• Art For Blind & The Model Present Out Of Step Weekender

    Over this weekend of 27th-29th May, Out of Step – a festival curated by Art for Blind for their residency at The Model, Sligo – will unfold through film, music performance, conversation and workshops. Underground tastemakers par excellence, Art for Blind continue to explore Ireland’s rich multidisciplinary cultural fabric. The aim of their residency at Sligo venue – also home to the Niland Collection – has been to explore the programming of artists and musicians from diverse social, economic and geographical backgrounds. This weekender, its title inspired by the iconic Minor Threat song, expands the residency into the realm of film offering a view from the…

  • Premiere: Arthur Itis – Am I Dancing?

    Arthur Pawsey aka Arthur Itis has long been a sonic law unto himself, and we couldn’t be more here for it. Having drawn comparisons to such esteemed meddlers such as Sun Araw, Ween and our actual Lord and Saviour, R Stevie Moore, the Cork musician releases his fifth full-length, Occam’s Razor, via Sligo’s finest Art For Blind tomorrow (December 3rd). Recorded and mixed by Pawsey at Non Space & The Pleasure Centre, the nine-track album features guest appearances by likes of Sara Leslie & Jamie Leipert aka These Are Atoms, Pretty Happy’s Abbey Blake, Sam Clague and the Altered Hours’…

  • The Model, Sligo’s Art For Blind Curatorial Residency Kicks Off With Arthur Itis and Tuath Show This Saturday

    Sligo contemporary arts centre The Model is set to host a season of music and events curated by one of the finest imprints on the island, Sligo-based music and art collective, Art For Blind. The series – which will include music, film and printmaking – is part of the collective’s residency at The Model over 2021-2022. The first event is set to take place this Saturday, 11th September with two of the most forward-thinking acts in Ireland’s experimental underground. Making their debut in front of Sligo audiences are Cork-based, shapeshifting artist Arthur Itis, and Donegal-based establishment-bothering outfit Tuath, both of whom eschew easy genre classification. The experimental solo project of Arthur Pawsey, Arthur…

  • Premiere: Arthur Itis – Ahead Of The Curve

    Cork-based being Arthur Itis is back with more of his singular brand of esoteric, experimental bedroom-pop. Deconstructing any number of genres and effortlessly reanimating them in his own image in a lineage that traces lines through Beefheart, Devo, Ween and R Stevie Moore, he never fails to lean into the weirdness, even at his most accessible. Taken from his fifth LP, Occam’s Razor, earworming new single ‘Ahead of the Curve’ is no different, as Arthur’s character-inhabiting post-new wave gem marks his finest pop song yet. Set to feature appearances and contributions from Sam Clague, Altered Hours’ Cathal MacGabhann, Pretty Happy’s Abbey Blake, These Are Atoms’ Sara Leslie &…

  • Spilt Milk Festival 2019

    The brainchild of one of the country’s finest imprints, Art For Blind, Split Milk is a brand new audio-visual festival in Sligo. Bringing together national and international artists to perform and exhibit in intimate venues across Sligo Town alongside emerging local artists, the three-day festival will take place across November 22-24. And the festival’s inaugural line-up is quite something. Including several TTA favourites, Percolator, Landless (pictured), Aoife Nessa Frances, Katie Geraldine O’Neill, Problem Patterns, Ensemble Economique, Jusme ft. Farid Williams, Gulpt, BB84, Dult, Spekulativ Fiktion, Rachael Lavelle, Diarmuid McDiarmada and Marge Bouvier will perform across the weekend. Better yet, there will be film…

  • Oranges – Hey Zeus

    Last December, we premiered first single ‘The Way You Look’ by Dublin three-piece Oranges. We said it “recalled the abrasive, minimalist alchemy of The Fall”. The following single, ‘Upside Upside’ was a “skeletal post-punk riposte that, in its simmering climb and surging climax”. Taken from their forthcoming debut album Hey Zeus, they’re both firm hints at something special. A bare-bones approach has been applied to the entire process of Hey Zeus, which saw band members Gavin Duffy, Mici Durnin and Ed Kelly spit the LP out live in six hours with renowned engineer Stephen Quinn in a room on North Frederick Lane, Dublin, with only two of its eleven segments passing…

  • Premiere: Oranges – The Way You Look

    Holding out throughout Oranges have held on until now to reveal the first single from their debut album, Hey Zeus, set to come out next year through arguably Ireland’s most consistently stellar independent label, Sligo’s Art For Blind. Recalling the Fall’s abrasive, minimalist approach to the rock’n’roll palette, ‘The Way You Look’ was one of 11 tracks captured in 6 hours with Stephen Quinn in a room on North Frederick Lane, Dublin in 2017 – and it sounds it, in the most immediate, alchemical fashion. Oranges comprise three musicians who’ve been involved in Ireland’s underground scene for years: G. Duffy on vocals & guitars, M.T. Durnin on bass, synth & vocals, and E. Kelly on drums. Stream ‘The Way You Look’…

  • The Altered Hours – On My Tongue EP

    In many eyes the country’s best band, Cork’s The Altered Hours have just announced details of a forthcoming new EP, On My Tongue, and an accompanying European tour. The follow-up to their stellar 2016 full-length In Heat Not Sorry, the five-piece will release the four-track On My Tongue via Art For Blind Records and Penske Recordings early next year. A typically first-rate effort from the band, lead single ‘Open Wide’ premiered over on Clash. To coincide with the release, the band will also embark on a nine-date European tour across February-April, which incorporates shows on March 29th at Dublin’s DBD Venue, Letterkenny’s Regional Cultural Centre on 30th. Yours truly will…

  • Alien She – Feeler

    Dublin’s Alien She have been dazzling us with their snappy, experimental art-punk since the start, and have lifted the cloche on their much-anticipated debut LP, Feeler, released through Sligo DIY distro, Art For Blind Records (Altered Hours, Wild Rocket, I Am The Cosmos). Musically, the trio play a blend of agit. punk, shoegaze and alt. pop, tied together with an in-the-moment sense of experimentalism and febrile live energy, giving weight to Alien She’s politically & socially conscious impulse. The artistic inclination of founding members Katie & Aoife, both of whom are heavily Dublin’s art & poetry community in Dublin, first came together at a feminist meeting, and having spent the last two…

  • Premiere: Alien She – Feeler

    Dublin’s Alien She have been dazzling us with their snappy, experimental art-punk since the start, and have just lifted the cloche on their much-anticipated debut LP, Feeler, unveiled today through Sligo DIY distro, Art For Blind Records (Altered Hours, Wild Rocket, I Am The Cosmos) Musically, the trio play a blend of agit. punk, shoegaze and alt. pop, tied together with an in-the-moment sense of experimentalism and febrile live energy, giving weight to Alien She’s politically & socially conscious impulse. The artistic inclination of founding members Katie & Aoife, both of whom are heavily Dublin’s art & poetry community in Dublin, first came together at a feminist meeting, and having spent…