• Bookmark: Stephen White (The Last Mixed Tape)

    In the latest installment of Bookmark, Stephen White from music blog The Last Mixtape shares his thoughts on some of his all-time favourite books, featuring many a modernist classic. Photos by Abigail Denniston. High Fidelity – Nick Hornby Unfortunately, in far too many ways, I am Rob Fleming. There’s few things that scream “music snob” more than being a music blogger… I think that’s why High Fidelity has stayed with me for so long. It’s funny one moment and raw to the bone the next – how Hornby keeps you routing for Fleming despite his various character flaws is astounding. Plus John Cusack is…

  • International Women’s Day @ Gulpd Cafe, Cork

    Held as part of International Women’s Day 2015, Brid O’Donovan popped along to Celebrate The Ladies, The Ladies! at Cork’s Gulpd Cafe at the weekend to capture performances by Roslyn Steer, Aisling O Riordan, Elaine Howley and Sadhbh O Flynn. Lisa O Grady hosted the evening.

  • Cities Breathing @ O’Reilly Theatre, Dublin

    “Cities are living. Cities breathe.” Videographers and visual artists Peter Martin, Albert Hooi with Al Kennington and Kevin A Freeney of CLU Music, were commissioned to visually explore contemporary Dublin, collecting beautiful, moving imagery of our unique capital. Musical artists CLU Music, New Jackson and I Am The Cosmos, have composed an eclectic array of scores to accompany the three short films. In the impressive O Reilly Theatre on Monday, March 16, the two creative strands will come together for a one-off, live, audio visual vignette of Dublin city today, created, curated and produced by Dylan Higgins and Al Kennington…

  • Festival Mixtape: Body & Soul 2015

    Set to return to Ballinlough Castle, Clonmellon in Co. Meath during the Summer solstice weekend of June 19-21, Body & Soul 2015 is set to be one of the highlights of the Irish summer festival calender yet again. Just yesterday, the festival announced its first wave of confirm acts – and what a tidy list it was. Ahead of further line-up announcements, stream our sixteen-track playlist featuring some of the very best acts already confirmed to play the festival – including Goat (pictured), Dan Deacon, Natalie Press, Clark, Meltybrains?, SOHN, Nightmares on Wax, Savages and Austra – below.

  • Watch: Skelocrats – Zirconium Heart

    Not that you need reminding, but those notoriously sonically incestuous Popical Island lads are a quare bunch of busybodies this weather. Having unveiled the video for his very own ‘The Loneliest Master’ just yesterday, Bobby Aherne AKA No Monster Club is the directorial maestro behind the cosmic-romance themed video for Skelocrats‘ effortlessly earworming ‘Zirconium Heart’. The song will feature on the Dublin band’s forthcoming album, Bella Bella, which is launched at Dublin’s Bello Bar with Ginnels and Switzerland on Friday, April 17.  The band will also play Sweeney’s, Dublin on May 9 and  Galway’s Roisin Dubh with Paddy Hanna on May 14.…

  • Interview: Rory Nellis

    Just over a year since the release of his wonderfully beguiling four track EP, The Moon, Belfast-based singer-songwriter Rory Nellis is currently crowdfunding for his forthcoming debut album, Ready For You Now, via Pledgemusic. Ahead of its release in June, Nellis – also frontman with the indie rock quartet Seven Summits – talks to us about the crowdfunding process, the host of local musician friends who feature on the album and how focusing on the positives of his hometown pays creative dividends. Hi Rory. Your forthcoming debut solo album, Ready For You Now, is being released via PledgeMusic – an increasingly…

  • First acts announced for Body & Soul 2015

    Delivering one seriously impressive opening line-up announcement, Body & Soul have unveiled the first acts set to play this Summer’s Festival. Taking place, as per usual, during the Summer solstice weekend of June 19-21 at Ballinlough Castle, Dan Deacon, Goat, Savages (pictured), Clark and Matthew E White and more are amongst the first wave of acts set to play the annual festival at Clonmellon, Co. Meath. With many more acts yet to be announced, check out the full line-up below and go here to buy tickets. Savages photo by Misha Vladimirskiy.  

  • Watch: Cloud Castle Lake – Glacier

    Last month, we called ‘Glacier’ by Dublin trio Cloud Castle Lake “a wonderfully-layered effort, beautifully disentangling over five-and-a-half minutes, that sees Daniel McAuley’s high falsetto vocals take centre-stage yet again – and how.” Now the Rian Trench-produced song – set for release via Happy Valley Records on March 16 – has a suitably intense video to accompany it. Directed by Cáit Fahey, the video is a shadowy, contorted affair, nicely interspersed with bursts of light and colour. Cloud Castle Lake will play Galway’s Roisin Dubh on March 26, Dublin’s Workman’s Club on March 27 and Limerick’s Kasbah Social Club on March 28.