• Monday Mixtape: MMOTHS

    March 14, 2016 - By 

    In the latest installment of Monday Mixtape, Dublin producer Jack Colleran AKA MMOTHS gives us a cursory tour of his current favourite YouTube bookmarks, including Solar Bears, Steve Reich & William Basinski. Colleran launches his debut LP, Luneworks, at District 8 on Saturday night. Benoît Pioulard – Upon The Break Arch Sting Freestyle The Dead Texan – The Struggle Smt. Kesarbai Kerkar: Raag-Malkauns Solar Bears – Man Plus Steve Reich – Piano Phase (solo) William Basinski – Melancholia #9 आप stundents पसंद है

  • Rave New World (11/03)

    March 11, 2016 - By 

    Antoin Lindsay and Aidan Hanratty return for their latest look at the very best electronic gigs, tracks and mixes of the week. Gigs Shivers with Pender Street Steppers at Electric Garden & Theatre, Galway Friday 11 March Shivers is a new party happening in Galway, and they’ve got a treat for their first gig. You might know Pender Street Steppers from their releases for Peoples Potential Unlimited or Mood Hut, or maybe the mixtape they dropped for the latter label a few years back. They’re real party DJs, so it’s sure to be a brilliantly fun night. Best wishes and good luck…

  • The Fifth Beatle: Sir George Martin (1926-2016)

    March 9, 2016 - By 

    Like them or loathe them, The Beatles are the bedrock of popular culture. No other band has exerted the kind of influence and hold over music, and as avatars of cultural change in the decade where everything changed, they led the charge. But would any of it have happened if it wasn’t for Sir George Martin? Unlikely. The Fab Four had the talent, the ideas, and the drive, but it was George Martin who honed them into the force they became. Think of him as like a sculptor, with Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr as the raw material from which…

  • Jessica Hopper Keynote @ Women’s Work

    March 9, 2016 - By 

    As part of Women’s Work NI, a week long festival based around International Women’s Day and highlighting the valuable work women contribute to the music industry, current editorial director of MTV Jessica Hopper gave a rousing keynote speech to a crowded Oh Yeah! Centre. The crux of the legendary journalist/editor’s speech was that the so far rather circuitous conversation around women in the industry had only gained momentum recently: we are finally being heard. She outlined how how she got started (a punk fanzine inspired by Babes In Toyland), which brought her neatly to her other point: why is ‘fangirl’…

  • Rave New World (04/03)

    March 4, 2016 - By 

    Antoin Lindsay and Aidan Hanratty return for their latest look at the very best electronic gigs, tracks and mixes of the week. Gigs Lower Your Expectations #5: Barry Redsetta + Frawl at The Underbelly, Limerick Saturday 5 March LYE continues its run of great guests, with Major Problems boss Barry Redsetta travelling to Limerick tomorrow night. He’s famed as a warmup DJ, but here he’ll be shining brightly. He’s got quite the collection, with unreleased goodies to boot (MPR010 is killer) – check out this sweet mix he did last year for proof. Local man Frawl is on support, fresh from the…

  • 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…