• Meet Gleo: A New Ambient and Experimental Series in Limerick

    If live music has one grand, immutable law, it’s that most venues are usually only as vital as the sounders who inhabit them. In Limerick – a city we have been known to refer to as the beating heart of the island’s independent scene – it’s a sentiment you will often find spilling over in rooms like Dolans, The Commerical and Pharmacia. Without these spaces and the heroes that helm them, the sounders would know each other much less and a whole community would suffer for it. Yet for all the obvious rude health, for Jack Brolly and Caimin Walsh,…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 20th October

    Dive into the very best Irish releases of the week, featuring John Francis Flynn’s stellar new single, the second LP from Tandem Felix, Nyahh’s essential Irish experimental compilation, Naoise Roo, I Dreamed I Dream, Ciaran Lavery and more   Nyahh Records – Under the Island: A Compilation of Experimental Music in Ireland 1960-1994 Under the Island: Experimental Music in Ireland 1960 – 1994 by Nyahh Records Tandem Felix – There’s a New Sheriff in Town There’s a New Sheriff in Town by Tandem Felix Naoise Roo – Silent Halls John Francis Flynn – Willie Crotty I Dreamed I Dream –…

  • Fonoon Festival 2023

    The second edition of Arab Cultural Festival Fonoon returns to Belfast this weekend. Taking over 2 Royal Avenue from the 6-8th festival, the series is described by organisers as the gate to Arabia where everyone will have a chance to celebrate the rich tapestry of Arab culture, history, arts and music through a variety of entertaining and cheerful artistic workshops and activities suitable for all.” With the supreme aim of bringing people together and spreading positivity to encourage unity among communities, this year’s programme goes above and beyond to celebrate the beauty, diversity and vibrancy of Arab culture via art,…

  • ferna Announces Irish Tour

    ferna has announced details of her first-ever Irish tour. Having also recently been announced to play this year’s Northern Ireland Music Prize ceremony on 15th November, the acclaimed North Coast singer-songwriter – real name Hannah McPhillimy – will play a string of shows throughout the island in November and December. Check out the full dates and details for the tour, which stops off in Cork, Dublin, Belfast – as part of this year’s Sound of Belfast -and Portstewart, below. The news comes six months after ferna released her sublime debut album, understudy, which you really should revisit: understudy (debut album)…

  • Spiral Night Market

    Much like the likes of, say, Letterkenny or neighbouring Dundalk, Drogheda is a textbook case of an Irish town that more than holds its own as a thriving creative community beyond the confines of our native cities. Along with the likes of independent record store Bigmoon Records and any number of forward-pushing artists (Spit, A92 and hotgirl, to name just three) McHughs functions as a vital hub in the heart of the Louth town which you will, of course, find slap-bang between unlivable late capitalist hellscapes* Belfast and Dublin. * poetic licence applied In recent years, the Cord Street institution’s…

  • Full Line-Up Announced for SCANRA

    The full line-up has been announced for the inaugural SCANRA. Taking over The Workman’s Cellar on Saturday, 4th November, 2023 at 7pm, it’s a new immersive night of music, myth and storytelling celebrating the Irish origins of Samhain through the voices and mediums of modern creators. Presented in collaboration with Workmná and The Thin Air, SCANRA was launched back in August with the announcement of live performances from acclaimed Belfast-based songwriter and pianist Clara Tracey, industrial-electronic artist Coolgirl (Lizzie Fitzpatrick, formerly of Bitch Falcon) and haunting acapella soundscapes from the Dulciana Vocal Ensemble—each set specially curated to evoke elements of the supernatural and the…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 29th September

    From every corner of the island, here’s the very best new music of the week, from Jape, Negro Impacto and Super Extra Bonus Party, to Ex-Isles, Lucy Gaffney and beyond   Photo by Sean McMahon   Jape – Endless Thread Endless Thread by Jape Negro Impacto – Maybe Super Extra Bonus Party – Feather Helmet Repertoire Late Nite 99 by Super Extra Bonus Party Lucy Gaffney – Boy Go Loud Motive – What It Feel Like Ex-Isles – Domestic Sacraments Domestic Sacraments by Ex-Isles Strange Boy – For A Man To Be Content Anderson Nightmare – Great Moon Landing –…

  • Now Press Play: A Festival of Music on Film

    Not content with programming one of the island’s most consistently rewarding annual festivals, the good people behind Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival have announced details of a new, 4-day mini-festival celebrating the inner and outer reaches of music on film. Running from 26-29 October, Now Press Play features unearthed gems, forgotten legends and grand celluloid follies, taking in some of the greatest documentaries, concert films or musical movies you’ve never seen, not to mention old favourites and new releases. Among the many highlights are Northern Irish premieres for acclaimed documentaries Syd: Have you Got it Yet – the long-awaited Syd…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 22nd September

    It’s another absolutely stacked week for Irish week, with top-tier new releases from Rachael Lavelle, ØXN, Hilary Woods, David Holmes, I Dreamed I Dream and more Photo by Kate Lawlor Rachael Lavelle – Big Dreams ØXN – Cruel Mother Hilary Woods – Where the Bough Has Broken David Holmes – Necessary Genius feat. Raven Violet Cathal Francis – Go On I Dreamed I Dream – Apparition Dark Tropics – Carnival Sorcha Richardson – Map of Manhattan Conchúr White – I Did Good Today McKowski – Notes From the Boneyard Vol1 Notes From The Boneyard Vol 1 by McKowski Celaviedmai –…

  • Video Premiere: Nick Carlisle – End of Terrain

    Nick Carlisle is an auteur who has well and truly made his stamp on the landscape of DIY music culture in these isles. Originally from Dromore in Co. Down, the Brighton-based composer, performer and producer has deftly spanned whole soundworlds in projects such as Peepholes, Bamboo, Katy and Nick and Lean Logic. Last year, he even ventured out solo with his sublime, QFT Belfast-comissioned score for 1922 silent film Häxan. Pay attention and you’ll trace a revelatory journey that leads to his upcoming album Bloody Saturnalia. Taking its title from Sebastian Haffner’s Defying Hitler, it’s a self-produced effort that sees…