• Bringing It All Back Home: An Interview with Our Back Yard Festival

    April 18, 2018 - By 

    This time last year, we spoke to organisers of Our Back Yard, one of the country’s most inspired small, homegrown festivals. Ahead of returning to Gilford on June 30 with acts including Hunkpapa, Petty Youth and Beauty Sleep, we catch up with organisers to discuss the past, present and bright future of the festival. Hi guys. Featuring the likes of Bonnevilles and Emerald Armada, reports from last year’s Our Back Yard were very positive. How was it compared to previous years? Our Back Yard 2017 was a watershed event for us. Whereas previous years had a distinctly lo-fi, amateurish vibe,…

  • Screaming Females Set For Dublin Show

    April 18, 2018 - By 

    It’s been announced that New Jersey DIY punk trio Screaming Females will play Dublin’s Grand Social on September 6. The Maria Patternoster-fronted band announced their seventh studio album, All At Once, earlier this year. Set for release via Don Giovanni records, it will be follow-up to 2015’s Rose Mountain. Tickets for the Dublin show are priced €15 and go on sale on Friday at 10am.

  • Other Voices at ANAM @ The Helix, Dublin

    April 13, 2018 - By 

    North Dublin gets a lot of bad press. We hear so many tales of ludicrous individuals and gangs that it’s easy to make the assumption that the North of the city is a place lacking in substance. Presented by DCU and Other Voices, ANAM is the start of an annual showcase of what culture lies bubbling beneath the surface of the city, but its importance is felt most by the local residents of the North side. Starting off the night are Discovery Gospel Choir (below), a harmonically powerful, multi-cultural group that shake off the traditional Irish awkwardness by asking everyone…

  • Premiere: The Mad Dalton – Seafaring Man

    April 13, 2018 - By 

    Officially launched at Belfast’s Love & Death last night, ‘Seafaring Man’ is the new single by Belfast-based Scots-Canadian singer-songwriter Peter Sumadh AKA The Mad Dalton. Taken from his forthcoming debut album, Open Season – which will be released in June following a successful pledge campaign – it’s another full-bodied slice of wistful Americana that, rather than getting ensnared in the images and memories of the past, aims two eyes firmly on the horizon. Open Season is launched at Belfast’s Black Box on June 14. Have a first listen (and look at Chris Molloy’s video) below.

  • Stream: Arvo Party – Liberté

    April 12, 2018 - By 

    It came as no surprise to us when we discovered that Herb Magee aka Arvo Party was nominated for last year’s Northern Ireland Music Prize. In his review of the Belfast-based producer and musician’s self-titled debut album, Cathal McBride said, “With great Irish electronic acts like Solar Bears and Adultrock having called it a day within the last year, Magee sounds more than ready to take up the mantle they’ve left behind.” Seven months on, Magee continues to uphold this promise in style. A masterfully propulsive six minutes of electronica blurring sonic lines via late 1990s trance worships, simmering ambience surges,…

  • Iron & Wine, WhoMadeWho, Mano Le Tough and More Set for Body & Soul

    April 12, 2018 - By 

    With the likes of Fever Ray, Chronixx and Jon Hopkins making up the first announcement, Iron & Wine, WhoMadeWho and Mano Le Tough are amongst the latest acts announced for this year’s Body & Soul festival. Set to return to Ballinlough Castle in Clonmellon, Co. Westmeath across the Summer Solstice weekend of June 22-24, the festival will also welcome the following new additions – including many Irish acts: Pantha Du Prince, AV AV AV, Tshegue, Riley Pierce, Soulé, Lilla Vargen, Bitch Falcon, Pillow Queens, Barq, O Emperor, R.S.A.G., Bon Voyage, Hvmmingbyrd, Sing Along Social, Reckless in Love, Mano Le Tough with The…

  • Stream: Deadman’s Ghost – Trip Switch Down

    April 11, 2018 - By 

    Belfast producer and musician Jason Mills aka Deadman’s Ghost has returned with ‘Trip Switch Down’, a track featured in the trailer for this year’s Belfast Film Festival. Also set to feature as the opening track of a new Deadman’s Ghost EP set for release later this year, the track – which unfurls from drifting ambient electronica to full-blown, wonderfully layered Technicolour -was engineered in collaboration with David Baxter, who programmed the beats and had a hand in the overall production. The guitars and ebow drones that colour the track were largely recorded by Simon Mateer at MFR Recordings. Belfast Film festival runs…

  • Superorganism Set For Dublin Show

    April 10, 2018 - By 

    Hands down the buzziest band around, transatlantic indie-pop octet Superorganism will play Dublin’s Academy on Thursday, October 18. Tickets for the show – which are priced at €18.50 – go on sale this Friday at 10am. Taken from their self-titled debut album, watch the brand new video for ‘Night Time’ below.

  • Here’s Everything You Need To Know About It Takes A Village This Weekend

    April 9, 2018 - By 

    Ireland’s first ever live-in music festival, the inaugural It Takes a Village takes place at Trabolgan Holiday Village in Cork this weekend. Over three days, the holiday village will welcome the likes of Young Fathers (pictured), Fujiya & Miyagi, Andrew Weatherall, Oh Pep!, Talos, Lankum, Saint Sister, The Altered Hours and many more. Without a shadow of a doubt, it’s going to be a memorable weekend in East Cork. If you’re heading, the following timetables and site map are exactly what you’ll be wanting. Some tickets are still available right here.