• Other Voices Live Set For Austin

    September 12, 2016 - By 

    With a line-up set to forge a combination of Irish and international acts, the country’s leading live music series Other Voices have announced they will head across the Atlantic for the inaugural Other Voices Austin from October 7-9. With the line-up for the showcase set to be announced at the start of October, Other Voices founder Philip King said, “To head to Austin, Texas has been a life long dream. Other Voices has a great affinity with that spirit…. one that is intact in Austin and that lives in the iconic Arlyn Studios, which will be our home this October. It’s a real…

  • Low Announce Irish Christmas Shows

    September 12, 2016 - By 

    A band synonymous for Christmas for many (not least thanks to their 1999 album of the same name) Duluth indie rock trio Low will three Irish dates in December. Closing their A Christmas Performance tour, Alan Sparhawk and co. will play Belfast’s Empire Music Hall on Monday, December 12, Dublin’s Christchurch on Tuesday, December 13 and Kilkenny’s Set Theatre on Wednesday, December 14. The band last played Belfast in 2013, Dublin in 2012 and Kilkenny back in 2009. Tickets are on sale at 9am on Friday, September 16.

  • Lisa Hannigan Set For Irish Tour

    September 9, 2016 - By 

    Having just released her stellar new album, At Swim, Lisa Hannigan has announced a new string of Irish dates in December. Also set for a UK and European tour in October and November, Hannigan will play the following 12 dates at home on the lead-up to Christmas. December 1: Galway, Seapoint Ballroom December 2: Wexford, O’Reilly Theatre, National Opera House December 8: Derry, The Glassworks December 10: Dublin, Vicar Street December 12: Cork, Cork Opera House December 16: Limerick, Limetree Theatre December 17: Drogheda, Beaulieu House and Gardens December 18: Dublin, Unitarian Church (All ages show, 2.30pm) December 19: Belfast, Empire…

  • David Holmes Announces Late Night Tales Album Launch

    September 8, 2016 - By 

    With support from several acts that feature on the release, David Holmes has announced details for the launch of his forthcoming Late Night Tales curated compilation. As well as a set from the Belfast DJ and producer, Barry Woolnough, Alain Maclean, the legend that is BP Fallon and Belfast drone pop masters Documenta will also perform at the launch at Belfast’s Maple Leaf Club on Saturday, October 15. To seal the deal, Stephen Hackett will be providing films/visuals on a 360 degree film projector and Joe Lindsay will compere the night. There will also be a limited edition free CD from Holmes…

  • Watch: Windings – You’re Dead

    September 7, 2016 - By 

    Limerick’s well-loved and broadly respected outfit Windings returned yesterday with ‘You’re Dead’, the first track to be unveiled from their forthcoming fourth album Be Honest and Fear Not. Four years since the release of their quietly triumphant I Am Not the Crow, the five-piece has never been the type to operate on anyone else’s timeline or rush releases, instead always opting to operate at their own pace. After showcasing two new tracks, ‘Stray Dogs’ and ‘Helicopters’, some time ago, ‘You’re Dead’ is paired with a delicate video by Stephen Boland featuring psychedelic colouring over monochrome backdrops, floating along perfectly with the songs flow. Like a strong…

  • Watch: Rusangano Family – Soul Food

    September 5, 2016 - By 

    Having released their triumphant debut LP Let the Dead Bury the Dead in April and having taken festivals both at home and abroad by storm all Summer, Limerick’s Rusangano Family returned today with the aptly charismatic video for album track ‘Soul Food’ directed by Dave Tynan. The film depicts the trio and troupes of friends having more fun than you somewhere in The Burren, the vibrant colours they wear and the energised movements in contrast with the stark landscape symbolising this group’s endless capacity to bring soul and vigour to the most dramatic and grey situations and places. Oh, and there’s a “Make Ireland Grand…

  • Premiere: SKYMAS – No Easy Way Out

    September 2, 2016 - By 

    One of the country’s most compelling live outfits, Belfast duo Martin Corrigan (ex-Alloy Mental) and Nick Todd AKA SKYMAS are an act that aim straight for the sonic jugular. With their aim to create tracks that “can channel the fundamental, super physical energy from beyond our everyday world” their new Dave Lievense-produced single ‘No Easy Way Out’ bears the hallmarks of their propulsive electro-rock craft to date: pounding rhythms, powerful textures and brazen lyrical gusto. Tipping their hat to musical and philosophical forerunners ranging from Fela Kuti, Steve Albini and John Lydon to David Bohm, Robert Anton Wilson and Alan Watts, Corrigan and Todd’s…

  • Premiere: Invaderband – Ship of Nothing

    September 1, 2016 - By 

    With their self-titled debut album set for release on November 25, Derry quartet Invaderband‘s idiosyncratic brand of garage-laced artrock betrays the hallmarks of a band content in doing things their way without neglecting the power of the hook. Nowhere is that more self-evident than on their forthcoming single ‘Ship of Nothing’, an impossibly earworming three minutes that simultaneously rollicks and lulls via chopping guitar chords, handclaps, seagull samples and organ lines in confident, mercurial synchronicity. Invaderband songwriter and vocalist Adam Leonard, “Lyrically this record covers a number of disparate bases: The invasion of Iraq, ectoplasm, alien attack and Alan Rickman, and that’s…

  • Premiere: Tenro – Vimana

    September 5, 2016 - By 

    Dublin duo Marc Aubele and Brian Conniffe AKA Tenro meld darkcore, ambient techno and deathpop with an outsider fearlessness that isn’t likely to yield to populism or calculable trend any time soon. Taken from their forthcoming debut album – which is set for release via Dublin’s Little Gem Records on October 7 – the pair’s latest track, ‘Vimana’, forges warped, Mogwai-esque modulated vocals with infernal synth textures and perfectly demented samples across five minutes. Accompanied by a suitably tripped-out (possibly seizure inducing – be warned) video, the track sits at the right side of nefarious, each phrase clawing away at some vague malevolent inking just out of view.

  • First Electric Picnic Stage-Times Unveiled

    August 29, 2016 - By 

    Set to make its annual return to the 600 acre Stradbally Estate in Co. Laois this weekend, the first stage-times for this year’s Electric Picnic have been unveiled. With times for the likes of Cosby, Little Big Tent, Electric Arena and more yet tom be announced, start planning your weekend for the likes of the Main Stage, Body and Soul Main Stage, Rankin’s Wood, Other Voices and more below. Friday Main Stage 22.30-00.00 The Chemical Brothers 21.00-22.00 The 1975 19.30-20.30 Nas 18.15-19.00 Abc 17.00-17.45 Ryan Sheridan Body And Soul Main Stage 02.45-03.30 Whilk & Misky 01.30-02.15 Mothxr 00.00-01.00 Flexfab 22.30-23.30 The Altered Hours…