Button Factory in our second public Q&A of the year
the future of our past, fourth best's original sin, a manifesto in reverse, and one of 2025's best albums: Carving The Stone by For Those I Love
talking his debut album, the changing shape of curation, the value of events ranging from Clash at the Quays to Blue Niall's Oisín. "I’m giving it five years: the thing a young person says is their favourite thing will be Irish. Without a doubt, they’ll say their favourite shit is from home."
a review of sorts about the All Together Now weekend; nothing new, but everything bigger than before
on the search for home in Irish music and the spectre of death behind its shoulder: "dead towns" and "dying cities"; what's next for RÓIS and For Those I Love and my favourite Irish album of the year so far, Ithaca by Lullahush
highlights of the year so far featuring Cold Summit, Peter O'Sullivan, Rita Lynn, OUCH™, and the many gigs that I wish I covered sooner