• John Cooper Clarke w/ Mike Garry @ Whelan’s, Dublin

    April 6, 2018 - By 

    There’s a fairly wide range of punters in Whelans tonight. Some of them are aged punks who are still rocking questionable facial hair and fashion choices after so many years. Some are young hipsters rocking questionable facial hair and fashion choices after far fewer years. Many are just average folk, coming from work ready to experience the sermon. Regardless of who they are and where they come from, they’re all here to hear the message delivered from on a slightly higher stage by the legendary punk poet John Cooper Clarke. Whelans is decked out with chairs, but it’s clear that…

  • J Colleran FKA MMOTHS announces new album, Gardenia, shares track

    April 6, 2018 - By 

    J Colleran has shared the details of his forthcoming album Gardenia. Set for release on 29 June, the album will be his first since shedding his former MMOTHS alias. The eight track LP will be released on Because Music, who have previously worked with the likes of Metronomy, Christine and the Queens and Django Django. To coincide with announcement, Colleran has also shared another track from the album, ‘bERA’ with a breathtaking video directed by Christopher Gray. Last month, Colleran shared the tremendous ‘O+SOH‘, the first single to be lifted from the album. The track found the Newbridge native branching further into fields of intricate sound design and classical composition than…

  • Johnny Marr Set For Album Launch Show in Dublin

    April 6, 2018 - By 

    Johnny Marr will play a show at the Button Factory on Saturday, May 12 to mark the release of his third album, Call The Comet. The Smiths legend and solo artist will play the Dublin venue as part of a 12-date run across Europe and the US. “Call The Comet’ is my own magic realism,” says Marr. “It’s set in the not-too-distant future and is mostly concerned with the idea of an alternative society. The characters in the songs are searching for a new idealism, although there are some personal songs in there too. It’s something that people like me can relate…

  • Stream: Lambing Season – Holywood and Girls

    April 6, 2018 - By 

    A self-proclaimed “journey from fear of the unknown, fear of change, fear of commitment to joyous absolution” ‘Holywood and Girls is the new single from Belfast band Lambing Season. Following on from the release of last December’s ‘Memory and the Flood’, the track – which was recorded by Ben McAuley at Belfast’s Start Together Studios and will feature on their forthcoming album The Quickening – unfurls from soothing, Quarterstick Records-esque jangle to reveal a band equally adept at emotionally-charged, harmony-driven pop-rock balladry and jagged alt-rock experimentalism. Nowadays, it’s tricky carving out a niche in this particularly sonic realm – for…

  • Stream: Robocobra Quartet – You’ll Wade

    April 5, 2018 - By 

    The second single taken from their forthcoming second album, Plays Hard To Get, ‘You’ll Wade’ by Robocobra Quartet finds the Belfast band at the peak of their powers. Culminating in a cry of “Everything is old news” before petering out in a plume of funereal ambience, its recording and composition distils the band’s ongoing, masterfully unconventional approach. Frontman Chris Ryan explains, “During writing it was clear that ‘You’ll Wade’ was meant to have a massive ambience shift half way through the song. To get this we recorded both halves of the song separately with a different sounding drum kit and even a…

  • Stream: Aislinn Logan – Spree

    April 5, 2018 - By 

    London-based Belfast singer-songwriter Aislinn Logan has released a new single, ‘Spree’. Marking a tonal and compositional shift from previous singles, it’s a strong, markedly well-produced effort from the artist. Logan said of the track, “The music I’m making just now is certainly a shift from what came before, but for me I feel like I’m getting closer to the thing I wanted to make when I started. It’s definitely becoming more aligned with the music I listen to – it’s a bit more committal. I don’t really listen to that much folk music now; I used to – big time,…

  • Fears: h_always

    April 6, 2018 - By 

    Content note: Suicide & self harm.  Under the Fears moniker, Constance Keane hasn’t ever shied from making music that challenges pervasive feelings of anxiety, just as her previous outlet, the sonically-opposing M(h)aol, used primal, abrasive noise-punk as its own vehicle to address greater issues. And, as with anyone who holds complete autonomy over their creativity, it’s often assumed that it’s just one aspect of someone in tune with themselves. By her own admission, Constance has worked hard to accept, utilise, and channel that into a busy and fulfilling professional & artistic life. However, following a traumatic event in Autumn 2017, Constance fell into a suicidal state, and following several trips to A&E, she was admitted to a psychiatric…

  • Grief Is The Thing With Feathers (O’Reilly Theatre, Dublin)

    April 2, 2018 - By 

    Grief is the thing with feathers, and Cillian Murphy is the thing with talent. Based on the poetry/prose book of the same name by Max Porter, Grief Is The Thing With Feathers breathes life into death, centring around Dad (Cillian Murphy), The Boys (Taighen O’Callaghan, Felix Warren) and Mum (Hattie Morahan). Murphy began his acting career in director Enda Walsh’s Disco Pigs and is back collaborating with him once again in Grief. The playwright and director, also known for Ballyturk and Mistermen, has adapted the work into an enthralling and heart-wrenching experience for the audience. The set consists of a simple apartment filled…

  • At The Drive-In Set For Dublin Return

    April 4, 2018 - By 

    Two years on from their last headline show in the same venue, post-hardcore heroes At The Drive-In will return to play Dublin’s Vicar Street on July 10. The Cedric Bixler-fronted band – who released their fourth album album In•ter a•li•a last year – formed in El Paso in Texas in 1994. Tickets for Vicar Street show are priced at €47 and on sale at 9am on Friday.