• Best Album & Single Shortlists for NI Music Prize Revealed

    September 30, 2021 - By 

    The Best Album and Best Single shortlists for this year’s Northern Ireland Music Prize have been revealed. Supported by PPL, the Best Album shortlist includes the likes of This Ship Argo’s Always The Bees: Never The Honey, Fir Wave by Hannah Peel (pictured), Arvo Party’s Inheritiance, Isles by Bicep and Into The Depths of Hell by Joshua Burnside. See the full list below. Andrew McGibbon – Northern Gothic Arvo Party – Inheritance Bicep – Isles CATALAN! – Veritas Dani Larkin – Notes for a Maiden Warrior Hannah Peel – Fir Wave Jealous of the Birds – Peninsula Joshua Burnside –…

  • Monday Mixtape: Jackie Beverly

    October 4, 2021 - By 

    Off the back of her new single ‘Temporary State’ Irish indie-folk artist Jackie Beverly takes us on a tour of some of her all-time favourite songs, featuring Phoebe Bridgers, Laura Marling, MUNA and more. Muna ft Phoebe Bridgers – Silk Chiffon How could I not have this as the first track for this mixtape? I adore MUNA and I would definitely say that Saves The World had a major influence in my earlier releases. The fact that Phoebe Bridgers features on this though is just perfect. It’s a great song to start your day with. Laura Marling – Held Down I…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – October 1st

    October 1, 2021 - By 

    On what is surely the best Bandcamp Friday yet, dig into very best new Irish releases, featuring NIMF, Group Zero, Jane Deasy, Loah, Willie Stewart, Tebi Rex, Fears, Cherym, Jackie Beverly, FRMR, Panik Attaks, Cat and more. Group Zero – Memorial Hall Everyone’s Already Come Apart by Group Zero Jane Deasy – Thawing EP Thawing ~ EP by Jane Deasy NIMF – The Faery Sea The Faery Sea by nimf Various Artists – In The Echo: Field Recordings From Earlsfort Terrace In The Echo: Field Recordings From Earlsfort Terrace by Various Artists Tebi Rex – Deadman Cherym – Hey Tori…

  • ‘It’s a Shame About Kilrea’ with Robyn G Shiels at Flax Art Studios, Belfast

    September 30, 2021 - By 

    Earlier this month, Kilrea-raised, Belfast-based doom folk master Robyn G Shiels made his return to the stage with a show alongside Hatchet Field and An Auld Lad at the Sunflower. Taking place as part of this year’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, it delivered exactly what we have come to expect from a RG show: carefully-crafted and perfectly understated tales of darkness and deliverance. With a head full of steam, Shiels has been quietly pushing forward into some new territory. Taking place at Flax Art Studios – located in the former UTV studios building in Belfast, Havelock House – he will play a…

  • Spilt Milk Festival Announce 2021 Line-Up

    September 30, 2021 - By 

    Spilt Milk makes its return to Sligo for its third edition from 18th – 21st November, 2021. Coming a year on from its online event Transmission last November, organisers are delighted to announce the festival will return as an in-person series of live shows, installations, film screenings and workshops across four days and nights. As with previous installments, Spilt Milk have once again delivered an eclectic, carefully-curated bill that reflects the scope of forward-pushing music and art in Ireland today. On Thursday, 18th November, the festival launches with a zine workshop and an audio-visual trail. On Friday 19th November the…

  • SWANS’ Norman Westberg Set For Solo Irish Tour

    September 28, 2021 - By 

    Best known as the primary guitarist with SWANS, Norman Westberg is nothing short of a titan of heavy avant-rock. More generally, the Detroit-born musician’s output has traversed a remarkable amount of territory, most recently in solo LPs including the sublime ambience of Bedroom Off, After Vacation, and First Man In The Moon, his collaborative LP with Jacek Mazurkiewicz. As Lawrence English once put it: “What Norman has created with his solo works is an echoing universe of deep texture and harmonic intensity. His solo compositions generate an affecting quality that drives the listener towards reductive transcendence.” Next month, Westberg stops off in Ireland for a…

  • Tool Set for First Irish Show in 15 Years

    September 27, 2021 - By 

    Tool have announced their long-awaited return to Ireland. The acclaimed, Maynard James Keenan-fronted quartet will play Dublin’s 3Arena on May 6, 2022. Tickets go on sale this Friday (October 1) at 10am. The show – which takes place as part of a forthcoming UK and European arena tour – marks the band’s first show in Ireland since 2006. Revisit a stone-cold Tool classic below.

  • Premiere: Eoin Dolan – Amulet of Love

    September 24, 2021 - By 

    For as long as we can remember, Galway’s Eoin Dolan has occupied a singular place in the Irish music community. A songwriter that goes beyond the everyday – an artist who ekes out real majesty from the uncanny – his craft is at once deeply considered and remarkably his own. Next month, Dolan unveils his fourth full-length album, Mirror Liver. Bearing the imprint of artists as mottled as Vashti Bunyan, Super Furry Animals and Donovan, it’s that album that delves into everything from love and mysticism, to day to day reflections of people who lived through the evolutionary times of…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – September 24th

    September 24, 2021 - By 

    Another banner week for Irish music sees releases spanning the full breadth and scope of the island, with major releases, collaborations and singles from the likes of Brigid Mae Power, A Ritual Sea, Gemma Dunleavy, M(h)aol, David Holmes, K I T C H E N, Erica Cody, Villagers, Invaderband, windings, Gaze Is Ghost, and many more. Gemma Dunleavy – Up De Flats! [Sharda Remix] Brigid Mae Power – Burning Your Light EP Burning Your Light by Brigid Mae Power M(h)aol – Gender Studies Gender Studies EP by M(h)aol David Holmes – Hope Is The Last Thing To Die K I…

  • Parquet Courts Set For Dublin Return

    September 23, 2021 - By 

    Parquet Courts are coming back to Dublin. Having last played the city back in 2018, the New York indie-rock quartet will play the Helix in Dublin on Saturday, June 11. The announcement comes as part of news of the band’s forthcoming seventh album Sympathy For Life and its accompanying world tour. Tickets for the Dublin show cost €29.80 and go on sale on Friday, September 24. Watch the video for the band’s new single ‘Black Widow Spider’ below.