Tonight will see the last Sweet Oblivion go out on RTÉ 2XM at 11pm. It has been a hard decision to make, but for now I’ve decided to take a break from the show. Sweet Oblivion has been going out on the digital station for almost four years, and aside from a year or two’s break…
Category: new music
Low, Arthur Russell, Lord Huron, Benoit Pioulard
Pic by me, Dublin There are few things better than going through a phase of listening to the same artist for a week after not listening to them for quite a long time. That immediate feeling when you put on the first track is like a restorative sigh – you can instantly relax into that…
A rush and a push and 2013 is ours
Pic: Me/Declan Kelly When the rush and stress that is the end-of-year best-of lists (all those hyphens is enough to bring me out in a rash) is over, it’s time to start imagining what lies in store for the next 12 months of music. Being honest, I go through phases with music (and with blogging…
Sam Jackson, David Turpin, Christian Bookshop
A pic I took of Sarah Grimes of September Girls before a Community of Independents interview There are two new (and radically different) albums out now that I’d love to draw your attention to. One of the bands, Christian Bookshop, have featured on the blog before. A duo of Jimmy Monaghan and Aisling Walsh, they’re…
Interview: Café Irlandaise
Café Irlandaise is a great compilation of female Irish musicians/vocalists that was put together by Valerie Hely and released early this year. It’s not so common in the past few years to see an all-female compilation on the shelves – post-Riot Grrrl and in the late 1990s / early 2000s, there was a (welcome) rash of…
Christian Bookshop
Am I allowed to just leave this here with the words ‘bloody amazing’? I think I will. (PS. Christian Bookshop are Jimmy Monaghan of Music for Dead Birds/Yawning Chasm/Seamus O Muineachain and Aisling Walsh. Album out soon.) Via Yawning Chasm
Ping Pong: Ensemble Economique, Strawk
Cork’s Ping Pong has provided me with many of my favourite nights out in its time, so I was quite sad when the guys who run it (Shane, Niall and Albert), decided to take a break. But they are, thankfully, back in the promoting game once again, and are bringing Ensemble Economique and Strawk to…
Podcast & Column: NewFound Sounds
Now is a very exciting time to be involved, in any way, with Irish independent music. It’s not that the music being made now is necessarily better than in times past, or more important, but that the game itself has changed. It is easier and cheaper to access recording materials; it’s easier and cheaper to…
Nibiru, You Kiss By The Book, Niamh de Barra
Yesterday I squinted my way through an interview with the band Nibiru for a Community of Independents shoot at a sunny Bernard Shaw – it will be aired on DCTV on Thursday night, and online the next day. I had this image in my head of Nibiru as grizzly guys in their late 20s/early 30s…
Onra, Yawning Chasm, Costello, Adventures of a Music Nerd
Some bits and bobs taking place over the next few weeks… I interviewed the MC/rapper Costello yesterday for DCTV – the interview will feature on the community tv programme Community of Independents this Thursday on DCTV (and aertv.ie). Not being the world’s greatest expert on Irish hip hop, I approached the interview with a bit of…
Sweet Oblivion 