• No Fading: An Interview with Duellists

    May 29, 2018 - By 

    As everyone knows (or should know) Northern Ireland’s alt-rock lineage is both proud and incredibly diverse. Comprised of stalwarts of the scene as it looked several years ago, Duellists are a new-fangled three-piece promising aggression, abrasion and intensity. Ahead of their forthcoming debut album, the Belfast-based band talk to us about influence, almost ripping off Fugazi, the John Carpenter-conjuring video for their debut ‘Into the Fade’, the state of NI music and more. You founded in 2015 and comprise ex-members of NI bands Element and Throat. How does Duellists differ from those two acts, and do you think your previous incarnations works to…

  • Carol Keogh: Walking In Her Shoes to the Polling Station

    May 23, 2018 - By 

    This week, In Her Shoes founder, Erin Darcy, outed herself on the Facebook page, having been its anonymous primary moderator since January of this year. Erin is a young mother of three who gave birth to and is raising her children in Ireland but as an immigrant has no voting rights herself in the forthcoming referendum. This extraordinary page, recounting the individual stories of women who have travelled for terminations, has been her contribution to the Repeal campaign. Knowing this drives home the fact that so many women without electoral influence (and their families) are nonetheless affected by the Eighth…

  • Stream: Meltybrains? – Horizon

    April 9, 2018 - By 

    Remember Dublin experimental maestros Meltybrains? Good – you should. Right up there with the country’s most singular sonic propositions, the five-piece have returned with their first new material in 18 months via ‘Horizon’. Unsurprisingly, it kicks several shades of ass. Starting on a slithering pattern evoking St. Vincent’s ‘Rattlesnake’, the track bursts into full-blown cosmic-tech-metal bombast in ways only Meltybrains? can conjure. And that’s just taking into consideration the first 30 seconds. It’s a first taste of what is set to be a busy return for the band. “We’ve been very busy recently, for the past year and a half we’ve been recording loads…

  • Track Record: Zoë Gough (Dreaming of Jupiter)

    March 23, 2018 - By 

    Guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Zoë Gough from Dublin alternative pop/soul trio Dreaming of Jupiter chats about the work of ten female artists who have inspired her over the years. Photos by Kristina Hajdu. Kate Bush – The Kick Inside My Dad introduced me to this album when I was very young. I think it may well have been the first music I ever heard! I knew every word to every song by the age of 6 or 7 and remember sitting in the back of the car on the way to school and miming along. I love all of Kate’s…

  • Political Partying: An Interview with Room For Rebellion

    March 8, 2018 - By 

    Ahead of its next takeover in London, Belfast and Dublin on March 23, we talk awareness, action and momentum with Jess Brien, Anna Cafolla, Isis O’Regan, Hollie Boston and Cait Fahey of Room For Rebellion, a “political party” who host synchronised events in aid of Abortion Support Network. Go here to buy tickets for Room for Rebellion Hi guys. Take us back to the roots of Room for Rebellion. When and how did it come about? Room For Rebellion was first set up by Isis who felt implored to do something about the state of women’s healthcare in Ireland. Anna and…

  • Being a Woman, Singer & Vocal Coach in the Music Industry by Nichola Hegarty

    March 8, 2018 - By 

    I’m a 31 year old female singer and musician with 16 years’ experience performing music on stage and 5 years’ experience in vocal coachin, and like a lot of performers, I’ve been singing from a very early age. My father was a musician, lead guitarist and lead singer in numerous showbands back in the 60s and 70s. At the time when my dad was in the height of gigging, there were no iPads, iPhones or laptops to look up lyrics to a song, so you had to rely on your memory, a well-inked pen with plenty of paper to write…

  • Exclusive Track-by-Track: Paddy Hanna – Frankly, I Mutate

    March 2, 2018 - By 

    As we see it, the release of Frankly, I Mutate by Dublin’s Paddy Hanna today is something every single person with the slightest interest in Irish music should stop and pay attention to. Hanna is no flash-in-the-pan sycophant. He hasn’t came up the Liffey in a dingy sponsored by Smirnoff. He hasn’t got by on the coat-tails of more talented music-making peers. He is the coat-tails. Paddy Hanna understands the craft, and the hidden trials that later manifest as a single turn of phrase in a single song. His brand of confessionalism has never opted for the easy way out, either. It takes the scenic…

  • Crowdfunder launched for Invisible Britain: Portraits

    February 28, 2018 - By 

    A new photography book showcases cutting-edge documentary portraits from across the UK. Independent film director Paul Sng has launched a crowdfunding campaign for Invisible Britain: Portraits, a unique book of documentary images from more than 30 award-winning photographers including Belfast’s James McCourt. Co-curated by Chloe Juno and Laura Dicken, the book features stories and portraits from across the UK, showing the sharp edge of austerity and cuts to public services. The book arises from the documentary Sleaford Mods: Invisible Britain, co-directed by Sng in 2015, and follows the success of follow-up film Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle. “Negative and…

  • IMRO Live Music Venue of the Year Winners Announced

    February 21, 2018 - By 

    Always a significant event in the Irish music calendar, last night saw the 2017 IMRO Irish Live Music Venue of the Year Awards recognise some of the island’s best live music venues. Held at the IMRO HQ in Dublin, the following venues were awarded the top prize for their respective region: Dublin – Whelan’s (pictured) Rest of Leinster – The Set Theatre Connacht – Roisin Dubh Munster – Connolly’s Of Leap Ulster – Leo’s Tavern Coming out on top as the National Live Music Venue of the Year was Mike The Pies in Listowel, Co. Kerry. Elsewhere, Electric Picnic won the…

  • The Thin Air’s Alternative Valentine’s Playlist

    February 14, 2018 - By 

    Sure, every second song is about love (or the lack of it) but that hasn’t stopped us from compiling our annual Spotify playlist of 30 songs that sum up the sometimes transformative, other times crushing realm of love pretty succinctly. Featuring Mojave 3, Elliott Smith, Nick Cave, James Blake, Grizzly Bear, Yo La Tengo, My Bloody Valentine, Big Star, Father John Misty, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Magnetic Fields, Radiohead and more, you can stream and subscribe to it below.