• Video Premiere: Alana Henderson – Song About a Song

    June 14, 2016 - By 

    Before setting off on the very long road as cellist/backing vocalist for Hozier, Dungannon singer-songwriter Alana Henderson (one of our ones to watch last year) had staked her very own captivating claim with her debut EP, Wax & Wane. Released in early 2013, it was veritable pandora’s box of burrowing folk noir, each of the release’s four traditional-tinged chamber tales bounding forth with gallant imagination and delicate, melodic finesse. With brand new material in the pipeline, ‘Song About a Song’ – a perfectly ruminating peak from Wax & Wane that’s had an incredible 5,000,000 plays on Spotify – has been resurrected with a homespun video by David Moody that wonderfully captures the song’s essence.

  • Monday Mixtape: Anton Newcombe (The Brian Jonestown Massacre)

    June 13, 2016 - By 

    Ahead of The Brian Jonestown Massacre dates at Belfast’s Limelight on Wednesday, June 15 and Dublin’s Academy on Thursday, June 16, Anton Newcombe selects and talks about not five, not ten but twenty-three of his all-time favourite songs, featuring 13th Floor Elevators, Joni Mitchell, Dungen, Marvin Gaye, Nina Simone and more. The Doors – The Crystal Ship There’s something about this beautiful love song that touched me when I was very young. Still love it. Dungen – Panda God, when this came out I was taken back – so powerful in any language. Love these guys, love Sweden. John’s Children –…

  • Music City 2016 Announce First Line-up

    June 13, 2016 - By 

    Returning for its fourth consecutive year, the first line-up announcement for this year’s Music City in Derry – “the festival where everyone can play” – has been revealed. Set to take place from July 4-10,  Choice Music Prize winner SOAK, The Strypes, Girls Names (pictured), Saint Sister, The Willis Clan, Overhead The Albatross, R.S.A.G, Bitch Falcon, David Kitt, Malojian, Best Boy Grip, Chris McConaghy AKA Our Krypton Son, The Clameens, Paddy Nash & The Happy Enchiladas, Strength, Triggerman, Ruth McGinley and Gerard McChrystal will make up the bill. Taking place in various squares, neighbourhoods, shops, pubs and clubs throughout the city, more acts…

  • Premiere: The Hipshakes – Attention Spans

    June 11, 2016 - By 

    Set to headline the last ever (and downright unmissable) Retro Revival Club at Dublin’s soon-to-be-departed Sweeney’s, Manchester garage punk quartet The Hipshakes recently released their blistering, new album, Snake, via Sligo independent label par excellence, Art For Blind records (The Number Ones, September Girls, The Altered Hours, Perfect Pussy, No Ditching, etc.) An outright highlight from said release, we’re pleased to premiere the video for ‘Attention Spans’ – a breathless, Harmacy-era Sebadohesque throwdown – below.

  • Watch: Dublin Boiler Room

    June 9, 2016 - By 

    Headlined by one of the country’s most respected proponents of techno, Sunil Sharpe, the mighty Boiler Room made it’s highly-anticipated return to Dublin on Monday night with another stellar line-up of all-Irish electronic talent. As well as featuring TTA Cork favourite Elll, the night also featured live sets from hardware wizard DeFeKT, Daire Carolan & Sonel Ali. Miss out first time around? Watch all 4 hours and 38 minutes of it below.

  • Neil Young and Promise of the Real @ SSE Arena, Belfast

    June 8, 2016 - By 

    “If you’re here writing a newspaper piece or something, please try to ignore that…” So remarks 70-year-old Neil Young, quite possibly the coolest man on earth, a handful of songs into a career-spanning, increasingly rapturous set with Promise of the Real at Belfast’s downright reverential SSE Arena tonight. In typically unflustered fashion, he’s just stopped a few seconds into the intro of ‘Harvest Moon’ having neglected to attach his harmonica; a rare blip that not only serves as a brief reminder that even the greatest have their moments of infinitesimal fallibility but also that we’re in the presence of a master who – briefly setting aside his towering…

  • Premiere: Warriors of the Dystotheque – Just Breathe

    June 7, 2016 - By 

    The follow-up to their March EP Return To Coney, ‘Just Breathe’ is the new single from multi-national outfit Warriors of the Dystotheque, founded by Derry’s Jonny Mac. Featuring vocals from Coventry singer Bella Deanie, it’s a slick, impressively produced soundscape relaying “the state of not giving up when everyone else has let you down.” Accompanying the release are remixes from the likes of Ubblahkan, Ken Fab Re and Brothers Nylon, each further revealing the track’s textural, cinematic prowess. According to Jonny Mac, the track – which we premiere in full below – came about “in a tiring drive home to Derry from a festival…

  • Stream: Arborist – A Man of My Age

    June 7, 2016 - By 

    Fronted by Mark McCambridge, Belfast’s Arborist are masters of the subtly-wielded phrase and burrowing melody. A year on from having the one and only Kim Deal feature on their single ‘Twisted Arrow’, the band have returned with ‘A Man of My Age’, a pleasantly reflective six-minute effort brilliantly bolstered by shivering strings and a layered Americana folk ambience that rewards with repeated listens. With fading youth, familial change and growing perspective at the heart of the McCambridge’s words here, we’re treated to something rather special; a carefully considered meditation imbued with a calm sense of acceptance that seals the deal in fine fashion. Stream the single…