• Watch: Kojaque – Bubby’s Cream [Prod. jar jar jr]

    January 26, 2018 - By 

    Kojaque has shared his first new music since last year’s raucous ‘Wificode’. The Dublin rapper/producer and founding member of the Soft Boy Records collective is in typically reflective, honest form on the gorgeous ‘Bubby’s Cream’, produced by fellow softboy Jar Jar Jr.  The single is taken from his forthcoming Deli Daydreams EP, set for release on 23 February which documents the week in the life of a deli worker. “The project meanders through the daydreams of KOJAQUE, the main protagonist, as he contemplates love, life and loneliness in the lead up to the annual work Christmas party,” the MC, real name Kevin Smith explains. “The…

  • 18 for ’18: Electric Octopus

    January 26, 2018 - By 

    We continue 18 for ’18, our feature showcasing eighteen Irish acts we’re convinced are going places in 2018. Throughout January we’re going to be previewing each of those acts, accompanied by words from our writers and an original photograph from one of our photographers. Next up, psychedelic jazz trio Electric Octopus. Photo by Joe Laverty Electric Octopus are an absolute delight who deserve as much time in 2018 as is available. Their modest mission statement to “take your mind on a weird and wonderful adventure” is surprisingly apt. Simply put, and this is meant in the kindest way possible, this is the…

  • Third Chance Saloon? Revisiting Kilkenny’s Oscar-Nominated Animations

    January 26, 2018 - By 

    Among the Irish nominations for the 90th Academy Awards, announced this week, was The Breadwinner, up for Best Animated Feature, from Kilkenny-based animation and design studio Cartoon Saloon. Based on Deborah Ellis’ novel, it follows a girl in late-90s Afghanistan whose father is unjustly arrested by the Taliban authorities, forcing her to pass as a boy in order to support her family. The film, which will receive its Irish premiere at the Dublin Film Festival next month and a wide release later in the Spring, is the company’s highest profile feature yet. In terms of Oscar nods, that makes it three out…

  • Belle & Sebastian – How to Solve Our Human Problems Pt. 2

    January 25, 2018 - By 

    In 1996, Belle & Sebastian recorded, mixed and released two albums; Tigermilk in June and If You’re Feeling Sinister in November. Both highly acclaimed releases from the band which remain as firm favourites amongst their fans, they were both made within the confines of a week long period. On each occasion, Stuart Murdoch came to the studio with a notebook full of lyrics inspired by the lives of ordinary people and introduced us to an array of characters in different scenarios. Along the way, we acquire intimate details about their circumstances, reflecting the dreary backdrop of the time and town…

  • Premiere: Alana Henderson – Let This Remain (Live at the Telegraph Building)

    January 25, 2018 - By 

    Released in November last year, ‘Let This Remain’ by Alana Henderson perfectly distils the Belfast-based cellist and singer-songwriter’s carefully-composed, wonderfully idiosyncratic craft. Revealing the nuance and intimate nature of the song is a new video courtesy of Belfast photographer and filmmaker Joe Laverty. Directed and edited by Laverty – with additional camera work from Jude McCaffrey and Sharon Whittaker, and colour grading from Malachy Campbell – the video features Henderson performing the song with accompaniment from Pleasure Beach’s Alan Haslam at the Belfast Telegraph building, a stark, towering space that has since been reawakened as a venue. Unsurprisingly, the performance is nothing short of utterly…

  • Interview: Brian Not Brian

    February 5, 2018 - By 

    Ahead of playing alongside him at Bullitt in Belfast on Friday, February 9, DJs Jonny Carberry and Black Bones talk starting out, crate-digging, rare gems, returning home, imprints and more with Belfast-born, London based selector and DJ Brian Morrison AKA Brian Not Brian. I think I first heard one of your mixes back in 2014, for one my fav labels Blackest Ever Black – I remember seeing the ‘Brixton via Belfast’ tag somewhere and thinking ‘Belfast! Class!’. Can you tell us a little about your life (and musical interests) in Belfast, and when and why you decided to move to London? Well, I’m actually…

  • Public Image Ltd set to make first live appearance in Northern Ireland

    January 25, 2018 - By 

    In an astonishing coup, John Lydon’s groundbreaking avant-garde post-punk outfit Public Image Ltd make their first ever appearance in Northern Ireland, playing as part of this year’s Open House Festival in Bangor, in collaboration with the BBA Punk Weekender. PiL are set to play Bangor Seafront on Saturday, August 25. Founded by the then Johnny Rotten in 1978 as an experimental antidote to the pop establishment furure surrounding the Sex Pistols, a dub-heavy sound on debut First Issue drew – through its punk tint – noise and progressive rock by way of Jah Wobble’s dense low end. With Metal Box and subsequent releases pushed their music further into the avant-garde,…

  • 18 for ’18: The Sunshine Factory

    January 25, 2018 - By 

    We continue 18 for ’18, our feature showcasing eighteen Irish acts we’re convinced are going places in 2018. Throughout January we’re going to be previewing each of those acts, accompanied by words from our writers and an original photograph from one of our photographers. Next up, The Sunshine Factory. Photo by Abigail Denniston The Sunshine Factory want to be as inescapable as The Brian Jonestown Massacre. At least, that is according to an interview with The Thin Air last November where they also name dropped the likes of My Bloody Valentine, Spaceman 3 and Joy Division as influences. Unlike so many other…

  • It Takes A Village makes Second Lineup Announcement

    January 24, 2018 - By 

    Unique in its setting of the Trabolgan Holiday Village in Cork to offset the unpredicatable Spring weather, It Takes a Village festival runs from April 13-15, and has announced its latest set of bill updates. The Good Room-curated festival offers an ATP-esque alternative in the form of 150 self-catering houses and apartments, as well as 35 fully-serviced campervan sites, not to mention the host of nostalgia-invoking activities Trabolgan has to offer. Today’s line up update includes The Gloaming frontman Martin Hayes, alongside one of Ireland’s most respected traditional guitarists Steve Cooney. One of the Irish voices of his generation, Blindboy Boatclub brings his podcast live on Sunday. Landless…

  • Shopping – The Official Body

    January 24, 2018 - By 

    Rachel Agg must be one of the UK’s busiest musicians today. Not content with fronting Trash Kit and last year’s Scottish Album of the Year winners Sacred Paws, she also heads up London trio Shopping, who have somehow managed to find the time to record a third album in amidst it all. While those first two bands possess similar melodic indie-pop leanings, Shopping are leaner, tauter and more heavily indebted to their post-punk forebears. Their first two albums, 2013’s Consumer Complaints and 2015’s Why Choose, sound so much like products of the late 70s/early 80s that it would be tempting…