• Track Record: Paul G Smyth

    February 21, 2016 - By 

    In the latest installment of Track Record, Dublin pianist and Jimmy Cake member Paul G Smyth handpicks a selection of records that have left an indelible imprint on his music and life, including Tangerine Dream, Derek Bailey and Talk Talk. Photos by Aidan Kelly Murphy. Evan Parker – Saxophone Solos This album essentially ruined my life. First stumbled upon when I used to hoover up the contents of the Ilac Centre Library’s audio section as a teenager, using every family member’s cards every Saturday, and coming home on the bus with unknowns from every section. I hated it. Passionately. It…

  • Jack O’Rourke: Comfort in Melancholy

    February 19, 2016 - By 

    Set to play Dublin’s Whelan’s tonight (Friday, February 19) we chat to Cork baroque-pop singer-songwriter Jack O’Rourke about influence and inspiration, soundtracking the Yes campaign, the thin line between joy and melancholy, as well as the writing and recording of his forthcoming debut album. First up: for those not in the know, when and how did you first start writing and playing your own music? I was four and doodling at the piano. It chilled me out and excited me simultaneously. I discovered Kate Bush and Tom Waits when I was 15 and the rest is history. I sometimes wish I…

  • Cinema 16 For ’16: Janis: Little Girl Blue

    February 17, 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. Documentary filmmaker Amy Berg (West of Memphis, Prophet’s Prey) turns her investigative camera inwards onto the all too brief life of rock icon Janis Joplin for her new film, Janis: Little Girl Blue, profiling not just the career of one of rock music’s first and still…

  • Cinema 16 For ’16: A Bigger Splash

    February 16, 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. The sun-kissed Mediterranean, The Rolling Stones, four of the hottest actors in cinema and a story of desire, jealousy and deceit. A Bigger Splash sees Tilda Swinton reunite with director Luca Guadagnino – the two previously collaborated on I Am Love – to rework Jacques Deray’s…

  • Visual Arts Outlook (16/2)

    February 16, 2016 - By 

    After a brief January hiatus The Visual Arts Outlook is back and bringing you a selection of the best Irish Contemporary Arts this week. There is a whole bunch of great events happening and even though it’s cold and raining, I think you won’t regret getting out there to see what’s on. If you are in Belfast on Saturday, head over to Source Photo Day, on the first floor of Castle Court at 1pm. A talk from John Duncan will be delivered followed by a discussion. Also on Saturday evening at Void, Derry is the Abridged 0 – 14: Floodland Magazine…

  • Track Record: Eoin Dolan

    February 16, 2016 - By 

    In this installment of Track Record, we head West to visit nostalgia pop enthusiast Eoin Dolan in his apartment in Galway as he selects ranging from Rufus Wainwright to The Beach Boys by way of classic Irish folk music. Photos by Sean McCormack. Rufus Wainwright –  I Want One I first heard of Rufus Wainwright when he performed ‘Vibrate’ on Jools Holland a few years back. It was just him and the piano and it sounded amazing. When I eventually picked up the album I was pleasantly surprised by the lush string arrangements that accompanied each song. It showed how his writing…

  • Texture and Physicality with ELLLL

    February 16, 2016 - By 

    Having featuring as an Inbound act in the second issue of our magazine, Cork-based producer Ellen King AKA ELLLL has well and truly kicked into gear with recent release ‘Romance’, a self-professed “beat-driven collage with a playful and sinister narrative”. Touching on her creative process, Irish electronic music and what the future holds, King talks to fellow Cork native Mike McGrath Bryan. Photos by Louise Adelaide McKeown. How did ELLLL start? Where does Ellen King end and ELLLL begin? I had been writing some music as an undergrad and was approached to play live. I needed a name. So, that’s how it came…

  • Monday Mixtape: Lou Barlow (Dinosaur Jr./Sebadoh)

    February 15, 2016 - By 

    To say Lou Barlow needs no introduction would be something of a colossal understatement. A founding member of Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh and the Folk Implosion, Barlow is both a veritable indie rock hero and lo-fi pioneer par excellence. Having recently released his third solo album, Brace The Wave, Barlow reveals and waxes lyrical about some of his favourite tracks discovered via apps like Shazam, including Crain, Sauna Youth and Dublin’s Girl Band. I love the music-identifying apps on my phone, Shazam and SoundHound. If I hear something and don’t know what it is I tap one of these and aim my phone.…

  • Rave New World (12/02)

    February 12, 2016 - By 

    Antoin Lindsay is back! He and Aidan Hanratty run through the best gigs, tracks and mixes of the week. Gigs Kink – Live at District 8, Dublin Friday 12 February Number 1 on RA’s list of live acts last year, Kink has been rolling out bangers for years, and finally got his due with this particular recognition. See why he got the top spot at District 8, who have a pretty special season of guests this spring. AH Fleetmac Wood presents I See Your Gypsy at The Sugar Club, Dublin Friday 12 February A ludicrous name, I agree, but this show looks like a…

  • Crowded With Different Voices: an interview with Julia Holter

    February 11, 2016 - By 

    Few artists follow their own path so downright convincingly as Californian experimental pop auteur Julia Holter. With her extraordinary, peerlessly prismatic fourth studio album, Have You In My Wilderness, finishing at the top-end of many ’15 End of Year lists, her standing as a supremely individual musician is incontestable. Ahead of her show at Dublin’s Button Factory next Wednesday night (January 17) Brian Coney chats to Holter about inspiration, the thematic concepts underlying her music and the consequence of widespread critical acclaim. It’s five months on from the release of Have You In My Wilderness. I’m curious: does the kind of acclaim it…