After a long time away, one of the country’s very best bands, Girl Band, will return with a new single next month. The Dara Kiely-fronted four-piece will release ‘Shoulderblades’ digitally on June 6 via Rough Trade and as a 12″ single, limited 750 copies with an etching on the b-side, on June 7. Pre-order it here now.
On Friday, May 24th, Northern Irish trio Duellists – a band comprising Throat rhythm section Mike Barr and Rus Crookes and Ex-Element guitarist Peter McCavery – will release their highly-anticipated debut album, Into the Fade. Across twelve tracks, it makes for a fierce, nostalgia-incinerating barrage of first-rate noise-rock, swiftly positioning the three-piece as one of the country’s most vital bands. New single ‘Perspective’ distills this down two face-melting minutes. Marrying a slew of riffs and taut rhythms with McCavery’s larynx-shredding vocals, it makes for a masterful, all-too-short rampage. Delve in and prepare to hit repeat below. Duellists play alongside Podracer at Dublin’s Underground…
Over the last two decades, Irish sound designer and musician Steve Fanagan has composed and produced under a range of monikers including Northsta5on, Moose Eats Leaf, Small Group Primate, Wrecking Ball and others. His latest nominal conduit is Department of Forever. It’s a project the dense, meditative majesty of which is laid bare on a nine-track release, Unseen Pictures, set for release via new-fangled Irish indie imprint Wow & Flutter on Friday (May 10th). Originally improvised and recorded over a few days and then chopped up, edited, reworked and constructed, the album will (just like all releases set for release via Wow & Flutter) be limited…
Other Voices is set to make it return to Belfast in the summer. Across June 14-16, the hugely successful Irish musical institution will team up with the 174 Trust to take over The Duncairn for another three days of musical and cultural events. With the line-up for this year’s outing to be announced soon, Ray Griffin of the Duncairn said, “To say that we are over the moon to have Other Voices returning to The Duncairn and our wonderful city is the understatement of the year.” “Central to the shared vision, and delivery of both organisations, is a love for music…
Two Door Cinema Club have announced two Irish shows for October. The Northern Irish indie-pop trio will play Belfast’s Dublin’s Olympia Theatre on October 15 and Belfast’s Telegraph Building on October 16. Pre-sale starts tomorrow (Wednesday, May 8) at 9am. Tickets go on sale on Friday. Two Door will release their new album, False Alarm, on June 14.
Hot Chip will play Belfast in the Autumn. The Alexis Taylor-fronted, English indie electronic band will play Limelight 1 on Wednesday, October 16. They recently announced a show in Dublin the following night. Hot Chip release their seventh album, A Bath Full of Ecstasy, via on Domino on June 21. Tickets for the Belfast show go on sale at 10am on Friday, May 10.
U.S. singer-songwriter Bill Callahan will play Dublin late this year. The Maryland artist, who has also performed as Smog, will play Vicar Street on Sunday, September 29. Support on the night will come from Dallas Acid. Tickets go on sale Friday, May 10th at 9am.
We’re very lucky to call Stefan Murphy one of our own. Based in Atlanta, GA, the Dublin artist’s mottled career to date has taken in the triumphant garage rock of The Mighty Stef, exploratory solo sounds as Count Vaseline and far beyond. Murphy is now performing under his own name, making music that he tells us “aims to reconnect with the art of earnest, heartfelt songwriting, while also flirting with his back catalog in the live setting.” If lead single ‘Dry Cider’ is anything to go by, success is both realms is assured. A self-proclaimed tale of youthful misadventure, dedicated to…
Chicago post-metal trio Russian Circles are set for three Irish shows in the summer. The band – comprising Mike Sullivan, Dave Turncrantz and Brian Cook – will play Dublin’s Button Factory on August 8, Galway’s Roisin Dubh on August 9th and Belfast’s Limelight 2 on August 10. It will mark the band’s first Irish shows since 2017. Revisit our interview with the band from then here. Tickets are on sale now, priced €20.00, €20.00 and £18.50 respectively.
Kicking off on Thursday, the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival will bring a dizzying array of talent to Belfast’s city centre for its 20th outing, including Rufus Wainwright, Echo and the Bunnymen, Anna Calvi, Teenage Fanclub, Spiritualized, Marian Keyes, Yola, UNLOVED (feat, David Holmes), Nina Conti, Horslips, Chris Difford, Roy Walker, Bill Drummond, Patty Griffin, Kevin McAleer, Lisa O’Neill, Lowkey, Bernard MacLaverty and Horslips. The 11-day festival will feature over 10 events in over 20 venues across the city centre, as it celebrates its 20th anniversary with a programme of live music, comedy, literature, theatre, film, visual art and more. Festival Director Sean Kelly said, “There are…