• 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.

  • Watch: Lisa O’Neill – Old Note

    November 15, 2022 - By 

    If there’s an active Irish songwriter more singular and naturally gifted than Lisa O’Neill we legitimately have not heard them. An artist we’ve covered many times in the past, she has carved out a remarkably distinctive path via masterfully considered folk song. Today, the County Cavan artist announces a whole new chapter. On February 10th 2023, she will release her fifth studio album, All Of This Is Chance, via none other than Rough Trade Records. It marks her debut on the iconic label, following the release of the sublime Heard a Long Gone Song via their River Lea imprint in 2018. Accompanying…

  • Watch: Akrobat – Eskimo

    November 1, 2022 - By 

    This Friday night, Dublin indie/art-rock band Akrobat seal their arrival with the release of their highly-anticipated debut album, Jammed Space Movement.  Across ten tracks – including debut single ‘Basquiat’s Widow‘ – it’s a wonderfully sprawling, genre-spanning effort from the Shane Regan-fronted band. Among the record’s many peaks is new single ‘Eskimo’. Slick and earworming and in equal measure, it distils the more pop-leaning finesse threaded throughout their album. Speaking about the song, Shane Regan said: “It’s about the thrill and intimidation of chasing that person you crave, but who is seemingly out of your league. Or are they!? We have tried to…