PODCAST · music
The Last Mixed Tape
by The Last Mixed Tape
TLMT Podcast is a weekly music review show, featuring reviews and editorials on the Irish Music Scene from critic and photographer Stephen White.
Episodes
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The Sick Bed of MacGowan: How the Pogues Changed Modern Ireland
Shane MacGowan changed Irish music by changing what Irishness was allowed to sound like. From the traditional songs of his childhood in Tipperary to the collision of Irish folk and punk that created The Pogues, Shane MacGowan spent his life challenging the boundaries of Irish culture. He was...
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The Sound of Garvaghy Road: Music, Protest & the Drumcree Standoff
For almost three decades, Garvaghy Road in Portadown has been at the centre of one of Northern Ireland’s most enduring disputes over parades, identity, history and territory. In 2026, the Drumcree standoff has returned to the headlines. As the Orange Order seeks to march along the Garvaghy Road…
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The Importance of Being Macklemore and The Free Palestine Tour
Following the controversy that saw Macklemore removed from the remaining US dates of Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour, Stephen White looks beyond the headlines to ask what the story reveals about power, money and freedom in the modern music industry. Promoters, venues, billionaire owners and corporate...
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The Assassination of Macklemore by the Coward Ed Sheeran
Macklemore walked onto the stage at MetLife Stadium and said two words: Free Palestine. What followed became much bigger than a moment between songs. Macklemore was removed from the remaining US dates of Ed Sheeran’s tour. The promoter said venues had objected to his continued involvement.…
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Oasis Don’t Look Back In Anger, Masculinity & Learning to Forgive
With Oasis: Don’t Look Back In Anger arriving in cinemas, Stephen looks at Liam and Noel Gallagher, the sixteen-year feud that kept them apart, and what their reunion might tell us about masculinity, friendship, pride and forgiveness. Oasis embodied a particular kind of masculinity in the 1990s....
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Does Music Have a Nepo Baby Problem?
Stella Lefty is having a moment. But what happens when the people making music don’t all start from the same place? Stella Lefty’s rise to fame with Boston has become a lightning rod for arguments about nepotism, authenticity and the modern music industry. Her billionaire father has made her an...
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Dolly Parton Won: The Legacy of an American Icon
Dolly Parton didn’t just become a country music legend she changed what a woman could be in music. From Locust Ridge to Nashville, Jolene to I Will Always Love You, CMAT to Beyoncé and Sabrina Carpenter, this is the story of how Dolly built a legacy that reaches far beyond country music. She…
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Fontaines D.C. ‘Marianne’: Nowhere Left to Escape
Fontaines D.C. have spent five albums trying to find somewhere else to go. From Dublin, to Ireland, to romance, fantasy and now something much harder to define, escape has been one of the central tensions running through their music. With “Marianne”, their first new music since 2024's Romance,...
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Phoebe Bridgers’ Lost Weekend: The Sound of Living Through This
Six years after Punisher gave the isolation of 2020 an apocalyptic soundtrack, Phoebe Bridgers returns with Lost Weekend an album about what it feels like to live through a world that increasingly feels impossible to change. The Trump era. Late-stage capitalism. Internet alienation. Institutional...
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Was David Bowie a Fascist? The Thin White Duke
Was David Bowie a fascist? In 1976, David Bowie became the Thin White Duke: an elegant, unsettling persona born during a period of cocaine addiction, paranoia and psychological collapse. Bowie praised Hitler, spoke approvingly of fascism and was photographed appearing to give a Nazi salute. But…
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U2’s Sunday Bloody Sunday | This Is Not a Rebel Song
“This is not a rebel song.” For more than forty years, Bono has introduced Sunday Bloody Sunday with those six words. But why? In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, Stephen White explores the history, controversy and enduring legacy of one of the most important songs in Irish music. Beginning...
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After Brat | Charli XCX’s Music, Fashion, Film
Brat became one of the defining cultural moments of the decade. Rather than trying to recreate that success, Music, Fashion, Film asks a far more difficult question: what happens after the breakthrough? In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, Stephen White explores Charli XCX’s latest album…
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Gilla Band, Mental Health and the Sound of Modern Ireland
Music doesn’t just soundtrack history. Sometimes it captures emotions before we have the language to describe them. In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, Stephen White explores how Dublin’s Gilla Band became one of Ireland’s most important cultural voices, not simply through noise rock, but...
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Why Julian Casablancas Refuses to Shut Up | The Strokes, Gaza & Political Speech
Julian Casablancas sparked controversy after comparing American Zionists to Black people living under slavery on SubwayTakes. It was a comparison I believe was historically clumsy, rhetorically reckless and ultimately damaging to the point he was trying to make. But five weeks later, at the…
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Phoebe Bridgers’ Lost Boys: The Machine Killing Us
Phoebe Bridgers is back with Lost Boys, her first solo music in six years — a song haunted by nostalgia, isolation, masculinity and the machines we carry in our pockets. At its centre is a dark inversion of one of the most famous slogans in protest music. Where Woody Guthrie wrote “This Machine...
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The Continued Fall of Róisín Murphy
Following renewed controversy around Roisin Murphy over comments about transgender people, criticism from artists including The Blessed Madonna and CMAT, and a growing divide between Murphy and the LGBTQ+ community that helped shape her career, this episode explores a larger question. What…
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Why Gen Z Loves The Cure | Olivia Rodrigo, Robert Smith & Music Discovery
Olivia Rodrigo’s latest album features Robert Smith of The Cure, but this collaboration tells a much bigger story than a pop star working with one of her heroes. In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, we explore why The Cure continue to resonate with younger listeners, how TikTok and streaming...
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Why Ireland Still Sings Viva la Quinta Brigada | Christy Moore, Anti-Fascism & the Belfast Riots
Following the recent unrest in Belfast, I found myself returning to one of the most powerful songs in Irish music: Christy Moore’s Viva la Quinta Brigada. What begins as a song about Irish volunteers who travelled to Spain to fight fascism during the Spanish Civil War reveals a much deeper story...
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AI Ozzy and the Death of Endings
When reports emerged that an AI-powered version of Ozzy Osbourne could continue interacting with fans after his death, many people focused on the technology. I found myself thinking about something else. For most of human history, art survived the artist. Using Ozzy Osbourne as a starting point,...
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CMAT Just Said What Most Pop Stars Won’t
When CMAT won Best Album at the Ivor Novello Awards, she used her acceptance speech to challenge fellow artists to stop “sitting on the fence” as fascism and far-right politics continue to rise across Britain and Ireland. It was a speech that immediately made headlines. But this episode isn’t...
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How Irish Music Helped Break the Catholic Church’s Power
For much of the twentieth century, the Catholic Church shaped almost every aspect of Irish life education, sexuality, family, politics, shame and silence. But long before Ireland changed politically, Irish artists began documenting the emotional cost of that world through music. From Christy...
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Why Artists Are Scared To Change | Charli XCX, Rock Music & Authenticity in the Streaming Era
“I think the dance floor is dead… so now we’re making rock music.” One sentence from Charli XCX sparked immediate online discourse. Was this the end of Brat? A reinvention? A provocation? Or something much bigger about modern music culture itself? In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, Stephen...
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Beyond Gender: The Real Meaning of Running Up That Hill
Kate Bush described Running Up That Hill as a song about a man and a woman trying to understand each other. But what makes the song endure goes far beyond romance. In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, Stephen White explores how Kate Bush used shifting narrative perspectives across Running Up...
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Fenian: Language, Identity & Kneecap’s Most Political Album
What does the word “Fenian” really mean and can it ever be reclaimed? In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, we explore Fenian, the new album from Kneecap, and the complex history behind one of the most loaded words in Irish identity. From its origins in Irish mythology and the Fianna, through...
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Who Gets Banned From Eurovision? Politics, Boycotts & the 2026 Crisis
Is the Eurovision Song Contest really apolitical or has it always been shaped by politics? With over 1,000 artists calling for a boycott of Eurovision 2026 and multiple countries withdrawing from the contest, this year’s competition has become one of the most controversial in its history. With…
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Why Female Pop Stars Still Have to Do More | Bieber vs Sabrina Carpenter at Coachella
At Coachella 2026, two performances sparked completely different reactions. Justin Bieber took to the stage with a laptop, revisiting old performances and creating a stripped-back, introspective set that divided opinion. Some called it lazy. Others called it art. Meanwhile, Sabrina Carpenter...
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Ali Ghamsari’s Power Plant Protest: Music, Risk, and War in Iran
In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, Stephen White explores the meaning of Ali Ghamsari’s recent performance a US targeted Power Plant in Iran, placing it within a wider history of artists who have faced real consequences for their work from Sarajevo to the North of Ireland to Tehran.
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Kanye West, Bully & The Rebirth of the Author
In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, I explore Kanye West’s latest album Bully and the uncomfortable questions it raises about how we engage with art in 2026. This is a deeper look at the relationship between artist and audience, and whether it’s still possible to separate the art from the...
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Kneecap in Cuba: Music, Politics, and the Backlash
In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, we explore the reaction to Kneecap’s recent trip to Cuba and what that reaction reveals about the relationship between music, politics, and public discourse. As Cuba faces ongoing blackouts, shortages, and economic strain shaped in part by the long-standing...
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Rosalía’s Lux Tour and the Art of Pop Performance
Rosalía’s Lux tour is being described as something more than a concert. In this episode, we explore why. From her early work in flamenco to the global success of Motomami and now Lux, Rosalía has built a career on blending tradition with modern pop without ever losing the cultural identity at the...
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Is Skinty Fia the First Great Irish Album of the 21st Century?
Is Skinty Fia by Fontaines D.C. already a modern Irish classic? In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, we explore the cultural impact of Fontaines D.C.’s third album Skinty Fia and ask whether it deserves to stand alongside the greatest Irish records ever made. Looking at the album through five...
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Peaky Blinders and the Genius of “Wrong” Music | The Immortal Man Soundtrack
In Peaky Blinders, the music is completely wrong. The story is set in the early 20th century, yet the soundtrack is filled with modern artists like Nick Cave, Fontaines D.C., Lankum, and Amyl and the Sniffers. So why does it work so well? With the release of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, this...
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Should Ireland Boycott Israel? Culture, Sport & The Politics of Participation
Ireland have been drawn against Israel in the Nations League and the question of boycott has resurfaced. But musicians have been facing this question for decades. From the Sun City boycott during apartheid South Africa, to artists like Brian Eno, Roger Waters, and Lorde refusing to perform in...
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U2, Gaza, and the Politics of Days of Ash
In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, Stephen White delves into U2’s Days of Ash EP and breaks down the contrast between “American Obituary” and “One Life At A Time,” explores the tribute to Sarina Esmailzadeh in “Songs of the Future,” and asks whether U2’s latest release is truly their most...
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Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show and the Politics of Love
Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime show transformed the cultural stage in America.From Puerto Rican symbols, wedding moments, Spanish language performance and the message “The only thing more powerful than hate is love,” this halftime show became a cultural flashpoint of unity, backlash, and…
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Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show & America’s Cultural Battleground
This week on The Last Mixed Tape, we look at how the announcement of Bad Bunny as the Super Bowl LX halftime performer exposed a deep cultural divide in America. The backlash from right-wing politicians and commentators, and the creation of an “alternative” halftime show framed around faith and...
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Pop Music, ICE & the Silence of Refusal
This episode of The Last Mixed Tape examines how pop culture is increasingly absorbed into the machinery of state authority from government agencies such ICE using pop music without consent, to the quiet violence through aesthetics, familiarity, and sound.
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The “Difficult” Woman in Music
Women in music are often celebrated for their honesty until that honesty becomes inconvenient. From Nina Simone and Sinéad O’Connor to Courtney Love, Phoebe Bridgers, FKA twigs, Megan Thee Stallion and Chappell Roan, a familiar pattern emerges: when women assert creative control, speak…
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Sinéad O’Connor’s “Black Boys on Mopeds” and the Stories Power Tells
In 1990, Sinéad O’Connor released Black Boys on Mopeds, a song written in response to state violence, national myths, and the stories governments tell after tragedy. More than thirty years later, those stories feel disturbingly familiar. In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, we explore how…
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Capitalism Colonises Culture: How Music Lost Its Value
At the turn of the millennium, music became free and culture was changed forever. In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, we trace how capitalism slowly colonised music: from Napster and the backlash against Lars Ulrich, to streaming platforms that pay artists fractions of a penny, and finally to...
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David Bowie, Blackstar, and the Art of Disappearing
Ten years after David Bowie’s death, Blackstar remains one of the most haunting and deliberate final works in modern music. Often framed as a farewell album, Blackstar feels closer to something far more intentional: an artist confronting not just mortality, but the loss of authorship over his own...
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Phil Lynott, Old Town & the Meaning of Belonging
Phil Lynott didn’t just write one of Dublin’s most beautiful songs, he revealed something deeper about identity, belonging, and culture. In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, Stephen White explores Old Town, Phil Lynott’s tender 1982 solo track, and why it remains one of the most intimate love...
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How John Lennon Turned a Christmas Song Into a Performance Art
Happy Xmas (War Is Over) doesn’t sound like a protest song and that’s exactly the point. In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, we explore how John Lennon used Christmas, tradition, and familiarity to deliver one of the most quietly radical political messages in popular music. Set against the...
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Why CMAT’s Euro Country is the Album of 2025
CMAT’s Euro Country is the standout Irish album of 2025 and a cultural moment. In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, Stephen explores how CMAT’s songwriting, humour, and hyperreal pop persona captured the realities of modern Ireland: the housing crisis, post–Celtic Tiger disillusionment,...
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Musicians Fighting Fascists: Why 2025 Changed Everything
In 2025, Irish musicians stepped into the political frontline. From Fontaines D.C. and Kneecap tartists across Ireland and the UK are taking a stand against the rise of far-right extremism, violence, and organised disinformation. With the launch of the TOGETHER Against The Far Right Alliance…
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Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett & the Grief Behind Wish You Were Here
Syd Barrett was the genius who founded Pink Floyd… and the friend they lost long before he was gone.Fifty years after Wish You Were Here, the album still feels like a monument to grief, guilt, and a band trying to understand the collapse of someone they loved. This is the story of Syd, Pink…
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Kneecap’s ‘No Comment’: The Final Word
Kneecap have returned with “No Comment” their latest music statement since the terrorism charge against Mo Chara was thrown out earlier this year. This episode breaks down why this song is hitting so hard, how it ties back to the case, and why “no comment” has become a form of cultural defiance.…
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Charli XCX, John Cale & the Gothic Reinvention of ‘House’
Charli XCX has entered her darkest era yet. With “House,” her new collaboration with The Velvet Underground legend John Cale for Emerald Fennell’s upcoming Wuthering Heights (2026), Charli steps into a world of gothic romance, decaying architecture, and emotional brutality, a complete reinvention...
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Ghost Town: Then & Now – From The Specials to Lankum
Four decades after The Specials captured Britain’s collapse, Irish folk collective Lankum have reimagined Ghost Town transforming it into a haunting reflection of modern Ireland.In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, we trace Ghost Town’s journey from 1981’s Two-Tone rebellion to today’s Dublin...
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Rosalía “Berghain”: When Pain Becomes Art
In Berghain, Rosalía turns heartbreak into ritual. Set against the cultural backdrop of Berlin’s legendary club and her Catalan roots, this episode of The Last Mixed Tape examines how she translates loss into performance using sound, body, and movement to reclaim freedom. We look at how Berghain...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
TLMT Podcast is a weekly music review show, featuring reviews and editorials on the Irish Music Scene from critic and photographer Stephen White.
HOSTED BY
The Last Mixed Tape
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Last Mixed Tape have?
The Last Mixed Tape currently has 138 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Last Mixed Tape about?
TLMT Podcast is a weekly music review show, featuring reviews and editorials on the Irish Music Scene from critic and photographer Stephen White.
How often does The Last Mixed Tape release new episodes?
The Last Mixed Tape publishes regularly with 138 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
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You can listen to The Last Mixed Tape on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Last Mixed Tape?
The Last Mixed Tape is created and hosted by The Last Mixed Tape.
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