• Stream: The Claque – Hush

    March 13, 2019 - By 

    If you’re missing the gaping void in game-changing guitar music left by Girl Band in the last couple of years, here’s something to sate your appetite. The Claque comprises long-time friends in vocalist Kate Brady, Paddy Ormond – of Jet Setter & Postcard Versions, who released their wonderful debut album last month – and and Girl Band guitarist Alan Duggan. Debut single ‘Hush’ and its noise-pop flipside ‘Stray’ immediately bear Duggan’s inimitable, jarring sonic imprint, dragged into humanity by the oneiric warmth of synth layers & Brady’s soulful vocal – which could be incongruous in the hands of less masterful musicians. Produced by Girl Band bassist…

  • RTÉ Choice Music Prize 2018

    March 8, 2019 - By 

    It’s hard to convey the buzz in Vicar Street as the place starts filling up. You can’t look anywhere without spotting a handful of familiar faces. From my vantage point. rappers Kojaque and Luka Palm can be seen relaxing on the right side of the balcony, while blogger Nialler9 sits further to my left. Anybody that is a somebody in the Irish music industry is present. The show kicks off with a little introduction from presenter Eoghan McDermott. There’s the usual spiel of “Are we doing well?… I said, ‘Are we doing well?’” before he cracks on introducing the first…

  • Echo and the Bunnymen Set For Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival

    March 8, 2019 - By 

    Consistently stellar programming across the board aside, if there’s one thing you can rely on Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival for it’s delivering on a solid headliner. This year is no exception. Doubling up as the Ian McCullough-fronted band’s first show in the city since 2015, the Festival Marquee will play host to legendary Liverpool band Echo and the Bunnymen on Friday, May 3. Tickets are priced £25 and are on sale now.

  • Stream: Strength N.I.A – Margaret

    March 8, 2019 - By 

    With their second album set for release post-festival season, Strength N.I.A have returned with their first single of the year, ‘Margaret’. A typically idiosyncratic and bombastic effort from the Derry alt-pop project, the track – which has received support from the likes of BBC 6Music – marries drums and thrift-store organ patterns with bobbing bass and frontman Rory Moore’s vocal refrains. Strength N.I.A play the following dates in May. Friday, May 3: Whelans, Dublin Friday, May 17: Venue TBA, Derry Friday, May 24: Roundy, Cork Margaret by Strength N.I.A

  • 19 for ’19: Nealo

    March 8, 2019 - By 

    We continue 19 for ’19, our feature looking at Irish acts we’re convinced are going places in 2019, with Dublin MC Nealo. Photo by Zoe Holman If the name Nealo is unfamiliar to you I have two very simple instructions: firstly, get your head out of the sand, and secondly, lend your ears to one of this country’s finest MCs. Nealo, real name Neal Keating, is a rapper from North Dublin that has exploded onto the Irish music scene over the last few months. Having first found international recognition as the vocalist of hardcore punk band Frustration, he has since…

  • Watch: New Pagans – It’s Darker

    March 8, 2019 - By 

    ‘It’s Darker’, the new single from Belfast-based band New Pagans, has its origins in a messy incident at a house party. A musician, we’re told, became aggressive and wouldn’t tolerate frontwoman Lyndsey McDougall’s opinions. “That’s where the original anger comes from – a confrontation,” says McDougall. “It’s happened to me a few times. It’s like, ‘Oh you’re a girl, you should just shut up’. A feminist anger came from that. Yes, I should be able to have an opinion. And it can be different to yours.” The single wears this defiance firmly on its sleeve. It’s a potent and insubmissive alt-rock blitz from…

  • Premiere: Larry – Liar

    March 7, 2019 - By 

    You may have caught wind: we’re very excited for the release of the forthcoming self-titled debut album from Dundalk three-piece Larry. Set for release via Pizza Pizza Records on April 26, the nine-track release was recorded by none other than Steve Albini at Electrical Audio, and mastered by the one – the only – Bob Weston. A track we called a “fervent, four-minute paean to freedom and psychic wanderlust” lead single ‘Cocker Spaniel’ packed a big punch. ‘Liar’ goes one further. Capturing the band’s increasingly distinctive and implosive push-and-pull, its skeletal dynamics brilliantly mirror frontman Joey Edwards’ confessionalism. Have a first listen to…

  • Isn’t It Romantic

    March 7, 2019 - By 

    A young girl named Natalie watches Pretty Woman in an early 1990s sitting room. Her mother pours a glass of wine and warns that they don’t make movies about girls like us. Except Hollywood does. Isn’t It Romantic is a romantic comedy disguised as a parody of the genre. The characters run through every convention of the sometimes unfairly maligned genre while proclaiming that they are not falling for its charms. You can guess what happens next. Adult Natalie (Rebel Wilson) is disenchanted with idea of love and a cynic about romantic comedies. After a mugging, she wakes up in…

  • The Man Who Felt No Pain

    March 7, 2019 - By 

    As high-concept premises go, The Man Who Feels No Pain (Mard Ko Dard Nahin Hota) has an absolute humdinger. It’s an Indian martial arts film about Surya, a man with a rare disorder that prevents him from registering pain. With an irreverent tone and a theme song featuring the lyric “Break it! Shatter it! I am the man who feels no pain!” this should be martial arts movie for the ages. So why is it such a chore to watch? Well, the pacing for one thing. The Man Who Feels No Pain is a turgid 134 minutes long, inconceivable considering the…