• Various Artists – A Litany of Failures Vol. III

    December 8, 2020 - By 

    All the way back in 2016, cassette label Little L Records put out a nice little four way split cassette featuring four of the best DIY bands from right across Ireland – Shrug Life and That Snaake from Dublin, Junk Drawer from Belfast and Oh Boland from Galway. Self-deprecatingly titled ‘A Litany of Failures’, what could have been a fairly low key release gained what felt like a higher level of importance thanks to a series of launch gigs in each band’s home city. Two years later, those involved decided to up the ante considerably – ‘A Litany of Failures…

  • Premiere: Comrade Hat – Whatever You Do

    November 19, 2020 - By 

    Off-kilter pop genius Neil Burns, AKA Comrade Hat has shared the latest single from his forthcoming album, Old Gods, Vol. 1. ‘Whatever You Do’ sees the lounge lizard in more reflective form, taking a slight left from his arch persona; It’s jazz-flecked, instilled with a morsel of vulnerability. Messr Hat told us more about the song: “It’s a ballad from BC (before Covid) about the struggles of physical distances in relationships, but it took on a whole new resonance this year. Aptly, it’s a remote collaboration with two of the finest heads around – rising stars of jazz and everything in the vicinity, Jack Kelly (double…

  • Kitt Philippa Wins Northern Ireland Music Prize

    November 12, 2020 - By 

    Belfast-based artist Kitt Philippa has won the Best Album prize at this year’s Northern Ireland Music Prize. The Armagh native scooped the annual prize for their debut album, Human. As well as taking the title, they also walked away with the £3000 prize money. In the other categories, New Pagans won Best Live Act, Mark McCambride aka Arborist won Best Single for ‘Here Comes The Devil’ and Sasha Samara won the Oh Yeah Contender Award. Bap Kennedy was posthumously awarded the Oh Yeah Legend Award. Revisit Kitt Philippa’s album below. Human by Kitt Philippa

  • Paddy Hanna – The Hill

    November 11, 2020 - By 

      Paddy Hanna is not someone to sit still. Nor is he someone who likes to be predictable. The Dublin-based songwriter’s sophomore album, Frankly, I Mutate, was not only a masterclass in retro-flecked, baroque pop, but, with the beauty of retrospect, was a clear blueprint of his personal mantra.  For his third album, released on Strange Brew (Autre Monde, Squarehead, Slow Place Like Home), Paddy notches up the experimentation, whisking away Girl Band’s Adam Faulkner and Daniel Fox, as well as Daniel Fitzpatrick (Badhands, The Mighty Stef) to west Cork. “We lost ourselves on the Hill, Daniel, Daniel, Adam and…

  • Premiere: JaJa Studios – The Lost Sound Vol. 1

    November 5, 2020 - By 

    Having provided Dublin musicians and various other creatives with a vital hub over the last seven years, Stoneybatter DIY music and art space JaJa Studios recently lost its home on Cowper Street to a developer. Dusting themselves down, the collective have wasted no time in looking for a new HQ – and ways to make that a reality. Cue The Lost Sound Vol. 1, a new, 22-track cassette tape compiled to raise proceeds for a new space. A self-proclaimed (and entirely accurate) slice of the Irish music underground from some scene stalwarts, it’s a wonderfully eclectic release, featuring Flowers at Night, Declan…

  • Jeff Tweedy – Love Is The King

    November 2, 2020 - By 

    Warm, Warmer, Warmest. Jeff Tweedy’s latest collection of homespun wisdom is more inviting and immediate than its predecessors. Recorded in Wilco’s loft studios, arrangements are sparse and to the point, kept conveniently within the family bubble through contributions from his sons Spencer and Sammy. Here I am There it is At the edge Of as bad as it gets The title track’s opening lines and ominous chord progression could be alluding to the coronavirus, Trump, or both. Despite circling back to the refrain of “Love is the king” the clouds never quite lift, abetted by familiar A Ghost is Born-reminiscent electric…

  • Matt Berninger – Serpentine Prison

    October 21, 2020 - By 

    Solo albums, for the most part, present artists with the opportunity to  indulge in experiments their bandmates would reject. Take Thom Yorke going fully electronic on The Eraser, or Sigur Ros’ Jónsi’s journey into  glitch-pop on his new album Shiver: Neither proved to be too much of a deviation from their main projects’ sound, but provided them with a detour that musicians often need to get out of their system between “proper” albums. The lowered expectations that can come with a solo album free up an artist to make whatever they want without restriction, and can sometimes lead to something…

  • Moving On Music Set To Hold Online Concert Event ‘All The Noels’

    October 20, 2020 - By 

    Belfast-based tastemakers par excellence Moving on Music are set to hold unique online live music experience held throughout the Black Box, Belfast, titled All The Noels. The 30-odd-minute single shot, walk-through experience is set to showcase different music taking place across the various spaces of the venue. The video – recorded across one day by a team of audio-visual professionals – attempts to capture the feeling of being in possibly our favourite Belfast venue for live music. Performances come from some of TTA faves, experimental rock quartet Blue Whale, traditional Irish vocal quartet Landless, Irish jazz pianist Scott Flanigan‘s Trio, jazz drummer Steve Davis, folk duo Laytha and traditional flute & whistle player Martha Guiney with Shane McCartan. Speaking of the project, Mick Bonner of Moving on Music said “it was…

  • “Is There Ever NOT More To Say About the Institutional Oppression of Women?” – M(h)aol Release First Single in 5 Years

    October 5, 2020 - By 

    Having releasing one single (‘Clementine‘ – featuring guest vocals from none other than Dara Kiely) in 2015, laying out a pointed intersection feminist & animal welfare-centred manifesto across their raw, visceral 15-minute sets, fast becoming one of the most talked-about bands in Dublin – their bassist the titular Jamie on Girl Band’s debut album – before inexplicably withdrawing with the same unpredictable energy they rode in with, M(h)aol, are the stuff of punk legend. As you well know, the intervening years in a post-referendum and post-Girl Band Irish landscape have seen a seismic transformation – with peak post-punk dude fecundity. Things were supposed to improve. Women were to experience something resembling equal representation on every…

  • New Music Initiative Safe In Sound Launches in NI

    September 23, 2020 - By 

    Just announced today, Safe in Sound is a new initiative set to provide a safe space for underrepresented voices in the Northern Irish music sector. The organisation is spearheaded by six women who are heavily involved with and working in music in NI; Aine Cronin-McCartney (Artist Manager, Journalist), Ciara McMullan (Music Photographer), Hannah Richardson (Musician), Jo Wright (Artist Manager, Music Development), Katie Richardson (Musician, Composer, Facilitator) and Francesca O’Connor (Artist Manager, PR). The announcement of the initiative came alongside the following statement: “As individuals, we felt that there was a lack of recognition, respect and support for minority voices working in…