• Watch: Conor Walsh – Bars

    April 10, 2019 - By 

    Last month saw the bittersweet posthumous release of The Lucid by sadly-missed Co. Mayo composer and musician Conor Walsh. One of several peaks from the release (which you can pick up here) is ‘Bars’, a trademark minimalist gem from Walsh, marrying slow and unfurling textures with balmy, widescreen ambience. Equally parts meditative and resolute, it’s an effort that takes on a whole new layer of import via stellar new b+w video courtesy of Brendan Canty of Feel Good Lost. “Conor was an avid fisherman and a lot of his music is inspired by the organic rhythms and textures that you find…

  • Going the Distance: 10 Years of Vantastival

    April 9, 2019 - By 

    Ten years is a long time in the summer festival business. Both in terms of challenges faced and having reason to celebrate, it’s a much longer time if your summer festival adheres to a fiercely homegrown and independently-minded manifesto. Returning for its tenth anniversary across May 31-June 2, Drogheda’s Vantastival is proof that, with the right marriage of ambition, hard work, knowledge and passion, success is possible. Placing community, curation, sustainability and affordability at the heart of their approach, the organisers are currently busy putting the final touches to this year’s outing. Ahead of that, we speak to festival co-director Louise Tangney about the…

  • New Belfast Record Store Strange Victory Records To Open on Record Store Day

    April 8, 2019 - By 

    Over the last couple of years, Belfast has suffered the loss of two much-loved record shops, Sick Records and Head Records. It was looking a bit grim for a minute there but fear not: on Saturday, April 13th – Record Store Day 2019 – a new independent record store will launch. The brainchild of Darren Smyth of local promoters par excellence Strange Victory, Jeff Doherty of Belfast’s Dragon Records and Sinead Green, Strange Victory Records will be Belfast’s only indie store stocking new releases alongside, in their words, “a plethora of curiosities and classic used vinyl.” Situated at 22 Berry Street, the store…

  • Tame Impala Set For Dublin Show

    April 8, 2019 - By 

    Tame Impala will play Dublin in June. The Kevin Parker-fronted psych-pop trailblazers will play 3Arena on June 26. Tickets cost €59.70 and go on sale this Friday at 9am. The band last played the city back in 2016, headlining Forbidden Fruit as part of their Currents tour.

  • Stevie Wonder Set For Show at Dublin’s 3Arena

    April 8, 2019 - By 

    The one and only Stevie Wonder will play Dublin in July. The legendary singer, songwriter, musician, and producer will bring his The Stevie Wonder Song Party: A Celebration of Life, Love and Music to 3Arena on July 9th. Tickets go on sale on Friday, April 12 at 9am, priced from €99.50.

  • Tower Records: Record Store Day 2019

    April 4, 2019 - By 

    As with every year in recent memory, Dublin’s Tower Records is marking this year’s Record Store Day on Saturday, April 13 in style. This year, the store – Ireland’s largest independent record shop – is marking the occasion with a week-long celebration, with countless records, old and new, being sold with a massive price reduction. You can check out what’s on the cards this year right here. Majorly reduced, first-rate wax aside, the store will also host exclusive in-stores from three Irish acts across the week: All Tvvins launch their new album, Just To Exist, on April 12th at 1pm…

  • Stream: Fears – Fabric

    April 4, 2019 - By 

    Constance Keane aka Fears is an artist wielding rapt and carefully-woven electro-pop like few others. The follow-up to previous singles ‘h_blood‘, ‘Blood‘ and ‘Priorities’, ‘Fabric’ is an unfurling, self-produced tale of entanglement and escape that finds the Belfast/Dublin musician and producer at her most emphatic to date. Prepare for this one to reverberate in your inner ear hours after a first listen. Fears and Steven Henry play Belfast’s the 343 on tomorrow night (Friday, April 5.)

  • Album Premiere: Fixity – No Man Can Tell

    April 4, 2019 - By 

    Of the myriad forward-pushing acts we’ve featured over the years, Cork polymath Dan Walsh’s Fixity remains a singular and uniquely exploratory proposition. Backed by a revolving cast of sonic conspirators, the bandleader and multi-instrumentalist has carved out a uniquely collaborative niche driven by fierce extemporization. Released via the ever-reliable Penske Recordings on April 12, Walsh and an extended cast of Irish and international musicians weave new mastery on Fixity’s second album, No Man Can Tell. Produced by the Altered Hours’ Patrick Cullen, it’s a six-track featuring a veritable dream-team: Emil Nerstrand on flute and tenor sax, Kevin Terry on guitar and…