• 18 for ’18: Silverbacks

    January 17, 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 Silverbacks. Photo by Colum O’Dwyer Dublin five-piece Silverbacks may have already released a debut album back in 2015, but it’s what they release next that we’re most excited about. That debut, Hot Bath, was a strong starting effort from brothers and primary songwriters Daniel and Kilian O’Kelly – a fairly loose affair that…

  • Mercury Set For Deserter Songs 20th Anniversary Irish Shows

    January 17, 2018 - By 

    It’s been announced that Mercury Rev will play four Irish dates in April celebrating the 20th anniversary of their seminal fourth album Deserter Songs. Billed as “a very special acoustic and intimate Performance” the New York band will play Bangor’s Wesley’s Centenary Church on Tuesday, April 17, Dolans Warehouse in Limerick on April 18, Galway’s Roisin Dubh on April 21 and Dublin’s Whelan’s on April 22. Tickets go on sale this Friday (January 19) at 9am. Released in September 1998, the critically-acclaimed Deserter Songs is Mercury Rev’s most successful album to date. The band released their eighth studio album, The Light…

  • The Cranberries’ Dolores O’Riordan Has Died

    January 15, 2018 - By 

    It has just been announced that Dolores O’Riordan, frontwoman of The Cranberries and member of D.A.R.K., has died suddenly in London. She was just 46 Her publicist confirmed the news in a statement. It read “The lead singer with the Irish band The Cranberries was in London for a short recording session. No further details are available at this time. Family members are devastated to hear the breaking news and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.” Limerick rock band The Cranberries rose to international fame in the 1990s with their debut album, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t…

  • Watch: David Kitt – Still Don’t Know

    January 16, 2018 - By 

    Six days on from his New Jackson project being nominated for this year’s Choice Music Prize, David Kitt has returned with the title track from his upcoming four-track 10″ EP. Described by Kitt as “a travelogue within a dream, a jump-cut journey that crosses the globe. It’s one of those dreams you don’t want to wake from, where you want to go back under to piece the finer details together” it’s a soothing, typically stellar effort from the Dublin musician, accompanied with a pretty, wonderfully inspired by New York-based director/animator Lessa Millet. Kitt plays the following shows in Ireland and the UK…

  • RTÉ Choice Music Prize Shortlist Revealed

    January 10, 2018 - By 

    RTÉ Choice Music Prize has announced its ten-album shortlist for 2017. The prize selects the best Irish album of the previous calendar year. The shortlist is as follows: Come On Live Long – In The Still Marlene Enright – Placemats and Second Cuts Fangclub – Fangclub Lankum – Beneath The Earth and the Sky James Vincent McMorrow – True Care New Jackson – From Night To Night Otherkin – OK Fionn Regan – The Meetings of the Waters Ships – Precession Talos – Wild Alee The winner will be chosen during a live event, which will be held at Vicar Street in…

  • Car Seat Headrest set for Olympia Theatre

    January 9, 2018 - By 

    Less than a year on from playing the Academy, Will Toledo’s Car Seat Headrest have been announced to play a show at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre on Wednesday, May 16. The news coincides with the announcement that Toledo will release a re-imagined version of his 2011 album Twin Fantasy, on February 16 via Matador. Watch the brand new video for ‘Nervous Young Inhumans’ below. Tickets for the Olympia show are priced at €23.90 and go on sale on Friday, January 12.

  • Rescheduled Breeders Date Announced

    January 9, 2018 - By 

    Thanks to Hurricane Ophelia’s handiwork back in October, The Breeders had to cancel their highly-anticipated return to Dublin at Vicar Street. A rescheduled date was promised and here we are: unless another act of God prevents it (touch wood) the band will play Vicar Street on Sunday, May 27. Tickets go on sale on Thursday, January 18. Back in November, Kim Deal reveal to Marc Maron that a new album will be released in 2018. Check out the full WTF podcast right here.

  • Line-Up Announced For Output Showcase

    January 9, 2018 - By 

    Returning to Belfast on February 8, the Output music conference and showcase will host a day of seminars, panels and keynote speeches at Belfast’s MAC featuring some of the national music industry’s most highly-noted speakers and practitioners. In the evening, several of the city’s venues will host another series of free showcases featuring a selection of Irish bands and solo artists, curated by the likes of The Thin Air, PRS For Music, Help Musicians NI, The Live Room, Nialler9 and more. We’ll be teaming up with Rally for a show at Babel, located at the Rooftop of Bullitt. Performing will be New…

  • Applications Open for Stendhal Festival 2018

    January 8, 2018 - By 

    Hands down one of our favourite Irish summer festivals, Stendhal have made their annual call for applications for acts, artists and traders. Set to return to Ballymully Cottage Farm in Limavady across August 10-11, you can apply for this year’s outing by going here and filling an online form. Festival director Ross Parkhill said, “The Submission process always throws up some amazing finds, Ryan McMullan who has sold out the Mandela Hall and the Limelight in the past 12 months first came to our attention via our submissions, likewise with acts such as SOAK and several other notable names from the…

  • Premiere: Sweat Threats – Hermit

    January 4, 2018 - By 

    With their pure and perfect aim to make “post-punk party music for a public too often deprived of a good time”, Sweat Threats is the new project from Tayne’s Matt Sutton and Niall Jackson (AKA Swimmers and Bouts). Kickstarting their year as they mean to go on, debut single ‘Hermit’ is a blistering opening gambit melding the duo’s respective command of tight, fist-clenched punk and burrowing pop moments channelling two of Vancouver’s finest: Death From Above and Japandroids. A nice tie-in? Recorded and produced by Sutton and Jackson in various bedrooms and rehearsal spaces around London throughout 2017, the single was mixed by…