• Knockanstockan Announce Second Wave of Acts

    March 19, 2019 - By 

    Knockanstockan have announced their second wave of acts for this year’s festival. Joining the likes of Just Mustard, Bicurious, Punk Podge & The Technohippies, Hot Cops, Cherym and Kitt Philippa, who were among the first names announced last month, include Robocobra Quartet, Slouch, Dowry, BATS, Jyellowl, Myles Manley, Rachael Boyd, No Spill Blood, Tebi Rex, Happyalone, The Wood Burning Savages and more. Returning to Blessington Lake in Co. Wicklow across July 19-21, tickets for the festival can be bought here. Watch the second line-up announcement video below.

  • Stephen Malkmus Set For Dublin Show

    March 18, 2019 - By 

    Stephen Malkmus will return to Dublin to play Whelans on Saturday, September 14. Set to take place almost a year after Malkmus (with the Jicks) played Vicar Street last October, the show is part of a series of solo shows in UK and Europe across September. Tickets go on sale on Friday at 9am priced €30 inclusive of booking fee. Revisit Zara Hedderman’s interview with Malkmus from October here. Malkmus recently released his latest solo album, Groove Denied. Stream it below.

  • Teenage Fanclub, Spiritualized and Anna Calvi For Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival

    March 15, 2019 - By 

    This year’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival in Belfast is already shaping up to be one of its strongest line-ups to date. With the likes of Echo & The Bunnymen already announced, today the festival has revealed three stellar bookings. On Saturday, May 4, Jason Pierce’s Spiritualized will play the Marquee. On May 7, Anna Calvi will play Custom House Square. And on Thursday, May 2, Scottish alternative rock heroes Teenage Fanclub will also play the Marquee. Go here to buy tickets. Take a bow, CQAF.  Take a bow.

  • The Specials Set For Open House Festival

    March 14, 2019 - By 

    English 2 Tone legends The Specials will play Bangor’s Open House festival in the summer. The Terry Hall-fronted band – who released their long-awaited eighth studio album, Encore, last month – will play the seafront as part of this year’s festival on Sunday, August 25. Tickets cost £45 and go on sale tomorrow (Friday, March 15) at 9am. Featuring 140 events, spanning music, theatre, comedy, books, spoken word, film, food & drink and visual art, the full programme for Open House 2019 will be announced in May. Previously announced, the Specials will also play three dates at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre across April…

  • BBC Radio Ulster To Present New Homegrown DJ Series, In The Mix

    March 11, 2019 - By 

    BBC Radio Ulster is set to present a new series of live mixes from emerging homegrown DJs. Beginning on Tuesday, March 10 at 10pm with Hammer, aka Rory Hamilton, the series will feature four exclusively week mixes, later featuring one half of Schmutz, Kristian Woods, on March 19, co-founder of Belfast’s The Night Institute, Jordan McQuaig, on March 26 and fast-rising Armagh DJ Holly Lester (pictured) on April 2. All four exclusive DJ mixes will be live in the studio, simulcast in video at the BBC Music NI homepage and will be available to catch up via BBC Sounds.

  • Preview: Pauli Lyytinen Magnetia Orkesteri @ Brilliant Corners

    March 8, 2019 - By 

    On Friday, March 8, Belfast’s Black Box will play host to one of the outright highlights of this year’s Brilliant Corners Jazz Festival. Backed with his Magnetia Orkesteri – a masterfully mottled assembly of some of his country’s very best players – multi award-winning Finnish saxophonist Pauli Lyytinen will present a career-spanning performance. Renown for drawing on their individual soloistic strengths and nigh on psychic interplay, this project’s blend of free-jazz and western chamber music is implosive, triumphant and essential. Tickets are a measly £12 and can be snapped up here. Sitting on the fence? Delve into 2017’s Pauli Lyytinen Magnetia Orkesteri. Pauli…

  • Echo and the Bunnymen Set For Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival

    March 8, 2019 - By 

    Consistently stellar programming across the board aside, if there’s one thing you can rely on Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival for it’s delivering on a solid headliner. This year is no exception. Doubling up as the Ian McCullough-fronted band’s first show in the city since 2015, the Festival Marquee will play host to legendary Liverpool band Echo and the Bunnymen on Friday, May 3. Tickets are priced £25 and are on sale now.

  • Stream: Strength N.I.A – Margaret

    March 8, 2019 - By 

    With their second album set for release post-festival season, Strength N.I.A have returned with their first single of the year, ‘Margaret’. A typically idiosyncratic and bombastic effort from the Derry alt-pop project, the track – which has received support from the likes of BBC 6Music – marries drums and thrift-store organ patterns with bobbing bass and frontman Rory Moore’s vocal refrains. Strength N.I.A play the following dates in May. Friday, May 3: Whelans, Dublin Friday, May 17: Venue TBA, Derry Friday, May 24: Roundy, Cork Margaret by Strength N.I.A

  • Watch: New Pagans – It’s Darker

    March 8, 2019 - By 

    ‘It’s Darker’, the new single from Belfast-based band New Pagans, has its origins in a messy incident at a house party. A musician, we’re told, became aggressive and wouldn’t tolerate frontwoman Lyndsey McDougall’s opinions. “That’s where the original anger comes from – a confrontation,” says McDougall. “It’s happened to me a few times. It’s like, ‘Oh you’re a girl, you should just shut up’. A feminist anger came from that. Yes, I should be able to have an opinion. And it can be different to yours.” The single wears this defiance firmly on its sleeve. It’s a potent and insubmissive alt-rock blitz from…

  • Premiere: Larry – Liar

    March 7, 2019 - By 

    You may have caught wind: we’re very excited for the release of the forthcoming self-titled debut album from Dundalk three-piece Larry. Set for release via Pizza Pizza Records on April 26, the nine-track release was recorded by none other than Steve Albini at Electrical Audio, and mastered by the one – the only – Bob Weston. A track we called a “fervent, four-minute paean to freedom and psychic wanderlust” lead single ‘Cocker Spaniel’ packed a big punch. ‘Liar’ goes one further. Capturing the band’s increasingly distinctive and implosive push-and-pull, its skeletal dynamics brilliantly mirror frontman Joey Edwards’ confessionalism. Have a first listen to…