Headlined by one of the country’s most respected proponents of techno, Sunil Sharpe, the mighty Boiler Room made it’s highly-anticipated return to Dublin on Monday night with another stellar line-up of all-Irish electronic talent. As well as featuring TTA Cork favourite Elll, the night also featured live sets from hardware wizard DeFeKT, Daire Carolan & Sonel Ali. Miss out first time around? Watch all 4 hours and 38 minutes of it below.
Today saw the unveiling of the first track to be heard from Lisa Hannigan’s forthcoming third LP At Swim. The new record, produced by Aaron Dessner of The National, follows on from Hannigan’s 2011 triumph Passenger. Struggling to write material for a new album while living sporadically divided between London and Dublin and being involved in myriad other projects, At Swim began to come to life once Dessner contacted her suggesting they collaborate. The album approaches ideas of homesickness and of being adrift in a sea of isolation but just as elegantly handles themes of love in ways that only Lisa Hannigan can. ‘Prayer for the Dying’…
The follow-up to their March EP Return To Coney, ‘Just Breathe’ is the new single from multi-national outfit Warriors of the Dystotheque, founded by Derry’s Jonny Mac. Featuring vocals from Coventry singer Bella Deanie, it’s a slick, impressively produced soundscape relaying “the state of not giving up when everyone else has let you down.” Accompanying the release are remixes from the likes of Ubblahkan, Ken Fab Re and Brothers Nylon, each further revealing the track’s textural, cinematic prowess. According to Jonny Mac, the track – which we premiere in full below – came about “in a tiring drive home to Derry from a festival…
Fronted by Mark McCambridge, Belfast’s Arborist are masters of the subtly-wielded phrase and burrowing melody. A year on from having the one and only Kim Deal feature on their single ‘Twisted Arrow’, the band have returned with ‘A Man of My Age’, a pleasantly reflective six-minute effort brilliantly bolstered by shivering strings and a layered Americana folk ambience that rewards with repeated listens. With fading youth, familial change and growing perspective at the heart of the McCambridge’s words here, we’re treated to something rather special; a carefully considered meditation imbued with a calm sense of acceptance that seals the deal in fine fashion. Stream the single…
A five-track release borne from “electronic blood, sweat and tears”, The Migrant is Derry producer Dermot McGowan AKA Figure of 8’s first EP in 4 years. From Trans Am-esque opener ‘Future Needs’ via emphatic highlight ‘Click Here To Save The World’ to restrained house closer ‘Celestial Bodies’, it’s a release illustrating remarkable progression, positing McGowan and his Todd Terje-evoking craft as an act that demands your immediate attention. Irish summer festival organisers: it’s never too late to add Figure of 8 to your bill. The Migrant by Figure of 8
With a host of lovingly-compiled, brilliantly diverse outings behind them, Open House Festival have launched the expectedly stellar programme for their 2016 outing in August. With 125 events taking place in more than 40 venues in the Northern Irish seaside town, music, film, food & drink, theatre, literature, comedy, art, magic, mystery, dance and lectures is – as ever – the perfectly balanced order of the day for the annual Bangor festival. Amongst the highlights in this year’s programme are a 40th anniversary show by The Damned, Iron & Wine, a 70th birthday tribute to former AC/DC frontman Bon Scott, Ian Rankin,…
Featured in the current issue of our physical magazine (available throughout the country now), Dublin producer and visual artist Sal Stapleton AKA BAD BONES first caught our attention back back in March with ‘Games’, a track that we called “a delicious slice of darkly electronica weaving perfectly-spliced beats, bobbing bass and modulated vocals in a fine, cimmerian mesh of noise.” Having since enthralled at the second installment of Psykick Dancehall – our Bello Bar night co-hosted with Medium Presents – in April, Stapleton is back with her another audio-visual gem in the form of ‘WORSHIP’, the fifth and final track to be taken from her…
As we saw in her Track Record piece in the tenth issue of our physical magazine, ex-JJ72 bassist and solo artist Hilary Woods is an artist with a wonderfully diverse taste in music, a fact very keenly reflected her debut EP, Night. Set to release its highly-anticipated follow-up EP, Heartbox, on June 10, her single ‘Bathing’ is a quietly rapt masterstroke about “that feeling of waiting forever”, a sentiment captured with minimalist panache in its accompanying video, directed by Woods herself and filmed at both Dublin Zoo and Co. Wicklow’s rather beautiful Glendalough one “very cold morning” back in January. With more dates to be announced soon, Woods plays…
Having built up momentum via YouTube that saw them secure headline slots at Body&Soul and Electric Picnic, the visual element of King Kong Company’s craft has always been an integral part of their appeal. Ensuring they stick to that tried-and-tested track, the Waterford band have unveiled the masterfully disturbing video for their new single, ‘Scarity Dan’. Directed by Jamie O’Rourke of Killer Rabbit Productions, the video – a curious take on the breaking point of the 9 to 5 worker – “taps into something that might lurk deep within us all, something dangerous and unspeakable waiting to break loose. But even as the vile…
Marking the first Irish music festival of the Summer, Life Festival returns to Belvedere House and Gardens in Co. Westmeath this weekend with their strongest line-up to date. With a small amount of remaining weekend, two day and Sunday tickets still available organisers have just revealed the site map and all-important stage-times for their X1 outing. For all other information, including travel info, please check the Life Festival website.