• A Litany of Failures Announce Volume III and Fundraising Gig

    After triumphant failures in 2018 and 2016, A Litany Of Failures – an independent, cross-border compilation series featuring the best in alternative Irish music – is back.  Ahead of another double-vinyl release in July 2020, A Litany Of Failures is curating a series of fundraiser gigs around Ireland. These will feature the curdled cream of the indie scene, with the first gig taking place on Friday 25th October in JaJa Studios in Stoneybatter, Dublin 7.  A BYOB show, music on the night comes from Belfast indie psych quartet Junk Drawer – check out their NI Music Prize-nominated single ‘Year of the Sofa‘ – the Paddy Hanna fronted…

  • Mclusky w/ New Pagans and Junk Drawer @ Voodoo, Belfast

    We’d the utmost pleasure of hosting the debut Irish shows from Welsh noise rock heroes Mclusky at Belfast’s Voodoo and Dublin’s Workman’s Club at the weekend. Two sell-outs and two extraordinary sets from easily one of the best bands of a generation. Extended gratitude to Belfast’s Oh Yeah Music Centre and And So I Watch You From Afar for the lend of van and gear respectively. Our photographer Colm Laverty nipped down to the Belfast show, which also featured sets from New Pagans and Junk Drawer.

  • Stream New Irish Grassroots Compilation: Live @ Fennor Lane

    Tucked away amongst castle ruins and relics of history on the outskirts of Slane town, Mark Carolan runs the intimate Fennor Lane Studios. Like the encouraging number of grassroots Irish compilations and splits that have graced our Bandcamp accounts in recent times to act as connective tissue between previously-disparate scenes, Live at Fennor Lane was made with the same philosophy of shared elevation in mind, as Mark tells us: “The idea behind this album was simply to create a record worth listening to, and the live method of recording gives a characterful and natural feel to it. I hope we can bring new music to all the followers of each band involved in this project and help everyone to expand their audience. Aaaand it was great craic making it!” Featuring several of our favourite bands in the land, each more idiosyncratic than the last, contributions range from Slouch‘s submerged psychogroove, to the…

  • Goodbye Mandela @ Mandela Hall, Belfast

    So, the last gig at Mandella Hall. Probably a pretty great venue when you sit and list off all the great gigs you saw there. But nostalgia is for later. WASPS are a pleasantly rambunctious start to the evening, playing in Bar Sub they strike excitable silhouettes adrift in a haze of dry ice and some slick, stark lighting. They find their groove somewhere between desert surf and mathy punk and mine it to death, littering it with nice interplay and clever fills, throwing in some swampy rock riffs every now and then, too. They give an energetic and warm…

  • Various Artists – A Litany of Failures Vol. II

    To be a contemporary “independent” band in Ireland isn’t merely a genre categorisation, but a complex creative actuality. There’s often a socio-economic subtext to the term, as happens when a multitude of younger or less experienced creatives don’t have the resources to view music as a full-time pursuit just yet. They must therefore look elsewhere to meet the frequently unforeseen costs that stack up when making music – gear upkeep, travel, recording/rehearsal space fees, etc. This can lead to an absence of parity at the level of industry power relations. Simply look at the cultural-economic logic followed by certain festivals…

  • A Litany Of Failures Vol. II Announced

    Following the limited release of cross-Ireland Little L Records compilation, 2016’s A Litany of Failures – featuring Oh Boland, Shrug Life, That Snaake and Junk Drawer – an expanded second edition has been confirmed for release on July 13. Set to be released on 180g gatefold double vinyl, as well as through Bandcamp, Spotify and the usual outlets, it features 18 acts from Belfast, Cork, Derry, Donegal, Dublin, Galway & Limerick. The DIY, co-op endeavour aims to provide an opportunity to perform outside each of their hometowns, shortening the mental distances between bands, and encouraging a cross-pollination of musical communities. Splitting costs between artists and the organisers, a sense of…

  • Final Mandela Hall Show Announced

    You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t forged a key memory in Mandela Hall since its 1986 naming, so the announcement of its closure – due to the development of the Student’s Union – came as a blow to many. Fortunately, the good people of the SU have invited And So I Watch You From Afar to headline and curate its final ever bill – a genre-spanning tapestry of some of the finest and fast-rising artists from here – taking place on Friday, July 27. On the bill are Mojo Fury, playing their first show in years, Robocobra Quartet – who’ve just put out one of the albums of…

  • Curfew Festival Announced For Twelfth of July

    Making its return for the first time in many years, Belfast’s alternative, inclusive Twelfth of July proceeding Curfew, takes place across two of Belfast’s finest small venues – The Black Box & Voodoo. The whole day is kindly run by original runner Pete Jez’ Solid Choice Industries. In direct opposition of ‘the other one’, we don’t have to pretend to enjoy the rad tunes. The only cultural division to be seen is in the cross-genre venue booking -Voodoo is set to host the riff-centric acts, headed by Dublin’s synth-driven space-metal trio No Spill Blood, sludgy heavy rock trio Slomatics, Dublin hardcore act Destriers, space punks Wild Rocket, sludge-doom act Nomadic…

  • Premiere: Via: Barvikha – Willie Woods

    Today, we’re delighted to be able to premiere ‘Willie Woods’, the second single from Via: Barvikha‘s new EP, Chengdu.  The song sees songwriter Chris Leckey make some concessions about himself directly to an unknown listener (‘I moved away, or so I thought’), which take on a deeper profundity within the frame of the EP, written around a period of significant life change, namely songwriter Chris Leckey’s uprooting to a new home 5329 miles away – the titular Chengdu – and then coming back five months later. Channelling a brooding intensity never articulated as dynamically with his past hardcore outfit PigsAsPeople, Leckey has found a waypoint via common denominator Brand New to the…