• Monday Mixtape: Ruadhan O’Meara (Magic Pockets, No Spill Blood)

    November 28, 2016 - By 

    In the latest instalment of Monday Mixtape, Ruadhan O’Meara of Dublin’s Magic Pockets and No Spill Blood handpicks ten “extremely smelly synth/prog moments”, including Hawkwind and Harald Grosskoph. Magic Pockets launch their debut album, Volcano of the Bleeding Skies, at Tivoli Backstage in Dublin on Friday night (December 2). Hawkwind –  The Forge of Vulcan A hidden gem from Quark, Strangeness and Charm”. Basically it’s just Simon House, thumping an Anvil over a busy sequence and organ progression. Totally badass. Bobby Beausoleil – Lucifer Rising Part II From the soundtrack to Kenneth Anger’s film. He was in the Manson family, and…

  • Kiss and Tell: An Interview With Meltybrains?

    November 23, 2016 - By 

    Ahead of playing their biggest headline show to date at Dublin’s Academy on Friday night, Dublin experimental maestros Meltybrains? talk collaboration, the scene, pushing boundaries and their new EP with Brian Coney. Photo by Ian McDonnell Hi guys. Congratulations on the release of Kiss Yourself. Take us back to the very start of the conception of this release: how was the songwriting process for this one and how did things differ, if at all, to previous work? The songwriting process was a complicated affair. Some of the tracks were ideas from old demos we recorded in Conor Walsh’s hotel in…

  • Premiere: Conor Mason – On The Surface

    November 23, 2016 - By 

    Conjuring the wistful wanderlust of both Grandaddy and Villagers ‘On The Surface’ by Derry singer-songwriter Conor Mason is a song that “looks at feelings that arise when considering things that we can’t yet explain, the mystery of the unknown”. Taken from a forthcoming EP set for release at the end of January, it’s a real gem, too: mining solace from uncertainty, culminating in a call to recognise the beauty outside the static in our heads, it makes for a wonderfully crafted five minutes, revealing Mason to be a master of hook, harmony and heart.

  • Watch: Guerrilla Sessions with Ray Wingnut feat. Lynched

    November 23, 2016 - By 

    Ahead of their massive Vicar Street show on Saturday night, Lynched recently sat down with Irish music champion Ray Wingnut for the first ever Guerrilla Session. Doubling up as a radio session recorded for Spin ALT on Spin South West (check it out on Sundays from 9.45-11.45am), it’s a wonderfully paced and engrossed feature in which Dublin traditional folk quartet discussing the likes of success, compromise, and the universality of folk, as well as performing two songs, ‘What Will We Do When We Have No Money?’ and ‘The Tri-Coloured House’. The session was shot/edited by Thom McDermott; John ‘Spud’ Murphy on sound.

  • Jagwar Ma Announce Dublin Show

    November 23, 2016 - By 

    Having stopped off at the likes of Glastonbury and Lollapalooza Berlin as part of a worldwide headline tour this year, Sydney trio Jagwar Ma have announced they will play the Green Room of Dublin’s Academy on Friday, April 28. An album recalling rock’s discovery of acid house in the late eighties, the band’s second album, Every Now and Then, was released via Marathon Artists last month. Tickets for the band’s Dublin show are priced €21.00 including booking fee are on sale this Friday at 10am.

  • Angel Olsen Set For Irish Shows

    November 22, 2016 - By 

    Having released easily one of the albums of the year in My Woman, Angel Olsen has announced she will return to Ireland for three dates in May as part of a forthcoming European tour. With tickets on sale this Thursday (November 24), Olsen will stop off at Dublin’s Vicar Street, Cork’s Opera House and Belfast’s Empire Music Hall on May 19, 20 and 21 respectively. Go here to buy tickets. Read Zara Hedderman’s review of My Woman here. Photo by Jenna Foxton

  • Album Premiere: Walpurgis Family – Live Your Life Around It

    November 21, 2016 - By 

    Following a hiatus of a few years, Dublin indie pop quartet Walpurgis Family are back with a new full-length album – their third record to date – in the form of Live Your Life Around It. A self-proclaimed “eclectic, energetic and upbeat roller coaster trip through various scenes, all centred around the theme of how mental health is absorbed into everyday life”, the album touches on everything from panda surgeons, War and Peace, the thin line between reality and delusion, Don Quixote, the panic caused by a breakup and more. Recorded by Mark Chester (Ginnels, Grand Pocket Orchestra, Lie Ins, No…

  • Video Premiere: Son of the Hound – I.O.U.

    November 22, 2016 - By 

    Not an artist to get too comfortable in one guise, Belfast-based musician Michael McCullagh AKA Son Of The Hound resurfaced back in August with quite possibly the darn catchiest song we’ve heard from an Irish artist this year, ‘I.O.U’. Something of a curveball when compared with the Omagh artist’s previous, more trad and folk-leaning output to date, its 50s swagger and twang revealed yet another colour on McCullagh’s wonderfully varied sonic palette. Whether you missed it the first time around or fancy a fresh listen, check out the single via Colm Laverty’s brand new video for the track – culminating in…

  • Monday Mixtape: White Collar Boy

    November 21, 2016 - By 

    One of our all-time favourite Irish acts, Dublin electronic-garage group White Collar Boy have emerged from hibernation with a new, four-track EP, Priory Hall, which is set for release via This Greedy Pig on Friday. So we thought: what better time to pry into Mark Cummins from the duo’s current favourite tracks? Featuring the likes of Denis Sultra, Stimming, Neil Flynn and more, delve into that and stream a preview of Priory Hall. Priory Hall is launched at Dublin’s Wah Wah Club on Friday, December 2. Denis Sultra – It’s Only Real https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= Tim Sweeney finished off a recent Beats in Space…

  • EP Stream: Galants – Galants

    November 21, 2016 - By 

    There’s something profoundly excellent about seeing a band wear their influences on their sleeve with a level of musicianship and a forward-thinking mentality that doesn’t yield to straight-up imitation. Dublin noise-pop Galants comfortably slot into that bracket – a fact very impressively underscored on their debut self-titled EP. Set for release on November 25 via US imprint Jigsaw Records, the four-track release – which masterfully tips its hat to the holy triptych, Teenage Fanclub, Dinosaur Jr and My Bloody Valentine – was recorded with Stephen Dunne at Lamplight Studios and mastered by Fergal Davis. Galants launch the EP at Whelan’s in Dublin on December 3.…