• Track Record: Ruairi Paxton (Galants)

    October 17, 2016 - By 

    In the latest installment of Track Record, Ruairi Paxton from Dublin noise-pop band Galants lets us into his homestead to have a flick through some of his all-time favourite records, including Guided By Voices, Thee Oh Sees and Galaxie 500. Photos by Pedro Giaquinto. Guided By Voices – Bee Thousand There was a phase between 2006 – 2008 when I was obsessed with this band. There is a documentary called Watch Me Jump Start about GBV. I must have watched it 100 times. I just love this early 90’s lo-fi period. I eventually gave the DVD to a friend Patrick…

  • Picture This: Your National Visual Arts Guide – Narrative

    October 11, 2016 - By 

    Most exhibitions, in fact most artistic presentations be they albums, books or films, rely on and in most cases are defined by the strength of the narrative that exists or is absent from their presentation. They ensure an audience is guided through the work and suitably poked in the right direction when needed or left to surmise when required. While this idea of a structural narrative is almost universally present in outputs, it’s realisation and presence can be a diverse as the types of works it links and flows between. It can seen conjoining two distinct and seemingly opposing stories…

  • Blood and Guts: An Interview with Le Butcherettes’ Teri Gender Bender

    October 10, 2016 - By 

    For the uninitiated, Le Butcherettes are a three-piece punk rock band based in El Paso, by way of LA and the streets of Guadalajara, Mexico.  As founder and front-woman Teri Gender Bender has alluded to, her grounding in a deeply religious city, where ‘humble hard-working people’ live on the same streets as ‘violent kidnappers’ had a profound impact on her mind-set.  This juxtaposition of good and evil would act as her musical education, informing image, lyrics and sound. Through a process of cultural osmosis Gender Bender drew inspiration from many sources, be it Mexico’s ‘raw corruption’ or American punk music –…

  • Tales From The Manor: An Interview With Emmet Condon of Another Love Story

    October 10, 2016 - By 

    Camaraderie and intimacy are what lie at the root one of Ireland’s most enticing summer spectacles, Another Love Story. Off the back of its marvellously successful third year, Homebeat founder and festival curator Emmet Condon talks to Eoin Murray about what separates ALS from Ireland’s larger music festivals and about the very real love that fuels it above all else. Photos by Aaron Corr It’s been a few weeks since Another Love Story. Now that you’ve had some time to let it digest, what were some of the highlights of the festival for you? Highlights are a bit tough to…

  • Track Record: Jess Kav (BARQ)

    October 8, 2016 - By 

    Dublin musician and BARQ frontwoman Jess Kav handpicks a selection of records that have left an indelible imprint on her music and life, including Chaka Khan, Jape, Ella Fitzgerald and Flying Lotus. Photos by Moira Reilly. Hiatus Kaiyote – Choose Your Weapon Future-Soul deliciousness from Australia or, to quote them, “polyrhythimic, multidimensional gangsta shit”. The album kicks you in the face with glitchy vocals and operatic intensity from the first song ‘By Fire’. Nai Palm’s voice can hold so much sass and vulnerability simultaneously, god I fucking love her. I feel like she’s life-coaching me with her lyrics. Listen out…

  • Inbound: Whim

    October 6, 2016 - By 

    Whim AKA Sarah Di Muzio was born and raised in San Francisco but moved to Portland “in favour of rain and indie Pacific Northwest music”. A visit to Ireland in April 2015 saw her fall in love with Galway, probably for the same reasons, and she has lived here ever since. At only twenty years old she possesses an ability to craft clever indie-folk-pop tunes, the kind that wouldn’t seem out of place in that particularly American brand of quirky hipster rom-com. In fact, her second EP, The Funeral Guest – released in 2015 – was soundtrack to a movie…

  • The Thin Air Tracks of the Week: J Mascis, Solar Bears, Thee Oh Sees, Enemies etc.

    October 6, 2016 - By 

    You know, we got thinking: three years in, it’s really about time that we started herding up our very favourite tracks – Irish and international – and putting them in one place, each and every week. That very obvious thought developed into a very simple plan (ten or so positively must-hear tracks every Thursday) and here we are. This is it. You are here. Dig below. Enemies – ‘itsallwaves’ RIP Enemies. Don’t miss their farewell show at Vicar Street in December. J Mascis – ‘Waltz 2’ (Elliott Smith cover) It probably shouldn’t work but it does. Go here, man. Crystal…

  • Far From Nowhere: An Interview With Malojian

    October 6, 2016 - By 

    Having released Southlands last year to critical acclaim, Malojian’s subsequent announcement that they’d be jetting off to Chicago to record the follow-up, This Is Nowhere, with the illustrious Steve Albini was just cause for much excitement within the NI music community. Now, on the cusp of its release, we pinned down Stevie Scullion – Malojian’s driving force – to get the scoop on recording with Albini, the writing of the new album, and more. Words by Aaron Drain. Photos by Colm Laverty Catch Malojian at the following Irish shows over the next three months. October 7: The Fat Gherkin (Solo…

  • Gigs of the Week: Stars of The Lid, Twitch, David Holmes, HWCH & Cathy Davey

    October 6, 2016 - By 

    While this year’s Hard Working Class Heroes in Dublin is undoubtedly the biggest draw in the country this weekend, it seems we’ve chose a particularly to re-launch our Gigs of the Week feature, a weekly round-up looking at (would you believe?) some of the very best and downright unmissable shows taking place – North and South – over the next few days. Cathy Davey Spirit Store, Dundalk Friday, October 7 Having just released her beguiling fourth studio album, New Forest, Cathy Davey (pictured above) has quickly re-established herself as one of the country’s most intriguing solo propositions. Also playing host to…

  • Galaxy’s Greatest Comic: The Story of 2000AD

    October 4, 2016 - By 

    The story goes that the editors of 2000AD – British sci-fi institution and self-styled ‘The Galaxy’s Greatest Comic’ – chose its title thinking it would never see the millennia. Nigh on 40 years later it’s still in print, with this week seeing the release of its landmark 2000th issue, giving a perfect chance to reflect on its almost incalculable influence on the comics world and pop culture as a whole. When editor/writer Pat Mills was commissioned with creating a Star Wars cash-in in 1977, he saw it as a vehicle for his own brand of anti-authoritarian anarchy, enlisting fellow scribe John…