Bell X1, Lisa O’Neill and Jape will play a charity gig in Whelan’s Tuesday November 28th in aid of Alone – an organisation that supports housing for older who are homeless, socially isolated, living in deprivation or in crisis.
Tickets are priced at €25+ and are available from Whelanslive.com
Posted on November 14th, 2017
Bell X1 celebrate 20 years with a five-night Vicar Street residency next year.
The dates lined up are March 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th & 25th and each show will be themed by an album or acoustic-style show.
Wednesday 21st March – Neither Am I (full album & more, seated show)
Thursday 22nd March – Music In Mouth (full album & more, standing show)
Friday 23rd March – Flock (full album & more, standing show)
Saturday 24th March – Greatest Hits! (full band, standing show)
Sunday 25th March – Bell X1 Acoustic-ish (with the acoustic trio, seated show)
Tickets go on sale from €36.50 go on sale Thursday 2nd November at 9am through Ticketmaster.ie & usual outlets nationwide. A limited number of 3-day bundle tickets at a discounted price of €98 will be available by phone from Thursday 2nd November at 9am until Friday 10th November at 5pm. To avail of this limited offer call Ticketmaster between 9am-5pm on Monday – Saturday on 01-6486029. (Tickets subject to availability)
Bell X1’s last album was Arms released in 2016.
Posted on October 26th, 2017
The Pixies just announced they are to play a new series of Dublin gigs called Trinity College Park Summer Series on July 9th this year, alongside a load of other acts in early July.
Also playing in Trinity will be Gregory Porter (Thursday July 6), James Vincent McMorrow (Friday July 7), Bell X1 (Saturday July 8), Two Door Cinema Club with Circa Waves, (Monday July 10) and Alt-J (Tuesday July 11),
Tickets for Gregory Porter, James Vincent McMorrow, Bell X1 & Two Door Cinema Club are priced €44.05 incl. booking fee on sale at 9am this Friday, February 10th from Ticketmaster.
Tickets for Pixies & alt-J: €54.65 incl. booking fee also on sale Friday and from
Ticketmaster http://pixiesmusic.com/shows.
Posted on February 6th, 2017
With their new album Arms having dropped on Friday (the video for stand out ‘Out Of Love’ premiered here) , Bell X1 have announced a headline date at The Olympia Theatre, Dublin on Friday January 20th 2017.
Live, the band are joined by Glen Keating (who also helped on the production) and Rory Doyle (Hozier) is the band’s live drummer.
Tickets priced €33 + fees (booking fee and restoration levy) go on sale at 9am this Friday, October 21th from Ticketmaster outlets.
Have a listen to the album and the singles:
20th October – Tower, Dublin – Instore @1pm
28th October – Milk Market, Limerick + Pleasure Beach
29th October – Cork Opera House + Pleasure Beach
4th November – Mandela Hall, Belfast + Pleasure Beach
5th November – St Columbs, Derry + Pleasure Beach
20th January – Olympia, Dublin
Posted on October 17th, 2016
Bell X1 released ‘Out of Love’ a recent Irish music highlight this summer and today, there’s a video premiered right here, made in collaboration by Louise Gaffney and motion graphic designer Cian McKenna. Both are musicians and visual artists. Louise plays with Come On Live Long.
The video takes the concept of love as a losing game and applies it with colour and graphical elements built around a keyboard/synth and various totems.
“This video is an intense collage piece which is a mash up of live action footage, typographic animation and 3d creations,” says Louise.
The tune is an absolute jam too.
‘Out of Love’ is from the band’s forthcoming Arms album, due October 14th. It’s their seventh album recorded in Dublin and Donegal and their tour dates coming up.
28th October – Milk Market, Limerick + Pleasure Beach
29th October – Cork Opera House + Pleasure Beach
4th November – Mandela Hall, Belfast + Pleasure Beach
5th November – St Columbs, Derry + Pleasure Beach
Posted on September 20th, 2016
Electric Picnic just added a final glut of acts to the sold-out festival in Stradbally.
The new additions are:
Don’t forget you can win VIP tickets to the sold out festival on Nialler9.
Previous Picnic announcements.
Posted on August 19th, 2016
Cork indie festival Indiependence has revealed its first lineup today (is it announcement day?)
The festival returns for its 11th year to Deer Farm, Mitchelstown from Friday July 29 – Sunday July 31 and playing will be:
Three tiers of early bird tickets for the fest have already sold out, with weekend camping tickets for the festival now on sale at €119.
The Beer Hall Stage, Comedy & Spoken Word, the Silent Disco, Festi-Huts will return and more announcements are imminent as are customary.
Posted on February 24th, 2016
Printer Clips is Paul Noonan’s new project where he teams up with Joan As Policewoman, Lisa Hannigan, Martha Wainwright, Gemma Hayes, Amy Millan, Julia Stone, Danielle Harrison, Cathy Davey, Maria Doyle Kennedy & Caoimhin O’Raghallaigh for new music.
A self-titled album is coming on May 23rd but before that there’ll be two EPs featuring the tracks, The Left Sleeve EP (digital – 25th April) and The Right Sleeve EP – (Digital 16th May).
‘Apparatchik’ is the first track from the project and the title references the term used for an unwavering loyal subordinate, and Hannigan providing her ever-recognisable voice on duet. Noonan references the Banksy stencil “laugh now but one day we’ll be in charge.” and it sounds like Caoimhin O’Raghallaigh on the fiddle.
It’s not the first time Hannigan and Noonan have dueted but that song will be with Julia Stone on the album.
Printer Clips will get its live debut at The National Concert Hall on Saturday 24th May.
Posted on April 8th, 2014
Dublin City Council today announced details of a city-wide festival “celebrating the eclectic and all encompassing nature of music made and performed in Dublin today”.
MusicTown is intended to be an an annual showcase of all genres of music being played in Dublin, and the first will take place in April 2015.
According to a press release:
MusicTown’s vision is to amplify the many voices of Dublin, from the celebrated to those we have yet to discover, across all genres, bringing people together to be surprised and inspired by the city and its music.
The festival will be launched with a free concert programmed by Leagues O’Toole taking place in the Mansion House on Sunday April 13th featuring Lisa O’Neill, Bell X1, Clu, RIAM Youth Quartet, classical pianist Fionnuala Moynihan, Donal Lunny and Paddy Glackin while Our Lady’s Choral Society will treat the audience to music from Handel’s Messiah and other works conducted by Proinnsías Ó’Duinn, serendipitous on the anniversary date of the first performance on Dublin’s Fishamble Street in 1742. The night will be hosted by John Kelly. The concert is free but there are a limited number of tickets are available on Musictown.ie.
The Lord Mayor, Oisín Quínn said “MusicTown 2015 is an event for everyone. Dublin is a musical capital, from jazz to trad, classical to hip-hop and all stops in between. Alongside our great literary tradition are the songs, the compositions and the musicians that make Dublin culturally vibrant and artistically significant. For one week each year Dublin City Council will showcase the vibrancy and range of all of Dublin’s music.”
Arts Officer Ray Yeates had this to say: “We are excited to open different kinds of venues to all genres of music and also at the prospect of developing new audiences and inviting collaborations between all music genres.”
Sinead Connolly, Arts Officer; Neva Elliot, CEO of Crash Ensemble; Gerard Flanagan, Head of Music in CDVEC Music Centre, Kylemore College; Gerry Godley, Artistic Director, Improvised Music Company & Broadcaster; George Higgs, Composer; Gay McKeon CEO, Na Píobairí Uilleann; Karina Lundström, Director Lundström Arts Management; Matthew Nolan, Artistic Director, Note Productions; Ray Yeats, City Arts Officer.
Posted on April 3rd, 2014
Forbidden Fruit today announced their first lineup for the first day of the festival Saturday May 31st with more names announced for Sunday June 1st tomorrow.
Hitting The Royal Hospital grounds of Kilmainham this Saturday will be:
The Flaming Lips, Bell X1, Flying Lotus 3D show, Fuck Buttons, Nils Frahm, The Young Knives, Vann Music plus more to be announced later.
Early bird: 1 day €49.50 | 2 day €99.50
General: 1 day €59.50 | 2 day €110.00
Tickets plus fees available from Ticketmaster.
Posted on March 12th, 2014
Paul Noonan will take a break from Bell X1 with a new project called Printer Clips, an album of duets with Joan as Policewoman, Martha Wainwright, Lisa Hannigan, Gemma Hayes, Julia Stone, Amy Milan, Cathy Davey, Danielle Harrison & Maria Doyle Kennedy.
The songs were recorded in hallways, basements & bedrooms in Montreal, New York, Dublin & London. They’ll get their live premiere at The National Concert Hall on 24th May. The live show will feature Paul with Lisa Hannigan, Gemma Hayes, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Cathy Davey, Danielle Harrison & Caoimhin O’Raghallaigh. Music will be streamed online soon.
Posted on February 26th, 2014
In the Christmas rush, I totally missed the announcement that Other Voices Derry will have Bell X1 and Poliça at the Glassworks in the city from February 7th to 9th. Today they’ve added George Ezra and recent Northern Irish album of the year winner Foy Vance.
Also in Derry this year will be the IMRO Other Room, Banter and the Music Trail. Applications for the Other Room are open til tomorrow at noon for bands to apply.
Tickets will be given away via competitions and you can start with this. This is what happened in Derry last year.
Posted on January 9th, 2014
Concluding the Best of 2013 lists with your favourite Irish albums as voted in the Readers’ Poll. Thanks for another year.
See also: Readers Poll: Songs / Videos, gigs and more.
My lists: Albums, Songs, Remixes, Videos and Irish.
All Artwork by Fatti Burke.
Alien-pop from Laura Sheeran and Marc Aubele.
“The ten tracks conjure up music made in the future, or at least, the hopeful sound of what music will sound like some time away from the present. It’s an album with experimental flavours, featuring songs that are electronic in vein, which touch on coldwave synthesizer sounds, industrial tones, synthetically-altered vocals, electro flourishes and dark-edged rhythms.”
Listen: Bandcamp | Spotify | Soundcloud | Deezer
Tieranniesaur’s second album of disco indie jams.
“As you would expect, DIYSCO is a collection of 12 upbeat tracks lead by the voice of Annie Tierney which add more of a forceful edge to the band’s sound.
“The outcome is a fine gathering of disco indie, as affecting and enjoyable as album one but with distinct indentity of its own. Come dance at the DIYSCO.”
Listen: Bandcamp | Soundcloud
The Irish band that were everywhere in 2013.
“Kodaline are still growing and will likely be criticised for maturing too soon; they remain students and while In A Perfect World doesn’t redefine anything, it does give them a direction. There’s an airy optimism that’s charming given the state of the world today, and even if you’re bitter about love the tracks still give you something to take home. Best of all, it’s surely a precursor to something much bigger.” Mark Roche, State.ie review.
A multi-faceted old-fashioned nostalgic pop album.
“You can hear a lot of influential touchstones on Remember Saturday, the debut album from Conor Deasy’s pop band Biggles Flys Again. Beach Boys, Super Furry Animals and Neil Hannon, that sort of thing. Classic pop kind of music. Deasy himself has said he wanted to make “multi-layered pop albums” in the vein of Badly Drawn Boy, Aimee Mann and Sean Lennon amongst others and that’s the pleasing result.”
Listen: Bandcamp | Spotify | Soundcloud
Solid debut album from the Dublin indie-rock quartet.
” Whether it’s the la-la-la melody of opening track ‘Novelty’, the sinewy rock of ’6.0′, the perky power pop of ‘Atomisation’, the college rock dynamics of ‘Jittery’ or the atmospheric ‘I Want’, the band are never far away from tunefulness being their primary concern which leads to a no-nonsense feel to proceedings. Main vocalist Barry Bracken’s timbre also adds a nostalgic tone as it harks back to an early ’90s jangle indie-pop awareness.”
Listen: Bandcamp | Soundcloud
Sixth studio album from the Dublin band finds them in stripped-back but suitable form.
“No matter what stage of their career they’ve found themselves in, Bell X1 have been no strangers to quality songwriting and their latest foray has produced a collection of tracks and themes that ponder a-plenty, producing a record that steps away from their recent creations and delves into a more introspective and self-conscious range of music.”
Listen: Deezer | Spotify | Soundcloud
Extra impressive debut album from Irish alt-indie band.
“They have that assured dynamic, that confidence that comes only from a band who know who they are and what they’re at. Their debut album Everything Fall confirms that.
“Over ten songs, there’s not a big let up in the quality which means Come On Live Long’s debut is an admirable one. Opener ‘Wasteland’ is a microcosm of the band’s defining characteristics; crashing snapping drums by Steven Battle (which sound wonderfully post-treated by Conor Gaffney), bright guitar tones underpinned by electronic, keyboard and percussive sounds match singers Robert Ardiff and Gaffney’s dual vocal counterpoints and are heightened by cavernous crescendos.”
Listen: Bandcamp | Spotify | Soundcloud
Second album from Americana-folk-influenced duo on Out On A Limb.
“With Old Hearts Reborn, Hidden Highways have delivered one of the most strikingly lovely Irish debut albums in recent times, a haunting collection of songs of quiet power and tear-stained beauty.”
– Paul Page, Entertainment.ie
Listen: Bandcamp | Spotify | Soundcloud| Deezer
John Lambert’s first album in five years is a return to beautiful instrumental guitar ambience.
“Calling it minimalistic might turn off those who prefer grit in their music. Throughout the album (which is underpinned by varying if muted tones of loss, resignation, reconciliation and discovery) there is a broader sonic sensibility via empathetic musicians, cellists Kate Ellis and Kevin Murphy, and vocal murmurs from Eileen Carpio. The pitch? If you’re looking for truly beautiful music that is the perfect soundtrack to a slo-mo sunrise, you’ll find it here.” – Tony Clayton-Lea, Irish Times.
Listen: Bandcamp | Spotify | Soundcloud
Posted on December 24th, 2013
Dublin Quays Festival returns featuring Pillow Queens, Sleep Thieves, The Murder Capital, Robert John Ardiff, Silverbacks and many more
And So I Watch You From A Far, Bitch Falcon, Ryan Vail, Cherym and many more to play final gig at Belfast’s Mandela Hall
22 gigs, clubs and performances to see in Cork this weekend
Review: Getting back to nature at Meadows In The Mountains
Beatyard add Daniel Avery, Andrew Weatherall, New Jackson, Jacques Greene and Sean OB to this year’s lineup
10 must-see Irish acts @ Body&Soul Festival this year
The best gigs and clubs in Dublin this week
Julian Casablancas & The Voidz announce Dublin show
Villagers to headline and curate a night at Metropolis Festival
Win tickets to Body&Soul Festival
