• New Belfast Record Store Strange Victory Records To Open on Record Store Day

    April 8, 2019 - By 

    Over the last couple of years, Belfast has suffered the loss of two much-loved record shops, Sick Records and Head Records. It was looking a bit grim for a minute there but fear not: on Saturday, April 13th – Record Store Day 2019 – a new independent record store will launch. The brainchild of Darren Smyth of local promoters par excellence Strange Victory, Jeff Doherty of Belfast’s Dragon Records and Sinead Green, Strange Victory Records will be Belfast’s only indie store stocking new releases alongside, in their words, “a plethora of curiosities and classic used vinyl.” Situated at 22 Berry Street, the store…

  • Tame Impala Set For Dublin Show

    April 8, 2019 - By 

    Tame Impala will play Dublin in June. The Kevin Parker-fronted psych-pop trailblazers will play 3Arena on June 26. Tickets cost €59.70 and go on sale this Friday at 9am. The band last played the city back in 2016, headlining Forbidden Fruit as part of their Currents tour.

  • Stevie Wonder Set For Show at Dublin’s 3Arena

    April 8, 2019 - By 

    The one and only Stevie Wonder will play Dublin in July. The legendary singer, songwriter, musician, and producer will bring his The Stevie Wonder Song Party: A Celebration of Life, Love and Music to 3Arena on July 9th. Tickets go on sale on Friday, April 12 at 9am, priced from €99.50.

  • Stream: Fears – Fabric

    April 4, 2019 - By 

    Constance Keane aka Fears is an artist wielding rapt and carefully-woven electro-pop like few others. The follow-up to previous singles ‘h_blood‘, ‘Blood‘ and ‘Priorities’, ‘Fabric’ is an unfurling, self-produced tale of entanglement and escape that finds the Belfast/Dublin musician and producer at her most emphatic to date. Prepare for this one to reverberate in your inner ear hours after a first listen. Fears and Steven Henry play Belfast’s the 343 on tomorrow night (Friday, April 5.)

  • Album Premiere: Fixity – No Man Can Tell

    April 4, 2019 - By 

    Of the myriad forward-pushing acts we’ve featured over the years, Cork polymath Dan Walsh’s Fixity remains a singular and uniquely exploratory proposition. Backed by a revolving cast of sonic conspirators, the bandleader and multi-instrumentalist has carved out a uniquely collaborative niche driven by fierce extemporization. Released via the ever-reliable Penske Recordings on April 12, Walsh and an extended cast of Irish and international musicians weave new mastery on Fixity’s second album, No Man Can Tell. Produced by the Altered Hours’ Patrick Cullen, it’s a six-track featuring a veritable dream-team: Emil Nerstrand on flute and tenor sax, Kevin Terry on guitar and…

  • Pixies To Play Dublin and Belfast

    April 3, 2019 - By 

    Boston indie rock legends Pixies will return to Ireland to play two shows in September. Coinciding with the release of a new album in the autumn, the Black Francis-fronted quartet will play Belfast’s Ulster Hall on September 25 and Dublin’s Olympia Theatre on September 26. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 10am.

  • Pavement Co-Founder Scott Kannberg aka Spiral Stairs Set For Dublin and Belfast

    April 2, 2019 - By 

    Scott Kannberg aka Spiral Stairs will play Dublin and Belfast in September. The founding member of Pavement and solo artist, who has just released a new album as Spiral Stairs (We Wanna Be Hyp-No-Tized) will play Voodoo in Belfast on Wednesday, September 25 and Whelan’s in Dublin on September 26. Tickets go on sale at 9am on Thursday, April 4, priced €20.00 and £15.00 respectively.

  • Bombay Bicycle Club To Play All Together Now and Cork Opera House

    April 2, 2019 - By 

    Bombay Bicycle Club are set for two Irish appearances in August. As well as joining the bill for the (sold-out) All Together Now in Cork, play the festival on August 4th, the London quartet will also play a headline show Cork Opera House on August 3. Tickets for the latter are priced at €30.00 and go on sale at 10am on Friday. Fan presale for Cork begins tomorrow (Thursday) at 10am.

  • Album Stream: Son of the Hound – Cheers, Sound, Good Luck

    April 2, 2019 - By 

    Presumably, Michael McCullagh doesn’t much like to relax. When he’s not overseeing an equally popular web series (The Also Rans) and podcast (Mad Notions) the Belfast-based Omagh musician makes anthemic guitar-pop in the guise of Son of the Hound. Today marks a big milestone in his career to date. Soundtracking “the overarching feeling of being alive, scared and hopeful in 2019”, Cheers, Sound, Good Luck is a debut album that distills that restlessness, as well as an urgent sense of seizing the moment, to ten tracks that burst with heart, humanity and countless star-shaped hooks. Cheers, Sound, Good Luck is launched at Belfast’s Limelight 2…

  • Stream: Uly – Redlight

    April 1, 2019 - By 

    Uly is the pseudonym of Dublin-based astrophysics graduate-turned multi-instrumentalist Rafino Murphy. Having found his feet playing with some of Dublin’s finest acts, such as Nealo, INNRSPACE and Over Being Under, Murphy started Uly as a solo project in 2018. This project combines lo-fi bedroom beats with hypnotic sonic landscapes to create hypnagogic tracks that are as groovy as they are dreamy. Having recently signed a deal with Dublin-based Faction Records, Uly has dropped his first single with the label, ’Redlight’. The track is a perfect example of Uly’s unique blend of funk and lo-fi, taking the listener down a rabbit hole…