• Premiere: Hot Cops – Scared of Everything

    February 11, 2016 - By 

    It’s no coincidence that we’ve hosted Belfast indie rock trio Hot Cops in four different TTA shows over the last couple of years, most recently at a packed-out show at Belfast’s Lavery’s on Tuesday night for the launch of their stellar new single ‘Passive Passive‘. The b-side to that, ‘Scared of Everything’ is an equally emphatic effort from the fast-rising threesome, forging pounding, fuzzed-out chords and frontman Carl Eccles’ admissions of apprehension (“I’m afraid to go outside/I don’t want to see your skin/I’m afraid to let you in”). Conjuring the likes of Pinkerton-era Weezer and Cloud Nothings’ more tuneful throwdowns, it gives everyday quasi-agoraphobic dread yet another…

  • First Acts Revealed for Forbidden Fruit

    February 9, 2016 - By 

    Tame Impala, Jungle and Underworld are amongst the first acts announced to play this year’s Forbidden Fruit. Set to return to Dublin’s Royal Hospital Kilmainham during the June Bank Holiday of June 3-5, Flume, Groove Armada, Kiasmos and Battles also feature amongst the first wave of acts to be confirmed. With many more acts set to be announced, check out the current line-up below. Tickets go on sale tomorrow (Wednesday, February 10) at 9am.

  • Watch: Talos – In Time

    February 9, 2016 - By 

    Having first streamed it back in September last year, the exquisite  ‘In Time’ by Cork singer-songwriter and producer Eoin French AKA Talos has been brought to life via what should probably be commonly referred to as the Feel Good Lost treatment. Speaking about video for the track, FGL’s Brendan Canty said, “It is an abstract portrayal of searching for a lost love, clinging onto memories and doing everything you can to save it.” Wonderfully mirroring lyrics including, “I was loved and now that loves lost I know they’ll never find us/Way out amongst the madness I feel free” Canty summons an arcane world in which every movement…

  • Watch: September Girls – Love No One

    February 8, 2016 - By 

    A dark and charging effort from the South by Southwest-bound Dublin five-piece, September Girls have re-emerged with new single ‘Love No One’. Pretty much exactly what we’d imagine the opening theme from a revenge horror re-imaging of a spaghetti Western to sound like, it’s a wonderfully tempestuous cut taken from their forthcoming album, Age of Indignation, which is set for released on April 8.  Check out the suitably baleful video for the single, courtesy of the band’s vocalist and lead guitarist Jessie Ward O’Sullivan, below.

  • Download: The Crytearions – Selected Recordings From The Album Trilogy

    February 8, 2016 - By 

    Concisely self-summed up as “Lo-fi punk by an Irish man” on his Bandcamp page, The Crytearions is prolific Co. Mayo musician Jimmy Monaghan, also of Music For Dead Birds. Brilliantly ramshackle and fuzzily ecstatic in all the right places, he has just released Selected Recordings From The Album Trilogy, described as “The best bits [from his first three albums]. All the imaginary hits. No shits. One for the inquisitors, the idle listeners. The loners, the stoners, and the perpetual boners.” And the perpetual boners, like. Pure poetry. Clocking in at 16 minutes in length, stream/download the album below. Selected Recordings From The Album…

  • First Acts Announced for Life Festival

    February 5, 2016 - By 

    One of the strongest first Irish festival announcements we’ve seen in some time, Life Festival revealed today that Paul Kalkbrenner, 2manydjs, Mano Le Tough, John Talabot, Blawan and Joy Orbison are amongst the acts set to make an appearance at Westmeath’s Belvedere House from May 27-29.With a limited number of early bird tickets on sale now, Jeff Mills, Ben Klock, Cyril Hahn, Martyn, Bicep, Jamie Jones and Sunil Sharpe are also amongst the first wave of acts to play the festival’s X1 outing. Go to the Life festival website for full information

  • Premiere: A Northern Light – Paranoia

    February 5, 2016 - By 

    Having formed back in the starry-eyed days of 2010, Belfast-based alt-rock trio A Northern Light have always leaped straight for the jugular, a tradition which their rousing new single, ‘Paranoia’, more than comfortably attests to. Recorded for the most part with Neal Calderwood at Manor Park studio, much of the instrumentation on the track, including its web of synths, drum loops and backing vocals, were recorded by the band at home. Driven by Omar Ben Hassine’s urging drum-and bass rhythm – often an ANL sonic trademark – it’s a subtly layered, typically impassioned effort from the threesome. Taken from the forthcoming first installment of their two-part LP, Kingdoms, ‘Paranoia’ is released on February…

  • Interview: Noise, Lust and Depression with Autumns

    February 4, 2016 - By 

    Ahead of three Belfast shows in the coming months, Derry’s Christian Donaghey AKA Autumns is a man on a mission. Having recently recorded his debut LP in two days at Smalltown America Studios, Donaghey chats to us about the art of improvisation, the literary impact on his work and his plans for the year. Hi Christan, you’ve recently finished recording your debut album.Who did you record with and how did it go? I recorded the album with a great engineer and long-time friend of mine called Caolán Austin, who I’ve known since I was around thirteen. We recorded it in my…

  • Townlands Carnival Unveil First Line-up

    February 4, 2016 - By 

    With Irish summer festival announcements creeping up all over the place recently, Co. Cork’s Townlands Carnival have revealed their first string of confirmed acts. Set to return to Macroom from July 8-10, Damien Dempsey, Jerry Fish (pictured), R.S.A.G, Daithi, Talos, Saint Sister, The Altered Hours and the Eskies are amongst the first names to be announced. With quite a few more acts to be unveiled, check out the current line-up below and go here to buy tickets.

  • Quarter Block Party 2016

    January 4, 2016 - By 

    Having made their first announcement back in December, Cork’s Quarter Block Party have revealed a slew of new acts and events set for their 2016 outing from February 5-7. Amongst the new additions is Cathy Walsh’s Running Up That Hill, a celebration of feminism equality and solidarity. Provoked by the #wakingthefeminists movement and inspired by Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’, the people of Cork City will march through the streets and dance together in celebration on North Main Street, the historic spine of the city. Elsewhere, Abigail Conway’s participatory installation Time Lab will ask visitors to “dismantle a wristwatch or clock and reconstruct…