Australian electronic legends The Avalanches have announced their long awaited return to Ireland. The group – who released their critically-acclaimed second album, Wildflower, last year – will play Belfast’s Limelight 1 on Thursday, June 15 and Dublin’s Academy on June 16. Tickets are priced at £21.50 and €26.90 respectively (inc. booking fee).
Ahead of the release of his Holiday Home EP this Friday 28 April, Daithí has revealed another shimmering pop-leaning cut. Welcoming back regular collaborator Sinead White for a typically excellent guest vocal, ‘Aeroplane’ is a more melodic cut than the EP’s propulsive title track from last month. Despite its dancefloor focus, the track maintains its organic atmosphere through breezy keys, recorded natural samples and White’s voice, reminiscent at points of some of SBTRKT‘s collaborations. The song is brought to life by the accompanying video which features footage shot in Daithí’s hometown of Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare from the 90s. Speaking of the track…
Once a duo, Sullivan & Gold is the music-making moniker of Derry’s Benjamin Robinson, formerly of the Good Fight. Aptly positing his music as “the perfect accompaniment to falling in or out of love”, his output to date has straddled wistfulness and deliverance in fine fashion, something that’s more than apparent on new single ‘Guatemala’. A heart-rending ballad taken from a new full-length set for release in late 2017, the track “tells the tale of a long distance relationship between a young couple; a newly qualified primary school teacher teaching in the north coast of Northern Ireland and a young Northern Irish…
If there’s one thing the island of Ireland isn’t lacking it’s a well-attended and well put-together summer musical festival. But in the North – beyond the sway of Stendhal and Sunflowerfest – there’s still some scope for expansion; a little leeway and growth for annual showcases that put affordability and community at the heart of their manifesto. One such festival currently spearing their own thing is Our Back Yard, a festival that embody the “small but massive” mindset spearheaded by legendary NI DIY festival Glasgowbury. Ahead of its return to Gilford – just outside Portadown – on July 1, we talk to…
Set to take over the quarter from April 27 to May 7, Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival returns from April 27 to May 7 with yet another exceptional programme of art, music, theatre, literature and ideas. And whilst it’s tricky even whittling it down to three times the amount, here’s our outright 10 must-see, must-attend, must-recommend-to-all-of-your-friends recommendations for this years festival. Don’t forget those tickets, you hear? William Basinski Friday, May 5 – The Black Box – 20.00 Our absolute highlight? NYC avant-garde master William Basinski (pictured above) at the Black Box. Profoundly unmissable. Discover/re-visit the extraordinary The Disintegration Loops below.…
Coinciding with the release of her forthcoming fifteenth studio album, Native Invader, it’s been announced that Tori Amos will play Cork’s Opera House on September 6 and Dublin’s Bord Gàis Energy Theatre on September 7. Tickets for the shows – priced €51.15 and €53.15 – go on sale from 10am this Friday. These dates kick off a two-month European tour, concluding at Glasgow’s O2 Academy on October 6. Here’s the full dates. September 6. Ireland, Cork – Opera House 7. Ireland, Dublin – Bord Gais 9. Belgium, Gent – Capitole 10. Luxembourg – Luxembourg Den Atelier 11. France, Paris – Grand Rex…
Hands down one of the country’s most engaging neo-psychedelic propositions, Dublin threesome Del Kerton, Declan Dunne and Git Sweeney AKA This Other Kingdom have long struck a keen balance between hazed-out psych finesse and straight-up rock n’ roll glory. Having released their debut EP Sunlight back in 2013, and their well-received debut album Telescopic two years later, the trio are back with ‘Rêveur’, an eleven-track triumph filtering the band’s kaleidoscopic range of influences, past and present. From the lysergic strut of opener ‘Common Colours Common Sounds’ to closer ‘This is War’, the reverberations of everyone from Jefferson Airplane and Black Lips to The Doors…
It’s always great to see a new regular live gig night crop up. Launching at Belfast’s McHughs on Saturday, May 22, BASECAMP is the a new venture from Four Acre, the brainchild of Neil Allen of all but revered NI alt-folk band The Emerald Armada. For its first outing, the night – which is calling itself “the home of emerging artists – will see sets from Brash Isaac, Jamie Neish and Benjamin Hamilton. Admission is £5, doors are at 8pm.
Insofar as first-rate lo-fi indie rock goes, the island of Ireland is surely right up there with the most fertile. Laying claim to their stake amongst the very best, Dublin’s Silverbacks will release a new EP, the five-track Sink The Fat Moon on May 19 – and if new single ‘Dirty Money’ is anything to by, we’re in for something well worth the wait. A terse, harmonic-laden effort that openly yet rather brilliantly filters the more more reclined efforts of the holy trifecta that is Sonic Youth, Pavement and Pixies, it’s a masterfully languid release betraying real purpose in its disaffected swagger.…
Ask virtually any resident of Belfast to list a few must-visit places in the city and No Alibis on Botanic Avenue will surely feature. A veritable institution that has acted as both an intimate venue for performers of every ilk and shade as well as one of the country’s leading independent bookstores for many years, it is owned and co-ran by one David Torrans (pictured), who will take part in Whiskey and Words, a one-off event in collaboration with Bushmills at the Black Box on Sunday, April 23. A highlight of the current #AnswerTheCall series, in which Bushmills have worked “with local creators, thinkers,…