A short history of French Touch

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?With Tyler bigger than ever and selling out two 3Arena Dublin shows this week, I take a deep dive into the record with self-confessed Tyler Stan Max Zanga aka Filmore!.While it may look like a conceptual character record on paper, we discuss Tyler's clear vulnerabilities about his place in the world as a successful 30-something materially-rich rapper (“Biggest in the city after Kenny [Kendrick Lamar], that’s a fact now”) while Tyler grapples with whether or not he's ready to become a father (2024 is truly the year pop stars started writing about whether they should have children), whether he wants or needs a long-term relationship, and there's a re-examination of Tyler's own established narrative with his own estranged father.Filmore!'s latest EP Idle Death Gamble is out now, as is Chromakopia.*Finally - apologies about the audio quality this week, as host, producer and editor I messed up my audio source this week meaning we are hearing the webcam audio :( * Support Nialler9 on Patreon, get event discounts, playlists, ad-free episodes and join our Discord communityListen on Apple | Android | ACAST | Patreon | Pocketcasts | CastBox | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS Feed Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 night, more culturally rich, safer, and to be the glue between various communities like venue owners, promoters, night time economy workers and those who make decisions around how the city operates at night time. But we’re not going to take my word for it, we’re going to talk to Dublin's first night-time economy advisor Ray O'Donohue.O’Donoghue is known for his work in events and the Sea Sessions festival, before his appointment in April. Last week, Dublin City Council shared its Night-Time Economy Strategy – “a comprehensive plan designed to cultivate a thriving night-time culture in our city”, spearheaded by Ray O’Donoghue and supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport, and Media.So, I talked to Ray about his plans to help Dublin night-life, and what we can expect from the role for Dublin city...* Support Nialler9 on Patreon, get event discounts, playlists, ad-free episodes and join our Discord communityListen on Apple | Android | ACAST | Patreon | Pocketcasts | CastBox | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS Feed Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 music, samples from public service broadcasting programming, with inspirations from to hip-hop beats, ambient techno and psychedelia.Join Niall and Andrea to discuss the liminal legacy of Music Has The Right To Children, and discover how library music, Sesame Street and nature documentaries all inform the album, and we chat about the album’s childhood nostalgia, and its preoccupation with a retrofuturistic nostalgia and memory. Join us at the Big Romance on Wednesday October 30th for our Listening Party for the album. You won't want to miss the chance to hear this on vinyl as loud as possible!The Listen Closely series of listening party nights in The Big Romance, featuring a focus album from an artist we love on the last Wednesday of every month. It's a chance to appreciate a modern classic album played loud on vinyl through the bar's beautiful Toby Hatchett soundsystem with a chat about the record before and after, whether you know it and love it, or if it's brand new to you. * Support Nialler9 on Patreon, get event discounts, playlists, ad-free episodes and join our Discord communityListen on Apple | Android | ACAST | Patreon | Pocketcasts | CastBox | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS Feed Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 the return of Adebisi Shank and a chat about club culture post-pandemic.Then we highlight new albums from Floating Points (this is the Jamie xx Substack post that annoyed Niall), and Henry Earnest along with songs from Bon Iver, Ahmed With Love, Maria Somerville, Freak Slug, FKA Twigs, Fionn Regan, Nilufer Yanya and a Teac Damsa Nobodaddy-inspired closing pick.Plus, TV, film and books we're enjoying in the What's Consuming You? corner.* Support Nialler9 on Patreon, get event discounts, playlists, ad-free episodes and join our Discord communityListen on Apple | Android | ACAST | Patreon | Pocketcasts | CastBox | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS Feed Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 concerns" but that doesn't explain how an innocuous gathering of people inside and outside a vintage shop escalated into baton-charging, threats of pepper-spray and a disproportionate number of guards clearing the busy Temple Bar area with an unwarranted heavy-handiness.The incident happened, in an increasingly hostile environment for minority communities in Ireland. Why was a block party in Temple Bar, that was giving no immediate pressing trouble, met with violence, while violence at far right protests and the burning of buildings earmarked for asylum seekers goes unpunished?Ireland is seeing an increasing number of anti-immigrant accounts online, and the verbal abuse of people of colour has increased, while just this week, the government’s Justice Minister Helen McEntee has dropped the incitement or hate speech sections of the Criminal Justice Bill.On this week's podcast, we talk to Silent Jee, a DJ on the night about what went down from his perspective, and how the guards showing up at the block party is nothing new. We explore how these kinds of actions are familiar to black and POC in Ireland's creative community. We talk to Mo Cultivation's Bekah Molony about what allies and peers can do and how nothing has changed since the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020. Things have arguably gone the other way.* Support Nialler9 on Patreon, get event discounts, playlists, ad-free episodes and join our Discord communityListen on Apple | Android | ACAST | Patreon | Pocketcasts | CastBox | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 features albums from MJ Lenderman and Sabrina Carpenter, along with songs from Moin, Adore, RÓIS, and a song discovery from Another Love Story festival.We also pay tribute to Eoin French, of the Cork project Talos who sadly passed away last month.* Support Nialler9 on Patreon, get event discounts, playlists, ad-free episodes and join our Discord communityListen on Apple | Android | ACAST | Patreon | Pocketcasts | CastBox | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS FeedShow notesSongs played on the Nialler9 Podcast Spotify PlaylistFollow Nialler9 on Insta | Twitter | Youtube | Spotify Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 Century, his run of albums from 2012 to 2022.Our chat takes in topics of masculinity, lyrical explorations, cynicism, playing with character and performer roles, entertainment, ecology, doom-laden rants, societal schisms, online living, political nightmares and psychedelic experiences. You know... the small stuff.The Nialler9 Podcast presents a Listening Party for Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear (2015) at The Big Romance in Dublin on Wednesday September 25th at 7pm.  Join Niall and Andrea for a playback of a compelling grandstanding album all about love, romance tempered by the cyncism and internal struggle of a man and songwriter who can't quite put faith in the idea that love might be the answer. Buy tickets here.* Support Nialler9 on Patreon to hear all full episodes, get event discounts, playlists, ad-free episodes and join our Discord community.Listen on Apple | Android | ACAST | Patreon | Pocketcasts | CastBox | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS FeedShow notesSongs played on the Nialler9 Podcast Spotify Playlist Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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, Blur, Depeche Mode, Florence and the Machine, Gorillaz ) at the controls, a producer used to big music stage sounds.Romance brings a mix of guitar rock genres - shoegaze, 80s Irish and UK indie, ‘90s alt-rock, grunge, into their fold, while retaining their core Fontaines sound. Yet, the songs are among the brightest they've done.Grian Chatten's lyrics have transcended their Dublin roots and embraced a universality. The preoccupation with a city of origin is replaced by Romance as a concept.His vocals have grown on this record, more soaring, more melodic, brighter, less gutteral, more commanding and varied.But is it any good? Dive into Romance with us.* Support Nialler9 on Patreon to hear all full episodes, get event discounts, playlists, ad-free episodes and join our Discord community.Listen on Apple | Android | ACAST | Patreon | Pocketcasts | CastBox | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS FeedShow notesSongs played on the Nialler9 Podcast Spotify PlaylistFollow Nialler9 on Insta | Twitter | Youtube | Spotify Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 Podcast features Niall and Andrea discussing the Olympics, a brief review of All Together Now, Optimo at Hang Dai and more.Up for discussion on the music tips are: albums from Clairo, Remi Wolf, Clara La San; tunes from A Lazarus Soul, Charli XCX, Kynsy, Merce Lemon, Devon Again, Chanel Beads, Fcukers and Father John Misty. Plus an unreleased gem from Phil Lynott?* Support Nialler9 on Patreon, get event discounts, playlists, ad-free episodes and join our Discord communityListen on Apple | Android | ACAST | Patreon | Pocketcasts | CastBox | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS FeedShow notesSongs played on the Nialler9 Podcast Spotify PlaylistFollow Nialler9 on Insta | Twitter | Youtube | Spotify Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 connecting with different artists and producers for this episode of the Nialler9 podcast, ahead of Shiv’s set at All Together Now Festival this August Bank Holiday weekend, where Shiv plays on the Jameson Connects The Circle Stage at 7pm on the Friday night. Shiv will be debuting a special song and joined by her collaborator on the song James Vincent McMorrow.The forthcoming album is a reflection of the personal upheaval she experienced, including a breakup, leaving a major label, parting ways with her manager, and moving countries. Shiv talks about how studying psychology has influenced her songwriting.Shiv also talks about her influences and we focus on songs from Kanye, James Vincent McMorrow, Dijon, Ari Lennox, and Negro Impacto (see below).The Jameson Connects: The Circle stage at All Together Now features some Nialler9 favourites including Optimo, Just Mustard, The Murder Capital, qbanaa, Aby Coulibaly, Morgano, Sloucho, Rachael Lavelle and more.* Support Nialler9 on Patreon to hear all full episodes, get event discounts, playlists, ad-free episodes and join our Discord community.Listen on Apple | Android | ACAST | Patreon | Pocketcasts | CastBox | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS Feed Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.