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Month: December 2017

Sub Motion to Play The Workman’s Club

Written by Breffni Banks on . Posted in News.

2017 was a dizzying year for the Sub Motion. “SOCCER MOM” was released in February, getting radio play in Ireland, the UK and the US along with being on the “Guys we F****ked” podcast reaching 1 million listeners. “DECOY” was released this April along with a packed out show in Whelan’s. Their latest single ‘HEADLIGHTS’ has been praised as “their best song yet” by RTE 2FM.

The bands live show has been described as “unfettered loudness and instant impact”.

SUB MOTION played MainStage Vantastival, Indiependence, Electric Picnic this year and just signed an international publishing deal with Tremolo Publishing this September. With an album in the works and interest from the industry abroad, 2018 is looking to be a very exciting year for the band.

The band are celebrating the year they’ve had with a show in Workman’s Club with special guests WOLFF + Scally.

Tickets €7 or €5 with student discount.
Online tickets €5 – https://goo.gl/XKQHrE

“Meet the band of unashamedly serious rockers defiantly pushing against the grain of indie and folk bands in Ireland” – Hot Press.

Donal Quinn Releases New Single ‘Twah’

Written by Breffni Banks on . Posted in News.

Following a string of big dance bangers during summer 2017 and the BBC 6 Music plays of “Massif Anthem” late last year – described by Hot Press as “sounds quite unlike anything else we’ve come across” – Drogheda-based indie dance artist Donal Quinn releases brand new single ‘Twah’.

‘Twah’, live favourite at gigs, was recorded in Hackney, London with top producer Tom McFall (Kasabian, Snow Patrol, Bloc Party). Available on iTunes, Spotify, Deezer and all other digital distribution outlets.

https://twitter.com/DonalQuinnMusic
https://www.facebook.com/DonalQuinnArtist
https://soundcloud.com/donalquinn

AVA Festival and Conference Returns for 2018

Written by Breffni Banks on . Posted in News.

AVA (Audio Visual Arts) Festival and Conference has rapidly become an unmissable highlight in the UK & European festival calendar, taking pride of place as a cultural pioneer in its home country of Northern Ireland and now beyond. Following on from last year’s first full AVA Weekender, the festival gears up for it’s biggest outing yet. Marking it’s fourth edition, AVA 2018 starts on Friday June 1st 2018 with Ireland’s leading electronic music conference, followed by an unmissable two day festival in their new dystopian warehouse home.

True to form, cutting edge international heavyweights join grassroots talent in a former B&Q warehouse, now known at S13 Warehouse, in the heart of the city. For 2018, three stages become four, with a new addition making its debut. Plus, Boiler Room return to take their legendary AVA stage partnership to the next level, by upping the broadcast to a two-day live stream. AVA’s Boiler Room stage is a true festival highlight and legendary annual event in the dance music world, from Space Dimension Controller’s Ayla drop to monumental sets from each and every selector last year. Belfast’s inimitable crowd and fun loving spirit has long captivated global audiences, both at AVA Festival and those further afield, desperate to chime in on the action.

With weekend tickets available now from just £50, plus a deposit scheme starting at just £25, don’t sleep on your chance to join one of the brightest, forward-thinking underground festivals that the UK has to offer. For those who want to piece in on the action, it’s a no brainer.

AVA Festival and Conference 2018 Earlybird Tickets start from £50: http://www.avafestival.com/tickets

AVA Festival and Conference 2018 Deposit Scheme Tickets  – £25: http://www.avafestival.com/tickets

The independent S13 Warehouse is another pioneering regeneration project from the Square Pit team, the same guys behind AVA’s former home T13 Belfast. This transformed site is located at South Belfast’s former B&Q Warehouse and represents the latest exciting development of Square Pit’s ‘Hybrid Venue’ concept as well as a totally unique platform for the next phase of the AVA Festival experience.

As well as all of this, there’s much more in store for AVA 2018. Keep your eyes peeled for further details.

AVA FESTIVAL AND CONFERENCE 2018

1st to 2nd June 2018 || S13 Warehouse, Belfast

www.avafestival.com

WEEKEND TICKETS START FROM £50 || £25 DEPOSIT SCHEME

TICKETS : http://www.avafestival.com/tickets

The Eskies Release New Album Ahead of Tour

Written by Breffni Banks on . Posted in News.

The Eskies new album ‘And Don’t Spare The Horses’ was released Friday and shot straight to #1 on the iTunes alternative album chart and #6 on the official album chart.

The band start their Irish tour next week. Full list of dates on www.theeskies.com

Returning to the foot stomping gypsy folk that has already won them an army of fans, ’And Don’t Spare The Horses’ leaps from genres as vast and varied as folk, klezmar and yiddish to rock, swing and blues. And it’s content? As eclectic as their sound according to the band – “Melodramatic tales of woe, betrayal, conflict, upheaval, rebellion, love, loss, fear and anger,” says the band. “All wrapped in tongue-in-cheek irreverence and self-deprecation, occasionally giving way to a flurry of triumphalism or whisper of introspection.”

Recorded at the Orphan Studios in Dublin earlier this year, the band set about to document the last year and a half of their musical meanderings, under the watchful gaze of producer ‘Captain’ Gavin Glass (Lisa Hannigan, John Grant, Billy Bragg). Whereas 2015’s debut ‘After The Sherry Went Round’ garnered praise for having “enough inherent energy to charge a power plant” (The Irish Times); with the new album the band were keen to showcase new dimensions to their sound.

Highlights include the opening lead single, ‘All Good Men’ – a full on, big band, swing sounding romp, snarling and growling its way through three and a half minutes of roaring brass and crowd harmonies and ‘Building Up Walls’ which begins with a low drawl, before erupting into an anthemic refrain. ‘Hail, Hail’ is a Poe-esque lament for a long lost love set against the backdrop of a sea-soaked spaghetti western, whilst ‘Death To The Sentry’ is probably the purest folk song on the album, complete with haunting four part harmonies, channelling poets Seigfried Sassoon and Wilfried Owen in a tale of the horrors of war, dread and the longing for home.

Contrast all of this with the breakneck speed of ‘Napoleon’, the fist pumping chorus in ‘I’m Not Sorry’and the Mardi Gras feel of ‘Shame’ and you have a truly vast and varied record in The Eskies second offering.

Renowned for their raucous live shows and fiercely passionate support, the band spent the last few years touring the world. They’ve played mainstage slots at both Glastonbury (Field Of Avalon) and Cambridge Folk Festival, as well as an outing at Dutch centrepiece Eurosonic Noordeslaag and Glasgow’s CelticConnections. They’ve also appeared on RTE’s Saturday Night Show, BBC Radio 4’s ‘Loose Ends’ with Clive Anderson and BBC Radio 3’s ‘Essential Classics’.

Irish tour kicks off on 7th December. For full dates and tickets please visit www.theeskies.com / @TheEskies 

7/12 – Limerick, Dolans
8/12 – Cork, Coughlans
9/12 – Kilkenny, Cleeres
14/12 – Galway, Roisin Dubh
15/12 – Belfast, The Barge
16/12 – Dublin, Button Factory

 

Picture This To Play Belsonic

Written by Breffni Banks on . Posted in News.

Following a SOLD OUT SSE Arena, Belfast show in October 2017, Belsonic in association with Magners are proud to announce the largest ever Belfast concert for Irish pop rock duo Picture This at Belsonic 2018. The bands first release “Take My Hand” went viral, generating 2 million-plus Spotify streams and over 1.9 million YouTube views since its release. As the group’s independent self-titled 2016 Picture This EP enchanted audiences, they impressively sold out two dates at 3Arena Dublin and one night at the SSE Arena, Belfast.

Tickets priced £30+ booking fee, go on sale this Saturday December 09th @ 9am from Ticketmaster outlets and www.ticketmaster.ie

Picture This have had a phenomenal rise over the past few years with the release of their self-titled album storming into the charts at #1, the highest charting entry for a debut artist in 2016. Already certified platinum, the album has dominated the Top Five album charts since its release. The band have just come off the back of a sold-out UK and Ireland tour – playing music, breaking tunes and celebrating life.

www.picturethismusic.com

www.belsonic.com

www.magners.co.uk

The Association of Irish Composers presents: Other Directions: Lina Andonovska + Matthew Jacobson

Written by Press Officer on . Posted in Industry News.

8.30pm (doors 8pm), Tuesday 12 December
The Grand Social
Tickets: €12/10 (students)
Available from https://goo.gl/pY1GWS and at the door

For the final event of 2017, the Association of Irish Composers presents two of the country’s finest new music performers, Lina Andonovska (flute) and Matthew Jacobson (drumkit).

Mixing the improvising virtuosity of Jacobson with the new music prowess of Andonovska, this is a duo of both brilliance and dexterity, easily moving between styles and sounds. It will be a night of improvisations, innovations, experimentations and celebrations, featuring music by Karen Power, Linda Buckley, Nick Roth and Anna Murray, as well as the duo themselves.

Part of the Other Directions concert series, exploring the many different forms and facets of music creation and composition in Ireland, and is supported by Arts Council Ireland. The AIC is supported by IMRO.

Listen to the artists online:
Lina Andonovska: https://soundcloud.com/lina-andonovska/
Matthew Jacobson: https://soundcloud.com/matthewjacobsonmusic

In Conversation:

Also – join the AIC earlier in the evening for a special In Conversation event exploring improvisation in new music at First Draft Coffee in Filmbase, Temple Bar at 6pm. Share a coffee – or a mulled wine – and a chat with composers, performers and new music fans as the Christmas season kicks off. Speakers to be announced soon.

Matthew Jacobson is a drummer, composer, bandleader, educator and producer currently based Dublin. He completed his BA in Jazz Performance at Newpark Music Centre, Dublin in 2008 and in 2010 he received a Masters Degree in Music Performance from Lucerne University, Switzerland.

He has represented his country, touring with the European Jazz Orchestra in 2008 and performs regularly in Ireland and abroad. He is also a co-director of Diatribe Records, Ireland’s leading record label for new sounds and the Irish co-producer of European exchange tour network and annual festival Match&Fuse. Since 2010, Matthew has been a member of faculty on Newpark Music Centre’s BA in Jazz Performance program, as both a drum tutor and ensemble leader.

As well as performing, composing for and recording with his own quartet ReDiviDeR – winners of the Cork Jazz Festival 2011 ‘Best Young Artist Award’ – Matthew also co-leads German-based guitar trio Blowout Fracture, Swiss-based quintet A E R I E, New York-based trio FarJam and France-based Foluain Trio.

Lina Andonovska leads a diverse career as soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player, collaborator and educator. Quickly gaining recognition internationally as a fearless and versatile artist, she has collaborated and performed with Crash Ensemble (Ireland), Australian Chamber Orchestra, Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond), s t a r g a z e, Southern Cross Soloists (Aus) and eighth blackbird (USA). She is critically acclaimed for her interpretation of new music, having closely collaborated with Louis Andriessen, Brett Dean, Ann Cleare, Donnacha Dennehy, Michael Gordon, David Lang, Thomas Ades, Anthony Pateras and Nick Roth. Rolling Stone Magazine hailed her performance of Bun-Ching Lam’s piccolo concertino at the Bang On A Can Summer Festival as “superbly played, (ranging) from sustained ‘somebody-please-get-that-tea-kettle’ squeaks to the flit and flutter of its beautifully lilting trills…”

Recent performance credits include the European premiere of Dean’s flute concerto ‘Siduri Dances’ with the Deutsches Kammerorchester, recitals at the Tokyo Experimental Festival, and guest appearances with s t a r g a z e across Germany. In the 2017/2018 season, she will be joining the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra Guest Principal Flautist, as associate artist with Southern Cross Soloists (AU) and perform the latest opera by Dennehy/Walsh with Crash Ensemble.

 

Movment Release ‘Red Death Sessions’

Written by Breffni Banks on . Posted in News.

Movment’s 4 Track EP  ‘Red Death Sessions’ on Distort The Scene is out now. The tracks were recorded in End of Light Studios, & mixed in JAM Studios by Martin Quinn. Artwork is by Jenny Macken.

Movment is a post-punk alternative indie rock band formed by the original members of Raw Novembre, who released 2 albums and an EP, and a final album, ‘My Bones’.

Movment’s first album ‘Broken Down’ is a melted mix of Electro Rock and indie riffs with real and dark themes.

Fusing sounds Movment create a post punk set that confronts and engages, disrupts and provokes.

Being described as metal, punk, emo, hardcore, and Indie, Movment are hard to define. They are an alternative rock band.

Writing and recording music is much more involved now for artists. Movment use technology & instruments, software & plugins, to amplify their ideas generating intense, disturbing, defiant songs.

The Recording of Album #2 has begun and will be released in 2018.

Lineup: Martin Kelly – Vocals, Drums
Kevin Kelly – Guitars, Bass, Keyboards

 

Kolumbus Releases Single In Aid of Inner City Helping Homeless

Written by Breffni Banks on . Posted in News.

“Two people have died on the streets of Dublin in recent days, hopefully we can stop it from happening again.” 

Mark Caplice is a Wicklow based songwriter who goes under the stage name Kolumbus. Christmas 2015 saw a Kolumbus release hit no.1 on the national Google Play Charts ahead of Justin Beiber and Adele raising funds for Inner City Helping Homeless and The Lions club.

This year Mark is taking a slightly different approach to fundraising and asking people to put aside their Fivers for the month of December in aid of ICHH. “In the space of one month I was able to save over 300 euro by simply putting aside any five euro notes I came in contact with. This sparked the idea, Why not start a campaign and hopefully use the effective saving technique to help others.”

The closing lyrics of the song reflect how simple it can be to help someone out, and how we all have the capacity to do so, “Somewhere, Know that there’s someone out there, Needing a helping hand just like the one you own.”

QUOTE FROM INNER CITY HELPING HOMELESS 

”Inner City Helping Homeless are delighted to be involved in what can only be described as an unbelievable piece of song writing. The spirit of Christmas has been captured both through the lyrics and video. Mark Caplice & Conor O’Reilly have really portrayed the spirit of giving within the piece, for a voluntary organisation such as ourselves to have the opportunity to be involved in this is spectacular. All funds raised through the sale of this single will be donated to Inner City Helping Homeless so we are asking all our supporters to get behind the single, homelessness is a really hot topic this year particularly around the Christmas period. The single really allows us to highlight that and whilst doing so, help people in desperate need. Lets make magic happen this Christmas!!! ”

IMRO at Other Voices 2017/IMRO Other Room/Part 2

Written by Press Officer on . Posted in Other Voices.

This year eight music acts performed at An Chonair Bar, as part of the IMRO Other Room at Other Voices. Tony Clayton-Lea reviewed all of them – here is the second segment of them.

LE BOOM

If a stuffed room at 3.30 in the afternoon is anything to go by, then Le Boom had better get ready for a name change to Le Bang sometime very soon. Doctors might say that cold weather kills infections stone dead, but this Dublin electro-pop duo (Chris and Aimie) invest so much heat into An Chonair Bar that you feel a trip to the doctor’s surgery is on the cards. From the first bounce of the beat, Le Boom instil confidence – the duo may be newish tykes on the block (the pair started writing music together about 15 months ago), but they have the self-assurance of musicians much more experienced. Added to this is the sheer exhuberance of the music, which seems not only match fit and fit for purpose but also tailored for easy of physical access. The reception Le Boom receives is a huge, deserved result, but a thought lingers: if they can create such a ludicrously crowd-surging, floor-bouncing reaction mid-afternoon, then what on earth will late night gigs produce. Boom? Bang? Whatever way it goes down, the Chris & Aimie explosion starts here.

KATIE KIM

The difference between the music styles of Katies Laffan and Kim is so immense there’s no point doing anything as dumb as a cross reference check. As host/MC MayKay says in her introduction to this artist, “people have spent years trying to define her.” This is as good a pointer to Kim’s singular music as anything you care to dream up, and it’s fair to say that those people who have tried to come up with anything remotely close to a classification have failed miserably. It isn’t difficult to understand why. Kim, who occasionally supplements her chosen art by being a support musician in The Waterboys, walks a fine line between experimentations and arty excess, but whereas many attempting similar styles would stumble she instead walks as sure-footed as a mountain goat patrolling the Conor Pass. There is something beguiling as well as beautiful about her music – it starts slowly, and stays at a certain level throughout her short set. It may not have the crossover appeal of Le Boom or Katie Laffan, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that Kim is filtering her art through a system that accepts her difference and diversity.

ROSBOROUGH

Like Touts, the punk band that tore up An Chonair Bar during the Other Voices Music Trail, Glenn Rosborough is from Derry, yet the differences in their music is remarkable. With just a guitar and a handful of songs, he snagged the attention of a crowd who had just about come down from the high of Le Boom. Insightful songs (including Burn Blue, In The Moment) are performed with integrity and passion, his strong, wide-ranging voice as firm a calling card as you could hope for. The songs performed will be featured on his debut album, which is due for release next year, and for which we advise you to keep an ear out for.

JOSHUA BURNSIDE

Northern Ireland’s Joshua Burnside has been around for several years, but it was with this year’s Ephrata album that he crossed over from cult to well known. The album won him the Northern Ireland Music Prize 2017, an accolade that Burnside will surely place beside a few others before the end of 2018.  Although he played a short set, there was much to admire in a batch of songs that had real emotional depth and weight. By the end, the feeling that you really wanted to hear more lingered for quite a while. For many music fans, this is as close to a good result as they could have wished for.

IMRO at Other Voices 2017/IMRO Other Room/Part 1

Written by Press Officer on . Posted in Other Voices.

This year eight music acts performed at An Chonair Bar, as part of the IMRO Other Room at Other Voices. Tony Clayton-Lea reviewed all of them. It’s a tough job, but someone had to do it, etc.

PILLOW QUEENS

Dublin’s Pillow Queens (Sarah, Pam, Cathy, and Rach) kickstarted the IMRO Other Room at Other Voices, and instantly captured if not conveyed the spirit of what it must have felt like when all-female bands such as The Raincoats, The Modettes, and The Slits blazed a trail back in the late ’70s. If that spirit encompassed pioneering sensibilities then it also ensured that women’s voices were heard. While Pillow Queens reference music that anyone with an avid interest in punk(ish) rock would be aware of (and while they have all the right influences and have read all the right books) they bring a solid sense of the times they are living in with captivating, brisk songs such as Rats, Wonderboys, and Olive.

MARIA KELLY

It says something about the burgeoning popularity of Mayo singer-songwriter Maria Kelly that out of over 1,000 entries for this year’s Other Voices IMRO Open Call, she won the public vote. Clearly, the people have spoken. Positioning herself centre stage, Kelly may look the part of the archetypal female singer-songwriter, but there’s a steeliness to her performance that marks her out from so many others. Songs such as Far Below, Torn Into Two, and Dark Places showcase Kelly’s songwriting in a particularly bright light. Factor in a band that is as empathetic as it is able to create accomplished and delicate soundscapes, and you have a class act that seems well able to deliver not only on the faith of those who voted her in but also on the promise of her talent. We may too often fall into the trap of saying things like ‘one to keep an eye out for’, and so on, but seriously, Maria Kelly is precisely that.

SLOW RIOT

Limerick’s Slow Riot (Niall Clancy, bass/vocals; Aaron Duff, guitar; Liam O’Connor, guitar; Paul Cosgrave, drums) has been dipping in and out of focus for the past few years. Taking post-punk bits of Interpol, pieces of The Editors and slivers of New Order, Slow Riot make a helluva noise – songs such as Lighthouse, Pink December, Trophy Wife, and Absent Dreams pack not only a singular punch but highlight a firm grasp on how good internal song dynamics can sound when they’re married to smart lyrical ideas, forceful stage presentation, cleverly deployed riffage and a specific sense of  musicians that know their way around – as well as in and out of – a tune. Spoiler alert: we really like this band.

KATIE LAFFAN

Katie Laffan has the type of natural instincts and inclinations for putting the fun into funky. Such an approach makes her stand out from everyone else on the IMRO Other Voices Room line-up (which is, not so incidentally, a microcosm of the diversity of creative musical talents in Ireland right now). Not for her the classic fragility of Maria Kelly, the post-punk intensity of Slow Riot, the folk aesthetics of Rosborough and Joshua Burnside, the electro-pop brilliance of Le Boom, or the punk/pop classicism of Pillow Queens. Rather, Laffan chooses to go a completely different route, taking stops along the way to namecheck the likes of Erykah Badu, Frank Sinatra and Britney, while her band agilely negotiate their way around the intricacies of funk, ska, hip-hop as well as a concise blend of R&B and jazz. It’s a mixture that settles into the system like warmth from a fire on a cold day, and frankly we are all the better for it.

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