• Win Tickets to Kormac: Equivalent Exchange @ Vicar Street, Dublin

    March 7, 2018 - By 

    As part of this year’s St. Patrick’s Festival in Dublin – which runs from March 15-19 – Kormac will present Equivalent Exchange at Vicar Street on Sunday, March 18. And it’s a bill not to be sniffed at: a one-off show headed by the Irish producer, DJ and composer along with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, over 30 musicians and artists including Loah, Eímear Noone, Jack O’ Rourke, Stephen James Smith, Shahab and Shayan Coohe, Maser andMoncrieff will perform. The ever excellent Ships will support on the night. All aspects of the show involve deep collaboration and celebrated urban artist Maser…

  • Forbidden Fruit Add New Acts, Reveals Day-to-Day Breakdown

    March 7, 2018 - By 

    With Justice, Richie Hawtin, Glass Animals, Mike D, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Bonobo, Vince Staples, The War on Drugs, Grizzly Bear, Thundercat and more already announced, the following acts have been added to the bill for this year’s Forbidden Fruit Festival. Stephan Bodzin, Idris Elba, Novelist, Hookworms (pictured), Tensnake, Axel Boman, DJ Agotia, Call Super, Jasper James, Kornél Kovács, Loah, Trinity Orchestra, Earl Sweatshirt, Floating Points, George Fitzgerald, Or:la, SG Lewis, DJ Seinfeld, Booka Brass, Saoirse and Fehdah. Presented by POD, Forbidden Fruit Festival takes over Dublin’s Royal Hospital, Kilmainham across the bank holiday weekend of June 2-4. Here’s the day-to-day…

  • Stream: Orchid Collective – Winter’s Pass

    March 7, 2018 - By 

    Marking the onset of Spring from a long Winter, Dublin-based indie-folk quartet Orchid Collective‘s latest single, ‘Winter’s Pass’ could hardly have come at a better time. While retaining the serene, atmospheric sound they’ve been developing over the past few years through the harmony-led influence of Fleet Foxes, there’s an evolution in its composition that has, in our view, defined it as the outfit’s best work to date. A product of home recording, as opposed to more produced previous releases, ‘Winter’s Pass’ has a substantially more organic quality, without sounding in any way lo-fi. In any case, it’s a sparse and measured arrangement that subtly utilises the kind of electronic manipulation that’s seen folk music’s contemporisation in recent years, in…

  • The Flaming Lips Set For Galway Show

    March 7, 2018 - By 

    The Flaming Lips will play this year’s Galway International Arts Festivals, live at the festival big top, on July 26. Co-presented by Róisín Dubh and the festival, the show will be the three-time Grammy award-winning band’s only Irish date of 2018. Tickets – which go on sale at 9am on Friday – are priced at €49.50.

  • Smells Like Team Spirit: Roller Derby Ireland

    March 6, 2018 - By 

    Roller Derby has long evolved from fishnet tights and elbows in the face to a well respected fast paced game of endurance, skill, strength and smarts. Barbara Robinson and Oonagh ‘Mauler’ O’Flaherty of Team Ireland share their experiences fresh off the track from the roller derby World Cup in Manchester. Photos by Sara Marsden. Barbara Robinson When I joined the Belfast roller derby team 7 years ago it was just for a fun new way to keep fit and learn how to skate. Before roller derby, I was very shy and had very little confidence. I had no idea how…

  • Beach House Set For Dublin Return

    March 7, 2018 - By 

    Having last played the city in the same venue back in 2015, Baltimore dream-pop duo Beach House will return to play Dublin’s Vicar Street on Saturday, October 12. The announcement comes accompanied with the release of ‘Dive’, the second single to be taken from the band’s forthcoming seventh album, 7. Tickets for the Dublin show in October are priced at €35 and go on sale this Friday. Read our 2015 interview with Victoria Legrand from Beach House here.

  • Triona Farrell – Colouring Outside the Lines

    March 6, 2018 - By 

    Growing up, I was enamoured by nerd culture. From video-games to comic books, my hobbies were diverse and engaging. This culture was primarily a male dominated space however. From the comic book fan that sneered at me for wanting to get into Batman, to the many micro-aggressions down through the years, I learned that my gender was on the fringes, a minority in a larger ‘boy’s club’. In Ireland, the nerd culture was sparse, but I still felt it from young men who hid behind social awkwardness, or sleazily attempted to get uncomfortably close. I was closely involved in this…

  • Track Record: Paula Healy (Flirt FM)

    March 7, 2018 - By 

    Paula Healy is the station manager with Flirt FM, Galway’s Community of Interest station. She also works with The Irish Student Radio Network, NUI Galway’s Youth Academy and freelances as Studio Engineer and Audio Editor. Her show Lovesick airs on Wednesdays at 8pm and specialises in new Irish music and electronica. She’s shares some of her favourite records for us,  from Massive Attack to Zig and Zag. Photos by Sean McCormack The Cinematic Orchestra – The Man With a Movie Camera When this came out in 2003 I picked it up for a listen in an attempt to be more sophisticated in my listening habits. Turns out maybe I…

  • Same Story, Different Tune: Mná na hÉireann’s Place in the Global Music Scene

    March 6, 2018 - By 

    In 1989, American audiences were formally introduced to Sinead O’ Connor. To the opening chords of ‘Mandinka’ the 21-year-old from Glenageary strode confidently across the gaping stage of the 31st Annual Grammy Awards; completely alone, briefly wiping her hand across her mouth and gazing out into the darkened crowd, unfazed. Torn jeans and Dr. Martens, she cut a striking image of unconventional female beauty, strength and unmatched musicianship. Sidestepping and shuffling unperturbed across the stage and ultimately the threshold of global success, O’ Connor at this time appeared to bookmark the redefinition of what it meant to be an Irish…

  • Autonomy: A book about taking our selves back

    March 6, 2018 - By 

    What is bodily autonomy? What does it feel like when it’s taken away? This is a women-led collection of stories, poems, memoirs, essays and more exploring what it means to have bodily autonomy. Read it if you don’t understand why no-one should ever be forced to stay pregnant against their will. Read it if you do understand, and would like to be part of the change. I’ve been attending pro-choice street stalls for years now.  It’s changed so much: I’m hardly ever verbally abused any more, people want to know how they can help.  But there are still too many…