• Premiere: Autre Monde – Village of Loomers

    August 22, 2017 - By 

    Without the faintest shadow of a doubt, Dublin quartet Autre Monde are one of the very best bands in the country at the minute. A stellar live proposition to boot, the Paddy Hanna-fronted foursome funnel their myriad influences in magnificent ways; bearing the imprint of but never kowtowing or passing off bygone sounds as their own. Concluding and very nicely capping off their opening four-track offering, ‘Village of Loomers’ – a self-proclaimed “indie ballad” of sorts – was recorded with Daniel Fox of Girl Band in Spring. Here, as with their previous material to date, Hanna, Padraig Cooney, Mark Chester…

  • Album Stream: Ger Fox Sailing – Ger Fox Sailing

    August 21, 2017 - By 

    Released today, the self-titled, self-produced debut album from Wexford quartet Ger Fox Sailing is a richly-woven, nicely eclectic collection of songs from a band who have just set out their stall and then some. From the contemplative precision of ‘Nowhere Without You’ and the poppier tangents of ‘What It Is’ to blistering closer ‘Best Friend’ via a stream of scuzz-laden, occasionally prog-leaning rock, reverberations from the likes of Longpigs, Incubus, Queens of the Stone Age, Grandaddy and, in parts, Northern Irish alt-rock band Pocket Promise (though we suspect the latter is something of a total coincidence) coalesce with the band’s own…

  • And So I Watch You From Afar Announce Fifth Studio Album, Release New Track

    August 21, 2017 - By 

    Having revealed details of a December Irish tour just last week, North Coast instrumental rock maestros And So I Watch You From Afar have announced details of their forthcoming fifth studio album. Set for release via Sargent House on October 20, The Endless Shimmering was recorded at Machines with Magnets, a professional recording studio, art gallery, experimental music venue in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Essentially held captive in the studio due to a snowstorm, the band used the incarceration to their advantage. Rory Friers from the band said, “We tracked, ate, washed and slept at the studio, and 9 days later we had recorded…

  • Robert Plant Set For Dublin and Belfast Dates

    August 18, 2017 - By 

    Following the release of his forthcoming new album, Carry Fire, Led Zeppelin legend Robert Plant will play two Irish dates in early December. Accompanied by the Sensational Shape Shifters -a band comprising John Baggott on keyboards, moog, loops, percussion, drums, brass arrangement, t’bal, snare drum, slide guitar, piano, electric piano, bendir; Justin Adams on guitar, acoustic guitar, oud, E-bow quartet, percussion, snare drum, tambourine; Dave Smith on bendir, tambourine, djembe, drum kit; and Liam “Skin” Tyson on dobro, guitar, acoustic guitar, pedal steel, twelve-string – Plant will play Belfast’s Ulster Hall on Saturday, December 2 and Dublin’s Bord Gáis Energy…

  • Stream: Rory Nellis – Gas & Air

    August 14, 2017 - By 

    Two years on from the release of his well-received 2015 debut solo album, Ready For You Now, Belfast singer-songwriter Rory Nellis will release its follow-up, There Are Enough Songs In The World, at the MAC on November 11. Having already released a string of singles from the release, new track ‘Gas & Air’ is a resounding alt-pop effort reflecting on the private thoughts and moments that accompany big life changes. Bolstered by Nellis’ all-star band of Phil d’Alton on keys, Herb Magee on bass and Peter J. McCauley on drums, it’s a wonderfully-crafted single whose harmonic tangents and wholehearted lyrical turns…

  • Hard Working Class Heroes Reveal Line-Up and Venues

    August 14, 2017 - By 

    Having made its annual call for bands to apply back in June, Hard Working Class Heroes have revealed the 50 acts set to play the festival when it returns to Dublin across September 28-30.  The following bands and solo artists will play The Workman’s Club, The Grand Social, Tramline, The Underground and The Tara Building: On Thursday, September 28 – the opening night – a targeted networking social event will take place in the Chocolate Factory where all the international delegates will have the chance to meet with their Irish counterparts and artists attending the HWCH conference. The conference is…

  • The Menzingers Set For Irish Dates

    August 14, 2017 - By 

    Pennsylvanian punk rock quartet The Menzingers will kick off a European tour in the New Year with a brace of Irish dates. Culminating in Amsterdam in mid-February, the tour – which will feature support from PUP and Cayetana – will see the foursome play Dublin’s Whelan’s on January 28 and Belfast’s Limelight 2 the following night, January 29. Tickets for the shows go on sale this Friday at 9am. The Menzingers released their fifth studio album, After the Party, at the start of the year. Stream it below.

  • Dublin Quays Festival Announced Festival Venue Breakdown

    August 11, 2017 - By 

    With its aim of “providing a programme of events that catches the imagination of the public, while also giving artists and emerging talent a platform to engage with along the river” Dublin Quays Festival will make its inaugural outing across August 17-20. Taking place in The Workmans Club, The Sound House, The Liquor Rooms, The Grand Social, The Wiley Fox, Sin E and Bagots Hutton, the free, four-day music, art and spoken word festival will host the likes of Squarehead, Old Hannah, Cat Dowling, Birds Of Olympus, Maria Kelly, Fiction Peaks, Kelly-Anne Byrne, Super Silly and Orchid Collective in the aforementioned…

  • Stream: Pat Dam Smyth – Goodbye Berlin

    August 11, 2017 - By 

    The follow-up to the masterfully mournful ‘Juliette’ – a single relaying the tale of a woman attempting to escape an abusive relationship released back in April – ‘Goodbye Berlin’ by Belfast’s Pat Dam Smyth is a song that tackles “being a kid and disappearing down the rock and roll rabbit hole”. Bounding with the raconteur’s inimitable words of wanderlust and genre-bending brand of incisive indie-folk, it’s a sweet tale that “recalls a time where music had pushed him to the brink, defining his relationship with both his past and his future, and the dominant force that songs have always played in…

  • Album Stream: Frankenstein Bolts – Aglow & Spark

    August 11, 2017 - By 

    Wexford duo Frankenstein Bolts are a rare breed indeed. Released off the back of a successful crowdfunding campaign, their new – second full-length studio – album Aglow & Spark finds the pair invoking subtly enraptured brilliance across nine tracks of slickly-produced, wonderfully-realised dream-pop that evokes everyone from Cocteau Twins, Slowdive and The Radio Dept. to fellow Irish acts exmagician, Documenta and SlowPlaceLikeHome. From the streamlined Motorik groove and intoxicated reminiscence of opener ‘Land & Water’ to the balmy electro-pop of closer ‘Short Term Memory’, the album is a confident and bewitching release that will surely rank up there with the best Irish releases…