• Track Record: SHREM

    July 6, 2023 - By 

    In this installment of Track Record, Dublin-based DJ and selector SHREM shares some of their all time favourite records from Glass Candy to Cocteau Twins. Photos by Monika Ruman Glass Candy – B/E/A/T/B/O/X Ida No and Johnny Jewel’s ‘B/E/A/T/B/O/X’ is the sonic flagship of the now-cult Italians Do It Better label. It’s also an album I own in most variations, 8 differently coloured vinyl editions and counting – I am an impossible nerd when it comes to collecting. It’s an album full of surprises and its own humour and inimitable sound. It’s such an engrossing mixture of italo disco, post-punk,…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 30th June

    June 30, 2023 - By 

    On what’s been yet another stacked week for Irish music, delve into new tracks and releases by Rachael Lavelle, ØXN, Brigid Mae Power, Neil Brogan, Jafaris, Kelley and more. Rachel Lavelle – Let Me Unlock Your Full Potential ØXN – Love Henry Brigid Mae Power – Dream From The Deep Well Dream from the Deep Well by Brigid Mae Power Neil Brogan – Yrs Truly Yrs Truly, by Neil Brogan Jafaris – Breaking Bread Keeley – Floating Above Everything Else Floating Above Everything Else by Keeley Rory Nellis and Philip Watts d’Alton – The Evening Light Caoi De Barra –…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 9th June

    June 9, 2023 - By 

    Honestly, how is it not Bandcamp Friday? Delve into the best Irish tracks and releases of the week from Problem Patterns, Chubby Cat, Aoife Wolf, The Low Field, Slouch, Brand New Friend, Akrobat, Mineral Stunting and more Problem Patterns – Letter of Resignation Chubby Cat – 21st Century Panic Attack The Low Field – ‘Heaviness/Tachycardia’ Heaviness / Tachycardia by The Low Field Aoife Wolf – A Ringing in the Ear Slouch – I Get What’s Mine Akrobat – Air Station 2.0 Brand New Friend – Talk It Out Ezra Williams – Skin Sprints – Adore Adore Adore Trophy Wife –…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 2nd June

    June 2, 2023 - By 

    From every corner of the island, here’s the very best new music of the week from Elaine Malone, David Donohue, Trá Pháidín, Winnie Ama, Ryan Vail and more Elaine Malone – Moontread David Donohoe – Fen Fen by David Donohoe Trá Pháidín – cé mo dhuine si​ú​l sa hi​-​vis cé mo dhuine siúl sa hi-vis by Trá Pháidín Winnie Ama – Get on You Left Iris – Crash Ryan Vail – Silhouette Badhands – Bad Dreams The Wheel by Badhands

  • AVA 2023: This Year’s Giants

    June 2, 2023 - By 

    As daylight savings hits its true peak this weekend so too does the Belfast rave crowd. Launching with a pre-festival party tonight at local independent fashion merchants Never Never, AVA Festival returns to the feet of David & Goliath with a line-up that cements its status as one of the most well-reputed and respected electronic festivals in Europe. As usual the line up consists of big-hitters from the Island and beyond, this year in the form of Central Cee, SPFDJ, Job Jobse, Sally C and OR:LA. The festival’s consistently solid bookings provide further excitement than simply bringing big names to…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 26th May

    May 26, 2023 - By 

    From every corner of the island, here’s the very best new music of the week, from Super Extra Bonus Party, Caoilian Sherlock, Lucy Gaffney and more Super Extra Bonus Party – The Corpse Caoilian Sherlock – Teenage Jesus Teenage Jesus Album by Caoilian Sherlock Lucy Gaffney – Daydream in Tokyo Feather Beds – Saviour Saviour by Feather Beds HAVVK – Daylight Robbery A.S. Fanning – Mushroom Cloud Sasha Samara – Why Am I Still Here, I Never Learn EP Oba – Sequence EP Touch Excellent – Record

  • Festival Preview: Beyond The Pale 2023

    May 24, 2023 - By 

    As expertly-curated boutique music festivals go, Beyond the Pale takes some beating. Returning for three days of top-tier sounds, art and food at Glendalough Estate in Co. Wicklow across 16th-18th June, the festival is well and truly doubling down on last year’s stellar first outing. Better said, it’s this year’s most unmissable Irish summer festival. First, and of course foremost, Beyond The Pale sets itself apart with its first-rate musical curation. Where last year more than delivered on a wonderfully diverse, genre-spanning bill, this year’s edition comfortably inhabits a space that can’t be rivalled on these shores. As well as era-crossing, genre-distilling world-beaters in the form of this…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 19th May

    May 19, 2023 - By 

    It’s been another stacked seven days on the new Irish music front. Here’s the best tracks and releases of the week, from Elaine Howley, Roger Doyle, Shiv, Swimmers Jackson & more Elaine Howley – Live As I Saw It Roger Doyle – Skin Care Swimmers Jackson – Borrow Sorrow Shiv – Heavy Water Anna’s Anchor – Hotel Dom Pancho Anderson Nightmare – Sleep Exhalers – Meat Clown MEAT CLOWN by Exhalers Drew Makes Noise – Hey Christian Cohle – Wetlands WETLANDS by Christian Cohle Stik Figa & The Expert – The Green Monster Stephen Shannon – Fathoms Sasha Samara –…

  • Track Record: Elaine Malone

    May 11, 2023 - By 

    From Nico and Elliott Smith, to Suicide and Scott Walker, Cork-based psych-folk artist Elaine Malone, aka Mantua, selects ten records that have left an indelible imprint on her music and life Photo by Celeste Burdon Nothing is Real by Elaine Malone is out now via Pizza Pizza Records Nothing is Real by Elaine Malone Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood – Nancy and Lee The triumphant unity of Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra – finding mutual success in each other’s waning stars. Nancy was told by Lee to discard her saccharine pop persona and to “sing like a 14-year-old girl who…

  • Inbound: The Personal Vanity Project

    May 9, 2023 - By 

    Formed during lockdown by producer, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and all-round Limerick indie king Chris Quigley, The Personal Vanity Project is a new proposition sourced from high-spec parts in drummer/vocalist Brendan McInerney (Bleeding Heart Pigeons) and James Reidy (His Father’s Voice) on keyboards/space FX. Quigley gave us the full scoop: “The starting point was me hearing about this rumoured Kevin Shields drum’n’bass record that was never released, which left me thinking, ‘Oh I wonder what that would have sounded like?’. Terrible, really bad. So I made a few bits, but gradually found myself drifting towards something more interesting – which was this…