• 16 For ’16: Planet Parade

    February 1, 2016 - By 

    Our feature profiling sixteen Irish acts we’re very confident will do great in the months ahead, we continue 16 for ’16 today in the company of Kildare’s Planet Parade. Words by Brian Coney. Photo by Brian Mulligan. Striking a shrewd balance between the blither side of Tame Impala, Vampire Weekend and Mac Demarco, Maynooth duo Michael Hopkins and Andrew Lloyd AKA Planet Parade admittedly caught us napping back in August with the release of their impossibly earworming single ‘Blue Sky’. Something of a should-have-been late Summer classic, its chilled and billowing quasi-tropical indie groove laid bare the pair’s ever-assured command of pattern and texture,…

  • 16 For ’16: Margie Jean Lewis

    January 29, 2016 - By 

    In the latest installment of 16 For ’16 – our feature looking at sixteen Irish (or Ireland-based) artists we’re convinced will do great things in 2016 – Joe Madsen introduces Dublin-based, Australian born classically trained violinist and jazz vocalist Margie Jean Lewis. Photo by Aoife Herrity Riding a reputation as an infrequent but exhilarating performer, Margie Jean Lewis is set to drop her debut EP this year, marking a formal foray into the land of recorded artistry. The Australian-born musician – boasts a lovely voice with bewildering compositions to match – has developed quite the mystique in the Irish electronic circuit,…

  • 16 For ’16: exmagician

    January 26, 2016 - By 

    With their debut album teetering on the brink of release, Belfast’s exmagician are primed for a remarkable 2016. Cathal Mc Bride traces their formation, recent output and what lies ahead. Photo by Ruth Kelly Rising from the ashes of Cashier No.9, that band’s primary forces Danny Todd and James Smith have put their old project to bed and reinvented themselves as exmagician. The sunny sound of Cashier’s To The Death Of Fun has now been traded for something slightly darker, and although acoustic guitars are still a dominant force, it’s less folksy this time out, with a greater leaning on electronic…

  • Watch: Bouts – Allies

    January 26, 2016 - By 

    It’s no secret that we’re big fans of Dublin’s wanderlust-ridden Bouts. Five months on from the release of its lead single ‘Missteps’, the indie rock quartet have reappeared with their forthcoming debut EP’s emphatic follow-up, ‘Allies’. Featuring a brilliantly bizarre video courtesy of Eoin Heaney of Highly Stimulating Productions, the track is classic Bouts through-and-through, marrying urgent, starry-eyed melodies with noise-laced zeal. Bouts’ Unlearn EP will be released on February 29. Check out the artwork for the EP and watch the video for ‘Allies’ below.

  • Video premiere: Tobi The Dog – In Bits

    January 25, 2016 - By 

    Set to play our the first installment of Psykick Dancehall – our new Dublin with the most upstanding Medium Presents – we’re pleased to premiere the positively beatific video for ‘In Bits’ by Dublin’s “self-proclaimed lo-fi” three-piece Tobi The Dog. Set for release via their forthcoming, Little L Records-released debut album, Never Ever Ever, the video for the track captures the band and their friends (the veritable lads, no less) roaming the streets of the Dublin, running joyous rampage on the light rail system and beyond. According to Little L, “Visually, ‘In Bits’ feels like a grime posse cut reimagined through the…

  • 16 For ’16: Anna-Mieke

    January 25, 2016 - By 

    As we approach the half-way point in our 16 For ’16 feature – in which we handpick sixteen Irish acts we’re certain are set for great things in 2016 – Joe Madsen introduces Wicklow singer and multi-instrumentalist Anna-Mieke. Photo by Pedro Giaquinto Slowly emerging as a new-age rustic folkstress, Wicklow musician Anna-Mieke plays an enchanting set that’s delighted small crowds since her first shows in 2013. A flexible talent on vocals, guitar, and cello, Anna-Mieke blends styles to craft a product that’s all her own, supplying wistful finger-picking like Paul Simon and subdued jazzy pitch like Regina Spektor. She’s an artist…

  • Stream: No Monster Club – Sion

    January 24, 2016 - By 

    Set to feature on his eleventh album, I Feel Magic, next month, Dublin lo-fi wizard Bobby Aherne AKA No Monster Club is streaming ‘Sion’, a track recalling an unexpectedly fun Swiss traipse. “I came up with all of the composite parts during the Carnaval parade in Sion, Switzerland last Valentine’s Day,” Aherne said. “The next day, I stitched them all together into a rough, drunken Jack Torrance demo in the ancient and creepy Hotel Europa (where Verdi used to live and Napoleon once stayed) in Ferrara, Italy. The lyrics came later.” Effortlessly earworming and almost boyishly candid in its poise and delivery, it’s exactly the…

  • 16 For ’16: Shrug Life

    January 22, 2016 - By 

    Bursting into existence in mid 2015, Dublin indie rock trio Shrug Life are the latest Irish act in our 16 For ’16 feature. Convinced they’re set to go at least one better over the next few months, TTA’s Will Murphy is certainly a fan. Photo by Abi Denniston Shrug Life have done something unquestionably right: their choice of moniker. It’s one of those annoyed-at-yourself-for-not-creating kind of names that’s memorable and neatly summarizes what the band does well. On their excellent 2015 EP, The Grand Stretch, the trio offered four delightful nuggets of frenetic, pop rock imbued with profound sense of ennui.…

  • Premiere: Strength – Northern Ireland Yes

    January 21, 2016 - By 

    Set to play our Independent Venue Week show at/with Belfast’s Oh Yeah Centre on Saturday, January 30, Derry band Strength are one of sixteen Irish acts we’ve handpicked for our current 16 For ’16 feature. Ahead of a string of shows to mark its 7″ release, we’re pleased to premiere the video for their positively singular new single, ‘Northern Ireland Yes’, along with a revealing Q+A with the band’s main man, Rory Moore. Dig in. Hi Rory. When and how did Strength come about? Strength came about at the tail end of Red Organ Serpent Sound. I felt we were losing a lot of the live, creative…

  • Inbound: Donum Dei

    January 21, 2016 - By 

    Rising metal youngsters Donum Dei have come a long way from forming back in 2011 whilst still in school; they now gig regularly in Belfast and released their long-awaited debut EP Justice Fails last year. We chat with them ahead of their headlining gig on Saturday in the Pavilion for the Distortion Project, covering their past and future, as well as their ambitions for the band. Words by Melanie Brehaut. Hi guys. So Saturday will be one of your first headlining gigs I believe? You must be excited! We’ve actually done a few Belfast headline shows in Voodoo for Rock…