• Interview: Hamell on Trial

    March 9, 2016 - By 

    When Ed Hamell decided he was done with bands, picked up a battered acoustic guitar, and decided to go it alone, he called himself Hamell on Trial. And whether he meant to or not, he set the scene for over two decades of confessional, confrontational, and apocalyptic music. Make no bones about it, when he gets on the stage, Ed Hamell is on trial. And we’re judge, jury, and executioner. With numerous brushes with mainstream acclaim under his belt, the New Yorker has managed to keep in underground for most of his career, but that acerbic style, calling to mind…

  • Rave New World (04/03)

    March 4, 2016 - By 

    Antoin Lindsay and Aidan Hanratty return for their latest look at the very best electronic gigs, tracks and mixes of the week. Gigs Lower Your Expectations #5: Barry Redsetta + Frawl at The Underbelly, Limerick Saturday 5 March LYE continues its run of great guests, with Major Problems boss Barry Redsetta travelling to Limerick tomorrow night. He’s famed as a warmup DJ, but here he’ll be shining brightly. He’s got quite the collection, with unreleased goodies to boot (MPR010 is killer) – check out this sweet mix he did last year for proof. Local man Frawl is on support, fresh from the…

  • Premiere + Interview: Ryan Vail – Invert

    March 4, 2016 - By 

    Whether you’re a newcomer or have been following his slow-burning, revelatory evolution as of late, Derry’s Ryan Vail has always commanded a domain that he can call his own. A master of subtlety, nuance and the hallowed space between the notes, his debut EP These Words revealed fully-formed promise that has only grown (and grown into itself) in the half-decade since. Whether you look to EPs including Fade and Grow, tracks such as ‘Sunlight’ and ‘Days’, superb new single ‘Wounds’ or Sea Legs, his well-received concept collaboration with Ciaran Lavery, Vail’s music and the sphere he conjures via slowly bobbing, synth-laden electronica has always…

  • Playlist: Choice Music Prize 2016

    March 3, 2016 - By 

    With The Gloaming proving well-deserved victors last time round, tonight’s Choice Music Prize is – as has almost always been the case with the award – an extremely tough one to call. Selected by an Irish industry judging panel, the following albums – perfectly diverse in score and vision – will all compete to walk away with the prize at Vicar Street later today. Girl Band – Holding Hands with Jamie (Rough Trade) HamsandwicH – Stories From The Surface (Route 109A Records) Gavin James – Bitter Pill (Warner Music Ireland) Jape – This Chemical Sea (Faction Records) Le Galaxie – Le Club (Universal Music…

  • Bookmark: Frankie Gaffney

    March 2, 2016 - By 

    In this installment of Bookmark, we chat to Dublin author Frankie Gaffney about the books that have made the biggest impression on his life thus far. Photos by Pedro Giaquinto. I’ve split my list into fiction and non-fiction. Non-fiction tends to get neglected, but it influences my writing every bit as much as fiction. Non-Fiction A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson This book gently and briefly explains what’s currently known about the universe: the very basics of the cosmos, our planet, and the life that inhabits it. For some reason they don’t really teach you the broad…

  • Track Record: Anderson

    March 2, 2016 - By 

    In this installment of Track Record, we head over to the home studio of Dublin based singer songwriter Anderson, while he selects the records which have made a huge impact on his life from The Beatles to Joni Mitchell. Photos by Tara Thomas. The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band This record is redolent of my childhood, it has been a sturdy vessel for so many of my earliest and happiest memories. As a musician the way I listen to records has changed and become much more analytical, listening to this record now only enhances my regard for…

  • And So I Watch You From Afar in Japan

    February 29, 2016 - By 

    And So I Watch You From Afar drummer Chris Wee reports from their recent stint in the Nihon lights of the Far East. With paper cup of coffee in hand I sat, knees wedged toward my chest in the first passenger row of our boxy Hiace van, the intrepid road warrior of many an Asian motorway. The whole thing shook and bumped at every contour of the Tomei Expressway connecting our last city of Nagoya to Tokyo. There are not too many certainties in life, but in terms of ASIWYFA, whether it was the 1000mile stretch from Edmonton to Salt…

  • Monday Mixtape: Steven Agnew

    February 29, 2016 - By 

    Following on from his two-part TTA interview, Green Party of Northern Ireland leader Steven Agnew selects and talks about some of his all-time favourite songs, featuring Yo La Tengo, Hot Snakes, Neutral Milk Hotel and Slint. Go here and here for Stevie Lennox’s interview with Agnew. “I’m one of those people who laments technology. I miss making mixtapes. I wouldn’t even have the equipment to make or play it on anymore, but I was a big fan. High Fidelity was always one of my favourite books – the rules of making mixtapes. I’ve never sat down to think about it,…

  • Rave New World (26/02)

    February 26, 2016 - By 

    Antoin’s away in Berlin, so here Aidan Hanratty returns for his latest look at the very best electronic gigs, tracks and mixes of the week. Gigs Move D & Shanti Celeste at Opium Rooms, Dublin Friday 26 February  Craig David is sold out, so I guess this will have to do. The ageless Move D continues to thrive, most recently showcasing his considerable talents alongside Jordan GCZ on their Live In Seattle album for Further Records. A relative newcomer then by comparison, Shanti Celeste has moved from under-the-radar releases on Brstl and Idle Hands to a killer cut with Funkineven and…

  • Cinema 16 For ’16: Secret In Their Eyes

    February 25, 2016 - By 

    An alternative guide to this year’s cinematic offerings, we trawl through the dilapidated rows of seats in the back alley ‘art’ cinemas and crumbling picture palaces so you don’t have to; rescuing gummy Venus de Milos from sticky crevices and fishing midget gems out of cold cups of tea. Diaries at the ready cinephiles. ‘Hollywood remake’ is a somewhat tainted term, for every The Birdcage there’s an Old Boy. But in this much maligned time of endless sequels and franchises that reboot like a skipping record, isn’t it better to take a brilliant foreign film and try to reimagine it…