Christmas presents that hit the right notes
MC Tiny (aka 12-year-old Darren Stewart) and some of the crew at The Kabin. They’re continuing their wider actions in 2024, including the second annual Féile Fear an Rí trad festival. Picture: Larry Cummins
Cork, as ever, is home to a plethora of record shops, slinging new and used vinyl, CDs, and tapes - each with knowledgeable staff, and a variety of gift vouchers for that hard-to-buy-for music fan.
The great survivor of the Leeside vinyl game is PLUGD Records (plugdrecords.com), now situated on the Coal Quay after a post-pandemic reopening. Proprietor Jimmy Horgan, as ever, curates an eclectic and eccentric selection of music and print publications from Irish and independent labels the world over - and you can grab a coffee in-house and admire your new acquisitions to boot.
Quite literally a subterranean proposition, Bunker Vinyl on Camden Quay is a survivor in another sense: Storm Babet came to visit back in October, and while the shop was back up and running within a day or two, one of the best outposts for new and secondhand vinyl in the city deserves your support this Christmas - and hang around awhile, because proprietor John Dwyer might regale with one of his fantastic music stories.
Of course, while we’re talking of survivors, Cork suburbia’s great gem, MusicZone (musiczone.ie), has endured music-business tumult, and the Douglas Shopping Centre fire, to prosper anew in Togher. Ray and crew have a loyal regular custom, and often host live in-store gigs - well worth sauntering in for a look around a deep selection of music.
The relative new kid on the block, MacCurtain Street’s Thirty Three RPM is a family business, stocking a varied selection of secondhand vinyl and cassettes, from the usual suspects, to European pop music and beyond - as well as refurbished audio gear like mini-systems and more.
Meanwhile, in the mainstream, Golden Discs (goldendiscs.ie) holds down its flagship Patrick Street outpost, as the rest of the street slowly shows the wear and tear of the post-crisis economic picture. The Vinyl Lounge, upstairs, carries the chain’s usual mix of major-label and catalogue stock, including 2 for €50 deals and more.
Downstairs, CDs and video discs have been slowly ceding floorspace to a variety of toys, pop-culture consumables and audio equipment, with videogames almost certain to follow in the New Year, after the chain’s online ventures into the medium. How they’ll respond to the return of HMV to Irish shores as that event continues, remains to be seen.
Ye know the spiel as well as your writer does by now: Bandcamp.com provides a one-stop shop for digital downloading and paid streaming, mail-order merchandise, subscription options, and live streaming for indie artists around the world - and Cork is no exception, with the city’s local scene taking pride of place in a comprehensive scene-report article this past October (full disclosure: your writer was an interviewee, and has subsequently begun as a freelance contributor to Bandcamp Daily).
They also continue to hold up their end of the post-covid bargain with #BandcampFriday, where they have waived their share of revenue for the first Friday of the month, every month, since March of 2020, with all money going to artists, labels and/or their designated causes - a real show of good faith.
If you or a loved one wants to dive in and support indie music directly, but perhaps doesn’t know where to start, the service offers online gift cards, which can be emailed to anyone, including one’s self to print out, and give physically. Take a look at bandcamp.com/gift_cards for more info - it’ll go further for Cork artists than any number of listens on Spotify.
The city by the Lee is home to a pair of titans in music instrument retail in Ireland, as well as a growing player in the sector.
2023 saw the unexpected and warmly-received return of the Crowley family to Cork’s retail vista, as Sheena Crowley and crew reopened family business Crowley’s Music after a decade, setting up on Friar Street, at the intersection of Douglas and Barrack streets, and running during usual business hours, from Thursdays to Sundays weekly.
The family shop’s legacy speaks for itself, from selling Rory Gallagher his first guitar and earning its place in rock’n’roll immortality, to the mourning that met the closure of its MacCurtain Street home in 2013 - and the backlash to an ill-informed graphic over the door of the restaurant that now occupies those premises, featuring a guitar-wielding Neanderthal evolving into a burger-eating Homo Sapiens.
The new shop is doing consistently good business since its return, trading in secondhand instruments of all shapes and sizes, from guitars and basses, to mandolins and banjos - as well as learner-friendly tin whistles and ukuleles. Accessories, amplifiers and the like are available alongside a selection of local music on CD and vinyl - while the family trade of instrument repair is also available.
Meanwhile, in the city centre, Pro Musica (promusica.ie) continues to run a music retail powerhouse that rivals the big European players for selection and price. The usual big names across instruments, accessories and amplification are available, with their latest lines available to view in-store, and a comprehensive selection of guitar pedals is always worth stroking one’s chin over.
What sets Pro Musica apart, however, is an encyclopaedic selection of music books, from sheet music books based on popular rock and pop albums, to curriculum/grading texts for a variety of instruments - and its support of Ireland’s musical tradition runs from books and sheet music, to instruments like bodhráns and tin whistles, as well as accessories like gig bags and a selection of cipíns for the bodhránaí in your life.
Posted out on the Old Blackrock Road, also, is The Music Store (themusicstore.ie), specialising in a mix of new and secondhand instruments, and offering delivery and collection on all of its stock.
There’s nothing like heading out to a gig, supporting artists who have captured our imaginations and discovering new music on our local scene - and a ticket to a local concert, from Musgrave Park megashows to intimate gigs in the city, is the perfect present for music lovers of all ages.
MCD’s big-gig selection at Musgrave Park has come along in recent years, and it’s not known as of press-time if its 2024 editions will be opposed by Live at the Marquee, following the closure of the latter’s Monahan Road home amid a wave of development in Cork’s docklands.
Homegrown pop hero Cian Ducrot has gone from learning his craft at the School of Music to headlining around the world on the strength of TikTok virality - a nearly-sold-out open-air supershow at the Munster rugby institution on Friday June 28 will bear witness to the rise of a new Leeside superstar.
Other mainliners on the Tramore Road include Sting and Blondie in a double-bill (June 18); teen heart-throbs turned mammy-favourites Take That in their Cork debut (June 20); Dublin dance sensations Belters Only (June 21) and a double-header of Crowded House and the Waterboys (June 23). Tickets for these and other gigs to be announced are on Ticketmaster.ie.
City-central Cyprus Avenue (cyprusavenue.ie) has weathered the covid crisis and remained a pillar venue for music in the city, to say nothing of the impact of a venue refurbishment that’s expanded its capacity, allowed for a new stage and PA rigout, and even the addition of smaller venues like top-floor bar and dancefloor Wavelength, and the continued development of back-bar venue Winthrop Avenue.
Irish-American outfit The Olllam (Thursday Feb 1) are a collision of American jazz fusion and Irish traditional music, as Belfast-based piper Ultan McSherry jams with members of Detroit funkers Vulfpeck; Dublin drill artist Offica (Friday February 16) continues his rise from Ireland’s hip-hop ranks and into the wider world; and electronic pop duo All Tvvins (Friday February 23) continue to refine an Irish indie pedigree that includes Adebisi Shank and The Cast of Cheers.
For the loved one who’s never quite left Sir Henry’s, house icon Kerri Chandler returns to the venue on Friday March 15, deepening his decades-long Cork connections with another marathon DJ set; while people who are somehow nostalgic for 2000s dance-pop can join German chart-toppers Cascada for a bop on Friday March 8. Irish singer and songwriter Gemma Hayes headlines at the venue on Sunday April 21.
Grab a ticket at their website, or venture to ask a staff member to dust down the physical ticket machine, behind the main bar downstairs in the Old Oak.
Cork Opera House (corkoperahouse.ie) has a few gems in among its early-year offering of tribute and cover gigs - legendary Irish singer Mary Black taps into a four-decade long songbook on Friday January 26; the London African Gospel Choir recasts Paul Simon’s Graceland on Thursday February 8; and Cork-born pop star Lyra has a double header of near-sellout gigs on Wednesday February 20 and Thursday February 21.
Live at St Luke’s (liveatstlukes.com) has two gigs announced for 2024 - former Public Image Limited man Jah Wobble appears at the Northside church of noise to reprise the band’s Metal Box album in a dub reimagining on Thursday February 8; while singing sisters The Staves make their St Luke’s debut on Sunday June 2.
These and other venues will doubtless be announcing more 2024 gigs throughout the Christmas season - keep an eye on their websites and social media.
In keeping with a tradition on your writer’s annual Christmas gift guides - if you can’t find a ticket you’d like, or a record that you or your loved one has been hankering after just isn’t in stock, try a donation to a music-friendly social cause in their name.
Sexual Violence Centre Cork has partnered with Cyprus Avenue to pioneer and pilot its Ask for Angela scheme, setting structures in place to allow staff to discreetly facilitate gig-goers in escaping risky or fearful situations, expanding this programme to national festivals with its SafeGigs programme, as well as providing counselling and other services to survivors of sexual violence in the city from its Camden Quay centre - visit sexualviolence.ie for more information and to donate.
Meanwhile, MusicGeneration Cork City provides musical education, workshopping and performance opportunities for children, teenagers and adults all over the city, working with Cork-based musicians and facilitators to teach in its schools, libraries and community centres. Among their projects are rapper/producer GMC’s Kabin studio in Hollyhill, traditional musician Jessie Cawley’s Creative Tradition initiative, and the Cork Academy of Music. They’re also continuing their wider actions in 2024, including the second annual Féile Fear an Rí trad festival on the city’s northside - visit musicgenerationcorkcity.com for more information and to donate.
On a national basis, Irish Artists for Palestine have been organising gigs around the country to raise funds and awareness for the people of Palestine, as the ongoing violence in the Middle East continues to escalate, working with reliable partners like Medecins Sans Frontieres and the International Red Cross to get money and resources where they need to be. Gigs have already sold out at Live at St Luke’s and Cyprus Avenue - visit irishartistsforpalestine.com for more information on where to donate - and how to set up a fundraising event for your community.
