• You Are Here @ Mart, Dublin

    November 4, 2015 - By 

    You Are Here – an exhibition of new works by three emerging artists, Christine Browne, Abigail Denniston and Sarah Edmondson – will launch at Dublin’s MART on Thursday, November 5. A provocative exploration into our current relationship with maps, both old and new, and the way technology allows us to navigate our way around the world based on our current location, the exhibition is a “A subjective and personal voyage into the art of map making, relishing in the lines, shapes, and scale of this picturesque language that we have depended on for centuries. A language that never claimed to…

  • Watch: Colm Mac Con Iomaire – Bláth (Flower)

    November 4, 2015 - By 

    Just over a month until his homecoming Christmas show with Lisa O’Neill at Dublin’s Vicar Street on December 17,  Colm Mac Con Iomaire has unveiled a video of him performing the brilliant ‘Bláth (Flower)’ live at Rockwood Music Hall, New York City. Filmed and edited by Shane G. Mahon, it’s a wonderfully captured performance that sees guitar, strings and piano weave a bewitching backdrop upon which footage of NYC on mute is overlaid. Frames’ member Mac Con Iomaire will play the following upcoming shows. November 11: St Pancras Old Church, London December 9: Empire Music Hall, Belfast December 17: Vicar St, Dublin

  • Watch: August Wells – Alice Dear Alice

    November 4, 2015 - By 

    Back in June, August Wells release what remains one of our favourite Irish tracks of the year, ‘Here In The Wild’. Summoning the pensive, reflective chamber pop of Richard Hawley and the gloriously elongated vocals of early Ian McCullough, the Ken Griffin-led outfit mustered a certain noir incantation that seemed simultaneously deeply familiar and thoroughly new-fangled. Four months on, following a string of Summer dates including an impressive Electric Picnic appearance – the band have unveiled ‘Alice Dear Alice’, a track that whilst following in the vein of ‘Here In The World’ is perhaps more akin to August single ‘Come On In Out Of That Night’…

  • Stream: Saint Sister – Castles

    November 3, 2015 - By 

    “My mother is lonely/My father speaks only to himself  My sister’s in danger/Her lover’s a stranger.” Undoubtedly the jewel in their lulling folk-pop crown, there’s a real immediacy poise to the lyrics of Irish Gemma Doherty and Morgan MacIntyre AKA Saint Sister. With their debut EP, Madrid, set for release via Trout Records on Friday, November 13, their latest single ‘Castles’ confines that intimate, instantly relatable savoir faire to four minutes of gossamer-like song, relaying succinct, unspoken truths of – perhaps unmistakably Irish – family life. Recorded in a short, purportedly “intense” session at Noise studio, Co. Kerry by Alex Ryan of Hozier, Madrid…

  • Album Premiere: Owensie – Dramamine

    November 3, 2015 - By 

    It’s not every day – or indeed week or month – an album like Dramamine is released into the world.  Set for release via stellar Limerick imprint Out On A Limb Records on Friday, November 13, the third studio album from Dublin songsmith Michael Owens AKA Owensie is a masterfully accomplished nine-track release of meditative, decidedly Autumnal folk-pop summing everyone from Department of Eagles, Sun Kil Moon circa Admiral Fell Promises and Kill Rock Stars-era Elliott Smith. Recorded in various indoor and outdoor locations across the country, using natural acoustics to create an instantly resonant sonic sojourn, there is a cunningly considered glory to the…

  • EP Stream: Conor Walsh – The Front

    November 3, 2015 - By 

    Dropping at the perfect time of year, The Front by Conor Walsh doubles up as a four-track soundtrack to those dark late afternoons and walks home guided by the glow and haze of streetlights and passing streams of strangers. Hailing from Swinford in Co. Mayo, Walsh’s piano and electro-acoustic minimalism wields understated repetition like a sword and that couldn’t be more emphatic on this beautiful new EP, out now via Ensemble Records.

  • Stream: exmagician – Kiss That Wealth Goodbye

    November 2, 2015 - By 

    Set to make their debut appearance at Lavery’s, Belfast on Friday, November 13, exmagician is Danny Todd and James Smith of Cashier No.9. Despite the name change, their brand new debut single, ‘Kiss The Wealth Goodbye’, is familiar yet suitably triumphant territory that retains their symphonic psych-pop spell of yore. Dig a little deeper and the burning urgency that drives the track (and their forthcoming self-titled EP) forth reveals an outfit in no mood to relive past glories. Go here for the Lavery’s show Facebook event page and stream ‘Kiss That Wealth Goodbye’ below.

  • Watch: Alarmist – Petrichor

    November 2, 2015 - By 

    Dropping on the same day of the release of their hugely anticipated debut album Popular Demain (full review coming tomorrow) Dublin instrumental rock wizards Alarmist have unveiled the video for triumphant, kaleidoscopic lead single ‘Petrichor’. With the album now available via Small Pond Recordings on 12″ vinyl, CD and digital download, the opening is comprised of studio footage shot and edited by Afghaniscan AKA Robert Scanlon, who along with Rian Trench of Solar Bears was one of the engineers on the album. Alarmist will launch Popular Demain in association with Ensemble Music this Friday (November 6) at Dublin’s Sugar Club,…

  • EP Stream: O Emperor – Lizard

    November 2, 2015 - By 

    Set for vinyl release via Trout Records on November 6, Lizard feels like a real arrival for Waterford quintet O Emperor . A four-track EP of harmony-driven psych-pop conjuring the likes of Gruff Rhys, Ariel Pink and Tame Impala’s more restrained efforts, it’s a suitably kaleidoscopic masterstroke revealing a band on the cusp of potentially extraordinary things. O Emperor play the following dates in November and December: November 15: Theatre Royal, Waterford November 26: Sugar Club, Dublin November 28: Roisin Dubh, Galway November 30: Shacklewell Arms, London December 3: The Pavilion, Ireland

  • Watch: Morning Veils – Lady In Red

    October 30, 2015 - By 

    Lending itself very nicely to their furtive and chimeric craft, Cork outfit Morning Veils keep a pretty low-key presence online. Comprised of members including Elaine Howley of The Altered Hours and Roslyn Steer, the band’s tagline on Twitter is “forgotten folk and other stories”, a little offering of insight that firmly nods in the direction of the band’s yearning new song ‘Lady In Red’. Conjuring the likes of early Liz Phair, PJ Harvey, Pod-era Breeders and the more ruminating tracks on Queens of the Stone Age’s self-titled debut, the single – recorded by Dan Walsh – will feature on the band’s forthcoming debut album, Her Kind, which be…