• Watch: Sweat Threats – Suffocate

    September 11, 2018 - By 

    London-based Irish duo Matthew Sutton (Tayne) and Niall Jackson (Bouts/Swimmers Jackson) AKA Sweat Threats know a thing or two about striking a balance between trouncing post-punk and pit-starting party music. The third single to be taken from their forthcoming EP, Sweet Treats, ‘Suffocate’ fits the aforementioned remit and then some. Accompanied with DIY visuals, it’s a typically pulverizing effort that doesn’t slack on the earworms. Sweet Treats is out via Wonky Karousel Records on October 13 (Cassette Store Day, no less.) Sweat Threats play tomorrow The Victoria E17 in Walthamstow tomorrow (Wednesday 12th) night.

  • Exhibition: Things Twice (multiple times) @ MART

    September 11, 2018 - By 

    This coming Thursday sees the opening of David Lunney’s new exhibition Things Twice (multiple times) in Mart’s gallery space in Rathmines. The show continues and expands on series displayed by the artist earlier this summer in his Chrome Dreams exhibition in Pallas Projects + Studios. Lunney’s practice is one of many constructed layers, that operate dependent and independent of each other, delicately playing a game of cognitive dissidence with themselves. Things Twice (multiple times) offers an another opportunity to explore this practice as it develops and expands further. Things Twice (multiple times) opens this Thursday at 6pm, and continues until November 1st, with a late night opening for Culture Night on…

  • NI Music Prize – Best Single (Public Vote)

    September 11, 2018 - By 

    Set to take place at Belfast’s iconic Ulster Hall on Thursday, November 15, we’re pleased to team up with the Northern Ireland Music Prize for the Public Vote for the Best Single award. This year, twelve singles – from Arvo Party’s ‘Liberté’ to The Wood Burning Savages’ ‘I Don’t Know Why I Do It To Myself’ – are vying for the prize and £1000 on the night. Check out the full list of shortlisted singles and the voting form below. Go here for full information about this year’s Northern Ireland Music Prize. Arvo Party – Liberté Ash – Buzzkill Brand New Friend…

  • Video Premiere: VerseChorusVerse – Chord (Gunn Laws)

    September 13, 2018 - By 

    Tony Wright is going through the most fertile creative stretch of his career right now. Unanimously positive reviews have accompanied the release of the third VerseChorusVerse album, outro, while his new, much-anticipated memoir Another Dickhead (On The Road) is to be launched at Belfast’s The MAC on October 17 – more details on that here – where he also currently happens to be the resident artist. Oh, and he just put in an organic performance co-starring in the heavily relatable Belfast-based short comedy series The Also Rans, the (only partly-fictionalised) tale of a pair of failed musicians. And after all that preamble, we’re today premiering the video for possibly the LP’s finest cut, ‘Chord (Gunn Laws)’. Something…

  • Lisa O’Neill Set to Launch Fourth Album at Vicar Street

    September 10, 2018 - By 

    Unquestionably one of the finest folk voices in Ireland, Cavan native Lisa O’Neill, has announced details of her fourth album, Heard A Long Gone Song. Following a sellout show at Quiet Lights Festival in Cork & ahead of upcoming dates in the UK, New Zealand and beyond, the album will come out on October 19, and will be her first release on Rough Trade imprint River Lea Records. To mark its release, it will be launched at Vicar Street on October 27 in a seated performance. Heard A Long Gone Song was co-produced at Blackbox Studios alongside Dave Odlum. Featuring a broad cast of musicians in Cormac Begley, Christophe…

  • Premiere: Sun Mahshene – Tales of Fiction

    September 10, 2018 - By 

    Eight months on from being featured as one of our 18 for ’18 acts, Dublin collective Sun Mahshene are back with the video for their strongest single effort to date, ‘Tales of Fiction’. Blurring the lines between the band’s hazy brand of psych-speckled indie, the July single is brought to life via director Gerard Walsh’s narrative-driven video, which stars Ieva Grigaite and Desmond Eastwood. Have a first look below.

  • Premiere: Milky Teeth – Waiting Up For You

    September 10, 2018 - By 

    Last year we had the pleasure of premiering the first two singles from Milky Teeth AKA Robbie Barron of The Shaker Hymn and John Blek & The Rats. Some sixteen months on, the Cork musician returns in his solo guise. During some downtime from Shaker Hymn commitments over the summer, Barron put the final touches on the debut Milky Teeth album, which is set for release within the coming months. Produced, engineered, and mixed in his home studio, new single, the sublime ‘Waiting Up For You’ is another wonderfully crafted dose of alt-pop from Barron, and a taste of what to expect from his forthcoming full-length solo LP. A montage of…

  • Shortlists Revealed for Northern Ireland Music Prize 2018

    September 10, 2018 - By 

    The shortlists for this year’s Northern Ireland Music Prize has been announced. Set to take place in Belfast’s iconic Ulster Hall on November 15, the event – which is now in its sixth year – returns with three categories that formed part of the first NI Music Awards back in 2011: Best Live, Best Single and the Oh Yeah Contender Awards for best emerging act. Over 80 industry and media cast their vote for all four categories over the last few months. The winners of each category will be awarded a cash prize. Best Single, Best Live Act and Oh Yeah…

  • Something Positive, Something Sincere: An Interview with Wooden Shjips

    September 6, 2018 - By 

    Ahead of shows at Belfast Empire Music Hall (Sept 17th) and Dublin’s Whelan’s (Sept 18th) Ripley Johnson of San Francisco psych alchemists Wooden Shjips talks to Cathal McBride about songwriting process, positivity and playing to “up for it” Irish audiences. It’s been a full five years since the last Wooden Shjips record. What made 2018 the right time for a return? Well, it was 2017 that we reconvened to make the record. Hard to say why, really. For me, I just got the urge to work with the guys again so proposed a simple plan for making it. The plan was…

  • The Nun

    September 7, 2018 - By 

    A creaky convent horror in desperate need of absolution, The Nun is the latest in Warner Brothers’ credibility-stretching attempts to hoover up audience good will for The Conjuring.  Over two central films the franchise has become an accidental financial juggernaut for WB, its relatively straightforward scares crafted with confident professionalism by director James Wan, who has an eye for tension, and boosted by the amiable chemistry of Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as betrothed Ghostbusters Ed and Lorraine Warren. The Conjuring 2 was especially solid, distinguished by an 1980s red brick terrace atmosphere. Its weakest moments were when it went full…