About this item

All formats come with a free Piccadilly Records EOY Sampler CD whilst stocks last.

When Mo Chara, Moglaí Bap and DJ Provaí - aka Belfast’s finest Kneecap - entered the studio with producer Toddla T in the summer of 2023, they quickly decided to scrap everything they had already prepared for the album they were about to record. Instead, they decided to build a pub together.

Built on a West Belfast side street, The Rutz is a community boozer, in that the entire community uses it. All human life is inside, either thriving, striving or skiving. There’s people just trying to get served at the bar or up on the stage performing; others are slumped in darkened corners or emerging bleary eyed and coke smeared from the toilets. Religious affiliations are irrelevant and the chatter is a intoxicating blur of English and Irish.

Although the pub is currently just a figment of the band’s imagination, all of the action on Kneecap’s exhilarating first album - Fine Art - takes place in The Rutz. Like the band themselves, Fine Art is fiercely intelligent, consistently hilarious and genuinely thought provoking. It’s genius is to immerse you in a world thus far unrepresented in modern music.

Across the record’s twelve tracks and the interconnecting moments between them (recorded by the band and friends including DJ Annie Mac), the pub comes to life vividly, providing the perfect backdrop for the cast of characters that join the dots throughout the album. From the moment the idea was born back in Toddla T’s studio, it was the obvious location to base the world of Kneecap in.

STAFF COMMENTS

Millie says: The curveball, not-what-you’d-expect from a Piccadilly Records chart, Kneecap. Belfast’s newest rising stars that made an absolutely belting debut album ‘Fine Art’. If you’re not already acquainted with the trio, Kneecap have taken the world by storm with their Irish Hip Hop. Recognisable from their iconic Irish flag adorned bally, streetwear, and hoodies. In fact, it’s not too dissimilar to Andy’s Manchester weather appropriate cycling-gear, for those who haven’t had the pleasure - it consists of a bucket hat, waterproofs and plastic shop bags over his shoes tucked into trousers. Anyway, back on track, Kneecap have a strong look and an impactful sound, their music is political and rife with anarchy.

Fine Art is bursting with quick wit, the peppered language interchangeable lyrics between English and Gaeilge is what makes this album come alive. The standout track for me has to be ‘Parful’, they touch on how rave culture goes beyond the divide of communities within Ireland, showing how music in general goes beyond sectarian divide. And also getting on it with your mates of course, the bass hits hard on this one taking it to euphoric levels.

Also to note, the album is set in a fictional pub, my favourite interlude being ‘Last Orders’ is the epitome of pub atmosphere at the end of a long night, this then segues into ‘Way Too Much’ which I’d argue is the gateway into becoming a fully fledged Kneecap fan, it’s the summertime anthem that you least expected. It’s probably time you entered the Kneecap hype if you weren’t already.

TRACK LISTING

1. 3CAG Feat. Radie Peat
2. Fine Art
3. I BhFiacha Linne
4. I'm Flush
5. Better Way To Live Feat. Grian Chatten
6. Sick In The Head
7. Love Making
8. Drug Dealin Pagans
9. Harrow Road Feat. JELANI BLACKMAN
10. Parful
11. Rhino Ket
12. Way Too Much