• Watch: White Sage – Parnell Street June 1955

    April 7, 2015 - By 

    When he’s not busy running Dublin’s newest record shop, Little Gem Records or performing as part of both I Heart The Monster Hero and GODHATESDISCO, Andy Walsh has been concocting his own inimitable, solo sonic wizardry as White Sage. The first manifestation of that is the perfectly phantasmal Way Beyond our Means, a Kraut-echoing, decidedly experimental quartet of tracks, including lead single ‘Parnell Street June 1955’. Evoking the likes of Neu! and Fujiya and Miyagi, the track swaggers forth with its chugging groove, broad synth shapes and twinkling notes marrying in a swirl of blissed-out haze. Watch the simple yet very…

  • Watch: Swimmers – Lose Myself

    April 7, 2015 - By 

    Dublin’s Niall Jackson is as chameleonic and active a musician that you’re ever liable to meet. A member of the likes of Bouts – not to mention the man behind recent homeless charity supergroup Christmas Hearts – Jackson also fronts three-piece Swimmers, who launch their new EP, The Burning Circus, upstairs in Whelan’s on Saturday, April 25. The lead single from that is ‘Lose Myself’, a drifting, nostalgia-laced ode to personal freedom and wanderlust of the soul, recorded by Justin Commins of Kill Krinkle Club. Go here for the EP launch’s Facebook event page and stream the single below.

  • Stream: Robocobra Quartet – 80-88

    April 7, 2015 - By 

    Forging heady spiels of stream of consciousness with Mingusian sax forays, open-ended punk abandon and skilfully loose improvisation, Belfast’s Robocobra Quartet are right up there with the country’s very best live acts. Ahead of supporting Not Squares at Belfast’s Bar Sub tomorrow night – and appearing at our second birthday show at Dublin’s Twisted Pepper on Saturday, May 2 – the Chris Ryan-fronted four-piece have unveiled ’80-88′. the lead single from their new EP, Bomber (“‘four songs about three people, two novels, a failed assassination attempt and a volunteer-run community arts space” – obviously). We’ll soon have a premiere of the second single from the…

  • Stream: Alarmist – Aztec Dreams

    April 7, 2015 - By 

    Few Irish bands defy categorisation so impressively as Dublin instrumental four-piece Alarmist. The closest thing the country has come to (that is: bettering, if not matching) the likes of Battles, Maps & Atlases and Giraffes? Giraffes! –  the band’s unravelling, math-tinged tracks are equally parts complex and cunning, meshing effects-laden guitar lines with skittering keyboard lines and consistently engaging percussion. Two years on from it featuring on their Pal Magnet EP, ‘Aztec Dreams’ by the band has finally been released with a fittingly hypnotic video courtesy of Cormac Murray & Daniel Staines. Triangles are very much still in, kids.

  • Stream: Fabric – Jungle

    April 7, 2015 - By 

    Of the increasing number of new bands to emerge in Derry over the last while, Fabric are easily one of the more curious propositions. Having formed in the summer of last year, Ruairi Coyle (drums) and Lorcan Hamilton (bass/vox) are, according to their Facebook bio, “striving to invent a new sound by exploring many different genres/artists and musical styles.” You might as well aim high, right? Accompanied with wonderfully bombastic b-side ‘Ascot Blondes’, the duo’s debut single, ‘Jungle’ is certainly hard to pin down. At a push, we’d be inclined to say it sounds a bit like Death From Above 1979 jamming Joy Division (or…

  • Irish Youth Music Awards @ Aviva Stadium, Dublin

    April 9, 2015 - By 

    On Saturday, April 18, Dublin’s Aviva Stadium will play host to the seventh annual Irish Youth Music Awards, the country’s only all island youth focused music festival, with over sixteen different regions from across Ireland participating in the project. Events have been running since last December across the whole island with the national event – organised by Youth Work Ireland  – taking place on the day. According to the Youth Work Ireland, the aim of the IYMA is “to provide every young person with the opportunities to get tools for life and change communities. Each year the programme is launched and…

  • Monday Mixtape: Stefan Murphy (The Mighty Stef)

    April 6, 2015 - By 

    In this special Easter Monday installment of Monday Mixtape, Stefan Murphy of Dublin rockers The Mighty Stef (above, middle) selects and talks about some of his all-time favourite songs, including Neutral Milk Hotel, Echo and the Bunnymen, FIDLAR and the Strypes. Desireless – Voyage Voyage Decadent french pop from the 80’s. An abstract song about traveling eternally. Something of a personal anthem since I was young. I have reconnected with this track in a big way recently. I long to cover it.   Garland Jeffreys – Wild In The Streets This recreates the feeling of a New York summer. A hot sticky…

  • Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival Programme Launched

    April 2, 2015 - By 

    Having mightily weathered the storm of threatening arts cuts, Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival have launched the full programme for their 16th outing, set to take place from April 30 to May 10. With an already stellar cast of musicians, artists, comedians, actors, poets and every other ilk of performer and event already confirmed, the final programme also boasts the inclusion of The Stranglers, comedian David O’Doherty, several tantalizing theatre productions, Liverpudlian psych-folk band Stealing Sheep, fast-rising festival artist-in-residence Ciaran Lavery and much more. Go here to check out the full festival schedule and how to purchase tickets. Shot in the Cathedral Quarter…

  • EP Premiere: Patrick Gardiner – Carcassonne

    April 1, 2015 - By 

    Ahead of its launch at Belfast’s Voodoo on April 9, we’re pleased to present an exclusive first listen to Carcassonne, the second EP from Co. Down singer-songwriter Patrick Gardiner. A subtly eclectic mix of incisive, occasionally wry and consistently considered acoustic tale-telling, the five-track release sees Gardiner’s earnest words drive forth full-band tracks underpinned with some instantly memorable melodic threads and pop nuances. Better still is Gardiner’s guitar-playing throughout, proving very much representative of a craftsman who has played and commanded the instrument from a young age. Go here for the Facebook event page for the launch show and stream the EP below.

  • Stream: VerseChorusVerse – Lake of Fire

    April 1, 2015 - By 

    With new material very much on the horizon, it’s no surprise that North Coast singer-songwriter Tony Wright AKA VerseChorusVerse is a bit of a lifelong Nirvana fanatic. With his music-making nom de plume deriving from the legendary trio’s non-album track of the same name, Wright has gone one further and released a striking, decidedly lo-fi cover of a song that they too covered (and thereby made famous the world over): the Meat Puppets‘ prophetic ‘Lake of Fire’. With the aforementioned original studio material set for release in the coming months, Wright’s rendition is the lead track of a new collection of…