new music
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Two years
My radio show, Sweet Oblivion, has been broadcast on RTÉ 2XM for more than two years now (it goes out at 5pm on Thursdays), but up until recently the only way you could listen back to an old show was if I uploaded the show to Soundcloud.com. That was fine and all – but I…
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Interview: You’re Only Massive
Updated 11pm, Tuesday 11 October The first place I saw You’re Only Massive play was in the poky, sweat-stained upstairs venue in Cork’s Fred Zeppelin’s pub. The room – which always feels as though it is about to collapse and fall onto the bar below, killing an entire generation of Cork metal fans – was…
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Focus on: Stop/Run
It never fails to amaze me how many people are creating beautiful, challenging and eye-opening music in Ireland. And in turn, it never fails to amaze me how many people get up off their arses and put on unusual gigs, or unique events, simply with the aim of bringing new sounds to people and exploring…
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Sí’s FundIt Campaign
FundIt has been doing great things for Irish bands lately – Ten Past Seven recently hit their target and will now be able to head to a great recording studio and make an ace new record, while Nina Hynes received a whopping €10,000 from fans to make her long-awaited fourth album, Goldmine. Due to work…
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New music: Shane Linehan
Cork has a great history of producing influential electronic music – it’s home to the long-running Fish Go Deep clubnight, for example, which was based in the legendary Sir Henry’s club and now resides in The Pavilion. Throughout the decades there has been a steady amount of people making house and techno in particular but the…
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Peter Delaney & Cian Nugent
I’ve seen Peter Delaney perform twice now in the past two weeks, and by gosh if I haven’t fallen tongue-lollingly in love with his music. Ukeleles can often be associated with tacky, Hawaiian pop songs or ‘quirky’ tunes, but in the hands of someone like Delaney they become a perfectly miniature way of crafting a…
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Focus on Galway: Us vs Them & the city’s hardcore scene
For part three of my Focus on Galway series (which is an extension of my recent article on Galway for The Ticket in The Irish Times), I have a longer interview with Daniel Hielscher, the man behind Us vs Them. He has brought countless hardcore bands to the city as well as playing in Only…
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Focus on Galway: Citóg gigs
For part two of my closer look at the Galway music scene, we turn to Citóg, a gig night that proudly proclaims itself the ‘home of Galway music’. One essential part of a local music scene is having a place for musicians to play gigs – somewhere that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg…
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Let’s get Popical!
Has it really been a year since the Popical Island compilation #1 was released!? Strike me down with a feather. It has been a pretty amazing year for this Dublin-based collective, thanks to a stream of excellent shows and releases and a constant focus on keeping things fun, accessible and smart. The first compilation helped…
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Focus on Galway: Rusted Rail, Brigid Power Ryce, So Cow & Yawning Chasm
Ah, Galway. I’ve had visions of this little city running through my head for the past few weeks, all because of a series of interviews I did for the Irish Times‘ music supplement The Ticket a few weeks ago. The article came out yesterday – you can read it here – but due to word…
Sweet Oblivion 