• Playlist: 15 Irish Acts at SXSW 2016

    March 9, 2016 - By 

    As positively hectic as any festival on the face of the globe, SXSW has long been established as a veritable cornucopia of film, music and interactive media from far and very wide. And with festivals of much smaller scale: where the excess of choice becomes something of a burden, planning ahead and knocking up a makeshift “must-see” guide is next to obligatory to ensure FOMO doesn’t become an all-consuming spectre during your festival stay. Just as important is getting some essential listening in before heading off in said sensory abyss. So if you’re SXSW-bound this year and want to check out some…

  • Watch: Jealous of the Birds – Goji Berry Sunset

    March 9, 2016 - By 

    In the seventh issue of our magazine back in May last year, TTA’s Stevie Lennox said of ‘Goji Berry Sunset’ by fast-rising Armagh singer-songwriter Naomi Hamilton AKA Jealous of the Birds: “The whimsy of its whistled intro might have you believe that you’re in for another young-girl-sings-naivete-strewn-intimate-acoustic-indie-folk; and perhaps on surface level it could be taken this way, but further listens reveal a deeper thread of melancholy.” Going on to extol the then huge promise of Hamilton, the piece offered a snapshot of an artist who has covered some remarkable ground in the time since. With her debut album, Parma Violets, set for…

  • Watch: DIE HEXEN – Siamese

    March 9, 2016 - By 

    Every once in a while a homegrown act will crop up, catch you completely off guard with and make you wonder, fist-clenched and all but tormented for eternity, just h0w they managed to pass you by up until that shameful moment of latter-day discovery. The latest to befall us comes in the form of Belfast dark ambient chanteuse DIE HEXEN, whose latest single ‘Siamese’ is a phantasmal brew of gothic influence and image, conjuring everyone from Grouper and Chelsea Wolfe to Gary Numan and Siouxsie at her most ensorcelling. A “ceremonial magic audio-visual created in response to a visually powerful mutual lucid and reoccurring dream…

  • Watch: Orchid Collective – Lay As Stone

    March 8, 2016 - By 

    When we shared the track two weeks ago we said ‘Lay As Stone’ by Dublin quartet Orchid Collective was “unwinding alt-folk meditation on weariness and reprieve that sees wonderfully-woven harmonies come to the fore across the track’s nigh on four minutes”. Having zig-zagged around the country playing shows in the time since, the band have released a video for the single directed by Cill Farrell, the moral of which we’ve deduced is: it’s often – if not always – advisable to drink a few glasses of milk before going on the rip. Orchid Collective launch ‘Lay As Stone’ at Dublin’s…

  • Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival 2016

    March 8, 2016 - By 

    Set to return to Belfast for its grand 17th outing from April 28-May 8, this year’s Cathedral Quarter Art Festival is set to be yet another mouth-wateringly, curiousity-satingly sublime 11 days and nights of music and culture. Ranging from the likes of legendary reggae producer Lee “Scratch” Perry (pictured), The Zombies and Arab Strap’s Aidan Moffatt to David Holmes, John Cooper Clarke and Grandmaster Flash, this year’s line-up (in full below) is, for our money, the strongest CQAF outing to date. Go here to buy tickets.

  • Irish Tour: Wolf Alice & Spies

    March 8, 2016 - By 

    Having released their Mercury Prize-nominated debut My Love Is Cool last year, London alt-rock quartet Wolf Alice stopped at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre & Belfast’s Mandela Hall at the weekend. Support came from Spies. Photos by Aaron Corr & Alan Maguire. Olympia Theatre, Dublin by Aaron Corr Mandela Hall, Belfast by Alan Maguire

  • Album Stream: J Cowhie – Veil

    March 8, 2016 - By 

    Early days though it is, after just a handful of listens Veil by J Cowhie is right up there with our favourite Irish albums of the year so far. Formerly known as GOODTIME/Goodtime John, the Malmö-based, Dublin “alternative electronic experimental folk” singer-songwriter very much trades in the currency of the mystery of memory, the throes of time and the curious laws of belonging, his hushed tales – each as slow-burning, incisive and revelatory as the next – framed in a phantasmal hue of sublime, ruminating ambience. An album about loss, change and the “responsibilities that come to us all in our lives whether we…

  • Stream: Oaks – Knowledge Spice

    March 8, 2016 - By 

    Featuring Jess Edlin and fellow Matua Trap member Steven Butler, ‘Knowledge Spice’ is the latest track to drop from Belfast-based producer James Bruce AKA Oaks. Assuredly building on early material including his debut album Safe Haven (revisit here), it summons subtly cascading Brainfeeder grooves, enveloping, Of Montrealian vocal harmonies and a sonic terrain inhabited by everyone from The Books and Ametsub to Madlib and Boards of Canada. Stream it and Rachael Boyd’s remix below.

  • Interview: Hornets

    March 8, 2016 - By 

    Ahead of their rather special, secret album fundraiser on Saturday, Melanie Brehaut chats to Belfast hardcore quartet Hornets about their influences, ambitions & love of the local scene. You have a rather exciting event coming up. Can you tell us a bit about it? We’re having a bring your own event in Belfast City Centre in order to raise funds for recording our debut album. It’s limited to 80 spaces and you can receive details via sending your name over to hornetsbanduk@gmail.com. We’re playing alongside us will be Apartments and Unyielding Love. There will also be an Exhibition featuring work from Jenna Hayes,…

  • Video Premiere: Edward F Butler – Joke Until Caught

    March 7, 2016 - By 

    Having spent the last few years making his mark in Belfast with HOWL and solo adventures, audio-visual maestro Edward F Butler is currently back home in Norfolk, working in a wood and home studio having recently returning from recording material in Berlin. Ahead of recording with LCON in Canada in May and playing shows in Toronto, New York and Montreal in May/June, Butler is releasing 12 releases in 2016, the second and latest of which, ‘Joke Until Caught’, distils his very prismatic craft to four consuming minutes. Keep up to date with Butler’s 12 releases in 2016 here. Created by Butler, check…