• Sense Prevails: Funding Restored for 32 Northern Irish Arts Organisations

    November 19, 2015 - By 

    Having been told that they were set to lose 7% of their planned funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, 32 of the biggest and most vital arts organisations in Northern Ireland have been informed that’s been reversed as part of the Stormont executive’s November budget. Amongst those organisations – a collective cultural beating heart in the North of the country – are the MAC, Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, The Ulster Orchestra, the Lyric Theatre and Derry’s With the Culture Minister Carál Nί Chuilίn having been criticised over cuts to the Art’s Council budget, the Department of Culture, Arts and…

  • Girl Band Announce String of New Dates

    November 18, 2015 - By 

    Having had to pulled out of European and Northern American dates due to “health issues in the band” last month Dublin noise-rock masters Girl Band have announced a string of new dates for 2016, culminating at their biggest show in Ireland to date at Vicar Street on Friday, April 1. The Dara Kiely-fronted band have also unveiled a live Rough Trade session version of ‘Baloo’, a highlight on the band’s critically-acclaimed debut album, Holding Hands With Jamie. Watch it and check out the new dates below. Fri 22nd Jan – Brewery Corner, Kilkenny, Ireland Sat 23rd Jan – Gabo’s, Castlebar, Ireland Wed 17th…

  • Stream: Vogelbat – Miw (feat. Sad Mermaid)

    November 18, 2015 - By 

    Evoking the likes of Arca and FKA Twigs in equal measure, Berlin-based Kilkenny producer David Sheenan AKA Vogelbat has unveiled a brilliantly burrowing new track, ‘Miw’. Featuring masterfully warped vocals courtesy of singer-songwriter Sad Mermaid – also based in the German capital – it serves as a strong introduction for newcomers to Sheenan’s aesthetic, in which “100% of [his] music created on a laptop with no external MIDI plugins, solid state synths or traditional instruments (as they “all reside [back] in Ireland”). Stream the track via Soundcloud below.

  • Low Amongst New Acts Set for Other Voices Live

    November 16, 2015 - By 

    Low are amongst a new wave of acts announced to play this year’s Other Voices Live in Dingle from December 4-6. Joining the Ohio slowcore pioneers are Jack Garrett, Keaton Henson, Glen Hansard and The Academic, whilst the acts set to play IMRO’s Other Room are Saint Sister, Talos, Gavin Glass Bitch Falcon and Hawk. Elsewhere, the following acts are set to play the free Music Trail across Dingle: Last week, Richard Hawley, Gaz Coombes, Gavin James, Lapsley and Otherkin were the first acts confirmed to play the annual showcase, which sees its 14th outing this year.

  • Robyn G Shiels Announces New Dates, Collaboration Album

    November 13, 2015 - By 

    When it rains for Belfast-based acoustic doom master Robyn G Shiels, it pours. As well as a downright unmissable “Alternative New Year’s Grieve Party” at Belfast’ Sunflower Bar with Hornby Ban Jovi AKA Hornby of The Continuous Battle of Order, Heliopause and a DJ set from Documenta’s Joe Greene,  Shiels will continue his excellently-titled November Reign Tour throughout November (see dates below), including a performance at the Jarman Award Whitechapel Weekend in London on November 21. Elsewhere, Shiels has teamed up with musician Steve Nolan to deliver an extraordinary, nine-track collaborative album titled sky drew near. Going under the dual moniker Rs.sN, Shiels…

  • Stream: Alana Henderson – Museum of Thought

    November 12, 2015 - By 

    Before globetrotting as a member of Hozier’s band, Dungannon cellist and singer Alana Henderson had established herself as one of the most promising Irish artists, masterfully meddling in the realm of alternative folk informed with a strong traditional presence. Almost three years on from her sublime Wax & Wane EP, Henderson has returned in her own right with ‘Museum of Thought’, a wonderfully stripped-back, lilting and lullaby-like track co-produced by Phil D’Alton of Master & Dog that positively confirms she has by no means abandoned her own craft and path. Watch the video for the track – featuring images courtesy of The British…

  • Watch: VerseChorusVerse & David Lyttle – No Window

    November 10, 2015 - By 

    There’s inspired, seemingly pre-destined collaborations, then there’s Tony Wright AKA VerseChorusVerse pairing up with drummer extraordinaire David Lyttle to make a genre-warping release recorded over 2 channels over a total of 14 hours. Set for release on November 20 via Lyte records, Say & Do is an impassioned, nine-track tour de force, revealing both Wright and Lytle’s instinctive creative mastery in the vast realms of folk, blues and jazz. More than anything, though, there’s an almost touchable spirit and mettle to the release; something that comes across in the stripped-back video for the album’s jubilant lead single, ‘No Window’. Wright and Lyttle…

  • Stream: The Mad Dalton – The Little Belfry

    November 10, 2015 - By 

    Recorded with the likes of Michael Mormecha of Mojo Fury and Jonny Woods of R51 – and launched in style on the Belfast Barge at the weekend – The Little Belfry is the debut EP from Belfast-based singer-songwriter Peter Sumadh AKA The Mad Dalton. A five-track release of ruminating, Americana-tinged folk in the vein of Wilco, Pedro The Lion, Sparklehorse and Ron Sexsmith, it’s a wonderfully-realised release bursting with carefully-crafted pathos and soul. Here’s hoping release number two from Sumadh – an artist of Scots/Canadian heritage – doesn’t incur quite as long a gestation period. Stream/download The Little Belfry below. The Little…

  • EP Premiere: Maija Sofia – The Sugar Sea

    November 9, 2015 - By 

    Having moved to London last year, Maija Sofia wrote and recorded The Sugar Sea during a solitary few months that came as a result of independently relocating to alien city. Dealing with the universal traits of loneliness and anxiety – but lightened by juxtaposition with Sofia’s empirical, fairytale mannerisms – the tracks on the Galway’s musician’s debut solo EP makes for a bewitching, almost voyeuristic listen. Three of the songs (‘The Girl Who Pulled the Sun Down’, ‘Hail Mary’, ‘I Will Not Be Worth It’) were recorded in Mowlem Street Studio, Bethnal Green by producer James Hare (Women in Love, Milk White White Teeth) and he…

  • Watch: Colm Mac Con Iomaire – Bláth (Flower)

    November 4, 2015 - By 

    Just over a month until his homecoming Christmas show with Lisa O’Neill at Dublin’s Vicar Street on December 17,  Colm Mac Con Iomaire has unveiled a video of him performing the brilliant ‘Bláth (Flower)’ live at Rockwood Music Hall, New York City. Filmed and edited by Shane G. Mahon, it’s a wonderfully captured performance that sees guitar, strings and piano weave a bewitching backdrop upon which footage of NYC on mute is overlaid. Frames’ member Mac Con Iomaire will play the following upcoming shows. November 11: St Pancras Old Church, London December 9: Empire Music Hall, Belfast December 17: Vicar St, Dublin