• Album Premiere: Owensie – Dramamine

    November 3, 2015 - By 

    It’s not every day – or indeed week or month – an album like Dramamine is released into the world.  Set for release via stellar Limerick imprint Out On A Limb Records on Friday, November 13, the third studio album from Dublin songsmith Michael Owens AKA Owensie is a masterfully accomplished nine-track release of meditative, decidedly Autumnal folk-pop summing everyone from Department of Eagles, Sun Kil Moon circa Admiral Fell Promises and Kill Rock Stars-era Elliott Smith. Recorded in various indoor and outdoor locations across the country, using natural acoustics to create an instantly resonant sonic sojourn, there is a cunningly considered glory to the…

  • Tension & Trepidation: A Guide to Goblin

    October 31, 2015 - By 

    As it’s Halloween and Claudio Simonetti’s kings of the Italian horror genre just played District 8, Dublin last night, it seemed apt to have a look at the irrefutable endowment Goblin made to horror soundtracks, and their contribution to music as a whole. In 2015 the band is more popular, and influential than they have been at any time in the past. They probably never thought their scores would serve as a touchstone for metal, electro and experimental music, but it undoubtedly has. Goblin emerged from the remnants of a number of splintered Italian prog rock acts in the early 70s.Keyboardist and frontman Claudio Simonetti and original drummer…

  • Rave New World (30/10)

    October 30, 2015 - By 

    Aidan Hanratty and Antoin Lindsay preview all the very best electronic gigs, tracks and mixes of the week. GIGS Shine 20th Birthday at Queen’s Student Union Saturday 31 October The best lineup Shine has done in ages? Probably. The best option to spend Halloween in Belfast? Almost definitely. Local boys Bicep head the bill at the usual spot with a cracking raft of other DJs in tow. Heidi will be joining them in room 1 and in room 2 you can catch the blistering Ryan Elliott. One-half-Belfast AnD will be joined by Dublin’s primo techno supremo Sunil Sharpe. Plenty of…

  • Rave New World w/ Forrests mix

    October 23, 2015 - By 

    In the second of our sporadic guest mixes from our favourite DJs and artists from the island of Ireland, we have a fascinating tread through the library of an act that’s on the cusp of something big. Dublin-based duo Forrests released their debut Wilder on Blast First Petite a few years back, and after some time spent gigging and writing, they’re back with Organs. Self-released, it’s a glorious barrel of noise and beauty. They’ve put together a really excellent mix for us, moving from electronic forebears Throbbing Gristle and Laurie Spiegel to present-day luminaries Leon Vynehall, Willie Burns and Mica Levi. Artwork by Sarah…

  • Here Is No Why: Mellon Collie Remembered

    October 23, 2015 - By 

    Today marks the 20th anniversary of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by the Smashing Pumpkins. A seminal album in the canon of alternative rock, but one that struck a chord particularly with our contributors and musicians in Ireland who are self confessed Pumpkinheads. We’ve collected their thoughts and stories below on the record and why it’s left such an everlasting impression on their lives. My first glimpse of Mellon Collie was staring at the video for ‘1979’ on MTV, standing in a queue at burger king as a snotty teen. The moment I heard that song, I was overwhelmed…

  • Rave New World (16/10)

    October 16, 2015 - By 

    Aidan Hanratty and Antoin Lindsay preview all the very best electronic gigs, tracks and mixes of the week. GIGS Techno & Cans presents: Clouds [Live] at Hangar Friday 16 October 2015 Clouds started out making noisy techno for the likes of Tiga’s Turbo and Fake Blood’s Blood Music. They still do that, but they’ve recently dropped a cassette for the ever-fascinating Opal Tapes, signalling a shift of sorts. This gig is set to bang though, no matter who puts out their records. AH Squid Inc. Pres Paramida at Tengu Bar – Yamamori Sushi Saturday 17 October Tengu is a really sick…

  • Monday Mixtape: James McNew (Yo La Tengo)

    October 12, 2015 - By 

    Ahead of their highly-anticipated return to Dublin at the National Concert Hall on Thursday night (October 15), Yo La Tengo’s James McNew reveals eight tracks “that roll through my head almost every single day of my life”, including Cornelius, Grateful Dead & El-P. EL-P – Deep Space 9mm  Every detail, and there are ones I’m still discovering, has gotten me to the end of every day since 2002. This guy somehow finds the exact humor/ humanity in the scariest of shit, just when you need it. Grateful Dead – Live on Beat Club   Like a dream where you discover new…

  • EP Premiere: Grassfight – Please Don’t Tell

    October 8, 2015 - By 

    With influences as downright venerable as Spacemen 3, The Brian Jonestown Massacre and Spoon, New York quartet Grassfight meld cosmically-inclined indie-pop with a subtly anthemic moxie that’s positively strewn across their new EP, Please Don’t Tell – a release which we’re delighted to premiere in full ahead of its release tomorrow (Friday, October 9) Tempting the semi-inevitable Fleetwood Mac comparison (no bad thing in itself, surely), their new five-track EP documents the break-up between two of the band members. Naturally, then, a certain weight of import permeates the length and breadth of the release – the latter word faring pretty operative in the EP feeling not…

  • Monday Mixtape: Horace Panter (The Specials)

    October 5, 2015 - By 

    Artist and co-founding bassist of 2-Tone legends The Specials, Horace Panter reveals his ten all-time favourite tracks, including Laurel Aitken, Nirvana and The Rolling Stones. Spencer Davis Group – Trampoline The Bside to their 1966 Fontana release ‘When I Come Home’. Sounds like Booker T & the MG’s but was recorded by four young men from Kingstanding in Birmingham! When I was 13, I imagined myself as a pirate radio DJ. This was my theme tune – it still is! Robert Ward – Pour Me One More Drink  An out-take from his 1992 album on the New Orleans ‘Black Top’ label. Sarah Brown on…

  • Playlist: 10 Must-See Acts at Hard Working Class Heroes 2015

    September 30, 2015 - By 

    On the eve of the return of the country’s leading celebration of homegrown, independent music, Hard Working Class Heroes, we have compiled a list of 10 comprehensively unmissable acts to catch across Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Go here for the full schedule. Everything Shook Argento Nights EP by Everything Shook Arborist Twisted Arrow ft. Kim Deal by arborist Inni-K The King has Two Horse’s Ears by Inni-K The Altered Hours Silences Participant Bit Slow by Participant Elastic Sleep Slip by Elastic Sleep I Have a Tribe SlowPlaceLikeHome Best Boy Grip Sharks by BestBoyGrip