New Irish Music

I was introduced to Dundalk native, Jim O'Donoghue Martin in Limerick many moons ago while he was playing with his band Blind Pilots. Since going solo he has taken on the moniker of Video Blue for his musical outpourings and I've been…

Welcome, players, to NO ENCORE #154. Jafaris drops in with just days to go until his debut album hits the world, an old friend makes his mark, and the gang try to solve the conundrum that is Andrew Hozier-Byrne. ACT ONE: Icelandic…

The latest offering of four-tracks, from Maria Kelly, include two new tracks entitled ‘Prelude’ and ‘August’, along with previously released tracks of ‘June’ and ‘July’. The EP opens with a fragile and delicate offering of ‘Prelude’…

Starfall, the latest offering from Dublin-based band Slow Moving Clouds is intriguing. Over the nine-tracks, the band combines soaring falsetto vocals, Irish and Nordic folk traditions with post-punk drones, and baroque strings. ‘First…

Scenes, is the brand-new three-track extended-play from Irish musician PJ Galvin. The debut EP features ‘To Dry’, ‘Cold’, and ‘When I Get Old’. There is a great atmosphere throughout the creative body of work that truly flourishes from…

Less than two years after the simultaneous release of his last two albums, Dundalk’s Jinx Lennon is back with the 18-track Grow a Pair. This latest collection presents a picture of modern Ireland with all of its problems, personalities and…

A momentous Good Friday, with pubs and venues across the country legally allowed to open their doors for the very first time on this day since 1927, saw the Dublin launch of K-FEST in Whelans on Wexford Street. https://vimeo.com/254839076…

New Music Weekly is your one stop shop for new releases in the world of music each and every week. From the best of the best, to some of the rest, Mark Conroy is here to give you the low down on what you might have missed. This week:…

Folk music has been in a precarious state over the past few years. Bon Iver spawned a litany of simulacra and this has been particularly marked in the Irish music scene. It seems as if any singer-songwriter with a guitar can brand…

Observers of the mundane, be-moaners of the grind and fond custodians of lo-fi pop propulsion, Dublin trio Shrug Life have been doing the rounds for a few years now, and with 2014 E.P. The Grand Stretch long since committed to the review…