• Carlow Arts Festival Reveals 2016 Programme

    April 25, 2016 - By 

    Set to make its grand 37th outing – a surefire feat in itself – the programme for this year’s Carlow Arts Festival has been revealed. Celebrating all the very best of cultural Carlow, this year’s festival – which runs from June 10-19 – is divided into three strands: the Borris Festival of Writing and Ideas from June 10-12, floating mini-festival Barges on the Barrow from June 14-16 and the festival latest addition, The Big Weekender, which runs from June 16-19. With family fun at the core of this year’s festival, Le Galaxie DJs, Hothouse Flowers with Lisa Lambe, David Kitt,…

  • Deep Focus: Women In Film Festival @ Triskel Christchurch Cinema, Cork

    April 25, 2016 - By 

    A stellar ten-title, three-day film festival boasting a robust line-up of films by female directors accompanied by a selection of shorts, the inaugural Deep Focus: Women In Festival will take place at Cork’s Triskel Christchurch Cinema from May 6-8. Set to open with The Violators, the new film by UK writer and director Helen Walsh, the programme for the festival strike at the heart of diversity. From looking at complex friendships in Life Partners and the myth and mastery of rock legend Janis Joplin (pictured) in Janis: Little Girl Blue to confronting the precarious nature of “normal” life in the…

  • Irish Youth Music Awards 2016

    April 12, 2016 - By 

    On Saturday, April 16, Dublin’s Aviva Stadium will play host to the ninth annual Irish Youth Music Awards, the country’s only all-island youth focused music festival, with over sixteen different regions from across Ireland participating in the project. Featuring young musicians aged 12 – 19 from across the country representing their community and gaining business experience in the music industry, those attending the Aviva Stadium on the day will have the opportunity to attend an Educational Hub featuring music industry panels and workshops. Open for all attending to participate in will be an industry panel with BIMM tutors Alan Cullivan, Founding Chairman…

  • Sonic Whispers @ Whelan’s, Dublin

    April 12, 2016 - By 

    Returning to Dublin’s Whelan’s on April 17 as part of MusicTown 2016, Sonic Whispers will host three acts with the aim of “ripping apart the history, ethos, and the sonic boom energy of three wildly diverse genres of music.” With Ships‘ member Sorca McGrath AKA Wounded Healer, trad band Bunoscionn and rock three-piece Bitch Falcon taking part, the following is the self-proclaimed “playful, insightful and utterly unique” event’s manifesto: “One band first. They play a tune. The next band is brought on stage. They’ve heard nothing so far. Then each band will try to reinterpret the song played by the previous band…

  • Interlude Festival Reveal First Acts

    April 12, 2016 - By 

    Having made its inaugural outing last October, Interlude Festival is set return to the scenic surroundings of Dublin’s RHA Gallery & Ely Place across the weekend of June 24-26. Opting for a new summer date, increased capacity and a new outdoor stage, the three-day music, movie and art festival have announced Lisa Hannigan, Dimitri From Paris, The Sugarhill Gang, Crazy P, Booka Brass Band, exmagician and Alison Limerick amongst their first confirmed acts. Taking place over three stages, there will also be a record store, cinema, food garden and block party. Check out their current full line-up above and go here to buy early bird…

  • Reverberation Psych Fest 2016 (Day One) @ The Grand Social, Dublin

    April 12, 2016 - By 

    Following the success of last August’s inaugural outing, this year’s Reverberation Psych Fest returns to Dublin’s Grand Social for another two nights of intoxicating psychedelia, with more than a smidgen of mind-throbbing noise added into the mix. Donegal’s Tuath are tasked with opening night one on the Friday – no easy task given such a small number are in attendance by the time their time slot arrives. However the four-piece of Robert Mulhern, Ashley Mobasser, Shane McFadden and Scott Carlin grasp their time on stage with all guns blazing. Tuath’s style of play hints at elements of jazz fusion, which sits alongside a seriously heavy-metal…

  • Lisa Hannigan Announces Irish Dates

    April 11, 2016 - By 

    In which she will preview songs from her forthcoming, highly-anticipated third studio album, Lisa Hannigan will play a string of 16 Irish dates this June. Kicking off at Kildare’s Riverbank Theatre on June 2 and culminating at Galway’s Roisin Dubh 23 days later on June 24 the tour will mark Hannigan’s first Irish dates since 2012. Check them our in full below. Tickets for all dates – featuring support from Ye Vagabonds – go on sale on Wednesday, April 13 at 9am. In which she will preview songs from her forthcoming, highly-anticipated third studio album, Lisa Hannigan will play a…

  • Watch: Molossus – Sine, Spiky & Orcas

    April 11, 2016 - By 

    Comprised of members of The Jimmy Cake, Hands Up Who Want To Die and Percolator, Dublin five-piece Molossus – formerly Art Slug – are set to record their debut album later in the year. The self-proclaimed sound of “an owl and a bear fighting over a mason jar full of electricity”, the band have featured in the latest installment Sean Zissou’s Practice Tapes in the form of three-song video compilation of tracks ‘Sine’, ‘Spiky’ and ‘Ocras’, filmed at Guerilla Sounds. Traversing the post-rock gamut, this material sits cross-legged somewhere between Portishead, Jessamine and Slint; brilliantly brooding and yearning forth in a tangible attempt to clasp…

  • First Acts Announced for KnockanStockan

    April 8, 2016 - By 

    An independent music and arts festival in the truest sense of the term, KnockanStockan festival has revealed the first 50 acts set to play its grand 10th outing on July 22-24. With 100 acts yet to be announced, Come On Live Long, The Altered Hours, Oh Boland, Meltybrains?, Overhead The Albatross and Robocobra Quartet are amongst the first wave of homegrown acts confirmed to play. Check out the first line-up in full below. Speaking about the first announcement, KnockanStockan music director Graham Sharpe said, ​”We are so psyched about the bands in this announcement, this really is our favourite time of year…

  • Album stream: Rusangano Family – Let The Dead Bury The Dead

    April 8, 2016 - By 

    Very few Irish acts have so comprehensively demanded our attention over the last couple of years quite like Rusangano Family. Having featured them as one of our “ones to watch” acts in our 15 For 15 feature last year and fondly recalling their unforgettable appearance to close our second birthday party at Dublin’s Twisted Pepper last May, the Limerick trio of God Knows, MuRli and mynameisjOhn have burned with a certain indomitable zeal from the very moment they set out on what has become a journey very much worth following. Now, after after a string of increasingly tenacious standalone releases, the trio have unveiled their…