On May 11, Arab Strap’s Aidan Moffat and fellow Scot, singer and guitarist RM Hubbert will release a collaborative album, Here Lies The Boy, via Rock Action. The release will precede live dates from the pair, who have announced a date at Dublin’s Grand Social on July 24. Special guest on the night is Glasgow singer-songwriter Siobhan Wilson. Tickets cost €18.50 and go on sale on Friday at 10am.
This time last year, we spoke to organisers of Our Back Yard, one of the country’s most inspired small, homegrown festivals. Ahead of returning to Gilford on June 30 with acts including Hunkpapa, Petty Youth and Beauty Sleep, we catch up with organisers to discuss the past, present and bright future of the festival. Hi guys. Featuring the likes of Bonnevilles and Emerald Armada, reports from last year’s Our Back Yard were very positive. How was it compared to previous years? Our Back Yard 2017 was a watershed event for us. Whereas previous years had a distinctly lo-fi, amateurish vibe,…
It’s been announced that New Jersey DIY punk trio Screaming Females will play Dublin’s Grand Social on September 6. The Maria Patternoster-fronted band announced their seventh studio album, All At Once, earlier this year. Set for release via Don Giovanni records, it will be follow-up to 2015’s Rose Mountain. Tickets for the Dublin show are priced €15 and go on sale on Friday at 10am.
Dublin’s Michael Orange AKA Feather Beds‘ 2017 album Blooming was a record we described as “a addictive, warm listen. Perfect to accompany blustery autumn walks as the evenings draw in, or to course through the room as you unwind by a fireplace.” Now, over half a year later and as we enter into the summer months with torrents of water under the bridge since, it feels apt to reflect on an album that, while understated, remains a rich, valuable and enticing listen that reveals its intricacy more with each play through. With the sharing of a new video for LP track ‘Headache Dreams’,…
Officially launched at Belfast’s Love & Death last night, ‘Seafaring Man’ is the new single by Belfast-based Scots-Canadian singer-songwriter Peter Sumadh AKA The Mad Dalton. Taken from his forthcoming debut album, Open Season – which will be released in June following a successful pledge campaign – it’s another full-bodied slice of wistful Americana that, rather than getting ensnared in the images and memories of the past, aims two eyes firmly on the horizon. Open Season is launched at Belfast’s Black Box on June 14. Have a first listen (and look at Chris Molloy’s video) below.
Galway’s Any Anything formed from out of a shared appreciation of pop music and hash. After the unfortunate disbanding of their former band Drown – who we were fans of – vocalist/guitarist Robert Dalton and drummer Chris Connors picked up the discarded post-punk and shoegaze remnents and sought to reassemble them with a newfound sheen. Spending the past several months recording with producer Owen Geaney, the resulting EP is one that oozes with a rediscovered confidence, as their debut single ‘First Time’ will attest to. With additional vocals and synths provided on the record by former Drown member Laura McGennis and with new recruits Morgan Doogue (Guitar)…
It came as no surprise to us when we discovered that Herb Magee aka Arvo Party was nominated for last year’s Northern Ireland Music Prize. In his review of the Belfast-based producer and musician’s self-titled debut album, Cathal McBride said, “With great Irish electronic acts like Solar Bears and Adultrock having called it a day within the last year, Magee sounds more than ready to take up the mantle they’ve left behind.” Seven months on, Magee continues to uphold this promise in style. A masterfully propulsive six minutes of electronica blurring sonic lines via late 1990s trance worships, simmering ambience surges,…
With the likes of Fever Ray, Chronixx and Jon Hopkins making up the first announcement, Iron & Wine, WhoMadeWho and Mano Le Tough are amongst the latest acts announced for this year’s Body & Soul festival. Set to return to Ballinlough Castle in Clonmellon, Co. Westmeath across the Summer Solstice weekend of June 22-24, the festival will also welcome the following new additions – including many Irish acts: Pantha Du Prince, AV AV AV, Tshegue, Riley Pierce, Soulé, Lilla Vargen, Bitch Falcon, Pillow Queens, Barq, O Emperor, R.S.A.G., Bon Voyage, Hvmmingbyrd, Sing Along Social, Reckless in Love, Mano Le Tough with The…
Belfast producer and musician Jason Mills aka Deadman’s Ghost has returned with ‘Trip Switch Down’, a track featured in the trailer for this year’s Belfast Film Festival. Also set to feature as the opening track of a new Deadman’s Ghost EP set for release later this year, the track – which unfurls from drifting ambient electronica to full-blown, wonderfully layered Technicolour -was engineered in collaboration with David Baxter, who programmed the beats and had a hand in the overall production. The guitars and ebow drones that colour the track were largely recorded by Simon Mateer at MFR Recordings. Belfast Film festival runs…
Hands down the buzziest band around, transatlantic indie-pop octet Superorganism will play Dublin’s Academy on Thursday, October 18. Tickets for the show – which are priced at €18.50 – go on sale this Friday at 10am. Taken from their self-titled debut album, watch the brand new video for ‘Night Time’ below.