• Popicalia 22

    July 25, 2016 - By 

    Having declared back in January that they were “alive and well and making plans for 2016” Dublin’s self-proclaimed Bockety POP collective Popical Island will host their grand twenty-second Popicalia at Bello Bar on Saturday, July 30. Headlined by indie-rock trio Squarehead, the show – which also features fellow islanders Land Lovers and Ginnels – is an inestimable opportunity to (re-)acquaint oneself with said bocket. Admission is just €8 (or £300 according to the show’s Facebook event page. Man, Brexit has hit hard).

  • Ash To Be Awarded Oh Yeah Legend Award

    July 21, 2016 - By 

    With previous recipients including Therapy? and The Divine Comedy, it’s been revealed that Northern Irish alt-rock trio Ash will be awarded this year’s Oh Yeah Legend Award at a special presentation at Belfast’s Mandela Hall on November 11. Followed by a live performance of their classic debut album 1977, the event will be preceded by another award, the NI Music Prize, which aims to celebrate the very best Northern Irish album of the year previous, as selected by an academy of local media and music industry professionals. Charlotte Dryden, CEO the Oh Yeah Music Centre says: “Ash have played a major…

  • “If you aren’t catered for make it happen.” An Interview With All-Female Night GIRL

    July 21, 2016 - By 

    The brainchild of DJs Venus Dupree AKA Claire Hall and Marion Hawkes, Belfast’s The Pavilion will see the launch of all-female DJ night GIRL tomorrow night (Friday, July 22). With a vast musical back catalogue between them, the residents are promising a full-on musical assault spanning the gap between disco, Italo, house and techno. Brian Coney chats to Hawkes about why the time is right for the country’s first regular all-female night. GIRL is launching this weekend at the Pavilion in Belfast. When were the proverbial seeds for the project first sown? A few months after meeting Claire I guess.…

  • Festival Mixtape: Knockanstockan 2016

    July 19, 2016 - By 

    Ahead of its highly-anticipated return to Blessington Lakes in Wicklow this weekend, we’ve compiled a Spotify playlist featuring twenty artists we highly recommend checking out at this year’s Knockanstockan. Celebrating their 10th outing – a huge accomplishment by any stretch of the imagination – here’s our recent interview with Bettine McMahon and Graham Sharpe from the fiercely independent, homegrown Irish festival right here. And here’s Holly Pereira’s rather pretty Knockanstockan 2016 Festival Map.

  • RIP Alan Vega: The Elvis of Psychosis

    July 17, 2016 - By 

    Like many who would become fans, I can vividly recall discovering Suicide. I was barely eighteen, having returned home from yet another ill-advised rural Northern Irish Saturday night out. A few days before, a classically myopic Nirvana devotee a tad too immersed in late-teen hubris, guitar angst – I seem to have told myself – just wasn’t cutting it much anymore. Suddenly gluttonous almost to the point of panic for musical discovery, I had recently spent several consecutive late nights in the back room downloading countless vigorously recommended albums by two sonic savants I recall swearing by then, Piero Scaruffi…

  • Inside Moves: Dan Shake @ T13, Belfast

    July 16, 2016 - By 

    Following on from their stellar first birthday with Maurice Fulton at the Empire last month, Inside Moves will take over Belfast’s T13 on Friday, July 22 to host London-based producer Dan Shake. With the esteemed fortune of being the first ever non-Detroit artist to be signed to Moodymann’s Mahogani imprint, Shake tips his hat to everyone from afrobeat pioneers Tony Allen and Fela Kuti to contemporary producers such as Motor City Drum Ensemble and the downright legendary J Dilla. With support on the night coming from the Inside Move resident DJs, this is set to be another memorable showcase in one…

  • Watch: Hilary Woods – Sabbath

    July 14, 2016 - By 

    Back in May, ex-JJ72 bassist and solo artist Hilary Woods released easily one of our favourite Irish of the tracks of the year in the form of ‘Bathing‘. Following on in perfectly sanguine repose, ‘Sabbath’ – the second track taken from her forthcoming Heartbox EP – is a masterfully meditative six-minute effort from the Dublin musician, melding sparse rhythms with a serene fog of softly swirling piano lines, synth and more. Accompanied by wonderful visuals courtesy of Joshua Wright, it’s a spectral combo that burrows deep. Heartbox is released on 7″ vinyl on Monday, July 18. Pre-order here.

  • Interview: King Kong Company

    July 18, 2016 - By 

    Not merely one of the country’s most singular, genre-warping acts, Waterford six-piece King Kong Company are right up there with the very best live propositions around. Having just released their emphatic self-titled debut album, Brian Coney talks to the band about working with The Prodigy producer Neil McLellan on the release, capturing their live energy in the studio, their diverse range of influences and what the future holds in store. Hi guys. You’ve been getting some great reviews for your new, self-titled album. It was originally set to be released last year. Was perfectionism (or at least only wanting to release something you were…