• The Low-End Theory: An Interview John ‘Spud’ Murphy

    January 4, 2024 - By 

    Stevie Lennox chats with Spud Murphy about his crucial role in sculpting the soundworlds of Lankum, Black MIDI, ØXN and more Photos by Loreana Rushe In an inauspicious arch underneath the Dart line in North Dublin you’ll find John ‘Spud’ Murphy, working away in his longtime hub of Guerrilla Studios. “So it still is like a cave, which has pros and cons,” he says. “You’re in a cave. And there’s no external light, but you don’t know what time of the day it is. So you just keep working and you’re not looking outside going, oh, it’s beautiful outside. You…

  • In A Different Space: An Interview With Alicia Raye

    December 6, 2023 - By 

    Ahead of the release of Love Letters, her collaborative EP with Becky McNeice, Belfast-via-Drogheda powerhouse Alicia Raye chats to Andrew Moore about representation and spearheading change for female empowerment through her own artistry and management Photos by Kate Lawlor The rise of the female powerhouse has been a breath of fresh air within what is, typically, a male-dominated music industry. Artists like Doja Cat, Cardi B, Tinashe and Summer Walker are picking up where the pre-gen started; reshaping the hip-hop, R&B and Afro landscape through a strong, independent female and gender minority gaze. While this is great news for those…

  • A Different Beast: An Interview with Elaine Malone

    November 24, 2023 - By 

    Elaine Malone’s debut album roars “Fuck you, thank you” into the abyss. Words by Mike Ryan. Photo by Celeste Burdon Residents have long believed that there’s something intangibly special about the country’s second city, and the same holds true for its musicians. Cork has produced a plethora of transcendent acts in recent years, across the entire musical palette, including Fixity, the Altered Hours, Trá Pháidín and Pretty Happy to name just a few; the Cork music scene is a many-headed beast. The most recent of which has now reared its head in the form of Elaine Malone’s first full-length album,…

  • Serving Punk: An Interview with Problem Patterns

    November 20, 2023 - By 

    Off the back of the release of their debut LP Blouse Club and winning Best Video at the Northern Ireland Music Prize, Jack Rudden speaks with Belfast queer punks Problem Patterns about politics, representation and fancy blouses Photos by Sean McMahon Political frustration, an insatiable hunger for justice and pure unabashed cheek are the weapons of choice for Belfast punks Problem Patterns. Formed in 2018 in the wake of a high-profile rape trial, the four-piece has spent years espousing calls for collective action and solidarity amongst oppressed peoples with their distinct brand of abrasive, infectiously catchy and unforgivingly queer hardcore.…

  • Radical Optimism Above All: An Interview with David Holmes

    November 8, 2023 - By 

    Ahead of the release of his most fully realised record to date, Blind on a Galloping Horse, Belfast torchbearer David Holmes talks radical optimism, Weatherall, self-awakening, signing to Heavenly and really making it count Artwork by Jimmy Turrell Photos by Steve Gullick Whoever coined “there aren’t enough hours in the day” might not have bothered if they were up on David Holmes. Lauded producer, generation-spanning DJ and soundtrack composer par excellence is the brief but it only grazes the surface of a trailblazer who has packed in more than most. Three sprawling decades in, it’s a journey that hits like…

  • Slomatics

    September 19, 2023 - By 

    Off the back of their trouncing new LP Strontium Fields, the Belfast prog-doom titans sit down with Pádraic Grant to talk sci-fi, analogue synths and two decades of sonic expansion Photos by Sean McMahon ​​Twenty years into their existence, Slomatics have entered a new phase. Over six albums, countless splits and EPs, their fuzzed-out sound has grown in complexity and scope. Emerging from the chaos of the pandemic, latest release Strontium Fields, sees the trio – guitarists David Majury, Chris Couzens and vocalist/drummer Marty Harvey – push beyond the doom-stoner-fuzz continuum to blossom into an experimental rock unit as likely…

  • Kindred Soul: An Interview with Negro Impacto

    September 18, 2023 - By 

    Off the back of their new single ‘Maybe,’ Ciara Byrne chats to Dundalk neo-soul duo Negro Impacto about encapsulating the vitality and fun of the scene, representing diversity in genre and celebrating the cultural soul of Irish music Photos by Sean McMahon Emerging from the effervescent Dundalk music scene, Negro Impacto have been making a name for themselves across the island of Ireland since forming as a band in 2021. Composed of vocalist and songwriter Chi Chi and multi-instrumentalist Laurence Kapinga, aka StrangeLove, Negro Impacto first met as part of the skate scene in Dundalk, living within 2km of each…

  • Field Music: An Interview with Natalia Beylis

    September 13, 2023 - By 

    The Leitrim-based sound artist speaks to Ruairí McCann about her new album, Mermaids, and her music’s relationship to place, language, and community Photos by Aislinn McGinn The great Leitrim-born author John McGahern spent a large portion of his adulthood outside of the country and yet his artistic life remained there, rooted, and deeply concerned with recreating on the page its people, sights, sounds and rhythms, to an almost hypnotic degree. To the extent that the last scene of his last book, Memoir, is occupied with a stroll along the lanes, streams and hedgerows which define and feed Leitrim and much…

  • Power, Romance, Archery: An Interview with Rachael Lavelle

    September 7, 2023 - By 

    Off the back of what looks set to be the Irish song and video of the year, ‘Let Me Unlock Your Full Potential’, Rachael Lavelle chats with Jack Rudden about romance, the myth of archery and more Photos by Kate Lawlor Sometimes an artist thrives on a prolific output. They will assure their presence in your mental real estate is safe with an unrelenting release schedule, while constant press and promo maintain a wider cultural relevance. It’s a rather public practice of tenacious self-embiggening that seems to be an essential – if not slightly crushing – part of a life…

  • Q+A: Swimmers Jackson

    August 24, 2023 - By 

    Off the back of his stellar new LP Now Is All, we chat to Dublin singer-songwriter Niall Jackson aka Swimmers Jackson about the health of the scene, breaking new ground and being 100% DIY Swimmers Jackson plays Belfast’s Sunflower on 8th September, the Kicking Donkey in Bundoran on 9th September and Sandino’s in Derry on 10th Sunday. Go here for tickets Your new album, Now Is All, is full of highlights and features some of your finest songs to date. Taking a step outside of it, how do you feel it stands apart from what you’ve done before? It’s been…