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 ...

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

featuring: chats with AI artist "Kawaii Hoe" and the journalist who felt "duped" by them! north kerry noise! a björk quote! a niche trading card game! indonesian tiktoks! the choice music prize! techb...

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 fa...

a review of sorts about the All Together Now weekend; nothing new, but everything bigger than before

TikTok video by Fourth Best

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

YouTube video by SLOUCHO

featuring: chats with AI artist "Kawaii Hoe" and the journalist who felt "duped" by him! north kerry noise! a björk quote! a niche trading card game! indonesian tiktoks! the choice music prize! techbr...

In the first guest post for the site, Matthew Xavier Corrigan reflects on five entire years of cataloguing the music he listened to, tracing an outline of the life he lived.

How far would you go to create a total work of art, when the world wants you to be something else? Catch The Dusk twists the rules of music's zero-sum game – we must not let it be punished as a result...

Getting through some writer's block with a good old-fashioned rant about an interview from 2019... although it's a weirdly optimistic one. With praise for new music by Pippa Molony and RÓIS, among oth...

Meeting at the launch of the rapper's mixtape "COMMA, FULLSTOP.", we caught up about pro wrestling, Four Loko, the Irish Hash Mafia, dissing Jamiroquai, Brazillian influences, and more.

YouTube video by fourth best

In front of a live audience in Plugd Records at the River Runs Round festival in Cork earlier this month, I checked in with Dylan from Mabfield‬ as he prepares to re-launch the beloved Irish music pla...

Thoughts on the festivals I love, including last weekend's phenomenal Féile na Gréine, and why I've gotten involved in the mammoth task of trying to build a new one.

The best band in the country already has three albums out. Trá Pháidín's music strikes this absolutely gorgeous middle ground between post-rock, jazz and Irish traditional music. Under the surface, la...

Sophie Moon's debut single comes with two versions - one a lowercase acoustic pop piece, another in all caps and breakbeats with lxverboy. The low-res video is weaponised nostalgia.

It's a story about the tension between industry and DIY, between going global and putting your friends on, between NEW MUSIC OTW and unexpected zip file. Between major label, indie label, and just hit...

Lessons about the power of the archive through the lens of important documentaries and COVID livestreams.