• Playlist: Choice Music Prize 2016

    March 3, 2016 - By 

    With The Gloaming proving well-deserved victors last time round, tonight’s Choice Music Prize is – as has almost always been the case with the award – an extremely tough one to call. Selected by an Irish industry judging panel, the following albums – perfectly diverse in score and vision – will all compete to walk away with the prize at Vicar Street later today. Girl Band – Holding Hands with Jamie (Rough Trade) HamsandwicH – Stories From The Surface (Route 109A Records) Gavin James – Bitter Pill (Warner Music Ireland) Jape – This Chemical Sea (Faction Records) Le Galaxie – Le Club (Universal Music…

  • Bookmark: Frankie Gaffney

    March 2, 2016 - By 

    In this installment of Bookmark, we chat to Dublin author Frankie Gaffney about the books that have made the biggest impression on his life thus far. Photos by Pedro Giaquinto. I’ve split my list into fiction and non-fiction. Non-fiction tends to get neglected, but it influences my writing every bit as much as fiction. Non-Fiction A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson This book gently and briefly explains what’s currently known about the universe: the very basics of the cosmos, our planet, and the life that inhabits it. For some reason they don’t really teach you the broad…

  • Track Record: Anderson

    March 2, 2016 - By 

    In this installment of Track Record, we head over to the home studio of Dublin based singer songwriter Anderson, while he selects the records which have made a huge impact on his life from The Beatles to Joni Mitchell. Photos by Tara Thomas. The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band This record is redolent of my childhood, it has been a sturdy vessel for so many of my earliest and happiest memories. As a musician the way I listen to records has changed and become much more analytical, listening to this record now only enhances my regard for…

  • Monday Mixtape: Steven Agnew

    February 29, 2016 - By 

    Following on from his two-part TTA interview, Green Party of Northern Ireland leader Steven Agnew selects and talks about some of his all-time favourite songs, featuring Yo La Tengo, Hot Snakes, Neutral Milk Hotel and Slint. Go here and here for Stevie Lennox’s interview with Agnew. “I’m one of those people who laments technology. I miss making mixtapes. I wouldn’t even have the equipment to make or play it on anymore, but I was a big fan. High Fidelity was always one of my favourite books – the rules of making mixtapes. I’ve never sat down to think about it,…

  • Rave New World (26/02)

    February 26, 2016 - By 

    Antoin’s away in Berlin, so here Aidan Hanratty returns for his latest look at the very best electronic gigs, tracks and mixes of the week. Gigs Move D & Shanti Celeste at Opium Rooms, Dublin Friday 26 February  Craig David is sold out, so I guess this will have to do. The ageless Move D continues to thrive, most recently showcasing his considerable talents alongside Jordan GCZ on their Live In Seattle album for Further Records. A relative newcomer then by comparison, Shanti Celeste has moved from under-the-radar releases on Brstl and Idle Hands to a killer cut with Funkineven and…

  • Bookmark: Kevin Curran

    February 23, 2016 - By 

    In this installment of Bookmark, Dublin author Kevin Curran selects and talks about some of his favourite novels, featuring the likes of Saul Bellow, Don DeLillo and F Scott Fitzgerald. Curran has just recently published his second novel Citizens. Photos by Pedro Giaquinto. James Kelman  – A Disaffection A brilliant, if under-appreciated writer brings us a ground-breaking use of vernacular language that would later be made famous by Irvine Welsh. Not as brash as Welsh, but more gritty and stylistically accomplished, A Disaffection is a powerful book about twenty-something despair and isolation in a world that doesn’t care. Saul Bellow –…

  • Track Record: Paul G Smyth

    February 21, 2016 - By 

    In the latest installment of Track Record, Dublin pianist and Jimmy Cake member Paul G Smyth handpicks a selection of records that have left an indelible imprint on his music and life, including Tangerine Dream, Derek Bailey and Talk Talk. Photos by Aidan Kelly Murphy. Evan Parker – Saxophone Solos This album essentially ruined my life. First stumbled upon when I used to hoover up the contents of the Ilac Centre Library’s audio section as a teenager, using every family member’s cards every Saturday, and coming home on the bus with unknowns from every section. I hated it. Passionately. It…

  • Jack O’Rourke: Comfort in Melancholy

    February 19, 2016 - By 

    Set to play Dublin’s Whelan’s tonight (Friday, February 19) we chat to Cork baroque-pop singer-songwriter Jack O’Rourke about influence and inspiration, soundtracking the Yes campaign, the thin line between joy and melancholy, as well as the writing and recording of his forthcoming debut album. First up: for those not in the know, when and how did you first start writing and playing your own music? I was four and doodling at the piano. It chilled me out and excited me simultaneously. I discovered Kate Bush and Tom Waits when I was 15 and the rest is history. I sometimes wish I…

  • Monday Mixtape: Lou Barlow (Dinosaur Jr./Sebadoh)

    February 15, 2016 - By 

    To say Lou Barlow needs no introduction would be something of a colossal understatement. A founding member of Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh and the Folk Implosion, Barlow is both a veritable indie rock hero and lo-fi pioneer par excellence. Having recently released his third solo album, Brace The Wave, Barlow reveals and waxes lyrical about some of his favourite tracks discovered via apps like Shazam, including Crain, Sauna Youth and Dublin’s Girl Band. I love the music-identifying apps on my phone, Shazam and SoundHound. If I hear something and don’t know what it is I tap one of these and aim my phone.…

  • Rave New World (12/02)

    February 12, 2016 - By 

    Antoin Lindsay is back! He and Aidan Hanratty run through the best gigs, tracks and mixes of the week. Gigs Kink – Live at District 8, Dublin Friday 12 February Number 1 on RA’s list of live acts last year, Kink has been rolling out bangers for years, and finally got his due with this particular recognition. See why he got the top spot at District 8, who have a pretty special season of guests this spring. AH Fleetmac Wood presents I See Your Gypsy at The Sugar Club, Dublin Friday 12 February A ludicrous name, I agree, but this show looks like a…