Nialler9

Nialler9 chats to guests about new music, albums, artist deep dives and cultural issues.

Listen on:

  • Apple Podcasts
  • Podbean App
  • Spotify
  • Amazon Music
  • PlayerFM
  • Podchaser

Episodes

Friday Apr 12, 2024

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 fully-formed classic of the mid-90s written from the hardened perspective of a young woman surviving the world. We discuss the album, how Fiona Apple got her record deal, how the media at the time largely focused on Apple's looks in the context of album reviews , how this "sullen girl" / strong-willed opinionated young woman was treated by the music industry, and how the album stacks up nearly 30 years later.This week's episode is a companion podcast to our Listening Party of the album in the Big Romance on Wednesday April 24th. Buy a ticket here to join us.* Support Nialler9 on Patreon.Listen on Apple | Android | ACAST | Patreon | Pocketcasts | CastBox | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS FeedShow notesSpotify Playlist - Songs played on the Podcast Fiona Apple & the Sexist Critics in the 90sIdiotalk Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Friday Apr 05, 2024

Niall and Andrea are talking about the A B, and Cs of Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé’s eighth studio album on Episode 246.A for AmericaB For BeyonceC 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. Cowboy Carter is not a country album, but it does feature a lot of country music sounds, references and personnel. it’s Beyonce kicking through the saloon doors of country and inviting whoever or whatever sound she wants alongside her. It’s more of a cultural reclamation of black AMERICAN music, with the origin story being that night in 2016 when Beyoncé performed Daddy Issues at the Country Music Awards in 2016, and made the traditionalists mad.Cowboy Carter is an odyssey through American music of black origin, black country heritage, with Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, opera, bluegrass, Beach Boys, Nancy Sinatra, Westerns, "real instruments", Rodeo, Chuck Berry, Miley Cyrus, Post Malone, Jon Batiste, Rhiannon Giddens outlaws, shotguns and giddy ups and shotgun riders.Join us for an very interesting chat about it.* Support Nialler9 on Patreon, get event discounts, playlists, ad-free episodes and join our Discord communityListen to the episode below or subscribe in your favourite podcast app: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.

Friday Mar 29, 2024

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 (I guess)...Along with the What’s Consuming You corner with a sci-fi TV show we both loved this month.* Support Nialler9 on Patreon, get event discounts, playlists, ad-free episodes and join our Discord communityListen to the episode below or subscribe in your favourite podcast app: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.

Friday Mar 22, 2024

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 electronic textures with Beth Gibbons spine-tingling voice and twangy tremolo guitars that belong in spy movies.The winner of the 1995 Mercury Music Prize, Dummy features the singles ‘Sour Times’, ‘Glory Box’, and ‘Numb’, and is notable for it soulful turntable-sampling, melancholic film noir atmosphere. A modern classic indeed. We delve deep into how the band met, what trip-hop and the Bristol sound was, how the band got their name, how Dummy became hugely popular and a bit of a dinner-party LP ripe for background music in film and more.The hosts of the Nialler9 Podcast (Niall Byrne and Andrea Cleary) present the Listen Closely series of listening parties on the Big Romance’s warm Toby Hatchett soundsystem, featuring a focus modern classic album and a chat around it on the last Wednesday of the month.The Portishead - Dummy Listening Party happens Wednesday March 27th at The Big Romance.Thanks to Georgia Hallion for editing the podcast.* 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 PlaylistKEXP 25 year anniversary interview in 2019Dummy SamplesPitchfork’s review by By Philip Sherburne Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thursday Mar 14, 2024

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 IsraelKneecap's show of Solidarity with Palestine on the Late Late Show & their US TV debut All the Irish bands including Kneecap who then cancelled their SXSW Festival shows this week in protest at US Military involvement Leo Varadkar wants nothing to do with bringing in the long-proposed Irish nightlife laws any time soonJames Blake weighs in on streaming being broken, in a time which increasingly feels like it’s going towards a tipping pointThe growing crisis in music - How the rising cost of living is affecting bands' ability to create art and make money to live.“You can get a Grammy nomination and you still can't afford to rent a one-bedroom flat in London,” says Grian Chatten of Dublin's Fontaines DC,And the minor furore over an out-of-context use of quote from The Last Dinner Party - "People don’t want to listen to post-punk and hear about the cost of living crisis any more.”* Get this podcast ad-free and with additional playlists, Discord community access, Nialler9 and Lumo event discounts on Patreon from €5 a month.Listen on Apple | Android | ACAST | Patreon | Pocketcasts | CastBox | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS Feed Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Friday Mar 08, 2024

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 Pratt, The Decemberists and Beck.Along with the What’s Consuming You corner with TV, books and films we are vibing with lately.* Support Nialler9 on Patreon, get event discounts, playlists, ad-free episodes and join our Discord communityListen to the episode below or subscribe in your favourite podcast app: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.

Monday Feb 26, 2024

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.CMAT – Crazymad, For Me (CMATBABY/AWAL)The second album from Ireland’s global country pop superstar.John Francis Flynn – Look Over The Wall, See The Sky (River Lea Recordings)The second album from the Dublin folkie turns with a contemporary twist.Kojaque – Phantom Of The Afters (Soft Boy Records)he second full-length album (not counting previously nominated mixtape Deli Daydreams) from the London-based Dublin rapper.Lankum – False Lankum (Rough Trade Records)The fourth album from Ireland’s leading doom folk trad band.Rachael Lavelle – Big Dreams (Rest Energy)The Irish songwriter and avant-pop practitioner’s debut album.Soda Blonde – Dream Big (Overbite Records)The second album from Dublin alt-pop band.The Murder Capital – Gigi’s Recovery (Human Season Records)The second album from the Dublin rock band who have softened somewhat for album two.The Scratch – Mind Yourself (Perrystown Music Limited)The second album from the Dublin trad-folk-metal band.Ezra Williams – Supernumeraries (Ezra Williams / AWAL)The debut album from the Cork singer-songwriter.–Niall, Andrea and guest Sophia discuss the albums in detail and decide which of the ten they individually think a) would like to win and b) will win the award.The actual winner of the Prize announced at the live event in Vicar Street on March 7th, and is broadcast live on RTÉ 2FM in a special four-hour extended show with Beta Da Silva from 7-11pm. A special TV show will be broadcast on Thursday 14th March at 22.30 on RTÉ2.* 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.

Friday Feb 16, 2024

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 present a Nialler9 Podcast episode all about this month's chosen album....This month: Laurie Anderson – Big Science (1982)“This is the time/and this is the record of the time.”An album that was ahead of its time upon release, Big Science draws from Anderson’s multi-media performance art piece United States I-IV, and presents an experimental avant-garde electronics , art-rock and spoken word prophetic dissection of 80s America that spawned a surprising pop hit with the towering O Superman.Andrea takes the lead on why this album is noteworthy and important.Listen Closely is a chance for the music heads, to appreciate a modern classic album on the Big Romance’s warm Toby Hatchett soundsystem with a chat about the record on the night. More info.Big special extra thanks to Georgia Hallion for editing the podcast.* 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 Playlist Laurie Anderson plays music for dogs Marcello Giordani - O Superman (Disco Spacer Mix) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Madvillainy turns 20

Friday Feb 09, 2024

Friday Feb 09, 2024

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 that year.Why is Madvillain so important?It's the sound of two masters of their craft - Madlib deep crate-digging wizz of flipped samples which avoided the musical grid and DOOM’s "tripping off the beat kinda" rhymes which defied expectation and form, and became endlessly quotable while retaining complex and comedic intent. Madvillainy is the sound of two elusive creatives ricocheting off each other’s oddball styles with disorienting brilliance.Niall and Andrea discuss the album's gestation, recording, leak, samples, lyrics and mythology.In January, we hosted a Listen Closely listening party in the Big Romance in Dublin with this album. Our next one will be Wednesday February 28th with Laurie Anderson's Big Science. Tickets on sale next week.Big special extra thanks to Georgia Hallion for editing the podcast.Patreon supporters get the episode ad-free on Patreon* Support Nialler9 on Patreon, get event discounts, playlists, ad-free episodes and join our Discord communityListen to the episode below or subscribe in your favourite podcast app:Listen on Apple | Android | ACAST | Patreon | Pocketcasts | CastBox | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS Feed Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Friday Feb 02, 2024

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 includingPitchfork's downsizing, the state of music journalism and the Enshittification of online music discovery and discourse, and online life in general?The Choice Music Prize Irish albums of the year nomineesThe Eurovision Song Contest and the growing call for the Boycott of Israel. Will Ireland make a stand alongside Sweden, Finland, Iceland and more?What we've been consuming - music, TV, film since our break.Big special extra thanks to Georgia Hallion for editing the podcast.* Support Nialler9 on Patreon, get event discounts, playlists, ad-free episodes and join our Discord communityListen to the episode below or subscribe in your favourite podcast app:Listen on Apple | Android | ACAST | Patreon | Pocketcasts | CastBox | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS Feed Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Copyright © Nialler9 Music Blog 2026

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Version: 20241125