• The Gloaming Announce Album Number Three

    January 15, 2019 - By 

    The Gloaming have announced details of their forthcoming third studio album. The trad super band – comprised Martin Hayes, Dennis Cahill, Iarla Ó Lionáird, Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, Thomas Bartlett and Matt Purcell – will release The Gloaming 3 on February 22 via Real World Records. Produced by Thomas Bartlett, the album was recorded last autumn at New York’s Reservoir Studios. See some thoughts on the release by Irish author Colm Tóibín – and check out the artwork for the venue – below. The Gloaming play Dublin’s The National Concert Hall on March 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th, & 11th. “What you notice first…

  • The Workman’s Club Set for Tony Hawk’s Soundtrack Night

    January 15, 2019 - By 

    On Friday, February 8, Dublin’s The Workman’s Club will host Story Mode, a night of Tony Hawk’s soundtrack nostalgia. Aimed squarely we who have whittled away countless hours playing the long-running skateboarding series throughout the 2000s and beyond, the night is presented as “a club night dedicated to celebrating [the] tunes” from its soundtrack, including The Violent Femmes, NOFX, NAS, The Offspring, RUN DMC, Dead Kennedys and more. Better still, slick skate visuals are promised on the big screen throughout the night, featuring classics such as Flip’s Extremely Sorry and CKY and Tony Hawk’s featured skaters like Eric Koston, Mike Vallely, and Bam…

  • The Cinematic Orchestra Set For Dublin Show

    January 15, 2019 - By 

    The Cinematic Orchestra are set to make their long-awaited return to Dublin. Doubling up as their first Irish show in 12 years, the genre-warping British act will perform 20 years of career-spanning spanning classics at Vicar Street on March 25. Tickets – priced at €34.50 – go on sale this Friday at 9am. Revisit the band’s critically-acclaimed fourth studio album, 2007’s Ma Fleur, below.

  • Choice Music Prize Shortlist Announced

    January 9, 2019 - By 

    The shortlist for this year’s RTE Choice Music Prize has been announced. Taking place at Dublin’s Vicar Street on Thursday, March 7th, the following ten albums will vie for the prize. The Academic – Tales From The Backseat (ROOM6 Records) Delorentos – True Surrender (Delo Records) Just Mustard – Wednesday (Pizza Pizza Records) Kojaque – Deli Daydreams (Soft Boy Records) O Emperor – Jason (Big Skin Records) Lisa O’Neill – Heard A Long Gone Song (River Lea Recordings) Saint Sister – Shape Of Silence (self released) Rejjie Snow – Dear Annie (BMG) Villagers – The Art Of Pretending To Swim…

  • Premiere: John Blek – The Blackwater

    January 3, 2019 - By 

    Cork singer-songwriter John Blek is a master at weaving gossamer tales stemming as much from his own headspace as the lineage of various transatlantic folk traditions. Set for release on February 1, Blek’s fourth studio album, Thistle & Thorn, is set to underscore that repute tenfold. Recorded between Clonakilty and Louisville, Kentucky at the start of last year, the album is a largely collaborative, with Brian Casey, Davie Ryan, Joan Shelley and guitarist Nathan Salsburg among the artists who have lent their own touch to the release. Lead single ‘The Blackwater’ is a delicate and carefully-crated sample of what to expect. Brimming with pathos,…

  • Stream: James Joys – Fugitive Wound

    January 4, 2019 - By 

    Despite existing on a peripheral plain sonically, Belfast producer and composer James Thompson AKA James Joys deserves much more than negligible regard, both at home and much further afield. Beyond his work as one-half of Ex-Isles with vocalist Peter Devlin, his solo output to date is equal parts spectrum-bucking, dense and hugely rewarding. Six minutes of self-proclaimed “deep brain cracking electronica to get sweaty to”, new single ‘Fugitive Wound’ encapsulates this. Mastered by fellow Belfast-based electronic wizard Herb Magee AKA Arvo Party, it’s a heady, warped triumph marrying a slew of staggered beats with ecstatic arpeggios and textures. Placed back-to-back with October’s Super_Tidal, it heavily suggests that James Joys might well…

  • The Thin Air’s Top 100 Irish Tracks of 2018 (#100-51)

    December 22, 2018 - By 

    Christ on a rickety sleigh, was this tough. But truth be told – it’s rarely easy. As we scramble to bang heads and attempt to assimilate, order and re-order the absolute deluge of excellence that has met our ears over the previous twelve months, it’s instantly clear that there will be some notable omissions. It’s equal parts unavoidable and unfortunate, but more significantly, it’s glowing testament to what we’re dealing with in every pocket of this island. Of course, we can’t – nor wish to – conclusively say this is “the best year for Irish music in recent memory” (the…

  • The Thin Air’s Top 100 Irish Tracks of 2018 (#50-1)

    December 22, 2018 - By 

    Christ on a rickety sleigh, was this tough. But truth be told – it’s rarely easy. As we scramble to bang heads and attempt to assimilate, order and re-order the absolute deluge of excellence that has met our ears over the previous twelve months, it’s instantly clear that there will be some notable omissions. It’s equal parts unavoidable and unfortunate, but more significantly, it’s glowing testament to what we’re dealing with in every pocket of this island. Of course, we can’t – nor wish to – conclusively say this is “the best year for Irish music in recent memory” (the…

  • Album Stream: Foolish Mortal – Foolish Mortal

    December 14, 2018 - By 

    Luminously captured in its eponymous, sixteen-track LP, Laurie Shaw’s new side-project, Foolish Mortal, is a blitzing, fuzzed-out traipse through the inner and outer recesses of Shaw’s musical mind. Conjuring everyone from White Fence and Black Lips, to The Wipers and our Lord and Saviour, Ty Segall, it’s a heady, genre-mangling feat of garage rock mastery from the prolific Cork-based Wirral artist. Out now via the brilliant Sunshine Cult Records, you can stream the album in full below. While you’re at it, pop along to Plugd in Cork on Saturday, December 22 to catch Foolish Mortal alongside Mikron and Perish.

  • Premiere: Anto and the Echoes – Hollywood Baby

    December 13, 2018 - By 

    Belfast-based Fermanagh six-piece Anto and the Echoes are a band that have long prided themselves on their live show. It’s something that shines through and then some in the video for their new single, ‘Hollywood Baby’. Running parallel with the track’s rock-pop bombast (good luck finding a catchier chorus this side of Christmas) Declan Ó Grianna’s video – which features the band and some of their fans in the thick of it at the National Club on Queen Street in Belfast – puts cutting loose firmly centre-stage. Have a first look below. Photo by Rebecca Dougan