Author: Breffni Banks

Irish artists, LIZ MADDEN (Vocalist/Songwriter/Producer) and FIONAN DE BARRA (Guitarist/Producer) have just been nominated for this years New Mexico Music Awards.  Their arrangement and production of the original song “White Willow” written by Liz Madden and Katie Carpenter (of the Irish duo JEZZEBELLE), has been nominated in the Folk category. The awards take place on May 30th in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “White Willow” is taken from Madden’s new album LEGACY which has just been released on the Valley Entertainment label.

Liz and Katie are having great success with their songwriting collaboration, winning Best Irish Entry and Runner up in last years International Song of Peace contest and making the final of the 2014 Christie Hennessy Song Contest.

www.lizmadden.co

Cork alt-punks The Grunts return with their ‘New York City Woman’ EP, released April 15th 2015 via the newly founded ‘Inner Chapter’ label.

The title track is a raw, rocking throwback the early Grunts EPs. Track Two ‘The Ballad Of Ed Gein’ serves as a hint of sounds to come from the band, fusing dark subject matter with a swooning, laid-back vibe. Final track ‘The Guy That Stalked You Has Become The President’ returns to full-on rock mode, a free-flowing ode to the joys of political scandal.

Dublin singer-songwriter, Billy Treacy, releases his new album, “Head Above Water”, tonight at Whelans, Dublin. The album is a collection of modern day folk songs from Billy, who was first introduced to folk music growing up over a pub in Dublin’s City Centre.

The most recent single from the album, “Temple Bar”, was a tongue-in-cheek look at Dublin’s cultural quarter, while “Woe!”, his commentary on families struggling financially in Ireland today, became a viral hit on its release.

Self-released, the album has been a couple of years of hard work in the making. Billy describes it as both a personal soundtrack and a mix of protest songs, love songs and observations of life around him.

He will be performing with a 7-piece band in Whelans tonight.

Tickets €13.50 available from WAV or on the door. Doors at 8pm.

For more see billytreacy.com.

Alternative indie-pop outfit ​The Hard Ground have released​ ​“Triptych”, their second album. Triptych is the culmination of a ​year’s worth of material that has seen the Cork based band release the album ​in a staggered manner since May last year. Triptych: 1 and 2,​ ​both digital EPs, were released in 2014. The final EP in the series​, Triptych: 3,​ ​the missing part of the puzzle, was released on April 10th, ​giving rise to the physical release of the full Triptych album, a culmination of all three EPs and a bonus track.

“Pucker” the band’s latest single, has been garnering ​much attention from both audience and industry, and recently received a nod of approval from UK music industry publication, “Record of the Day”. A dream-pop offering, the track has been featured across seventeen stations in Ireland over the past​ ​three​ ​weeks and has recently been playlisted on RTE Radio 1.

Seeking to approach the recording and release of an album in a new way, the band set about the project in early 2014 working with producer Christian Best in Monique Studios in Cork city. The method of release, inspired by the ‘triptych’ art concept, is a response to the challenges faced by recording artists in today’s music industry. The ‘album’ – the backbone of the record industry – has been rapidly replaced by an increasingly fragmented means of consumption.

Independently released, the constant writing, recording, and touring schedule has had a huge influence on the album. Undertaken as a real time recording project, the album documents the development of the band​’​s sound and songwriting over the last twelve months giving the listener an intimate insight in the creative process.

The Hard Ground​ ​tour Ireland over the next​ ​three ​months with dates in Dublin and Cork. For a full list of shows visit their website www.thehardground.com