Hosted by Strange Brew, Talos with support from Will O’Connor AKA Willow Sea at Galway’s Roisin Dubh. Photos by Vincent Hughes.
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A Christmas Performance from Duluth indie rock legends Low at Belfast’s Empire Music Hall and Kilkenny’s Set Theatre. Photos by Colm Laverty and Ian McDonnell. Empire Music Hall, Belfast Photos by Colm Laverty Set Theatre, Kilkenny Photos by Ian McDonnell
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The country’s largest music conference, Output Belfast will return to the city for its third year in a row on Thursday, February 16. Organised by Belfast City Council in partnership with Generator NI, the conference – which takes place between the MAC and the Oh Yeah Music Centre – will include panel discussions, music sessions, workshops and speed networking events as well as keynote speeches from award-winning musicians and managers of globally-recognised talent. Later in the evening, a series of free showcasing events will take place throughout the Cathedral Quarter, featuring bills curated by the likes of Smalltown America, Homebeat,…
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On the cusp of releasing their debut album, Long Gone, via Popical Island in January, Dublin quartet Switzerland have resurfaced with its lead single, ‘Starting Out’. Conjuring the likes of R.E.M. and The Byrds and The Cars in unison (as stated in the press release – absolutely spot on, we reckon), the track is a crisply-produced, wonderfully earworming effort hinting at special things for their full-length. According to the band, the single is “about finding your way in a new place and about making the most of what you have.” Hear, hear. We have this one on repeat. Dig below and keep an…
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Set to make its third annual outing, Quarter Block Party have revealed its first waves of acts set to play various venues in Cork’s North and South Main Street from February 3-5. Presented by Makeshift Ensemble and Southern Hospitality Board, and supported by Cork City Council and The Arts Council, the grassroots, DIY festival will host Naive Ted, Ian Whitty, Sky, Horse and Death, Sissy, Wastefellow, Crevice, Mira Fuchs, part lecture, part choreographic exposition Now Then: A Prologue. This year there will also be a Poetry Machine, a ladder making workshop, a community dinner party, and a nature tour of the…
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Having returned in style back in September with 22, A Million, it’s been announced that Bon Iver will headline and curate the Monday line-up of next year’s Forbidden Fruit festival on June 5. Taking place, as ever, on the grounds of the Irish Museum of Modern Art at The Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Justin Vernon’s bill will feature special guests Flying Lotus, Lisa Hannigan, The Staves, Gordi and Paul Thomas Saunders, with more to be announced in the new year. Tickets go on sale at 9am on Monday, December 19 priced €59.50 including booking fee. Limited Early Bird Tickets for Forbidden Fruit…
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Their first single as Strength NIA, ‘1956 Olympics’ by the Derry band formerly known as Strength is a song inspired by ‘Creggan Shops‘ by Australian band The Shifters. Rory Moore, frontman from Strength NIA, said, “None of the Shifters have ever been to Derry or Northern Ireland for that matter but I believe they have written one of the finest Northern Irish songs to date. Our song is a response to the ‘Creggan Shops’ as I’m originally from Creggan and I felt compelled to write it after hearing this cynical pop gem.” Strength NIA will release their debut album next September. With all…
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Let’s face it: it takes a veritable sleigh-full of brass to release a festive single in this day and age. Thankfully, though, we’re blessed with a handful of homegrown artists that know how to do it and do it right. So, from now until Saturday, December 24, we’re going to update this very post with every single festive single of note from a small medley of inspirited Irish artists. To kick us off, we have Aghagallon’s Ciaran Lavery, Derry’s Our Krypton Son, Belfast’s Rory Nellis and Die Hexen, Kilrea’s Robyn G Shiels and Dublin’s No Monster Club. Ciaran Lavery – Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas…
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Filmed in a rehearsal space on the Castletown Road in Dundalk over a few months this year, Christmas on Castletown Rd. is very easily one of the best things to land in our inbox in 2016. In fact, we deem it something of an early Christmas present, brimming with some stupendous sounds and a production style we could watch, very happily, for forever and a year. Featuring the likes of Robocobra Quartet, Jink Lennon, Elephant, Bleeding Heart Pigeons and Sophie Coyle, the production was directed by Graham Patterson and involved several others, namely, Mark Finnegan, Conor Taaffe, Mark Sheridan, Gavin Murray and…
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All thanks to some pretty unfathomable political, social, economic and psychic shitstorms, 2016 has provided the almost perfect milieu for some serious sonic escapism over the last eleven and a bit months. And, of course, there were good times, too – many of which featured some of the finest feature-length and one-off soundtracks imaginable. So, ahead of unveiling our annual top 100 Irish tracks of the year in four installments over the next week or so, check out our Top 50 Tracks of 2016 – featuring everyone from Suuns, The Avalanches, Margaret Glaspy and Leonard Cohen to Gnod, Frank Ocean, Car Seat Headrest and King Gizzard and The…