• Stream: Cruising – Cruising EP

    August 11, 2015 - By 

    One of our collective favourite Irish bands, post-punk supergroup Cruising – featuring current and former members of Girls Names, September Girls, Sea Pinks & Logikparty – have unveiled their eponymous debut EP. Released through Tough Love Records on August 14, the first 100 of the 300 12″ pressings have been printed on hot pink vinyl, available to pre-order here. The EP was recorded across two nights in Dublin’s Guerrilla Studios and mixed in Belfast’s Start Together, where much of the Cruising membership have previously recorded. Blending garage & psych riffery very much through the filter of early ’80s post-punk – à la Joy Division, Magazine…

  • The Twisted Pepper Confirm Closure

    August 11, 2015 - By 

    With rumours circulating far and wide yesterday afternoon, Dublin venue The Twisted Pepper have confirmed that it is set to close after seven years – but not without moving on in a guise. Posting in the Facebook event page for its Closing Weekender (this weekend coming, August 14-16), they wrote: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… we’re sad, but happily reminiscent to say that this weekend will be the last ever weekend of The Twisted Pepper as a music venue. We are blown away by the messages of support we have received over the last…

  • HWCH 2015 Line-Up Announced

    August 11, 2015 - By 

    The country’s leading bastion and celebration of homegrown, independent music, Hard Working Class Heroes has announced the line-up for the October festival. Taking across several different venues in Dublin throughout the weekend of 1-3, it looks like one of the strongest, most diverse HWCH bills yet. Check out the full line-up below and buy tickets here. 13, Acrobat, AikJ, Ailbhe Reddy, Anderson, Arborist, Atlas Moon, Bad Sea, Bagels, Basciville, Benihana, Bitch Falcon, Buffalo Sun, Buffalo Woman, Callum Orr, Carriages, Cfit, Color//Sound, Comrade Hat, Corner Boy, Darling, Dear Desert, discopunks, DVO Marvell, Elastic Sleep, Electro Sensitive Behaviour Feat. Perry Blake, Elephant, Elm, Everything Shook (below), EXPLODING EYES, Fergal O’Connor, Florence Olivier, Frankenstein Bolts, Half Of Me, Hare Squead, HAWK, Heroes in Hiding, Hot Cops, I Have A Tribe, Inni-K, Jennifer Evans, Johnny Stewart, Joni, Katie Laffan, Kobina, Lie Ins, Lilla Vargen, LORIS, Maija Sofia, Maud in Cahoots, Me Auld Flower, Mere…

  • Watch: Strength – I Like Compressions (Live)

    August 10, 2015 - By 

    Comprised of the likes of ex-Red Organ Serpent Sound member Rory Moore and Donegal producer Conor McNamee AKA Nyt Bloomer, Derry “pop” band Strength offer up a curious manifesto of sorts on their Facebook page: “I wanted to use pieces of dead machinery: an old drum machine: a broken bass: a vhs recorder. I wanted to use things that people had disregarded or forgotten about, I needed to find the light that was still flickering within these machines. My whole purpose was to create something that would sound good in a crap hi-fi.” An admirable approach for sure, the fruits of…

  • Watch: Music For Dead Birds – English Weed

    August 10, 2015 - By 

    Having first caught our attention back in 2011 with the stellar, scuzzy lo-fi of The Pope’s Sister, Galway/Mayo “anti-folk” duo Music For Dead Birds will release a double A-Side (artwork above) later this month. One half of that release, their ruminating new track ‘English Weed’ – accompanied with a typically oblique video – conjures hooks and refrains from early/mid-Nineties lo-fi indie rock, coursing forth, aghast, hoarse and lamenting in a perfectly unpolished fashion. Best of all, it confirms Music For Dead Birds’ inimitable, acoustic-driven sound, set in motion with And Then It Rained For Seven Days back in 2009.

  • Watch: Girl Band – Paul

    August 6, 2015 - By 

    Set to both feature on the cover of the next issue of our physical magazine and play our show at Belfast’s Bar Sub on Friday, September 25, Dublin noise rock quartet par excellence Girl Band gave a decidedly revelatory interview in the NME earlier this week, touching on the so-called “psychotic episode” that inspired the content of their highly-anticipated, forthcoming debut album, Holding Hands With Jamie. Edging the expectation up yet another few notches, the Dara Kiely-fronted four-piece have unveiled the suitably fucked-up video for their ‘Paul’ (available to pre-order on 12″ here), quite possibly the strangest (read: greatest) music videos we’ve seen…

  • CultureTECH 2015 Programme Launched

    August 6, 2015 - By 

    Taking place across September 12-20 in Derry, CultureTECH 2015 for a “week-long festival of tech, media, music and games for the whole family”. Having established itself a world-class digital institution over the last few years, the programme for this year’s festival includes Maker City (a 2-day celebration of innovation and having fun with technology), City Arcade (featuring three days of Minecraft tournaments, costumes, YouTubers and video games fun) and a Street Party on September 18, featuring Booka Brass Band, Loris and Jessica Doherty. Elsewhere, there’ll be several other events, ranging from the curiously-titled Invasion Derry, Appetite for Design and our personal…

  • RBMA Reveal Electric Picnic Line-Up

    August 5, 2015 - By 

    With less than a month to go, Red Bull Music Academy has announced its line-up for this year’s sold out Electric Picnic. Daire Carolan, Paul Woolford and Space Dimension Controller will get things off to a first-rate start on the Friday, Saturday will see sets from Todd Terry, Lerosa and Morgan Buckley and Boya AKA Wino Boyz. Finally, on the Sunday, New Jackson, Krystal Klear (pictured), Tr One, Lunar Disko and The Gentleman’s Academy host the Red Bull Disco Brunch.

  • Watch: Abandcalledboy – LA Dick

    August 5, 2015 - By 

    Any song with a main riff that evokes ‘Blindness’ by The Fall and an outro reminiscent of latter-day Tera Melos can only be a good thing in our books. Where are we going with this, you wonder? Wonder no more: Abandcalledboy have unveiled the video for their new single ‘LA Dick’, the suitably spazzed-out follow-up to their double single ‘George Best In Show/Paul Simon’s Daily Routine’, released back in March. Watch the video for the single –  created by Odhrain Soanes and Andrew Grafton – below.

  • The Divine Comedy set for Oh Yeah Legend Award

    August 3, 2015 - By 

    Neil Hannon’s The Divine Comedy will be the next recipient of the Oh Yeah Legend Award at Belfast’s Mandela Hall on November 14. Recognising “the exceptional contribution of a musician or a music industry figure from Northern Ireland” the award ceremony will take place at the next NI Music Prize, which takes place as part of a wider programme, Sound of Belfast, in November. Speaking of the award, Hannon said, “I am amazed and humbled to be receiving this honour. There is nothing more gratifying than recognition from your homeland, and I’m very much looking forward to playing some songs…