• Irish Tracks of the Week – 11th March

    Here’s our round-up of the best Irish music to drop in the past seven days, featuring Pillow Queens, Sprints, Kynsy, Deaf Joe, Naoise Roo, THUMPER, April, Fears, Beauty Sleep & more Kynsy – New Year Pillow Queens – No Good Woman Deaf Joe – Kalachuchi Kalachuchi by Deaf Joe Naoise Roo – Whore (John Agnello Remix) THUMPER – Fear of Art April – Pressure Nine Raths – EP1 EP1 by Nine Raths Beauty Sleep – I Love It Here I Hate It I Love It Here I Hate It by Beauty Sleep Fears – 16 Sprints – A Modern Job…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 4th March

    Rejoice, it’s Bandcamp Friday once again. Here’s the best Irish tracks and releases of the week, from Acid Granny, Post Punk Podge & The Technohippies, MuRli, Lighght, Natalia Beylis, Wild Rocket, Arthur Itis and more. Acid Granny – Urban Hurling Urban Hurling by Acid Granny Post Punk Podge & The Technohippies – Gentrification Nation MuRli – The Sky Has Windows The Sky Has Windows by MuRli Seodra by Lighght Natalia Beylis – Fortuna: Installation Works 2013 Fortuna: Installation Works 2013 by Natalia Beylis SSMMUUTT – Pissed Up In Поділ / Magick Bridge ft Gareth Quinn Redmond Pissed Up In Поділ…

  • Monday Mixtape: Beauty Sleep

    Off the back of their stellar new single ‘Go’, Ryan and Cheylene from Belfast indie-pop duo Beauty Sleep wax lyrical about some of their favourite tracks, from Caribou and Villagers, to HAIM and Yard Act. Caribou – You Can Do It Just a great tune, simple concept, executed well and a great morning motivator track! Also, a lot of excellent dogs in the video so what’s not to love? – Cheylene Rostam – From The Back Of a Cab I got heavily into Rostam this year, and this track and associated album (Changephobia) has been very close to me .…

  • Video Premiere: Vivid Dreamer – This Is Not Living

    Something you may have missed amidst the maelstrom of new releases last Bandcamp Friday was the surprise announcement of Vivid Dreamer, a collaborative project between two of Belfast’s synth-pop creators par excellence. Today, they’re lifting the cloche on second single ‘This Is Not Living’, ahead of the release of their eponymous debut album this Sunday, July 12. Both as producers and songwriters – with the likes of Oppenheimer, Beauty Sleep, Malibu Shark Attack, Wonder Villains, amongst others – Rocky O’Reilly & Ryan McGroarty been directly or indirectly integral in the sound of no shortage of Northern Ireland’s most essential listening across the last 15-odd years. Vivid Dreamer…

  • Beauty Sleep – Be Kind Album Launch @ The MAC, Belfast

    A burst of unseasonable warm weather (for June) grips Belfast, spending an evening in the MAC’s windowless theatre space to listen to Beauty Sleep officially launch the launch of their album ‘Be Kind’ feels a touch counter-intuitive. We’ve seen precious little of the big yellow ball in the sky of late and perversely fate has decided place two of the summeriest things to happen to the city all year in direct competition. Pathetic fallacy is all well and good when it’s pissing down outside but on days like this it’s just annoying. In spite of the glorious showing outside a…

  • Quiet Arch Fourth Birthday Party

    Belfast independent label Quiet Arch celebrate their fourth birthday this year, and to celebrate, they’ll be holding a concert featuring some of their foremost artists at Belfast’s Elmwood Hall on December 21. The bill is as fittingly eclectic as the label itself, and NI Music Prize-winning singer-songwriter Joshua Burnside, Derry electronic wizard Ryan Vail with Arco String Quartet, power-pop/folk craftsman Malojian, indie-pop quartet Beauty Sleep, with spoken word artist & poet Stephen James Smith as compère for the night. Tickets, priced £12, are available from Ticketsource. Doors open at 8pm.

  • Line-Up Announced For Inaugural Coaster

    Hosted by Ewen Friers’ CATALAN!, New Pagans (pictured), fast-rising experimental alt-folk artist Joshua Burnside and Belfast dream-pop trio Beauty Sleep are amongst the names set to play the inaugural Coaster in Portrush on July 20. A self-proclaimed “summer gathering on the North Coast celebrating local music” the event will take place at the Atlantic Bar and Babuska. See below for the current line-up (including  The Thin Air DJs) below and go here to buy tickets, which are priced at a very reasonable £11.00 including booking fee.