Re-emerging English-French avant-pop heroes Stereolab have announce two Irish shows. Having went on hiatus in 2009, the band will return to play a series of dates in 2019, including Belfast’s Empire Music Hall on June 24 and Vicar Street in Dublin on June 25. Tickets go on sale at 9am on Friday.
We’ve been singing the praises of Slouch to anyone who will listen for an age now. Comprising guitarist and vocalist Conor Wilson, bassist Kev Shannon and drummer Malachy Burke, the Dublin trio’s shapeshifting, scuzzed-out sounds defy easy categorisation more than the vast majority of Irish bands all-too-swiftly referred to “alt-rock”. In truth, Slouch have also felt like a genuine alternative – a riff-wielding, face-searing, psychogroove-pedalling flipside – in a scene heavily saturated with FM-flirting, Award-Winning-Music-Blogger-appeasing guitar rock. The lead single from their forthcoming “very nearly finished” debut album, ‘Day Half’ sublimates the very best aspects of Slouch’s craft to five masterfully unpredictable minutes. Marrying dizzying riff…
We continue 19 for ‘19 – our feature looking at nineteen Irish acts that we’re convinced are going places in 2019 – with fast-rising Belfast queerpunk five-piece Strange New Places. Photo by Niall Fegan One of several fast-rising Northern Irish acts that have been propelled by the Scratch My Progress initiative at Belfast’s Oh Yeah Music Centre, Strange New Places spent 2018 steadily emerging as one of the country’s most promising bands. On full display at Outburst’s Youth Take Over Day, Atlantic Sessions, Women’s Work festival and elsewhere throughout the year was the band’s equal parts forward-pushing and ear-worming brand of queerpunk. Striking strong…
Having released a string of shorter releases over the years – as well as been the violinist with Irish artists including Joshua Burnside, Ciaran Lavery, Malojian and Overhead the Albatross – Rachael Boyd’s eclectic and intricately-woven craft is laid bare on her debut, Weave. Across twelve tracks, the album (which is set for release this Wednesday) is the pure-cut distillation of the Dublin-based Belfast artist’s singular craft. Having already received support from BBC Radio 1, Clash, TheLineOfBestFit and elsewhere, lead single ‘Blind Spot’ is a masterfully bewitching case in point. Check out its lyric video below.
Post Malone at Dublin’s 3Arena. Photos by Peter O’Hanlon
Knockanstockan have revealed the first acts set to play this year’s festival. With many more yet to be announced, TTA favourites Just Mustard, Bicurious, Punk Podge & The Technohippies, Hot Cops, Lemoncello, Joshua Burnside, Cherym, Bouts, The Pale, Kitt Philippa, Powpig, Shookrah, Luka Palm, THUMPER, Silverbacks, Farah Elle, Junior Brother and The Scratch are among those announced. Check out the (very nice) line-up announcement below. Returning to Blessington Lake in Co. Wicklow across July 19-21, tickets for the festival can be bought here.
Having confidently marked her arrival with debut single ‘Dancing in the Debris’ back in 2017, Belfast artist May Rosa establishes her as a fully-formed alt-pop contender on Waxwork Sweetheart. Across four tracks – from slow-burning lead single ‘All The Ways’ to the release’s Julee Cruise-summoning title track, it sees the London-based chanteuse’s finely-woven and phantasmal craft refined to seventeen all-too-fleeting minutes. Have a first listen to the EP – and a first look at the video for ‘All The Ways’ – below.
We continue 19 for ‘19 – our feature looking at nineteen Irish acts that we’re convinced are going places in 2019 – with Limerick songwriter and producer Proper Micro NV. Photo by Moira Reilly Late last year, Limerick producer, singer and songwriter Rory Hall aka Proper Micro NV marked his arrival via the masterfully mottled Dormant Boy. Spanning experimental electronica and downtempo electro-pop jams, it proved a cohesive, gem-heavy twelve-tracker from an artist who has rightfully garnered comparisons to the likes of James Blake and Mount Kimbie from the off. Hall has packed a lot into his three years as an active proposition. From signing…
We continue 19 for ‘19 – our feature looking at nineteen Irish acts that we’re convinced are going places in 2019 – with Maynooth alternative folk duo Lemoncello. Photo by Joe Laverty A duo who formed while studying music and languages in Maynooth University, Laura Quirke and Claire Kinsella aka Lemoncello have carved out a unique, increasingly compelling niche in Irish alternative folk over the last five years. As well as helping to found the Common Grounds Collective – a group dedicated to building a network of musicians of all disciplines and giving them “a platform to create and showcase…
Ms. Lauryn Hill is the latest act announced to play an open air show at Cork’s Irish Independent Park on June 26. The multi-Grammy award winning artist will perform music from her seminal debut solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, and more. Tickets are priced at €49.90 and go on sale at 8.30am on Friday, February 15.