• Video Premiere: Citizen Nobody – Born Again Primitive

    March 27, 2017 - By 

    Set to release their self-titled debut album via Belfast imprint Ram Alley on April 28, Citizen Nobody are a band that “stand against the dominant culture of corporate fascism and subservience to the psychopathic political, economic and religious systems and their self-serving leaders that have come to dominate the lives of all the creatures on this planet in such a destructive way that has rendered people with a sense of powerlessness and hopelessness.” Drawing influence from influences as diverse as Van Morrison to NEU!, Bartok to Rev. Gary Davis and from Son House to transcendentalist philosophy, the trio’s new single…

  • Stream: Fionn Regan – Cormorant Bird

    March 24, 2017 - By 

    Last month, Fionn Regan returned in style with ‘The Meetings of the Waters’, the title track from his forthcoming fifth studio album. Today he releases it’s equally beguiling follow-up in the form of ‘Cormorant Bird’. A swooning slice of masterfully-produced chamber-pop in the vein of Department of Eagles, the single suggests something especially special in the waiting for the full-length. The Meetings of the Waters is out on April 14 through his own imprint 常に愛TSUNENI AI/Abbey Records.

  • Watch: Myles Manley – Pasta Solo

    March 24, 2017 - By 

    Inimitable English-born, Sligo-raiser, Dublin-based Myles Manley has just revealed the video for ‘Pasta Solo’, the first-rate B-side to his latest single. Filmed by artist Salvatore Fullam, and with a loose narrative thread based on a portrait of Manley, he’s leaning once more into the esoteric. It’s kitchen sink bedroom music, utilising – Tom Waits style – unorthodox instrumentation and deceptively intricate instrumental panache to share with us some of the sounds from a most unique of minds. The record, ‘Relax; Enjoy Yr Night Upon the Town’ is available in a limited 7″ release on midnight blue vinyl via Dublin indie imprint Little L Records.  Myles Manley officially launches…

  • Interview: Paying Tribute to The Sad and Beautiful World of Sparklehorse

    March 27, 2017 - By 

    On Saturday, April 8 we will co-host a special, two-part event at The MAC as part of Belfast Film Festival celebrating the life and music of the sadly-missed Mark Linkous AKA Sparklehorse. Following a screening of Alex Crowton and Bobby Dass’ new documentary ‘The Sad & Beautiful World of Sparklehorse’, the evening will also feature a Q+A with the filmmakers, as well as a live, one-hour performance ‘A Night of Sparklehorse’ with Tom McShane, Peter Sumadh AKA The Mad Dalton, Richard Davis AKA Heliopause, Pixie Saytar, Jake Lennox and Brian Coney. Ahead of the one-off event, we chat with the organisers and…

  • SXSW 2017 Report

    March 24, 2017 - By 

    Split between fresh-faced and full of expectation to back home and a little jet-lagged, Irish acts Robocobra Quartet, A.S. Fanning, Jealous of the Birds, Ryan Vail, Ciaran Lavery and Birds of Olympus report back from this year’s South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. Chris Ryan (Robocobra Quartet) SXSW: The Land of 2000 Line-Checks I really like watching bands line-check. A line-check is like an extremely stunted sound-check. At festivals there’s literally no time other than 15 minutes before your set for you to plug in and hope everything sounds alright. Watching a band line-check is a true insight to the human condition;…

  • The xx, A Tribe Called Quest, Interpol and More Set For Electric Picnic

    March 23, 2017 - By 

    Set to return to Stradbally Estate in Co. Laois across September 1-3, the first names set to play this year’s Electric Picnic have been announced. Including headliners The xx, A Tribe Called Quest and Duran Duran, Chaka Khan, Interpol (pictured), Run The Jewels, Father John Misty, Parquet Courts, Pond and Car Seat Headrest were all amongst the announced acts. With more names set to be revealed, check out the full first line-up below.

  • Video Premiere: THUMPER – The Loser

    March 24, 2017 - By 

    Set to play their first ever all-ages gig at BIMM Institute’s showcase at Workman’s Club on April 1, Dublin quartet THUMPER unveiled their fuzzed-out latest single, ‘The Loser’, at the start of the month. Arguably the foursome’s finest effort to date, it’s a starry-eyed burst of noise-pop harking back to Blur’s more riotous earlier efforts, filtered through the the Dublin band’s own brand of bubblegum scuzz. The first single to be taken from the band’s upcoming POP! GOES THE WEASEL EP, have a first look at Alan McCarthy’s tripped out visuals for the track below.

  • Album Premiere: Clang Sayne – The Round Soul of the World

    March 21, 2017 - By 

    Conceived in London by Wexford artist Laura Hyland back in 2008 as a means to forge her interests in song, story and sound improvisation, Irish quartet Clang Sayne are an act that have been mentioned in the same breath as such alt-folk luminaries as diverse and inimitable as Tim Buckley and Jandek. Eight years on from their debut Winterlands – a brooding and emotionally potent release – the four-piece (in its current incarnation of in its current incarnation of Hyland on acoustic guitar and vocals, Judith Ring on vocals, Carolyn Goodwin on bass clarinet and drummer Matthew Jacobson) have been busy working on its…

  • Playlist: World Poetry Day 2017

    March 21, 2017 - By 

    To mark this year’s World Poetry Day we’ve compiled thirteen songs from the likes of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Cure, James Blake (above) and Talking Heads directly inspired by poetry. Check out the playlist and accompanying poems/poets below. 1. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Red Right Hand (Paradise Lost by Milton) 2. The Cure – How Beautiful You Are (The Eyes of the Poor by Baudelaire) 3. Talking Heads – I Zimbra (Gadji Beri Bimba by Hugo Ball) 4. Joni Mitchell – If (If by Rudyard Kipling) 5. Lana Del Rey – Body Electric (I Sing The Body Electric by…

  • Sunflowerfest Announce First Wave of Acts

    March 20, 2017 - By 

    Perhaps more than most small Irish festivals of its ilk, the evolution of Sunflowerfest has been notable over the last couple of years. Set to return to Tubby’s Farm at Hillsborough from July 28-30, the first acts revealed to play this year’s outing only serves to confirm that fact. With the theme of A Parallel Universe, Rubberbandits (pictured), Farah Elle, Damola, Le Galaxie, Malojian, R51, OR:LA, Ryan Vail, King Kong Company, Electric Swing Circus, Too Many T’s, JIKA! JIKA!, Ponyhawke, Beans on Toast and Mr B. The Gentleman Rhymer are amongst the first names to be confirmed, with yet more to be…