It’s been a relatively quiet year for Kevin Smith between albums, but there’s a big show coming before the end of the year to Dublin.
Kojaque will headline Index on Monday December 30th, along with friends Soft Boy DJs, DJ Baby Guinness, Silent Jee and Bríen.
The show costs €33.99 per ticket and is on sale on Dice tomorrow, Wednesday November 20th at 10am.
Phantom of The Afters is the latest album from Kojaque.
Of the Phantom Of The Afters album, I wrote:
Phantom Of The Afters speaks to the thousands of young Irish people who can relate to the volatility of starting a new life elsewhere, and the subsequent guilt, while feeling the invisible thread tethering you to your friends and family back home.
The second album proper from Kojaque, after 2021s Town’s Dead, and the 2016 Deli Daydreams mixtape, finds the Irish artist wresting with being one of the people who have “taken the soup”, and moved to London for art’s sake.
Of the Phantom Of The Afters album, I wrote:
Phantom Of The Afters speaks to the thousands of young Irish people who can relate to the volatility of starting a new life elsewhere, and the subsequent guilt, while feeling the invisible thread tethering you to your friends and family back home.
The second album proper from Kojaque, after 2021s Town’s Dead, and the 2016 Deli Daydreams mixtape, finds the Irish artist wresting with being one of the people who have “taken the soup”, and moved to London for art’s sake.
To “take the soup” in Ireland’s famine past, generally meant renouncing your Catholic faith in favour of English Protestantism in times of desperate hunger.
In a modern context, “taking the soup” is emigrating from Ireland for London for more opportunity. A chant of “Jackie took the soup” sets the album’s scene.
Wearing the alterego of Jackie Dandelion, a character named after the Fontaines DC song ‘Jackie Down the Line’ with the artwork modelled on bigoted depictions of Irish people in 19th/20th century Punch Magazine cartoons further underscores the theme.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
