• Féile Na Gréine Announce 2023 Line-up

    The line-up for this year’s Féile Na Gréine has been announced. Doubling up as the Limerick DIY festival’s biggest programme to date, this year’s outing takes over various venues across 18th-20th August 2023. As ever from one of the island’s most tuned-in – and infinitely sound – creative collective and promoters, it’s another wonderfully eclectic, thoroughly stacked line-up of gigs, site-specific performances no workshops across three days and nights. Among this year’s many highlights are a whole host of TTA favourite including Robocobra Quartet (pictured), FONDA, Eimear Reidy and Natalia Beylis, Jane Deasy, Katie Kim, Naive Ted, Search Results and…

  • Video Premiere: Drew Makes Noise – Flame

    As one-quarter of sadly-missed Northern Irish band Ed Zealous, Andrew Wilson played a sizeable role in soundtracking what’s long been held as the country’s indie heyday. But why look back? In Wilson’s case, it seems lightning most certainly strikes twice. Fast-forward to 2023 and the Belfast-based artist is digging deep to further his prismatic alt-pop craft as Drew Makes Noise. Where recent singles like ‘This Matter’ and ‘Hey’ were lysergic and widescreen in equal measure, new single ‘Flame’ is a feat of masterful restraint. One of several peaks from his stellar debut solo album Let The Whole Tape Run, it’s…

  • Belfast Musicians Set for UNESCO City of Music Initiative

    Two fast-rising Belfast singer-songwriters have been selected for a new UNESCO City of Music Initiative. Off the back of Belfast being awarded prestigious status in late 2021, Niall McDowell and Ciara O’Neill will travel to fellow UNESCO City of Music London, in Ontario, Canada, to perform as part of the Home County Music and Art Festival. Arranged through the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, which brings cities together to share skills and develop networks between musicians, the trip will also see McDowell and O’Neill taking part in co-writing sessions with other artists and get the chance to work with world-class producers…

  • Video Premiere: Krisdeberg – HHH

    After a long period locked away in the recording studio, Dublin-based electronic quartet Krisdeberg (not to be confused with the Irish prince of power ballads, Chris de Burgh) return with their new single HHH ahead of releasing their self-recorded and self-produced work that draws from a well of diverse influences such as new wave, noise rock, acid house and indie electro. We’re delighted to bring you an exclusive first look at HHH, which visualises the communication breakdown between people through a Beckett-esque theatre setting of humour, isolation and horror.  The video features members of the band and an omnious bottle of wine, while uniquely exploring how disparate two perceptions…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 23rd June

    It’s been another stellar week for Irish music. Here’s the very best tracks and releases from Gemma Hayes, Midnight Wayne, Saint Sister, Tandem Felix, Sister Fenix, Search Results, Proper Mirco NV, Mik Pyro & May Kay, Autre Monde and more. Gemma Hayes – High and Low Midnight Wayne – Get What You Got Saint Sister – Where I Shound End Remixes Tandem Felix – There’s a New Sheriff in Town Search Results – Flower Rock Rain Proper Micro NV – Never Go On Sister Fenix – Gentle Life EP Autre Monde – Sensitive Assignment, Parts 1-4 Sensitive Assignment, Parts 1-4…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 16th June

    It’s Friday again so that means another very excellent week of new releases from the likes of Aoife Wolf, Slouch, Maija Sofia, Pat Lagoon, Finnian, Paddy Hanna and more Aoife Wolf – A Ringing in the Ear Slouch – I Got This Job Because I’m Too Stupid To Steal I GOT THIS JOB BECAUSE I'M TOO STUPID TO STEAL by SLOUCH Paddy Hanna – Nightmares Maija Sofia – Four Winters Thom Southern – Let Someone Else In Caoilian Sherlock – The Wheels Come Off Teenage Jesus Album by Caoilian Sherlock Pat Lagoon – Carousel Connor McCann – Lady Rest Jake…

  • Christy Dignam Has Died

    Christy Dignam has died following a prolonged battle with illness. He was 63. According to the family of the legendary frontman of trailblazing Irish band Aslan, Dignam passed away at home this afternoon (13th June.) On Facebook, Dignam’s daughter Kiera posted a statement, stating that the much-loved Dublin singer and musician died  “peacefully” after a “courageously long-fought battle, surrounded by his family”. The statement read: “On behalf of my family, it is with a broken heart that we convey the news of my father’s passing, Christy Dignam. Dad peacefully left us where he wanted to, at home today 4pm Tuesday,…

  • Maija Sofia Announces Second Album and Irish Dates, Releases ‘Four Winters’

    It feels like a small lifetime ago Galway artist Maija Sofia released her Choice Prize-nominated debut album Bath Time. As Dominic Edge precisely put it in his TTA review at the time: “It’s incredible that such diligence and exquisite craft arrive on a debut, and it’s a fact you have to constantly remind yourself throughout Bath Time. Timeless, poignant and evocative, this is an incredible breakthrough moment.” Fast-forward to mid-2023 and Maija has, blessedly, lifted the veil on its long-awaited follow-up. Set for release via TULLE Collective on 1st September, the ten-track True Love features, beyond Maija herself, some familiar names, including Chris Barry and Solamh…

  • Video Premiere: HAVVK – Daylight Robbery

    Irish alt-rock trio HAVVK return with the video for their current single ‘Daylight Robbery,’ directed by frontperson Julie Hawk and shot by Tim Shearwood entirely in black and white. Evoking a silent-era, insomnia-filled sense of dread, the video explores themes of expectation and infringement of safety, particularly for women and gender non-conforming people – it was important for the video to convey these feelings. Here’s what Julie had to say about the concept behind the video. “It’s about a girl who’s living the same day (or nightmare) over and over again. We’ve been writing a lot about the topic of…

  • Video Premiere: Slouch – I Get What’s Mine

    Rising tides, self-help gurus, pricey new age answers to the unanswerable, unfettered capitalism, shitposting, a new video from Slouch; these are the harbingers of end times. Out today – and directed by Hugh Cannon – the video for their odyssey on the alpha male phenomenon, ‘I Get What’s Mine’ is a maelstrom of all of the above and more. It channels the likes of Ween and Brainiac, condensed into the kind of omni-layered satirical slacker noise they’ve near enough mastered. Long one of the most interesting bands operating in the Irish indie rock sphere, Dublin quartet Slouch have been working away behind closed doors on new material,…