• Track Record: Richard Dowling (WAV Mastering)

    September 13, 2016 - By 

    As the most experienced mastering engineer in Ireland, it’s no surprise that Richard Dowling has an extensive, far-reaching record collection. Having founded WAV Mastering 10 years ago this Autumn, 2017 will mark his 30th year working in audio, with clients ranging from Christy Moore, Choice Music Prize winners SOAK and Jape, David Bowie, Foo Fighters and Suede to name a few.  In the latest installment of Track Record, Aaron Corr captures the Limerick engineer selecting some of his all-time favourite records. David Bowie – Hunky Dory ‘Life On Mars’, ’nuff said. Andy Warhol looks a scream, I’ve him hanging on my wall. Chvrches – The…

  • Stream: Robocobra Quartet – Correct

    September 13, 2016 - By 

    There was a while there that the would-be implication that we were receiving some sort of financial injection from Belfast’s Robocobra Quartet to regularly fly the flag of their sonic wares wouldn’t have been entirely without reasoning.  After all, a quick search on TTA reveals that we have shared news specifically about the Chris Ryan-fronted project at least a dozen times in the space of a year. Frankly, normally, that kind of thing would border on – if not positively encroach – overkill, were they not such a consistently intriguing proposition. As we bide our time for their long-awaited cheque to clear (disclaimer: we jest), the…

  • Loop Launch Night

    September 13, 2016 - By 

    A new night created by local DJs Jamie Nelson and Jamie Nevin promising to deliver music that has been “left behind and under appreciated”, Loop will launch in Mister Tom’s at Lavery’s, Belfast on Friday, September 16. Joining the duo for its first outing – which coincides with Culture Night 2016 – is  none other than adopted Belfast multi-instrumentalist writer, arranger, producer and all-round legend Kaidi Tatham. Filling the gap left by Belfast longest-running club night, Gigantic, Loop was created after “seeing many small-medium size venues eventually closing down or changing tact over the years, resulted in both feeling quite dispirited…

  • Stream: Vogelbat – Ovl (feat. Sad Mermaid)

    September 13, 2016 - By 

    Berlin-based Kilkenny producer David Sheenan AKA Vogelbat last caught our ear back in February with ‘Banx’, a track Eoin Murray called “a jittering slice of melodic trip-hop reminiscent of Bonobo or FKA Twigs, or the less jarring parts of Oneothrix Point Never’s catalogue”. Seven months on and Sheenan’s latest track ‘Ovl’ – featuring vocals from Berlin’s Katharina Burchin AKA Sad Mermaid – also slots very nicely into that particular description. Sheehan said, “It’s influenced by the likes of Portishead and Massive Attack. I’ve been working on it for quite a while, struggling with the mix, aiming for a lush sound without…

  • Stream: New Pagans – Lilly Yeats/I Could Die

    September 12, 2016 - By 

    There’s few things more satisfying than the sonic shock-and-awe of a band cropping up out of nowhere with a sucker punch of a debut single. Comprised of Claire Miskimmin of Girls Names/Cruising, Cahir O’Doherty of Fighting With Wire/GOONS, Lyndsey McDougall and Balkan Alien Sound’s Conor McAuley, New Pagans fall very comfortably under that bracket – and go one with further with the release of two singles, ‘Lilly Yeats’ and ‘I Could Die’. Bearing the hallmarks of a band that have spent some time fleshing out their sound over the last few months, both tracks are keenly balanced between the burrowingly melodic and downright vehement, each strident passage and…

  • 30 Under 30 Film Festival

    September 12, 2016 - By 

    With its sell of “classics films through modern eyes”, 30 Under 30 is a new season of must-see films to watch on the big screen before the age of 30. Taking place in various venues in Belfast and Derry from August to October courtesy of Queen’s Film Theatre, Belfast Film Festival, Cinemagic, the Nerve Centre and Strand Arts Centre, the programme for the festival addresses a wide range of issues and concerns for under-30s such as becoming an adult, love and friendship, finding your place in the world, work life and dreams versus reality. Claire Shaw, Press and Marketing Officer…

  • Stream: No Monster Club – Hippocampus Circus Maximus

    September 12, 2016 - By 

    A typically buoyant effort clinging – rather impressively – to the last fleeting vestiges of summer vibrations, ‘Hippocampus Circus Maximus’ is the closing track from Dublin’s No Monster Club’s forthcoming debut 7″, Where Did You Get That Milkshake. Despite having released a dozen albums to date at home, the release will also mark Bobby Aherne’s abundant indie-pop project’s debut US release. Irish folk, have a pre-order here. Want a song to hum for the rest of the day, week – month? Stream below.

  • Premiere: Arborist – I Heard Him Leaving

    September 12, 2016 - By 

    With a sound in which subtlety holds sway where a scream would fall short, Mark McCambridge AKA Arborist is a craftsman of nuance. With his debut full-length album, Home Burial, set for release on November 11 via Kirkinrola Records, the Belfast-based singer-songwriter’s recent single ‘A Man of My Age’ garnered comparisons to such venerated figures as Leonard Cohen, Bill Callahan and Jason Molina with very good reason. In knowing there’s no need to clothe a skeleton, McCambridge’s knowingly stark, wonderfully composed songs put the cutting phrase and heavy allusion centre-stage, each lyric lit by softly lilting Americana folk betraying both longing and hope…

  • Adam Buxton’s Bug: David Bowie Special

    September 12, 2016 - By 

    Bona fide Bowie obsessive, Adam Buxton will bring his Bug show celebrating the music videos and other on-screen appearances of the Thin White Duke to Dublin’s Vicar Street on November 20. Having started back in April 2007 as a series of bi-monthly shows at BFI Southbank, Bug quickly became a phenomenon looking at global creativity in music videos. This show – set to take place less than a year after Bowie’s passing –  is a perfect opportunity to enjoy some key moments from David Bowie’s life and career on the big screen, as well as remember the indelible mark he made on our…

  • Primal Scream Set For Dublin and Belfast

    September 12, 2016 - By 

    Returning for their first shows here in three years, Primal Scream have announced they will play Dublin’s Olympia Theatre on Wednesday, November 30 and Belfast’s Limelight on Thursday, December 1. Kicking off in Edinburgh and concluding at London’s Brixton Academy, the UK and Irish tour comes off the back of the release of their eleventh album, Chaosmosis, back in March. With support from Japanese noise-rock band Bo Ningen on all dates, check out the full dates below. Tickets are on sale this Friday, priced €35 for Olympia and £27.50 for Belfast.