• 17 For ’17: Gaze is Ghost

    January 30, 2017 - By 

    What is the distinction between a songwriter and a composer? Where is the line drawn and indeed, what does it mean? Just one listen to Strabane-born, Cambridge-based Gaze is Ghost will tell you that sometimes one of these descriptions alone is not enough. Since announcing herself onto the world with the outstanding mini-album Plume back in 2013, a sepia-toned ode to her temporary Parisian home, her reputation has been quietly on the ascendancy. Racking up support slots for Mancunian anti-punks Crywank amongst others, Laura McGarrigle’s ever growing fan base is no mean feat for an artist undoubtedly out of love…

  • Baring Her Soul: An Interview With Dublin’s Samantha Kay AKA Soulé

    January 26, 2017 - By 

    Last year was momentous for Dublin urban-electronic singer Samantha Kay AKA Soulé. She released her debut single ‘Love No More’ which featured regularly on national airwaves, played her first headline show in Dublin’s Workman’s Club, all this while concurrently working on her debut album under the guidance of Diffusion Lab. She ignites an innovation within the Irish music R’n’B scene, one that is becoming as prominent amongst a dominance of guitar lead indie and rock bands. Ahead of performing alongside Booka Brass and BARQ at Jameson’s Bow St. Session at Dublin’s The Sugar Club tonight, Zara Hedderman talks to Kay about…

  • Inbound: MUNKY

    January 25, 2017 - By 

    If you’re becoming slightly jaded with run of the mill music and want to expand your ear to something different, MUNKY are the antidote. Today, the Dublin quartet released the video for their new single ‘Hunter Gatherer Blues’, four minutes of infectious disco-infused rock. Zara Hedderman spoke to their frontman, Zac Stephenson about the video, their influences and their forthcoming debut headline gig in Whelan’s on February 1. Who are MUNKY? MUNKY are Zac Stephenson (lead vocals, guitar),  Sam Russell (drums), Conor Lawlor (lead guitar) Niall Donnelly (bass). What brought you guys together to form the band? Zac: I met Conor…

  • 17 for ’17: Alien She

    January 26, 2017 - By 

    While 2016 has proved a political and problematic wreck in many regards, Dublin trio Alien She have made the most of it, using the ups and (mostly) downs of the past twelve months to fuel their experimental and progressive sound. While the group has been floating around the Dublin music scene for the last number of years, 2016 proved to be a particularly productive year. Besides their active gigging schedule, the latter half of last year brought the release of the track ‘Cold Brain’ from their debut album Feeler, soon to be released. The group comprises of artists and activists…

  • 17 for ’17: Bad Sea

    January 25, 2017 - By 

    There’s nothing rough about the waves that Bad Sea have been making in the Irish gig scene. Their dreamy folk-country combo has seen them playing everything from Castlepalooza to Other Voices to the recent Therapy Sessions at the Workman’s Club (as part of the First Fortnight Festival). The duo, Ciara Thompson and Alan Pharrell, met on Tinder, and managed to form a powerhouse of a musical relationship out of a dating site. All that’s available for listening online at the moment is the band’s poignant debut single, Solid Air, which offers the perfect juxtaposition between Thompson’s unique and gentle swaying…

  • 17 for ’17: Our Krypton Son

    January 25, 2017 - By 

    Our Krypton Son’s ethereal sounds may seem bathed in “the glow that flashes red” from the sun of Superman’s home planet, but we don’t really need to look as far as the celestial bodies. Those auroras closer to home should take just as much responsibility for where Chris McConaghy’s melodies emanate from, piercing every so often through the coastal skies to inspire and ignite. Written in the small village of Creeslough in northwest Donegal, the sonic themes of Fleas and Diamonds swell and meander like the landscape of the county that birthed it; impenetrable yet so welcoming once breached, a…

  • Having The Last Laugh: An Interview with Susan Calman

    January 22, 2017 - By 

    If laughter is indeed the best medicine, then Scottish comedian, actress and writer Susan Calman should be designated GP. Having imbued her diverse and far-reaching career with promoting mental health awareness via her own personal experience, Calman talks to Brian Coney about process, profile and positivity ahead of appearing at Belfast’s the MAC on February 5 (tickets and full info here). Hi, Susan. You’re setting off on a string of tour dates in February. How are you feeling about the shows? And tell us more about this particular show, The Calman Before The Storm. I’m really looking forward to getting out on…

  • 17 for ’17: Super Silly

    January 24, 2017 - By 

    There’s a need for the kind of music Super Silly are currently making. Sonically rooted in the anthemic theatricality of gospel, the warmth of R’n’B, and with a proclivity for the cutting-edge end of the urban music spectrum, theirs is a prospect that slices through the doom and gloom and offers acute relief. Take debut single ‘No Pressure’ as an example. A slickly produced showcase for the vocal dexterity of the collective of Precious, Solbas, Grooves, and Shek, the track extends to the listener the positive, familial, and inclusive attitude of Super Silly – not entirely surprising given their background…

  • 17 for ’17: Beach

    January 23, 2017 - By 

    The spirit of psychedelia is alive and well and living in the heart of Dublin, or at least that is what Dublin based five-piece Beach would have you believe. The quintet has spent the last few years finely honing their brand of everything but the kitchen sink psych into a well-oiled machine. Even a cursory glance at the band reveals a vast depth and scope at their very core. These are not minor or modest compositions. They’re huge ambitious beasts meandering through an unpredictable, almost endless series of twists and turns. As you listen closely you can pick out these…

  • 17 for ’17: Damola

    January 27, 2017 - By 

    Nigeria, Jamaica and Ireland mightn’t be known as hip-hop hotspots, but it’s these unexpected influences that seem to characterise Damola’s music. He cites listening to his parents’ Jamaican music as a child in Nigeria as his earliest influence, although he didn’t start performing until he was a teenager in Dublin, making up raps to impress his friends. Since 2014 he’s been releasing tracks and videos with the Backshed Inc. collective, allowing him the freedom to develop his increasingly idiosyncratic sound. Last year’s ‘Workflow’, in both it’s production and hard-hitting, rhythmic flow, owed a lot to the earlier work of Kendrick…