• This Month In Irish Music: June

    Was June the strongest month in Irish music this year so far? By way of Girl Band, Yankari, Uly, Roisin Murphy and more, Colin Gannon makes a strong case in his monthly round-up. Girl Band — Shoulderblades Girl Band (pictured) are back. Dara Kiely’s ungodly, contorted howl is back, as exorcistic and scabbed as ever. In the same month that Two Door Cinema Club made their excruciatingly ghastly comeback, Ireland’s revered purveyors of shadowy, techno-informed noise rock arose from their slumber. Kiely’s health problems led at least in part to their lack of visibility over the past few years, creating a…

  • Record Store Day 2014 Round-Up

    Did you know that it was none other than Metallica who kickstarted Record Store Day back in 2008? Yes, James “Yeah-yeahhha” Hetfield and co. spearheaded the tentative inauguration of what has become an annual celebration of all things independent and vinyl-based right across the (ever-increasingly) audibly-appreciative globe. From the rather modest ten special RSD releases from the likes of Death Cab for Cutie, R.E.M. and Stephen Malkmus on its debut, there are hundreds of albums and EPs set to be released this Saturday, April 19; everything from Nirvana’s ‘Pennyroyal Tea’ 7″ to a 5LP Box Set of LCD Soundsystem’s a 5LP Box…