• Cloud Nothings – Life Without Sound

    February 15, 2017 - By 

    Cloud Nothings make their return this year with their fifth album, Life Without Sound. Dylan Baldi’s bedroom recording project has evolved over the years, from the lo-fi stylings of the self- titled debut, to the classic indie rock of Attack On Memory and then into the throat-shredding intensity of 2014’s Here And Nowhere Else. The latter was undoubtedly the highlight of their career so far, mixing great songwriting with forceful production and furious performances from Baldi and his band. So, to 2017 and Life Without Sound. On first listen the album is underwhelming when compared to previous efforts. Baldi has…

  • Sea Sessions Announce First Acts

    February 15, 2017 - By 

    The self-proclaimed biggest beach party in Ireland, Bundoran’s Sea Sessions have announced the first acts to play its 2017 outing across June 23-25. With more to be announced, the following acts will make an appearance: The Coronas, Primal Scream, Sigma, Foy Vance, All Tvvins, Badly Drawn Boy, Mr Scruff, Dreadzone, Brian Deady, Aine Cahill, Wyvern Lingo, Little Hours, Gurr, Kormac, Talos, The Cuban Brothers, Caravana Sun, Otherkin, Stomptown Brass, Touts, Soule, Bitch Falcon, Jack O Rourke, Jafaris, Le Boom, Penrose, Eve Belle, Apella, Tiz Mc Namara, Wolves of Youth and Keith Disconaut. Festival director Ray O’Donoghue says “It’s always great fun…

  • A Labour of Love: An Interview With New Pope

    February 15, 2017 - By 

    You mightn’t immediately peg David Boland AKA New Pope, as a “degenerate romantic”, but when delving into his expanding back catalogue, there’s enough substance of the sort to confirm that the Galway-based musician has had dealings with nostalgia far more cogent than his youth might suggest. His is a craft indebted to memory; the bittersweet, the humorous, and the kind that inherently shapes one’s outlook – for better and, at times, for worse. To hear it on record is to acknowledge the confessional nature of Boland’s songwriting; we become willingly and unapologetically complicit in his experiences – an increasingly rewarding transaction…

  • EP Premiere: Bob Skeleton – If This Isn’t Love

    February 17, 2017 - By 

    Galway young guns Bob Skeleton have returned with their second EP If This Isn’t Love. Following from their 2016 debut Shade, the four piece have continued on the path of confessional, bright indie-rock on this new EP. Adding some stylistic flourishes here though, the band showcases a tangible progression, suggesting a determination to grow and develop as a unit with each release in their still quite nascent stage. The opening title track is an uptempo pop cut while ‘Living In The Deep End’ is a jangling, dreamy and quaint offering that will satisfy fans of Real Estate and The Shins. The EP’s real highlight though is on the stripped…

  • Picture This: Parc Du Souvenir @ Oonagh Young Gallery

    February 15, 2017 - By 

    Stephen Brandes – Parc Du Souvenir (Image Courtesy of Stephen Brandes) What: Parc Du Souvenir Where: Oonagh Young Gallery When: January 26th – February 24th Words: Aidan Kelly Murphy Albert Sitzfleisch is a failed architect. A failed architect who works for the Council of Europe. The year is 2068, a date that is tantalisingly close but also just out of reach – will we all make it to this year? Holed up in his rented cabin in the southwest of Ireland, following 30 years of travelling around Europe, Sitzfleisch has with him for company his memories and views of the continent…

  • Stream: Maija Sofia – Persephone

    February 14, 2017 - By 

    One of our featured 17 For ’17 acts, we are pretty convinced 2017 is set to be a big year for Dublin’s Maija Sofia. Haven’t carved out her own path over the last while, the Connemara-reared artist has just unveiled her latest – and almost certainly greatest – single effort to date, ‘Persephone’. A self-described ode “to the many talented women throughout history who have been oppressed and overshadowed at the hands of an abuse” the track – which marries a wonderfully cloistered atmosphere with an intimate, lo-fi air – was produced and recorded with London electronic artist Gazel. In short: we…

  • Fifty Shades Darker

    February 14, 2017 - By 

    More meta-event than movie, Fifty Shades Darker arrives with the forced fanfare of a willy cake from your Aunt Sheila. On page and screen, the series has struggled to provide material to match its breathless cultural ubiquity and this deficit continues with film number two. Is anyone actually enjoying this anymore? Local saucepot Jamie Dornan does the interview rounds like a good boy, but his screaming eyes betray the pain of bondage. Pipe up Jamie, what’s the safe word? Picking up a little time after Christian Grey (Dornan) and Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson, still the best thing here) severed their…

  • Video Premiere: Strength NIA – La Floresta

    February 14, 2017 - By 

    Hands down their strongest single effort, ‘La Floresta’ by Derry outfit Strength NIA is a track that perfectly sums up the beating heart of the Rory Moore-fronted band’s experimental alt-pop craft to date. With its uncanny melodic surge and rhythmic panache, it makes for an extremely transmitting three-and-a-half-minutes from the fast-rising act. The single – which is set for official release on February 28 – also comes accompanied with rather brilliant video courtesy of Conor McFeely. Have a first watch and listen below now.

  • Premiere: Looking Svelte – Evolve

    February 14, 2017 - By 

    If you’ve been at least moderately au fait with the Irish alternative scene over the last few years, the name Ryan Burrowes is likely to ring a bell. From his work as main-man in Banbridge purveyors of scuzzy post-hardcore noise, Abandcalledboy, up until his recent membership in Belfast’s Robocobra Quartet, he’s tread a busy, involved path that’s always hinted at some autonomous experimentation bubbling beneath the surface. Serving as confirmation of that suspicion, his new-fangled, solo moniker Looking Svelte is a self-proclaimed pop project that will yield self-produced debut EP, Gelatine, this Friday (February 17). Featuring the influence of Triphop, noise…