• CMAT at Cyprus Avenue, Cork

    Ireland has a strange, almost Lynchian relationship with country music. There are the Daniel O’Donnell/Nathan Carter/Garth Brooks die-hards, of course. This cohort is usually composed of people who grew up on westerns of the ’60s and ’70s, and came of age to the bizarre strings of the “Country and Irish” genre of music proliferated by the showband era. But interestingly there’s also a large chunk of millennials who were impacted (quite tragically) by Garth Brooks’ sold-out Croke Park concerts in the ’90s, and subsequently found themselves in some strange time-warp where youth clubs were teaching line dancing and the price…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 4th March

    Rejoice, it’s Bandcamp Friday once again. Here’s the best Irish tracks and releases of the week, from Acid Granny, Post Punk Podge & The Technohippies, MuRli, Lighght, Natalia Beylis, Wild Rocket, Arthur Itis and more. Acid Granny – Urban Hurling Urban Hurling by Acid Granny Post Punk Podge & The Technohippies – Gentrification Nation MuRli – The Sky Has Windows The Sky Has Windows by MuRli Seodra by Lighght Natalia Beylis – Fortuna: Installation Works 2013 Fortuna: Installation Works 2013 by Natalia Beylis SSMMUUTT – Pissed Up In Поділ / Magick Bridge ft Gareth Quinn Redmond Pissed Up In Поділ…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – January 14th

    As anticipated, 2022 has gotten off to an incredibly strong start on the new Irish music front. Here’s the best of the lot, featuring, Silverbacks, CMAT, Whozyerman?, Pixie Cut Rhythm Orchestra, NewDad and more. Silverbacks – A Job Worth Something CMAT – Lonely Pixie Cut Rhythm Orchestra – Empty Envelope Whozyerman? – The Year (….) NewDad – Say It And So I Watch You From Afar – Ill Lung Robyn G Shiels – Constant Reminder constant reminder : demo by robyn g shiels No Monster Club – Save The Circus banríon – end times end times by banríon Fontaines D.C.…

  • Stream: CMAT – Lonely

    CMAT has returned with a stellar new single, ‘Lonely’. Taken from her forthcoming (and massively anticipated) debut album If My Wife New I’d Be Dead, it’s another wonderfully-woven country-pop gem from the Meath sensation otherwise known as Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson. “It took me years to finish this song because I couldn’t figure out the point of it,” CMAT said. “Then the pandemic happened, and suddenly I realised that everybody was in the boat that I had been long accustomed to (my sea legs are beefy in this regard). I realised that the point of isolation is maybe to learn to…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 29th October

    Good songs. Great songs. Almost certainly the very best of them released in the last week, including CMAT, Fixity, Denise Chaila, Erica Cody, Laurie Shaw, Malaki & Tolü Makay, M(h)aol, MuRli feat. Gemma Dunleavy, Roe & Ciaran Lavery and more. Denise Chaila feat. Murli – Energy Fixity – Fixity 7 FIXITY 7 by Fixity NewDad – Ladybird MuRli feat. Gemma Dunleavy – Odyssey M(h)aol – No One Ever Talks To Us Eoin Dolan – Mirror Liver Mirror Liver LP by Eoin Dolan CMAT – No More Virgos Erica Cody – Love & Light EP Various Artists – TENEMENTS TENEMENTS – Various…

  • CMAT Announces Irish Dates & Debut Album, Releases ‘No More Virgos’

    The day is here at last: CMAT has announced details of her debut album. Having swiftly established herself as short of a revelation over the last couple of years, the Dublin-based artist will release If My Wife New I’d Be Dead via AWAL Recordings on February 25th, 2022. Including previously-released singles including ‘I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby!’ and ‘I Don’t Really Care For You,’ news of the 12-track album comes accompanied by the release of new single ‘No More Virgos’. In textbook CMAT fashion, it’s forward-pushing, earworming pop at its very best. “I’m the kind of girl who dates the same person…

  • New Irish Festival, Meadows Festival, Set For IMMA at Royal Hospital Kilmainham

    A new festival is coming to IMMA at Dublin’s Royal Hospital Kilmainham. Presented by promoters POD, Meadows Festival is a specially designed, socially-distance and open-air summer series of live music, performance and spoken word. Taking place next month, across August 20-22, the series will feature set from David Keenan & Niamh Regan, Just Mustard & John Francis Flynn, Saint Sister & CMAT, A Lazarus Soul & Lisa O’Neill, and more. Check out the full line-up below. Tickets go on sale on Wednesday, July 21 at 9am, priced €19.10 per person. Tickets are available in groups of 4 & 6 persons…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – June 25

    It’s another stellar week of high profile Irish album, EP and single releases from acts as far-reaching as CMAT, Mob Wife, Kojaque, Meljoann, Tuath, Joshua Burnside & Laura Quirke, Mick Flannery & Susan O’Neill, Paddy Mulcahy, VJ Jaxson, Bannered Mare, Smallmint, Roe, A Ritual Sea, Saint Sister & more. CMAT – 2 Wrecked 2 Care 2 Wrecked 2 Care by CMAT Mob Wife – Petri Dish Mick Flannery and Susan O’Neill – Chain Reaction Co-Living Culture – Renegador Joshua Burnside & Laura Quirke – Far Away The Hills Are Green Meljoann – Overtime Gaze Is Ghost – Sea Song Sea Song…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – March 26th

    Beating out the rest of 2021 so far in terms of both quality and quantity, check out the very best Irish tracks of the week, featuring Lighght, Soda Blonde, Poor Petal, SORBET, HAVVK, Æ MAK, Lilac, Ghostking Is Dead, For Those I Love, Gender Chores, Cussen, CMAT, This Ship Argo, Saint Sister, Dunx, Travi The Native and K3:LU. Ghostking Is Dead – I Don’t Need Help I Don’t Need Help by Ghostking Is Dead Æ MAK – New Friend Lighght – there are parts of my soul i don’t dare speak Holy Endings by Lighght Gnarkats – All The Time…