• Monday Mixtape: Windings

    October 18, 2021 - By 

    Spanning Tom Waits, Powpig, Girlfriend, Kurt Vile and beyond, Steve Ryan and Patrick O’Brien from well-loved Limerick five-piece Windings put their heads together for this week’s Monday Mixtape. Windings release their new album, Focus on the Past 5, via Out on a Limb on November 12 Steve The Bad Plus – Anthem For The Earnest I’ve always had an awareness of The Bad Plus over the years, but I kind of had them pigeonholed as “the jazz band that cover indie rock songs”. I totally unexpectedly got to see them play live 10 years ago in Sicily, on our honeymoon…

  • Monday Mixtape: King Kong Company

    October 11, 2021 - By 

    Ahead of the band’s show at Cork Opera House on October 24 as part of this year’s Jazz weekender (tickets right here) Mark White from King Kong Company riffs on some of his all-time favourite songs, including Iggy Pop, Suicide, Lee Perry & The Upsetters and more. Muddy Waters – Mannish Boy I got together with a few other wanna be musicians and started a band while in secondary school. We had enough self awareness to play what we considered ‘easy’ songs. Mannish Boy was the first. Slow, no chords, no breaks, perfect! Everyone played the riff in time and…

  • Monday Mixtape: Jackie Beverly

    October 4, 2021 - By 

    Off the back of her new single ‘Temporary State’ Irish indie-folk artist Jackie Beverly takes us on a tour of some of her all-time favourite songs, featuring Phoebe Bridgers, Laura Marling, MUNA and more. Muna ft Phoebe Bridgers – Silk Chiffon How could I not have this as the first track for this mixtape? I adore MUNA and I would definitely say that Saves The World had a major influence in my earlier releases. The fact that Phoebe Bridgers features on this though is just perfect. It’s a great song to start your day with. Laura Marling – Held Down I…

  • Monday Mixtape: Pretty Happy

    August 23, 2021 - By 

    Fast-rising Cork art-rock threesome Pretty Happy guide us through some of their all-time favourite songs, from Pixies and Ought, to Surburan Lawns and William S Burroughs. Five Go Down to The Sea? – There’s a Fish on Top of Shandon Swears He’s Elvis   This weird gem of a song shows how weird the five go down lads got with their arranging. A classic track, one that’s loud enough to grab your attention and textured enough to play again and again. Five go Down’s experimentation with form really made us look at the way we arrange our own songs. Janitor…

  • Monday Mixtape: Meljoann

    July 5, 2021 - By 

    Having just released her self-directed video for 90s-pop bop ‘Overtime‘, Meljoann’s brand of experimental pop runs the gamut of classic and contemporary electronic pop. She takes us through some of her all-time favourites – in her own words: “I tried to make it not wanky, but unfortunately I failed and it’s actually 100% pure nerdy enthusiasm” Roger Doyle – The Iron Language Alphabet (Pt.1) Roger Doyle is a bit of a legend on the Irish experimental electronic scene. A friend had this sprawling, sci-fi inflected double album, and listening to it we were transported to another world. It took him ten years to complete.…

  • Monday Mixtape: smallmint

    June 28, 2021 - By 

    smallmint frontman Andrew Cameron-Braithwaite guides us through his all-time favourite songs, from Big Thief, Six Star Hotel, Pinegrove, Pedro the Lion and more. Pinegrove – Old Friends I saw Pinegrove play the Limelight in Belfast in 2016, on the recommendation of our drummer, who very correctly thought that they would be right up my street. I knew that night that they were one of my new favourite bands, and they’ve been a massive influence on me ever since. This song has amazing lyrics, beautifully weird guitar chords and just the right amount of a Country lilt. Big Thief – Mary…

  • Monday Mixtape: Tuath

    June 21, 2021 - By 

    It’s just two days until the release of Letterkenny psych outfit Tuath’s new Research and Development EP. Frontman Robert Mulhern gives us the lowdown on some key music that has shapes both his sounds, and his outlook on music. Soccer96 – I Was Gonna Fight Fascism I hadn’t seen any lyric-addled S96, but they came out with this track “I Was Gonna Fight Fascism” last year and we just couldn’t believe that someone out there was doing sarcasm so well. We love it – the whole band couldn’t stop listening to it for months. It made lockdown much more craic. It was…

  • Monday Mixtape: Lorraine Nash

    May 31, 2021 - By 

    From Crosby, Stills & Nash to Two Door Cinema Club, fast-rising Kerry multi-instrumentalist Lorraine Nash waxes lyrical about some of her all-time favourite tracks. Damien Rice – Delicate I find that there is nothing more comforting than finding a song that seems to perfectly mirror a situation you are in, or a feeling you have. When I first heard this, it was like Damien Rice had taken the words directly from my mouth. I love how a song can apply to so many people in so many different ways and that’s why I would prefer for people to find their…

  • Monday Mixtape: Tebi Rex

    May 24, 2021 - By 

    Just off the back of their excellent recent collaborative single with ROE, ‘Hanging With Trees’, and a slot at The Great Escape, alternative hip-hop duo Tebi Rex bring us eight eclectic choice cuts, spanning the global to their own backyard. Local Boy – Thoughts Probably the most believable Irish artist out right now. Believable in the sense that everything he creates just feels really earnest. It gets to the root of the thing that most people could spend a whole album trying to figure out. I often feel like I have Bees in my brain, and Thoughts captures that experience perfectly. It’s…

  • Monday Mixtape: Dani Larkin

    May 3, 2021 - By 

    Hailing from the Armagh-Monaghan border, folk singer-songwriter Dani Larkin just released single ‘The Red (Maca’s Return)‘. Taken from her debut album, Notes For A Maiden Warrior – out June 18th – she guides us through eight songs that carry weight upon her as a songwriter and person, from the formative to the just-discovered. The Chicks – Travellin’ Soldier This was one of the first songs I used to sing. One of my uncles brought the ‘Home’ album back from the U.S. and another uncle of mine learned the guitar parts and I would sing it. It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I realised…