• Monday Mixtape: Skinner

    January 20, 2025 - By 

    Aaron Corcoran, aka Skinner, kicks off the first Monday Mixtape of the year with favourites from The Fall, Problem Patterns, Lizzy Mercier Descloux, Leonard Cohen, Beat Happening and beyond. Beat Happening – Bad Seeds One of the best bands of all time Beat Happening still encourage me not to take music too seriously and just have fun. Everything to do with K records is really carefree and what the true essence of music is all about. Calvin Johnson’s baritone vocals and the stark space created between the drums and surf guitar with no bass is so striking. This song always…

  • RTÉ Choice Music Prize 2024 Shortlist Revealed

    January 6, 2025 - By 

    The shortlist for this year’s RTÉ Choice Music Prize Irish Album of the Year 2024, in association with IMRO & IRMA, has just been announced. Following yet another phenomenal year for Irish music, the list of nominees is as follows: A Lazarus Soul – No Flowers Grow In Cement Gardens Curtisy – What Was The Question Fontaines D.C. – Romance  Orla Gartland – Everybody Needs a Hero KNEECAP – Fine Art NewDad – MADRA Niamh Regan – Come As You Are  Róis – Mo Léan Silverbacks – Easy Being a Winner SPRINTS – Letter To Self Further information and shortlists…

  • Folkways and Forward Steps: A Reflection by Dani Larkin

    January 15, 2025 - By 

    Ahead of an Irish tour kicking off in Belfast this Sunday, Dani Larkin reflects on a remarkable 2024. From a headline tour across Canada and collaborations with Crash Ensemble to sold-out shows with Lisa Hannigan and a venture into folk horror filmmaking, it’s been a year defined by creativity and exploration for the Belfast-based artist. It’s been a delight watching Dani’s journey unfold over the years and their work continues to challenge, inspire and evolve. With the new single ‘David’ and bold projects on the horizon, 2025 is shaping up to be another significant chapter. ‘David’ by Dani Larkin is…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 6th December

    December 6, 2024 - By 

    On this, the final Bandcamp Friday of 2024, dive into the very best Irish songs of the week… despite the fact most of them are just on Spotify ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Joshua Burnside – Up and Down Stray Planets – Please Don’t Hurt the Snow AM Shanley – Gone, Gone, (Gone) Michael Mormecha – Under a Spell AILSHA – Call In A Minute RUÁ and Jacob Cunningham-Bell – Breakout KhakiKid – Boy Racer Mount Palomar feat. Naomi Banks – Drag

  • No Foolin’ Around: An Interview with Dillon O’Brien

    December 2, 2024 - By 

    It’s under a week until Foo Laa Fest at the Ulster Sports Club – probably the strongest top-to-bottom Irish lineup Belfast has seen this year, and one that rounds up the second year of Dillon O’Brien’s music promotion, Fooligan.  Taking place on Thursday 5th December, TTA cover stars M(h)aol, Silverbacks and 2024 NI Music Prize winners Problem Patterns top of the bill, with some of the most exciting rising stars round there too. For those who don’t know Fooligan, can you tell us a bit about what you’ve been up to over the last while, and what drives you as…

  • Video Premiere: AM Shanley – You Really Have Me

    November 28, 2024 - By 

    As long-time fans of his craft, we’re pleased to present the premiere of the video for ‘You Really Have Me’ by Northern Irish artist AM Shanley. The October single, a sublime, heart-stung gem, is taken from his highly anticipated upcoming album American Vanilla, and has already cemented itself as one of the Irish songs of the year. The video features Shanley alongside the legendary RichyBoy, the official dancer at 2019’s Vantastival Festival in Drogheda, no less. With his unparalleled energy and passion for movement, RichyBoy has said: “RichyBoy just wants to dance dance dance! As I always say, ‘If there’s…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 22nd November

    November 22, 2024 - By 

    The year might be winding down but the sheer calibre of Irish music is not. Dive into brand new Ginnels, Search Results, AONAIR, The Darkling Air, Soda Blonde, and two new tracks by the sadly-missed Eoin French aka Talos alongside Atli Örvarsson Ginnels – Johnny Thunders Said / Together Johnny Thunders Said by Ginnels Search Results – Hoban Happy Hot Night (E.P.) by Search Results Talos and Atli Örvarsson – Baltimore / Matter Aonair – The Loser HART – These Days Birthday Problems – The Language of War The Darkling Air – Pandemonium Soda Blonde – The Saddest Thing ROE…

  • Monday Mixtape: Pippa Molony

    November 18, 2024 - By 

    Following the release of her stellar debut EP, Hungry Ghost, Dublin artist Pippa Molony takes us on a guided tour of some of her all-time favourite songs, featuring Operating Theatre, Jenny Hval, Kelly Moran, Björk and more Björk – Unison ‘Unison,’ from Björk’s Vespertine, is a song I somehow missed until recently. I’d listened to the album before, saved Frosti to all of my playlists, but Unison slipped past me. I finally heard it for the first time during Benji Reid’s Find Your Eyes at Dublin Theatre Festival—and it hit me like a truck. This track closes Vespertine. It begins…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 15th November

    November 15, 2024 - By 

    We’re back to stacked round-ups today via essential new sounds from Adore, Cormorant Tree Oh, Tigers of Tin Pan, Makeshift Art Bar, Lucy Gaffney, Brién and more Adore – Can We Talk Cormorant Tree Oh – To Be Flowers Tigers of Tin Pan – I Cannot See The Doctor Makeshift Art Bar – Birthday Party Lucy Gaffney – do u know me? Brién – Everyone’s Here Garrett Laurie – No Warning Body Wigs – Body Clinic EP Body Wigs by Wigs & Body Clinic Eve Clague – Caught in Words Caught In Words by Eve Clague Ciaran Lavery feat. Joshua…

  • Iggy Pop, Gilla Band and More for In The Meadows 2025

    November 7, 2024 - By 

    Five months on from the massive success of its inaugural outing, In The Meadows have announced Gilla Band, Sprints and headliner Iggy Pop as part of next year’s line-up. Returning to Royal Hospital Kilmainham on Saturday, 7th June, the one-day festival will also host sets by the likes of The Scratch, Warmduscher, Lambrini Girls, Trupa Trupa, plus more to be announced, across three stages. If it’s anything close to what this year delivered, expect another high watermark of the Irish festival calendar – offering up what we said in our review of this year’s debut outing “was a genuinely alternative…