• Track Record: Stephen McCauley

    April 2, 2015 - By 

    In the latest installment of Track Record, Derry radio broadcast and bona fide music savant Stephen McCauley selects and talks about some of his all-time favourite records. Stephen presents Soundscapes – featuring a mix of contemporary classical, electronica, ambient and acoustic music – on BBC Radio Ulster every Wednesday night. Photos by Colm Laverty. The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967) I was slow to mention this record because it’s popularity is almost a cliché in itself but it had a profound impact on me when I first heard it and it still does. I was 15 and…

  • DIY Dublin: Love Supreme

    April 1, 2015 - By 

    In the very first installment of DIY Dublin, a new regular feature looking at some of the city’s most intriguing small businesses, organisations and individuals, Stevie Lennox samples the wares of a Stoneybatter institution in the making. I popped in for a chat with Ken Flood, co-runner and proprietor of the wonderfully-monikered Love Supreme, a café that’s been operating for just eight months in Dublin’s recently-thriving Stoneybatter area. Besides its simple, eye-catching – without being intimidatingly extravagant – aesthetic, what was instantly striking was the selection of freshly-made sausage rolls and pies heating behind the counter, and a generous selection of…

  • EP Premiere: Patrick Gardiner – Carcassonne

    April 1, 2015 - By 

    Ahead of its launch at Belfast’s Voodoo on April 9, we’re pleased to present an exclusive first listen to Carcassonne, the second EP from Co. Down singer-songwriter Patrick Gardiner. A subtly eclectic mix of incisive, occasionally wry and consistently considered acoustic tale-telling, the five-track release sees Gardiner’s earnest words drive forth full-band tracks underpinned with some instantly memorable melodic threads and pop nuances. Better still is Gardiner’s guitar-playing throughout, proving very much representative of a craftsman who has played and commanded the instrument from a young age. Go here for the Facebook event page for the launch show and stream the EP below.

  • Interview: Bennie Reilly (Little Xs for Eyes)

    April 9, 2015 - By 

    Mike McGrath Bryan chats to Bennie Reilly from indie pop band Little Xs for Eyes about their new album, Spotify and their plans for the rest of the year. Photo by Abigail Denniston. Everywhere Else has been in the works for a while now. Was there a coherent record in mind all along, or were singles along the way, like ‘Summer Stay’ the focus before collecting them along with other new songs? We recorded the album this time last year, and the songs had all been in development for a couple of years prior to that but during that time we had…

  • Visual Arts Outlook (30/3)

    March 30, 2015 - By 

    Mary Stevens delivers her weekly look at all things Visual Arts in Ireland, singling out works and showcases in Banbridge and Dublin. The F.E Mc William Gallery and Studio – Banbridge Virtually There w/ Ann Donnelly, Julie Forrester, Ann Henderson, Sharon Kelly and Andrew Livingstone. Virtually There is a collaboration between artists and school children presented in a formal gallery context. The beautiful and generous space of the FE MCWilliam gallery is given over to the results of a considered body of work which reflects each individual artist and the school groups with which they were paired. Set out as separate projects,…

  • DIY Dublin: Homebeat

    April 8, 2015 - By 

    In the second of a new regular feature called DIY Dublin, we talk to various people setting up their own businesses and doing it for themselves in the heart of the city. Aidan Hanratty chats to Emmet of DIY, alternative space loving music promoter Homebeat about getting started, nurturing talent and the dynamics of space. Photos by Abigail Denniston. From home to Homebeat I’m from a little town called Newcastle West in Limerick, but I’ve been living in Dublin for the bones of about 15 years. I was in college in the late 90s/early 2000s when things were kind of horrible in…

  • Front of House: Michelle Whitehead (MCD)

    March 30, 2015 - By 

    In the latest installment of Front of House, we chat with MCD music publicist Michelle Whitehead about the day-to-day workings of her job, her long history in promotion and ways in which to get involved within the industry. Photos by Isabel Thomas Hi Michelle. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Hello! Sure, I’m a music publicist for MCD Productions How did you become a promoter and how long have you been involved in it? I’ve always been interested in promoting since before setting up own club night called Lockdown Dublin –which was a weekly club night for rock…

  • Bookmark: Nadine O’Regan

    March 31, 2015 - By 

    In this installment of Bookmark we spend some time with Nadine O’Regan, who is the Books and Arts Editor with The Sunday Business Post and presents Songs in the Key of Life on Dublin station TXFM (www.txfm.ie and 105.2FM) on Saturdays from 11am. Photos by Mark Earley. Jeffrey Eugenides- Middlesex  American author Jeffrey Eugenides writes novels incredibly slowly – he has published just three in his 55 years and for Middlesex, his 2002 novel which won the Pulitzer Prize, his American editor had to fly to Berlin, where Eugenides was living at the time, to wrest the manuscript from his grasp. Luckily…

  • All Tvvins Irish Tour

    March 31, 2015 - By 

    In our latest Irish tour feature, our photographers Sara Marsden and Aaron Corr, and writers Cathal McBride and Eoin Murray, report back from All Tvvins‘ Dublin, Galway and Belfast shows at the weekend. Whelan’s, Dublin Wednesday, March 25. Photos by Aaron Corr Roisin Dubh, Galway Saturday, March 28 The mood is ideal from the start of proceedings this Saturday night. It’s shortly before 10 and the already filling floor of the Roisín’s main room is being warmed up by the first support of the night. Extra Fox – AKA Neil Adams, brother to Conor Adams with whom he shared guitar duty…

  • Rave New World (27/3)

    March 27, 2015 - By 

    With Antoin Lindsay still AWOL (he’s ok, though – don’t be panicking and phoning his parents or anything) Aidan Hanratty whittles down the very finest electronic gigs, releases and mixes for this week’s Rave New World GIGS There’s so many gigs this weekend. It’s hard to whittle it down really. Objekt is playing twice – once at Cyprus Avenue in Cork (tonight) and once at Hangar in Dublin (tomorrow, alongside Snakehips and DeFekT), Derrick May is in Dublin tonight, as is George Fitzgerald, while Randomer, Prins Thomas and Mark E all come to town this weekend. In Belfast, residents Defcon and…