Liam O'Brien (he/him)

@liam_o

Music & culture writer

Music critic, occasional novelist. Vinyl on the turntable, paperback in the bag. Dublin's club scene is more interesting than London's, fight me.

Pinned

Liam O'Brien @liam_o ·

The Album That Defined My Year

I listen to several hundred new albums every year for work. I write about maybe forty of them. The one I keep going back to in private is rarely the one I write about most enthusiastically in public.This year, the priva…

Liam O'Brien @liam_o ·

On Rediscovering Vinyl in the Streaming Age

I sold my parents' record collection at 19. I bought my first turntable at 39. The arc was not what I expected.Streaming made me a less attentive listener. Not because the technology is bad — it is mostly amazing — but …

Liam O'Brien @liam_o ·

Why Music Critics Still Matter

The argument that music critics are obsolete goes like this: streaming services know what you like better than any critic does, the algorithm recommends songs you skip 5% of the time and critics recommend songs you skip…

Liam O'Brien @liam_o ·

The Album That Defined My Year

I listen to several hundred new albums every year for work. I write about maybe forty of them. The one I keep going back to in private is rarely the one I write about most enthusiastically in public.This year, the priva…