• Chatting To The Cheesemonger: An Interview with Danny Carroll

    February 28, 2024 - By 

    A quintessential indie rock showman-turned-millennial songsmith in the classical mode, we have a chat with Danny Carroll ahead of the release of his solo debut LP I Am The Cheese, out this Friday. Your debut LP I Am The Cheese shares its title with a 1977 young adult fiction novel, written by Robert Cormier. Could you tell us about the poignancy of that title to yourself and this body of work? It’s a book I read when I was 12 and was pretty haunted by. The final lines of the novel refer back to the folk song ‘The Farmer In…

  • Premiere: Vivamagnolia – 990 Miles

    March 23, 2021 - By 

    Sharing a certain Appalachian sentiment, Ireland’s footing in Americana-steeped rock has traditionally been solid. Someone very much making his imprint on the next generation is Patrick J. Hodgen, AKA Vivamagnolia. The last few years have yielded a string of excellent singles that variously recalled those indie and alt. country masters of the late-90s/early-00s like Mark Linkous, Will Oldham, and Jason Molina, none of whom shied away from experimentation within the form. Following up on his debut EP, new single ‘990 Miles’ sees his work pared back into the kind of soft-focus, vulnerable, Westward-facing indie rock that made Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot an era-definer, elevated by gospel-tinted, George Harrison-worthy slide guitar as Hodgen reflects upon…

  • Premiere: A.S. Fanning – All Time

    October 29, 2020 - By 

    We’re pleased to give a first listen to ‘All Time’, the lushly-textured new single from Berlin-based Irish singer-songwriter A.S. Fanning. A Nick Cave-ian gothic mini-fable, Fanning weaves personal neurosis through time and memory. Navigating the maelstrom’s dream logic, its subtly psychedelic layering and glistening production push toward briefly lucid moments of internal respite. Of the track, Fanning tells us: “‘All Time’ is a song about love and acceptance. Or maybe love and mercy, to borrow a line from Brian Wilson. I wrote it very quickly one night, it just sort of fell out fully formed, as sometimes happens. I was thinking about Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, and the idea of being…

  • Giant Sand @ Whelan’s, Dublin

    June 13, 2018 - By 

    No word in the English language sums up Howe Gelb’s ever-mutating life’s work Giant Sand more than idiosyncratic. Threaded through by just one man and his broad-ranging – oft. cowpunk – plays on the idioms of Americana and the topics he’s always held dear: love, death, humour & wanderlust, never straying too far from wryly homespun existentialism. Despite a few of indefinite hiatuses in the last few years, Giant Sand’s original lineup were reconvened for a complete rerecording of their debut LP, a scattershot snapshot of 35 years ago accompanied by members of Gelb’s LA & Tuscon circles at the…

  • Arborist – Home Burial

    October 14, 2016 - By 

    Master craftsman Mark McCambridge finally releases his debut album, Home Burial, under the guise of indie-Americana outfit Arborist, on November 11. Drawing influence from the wise, heartfelt likes of Bill Callahan & Jason Molina in terms of eclectic-yet-familiar instrumentation paired with thoughtfully-penned personal songs, it also features an indie rock pairing with Kim Deal on last year’s single, ‘Twisted Arrow‘. Recorded at Start Together Studios with Arborist drummer Ben McCauley, the album is launched in Belfast at Mr Tom’s Lounge in Lavery’s on October 28, with support from Dublin indie outfit Tandem Felix. Stream ‘I Heard Him Leaving’, Arborist’s interesting gender-subverting play on traditional Americana:

  • The Midnight Union Band – Of Life And Lesser Evils

    January 23, 2015 - By 

    The formation of The Midnight Union Band sounds like one of those great rock and roll stories. Peter Flynn (piano/organ/electric guitar/lapslide/mandolin), Brian McGrath (bass) and Cian Doolan (electric guitar/mandolin) had all played in a band together, but they were struggling with creating a grander sound. One day they literally stumbled upon busker Shane Joyce on the streets of Kilkenny and invited him to join the band, and with the addition of drummer John Wallace, it seems the The Midnight Union Band was truly born. After the release of five song EP Behind The Truth in 2013 and a year of…

  • The White Mansions – The Crossing

    August 7, 2014 - By 

    Having had a busy summer month of touring festivals, The White Mansions have just released their debut album The Crossing, available from iTunes, Amazon & to stream on Spotify. The six-piece country & bluegrass act launch their album with a to-be-confirmed show at the Ulster American Folk Park and a Black Box gig alongside rockabilly quartet The Sabrejets at the Black Box for the Belfast American Folk & Roots Club on September 27. Check out a live performance of ‘3 Point Link‘ at the Black Box Green Room. Stream The Crossing on Spotify below:

  • The Men – Tomorrow’s Hits

    March 12, 2014 - By 

    With a prodigious work ethic and a group of likeminded individuals, it’s often remarkable what can be achieved. For instance, while for some the process of creating a record from gestation to release can be a seemingly interminable operation, The Men have just produced their fourth LP of genuine quality in as many years. And with their latest release, the ironically titled Tomorrow’s Hits, the band are following a natural progression for arguably the first time. While 2011’s Leave Home – the band’s second release but the first that would be widely available – was seen as a critical success, its…