• 18 for ’18: Molly Sterling

    January 18, 2018 - By 

    We continue 18 for ’18, our feature of showcasing eighteen Irish acts we’re convinced are going places in 2018. Throughout January we’re going to be previewing each of those acts, accompanied by words from our writers and an original photograph from one of our photographers. Next up is Tipperary’s Molly Sterling. Photo by Ciara Brennan Try as one might, it’s usually nigh on impossible to clearly pinpoint what demarcates a great artist from a good one. Often, the real difference can only be traced in the smallest moments – music that has a way with itself, the space between the…

  • Album Premiere: Laurie Shaw – Weird Weekends

    January 18, 2018 - By 

    Based in Cork, 23-year-old Wirral artist Laurie Shaw has self-released approximately 75 albums – as well as one record each on UK imprint Sunstone Records and Dublin’s Little L – over the last few years, steadily establishing himself as a prodigious artist with a strong DIY ethic. Tomorrow he releases his latest full-length, Weird Weekends. A self-proclaimed “nostalgic trip back to teenage-hood, a love letter to the small town of Kenmare where all these narratives originate from”, it’s a brilliantly-realised effort that veers between Bill Ryder Jones-conjuring indie (‘Shatterproof’), inward-looking ballads and laments (‘Skipped Period Blues’, ‘Pink Lightbulb’), as well as straight-up riff-slinging guitar rock. Conjuring…

  • Stream: Paddy Hanna – Toulouse The Kisser

    January 18, 2018 - By 

    Though we’re not short of a first-rate alt-pop troubadour on these shores, Paddy Hanna has tread his very own increasingly compelling path in that realm for some time now. The Dublin songwriter – who is also a member of Autre Monde – will release his new album, Frankly, I Mutate, on March 2. Lifted from that that, new single ‘Toulouse The Kisser’ is a real gem that Hanna has called “a travelogue of drunken misadventure, watching your future waste away and accepting you will become the person to whom people say, “at least I’m not that poor fool”. But what a poor fool. Produced…

  • Keynote Speakers Announced for Output Belfast

    January 18, 2018 - By 

    Following on from the likes of Steve Albini and Bob Lefsetz, the keynote speakers set to close this year’s Output Belfast at the MAC on Thursday, February 8 have been announced. Marking a change of format from previous years, Ireland’s largest one-day music conference will end with a panel discussion around scoring for horror/thriller films and television shows. On the panel will be LA composer Rich Vreeland AKA Disasterpiece, Mogwai founder and guitarist Stuart Braithwaite (pictured), composer Carly Paradis and And So I Watch You From Afar guitarist and composer Rory Friers. The panel will be moderated by director and Belfast…

  • Stream: Elephant – Waiting Game Part II

    January 18, 2018 - By 

    Dundalk artist and multi-instrumentalist Shane Clarke AKA Elephant has been a TTA favourite for some time now.  Bounding with harmonic finesse and a masterfully earnest touch, his shapeshifting alt-pop craft will get the full-length treatment later this year. Ahead of that, ‘Waiting Game Part II’ is a subtle yet slick homespun effort, marrying balmy synths with the song’s stripped-back slow rock surge. At the forefront, once again, is Clarke’s neatly harmonised vocals, quietly bursting with massive heart. Elephant’s strongest single to date? We reckon so. Delve in.

  • Eels Set For Iveagh Gardens Show

    January 17, 2018 - By 

    Having last played the city back in July, 2014, Mark Oliver Everett’s Eels‘ will play Dublin’s Iveagh Gardens on Friday, July 6. The announcement accompanies the news of the band’s first album and tour in four years. The new album, The Deconstruction, will be Eels’ twelfth studio album. It’s released on April 6. Tickets for the Iveagh Gardens show go on sale on Thursday, January 25 at 9am.

  • 18 for ’18: Silverbacks

    January 17, 2018 - By 

    We continue 18 for ’18, our feature of showcasing eighteen Irish acts we’re convinced are going places in 2018. Throughout January we’re going to be previewing each of those acts, accompanied by words from our writers and an original photograph from one of our photographers. Next up is Silverbacks. Photo by Colum O’Dwyer Dublin five-piece Silverbacks may have already released a debut album back in 2015, but it’s what they release next that we’re most excited about. That debut, Hot Bath, was a strong starting effort from brothers and primary songwriters Daniel and Kilian O’Kelly – a fairly loose affair that…

  • Mercury Set For Deserter Songs 20th Anniversary Irish Shows

    January 17, 2018 - By 

    It’s been announced that Mercury Rev will play four Irish dates in April celebrating the 20th anniversary of their seminal fourth album Deserter Songs. Billed as “a very special acoustic and intimate Performance” the New York band will play Bangor’s Wesley’s Centenary Church on Tuesday, April 17, Dolans Warehouse in Limerick on April 18, Galway’s Roisin Dubh on April 21 and Dublin’s Whelan’s on April 22. Tickets go on sale this Friday (January 19) at 9am. Released in September 1998, the critically-acclaimed Deserter Songs is Mercury Rev’s most successful album to date. The band released their eighth studio album, The Light…

  • The Cranberries’ Dolores O’Riordan Has Died

    January 15, 2018 - By 

    It has just been announced that Dolores O’Riordan, frontwoman of The Cranberries and member of D.A.R.K., has died suddenly in London. She was just 46 Her publicist confirmed the news in a statement. It read “The lead singer with the Irish band The Cranberries was in London for a short recording session. No further details are available at this time. Family members are devastated to hear the breaking news and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.” Limerick rock band The Cranberries rose to international fame in the 1990s with their debut album, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t…

  • Watch: David Kitt – Still Don’t Know

    January 16, 2018 - By 

    Six days on from his New Jackson project being nominated for this year’s Choice Music Prize, David Kitt has returned with the title track from his upcoming four-track 10″ EP. Described by Kitt as “a travelogue within a dream, a jump-cut journey that crosses the globe. It’s one of those dreams you don’t want to wake from, where you want to go back under to piece the finer details together” it’s a soothing, typically stellar effort from the Dublin musician, accompanied with a pretty, wonderfully inspired by New York-based director/animator Lessa Millet. Kitt plays the following shows in Ireland and the UK…