• Dublin Film Fest: Tower. A Bright Day

    February 28, 2018 - By 

    The ‘tower’ of the title, or ‘wieza’ in the original Polish of Jagoda Szelc’s debut feature Tower. A New Day, is represented by Mula (Anna Krotoska), a tightly wound, defensive mother and wife who lives in the countryside with her family. She has the pressure of looking after her sick mother, who exists in a borderline comatose state in a spare room, and her young niece Nina (Laila Hennessy), abandoned by her birth mother and raised by Mula as her own. On the eve of Nina’s First Holy Communion, the family is visited by her biological mother, Mula’s sister Kaja…

  • Dublin Film Fest: Good Favour

    February 28, 2018 - By 

    The big, bad Germanic woods spits out a wounded orphan in the opening of Rebecca Daly’s Good Favour, whose fairy tale clarity gives way to a woozy, slippery blend of crisp devotional realism and fanatical flights of fancy. The Irish director’s third feature, co-written with Glenn Montgomery, is a subtle, sturdily controlled parable about the power of shared myths, comparable to Robert Eggers’ The Witch if not in genre then in recreational detail and reality-breaking seriousness. Tom (Vincent Romeo) is the malnourished, skinny young man from the Black Forest, who stumbles on small markers of settlement: a hatchback truck, an empty classroom, a cabin…

  • Bicurious – I’m So Confused

    February 28, 2018 - By 

    Riff-strewn Irish-French instrumental math-rock duo Bicurious release their new EP, I’m So Confused on March 9. Blending looped guitar layers and rhythmic spontaneity & dynamism, they channel the spirit of Sargent House and the sadly-departed Richter Collective. It’s understandable then, that they went over to Cheshire to record the EP with Alpha Male Tea Party‘s Tom Peters – with whom they’re set to tour across Ireland in early May. Their previous release was the ‘T.O.I.‘ single, and as with it, their new material is set to channel the spirit of righteous anger, vocals arriving, as ever, in the form of pointed samples. I’m So Confused holds its launch upstairs at Whelan’s…

  • International Women’s Weekend Cork

    March 1, 2018 - By 

    Running from March 8th-11th upstairs in The Roundy, Cork, International Women’s Weekend Cork is a four-day fundraiser event for the Rape Crisis Centre. Set up by Emma Kelly aka Merakindie and friends, Elaine Malone, Izabela Szczutkowska, Marjie Kaley and Francesca de Buyl Pisco, it will present a diverse, multidisciplinary line up including daily artists market, performances from Dowry, Elaine Malone, Saint Caoilian, Lowlek, The Come Out And Play Cabaret hosted by writer Tina Pisco and a number of DJs including Toby Kaar, Aisling O Riordan and Cuttin Heads Collective. With several more names to be announced, the daily run-down of events…

  • Watch: Myles Manley – i’m in love w/ myself

    February 27, 2018 - By 

    We’re rather fond of Myles Manley here at the TTA. In fact, we have no qualms saying that we think the English-born, Sligo-raised, Dublin-based musician is one of the country’s most masterfully idiosyncratic artists. Take 2015’s “comprehensively endearing” ‘Pay Me What I’m Worth’, or last year’s ‘Relax; Enjoy Your Night Upon the Town’, a track that featured highly in our Top 100 Irish Tracks of 2017. Manley’s craft doesn’t serve up the odd gem here and there – he consistently delivers the goods, forever finding ways to make music whose points of reference often squarely fall back facing his very own direction. Accompanied by Sebastian MacDermott’s…

  • Dublin Film Fest: First Reformed

    February 27, 2018 - By 

    Questions of faith are easy to ask yet hard to answer. In the modern parable First Reformed, Reverend Toller (Ethan Hawke) is experiencing a crisis of faith. A former military chaplain, Toller is grieving for a son who he encouraged to join the military. He is also coming to terms with his own mortality while serving his tiny congregation at First Reformed Chapel. As his despair deepens, he refuses to accept support from his colleague Esther (Victoria Hill) and superior Pastor Jeffers (Cedric Kyres). Instead, Toller begins to counsel Michael (Philip Ettinger), a radical environmentalist, and his pregnant wife Mary (Amanda…

  • Dublin Film Fest: Beast

    February 27, 2018 - By 

    Lies told to protect the feelings of a loved one can have untold consequences. In Beast, troubled Moll (Jessie Buckley) decides to leave her birthday party to go dancing. After staying out all night, she meets Pascal (Johnny Flynn), a handsome outsider in grubby jeans and a torn t-shirt. On impulse, Moll covers for him when they are stopped at a police checkpoint. The initial attraction between Moll and Pascal develops into a passionate connection, much to the distress of Moll’s family. Her mother Hilary (Gerarldine James) is distant and controlling while her siblings treat Moll with casual disdain. Every…

  • RHYE and Unknown Mortal Orchestra Added to Forbidden Fruit Festival

    February 27, 2018 - By 

    It’s been announced that Los Angeles-based Canadian alternative R&B artist RHYE and New Zealand psych maestros Unknown Mortal Orchestra (pictured) will join the likes of The War on Drugs, Grizzly Bear, Warpaint, Thundercat and Spoon on the Monday line-up of this year’s Forbidden Fruit. The June Bank Holiday festival returns to Royal Kilmainham Hospital in Dublin across June 2-4. With more to be announced, the likes of Justice, Richie Hawtin, Four Tet, Bicep and Ben UFO will all perform across the weekend. Tickets are available to buy here.

  • Body & Soul Reveal First Acts for 2018

    February 27, 2018 - By 

    With Fever Ray (pictured) announced earlier this month, Body & Soul have revealed its first phase of acts for its 2018 edition. Set to return to Ballinlough Castle in Co. Westmeath across June 22-June 24, the following acts will perform: With many more yet to be announced, we’re very already impressed. Tickets are available to buy here.

  • S. Carey – Hundred Acres

    February 26, 2018 - By 

    Try as we may, it is difficult to separate S. Carey’s music from that of his long-term collaborator and Bon Iver bandmate, Justin Vernon. Despite two full-length solo albums and two EPs being released in the past eight years, it’s been hard to dispel that intrinsic comparison. His third LP, Hundred Acres, does little to change that.  Written over the course of a few years, Carey’s third full length release was crafted while his family grew and touring was intermittent. The Bon Iver influence is, as one might expect having listened to Carey’s previous offerings, obvious as ever. If there is a defining difference, it…