• Inbound: I Dreamed I Dream

    April 4, 2023 - By 

    “I started living in Claire’s wardrobe without her knowing, and slowly integrated into the house and band. It’s all going quite well!” This is just one side of the I Dreamed I Dream (IDID) origin story, as told by Niamh Hayes. Ultimately, though, the Cork-based quintet – comprised of Hayes, Claire Aherne, Elle Kelleher, Julie Landers, and Laura Dineen – came together through a mutual love of music, which united them at various gigs over the years before becoming buddies let alone bandmates. Formed in 2022, the band have quickly become an exciting live proposition, opening for the likes of…

  • Worship the Grounds: A Chat with Imbibe

    May 1, 2022 - By 

    On their fourth birthday, Zara Hedderman talks ethics & community with Gary Grant, the music-obsessed driving force behind Dublin’s finest – and soundest – coffee roasters, Imbibe Get your fix via Imbibe.ie During the depths of the pandemic, a handful of my friends started a monthly virtual coffee and music club. On a Sunday morning, sometimes Saturday afternoon, the six members would discuss albums unfamiliar to everyone spanning the 1960s to 2010s whilst enjoying a specialty coffee, or two over Zoom. Before delving into the chosen records, everyone described what roast they were drinking; their brewing method and the flavour…

  • EP Premiere + Q+A: Badhands – Oceans

    November 26, 2020 - By 

    The popularity of the sea, particularly in recent years, has become somewhat of an astonishing phenomenon. Images shared by friends and acquaintances online of their sea swimming adventures are perpetual, even in cold winter climates. There’s no denying that the activity is both restorative and reinvigorating. For many, it has been a consistent companion in finding a release with anxiety and other personal struggles. A huge aspect to the appeal of the sea is its vastness and unpredictability, your eye can only distinguish so much in the distance and so your imagination is allowed to roam.  This is an integral…

  • LP Premiere + Q+A: Kilian O’Kelly – Luzhny’s Layer

    November 6, 2020 - By 

    It’s been a busy couple of years for Dublin-based guitarist, Kilian O’Kelly. In between joining Girl Band for a few dates on their 2019 tour, releasing a critically acclaimed debut record Fad with his band Silverbacks this past summer and setting up an independent label, Central Tones, he somehow managed to find time to write and record an exceptionally dynamic solo album entitled Luzhny’s Layer. The instrumentally-led body of work contains multitudes across nineteen immersive arrangements. Within, O’Kelly conveys a myriad of moods via floating guitar riffs, unnerving string accompaniments and utterly magical piano lines all masterfully performed. It ventures…

  • Premiere: PowPig – Intellectual

    June 18, 2020 - By 

    Back in 2018, PowPig graced practically every domestic  “One’s To Watch” list long before some members had even finished secondary school. Since then, the Limerick-based quartet has consistently excited audiences with their exuberant sound (if you haven’t checked out their split EP with Junior Brother from last year, do so immediately!) and live performances. The fun-loving foursome has firmly established themselves as one of the most exciting and promising bands in Ireland and they continue to show their musical dexterity with each subsequent release.  Today, PowPig share their most introspective arrangement to date, ‘Intellectual’. Founded on sophisticated textures of twinkling…

  • Look At Now: O Emperor interviewed

    November 2, 2018 - By 

    Almost a decade ago, O Emperor released their debut record Hither Thither to critical acclaim. From there, the Waterford-bred quintet would go on to constantly redefine how bands in Ireland could record and share music without, forever shirking the limits and binds of being tied to a major label. From the grandiose psych-folk of their debut to the weird, gritty krautrock, komische, garage rock and psych of Vitreous and the Lizard EP, the five-piece have proved themselves time and time again to be a group who have defied expectation at every turn. The outfit’s announcement in September that they would be disbanding, while disappointing…

  • Let Them Eat Vowels: A Conversation with Stephen Malkmus

    October 15, 2018 - By 

    For over a quarter of a century, Stephen Malkmus has inspired countless aspiring musicians to pick up a guitar, form a band and write loud, dissonant melodies and playful, witty lyrics. Pavement and the Silver Jews are amongst two of the most influential bands of the 90s and 2000s. For the last seventeen years, however, Malkmus has been performing with The Jicks. Earlier this year, Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks released Sparkle Hard, their tremendous seventh album. Ahead of their gig in Dublin’s Vicar Street, Malkmus spoke to Zara Hedderman about artists making music in their fifties, the process of…

  • David Kitt – Like Lightning

    September 21, 2018 - By 

    David Kitt rounded off the first quarter of 2018 with Yous, a welcomed return to the sound he’s cultivated over the last two decades. The Dublin-based musician greets the autumn with Like Lightning, a six track EP led by the title-track which was originally featured on the quietly acclaimed album that preceded it. Like Lightning offers fans of Kitt’s varied repertoire of records under his own name an introduction to his more immediately electronic New Jackson material. On the surface, this EP could be construed as a compilation of B-sides and offcuts from the Yous recording sessions. These five songs…

  • Another Love Story 2018

    August 22, 2018 - By 

    An intimate festival of approximately two hundred attendees, Another Love Story is based in a family home set in quaint country surrounds of Killyon Manor. A mixture of live music, art installations and talks were enjoyed across various makeshift venues on the lawn as well as inside the house, namely in both cosy front rooms and the spacious ballroom. Now in its fourth year, Another Love Story affirmed its position as Ireland’s finest festival. The interplay between bands from Dublin and Cork, namely, of musicians spotted multiple times performing with different acts over the three days, demonstrated both the connectivity of…

  • A Musical Voyage Through the Cosmos: An Interview with Frankie Cosmos

    August 15, 2018 - By 

    Ahead of her mini-Irish tour, Greta Kline of New York DIY indie band, Frankie Cosmos speaks to Zara Hedderman about recording over fifty albums, dogs of Instagram and the bigs steps she took with her band whilst honing her craft and building an audience. Photo by Landon Speers Hey Greta, where are you right now? I’m at my house in New York, getting ready for the upcoming block of shows for the Frankie Cosmos tour. Do you write new material on the road? I do write while I’m on tour but it definitely changes the way I compose songs. When…