Having last played the city back in 2015, Toronto punk rock duo Jesse F. Keeler and Sebastien Grainger AKA Death From Above will play Dublin’s Olympia on March 14, 2018. The band – formerly known as Death From Above 1979 – released their third studio album, Outrage! Is Now, earlier this month. Tickets for the Dublin show – which features support from the mighty Le Butherettes – go on sale on Friday, September 22 at 9am priced €30 including booking fee.
Belfast-based sludge doom five-piece Elder Druid are self-proclaimed “Occult-laced riff dealers” on a mission. Having impressed with their debut EP, Magicka, in September last year, the band – who count the holy, hazed-out tetrad Black Sabbath, Electric Wizard, Kyuss and Sleep as key influences – will release their pummelling full-length release, Carmina Satanae, early next month. Produced by Niall Doran at Belfast’s Start Together Studio, the record is a fist-clenched, eight-track statement of intent from the fast-rising, Gregg McDowell-fronted band. A highlight from the release, lead single ‘Witchdoctor’ evolves from straight-up riff worship to the slowly bludgeoning self-exorcism of its Electric…
Galway’s Kieran O’Brien has been honing his style for some time now. From the atmospheric folk that defined last year’s After The Storm to the dream-pop leanings of June’s ‘Only A Dream’, the songwriter’s work to date has been explorative, sincere and endlessly refreshing. Returning now with his second EP, Turn, the ventures into a full-band sound are becoming more sure-footed and assertive, taking as many cues from the likes of The War On Drugs and Real Estate as from stalwarts of the Americana folk tradition. Speaking of the new EP’s thematic foundation, O’Brien said: “After The Storm reminisced heavily on the ocean and past events. These songs look ahead, towards…
The shortlist for this year’s Northern Ireland Music Prize has been revealed. Set to take place at Belfast’s Mandela Hall on Saturday, November 11, the following twelve albums will vie for the annual prize, as voted for by more than 70 people from the Irish music industry and media: Arborist – Home Burial Arvo Party – Arvo Party Bap Kennedy – Reckless Heart The Divine Comedy – Foreverland Gross Net – Quantitative Easing Hannah Peel – Awake But Always Dreaming Invaderband – Invaderband Joshua Burnside – Ephrata Malojian – This Is Nowhere Our Krypton Son – Fleas & Diamonds Robocobra…
Supported by RTÉ 2fm, Other Voices have launched their Open Call for Irish acts and artists to apply to play the festival when it returns to Dingle across December 1-3. With Perfume Genius, Songhoy Blues, Áine Cahill and Katie Laffan amongst the acts already confirmed to play eir Other Voices, you can throw your or your band’s proverbial hat into the ring right here. Entries close at 6pm on September 22. The winning applicant will be offered a coveted chance to play the IMRO Other Room in front of a live audience in Dingle. Applicants must apply with an original piece of…
Having released one of the finest Irish electronic albums of 2016 in For Every Silence, Derry’s Ryan Vail is back with one of his strongest single efforts to date, ‘Shadows’. Released via Belfast imprint Quiet Arch, the track’s warm synth lines and glitchy textures forge strong bed for Vail’s words to hit home with masterfully restrained force. Released via Belfast imprint Quiet Arch, the track’s warm synth lines, glitchy textures and subtly propulsive beats create a quietly rapt bed for Vail’s words to hit home with typically restrained force. Sealing the deal is an outro blending the aforementioned with cello courtesy of Laura…
Dundalk five-piece Just Mustard are a band whose cloistered craft mines influence from noise, trip-hop, electronic and lo-fi sounds. With their debut album set for release in early 2018, new single ‘Tainted’ – which was self-produced, recorded by Chris Ryan and David Noonan, mixed by Noonan and mastered by Tony Fitz – is a ‘gaze drenched effort whose repetitive, smoggy swoon and tremolo-armed spell marry to propel a track made for soundtracking solitary, stoned night walks reflecting on what needs to be done. We’re fans. Tainted [single] by Just Mustard
Returning for its fifth year, Hit The North will return to the streets of Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter across September 21 and 22. Established by Seedhead Arts and the Community Arts partnership back in 203 as a response to vacant spaces along North Street, the free street art festival has been the biggest event of its kind on the island, bringing together some of the biggest and best names in the field from home and much further afield. This year is no different: from Manchester duo Nomad Clan, Dan Kitchener and Irony to KVLR, Friz and JMK, amongst many others, this year’s…
Limerick-based scratch master and frenetic, experimental hip hop producer Naive Ted has shared the first single from his new album The Minute Particulars // Episode I – The death of my trust is sincerely yours. ‘Only The Oppressor Knows Peace’ is a fired up, sample-heavy venture into energised electronica with a typically excellent and socio-politically charged vocal feature from Rusangano Family‘s MuRli. All rattled melodic samples, cacophonous percussion and wiry synths, there is something suitably dystopian about this release. With lyrics like “Your love for power overpowered love. Now the death of my trust is sincerely yours” it is hard to escape the sense of…
The Rubberbandits have shared a new single confronting the suicide epidemic that has led to Ireland being declared the country with the fourth highest teen suicide rate in Europe. ‘Sonny’ provides a raw insight into the misconceptions, ideas and conversation points that have surrounded the country’s dialogue on suicide in recent years. Lyrics include: “He isn’t lonely or addicted to drugs, he doesn’t owe his mother’s money to thugs, he’s not an alcoholic, he isn’t depressed, and he’s going to break a lot of hearts when he hangs himself.” The song ends with the message: “It’s always dark before the light…