Month: August 2020

Global phenomenon Dermot Kennedy today releases the alternative official video to his latest single ‘Giants’. The live action video follows the animated video released in July and Dermot’s hugely successful ‘Some Summer Night’ live streamed pay-per-view concert from the Natural History Museum on July 30th.

After working on the animated video for ‘Giants’ during the start of lockdown when Ireland was under strict regulations, this new video was created once that started to ease off and Dermot got the opportunity to shoot a second visual – something that would so perfectly depict how he and millions of fans around the world had been feeling. It touches on everything he’s missed and hoped for over the recent months, with both videos following the theme of running to new beginnings and hoping for change.

“It felt so special to be given this unique view of Dublin City while it was at a standstill. Having spent the last few years travelling, often feeling very detached from home, this felt like the perfect way to reconnect with my roots. This video represents the longing I feel for playing music for people. I miss it so much, and I want this video to take you on a journey back to the way things were when we got to sing together. We will get there again.”

Dermot’s recent unique pay-per-view performance ‘Some Summer Night’, which streamed live from The Natural History Museum in London, sold over 30,000 tickets and is currently the biggest selling concert of its type across America and Europe. The show also featured a guest appearance from actor Paul Mescal from the BBC show ‘Normal People’, who appeared on guest vocals during ‘Giants’ and co-wrote spoken word pieces with Dermot that he performed in between songs.

Alongside his #1 selling debut album ‘Without Fear’, Dermot has now reached over a billion streams globally and single ‘Outnumbered’ has gone multi-platinum across the UK, Europe and Canada. With shows selling out internationally, he’s sold over 300,000 tickets in the last year alone and was nominated in the ‘Best International Male’ category at the 2020 Brit Awards.

Rescheduled live dates

June 2021

04 – Dublin, St Anne’s Park
14 – Killarney, Gleneagle INEC Arena
15 – Killarney, Gleneagle INEC Arena
16 – Killarney, Gleneagle INEC Arena
24 – Belfast, Belsonic, Ormeau Park
25 – Dublin, Malahide Castle
26 – Cork, Irish Independent Park

http://www.dermotkennedy.com/
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https://www.instagram.com/dermotkennedy/

The Wild Duck Presents on Saturday, August 22nd at 7.30pm Strand with very special guest Coade.

Largely hailing from Dublin and fronted by singer and songwriter Niall Toner Jr, Strand is a concern with enough cumulative experience at the jagged coalface of Irish rock n’ roll to plug a large sonic wormhole, says lead singer and ‘understated legend’ Toner, but don’t take his word.

Niall has played with groups such as Those Handsome Devils, Hank Halfhead and the Rambling Turkeys and The Dixons. He got to rub shoulders on stage with the likes of Johnny Cash and Rory Gallagher along the way, before veering off into a career in journalism.  In 2012 he released the well-received album The Lofires, with singer-songwriter Jonny Rowen of the band Pelvis, half the songs penned by Niall and the other half by Rowen. Songsmithing diligently for years, both in public and private, Niall has always been chasing a certain personal pop perfection with an analogue heart that belongs somewhere between the west coast of America in the golden age of psyche, Laurel Canyon, and English pub rock of the 1970s and early 1980s. Released in November 2018 on the band’s own Paraphernalia Boutique imprint, the album ‘Can’t Trust The Rain’ was critically acclaimed and was feverishly included in a number of prestigious ‘best of’ end of year lists. Recently, the record was licenced in the US to New Jersey-based indie label Kool Kat Musik. 

The record would be nothing though, Niall says, without skills of producer Les Keye of Arad Studios in Dublin – who also strokes the Fender bass on the record.  Drummer Kevin Malone, (Sinead O’Connor, Van Morrison) keyboard virtuoso Darragh O’Kelly and pop genius Duncan Maitland, one of the creative forces behind Dublin hitmakers Picturehouse, complete the sizzling line-up. 

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Diatribe Records proudly presents the long-awaited solo début by Panos Ghikas – ‘Unrealtime’ – on limited edition 12” vinyl and digital on Saturday October 3rd 2020.

This blistering new release takes its name from unreal-time, a technologically mediated concept for improvisation and composition developed and explored by Ghikas since 2012. First evidenced on his duo LP with long term collaborator Jennifer Walshe, the critically-acclaimed ‘Good Teeth’ (2013), unreal-time can also be heard on this year’s release from cult electronica outfit Matmos’ ‘The Consuming Flame: Open Exercises in Group Form’ (2020).

Combining notated composition, directed and free improvisation, ‘Unrealtime’ utilises acoustic and digital interactions to invent audio-collages made of multiple time-resolutions. Its distinct approach lies in its ‘out-of-time’ process of generating sonic results that appear beyond the scope of an acoustic improviser’s real-time recall of the physically-stored mechanical gestures or a composer’s invention in suspended time.

The material on this album is the fruit of an intense period of collaboration between Ghikas and stellar music-makers – composer-improvisers Nick Roth and Luis Tabuenca and performer-musicologist-technologist Pavlos Antoniadis.

diatribe.ie / panosghikas.com

Congratulations to Mullingar’s Flynn who has just signed a publishing deal with BMG Rights Management GmbH.

After exceeding 40 million streams as featured vocalist on Lost Frequencies’ ‘Recognise’, Flynn’s recent solo track ‘One Of Us’ ignited his solo career. It hit fifteen New Music Friday playlists worldwide, fired up Ireland’s airplay charts and instigated a new wave of attention for the young musician.

Flynn’s momentum is now set to shift up another gear as he has just released the follow-up ‘B-Side’. The song is enticingly both contemporary and classic: feelgood alt-pop beats and rhythms placing it firmly in 2020, while Flynn’s soulful vocal and some Stax-inspired brass give it a timeless quality. It’s an uplifting sound for a lovelorn theme but ultimately, it’s a defiant statement: a deceptive lover is no loss, so find the strength to move on.

Flynn wrote ‘B-Side’ with the track’s producers Toby Scott (Cashmere Cat, JC Stewart, Kaiser Chiefs) and Blair MacKichan (Sia, Lily Allen).

‘B-Side’ extends Flynn’s flair for expressing the intricacies of modern relationships, a vulnerable yet brave take on everything from infatuation to insecurity. Although he’s now signed to Jive Germany / Sony, the early stages of his career involved making sacrifices, battling to make ends meet and grinding away to earn any opportunity. It took him from Mullingar in County Westmeath to a spell working restaurants shifts and busking in Bristol, which was interspersed with writing sessions in London. An early breakthrough came when a song he entered in a contest went viral, before coming to wider attention with the independently released tracks ‘Peace of Mind’, ‘Red Light’ and ‘My Gold’. The rapid progress he has made in the past year with Lost Frequencies track’s ‘Recognise’, and ‘You’ from their new EP, ‘One Of Us’ and now ‘B-Side’ shows that his dedication is paying off.

From leaving his hometown in Ireland to diving deep into the culture and music scenes of Bristol, London and Los Angeles, Flynn took the risks that brought him to where he is today and he has no regrets. Always learning and always writing, Flynn is a unique and daring artist whose inspiring life lessons will remind you what it is to be human; flaws and all.

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Dublin-based songwriter Paddy Hanna today reveals ‘Colosseum’, the second track from his forthcoming album ‘The Hill’.

‘Colosseum’ is out now on all digital platforms. ‘The Hill’, which will be released on October 16^th, is available to pre-order via https://www.strangebrew.ie/

As Paddy explains about the new single – “’Colosseum’ is a Doo Wop song about Gladiators, or more specifically a song that deals with feeling out of step in a world not made for you. Your welcome to read into the allegories, but I’d be just as happy if you took the words literally and treated it as the rock n roll anthem for Gladiators, your call!”.  

The album features Girl Band’s Adam Faulkner and Daniel Fox on Drums & Double Bass, Daniel Fitzpatrick (Badhands, The Mighty Stef) on guitar & Keys and Jill Redmond on Vocals. The record was produced by Daniel Fox and the artwork was designed by Jill Redmond. 

Paddy explains further about the album – “We lost ourselves on ‘The Hill’, Daniel, Daniel, Adam and I. a seemingly endless spell of isolation spent banging sheet metal, rusted hubcaps and blistering our fingers through non stop recording. 

‘The Hill’ is an internal musical about how the past and the present exist at the same time in our minds. It deals with the struggles of mental health, the sometimes difficult search for happiness and the moral conflict of growing up in Catholic Ireland. 

Most importantly however, I just wanted to put the past behind me on this record, I wanted to leave it on the hill. I hope you enjoy my therapy”. 

Hanna’s third album will be released via Strange Brew.

1.The Last of Their Kind
2. Cannibals  
3. A Strange Request  
4. Nameless
5. My Ladybird
6.  Sinatra
7.  Howling At The Duke of York
8.  My Wise Addiction
9.  The Hill
10. Jog On Shall We
11. Colosseum

www.paddyhanna.bandcamp.com
www.soundcloud.com/paddy-hanna
www.breakingtunes.com/paddyhanna
www.twitter.com/paddyhanna
www.facebook.com/Paddyhannamusic
www.strangebrew.ie 

Following on from the release of their critically acclaimed new album ‘One Day At A Time’ in June 2020, Irish pop-rock outfit Kodaline have now announced their plans for a new string of live streamed performances, set to take place at the end of August and early September in association with DICE. 

The full band live shows will take place twice a day at 11am and 8pm BST on August 29th, and September 5th, 12th and 19th respectively. Each week the group will be playing a unique show for that stream alongside a meet and greet, starting with ‘In A Perfect World’ on August 29th, where they will be playing the album in its entirety, followed by ‘One Day At A Time’ on September 5th, B-sides & Covers on September 12th, and Summer Festival live on September 19^th.

Tickets are priced £10 for one show or £30 for all four, and you will also get the chance to buy a limited edition print and exclusive new merch. They’re available excluslively through DICE. Tickets and Info here:  https://kodaline.com/livestream/

See the full list of dates and where to buy tickets in the links below.

Main page

August 29th – ‘In A Perfect World’ 

September 5th – One Day At A Time 

September 12th – Bsides and Covers

September 19th – Summer Festival Live

‘One Day At A Time’ is Kodaline’s fourth album, and adds a new chapter to a career that has already encompassed three #1 albums in Ireland, two Top 5 albums in the UK, and more than a billion streams at Spotify. Listen to ‘One Day At A Time’ HERE

Kodaline approached the album with a streamlined process that took them back to their roots. The majority of the sessions revolved around the four band members alone in their modest recording space in Dublin, with bassist Jason Boland leading the production side of things.

The bands primary objective was to focus on the emotion that has informed many Kodaline fan favourites. As we’ve seen from the two recent singles, they are playing to their strengths: insistent melodies and captivating hooks exploring stories that are revealing, unguarded and immediately relatable.

”The main thing this time was to capture those emotions through everything”, says frontman Steve Garrigan. “We also wanted to use a lot of harmonies and play to our strengths.“

”Our music is now as emotional as it can be”, adds drummer Vinnie May. ”We’re really confident and optimistic about this record.”

In 2019, Kodaline played some of the biggest shows of their career. At home in Dublin they sold-out two huge outdoor shows at St. Annes Park, while a ten-date UK tour culminated with a packed show at London’s historic Roundhouse. Further afield, they hit festivals including Lollapalooza, Benicàssim and Opener before becoming the first Irish band to headline the massive NH7 Weekender in Pune, India. Their extensive touring throughout Asia also included a headline set at Monsoon Music Festival in Vietnam plus dates in China, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan and Singapore.

https://www.kodaline.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/KodalineVEVO
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Wild Wonder have just released their second single, ‘Said And Done’.

‘Said And Done’ is a classic pop song with a pumping bass intro.
The bridge tees up a very catchy chorus that you’ll be singing
all week.

The sound is somewhere between a Dua Lipa and Taylor Swift hit
single with a string arrangement fit for a big Motown tune.

The song bounces the ideas of love, jealousy, insecurity and
passion around like a pin ball machine.

The big finish lights up the arcade of the mind with nostalgic
Motown references and love’s young dream.

Recorded in Camden Studios, Dublin, produced by Cian Boylan
and Conor Brady, mastered by Grammy Award Winner, Ruadhri
Cushnan.

This is the 2nd single from the Irish pop group with their debut release, ‘New Energy’, reaching No.3 in the download charts.

Even Sad Birds Sing (Kobina Remix) is the second of CARRON’s quarantine remix series. During Lockdown, they reached out to their followers on social media in search of Irish creatives that might be interested in collaborating on a remix project. The response was huge.

Their new remix single ‘Even Sad Birds Sing’ re-enforces the sisters’ ethos to stick together during difficult times, with a darkly fresh club sound that evokes the isolation, uncertainty, and fear that is prevalent in today’s society.

“For me it was it all about creating a sense of release from the initial feeling of claustrophobia. Emphasising the hope in the original vocal by pushing it into another context.” – Kobina, producer from Dublin based in Amsterdam

The video, directed by Irish filmmaker Conor McCormick and starring John McMahon, echoes the daily repetition and isolation felt by most throughout the pandemic.

Sisters and multi-instrumentalists Méabh & Mella Carron formed their namesake band CARRON as a healing project during a period of extensive hospital treatment. They released their number 1 charting EP ‘Roots’ to rave reviews (Pure M, TLMT, Hot Press), along with follow-up singles ‘Prison Robes’, ‘Battle Lines’, ‘Even Sad Birds Sing’ and ‘Numb’ which received extensive Irish airplay across 2FM, 98FM, 2XM, Dublin City FM, KCLR, Northern Sound and more. Starting out, CARRON, were pinned by Jim Carroll of The Irish Times as ‘ones to watch’ and have since performed sold out shows at music venues all over Ireland including Whelans, The Grand Social, Monroes, Dolans, The Sugar Club. Their most significant festival appearances was performing the Salty Dog stage at Electric Picnic last year.

In their music and song-writing which they create with guitarist Darragh McGrath, they aim to create a sense of one united female voice that is amplified by the strength of their sibling bond, to blend impeccable harmonies through shared blood, and to subtly nod toward their Irish heritage and backgrounds in musical theatre whilst maintaining a contemporary and powerful sound.

With new music collaborations in production from their home during uncertain times, you can expect to hear some more quirky tunes from CARRON this summer!

Singer songwriter, Jacqui Sharkey, today releases her new four-track EP, ‘Home’, destined to cement her growing reputation as a talent for the present and the future.

From the reflective and soulful title track through to an immense cover of Willie Nelson’s ‘Back To Earth’ it is an EP that showcases Jacqui’s ability.

With her own composition ‘Until Then’ and a cover of ‘Just An Illusion’ the tracks have all been carefully arranged to reflect the best of each song.

The reflective and soulful version of ‘Home’ echoes Jacqui’s memories and emotions and is her first release since her 2017 version of ‘The Whole Of The Moon’, made famous by The Waterboys, made a significant impact.
Jacqui sums up why the lyrics of ‘Home’ resonated so much with her.  “The concept of the song is something that hit me right away, as there is no doubt that I have always been a home bird, despite my extensive travelling over the years.

No matter how much fun I have travelling or performing, it always lifts my heart to be home” she said.

The EP features 4 of Jacqui’s recently recorded tracks which mark a curve in direction for the Singer/ Songwriter, including the soulful ‘Home’, the title track which was released last May, ‘Just An Illusion’, a powerful take on a former hit of 1980s Dutch band BZN, released on 1st July, and ‘Back To Earth’, a beautiful lament for the broken hearted, written by the legendary Willie Nelson. 

“I just love Willie Nelson and I have wanted to record one of his songs for ages. ‘Back To Earth’ is one of my favourites and hasn’t been heard enough, in my opinion. It is beautiful, reflective and pure. The man is a genius.” 

‘Until Then’, one of Jacqui’s original songs, is the fourth track on the EP, its release now highly anticipated, following a recent live video performance of the song by Jacqui and her friend, Ray McLoughlin from Co. Westmeath which has already clocked up a significant number of views on Social Media. Jacqui wrote the song last year following the tragic death of her friend Dawn Croke in a tragic road accident. 

“I hope this song helps to heal the hearts of people who have lost a loved one and perhaps give them comfort and faith. I really believe that those we have lost are still with us, and we will meet again someday.”

The Donegal based Singer/ Songwriter, known for her soulful, deep tones, has three albums under her belt, and since ‘Whole Of The Moon’, she has been taking time to reflect on her journey so far, as well as writing and recording tracks for a forthcoming album.

“I really needed to take some time out and just breathe,” she explained. “Between one thing and another, life was overwhelmingly hectic, and not easy in a lot of ways. 

I can’t go for long without writing, recording and performing. Music is truly my sanity and my peace, and I can’t imagine life without it. Music creates feelings and feelings create music. I am blessed to be able to do it.”

The EP ‘Home’ is out now and can be downloaded via her social media platforms and streaming services.

jacquisharkey.com

Solo artist Martkel has just released his debut album, ‘Heaven Is Full’.

Martkel was the singer for rock band Raw Novembre and is also the singer for the band Movment. They toured Ireland, the UK, Germany, Poland and the USA playing the famous venue Arlene’s Grocery in New York and Electric Picnic in Ireland.

His debut single release was ‘They Ripped Your Heart Out’. You can check this and his debut album out on Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music and all other platforms.