• Classic Album: Motörhead – Another Perfect Day (1983)

    February 5, 2016 - By 

    1983 was an interesting year to be in Motörhead. After conquering the UK charts with the one-two punch of Ace of Spades and No Sleep ‘til Hammersmith, they’d established themselves right at the forefront of the rock world, a band that could go toe-to-toe with the best of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands, or appealing to the still thriving punk rock scene, whilst simultaneously being perfectly at home amidst more mainstream fare, gooning for the cameras on Top of the Pops. Iron Fist (1982), however, hadn’t been particularly well received. Co-produced by guitarist ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke, the…

  • Bookmark: Shawna Scott (Sex Siopa)

    February 5, 2016 - By 

    In the latest installment of Bookmark, Seattle-born Shawna Scott of Dublin’s Sex Siopa selects and talks about her some of her all-time favourite books. Photos by Melanie Mullan. Girl Trouble by Carol Dyhouse This is the book I’m reading at the moment. I picked it up in the Wellcome Museum bookshop when I was in London last month. It’s brilliant! It’s a brief history of moral panics over the past 150 or so years. Not surprising, when there’s a moral panic, it’s almost always about women. From the suffragettes’ involvement in the “white slavery” panic to the post-war rise of…

  • 16 For ’16: Paddy Hanna

    February 5, 2016 - By 

    Fifteen hugely promising, genre-spanning Irish acts down, we conclude our annual Ones to Watch feature with Dublin’s Paddy Hanna. Words by Cathal McBride. Photo: Mark Earley. Following his 2014 debut album Leafy Stilleto on Popical Island and a pair of strong 2015 singles, Dublin’s Paddy Hanna is on an upward trajectory that shows no sign of faltering any time soon. A string of Irish support dates with Girl Band last year with his backing band, including No Monster Club’s Bobby Aherne, has only helped to raise his profile further. Swapping his old band Grand Pocket Orchestra’s lo-fi art pop for…

  • Rave New World (05/02)

    February 5, 2016 - By 

    With Antoin wirelessless, Aidan Hanratty returns for his latest look at the best electronic gigs, tracks, mixes and releases of the week. Gigs Galcher Lustwerk & Dj Deece at Opium Rooms, Dublin Friday 5 February There’s a crazy amount of good gigs this weekend. First off, DJ Deece, long-standing Hidden Agenda resident, is behind a new series of gigs, and having opened with an all-nighter a few weeks back, this time he’s got the don Galcher Lustwerk (pictured) in town. If you’re not familiar with 100% Galcher already, well where have you been for the past three years? He’s closed that…

  • 16 For ’16: Exploding Eyes

    February 4, 2016 - By 

    The penultimate act in our latest installment annual Ones to Watch feature – 16 For ’16 – Brian Coney profiles Dublin heavy psych trio Exploding Eyes. Photo by Derek Kennedy. Having released their wonderfully urgent, blues-soaked new single ‘We Need Love’ just last month, Dublin heavy psych trio Exploding Eyes tip their decidedly fuzzed-put hat to a gamut of garage-rock luminaries ranging from Mountain and Blue Cheer to Andromeda and Thee Oh Sees. Throwing both back and very much forward, their latest effort evokes the likes of Jon Spencer and the Doors at their most resounding to give us a…

  • New Beginnings for the Innovative Block T

    February 3, 2016 - By 

    As recession turns into a gloomy memory of Dublin’s past, development designs once shelved are being retrieved across the city, including former visions of grandeur for Dublin 7’s Smithfield. Development brothers Joe and Patrick Linders stand poised to helm the projects along the storied streets, having bought up properties throughout the area since before the crash years ago. In 2011, Dublin City Council denied them their plans to demolish the old Irish Distillers HQ and turn it into a corporate high rise. Now five years later, with reformed plans in hand as well as debt relief from a 2014 refinancing…

  • 16 For ’16: Strength

    February 3, 2016 - By 

    Having played our Independent Venue Week showcase at Belfast’s Oh Yeah Centre on Saturday night, Derry’s Strength are the latest Irish act we’ve handpicked as a “one to watch” throughout 2016 and beyond. Words by Brian Coney. Photos by James Cunningham. Arguably one of the bolder, more idiosyncratic propositions to emerge in the North over the last while, Derry’s Strength were formed from the smouldering embers of sadly-departed psychobilly art-rockers Red Organ Serpent Sound. With the release of the former’s bugged-out new single, ‘Northern Ireland Yes’ (their attempt to “embrace the cultural psyche of the North and send it back…

  • 16 For ’16: A Bad Cavalier

    February 1, 2016 - By 

    As we edge ever closer to the end of our 16 For ’16 feature, in which we’ve been eagerly profiling sixteen Irish acts we’re putting good money on doing great things in 2016, Brian Coney envisions big things for ASIWYFA guitarist Niall Kennedy’s A Bad Cavalier. Photo by Joe Laverty When he’s not trotting the globe with North Coast post-rock maestros And So I Watch You From Afar, ex-Panama Kings main man Niall Kennedy is honing his wares at the helm of A Bad Cavalier. Whilst certainly echoing the varying triumphant stupor of the aforementioned outfits, the effortlessly tight alt-pop of…

  • Monday Mixtape: Cian Nugent

    February 1, 2016 - By 

    Released on Saturday, Night Fiction by Dublin’s Cian Nugent was praised to no end in Garrett Hargan’s review of the album, published earlier on TTA earlier today. To accompany its release, Nugent has kindly took some time out to reveal and talk about some of his all-time favourite songs, including Fred Neil and Cass McCombs. Cian Nugent launches Night Fiction on Friday, February 12. Event page here. Fred Neil – Dolphins Fred Neil maybe better known for writing ‘Everybody’s Talkin” which Nilsson famously did on the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack but for me this is where he really takes off. Love the band…

  • The Record: Robocobra Quartet

    February 1, 2016 - By 

    In the latest installment of The Record, we eavesdrop and follow-up on the recording of ‘Kikazaru’, the superb new single from Belfast’s Robocobra Quartet. Photos by Colm Laverty. Hi Chris. ‘Kikazaru’ is the third “part” of the three-wise-monkeys songs you’ve written and recorded. Can you shed some light on the thematic/conceptual narrative threading the three installments? Chris Ryan (drums/vocals): It’s pretty loose. The lyrics were leaning that way for this collection of three songs and so the concept came in retrospect. It’s not strict by any means. For me, it helps not to get too lost in the process of…