• 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 –…

  • Monday Mixtape: Psychic Graveyard

    May 15, 2023 - By 

    Ahead of their debut Irish shows this weekend, Psychic Graveyard (featuring former members of Arab on Radar, Some Girls, All Leather, Chinese Stars, etc) select the tracks that have left a lasting impression on their lives. Six Finger Satellite – Laughing Larry Laughing Larry is one of my favorite songs off Six Finger Satellite’s Pigeon Is The Most Popular Bird. To celebrate its 30th birthday, Sub Pop is reissuing this gem this. This album is still in my top ten albums of all time. My first thought when hearing this album was, this is the music I had been waiting…

  • The ddr. Radio Logs – Entry #4: Cosmetic Plague x Sources of Uncertainty

    May 10, 2023 - By 

    In the fourth installment of the ddr. Radio Logs – a monthly series by Dublin Digital Radio residents, exploring their practice and the craft of radio-making – Decy Synnott of Sources of Uncertainty and Karen Browett of Cosmetic Plague delve into everything from multimedia practice + participatory engagement to Ireland’s frankly punk af DIY community Decy: Hey Karen! Thanks for agreeing to do this. I figured we’ve had versions of this conversation in person multiple times over the years. You chat to a friend about what they’re up to, accidentally go off on an existential tangent for an hour, and…

  • 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…

  • Real to Reel: An Interview with Katie Gerardine O’Neill

    May 10, 2023 - By 

    Dublin-based artist Katie Gerardine O’Neill talks to Sophia McDonald about breaking new ground via a new-found love of techno and analog recording Photos by Loreana Rushe “It’s like hoarder levels. This is just an excuse for me to be a very strange person.” Katie Gerardine O’Neill is describing the masses of music files and field recordings that have accumulated on her laptop. Crumpling up paper and crunching tinfoil is all part of the process for the Dublin-based artist, whose new record, Into the Beyond, combines traditional analog tapes with more modern electronic elements.  Following her previous album, Message Green, O’Neill…

  • 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…

  • “Are we really back here again?” The Return of girlfriend.

    May 5, 2023 - By 

    Following a three-year hiatus, Hana Lamari and Lahela Jones of Dublin DIY heroes girlfriend. discuss their return to the scene, Ireland’s ever-changing music community and the secret to longevity Words by Jack Rudden Photos by Gemma Bovenizer In a country as small as Ireland, independent music is an intimate and sometimes volatile affair. Artists, promoters and venues are cobbled together or torn asunder with remarkable speed and comparable tenacity. Only the most dedicated can survive atop these ever-shifting subcultural tectonic plates. Those that are willing to fight tooth and nail, reinvent and lay themselves bare are capable of enduring the…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 5th May

    May 5, 2023 - By 

    It’s Bandcamp Friday once again, and it’s been yet another banner week for Irish releases. Dig into the best of them from The Bonk, Adjunct Ensemble, Chalk, Elaine Mai & MayKay, Pôt-Pôt and more The Bonk – The Blueshirt Shuffle The Blueshirt Shuffle by The Bonk Adjunct Ensemble – Sovereign Bodies/Ritual Taxonomy Chalk – Conditions Elaine Mai & MayKay – 3am Alpha Chrome Yayo – Hidden Earth Hidden Earth by Alpha Chrome Yayo Asi Nisi Masa – Cobweb Thread Daniel Luke – Shadow Dance Shadow Dance by Daniel Luke Raja Baal – I Will Never Be Cool (You Can’t Make Me)…

  • Inbound: Yinyang

    May 3, 2023 - By 

    Part of a crop of artists from the North that are bending genre to break its confines, Yinyang is all about duality. Known offstage as Lauren Hannan, the artist’s select but ferocious string of five singles, culminating in last year’s booming, bass-heavy ‘Happy Money’, fuse together alternative hip-hop with pop-punk sensibilities. There’s a bit of GIRLI meets Biig Piig; a bold sense of self and delivery with a self-conscious edge. Huge production values mask the bite of scathing verses that you’d perhaps miss on a first listen, with subject matter tackling mental illness, antidepressants, down and bad days. Paired together…

  • Redefining Themselves for Themselves: An Interview With M(h)aol

    May 2, 2023 - By 

    Off the back of the release of their debut LP Attachment Styles, fast-rising feminist punk five-piece M(h)aol talk fierce storytelling, breaking taboo, and representing their truth to the world Words by Leigh Arthur Photos by Jane Donnelly “I didn’t imagine eight years ago when I shaved your head this is where we’d be, but there’s nowhere that I’d rather be.” Constance Keane (also known as Fears for her solo work) is emotive as are the other members of M(h)aol as they make affectionate dedications to each other onstage in a basement in Dalston. The strike of midnight marks the release…