Across the island, we’re absolutely spoiled for world-beating festivals that marry place with purpose. From the Atlantic coast to deep city venues, Ireland continues to conjure immersive events that defy template. Common Threads, returning to the Burren this October, is once again throwing its hat into the ring with something quietly radical. Now in its third year, the festival is a three-day trail of music, art and discovery set in the singular surroundings of North Clare’s Burren. Running from 10th-12th October, it brings together a wide-ranging cast including Martin Hayes, Morgana, Daithí, RÓIS, Colm Mac Con Iomaire, Lullahush, Bantum, Aindrias…

It’s been a little while since we last heard from Deadman’s Ghost – the boundary-dissolving project of Belfast sound artist Jason Mills – but his return is nothing short of spellbinding. Having released some masterfully shapeshifting LPs, among them Hypocratical Oath, Saccadic Rhythms, The Broken Zoetrope and Cerebral Frontier, Mills has long operated in his own slipstream, merging avant-garde electronics, drone, folk instrumentation and ambient textures into work that feels truly scopic and deeply uncanny. Now, he re-emerges with A Votive Offering, a potent new album on Cruel Nature Records (out 22nd September on vinyl, cassette, and digital). It’s a collection…

Ahead of the release of their new album I Contain Multitudes this week, self-confessed “inconsistent indie” band Stoat select and discuss the tracks that have influenced them the most from The Felice Brothers to Frank Ocean. Oliver! Soundtrack – Reviewing the situation Cormac: There’s always been a vein of musical theatre running through Stoat’s music. I listened to the Oliver! soundtrack probably a thousand times as a kid, and have always wanted to play Fagin on stage … me and John have both been in stage productions of the show, but alas, neither of us got that role (weirdly, we…

Undisputed good band of the moment, Turnstile bring their Never Enough tour to the National Stadium in Dublin on Halloween night. Off the back of playing a phenomenal rise off the back of their fourth album of the same – notwithstanding a stand-out set at this year’s Glastonbury at the weekend – the Baltimore hardcore heroes play the show with support from High Vis on Friday, 31st October. Tickets priced €39.20-€49.20 and go on sale this Friday, 4th July at 10AM.

Some events feel like they’ve always been there, as if they simply emerged, fully formed, from the soil of their setting. The Conncert, the one-day DIY festival that debuted last summer on the shores of Lough Conn in Co. Mayo, was one of those. Held in a former fishing lodge turned pub, it didn’t just host the island’s world-beating independent scene: it honoured it. In doing so, it instantly became a highlight of the Irish live calendar: a deeply felt, fiercely DIY gathering that pulled together artists from all over in a shared act of sound, soundness and self-made magic.…

From a surprise single by Problem Patterns to the debut EP from Belfast post-punk quartet Madrúa, it’s a banner week for Irish releases – also featuring essential new music from Poor Creature, AM Shanley, Foreign Mornings and more. Problem Patterns – I’m Fine and I’m Doing Great Madrúa – Metamorphosis Metamorphosis by Madrúa Poor Creature – All Smiles Tonight AM Shanley – Let’s Get Invisible Foreign Mornings – Beginnings SPRINTS – Descartes Throwing Shapes – Chosen Talk Throwing Shapes by Throwing Shapes Jean Pack – Birthday i n n e r l i z a r d s – things…

Today we’re meeting Natalia Beylis. Natalia was kind enough to welcome us into her home and music room in County Leitrim to talk about her album Mermaids. Released on Touch Sensitive Records in September 2023, Mermaids is an immersive collection of six ambient recordings. True to its title, the album often evokes a body of water – the calm that comes from being held on the surface of something so vast, deep and ever-evolving. Over the course of our conversation, we talk about the sound of Mermaids, the artwork, field recording and much more besides. Support Natalia’s music here. Tracklisting:…

By far the island’s agitator supreme, Post Punk Podge takes us on a guided journey through TECHNOHIPPIES! ACTIVATE!, the thrilling new EP from he and his ever-masterful Technonippies. A genre-mutating barrage of feeling and fury, it veers between white-knuckle mania and moments of striking, slow-burn reflection – in ways that only Podge and co. truly can. Below, the masked master unpacks it all, track by track. 1. Plassey Air Redux This is a fiddle tune I wrote a few years ago after a walk along Plassey bank by the University of Limerick. I was thinking of my childhood spent with…