• Watch: Stoat – Talk Radio Makes Me Feel Alone

    February 23, 2017 - By 

    Not up to date with all the fun scandals going about? Memes proving a bit abstract for your liking? Telling your car radio to piss off again? You’re not alone. Periodically re-emerging trio Stoat have returned with a new single and the promise of a new album entitled Try Not To Think About It, set to arrive in the Summer. The single, ‘Talk Radio Makes Me Feel Alone’ takes the high-octane spoken word lyricism heard on their previous releases and jigs it all up with a Cardiacs-meets-Sleaford Mods type backdrop. As on albums Future Come Get Me (2005) and Ducks and Flying Dogs (2002) Stoat’s MO is as…

  • Indiependence 2017 Launched, New Acts Revealed

    February 22, 2017 - By 

    With Manic Street Preachers, Sigma and the Coronas already confirmed, several new acts have been revealed to play this year’s Indiependence at the festival’s launch today. With more yet to be revealed over the coming weeks, All Tvvins, Tom Odell, Frank Turner, The Riptide Movement, Hermitage Green, Brian Deady, We Cut Corners, The Minutes, Overhead The Albatross, Fang Club, August Walk, Super Silly, Dagny, Eamon Walsh, Mandeville Beat Critics, Brass Phantoms, Penrose, Stephanie Rainey, Eve Belle, MindRiot, Beoga, Apella, Josiah Stone and Raglans have all been announced to play. Set to return to Deer Farm in Mitchelstown, Cork from August 4-6, tickets…

  • Video Premiere: Tongue Bundle – Bobby

    February 23, 2017 - By 

    Dublin based experimentalists Tongue Bundle will release the follow up to their 2015 LP Bungee Untold on March 4th in the form of Peppery Talk. The band, known for their frenzied and mind-boggling live shows, now reveal the video for ‘Bobby’, a glitchy number from the forthcoming album. Steering away from the Mr.Bungle style carnival-mania of their previous efforts, ‘Bobby’ is a much more electronic affair that still manages to retain their punkish energy. Chock with jarred keys, ominous spoken samples and frenetic percussion, it seems Tongue Bundle are opting to venture even further down the rabbit hole for this latest venture. Fine by us. Tongue…

  • Stream: Bad Sea – Tell Me (What I Mean)

    February 23, 2017 - By 

    One of our featured 17 For ’17 acts, Dublin duo Bad Sea have, as expected, burst into 2017 with a head full of steam. Ahead of supporting Julia Jacklin at Whelan’s in Dublin on February 25 and playing London’s Notting Hill Arts Club on March 5, their swooning new single ‘Tell Me (What I Mean)’ melds Americana-tinged jangle with Angel Olsen-esque pop finesse. Most certainly worth a repeat listen, this one.

  • Premiere: Candice Gordon – The Laws of Nature

    February 22, 2017 - By 

    Evoking everyone from Anna Calvi and PJ Harvey to Le Butcherettes’ Teri Gender Bender and Grace Slick, Berlin-based Dublin artist Candice Gordon is a force to be reckoned with. Having previously recorded an EP with Shane MacGowan, she is set to release her debut full-length album, Garden of Beasts, via Proper Octopus Records on March 3. The lead single from that release (which is an exploration of human nature, the hubris of identity, dispossession, and the conflict between the allure of savagery and the desperation for salvation from that) ‘The Laws of Nature’ is an exceptional six-minute slice of throwback noir-pop, conjuring backwashed images…

  • Watch: Talos – Odyssey

    February 20, 2017 - By 

    Having been on an increasingly impressive trajectory over the last four years, Cork producer Eoin French AKA Talos will release his highly-anticipated debut album, Wild Alee, on April 21. A new single taken from that, the lush electro-pop of ‘Odyssey’ makes for a nigh on five minute ballad of swirling textures and emotive incandescence. Speaking of the track, French said, ““In any endeavour we find ourselves at the point of doubt. Those moments where you question yourself. That’s what the line, ‘In this odyssey, it’s hard to leave…’ refers to. It’s a beautiful and testing cycle. “I was asking myself some pretty big questions.…

  • Ryan Adams Set for Irish Shows

    February 17, 2017 - By 

    Having recently released his critically-acclaimed sixteenth studio album, Prisoner, it’s been announced that Ryan Adams will play three Irish dates in September. As well as play Belfast’s Ulster Hall on September 8 and Cork’s Opera House on September 9, Adams’ tour will conclude at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre on September 11. Tickets go on sale next Friday (February 24) at 10am. See below for info. 08 Sept. Ulster Hall: Tickets from £35 incl. Booking fee. 09 Sept. Cork Opera House: Tickets from €44.05 incl. Booking fee. 11 Sept. Olympia: Tickets from €40.05 incl. Booking fee and restoration levy.

  • Sea Sessions Announce First Acts

    February 15, 2017 - By 

    The self-proclaimed biggest beach party in Ireland, Bundoran’s Sea Sessions have announced the first acts to play its 2017 outing across June 23-25. With more to be announced, the following acts will make an appearance: The Coronas, Primal Scream, Sigma, Foy Vance, All Tvvins, Badly Drawn Boy, Mr Scruff, Dreadzone, Brian Deady, Aine Cahill, Wyvern Lingo, Little Hours, Gurr, Kormac, Talos, The Cuban Brothers, Caravana Sun, Otherkin, Stomptown Brass, Touts, Soule, Bitch Falcon, Jack O Rourke, Jafaris, Le Boom, Penrose, Eve Belle, Apella, Tiz Mc Namara, Wolves of Youth and Keith Disconaut. Festival director Ray O’Donoghue says “It’s always great fun…

  • EP Premiere: Bob Skeleton – If This Isn’t Love

    February 17, 2017 - By 

    Galway young guns Bob Skeleton have returned with their second EP If This Isn’t Love. Following from their 2016 debut Shade, the four piece have continued on the path of confessional, bright indie-rock on this new EP. Adding some stylistic flourishes here though, the band showcases a tangible progression, suggesting a determination to grow and develop as a unit with each release in their still quite nascent stage. The opening title track is an uptempo pop cut while ‘Living In The Deep End’ is a jangling, dreamy and quaint offering that will satisfy fans of Real Estate and The Shins. The EP’s real highlight though is on the stripped…

  • Stream: Maija Sofia – Persephone

    February 14, 2017 - By 

    One of our featured 17 For ’17 acts, we are pretty convinced 2017 is set to be a big year for Dublin’s Maija Sofia. Haven’t carved out her own path over the last while, the Connemara-reared artist has just unveiled her latest – and almost certainly greatest – single effort to date, ‘Persephone’. A self-described ode “to the many talented women throughout history who have been oppressed and overshadowed at the hands of an abuse” the track – which marries a wonderfully cloistered atmosphere with an intimate, lo-fi air – was produced and recorded with London electronic artist Gazel. In short: we…