• Watch: Arborist – Dreaming In Another Language

    January 19, 2023 - By 

    With his 2016 debut album, Home Burial, Mark McCambridge aka Arborist underscored his arrival as one of the island’s most singular considered songwriting voices. Four years later, A Northern View – which was Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios – doubled down on his sublimely-crafted indie Americana. In the between, McCambridge has had his head down, plotting a release worthy of continuing a story that has already sprawled out magnificent. The result is An Endless Sequence of Dead Zeros, a nine-track album that we’re sure will elevate Arborist far and beyond. Produced by Matthew E White at his Spacebomb Studios in Richmond, Virginia, it sees the Belfast artist explore…

  • Premiere: peak hue – safe room

    January 10, 2023 - By 

    Few Irish artists have shapeshifted convincingly, or as consistently, as Phil Quinn. Over the years, the Belfast musician has offered up an abundance of first-rate sounds as – or as a member of – Charles Hurts, Gross Net, Girls Names, and Grave Goods, as well as recent collaborations with the likes of Aoife Wolf. It’s a winding and immersive path that leads very nicely to peak hue. A homophone for their initials, PQ, the new solo project’s first release, safe room, instantly hits like a clean, meditative break from the more ardent, beat-heavy post-punk they’re rightly lauded for. Ahead of the three-tracker’s release on 3rd February, its…

  • RTÉ Choice Music Prize Shortlist Revealed

    January 9, 2023 - By 

    The shortlist for the 18th annual Irish Album of the Year in association with IMRO and IRMA has been revealed, as well as the announcement of three new prizes. The nominees for the main prize are as follows: Anna Mieke – Theatre (Anna Mieke under license to Nettwerk Music Group) Aoife Nessa Frances – Protector (Partisan Records) CMAT – If My Wife New I’d Be Dead (CMATBABY) Dermot Kennedy – Sonder (Island) Fontaines D.C. – Skinty Fia (Partisan Records) Just Mustard – Heart Under (Partisan Records) Pillow Queens – Leave the Light On (Royal Mountain Records) Sorcha Richardson – Smiling Like An Idiot (Faction Records) The Mary Wallopers – The Mary Wallopers (The Mary Wallopers) Thumper – Delusions of…

  • Max Cooper Announces 3D/AV Irish Shows

    December 16, 2022 - By 

    Max Cooper has announced two Irish dates for next year. The audio/visual techno shapeshifter will bring his live 3D/AV show to Belfast’s Mandela Hall on 17th February and Centre Point, Dublin on 18th February. Tickets are on sale now. In a statement, the London artist said: “This tour will bring the 3D / AV show, with the immersive gauze screen that I’ve been taking with me recently – if you’d like to have a look at the technique, see the film Live from the Acropolis on YouTube or some clips from the recent Brixton Academy show on my Instagram. I’m…

  • Video Premiere: The Bonk – Trying On Oblivion

    December 12, 2022 - By 

    Long one of our favourite acts in Ireland, The Bonk‘s modus operandi is endlessly fascinating, playful experimentation in song and improvisation, led by (former O Emperor) songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Phil Christie. Gathering influences from 60’s garage, jazz and experimental pop, the band bring recursive rhythms and improvised melodies together in minimalist song forms. Their first record, 2017’s The Bonk Seems To Be A Verb had a limited cassette run through label thirtythree-45, and was a collection of one-off live studio takes patched together from various sessions over an 18-month period. Today, we’re pleased to announce that for their second long player, the Bonk have again teamed up with the thirtythree-45 imprint…

  • Premiere: No Spill Blood – Anvil Crawler

    December 9, 2022 - By 

    Very few bands do obliteration quite like No Spill Blood. Over the last ten years, the Dublin trio of Ror Conaty, Matt Hedigan and Ruadhan O’Meara have delivered cyclical heft, cut from its very own cosmic cloth. Eight years after releasing one of the most emphatic Irish albums of 2015, Heavy Electricity, the Kraut-metal three-piece are back with news of its eagerly-anticipated follow-up, Eye of Night. Set for release via Finnish imprint Svart on 24th February 2023, the ten-track album is, we are told, a “series of inward folding tales of a protagonist’s journey within the self. An exploration of the…

  • Myles Manley Announces Irish Mini-Tour

    December 6, 2022 - By 

    Myles Manley has announced details of a new Irish mini-tour. Kicking off 2023, the Dublin-based, Sligo-raised experimental pop artist will play four full-band shows in Dublin, Belfast, Limerick, Galway on his Wet January tour of the island. Coming two years on from the release of his critically-acclaimed debut album, Cometh the Softies, support will come from various acts, including a solo set by fast-rising psych-folk artist Aoife Wolf in Belfast. Check out the full dates and revisit one of Manley’s first efforts to date below. January 12th – Fibber’s Dublin w/ The Deadlians January 13th – McHughs, Belfast (tickets here) w/…

  • First Acts Announced for Body & Soul 2023

    November 25, 2022 - By 

    Body & Soul have announced the first acts to play its 2023 edition. Returning to Ballinlough Caste Estate in Co. Meath across 16-18th June, Ireland’s longest-running independent festival will mark its 13th year with another carefully-curated bill of Irish and international acts. With the full programme to be revealed in the coming months, Aoife Nessa Frances (pictured), Moderat, Gilles Peterson, Shanti Celeste, BCUC and Sorcha Richardson are the first names to drop. Just over 5,000 weekend tickets will be available for this year’s festival. It remains strictly over 21s but families with children aged 13 and below are welcomed back for 2023.…

  • Osees Announce Dublin Show

    November 22, 2022 - By 

    Almost certainly the world’s greatest live band, Osees, are set to return to Dublin. Accompanied by the video for ‘Scum Show’ – a highlight from their latest album A Foul Form – the John Dwyer-fronted psych-garage machine will roll into Dublin once more on 22nd May 2023 for a show at Button Factory. Coming almost exactly a year after the California band’s show in the same venue, it’s one of several dates announced as part of a new UK and Ireland tour. Check out the full dates and the video for ‘Scum Show’ below. Co-hosted by Foggy Notions and U:mack,…

  • Blur Set For Dublin Return

    November 21, 2022 - By 

    Blur are coming back to Dublin. A few days after announcing a second show at Wembley in London next summer, the Britpop legends will play Malahide Castle on Saturday, June 24th 2023. Coming two weeks before their London shows, it marks the Damon Albarn-fronted band’s first Irish headliner show since 2015. Support comes from slowthai, Self Esteen and Jockstrap. Tickets go on sale this Friday, November 25th.