With the return of Twin Peaks to our TV screens (I’ve really been enjoying the trip on a visual level and the multi-layered narrative), it seems like the right time then that a Lynchian event might take place.
The Twin Freaks Festival is a one-day event happening on the 12th of August in the Wicklow countryside (Ballyhook Hill, Grangecon) inspired by Lynch and all his creations.
Music, art, film and performance is promised with music coming from Katie Kim, Paddy Kelleher, Cobra Truth, Brian Conniffe and more.
Another Love Story, the boutique little festival of music, art, fun, talks and installations by Homebeat & Happenings in Killyon Manor, Meath has announced its first list of acts for this year’s festival from Friday 18th – Sunday 20th August.
Katie Kim
Overhead The Albatross
JFDR
This Is How We Fly
I Am The Cosmos
Bantum
ELLLL
Replete
Wry Myrrh
Margie Jean Lewis
Ailbhe Reddy
Tomorrows
Buffalo Woman
Hilary Woods
Carriages
Wastefellow
Oose
Beach
Let’s Set Sail
Saint Caoilin
My Fellow Sponges
Doubtlands
Attention Bebe’s Big Top Sundown Rave Up
NCH Gamelan Orchestra
DJS:
The Another Love Story Soundsystem Massive
Cian O’Ciobhain
Tim O’Donovan
Bodytonic Djs
DJ Hula Hoops
Sing Along Social
My House Djs
The Thin Air Djs
OTHER OCCURRENCES
The Shift Shack
The Front Room
The Library by YHRF
The Big Stretchy
For Conor This Must Be The Place
My House presents : The Great Western Ballroom
More lineup additions, antics, food and more to be released.
Tickets
Tickets (Includes regular weekend camping): ALS ’17 Tier 1 €100 [SOLD OUT] ALS ’17 Tier 2 €135 [SOLD OUT] ALS ’17 Tier 3 €155 [SOLD OUT] ALS ’17 Tier 4 €185
Boutique Camping (does not include weekend ticket): 4M Tent (sleeps 4) €265 5M Tent (sleeps 6) €380 6M Tent (sleeps 8) €550 Bed & bedding extra if required. Please see website for full details
Other Details No Sunday camping – event runs 19.00 Fri Aug 18th – 19.00 Sun Aug 20th. Under 12’s go free accompanied by adult 12-18 year olds are not permitted Dogs Free! (it’s a dog’s life)
Out of the trembling darkness, a glimpse, a sharp intake of breath, the impatient softness of the sudden clasp of joined hands. All that has happened falls away, all that is yet to come stretches infinitely into the inescapable certainty of fate. Faster, faster. Spinning, spiraling, Over and under, Straight on till the break of dawn. Together is the most important thing.. #ALS2017
Waterford artist Katie Kim released her The Choice Music Prize nominated album Salt in 2016 and as part of Musictown, she has a special collaborative show with Crash Ensemble lined up for The Grand Social on Saturday April 8th called Salt Interventions.
The night will feature special arrangements by Dublin born composer Seán Clancy and Katie of the songs from Salt.
As a preview, you can watch ‘Wide Hands’ from the album and collaboration performed at Engage Arts Festival last year. The video was directed and edited by Thom Mc Dermott, Camera by David Knox. FOH Sound by Adrian Hart, recorded and mixed by Ian Chestnutt and mastered by John Murphy.
Katie Kim and Crash Ensemble: Salt Interventions, Saturday 8th April, Grand Social, Dublin – tickets here.
MusicTown 2017 is a 10 day festival happening in Dublin city from April 7th to 17th by Dublin City Council and promoted by Aiken that aims to celebrate the music diversity of this town and city.
Other acts already playing are Chelsea Wolfe, Weyes Blood, PWR BTTM, Ryley Walker, Brady and Irvine: A Tribute feat. Radie Peat (Lynched), Ye Vagabonds, Lisa O’Neill, Ian Lynch (Lynched) and Landless and more.
Here are 8 more shows of interest in more detail:
SOUNDS OF THE SQUARE
Sounds of the Square showcases a living culture of music making in a unique and historic Dublin venue: the CIE Hall/Inchicore Sports and Social Club, which has been part of Dublin’s cultural fabric since the nineteenth century, and where musicians, singers, and other performers regularly come together to make live music. This evening will include an eclectic range of music from hip-hop artist Temper-Mental MissElayneous, song duo Peter Byrne and Conor Mahony, and one or two other surprises of large and small degree. Sounds of the Square is also a participatory event, open to all for an impromptu session, Dublin style. Fri 7 April / 20:30 – CIE Hall, Inchicore Sports and Social Club, Inchicore, Kilmainham, Dublin 8 – tickets €10/ €5 available on the door
KATIE KIM AND CRASH ENSEMBLE: SALT INTERVENTIONS.
Katie has a long history of collaborations with a selection of Irish and international artists, this collaboration with Crash Ensemble builds on Katie’s collaborative nature but approaches it in a different manner concentrating on her newly finished third album ‘Salt’ which was released October of 2016 to critical acclaim. This performance offers an insight into Katie’s record giving the audience special arrangements composed by Dublin born composer Seán Clancy for Crash Ensemble, Ireland’s leading new music group. Sat 8 April / 20:00 – The Grand Social, 35 Liffey Street Lower – tickets €15 from www.eventbrite.com
KEVIN ROWLAND (DJ SET).
Kevin Rowland legendary frontman and artistic visionary of Dexys Midnight Runners will be guest of honour in The Grand Social on Saturday 8 April. One of the true, certifiable geniuses of British pop, Kevin is also a highly respected DJ. Presenting his own uniquely brilliant interpretation of the modern DJ set, Kevin expresses a deep love of known and neglected gems, thrillingly finding gaps within verses to occasionally add his own emotive vocals, he revels in the chance to underline the profound lyrics of overlooked singles. It’s a style that’s at once moving and truly inspiring. Special guest is Dublin DJ legend Dandelion. Sat 8 April / 23:00 – The Grand Social, 35 Liffey Street Lower – tickets €10 from www.tickets.ie
Sounds Of Silents
Bottlenote and the Irish Film Institute presents SOUNDS OF SILENTS is a silent film programme drawn from collections at the IFI Irish Film Archive. This year’s selection of films has a distinct German inflection and includes a captivating array of Irish social, cultural and political life as represented in newsreels, ethnographic films and early documentaries from the early days of cinema to the 1950s. The programme will be accompanied by a series of improvised scores performed by six leading musicians working between the fields of Irish traditional, improvised and electronic music. Shane Latimer, Seán MacErlaine and Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh will be joined by three musicians from the Ruhr area of Germany: Saxophonists Julius Gabriel and Florian Walter and electronic artist Achim Zepezauer. Sat 8 April / 14:00 / 20:30 – The Irish Film Institute, Eustace Street, Dublin 2 – tickets €10-€12 from www.ifi.ie or IFI box office
DUBLIN LIVE MUSIC TRAIL AT MUSICTOWN.
Presented by First Music Contact in partnership with Dublin City Council and Visit Dublin these events will be day-time pop-up gigs featuring many of Dublin’s finest musicians. The acts performing at this year’s Live Music Trails will be Saramai, Maria Kelly, Damola, Train Room, Barq, Peppy, Cult Called Man, Young Earth, The Fontaines, Comrade Hat, Patrick Freeman, Tiz Mc Namara, Naoise Roo, Vulpynes, Brian Casey, Miles Graham, Aik J, Majia Sofia and Clarence Winter. These performances will take place in various pop-up venues such as Dublin Ink, Irish Design Shop and the Tourist Information Office on Suffolk Street, to name a few. Sat 8 April & Sun 9 April / 12:00 – 17:00 – various venues – free admission events
JUST SIX DEGREES presents RICHIE EGAN (JAPE, THE REDNECK MANIFESTO).
Just Six Degrees is a web project based around the idea of inspiration. It asks each participant one question: who inspires you right now? For a very special live edition created for MusicTown, Just Six Degrees will ask this question to Richie Egan (Jape, The Redneck Manifesto). On the night, he will reveal who inspires him within music spheres and they in turn will be asked the question until a connection of six people/collectives is made. Expect a tune or two, video and unique insights into a world of inspiration all stemming from Richie as a starting point. Mon 10 April / 20:00 – The Sugar Club, The Sugar Club, 8 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2 – tickets €10 from www.eventbrite.ie
YUSSEF KAMAAL – FUTURE JAZZ SERIES.
Yussef Kamaal are shaped by the sound of London. Growing up in the city, they frame jazz within the bass-saturated, pirate radio broadcasts of the UK capital. The pair, made up of Yussef Dayes and Kamaal Williams (aka Henry Wu), have had little in the way of formal training. Instead, their musical tastes – and approach to playing – are indebted to Thelonious Monk’s piano as much as the drum programming of Kaidi Tatham. Comprised of keyboardist/producer Kamaal Williams and drummer Yussef Dayes, the duo are rhythmic improvisation incarnate. Taking their cues from ‘70s jazz-funk refracted through the bass-heavy sounds of London club culture, the pair have recently released their debut LP, Black Focus. Jazz is best experienced live and with Black Focus Yussef Kamaal have captured the unpredictable and at times fragmented intensity of the live experience on wax. This is the kind of record that inspires new listeners to explore unfamiliar sounds and musical histories; the kind of record that bodes very well for the future of British jazz.
Thurs 13 April / 19:30 – The Sugar Club, 8 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2 – tickets €20 from www.sugarclubtickets.com
Daedelus
Like his mythological namesake, DAEDELUS – otherwise known as Alfred Darlington – is an inventor, a creator of sonic labyrinths combining sounds from an eclectic palette into an innovative genre all his own. The LA producer is one of the most inventive working in the electronic field today with an already fantastic body with releases on seminal labels such as Plug Research, Anticon, Mush Records, Brainfeeder, Ninja Tune and Dublab right up to last year’s Labyrinths LP on his own imprint Magical Properties. Look out for special guests to be added to this bill. Sat 15 April / 20:00 – The Sugar Club, 8 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2 – tickets €15 from www.sugarclubtickets.com
Our first Loose Joints Podcast of the year with your hosts Nialler9 and Sally Cinnamon is here. Loose Joints is a podcast where the two of us talk to a guest about the music they love: old and new, and play some of those tunes.
The podcast, true to the name features a loose collection of tunes, tied together by little logic, just like our chats which this month included a long conversation about how great Myspace was, why school should teach you how to do your taxes, the pleasure of browsing a record shop, under-rated Irish bands of recent years, getting back into guitars by going to raves and the reality of being in a band in 2017.
Steve Monite – Only You Carla Dal Forno – What You Gonna Do Now? Anohni – Paradise No More – Suicide Commando CAN – Vitamin C New Jackson – Electric Blue Code Walk and Smerz – Guess What RAIME – Dead Heat Thread Pulls – You Melt Words ZZ TOP – Gimme All Your Lovin’ Not Waving – 24 Katie Kim – Ghosts (2016)
Special thanks to Sean Corcoran for producing / recording.
The Choice Music Prize is this year the RTÉ Choice Music Prize for the first time and the announcement of the 10 Irish albums were revealed a short time ago on 2FM’s Tracy Clifford Show by Tony Clayton Lea, chairman of the judging panel.
The 10 albums shortlisted by the judges for Irish album of the year are:
Shortlisted albums
All Tvvins – IIVV (Warner Music) Bantum – Move (Self Released) Wallis Bird – Home (Mount Silver / Caroline International) The Divine Comedy – Foreverland (Divine Comedy Records) Lisa Hannigan – At Swim (Hoop Recordings) Katie Kim – Salt (Art For Blind Records) James Vincent McMorrow – We Move (Faction Records) Overhead, The Albatross – Learning to Growl (Self Released) Rusangano Family – Let The Dead Bury The Dead (Self Released) We Cut Corners – The Cadences Of Others (Delphi)
The winning act will receive €10,000, a prize fund which has been provided by The Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) and The Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA). All of the shortlisted acts will receive a specially commissioned award. RAAP, Culture Ireland & Golden Discs are also official project partners.
2FM has promised to play Irish music all day from 6am to midnight today to mark the announcement along with live cessions from SOAK and Delorentos and a two-hour special on this year’s RTÉ Choice Music Prize, Irish Album of the Year 2016 shortlist, presented by Conor Behan from 8-10pm.
Live event
Shortlisted albums will also be featured throughout in the lead up to the live choice prize event on Thursday March 9th in Vicar Street. Tickets for the Choice Music Prize live event are available at all Ticketmaster outlets and at http://www.ticketmaster.ie priced €26.50 including booking fee.
Judging Panel
Louise Bruton – Freelance & Irish Times Brian Coney – Editor, The Thin Air Maire Dineen – Súgradh Productions (Imeall TG4/Body & Soul) Suzanne Doyle – Music, Film & Television Consultant Dan Hegarty – 2FM Paddy McKenna – Editor, Joe.ie Cathal Murray – RTE Radio 1 Barbara Nic D – Classic Hits 4FM Colm O’Regan – Hot Press Niall Power – Head of Music Beat FM Eva Short – Deputy Editor, Trinity News
Irish Song of The Year 2016
The shortlist for the RTÉ Choice Music Prize – Irish Song of The Year 2016 will be announced on Wednesday 1st February, 2017. A Special event featuring exclusive performances from both Album of the Year and Song of the Year nominees will be held in Dublin that evening in the Workman’s Club.
In the glut of new releases in the past two weeks, Australian musician D.D. Dumbo’s newest on 4AD, may have been overlooked but the album is a weighted mix of African guitar blues, folk and pop music. He also sings a bit like Sting, but you know, in a good way. ‘Walrus’ is the bright album opener.
2.
808 State – ‘In Your Face’ (Bicep remix)
Released over a month ago, Belfast boys Bicep do it once more. This time they update 808 State’s 1991 banger ‘In Your Face’ for 2016 in their own detailed style without losing the original’s impact. This tune featured in our new podcast Loose Joints.
3.
Katie Kim – ‘Ghosts’
Waterford-born Katie Sullivan moves into new territory with her third album Salt released today (Irish Times Irish album of the week). While Katie was always an artist who was interested in the alternative and ambient, who brought a touch of the otherworldly to her songs, even if they were stripped back to their essentials, Salt finds her sonic world sunken deeper into the mire.
An immediate highlight is the skyscraping spectral percussion of opening song ‘Ghosts’.
4.
POLIÇA — Kind (Boys Noize Remix)
This Boys Noize remix of Poliça’s ‘Kind’ is totally my buzz.
The original features on the band’s United Crushers LP but just came out alongside remixes by Task Force and Fog on a new EP.
Of the remix, Boys Noize says he was inspired by the vocal to go “90s vogue house.”
“I ended up going for this 90s Vogue House-inspired dub mix because I just wanted to hear [the lyric] ‘fever high, fever high’ in the club.”
It is, a banger.
Poliça are on tour and play Dublin this Saturday night.
German producer Michael Mayer has a new album the influential !K7 Records label called &. As the title suggests collaborations are at the heart of his third album, and guests include Hauschka, Roman Flügel, Miss Kittin, Prins Thomas, Barnt and Kölsch.
The result is a mix of “hypnotic minimal house, soft trance, indie tech-house and twisted disco.”
His first single, with Barnt, ‘Und Da Stehen Fremde Menschen’ is German and tough while the second single ‘For You’ featuring Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard is decidedly more mellow. It’s a love story really.
Mount Alaska (Twitter) is a new project from former Halfset members Stephen Shannon and Cillian McDonnell.
Since the band disbanded Shannon has been working as a producer at Experimental Audio studio and composing film scores while McDonnell among other things, started the label Music/is/for/losers.
Now, the duo have returned to making music together under the name Mount Alaska.
‘Sine, Cosine, Tangent’ is our first listen to the outcome of their creative pursuit, a wavey experimental electronic instrumental to be released on Language Records on Monday, November 7th 2016. A second single featuring The Gloaming’s Iarla Ó’Lionáird is due in January.
Waterford musician Katie Kim has announced her new new Salt on October 14th.
Salt was recorded in Guerrilla Studios and is said to be a departure from previous albums, as it primarily explores the drone side of her music. Production comes from John “Spud” Murphy and one track features Ruadhan O’Meara of No Spill Blood and Magic Pockets.
Salt will be released on limited edition heavyweight vinyl and digitally from Friday October 14th 2016. Pre-orders are available via Bandcamp. A behind the scenes video of the title track video by Sean Zissou is below.
More songs from the record and an interview can be heard on Donal Dineen’s slot on Newstalk last week.
Salt Track Listing:
1. Ghosts 2. Day is coming 3. Someday 4. Body Break 5. I Make Sparks 6. Life or living 7. Beautiful Human 8. Thieves 9. Wide hand
Teishi-1 passed along this compilation put together by Josco featuring 32 tracks from a diverse group of mostly electronic musicians called Untitled Ire.
Artists featured include Cillo, Bantum, Somadrone, Sunken Foal, T-woc, Revin Goff, Katie Kim, Forrests, Teishi-1, Nina Hynes and many more. These are artists who operate on the periphery of Ireland’s music scene and songs are both old and new.
Paper Trail Records who have released the likes of Clouds, Beach Moon/Peach Moon and manage Slow Skies have released a compilation called Thanks For Listening featuring a mix of Irish and International artists like Paddy Hanna, Katie Kim, Eddi Front, Samyel, Simon Bird, Meredith Graves and Cloud Castle Lake.
It was released over the weekend to coincide with World Mental Health Day and all proceeds go to Console.
Despite a lot of local respect from musicians and music enthusiasts alike, the music of Katie Kim remains relatively under the radar, perhaps because Katie is more interested in her craft than a career.
For her new single ‘Foreign Fleas’, which slipped out quietly, Katie teamed up with Ruadhan O’Meara of Magic Pockets who amps up the atmosphere of an artist who already is a master of evocative space. O’Meara’s soundtrack synth sensibility adds a heady foreboding to Kim’s sweet siren call.
The Wonderlust stage is where you may spend a lot of the time during the day at Body & Soul on the summer solstice weekend as it’s a nice place to chill out and it has a lot of varied things on during the day and night.
At night-time, it’s all about the music and the lineup will feature Interskalactic, Hare Squead, Talos, Inni-K, Landless, Katie Kim, Maria Somerville, Ambience Affair, Augustus & John, Twin Headed Wolf, Christof and I Am Niamh, Slow Skies and DJ sets from Daithí, Donal Dineen and Sally Cinnamon.
By day, it’s more talk-based with conversations with creative collectives Le Cool, The Trailblazery, Young Hearts Run Free, The Tweed Project, Forkful, Arran St East, Queens of Neon, Kickstart and Fraoch. Special Wonderlust guests include Sunny Jacobs, Ruairi McKiernan, Donal Lunny, Donal Dineen and Canadian electronic musician Mike Milosh ( who is playing as Rhye). Topics include Irish Design, Passion Projects, Slow Fashion to Food & Nourishment, Yoga Nidra and Kismet – The Art of Chance Encounters.
Here’s a handy playlist of music from the artists:
Body&Soul are once again trying their hand at a off-site party at IMMA after last year’s Halloween ball.
ÉRIU is billed as a contemporary celebration of an age-old tradition (ÉRIU is the goddess of Ireland) and will take place on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day, 16th March.
Music in three rooms comes from R.S.A.G, The Máirtin O’Connor Band and Katie Kim (The Great Hall curated by Donal Dineen), Subplots, Margie Lewis, and Landless (Baroque Chapel) with DJ Tonie Walsh in the Vaults,
Visuals come from Guerrilla Shout and there’s also a limited capacity two-course Wild Irish feast beforehand by Katie Sanderson (Living Dinners, Dillisk) and Keith Coleman (The Fumbally).
Drinks options include a Bulmers bar, an O’Brien’s Wines tasting tent and a cocktail bar. The dress code ‘Excessive/Transgressive’.
Tickets on sale now are €32.50 for regular tickets early bird, then €39.50. If you want to do both the meal and the event it’s €69.50.
Young Hearts Run Free have put together a small but beautifully-programmed festival taking place in a fortnight in Dublin city with an emphasis on the craft of music in all its forms.
The events will take place in Marsh’s Library, National Concert Hall, Bello Bar, Molloy & Dowling’s and other surprise locations from Friday 10th to Sunday 12th October.
Bill Drummond, Pat Collins, Donal Dineen, Jim Carroll, Sylvie Simmons and more will be talking about their favourite records and other things; there’s a musical surprise tour, music from Katie Kim, The Spook Of The Thirteenth Lock, Adrian Crowley, Nimah McCormack and more; John Osborne performing John Peel’s Shed; Foil, Arms And Hog, Barry McCormack and DJ sets by James Byrne, Peter Twoomey, Daragh O’Halloran, me and more, while Aoife McElwain will be doing a Forkful brunch on the Sunday. Tickets for all events are available here and as ever, all proceeds go towards the Simon Community.
Those old enough may remember the Road Relish singles club, a series of limited 7″ singles featuring split tracks from Irish bands.
That’s an idea that Seven Quarters, a new club night happening in Whelan’s in April will be (im)pressing with a monthly limited edition seven inch vinyl, featuring unreleased tracks given away for free to the first 150 people in the door as part of the €10 entry.
The night, set up in the year Whelan’s celebrates its 25th anniversary, starts on April 25th and the first night features Jennifer Evans and Katie Kim. Both artists will play and take a side each of the vinyl. The night is called Seven Quarters, says Barry Lennon the promoter, because it’ll happen four times a year. The next one will take place on June 20th.
