• Drinks – Hippo Lite

    May 2, 2018 - By 

    Drinks, a collaboration between Welsh experimental-pop musician Cate Le Bon and Californian sonic-chameleon Tim Presely of White Fence (and The Fall for a brief period), have returned with their sophomore record Hippo Lite. Its creation stemmed from the following activities and amenities or lack thereof: No Wi-Fi, a month in an old mill, river swimming, night sounds. It is by their interpretation, “An album made for each other by one another with no piercing the bubble, the opposite of a typical recording experience”. While it may have been made for each other though, Hippo Lite will, if there is any…

  • Grouper – Grid Of Points

    May 1, 2018 - By 

    Recording as Grouper, Liz Harris has been alchemising ethereal and enigmatic albums for over 13 years, combining her gossamer voice and sparse instrumentation with seemingly bottomless layers of tape hiss and static to craft richly detailed and emotionally resonant worlds of sound. With her latest release, Grid of Points, Harris’ spartan musical palette has been pared back even further, dispensing with the looped guitars and fuzzed out atmospherics of her earlier albums to create a pristine and glacial piano and voice record filled with space and extended moments of silence. In lesser hands, the album’s extreme economy of sounds could…

  • Galway’s Lá Tech Festival Is Celebrating Electronics In The West This Weekend

    May 1, 2018 - By 

    Galway’s Lá Tech Festival & Conference makes its inaugural outing this weekend in the city’s Commercial Boatclub, Woodquay and it’s looking like a very special way to spend your long weekend. Taking place on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th May, the festival features a huge host of grassroots, local talent from the likes of Tinfoil (DeFeKt, Sunil Sharpe), Jamie Behan, Lolz, Noid The Droid and Tommy Holohan. Representing Galway’s ever-evolving new wave of club promoters at the festival are Refuge Events’ Mossy Hynes, Basement Project, Origin and Anti Social Acid Club. On an international level, the festival will also host some of European techno’s big names in the form of Ancient Methods, Anetha, I Hate Models,…

  • Video Premiere: Dott – Like a Girl

    May 1, 2018 - By 

    The month of May is now upon us and with the referendum on the 8th amendment fast approaching we’re seeing a rise of support from artists across the country, urging the people of Ireland to vote YES. We’re pleased to present the Irish premiere of  ‘Like a Girl’ by Dott, featuring a guest appearance from Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz. The video was made by Alison McDonnell-White and features members from Galway Pro-Choice, Galway Parents for Choice and Galway Roller Derby as well as lots of footage of recent marches for women’s rights in Galway. The band along with the many supporters in…

  • The Brian Jonestown Massacre Set For Dublin

    May 1, 2018 - By 

    Having previously played the Dublin venue back in 2014 and 2010, it’s been announced that Anton Newcombe’s Brian Jonestown Massacre will play the Academy on Friday October 19. The news comes ahead of the release of two new BJM albums in 2018, the first of which – Something Else – is our on June 1 via A Recordings. Recorded between 2017 and 2018, the release is a self-proclaimed return to the “traditional” sound of the band after the experimentation of recent records. Tickets for the Dublin show are priced €23.50 and go on sale on Friday, May 4 at 9am.…

  • My Fellow Sponges – My Fellow Sponges

    May 1, 2018 - By 

    Having met through performing drama in university, Anna Mullarkey and Donal McConnon are the creative forces behind Galway act My Fellow Sponges. It’s no surprise then, that among the influences of jazz, folk, pop and rock in their music, one finds a wealth of theatrical experience. Accompanied by David Shaughnessy on drums, Sam Wright on bass and a flurry of instruments, this often unusual, yet carefully constructed combination is the band’s unique selling point. Following success in both music and theatre shows in the time since their last record, the Galwegians have now released their self-titled outing. Where 2015’s debut Bonne Nuit…

  • Watch: Robocobra Quartet – You’ll Wade

    May 1, 2018 - By 

    Very few things excite us more than the prospect of new music from (by far) one of Ireland’s difficult, and genuine, pioneers, Robocobra Quartet. Ahead of second album, Plays Hard To Get, out on May 25th, the band have just released their video for ‘You’ll Wade’. We’ve already covered the song – “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” – but the video’s conceit is strong enough to warrant another visit. Shot by Colin Armstrong & edited by Robocobra leader Chris Ryan, it’s…

  • Monday Mixtape: Jeffrey Lewis

    April 30, 2018 - By 

    Ahead of a solo acoustic Irish tour from May 5-11 (full details here) New York musician and illustrator Jeffrey Lewis selects some of his all-time favourite tracks, including The Fall, Focus and Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers. Ish Marquez – Gin is Not My Friend Ish Marquez, best underground soul singer from the Bronx streets! Sam Cooke meets Kurt Cobain on NYC subway at 3am in 1976 and they make up songs till dawn and sing to the sunrise on a tenement rooftop until the cops shut them down, and it just might sound like Ish Marquez. I used…

  • Track Record: Sam Geraghty (Safari and Classic Yellow)

    April 30, 2018 - By 

    Sam Geraghty from Dublin-based bands Safari and Classic Yellow, shares some of his favourite records with us, from Elvis Costello to Visage. Photos by Zoe Holman. Elvis Costello – This Year’s Model One of my all time favourite albums. Every song is outstanding. Bonus points for being a European pressing, so ‘Watching the Detectives’ is included. Paul Simon – Graceland The music of Paul Simon has been in my life from a very young age. I’ve been in love with Graceland since my early teens, and even got the opportunity to see it performed in full live in Hyde Park…