• Track Record: Kieran McGuinness (Delorentos)

    April 29, 2015 - By 

    In this installment of Track Record, we hang out with Kieran McGuinness from Delorentos to discuss some of his favourite records from Arcade Fire to Television. Photos by Derek Kennedy. Paul Simon – Graceland People talking about this album often talk about the politics of it, and the controversy, or the African influences, but I love it because of the melancholy heart that lives below the happy surface. The title track alone never fails to give me goosebumps. This is the second album with African influences on this list, but I dunno why. Beach House – Teen Dream This is…

  • Monday Mixtape: Dara Kiely (Girl Band)

    April 27, 2015 - By 

    Currently in the studio recording for their debut full-length album – excepted to drop at some point in the Autumn – we’re absolutely certain Dublin’s Girl Band are on the cusp of some incredible things. Taking a breather from recording vocal tracks, Dara Kiely from the band has selected some of his all-time favourite tracks for this week’s Monday Mixtape, ranging from the likes of Syd Barrett and the Doors to Kendrick Lamar and Boom Bip/Doseone. Stream that below.

  • Interview: Soup DuJour & Venus Dupree of Tease-O-Rama

    April 24, 2015 - By 

    One of the more expectedly fabulous prospects in the Marquee of this year’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, Belfast Burlesque showcase Tease-O-Rama promises an evening of music, dancing, glamour and fun on Sunday, May 3. Ahead of the event, we speak to Burlesque extraordinaire Soup DuJour and and DJ Venus Dupree about what’s in store. Photos by Sara Marsden. Hi guys. Can you give us some background on Tease-O-Rama; previous appearances and what will set this one apart from the others? Soup DuJour (above, left): I founded Tease-O-Rama nearly two years ago and it’s all about creating really fun nights that make people laugh…

  • Watch: Rory Nellis – Outdoorsman

    April 24, 2015 - By 

    One of Ireland’s most naturally gifted songsmiths, Rory Nellis‘ music betrays an increasingly tangible sense of conviction and candor. Where no lyric or phrase feels throwaway, no chord progression or melodic flourish seems kneejerk or unconsidered. This almost meditative attention to detail is something that has often set his music apart from many of his peers, something that’s more than evident on his forthcoming debut album, Ready For You Now. Recorded with Phil D’Alton of Master & Dog, the album – currently available to fund on Pledgemusic – features a cast of local musicians including Herb Magee (formerly of LaFaro, now of Goons), Pete…

  • Stream: Pleasure Beach – Go

    April 23, 2015 - By 

    Belfast dream-pop bands are few and far between. Deeming themselves just that – exactly 3,339 miles to the east of Baltimore’s Beach House – are Pleasure Beach, a new-fangled five-piece who met whilst working in the “estimable coffee shops of Belfast”. Featuring members of Northern Irish acts including Yes Cadets and In An Instant, the band’s debut single, ‘Go’, takes its cue from “pounding stadium Americana, hypnotic krautrock and blurry-eyed Scandinavian pop”, forging a self-assured and decidedly mesmeric four-and-a-half minutes of sun-kissed, wanderlust-driven pop. A self-proclaimed “part bruised break-up song, part existential post-apocalyptic horror story”, you can stream the track below.

  • An Evening with Susan Howe @ Belvedere House, Dublin

    April 23, 2015 - By 

    One of the preeminent poets of her generation, Susan Howe will take part in an evening of reading and conversation at Dublin’s Belvedere House on Sunday, June 14. Just two days before Bloomsday, Howe will read from her extensive body of work and delve into insight of her deep Irish roots and the contours of 20th and 21st Century poetry at the event, a highlight from this year’s Bloomsday Festival. Tickets are available to purchase here; times run from 6pm to 8pm.

  • Watch: Sleep Thieves – You Want The Night

    April 21, 2015 - By 

    A masterclass in woozy, nocturnal electro-pop, You Want The Night by Dublin three-piece Sleep Thieves is easily one of our favourite debut albums by an Irish band in… well, forever. A year on from its release, the Sorcha Brennan-fronted band have unveiled the video for its title (and arguably best track) ‘You Want The Night’ – and what a distance director Mike P. Nelson has gone to wonderfully, rather cinematically capture the song’s dark, marauding tangents.

  • Good Name: Krautrock Night @ The Bernard Shaw, Dublin

    April 21, 2015 - By 

    What do you get when you get when you round up members of this country’s most forward-thinking bands and put them on the stage together playing Krautrock style together? Something more than a bit different is what. On Thursday, April 23 at Dublin’s Bernard Shaw, see members of Girl Band and Meltybrains? jamming in a scene they’re huge fans of but is very far from their norm. Good Name DJ’s will be spinning on the night. Starts at 8pm; free entry.

  • Oliver Jeffers: Words & Pictures @ Liberty Hall, Dublin

    April 24, 2015 - By 

    Raised in Northern Ireland, New York-based Australian artist, illustrator and writer Oliver Jeffers is a jack of all trades, master of many. His picture books – including Lost & Found, Stuck, The Hueys and more – have been translated into over 30 languages, his distinctive paintings have been exhibited throughout the world and he won an Emmy in 2010 for his collobarative work with Mac Premo. Taking place as part of International Literary Festival Dublin 2015, Oliver Jeffers – Words & Pictures will take place at Liberty Hall on Tuesday, May 19 at 6.30pm. Tickets are priced at €8/€5 and are…

  • Album stream: Screaming Parent – The Completist

    April 20, 2015 - By 

    Tagged on Bandcamp with terms including “bad glitch” and “cubase disasters”, The Completist by Screaming Parent AKA Dudley Colley of Dublin’s Dudley Corporation is ten tracks of self-proclaimed “spare-room recorded bedroom classics”. Knowing self-deprecation aside, it’s most definitely not a “disaster” from the musician. With ridiculously infectious melodies, Of Montreal-esque harmonies and Postal Service-like beats melding very nicely across a collection of tracks, the album evokes, at different points, the likes of The Books, Pinback and Metronomy. According to Colley, the album – released in advance of The Dudley Corporation’s fifth studio album – is his first solo “misadventure”, recorded in between school runs and…