• Irish Tracks of the Week – 10th June

    It may be festival season but the top-tier Irish music keeps coming. Here are the best tracks of the last seven days, including ROE, ZOiD x Meljoann, Myles O’Reilly, Hare Squead x Shauna Shadae, David Donohue and more ZOiD x Meljoann – Space Mission ROE – That’s When The Panic Sets In ROE · That’s When The Panic Sets In (Part I) David Donohoe – W​/​HERE W/HERE by David Donohoe Hare Squead x Shauna Shadae – Late Night Flex Myles O’Reilly – Shine Cocooning Heart by Myles O’Reilly SM Milligan – A Fragrance of Oceans A Fragrance of Oceans by…

  • Ghouls On Film: A Page of Madness

    Since October last year, Belfast has been blessed by Ghouls on Film, a genuinely refreshing and carefully-curated monthly film club screening films challenging the representation of women in horror. Ran by Belfast-based artist Isabella Koban, it has already screened a series of stone-cold classics, indie releases, and lesser-known gems that explore how women can find agency in the world of horror. On Sunday, 29th May, the club returns to its primary home at the Black Box with one of its most unmissable events to date: a special, one-off screening of Teinosuke Kinugasa’s 1926 silent avant-garde masterpiece A Page of Madness. As well…

  • Premiere: YARD – Lawmaker

    Myriad acts earmarked as “ones to watch” have, by virtue of any number of factors – both real and imaginary – have ceased to exist since time immemorial. Such is the way of the music industry; that cripplingly fickle clusterfuck of a fever dream that many of us, for one reason or another, dedicate a sizable portion of our lives to with little to no recompense, fiscal, metaphysical, or otherwise. And frankly, we wouldn’t have it any other way, for it’s more or less all in the pursuit. Which conveniently brings us to YARD, a Dublin quartet kneeling (and very well at that) at the altar…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 13th May

    Here’s the very best Irish tracks of the week, featuring Aoife Nessa Frances, Post Punk Podge & The Technohippies, NIMF and more. Aoife Nessa Frances – Emptiness Follows Post Punk Podge & The Technohippies – The Living Wake NIMF – A Ballad for Looking into Time A Ballad for Looking into Time by nimf Cabin – Whatever You Have Cabin · Whatever You Have SELK – No Saviours No Saviours by SELK Lisa Canny – Medicine Rosie Carney – Tidal Wave Wastefellow – Post Credits Scene Seba Safe – I’m On Fire

  • Premiere: Naoise Roo – Almost Perfect (Live)

    Last month, Naoise Roo unveiled an expanded version of her sublime 2015 debut album Lilith. Featuring five bonus tracks remixed by John Agnello and Jerome Froese, it brought into sharp focus the Dublin artist’s enduring singular talents as a vocalist and songwriter. Having just been announced to play this year’s Latitude Festival, all while making her mark Stateside, Naoise looks set for a seismic few months. Ahead of that, we’re pleased to present a first look at a new live video of inward-peering Lilith highlight ‘Almost Perfect’. One part of a longer live video due for release later in the year, the performance…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – May 6th

    On this, the fifth Bandcamp no-fee Friday of the year, here are the very best Irish tracks and releases of the week, featuring Katie Kim, Aoife Wolf, The Department of Energy, J Cowhie & Bonnie Prince Billy, Arvo Party and more Katie Kim – Mona   Hour Of The Ox by Katie Kim J Cowhie & Bonnie Prince Billy – New Life New Life by Goodtime John & Bonnie Prince Billy Aoife Wolf – The Woman Who Shot Andy Warhol Screaming Waltz (Instrumental) by Aoife Wolf The Department of Energy – May Day (Landscape Mixtape) May Day (Landscape Mixtape) by…

  • Track Record: Junior Brother

    Co. Kerry experimental folk trailblazer Ronan Kealy aka Junior Brother handpicks a selection of records that have left an indelible imprint on his music and life Photo by Leah Carroll Planxty – The Woman I Loved So Well Whenever I stick this album on, without fail I become lost in its world of folk characters, and in its landscape of field, castle, ditch and twilight. The whistle tune at the end of the final song, ‘Little Musgrave’, is as close to the sound of ascending to heaven as I’ve ever heard on record. Kate Bush – Hounds of Love Like…

  • Premiere: I Am The Main Character – GOLD (I Die at the End)

    “Man is the microcosm: I am my world.” Wittgenstein knew the craic when he penned these words back in 1916. A few moons later, Dublin’s premier (only?) “solipsism-core” band I Am The Main Character have taken the essence of the inward-peering avowal in question to its natural conclusion on ‘GOLD (I Die At The End)’. Smudging the lines between thrash-hop, mutant pop, trap and post-punk (no, not that kind) it’s a masterfully mangled effort from the supergroup of sorts. Influenced by the likes of Gilla Band, Lightning Bolt, and The Knife, they’re made up of Dublin DJ/producer Ben McKenna (Ben Bix, Meltybrains?, Sim Simma), Jay McNamara (TTA…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 22nd April

    Spanning every corner of the island, here are the very tracks of the week, from Robocobra Quartet, Étáin, Tuath, Sinead O’Brien, Farah Elle and more Robocobra Quartet – Wellness Finding Forests – Hijacked Étáin – At Least One Tuath – Iarlais Iarlais by Tuath Sinead O’Brien – There Are Good Times Coming Farah Elle – Play It By Ear Play it by Ear by Farah Elle Jackie Beverly – Analog Radio Rosie Carney – break the ground Síomha – Infinite Space Fontaines D.C. – In ár gCroíthe go deo Slaney – Let Me Go By Garrett Laurie – Mississippi Jesus…

  • Open Ear 2022

    If there’s a better Irish music festival than Open Ear we honestly haven’t heard of it. Across 3-5th June, the supremely-curated weekender returns to the blissful environs of Sherkin Island off Cork for its first edition since 2019 (and what an unforgettable experience that was). With more acts yet to be announced for the June Bank Holiday blow-out, the festival have recently announced part A of this year’s line-up. Featuring a whole raft of TTA favourites, among them Acid Granny, Jane Deasy, Olivia Furey, the Department of Energy and Fulacht Fia, it’s another masterfully balanced mix of palette-spanning electronic and…