• 18 for ’18: Cherym

    January 31, 2018 - By 

    We conclude 18 for ’18, our feature showcasing eighteen Irish acts we’re convinced are going places in 2018. Throughout January we’ve previewed each of those acts, accompanied by words from our writers and an original photograph from one of our photographers. Last up, Cherym. Photo by Mickey Rooney Though Derry-Londonderry has never experienced any dearth of first-rate punk, recent times has seen something of a renaissance on the banks of the Foyle. Set to emerge as its crowning achievement in 2018 is Cherym, a noise-pop/punk band consisting of guitarist/vocalist Hannah Richardson, bassist/vocalist Nyree Porter and drummer/vocalist, Lauren Kelly. Formed in college back in late 2016 through…

  • Stream: Slow Place Like Home – Shadowcat

    January 26, 2018 - By 

    Late last year, Donegal’s Keith Mannion AKA Slow Place Like Home gifted the world with one of the strongest and most uniquely inspired Irish albums of the year. Released via Galway’s Strange Brew Rekkids, When I See You… Ice Cream! offered many peaks, not least in the form of its fourth single, ‘Shadowcat’. Reworked for today’s standalone release, the track’s submerged electro weaves a spell out of Mannion’s vocals, slithering synth patterns and some sublime, flittering beats. Accompanying the single release is a remix of SPLH track ‘Falesia’ by Andrew Morrison AKA The Cyclist. Do yourself a favour and delve into both below. Slow Place Like…

  • 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…

  • Video Premiere: Malojian – Beard Song

    January 19, 2018 - By 

    Of the various Northern absentees from this year’s Choice Music Prize, Stevie Scullion’s Malojian (for last year’s This Is Nowhere) was perhaps the most notable. Thankfully, Scullion isn’t one to focus on such things. Having always embodied a forward-moving spirit, his latest album, Let Your Weirdness Carry You Home, is a remarkable effort, confining within its 11 tracks boundless heart and carefully-crafted, collaborative depth. Blurring the lines between wry and sincere, new single ‘Beard Song’ conjures Grandaddy at their most stripped-back and – as we’ve mentioned in relation to Scullion before – the intelligent, economical pop finesse of latter-day Beatles (No one will need reminding that is far from a…

  • 18 for ’18: Molly Sterling

    January 18, 2018 - By 

    We continue 18 for ’18, our feature of 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 is Tipperary’s Molly Sterling. Photo by Ciara Brennan Try as one might, it’s usually nigh on impossible to clearly pinpoint what demarcates a great artist from a good one. Often, the real difference can only be traced in the smallest moments – music that has a way with itself, the space between the…

  • Album Premiere: Laurie Shaw – Weird Weekends

    January 18, 2018 - By 

    Based in Cork, 23-year-old Wirral artist Laurie Shaw has self-released approximately 75 albums – as well as one record each on UK imprint Sunstone Records and Dublin’s Little L – over the last few years, steadily establishing himself as a prodigious artist with a strong DIY ethic. Tomorrow he releases his latest full-length, Weird Weekends. A self-proclaimed “nostalgic trip back to teenage-hood, a love letter to the small town of Kenmare where all these narratives originate from”, it’s a brilliantly-realised effort that veers between Bill Ryder Jones-conjuring indie (‘Shatterproof’), inward-looking ballads and laments (‘Skipped Period Blues’, ‘Pink Lightbulb’), as well as straight-up riff-slinging guitar rock. Conjuring…

  • Stream: Paddy Hanna – Toulouse The Kisser

    January 18, 2018 - By 

    Though we’re not short of a first-rate alt-pop troubadour on these shores, Paddy Hanna has tread his very own increasingly compelling path in that realm for some time now. The Dublin songwriter – who is also a member of Autre Monde – will release his new album, Frankly, I Mutate, on March 2. Lifted from that that, new single ‘Toulouse The Kisser’ is a real gem that Hanna has called “a travelogue of drunken misadventure, watching your future waste away and accepting you will become the person to whom people say, “at least I’m not that poor fool”. But what a poor fool. Produced…

  • Keynote Speakers Announced for Output Belfast

    January 18, 2018 - By 

    Following on from the likes of Steve Albini and Bob Lefsetz, the keynote speakers set to close this year’s Output Belfast at the MAC on Thursday, February 8 have been announced. Marking a change of format from previous years, Ireland’s largest one-day music conference will end with a panel discussion around scoring for horror/thriller films and television shows. On the panel will be LA composer Rich Vreeland AKA Disasterpiece, Mogwai founder and guitarist Stuart Braithwaite (pictured), composer Carly Paradis and And So I Watch You From Afar guitarist and composer Rory Friers. The panel will be moderated by director and Belfast…

  • Stream: Elephant – Waiting Game Part II

    January 18, 2018 - By 

    Dundalk artist and multi-instrumentalist Shane Clarke AKA Elephant has been a TTA favourite for some time now.  Bounding with harmonic finesse and a masterfully earnest touch, his shapeshifting alt-pop craft will get the full-length treatment later this year. Ahead of that, ‘Waiting Game Part II’ is a subtle yet slick homespun effort, marrying balmy synths with the song’s stripped-back slow rock surge. At the forefront, once again, is Clarke’s neatly harmonised vocals, quietly bursting with massive heart. Elephant’s strongest single to date? We reckon so. Delve in.

  • Eels Set For Iveagh Gardens Show

    January 17, 2018 - By 

    Having last played the city back in July, 2014, Mark Oliver Everett’s Eels‘ will play Dublin’s Iveagh Gardens on Friday, July 6. The announcement accompanies the news of the band’s first album and tour in four years. The new album, The Deconstruction, will be Eels’ twelfth studio album. It’s released on April 6. Tickets for the Iveagh Gardens show go on sale on Thursday, January 25 at 9am.