• Premiere: Scenery – Fool For You

    February 10, 2017 - By 

    Counting their main influences as Jeff Buckley, Amy Winehouse, Tame Impala, Matt Corby, Mac DeMarco and The Beatles, new-fangled Derry outfit Scenery have already struck a keen balance between throwback and contemporary. A slickly-produced single conjuring at least a couple of the aforementioned acts, ‘Fool For You’ is a swooning ballad that, falling comfortably into the former camp, reveals the band’s pop prowess and melodic flair. Scenery launch ‘Fool For You’ alongside Orchid Collective and Emer McLaughlin at Bennigans in Derry tonight. Have a first listen to the single via Soundcloud below.

  • Line-up Revealed For Open Ear 2017

    February 9, 2017 - By 

    Having made its sold-out inaugural outing last year, the intimate and independent Open Ear festival will return to the idyllic sanctuary of Sherkin Island off West Cork this June bank holiday (June 2-4). And with its focus on the best experimental, ambient, electronic, neo-classical, hip-hop/beats and noise-based sounds from Ireland and further afield, this year’s line-up – which is as proudly eclectic as the last – features the likes of Mike Slott, Eomac, The Cyclist, Naive Ted, Ambulance, Fixity and Magic Pockets. Here’s the full line-up. Early bird tickets are now available priced at €75. Go here for those.

  • Watch: Gross Net – Still Life

    February 9, 2017 - By 

    An outright highlight from his first-rate debut album, Quantitative Easing, ‘Still Life’ by Belfast’s Philip Quinn AKA Gross Net is a song that wrestles dark tidings and psychic pain in impervious fashion. With its creeping Numan-esque bass-synth climb and stark drum machine patterns, a perfect maelstrom of noise is woven across the song’s masterfully suffocating six-and-a-bit minutes. Check out Autumn Andel’s new video for the single below and make sure to check out Quantitative Easing via Belfast imprint Touch Sensitive.

  • 17 For ’17: Rue

    February 9, 2017 - By 

    With groups like the Gloaming making some not insignificant waves, Irish trad music seems to be gaining more and more ground, in a crossover context. It’s within a framework that a band like Rue can finally get the respect and due recognition they deserve because lord knows the Dublin-based group has earned it. Made up of Lynched alumni Cormac MacDiarmada, Brian Flanagan, and Radie Peat, the trio specializes in carefully crafting their own reinterpretations of classic standards from both sides of the pond. While they may not have much in way of material at present, what they do have is…

  • Cat Power Set For Vicar Street

    February 8, 2017 - By 

    Having last played the city back in 2014, it’s been announced that Atlanta, Georgia indie rock singer-songwriter Chan Marshall AKA Cat Power will play Dublin’s Vicar Street on Thursday, March 16. Tickets for the show are priced €30 and go on sale this Friday (February 10) at 9am.  

  • Watch: BARQ – Bear

    February 8, 2017 - By 

    Having been tipped from many corners for big things in 2017, Dublin’s BARQ commanded our attention early last year with their slick debut single ‘Gentle Kind of Lies’. A busy, increasingly impressive year followed, culminating in the release of ‘Bear’, a single – their strongest to date – confronting themes of loss and coming of age. Recorded at Westland Studios by Alwyn John Walker, mixed by Scott Hallidy and mastered by Andrei Eremin, the single now has a visual accompaniment courtesy of Crooked Gentlemen. Dig it below.

  • Artist Talk: Kevin Consgrove @ TBG+S

    February 7, 2017 - By 

    Temple Bar Gallery + Studios have announced details of a forthcoming talk between Aidan Cosgrove (Mother’s Tankstation Limited) and Irish Times art critic Aidan Dunne. Cosgrove, who has a studio in Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, is known for his vivid and expressive depictions of workshops and work spaces and is set to discuss this theme as well as his own personal practice. The event is free of charge but booking is essential. It starts at 6pm next Wednesday (15th) in Studio 6. Full details here.

  • Download: J. Cowhie – New Life

    February 9, 2017 - By 

    Having released one of our favourite Irish albums of 2016 in Veil, Dublin’s J. Cowhie joined many artists around the world in contributing to the ACLU fundraiser on Bandcamp last Friday via his single ‘New Life’. With 100% of the proceeds for the pay-what-you-like single going to the Union (who are working to fully oppose the Executive Order barring immigrants and refugees from seven Middle Eastern countries from entering the United States) it finds Cowhie –  who formerly made music as GOODTIME/Goodtime John – in typically ruminative, Papa M-esue form, relaying a tale of uncertain days and sin. New Life by J. Cowhie

  • Video Premiere: PORTS – The Few and Far Between

    February 7, 2017 - By 

    Having been busy in the studio recording new material, PORTS are currently gearing up for a trip to Kansas to showcase at the prestigious Folk Alliance International festival. A soaring peak from the Derry band’s debut album, The Devil Is a Songbird, ‘The Few and Far Between’ is a song that precisely distils the Derry band’s anthemic alt-pop craft. Marrying soaring crescendos with finely-woven instrumentation and sublime harmonies, it’s become something of a highlight from the Steven McCool-fronted band’s live shows as of late. Released as a single at the tail-end of last year, the song now comes accompanied with…

  • Premiere: Milky Teeth – Sleepiness and Weary Wit

    February 6, 2017 - By 

    Currently on some downtime from Cork’s The Shaker Hymn and John Blek & The Rats, lead guitarist and vocalist Robbie Barron has been busy writing and recording his own material under the solo moniker Milky Teeth. Conjuring the likes of his main influence in The Beatles, as well as Ed Harcourt, Elliott Smith circa XO/Figure 8, Friendly Fire-era Sean Lennon and Jon Brion, debut single ‘Sleepiness and Weary Wit’  is a first-rate slice of woozy throwback-pop, propelled by hooks, harmonies and a stellar full-band production. With a full-length album primed for release, have a first look and listen to the single.