• Nomadic Rituals Announce New LP Tides

    November 16, 2020 - By 

    From Slomatics and Elder Druid, to War Iron and Astralnaut, Northern Ireland is responsible for some of the finest, most thoroughly crushing sludge-doom around. Perhaps most decimating of all are Nomadic Rituals. Comprising Craig Carson, Peter Hunter and Mark Smyth, we last heard from the Belfast band back in 2017, circa the release of their “sludgy, space-evoking, cosmos-atomising” second album, Marking the Day. Three years and one reality-mangling pandemic on, the band are back with news of their third full-length, TIDES. Recorded, once again, by Niall Doran at Start Together Studios, the six-track release is headed with the typically pulverizing ‘Them’, which you can stream…

  • Red Bull and AVA Team Up For Special Max Cooper AV Show

    November 13, 2020 - By 

    Red Bull and AVA have teamed up to host a special performance by London-based Belfast producer Max Cooper. Streamed from Carlisle Memorial Church in Belfast, the homecoming performance will see Cooper bring a new AV show to the high Victorian, neo-gothic style building. Doubling up as the first electronic performance in the venue, the event will be available to AVA’s online community for free on Wednesday, November 18 at 8pm via YouTube, Facebook and the AVA website. Sarah McBriar, Creative Director of AVA said, ‘After stepping inside the building in 2015, we knew we wanted to bring a part of AVA to Carlisle…

  • Spilt Milk Festival Announce New Online Weekender

    November 16, 2020 - By 

    Spilt Milk, Sligo’s premier annual celebration of forward-thinking Irish independent music, have announced a new online weekender. Running from Friday November 27 to Sunday November 29, Transmission will feature sets from Jessica Bruen, The Clumsy Giantess & Trenchurion, Amanda Feery & Declan Synnott, The Hills Have Ears, Howlbux, Junk Drawer, Mhaol, Moving Still, Myles Manley, Ailbhe NicOireachtaigh, Brigid Mae Power, Pretty Happy, The Split Milk Sunday Brunch with Willie, Natalia & Rooster, Ten Past Seven band and Yop. Best of all, all events are free. Hop over to the Spilt Milk site for more info and the full schedule. Poster…

  • Help Musicians Announce Phase Three of Their Coronavirus Financial Hardship Funding

    November 11, 2020 - By 

    Having went above and beyond in 2020 to successfully help those in the music industry most in need, Help Musicians has announced a third phase of funding, targeted at self-employed musicians who do not qualify for the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and unemployed professional musicians unable to make ends meet throughout the UK. For those who are eligible, to the extent that funds allow, HMUK will offer grant payments from the moment their application is successful to March 2021 to top-up Universal Credit payments where relevant. Where an applicant does not qualify for Universal Credit but is still experiencing significant financial hardship, an assessment, and…

  • Other Voices Announce Digital Festival Bringing It All Back Home

    November 11, 2020 - By 

    Other Voices have announced a new digital festival. The Irish live music institution today revealed details of Bringing It All Back Home, a five-day festival coming in December. Though full dates and acts are yet to be confirmed, organisers have already confirmed appearances from For Those I Love, Niamh Regan, Luz, Nealo, Rhiannon Giddens, Francesco Turrisi, Peter Broderick and Pillow Queens. As ever, sets will be performed via St James church in Dingle, West Kerry. In a statement, Other Voices founder Philip King said, ‘We are absolutely delighted that Other Voices will be going ahead in Dingle again this year,…

  • Video Premiere: Elaine Malone – You [1000 Beasts Remix]

    November 5, 2020 - By 

    Back in 2018, Elaine Malone‘s alt. psych-pop ditty ‘You’ was a thrilling introduction to one of TTA’s longstanding favourites, and today we’re pleased to unveil its reimagining by prolific Cork-based producer & multi-instrumentalist 1000 Beasts. Masterfully reframed into an even more warbling, tripped-out slice of lo-fi hip-hop – one of 1000 Beasts’ raisons d’etre – it matches the pull Malone’s trajectory has had toward psychedelic in the past two years. 1000 Beasts told us: “I first discovered ‘You’ way back in 2018, when Elaine first released it ahead of her debut EP Land. It always struck a chord with me so I reached out to Elaine…

  • Premiere: Martin Rössel & The Dum Dum Boys – Pablo Picasso

    November 4, 2020 - By 

    This Friday, November 6th, Belfast’s independent imprint par excellence Touch Sensitive release Hearts of Champions, the second volume of London-born producer, DJ and archivist Gareth Goddard aka Cherrystones‘ acclaimed Critical Mass series. In Goddard’s own words, the comp is “not a rare-for-rare-sake appendix of bands designed to showcase exclusivity and superiority”. Instead, we’re treated to an excavation of eighteen pure-gems from the post-punk and new wave era, featuring the likes of Konec, Loco Lotus, Siglo XX, Neon and more. Ahead of the compilation’s release via gatefold double vinyl, CD and digital on Friday, we’re pleased to present a first listen to Martin Rössel & The Dum…

  • Premiere: Andrew McGibbon – We’ve Got Horns

    November 4, 2020 - By 

    As one-half of acclaimed Northern Irish garage blues duo The Bonnevilles, Andrew McGibbon has spent the last few years underscoring his status as one of the island’s most captivating frontmen. After zig-zagging across Europe once again with The Bonnevilles back in 2018, McGibbon found himself burnt out and staring into a creative abyss with a self-described “PTSD – post touring stress disorder”. It kickstarted a period of creative metamorphosis that has resulted in Northern Gothic, a wonderfully idiosyncratic debut solo release that reveals the full breadth of his songwriting voice. “I’d get quite blue on the run up to leaving for…

  • Watch: CATALAN! – Ungoogleable

    November 2, 2020 - By 

    The solo vehicle of Belfast-based, North Coast musician Ewen Friers, CATALAN! is also a project that is wonderfully collaborative at its core. On his recently-released debut album, Veritas, Friers is joined by a veritable cast of familiar faces, including Cheylene Murphy and Ryan McGroarty of Belfast dream-pop twosome Beauty Sleep. If you’re yet to experience that particular ensemble live, new single ‘Ungoogleable’ captures just how well this collaborative spirit goes. Bombastic and earworming in equal measure, have a first look at the song’s brand new video below.

  • Premiere: A.S. Fanning – All Time

    October 29, 2020 - By 

    We’re pleased to give a first listen to ‘All Time’, the lushly-textured new single from Berlin-based Irish singer-songwriter A.S. Fanning. A Nick Cave-ian gothic mini-fable, Fanning weaves personal neurosis through time and memory. Navigating the maelstrom’s dream logic, its subtly psychedelic layering and glistening production push toward briefly lucid moments of internal respite. Of the track, Fanning tells us: “‘All Time’ is a song about love and acceptance. Or maybe love and mercy, to borrow a line from Brian Wilson. I wrote it very quickly one night, it just sort of fell out fully formed, as sometimes happens. I was thinking about Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, and the idea of being…