• Track Record: Junior Brother

    April 25, 2022 - By 

    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)

    April 19, 2022 - By 

    “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

    April 22, 2022 - By 

    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

    April 8, 2022 - By 

    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…

  • Lighght – Seodra

    April 8, 2022 - By 

    As Lighght, Cork producer Eamon Ivri has repeatedly flipped the script in  becoming one of the island’s most mercurial producers. Marking his return to L.A. imprint Doom Trip, the six-track Seodra is a blitzing trip featuring some of his most lethal (in both senses of the word) club material. And talk about a timely return. Where last year’s Holy Endings offered sublime ambient reprieve in supremely fucked-up times, these six deftly-produced volleys all but proffer hectic times with a rake of good heads. While the searing arps of ‘Rib’ strike a museful tone, peaks including ‘Tactile Love’ and ‘Hang Tight’…

  • Video Premiere: Group Zero – We Need Water

    April 8, 2022 - By 

    Last October, Belfast-based musician Cathal Cully, AKA Group Zero, unveiled the sublime Everyone’s Already Come Apart. Released via Touch Sensitive, the five-track album melded muted psychedelia with loose, electronic experimentalism that brightened some brilliant corners. While each track rewarded, ‘We Need Water,’ proved an outright peak. Across six minutes, the subtle interactions between backwashed samples with piano, synth, and muted drum machine patterns burrow deep. Today, we’re pleased to present a first look at Belfast-based artist and filmmaker Benén Dillon’s video for the single. Shot on location in Mayo at the annual cliff-diving competition, it was filmed during the counties’ collective hangover from the All-Ireland…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – April 8th

    April 8, 2022 - By 

    Here’s the very best Irish tracks of the week, featuring Paddy Hanna, SOAK, Iona Zajac, Súil Amháin x Quantum Foam x Tuath and more Paddy Hanna – Yoko Ono Yoko Ono by Paddy Hanna Iona Zajac – Red Corn Poppies Súil Amháin x Quantum Foam x Tuath – ​​Dúchas Iarlais by Tuath X Súil Amháin X Quantum Foam Group Zero – We Need Water SOAK – Purgatory Dirty Dreamer – The Everyday In Bloom Deadbeat Drew – Pick Up The Phone cbaki – New Girls Every Night Happyalone – Car Crash modernlove. – Don’t Wanna The Burma – Don’t Believe…

  • Son of the Session: An Interview with John Francis Flynn

    April 7, 2022 - By 

    “There were people that shouldn’t know who I am coming to see me.” If there’s one thing you quickly learn when speaking to John Francis Flynn it’s that he’s not exactly prone to entitlement. Speaking over Zoom from his home in Dublin, the singer and multi-instrumentalist is reflecting on his recent debut UK headline tour. It was a run of 15 shows that, if a few glowing reports are anything to go by, were more than a bit special. Not that Flynn would tell you as much himself. “It was kind of mind-blowing,” he tells me. “After two years of…

  • Mitski Announces Belfast and Dublin Shows

    April 6, 2022 - By 

    Mitski has announced two Irish shows this summer. Taking place a couple of months after her sold-out show at Vicar Street later this month, she will play Belfast’s Ulster Hall and Dublin’s 3Olympia on June 12th and 13th respectively. Tickets go on sale at 10am on Friday, April 7th, priced £35.50 and €34.90.

  • The Bobby Lees Announce Irish Shows

    April 4, 2022 - By 

    New York garage punk trailblazers The Bobby Lees are set for three Irish shows. Formed in Woodstock in 2018, the quartet will play Whelan’s Upstairs in Dublin on July 1st, Limerick’s Kasbah on July 2nd and the Ulster Sports Club in Belfast (with support from Problem Patterns) on July 3rd. Ticket info for Dublin and Limerick is TBA. Tickets for the Belfast show, which is promoted by the ever-reliable Strange Victory, cost £10 and are on sale now. Check out The Bobby Lees’ new single ‘Hollywood Junkyard’ below.