• Watch: No Monster Club – Charity Shop/Slaughterhouse

    March 4, 2016 - By 

    No Monster Club’s Bobby Aherne doesn’t as much shirk convention as he takes it to one side and kindly conveys that it has absolutely no place at his party. Set to launch his new album I Feel Magic at Dublin’s Bello Bar this very evening (Friday, March 4) Aherne has unveiled the perfectly oddball video for the release’s second single ‘Charity Shop/Slaughterhouse’, a “surreal video sees Bobby playing a mysterious stranger getting to know the last few inhabitants of an otherwise abandoned planet. Uniquely, it also features a sign language interpreter for the hard of hearing.” Beware: this track – nicely placed between…

  • Premiere + Interview: Ryan Vail – Invert

    March 4, 2016 - By 

    Whether you’re a newcomer or have been following his slow-burning, revelatory evolution as of late, Derry’s Ryan Vail has always commanded a domain that he can call his own. A master of subtlety, nuance and the hallowed space between the notes, his debut EP These Words revealed fully-formed promise that has only grown (and grown into itself) in the half-decade since. Whether you look to EPs including Fade and Grow, tracks such as ‘Sunlight’ and ‘Days’, superb new single ‘Wounds’ or Sea Legs, his well-received concept collaboration with Ciaran Lavery, Vail’s music and the sphere he conjures via slowly bobbing, synth-laden electronica has always…

  • EP Premiere: Warriors of the Dystotheque – Return To Coney

    March 4, 2016 - By 

    A self-proclaimed “dystopian journey deep into the heart of modern trip hop and gloomtronica” Return to Coney is the second EP from multi-national outfit Warriors of the Dystotheque. Founded by Derry’s Jonny Mac, the quartet’s craft is a darkly blend of slick, lo-fi soundscapes in the vein of Massive Attack and UNKLE, rounded off by a deft cinematic scope and solid command of layered, trip-hop leaning instrumentalism. Released via Tigre Fair today, Return to Coney is inspired by cult 70s film The Warriors and particularly one of the final moments of the film, where The Warriors return to their home turf – Coney…

  • Playlist: Choice Music Prize 2016

    March 3, 2016 - By 

    With The Gloaming proving well-deserved victors last time round, tonight’s Choice Music Prize is – as has almost always been the case with the award – an extremely tough one to call. Selected by an Irish industry judging panel, the following albums – perfectly diverse in score and vision – will all compete to walk away with the prize at Vicar Street later today. Girl Band – Holding Hands with Jamie (Rough Trade) HamsandwicH – Stories From The Surface (Route 109A Records) Gavin James – Bitter Pill (Warner Music Ireland) Jape – This Chemical Sea (Faction Records) Le Galaxie – Le Club (Universal Music…

  • Zlatanera w/ Slomatics & Bad Boat @ Limelight, Belfast

    January 2, 2016 - By 

    Hail Satan! After four years, Belfast’s premier groove/stoner devil-worshipping metal band Zlatanera have finally put together their debut album Lergerdemain (literally ‘sleight of hand’, or trickery) and of course launched it in fine fashion in their spiritual home, the Limelight in Belfast. Both they and their two support acts also rather brilliantly showcased the many facets of stoner metal to boot. First of these supports is Bad Boat, who have been kicking around the local scene for the last fourteen years (“we should probably get an album together ourselves” quips frontman Tom Clarke). Tonight they are in outrageously superb form…

  • Electric Picnic Reveal First Acts

    March 2, 2016 - By 

    With the rumours coming thick and fast over the last couple of weeks, Electric Picnic have revealed the first acts confirmed to play this year’s festival. With much more yet to be revealed, LCD Soundsystem, Lana Del Rey, New Order and The Chemical Brothers top this year’s festival. Super Furry Animals, Haim, Todd Terje, Animal Collective, Broken Social Scene, Savages are also amongst the first confirmed acts. See the full first announcement below. Weekend camping tickets for Electric Picnic 2016 are now on sale here. To enter our competition to win two weekend tickets to this year’s festival, go here.

  • Stream: Solar Bears – Gravity Calling

    March 2, 2016 - By 

    This time last month we were rather giddily raving about Solar Bears‘ ‘Wild Flowers’, a track we said seen the Dublin duo “as prismatic and sorcerous as ever”. Very much following in that vein, ‘Gravity Calling’ is the latest track to be streamed from their forthcoming third album, Advancement, which drops via Sunday Best Recordings on March 18. Inducing yet another neon-lit netherworld of lambent retro-futurism, it’s a superbly synth-driven, soundtrack-like four minutes of flawless mastery from the twosome. Solar Bears play Belfast’s Lavery’s on Friday, March 18. Pre-order Advancement here.

  • Watch: New Secret Weapon – You’re Still Losing (Live)

    March 1, 2016 - By 

    Few Irish alt-rock bands command their own sound quite as convincingly as Dublin’s New Secret Weapon. Counting The Fear, The Late Late Show and OJ Simpson as their many influences on their Facebook page, the David Griffin-fronted trio have unveiled a live version of ‘You’re Still Losing’, a riff-fuelled, multi-part ode to the interminable, Sisyphean strife of The Everyday. Evoking everything from Jeff Buckley’s more tenacious efforts to the backwashed urban doom of Enablers and Incubus’ earlier, more emphatic material. Created by Scan and recorded by Deaf Bros, watch the video below.

  • KnockanStockan 2016

    March 1, 2016 - By 

    Having expanding to three days due to demand, annual Wicklow independent music and arts festival KnockanStockan will return to Blessington Lakes across the weekend of July 22-24 for its tenth anniversary outing. Calling it a “celebration of the last 10 years of Irish music”, this year’s festival will also play host to special ‘Honorary Guests’ that won’t be identified until they take to stage. Bettine McMahon from the festival said, “We really want the element of a birthday surprise at this years festival, so our lineup is under lock and key right now, even most of the crew don’t know…

  • Women’s Work Festival

    March 1, 2016 - By 

    A programme inspired by the likes of Kate Bush and Bjork, the seeds of forthcoming inaugural Women’s Work Festival at Belfast’s Oh Yeah Centre were sown amidst planning for the 2014 International Women’s Day event at the Belfast venue and music scene. Two years on, the festival – that will highlight, celebrate and showcase women in music, as well as facilitate discussion with industry and artists on the issues surrounding the debate – is a fully-fledged,  proposition, set to take place from its launch with legendary DJ Annie Nightingale on Friday, March 4 until Friday, March 11. Set to be a wonderfully eclectic and important festival…