The much loved Dublin Alt-country act, The Blood Red Mountain Band, have spent some time crafting their new sound, and are set to release ‘All The Times’, the first single from their forthcoming album, “Far from Daylight”. Telling a tale of late night, drunken breakups; it’s a single rich in longing and heartache, in triumphant strings and edgy vocals.
The three boys and two girls of The Blood Red Mountain Band sail a peculiar ship made from bits of Americana, Country, Soul and Rock. Almost two years in the studio with producer Anthony Gibney -whose most recent work was Alien Envoy’s album ‘Loads’ (which got a 9/10 from HotPress)- they are finally ready to let their baby go out into the world. “I’m really excited to get this single out, we’ve put a lot of heart into these new songs and I can’t wait for our fans to hear it” said Alison Byrne, vocalist and oboe player with the band.
The single will be available on iTunes from Thursday,23th April.
To celebrate the launch, the band play in The Sugar Club this Thursday, 23th April 2015.
Tickets cost €12 on the door or can be purchased in advance from the Sugar Club. Support on the night from Andy Earley and The Dublin City Rounders.
The full album ‘Far From Daylight’ will be available from Sept 1st 2015.
For more, check out the award winning Blood Reds on Facebookand YouTube.
Cork alt-punks The Grunts return with their ‘New York City Woman’ EP, released April 15th 2015 via the newly founded ‘Inner Chapter’ label.
The title track is a raw, rocking throwback the early Grunts EPs. Track Two ‘The Ballad Of Ed Gein’ serves as a hint of sounds to come from the band, fusing dark subject matter with a swooning, laid-back vibe. Final track ‘The Guy That Stalked You Has Become The President’ returns to full-on rock mode, a free-flowing ode to the joys of political scandal.
Dublin singer-songwriter, Billy Treacy, releases his new album, “Head Above Water”, tonight at Whelans, Dublin. The album is a collection of modern day folk songs from Billy, who was first introduced to folk music growing up over a pub in Dublin’s City Centre.
The most recent single from the album, “Temple Bar”, was a tongue-in-cheek look at Dublin’s cultural quarter, while “Woe!”, his commentary on families struggling financially in Ireland today, became a viral hit on its release.
Self-released, the album has been a couple of years of hard work in the making. Billy describes it as both a personal soundtrack and a mix of protest songs, love songs and observations of life around him.
He will be performing with a 7-piece band in Whelans tonight.
Tickets €13.50 available from WAV or on the door. Doors at 8pm.
The School of Communications at DCU is one of the top Communications departments in Europe. It is a vibrant, outward-looking department that combines intensive research activity with the strongest commitment to high quality undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. It’s staff are committed to producing cutting-edge research across a range of (inter)disciplinary fields including (new) media studies, social media studies, journalism studies, film studies, television studies, political communication and cultural studies. In the past five years, they have supported over 30 doctoral students to achieve PhD awards through this scheme.
The School now has an opening for up to five funded PhD scholarships. As well as a generous tax-free stipend plus fees, they also support their students with funding for conference travel and research and give PhD students opportunities to teach courses. Candidates would normally have a degree in Journalism, Communications, Film Studies, Media Studies, Gender Studies, Political Science, Multimedia, Business, Economics or some other related cognate area.
Work that brings more coherence to current research paradigms is particularly welcomed but the Scholarships are open to those working in a wide array of theoretical, epistemological and methodological approaches. They also welcome applicants wishing to pursue practice-based / practice-led PhDs.
Potential candidates should provide a 2,000 word application, detailing your research proposal and how it aligns with the research-strategic objectives of the School of Communications, as well as a CV detailing academic qualifications and professional experience to date. Ideally, candidates will have consulted with a potential supervisor before applying.
“More Than You Can Chew carries a vague cryptic message that we’re still trying to figure out.” – Dara Farrelly, Featuring X
Launching their musical career in 2013 at just 16 years of age, Dara, Niamh, Jenny, Sarah and Eleanor has received critical acclaim with the release of their debut three-track EP (2013) and their impressive twist on Rea Garvey’s single Wild Love (2014) accompanied by their nostalgic music video which paid homage to Robert Palmer’s ‘Addicted to Love’.
The audio crafting quintet are now set to release new material throughout the year showcasing the band’s updated sound. More Than You Can Chew is taken from their forthcoming EP due for release this summer 2015. The official video for the new single will showcase footage of their forthcoming documentary which follows the quartet from the rehearsal room, to the studio and then the stage.
Lead singer Niamh Sharkey, explains the bands slight change in direction; “Launching ourselves at a young age and with a variety of influences; we feel it has taken us so long to find a style that suits us. We have been endlessly writing new tunes and find it’s getting easier to write as we get older and experience life. We have a lot of new material to release this year. More Than You Can Chew represents our fresh sound and feel this song holds the newvibe we’re going for. We plan to release two EP’s this year, and excited to hear the feedback!”
Drummer, Jenny McKeown adds; “The best thing about More Than You Can Chew is although an upbeat song, one you can dance to, if you listen to the lyrics you will hear it’s in fact a sad song. Although we feel it’s best not to reveal the true meaning of the song, as it allows people to relate to it individually and connect with the song themselves, isn’t that what music should be about? We also have a cool video in final stages of production and we can’t wait to share it. It’ll be randomly posted one day, that’s how we roll”
Now all 19 years and about to complete their first year at University, where the girls study a range of subjects from Film in IADT, Law and Languages in DCU to Sports, Exercise and Enterprise in DKIT; Featuring X have been quietly working on a number of projects for 2015 including a full documentary release this June.
The documentary follows Featuring X from their rehearsal room, to touring with The Strypes in December and capturing the E.Ps’ recording process. It also allows music lovers to “get to know” the girls that form Featuring X while following the full production journey from team meetings, rehearsals, photo and video shoots to their private lives. It also visits the topic of why Featuring X decided to opt out of their UK record deal.
After a busy yet successful 2014; with the release of their Wild Love single, being selected out of 800 bands for the Guinness Amplify outdoor advertising campaign across Leinster, playing a number of gigs and festivals across the country; also supporting Swedish rockers Thundermother, and Cavan rockers The Strypes the girls continue to learn grow and have fun with their musical career.
UPCOMING DATES:
1-3 MAY VANTASTIVAL BELLURGAN PARK, DUNDALK
8-9 MAY CANALAPHONIC FESTIVAL RATHMINES/PORTOBELLO, DUBLIN
28 May WHELANS (upstairs) WEXFORD ST, DUBLIN
29 MAY KFEST MUSIC AND ARTS FESTIVAL KILLORGAN, CO. KERRY
31 MAY FIRESIDE SESSIONS FESTIVAL CARRANSTON LODGE, DULEEK
Alternative indie-pop outfit The Hard Ground have released “Triptych”, their second album. Triptych is the culmination of a year’s worth of material that has seen the Cork based band release the album in a staggered manner since May last year. Triptych: 1 and 2, both digital EPs, were released in 2014. The final EP in the series, Triptych: 3, the missing part of the puzzle, was released on April 10th, giving rise to the physical release of the full Triptych album, a culmination of all three EPs and a bonus track.
“Pucker” the band’s latest single, has been garnering much attention from both audience and industry, and recently received a nod of approval from UK music industry publication, “Record of the Day”. A dream-pop offering, the track has been featured across seventeen stations in Ireland over the past three weeks and has recently been playlisted on RTE Radio 1.
Seeking to approach the recording and release of an album in a new way, the band set about the project in early 2014 working with producer Christian Best in Monique Studios in Cork city. The method of release, inspired by the ‘triptych’ art concept, is a response to the challenges faced by recording artists in today’s music industry. The ‘album’ – the backbone of the record industry – has been rapidly replaced by an increasingly fragmented means of consumption.
Independently released, the constant writing, recording, and touring schedule has had a huge influence on the album. Undertaken as a real time recording project, the album documents the development of the band’s sound and songwriting over the last twelve months giving the listener an intimate insight in the creative process.
The Hard Ground tour Ireland over the next three months with dates in Dublin and Cork. For a full list of shows visit their website www.thehardground.com
Unsigned Only is a unique international music competition designed for solo artists, bands, and singers who are not signed to a major label record company. Unsigned Only is currently seeking outstanding, talented artists – newcomers or veterans. The competition is open to both original and cover songs in all categories except the newly-added Screen Shot category.
Judged by a roster of celebrity notables, prizes include merchandise plus $10,000 cash to the overall Grand Prize winner and $1,000 to the First Place winner in each category. Prizes will also be awarded to Second Place winners in each category. Additionally, the Grand Prize winner will receive one-on-one mentoring from a group of upper echelon music industry executives, ranging from label presidents to heads of A&R.
Due to the huge success of last year’s Screen Shot promotion, Unsigned Only has added Screen Shot as a category in the competition. Music placement in TV, film, video games and advertising has become an increasingly significant revenue source for musicians. Not only can it be a huge boost for an unsigned artist’s career in terms of increasing exposure to a mainstream audience, but it can also increase revenue through upfront money, license fees and performance royalties. All finalists in this category will have their music judged by a group of music execs who are specifically looking for music to place in various projects. Additionally, the First Place winner will have the opportunity to directly network with and get advice from a minimum of five of the Screen Shot judges. Last year’s Screen Shot winner, The Bicycle Mob, have already scored placements as a result of winning Screen Shot.
The deadline for entries to this year’s Unsigned Only is 30th April. For further information and entry details see http://www.unsignedonly.com/enter.
The Centre Culturel Irlandais and the Contemporary Music Centre have just announced the recipients of their 2015-2016 Composer Residency. The composer’s residency initiative is part of a 30th anniversary programme of the Contemporary Music Centre, which will take place across 2016.
Four Irish composers have been selected to take part in the residency – Greg Caffrey, Rhob Cunningham, Benjamin Dwyer and Lioba Petrie.
Twenty-two artists across the spectrum of artistic backgrounds will spend from one month to three months in Paris to develop their proposed projects.
This year sees CCI partnering three Irish arts organisations for the first time in the awarding of a design residency (Design Crafts Council of Ireland – DCCoI), a music residency (Music Network) and a composer’s residency (Contemporary Music Centre).
The next concert in the Irish Composers on Irish Music series takes place on 22nd April and features composer and contemporary and traditional musician Ryan Molloy. Irish Composers on Irish Music is a new series presented by the Association of Irish Composers of concerts and talks from Irish composers, on their choice of music for their instrument. These composers bring their extraordinary insight from their experience as composers and performers to these specially selected works.
Programme:
Seóirse Bodley The Narrow Road to the Deep North
Ryan Molloy Sætre Brygge
Martin O’Leary David’s Air
Breffni O’Byrne Rhapsody
Martin O’Leary Jim’s Air
Simon Mawhinney Ravara
Martin O’Leary Irene’s Air
Michael Holohan Monaincha
Martin O’Leary Maeve’s Air
John McLachlan Vita
John McLachlan Nuance
Bill Whelan Currach
As a composer and performer, Ryan’s work has been performed to international audiences on four continents for over ten years. In great demand as an accompanist, Ryan has recorded over a dozen albums and his repertoire spans numerous genres from traditional Irish music to contemporary classical music. The confluence of these two genres formed the basis of his PhD in composition at Queen’s University, Belfast, studying under Simon Mawhinney and Piers Hellawell. Ryan is currently supported by a BBC Performing Arts Fund Fellowship in association with Moving on Music.
‘I made a conscious decision to explore in my programme contemporary Irish works that draw (to varying extents) on traditional Irish music in some way since this is an important aspect of my musical upbringing and continued musical activity. This influence could be present in an extremely overt fashion as in the case with Bill Whelan’s The Currach, or only very tangentially as in the case of my own early work Sætre Brygge. These works are also complimented by a few works which have no connection to traditional music (John McLachlan’s Vita and Nuance for example) or which draw on wider issues such as the influence of landscape, sense of place and spirituality (as can be seen in Simon Mawhinney’s Ravara).’ – Ryan Molloy
Irish Composers on Irish Music is supported by Arts Council Ireland. The Association of Irish Composers is supported by IMRO.
Irish Composers on Irish Music: Ryan Molloy (Piano)
Kerry Film Festival, which takes place from 21st to 25th October, is now inviting entries for its short film competition in categories such as Best Narrative, Best Documentary, Best Animated Film, and Best Original Score.
KFF has previously featured successful shorts such as the Oscar® short-listed “Head over Heels” in 2012 and the 2014 Oscar® winner “Mr Hublot”.
Emerging filmmakers are at the core of the Kerry Film Festival programme, with the short film competition geared towards showcasing their work and bringing it to a wider audience both at home and throughout a growing network of partner festivals across the globe.
The festival is delighted once again to include the category for Best Original Score. Film music is a critical part of the storytelling and is often the most memorable element of a film, so important an element in fact that there will be a number of satellite activities focusing on film scores at this year’s festival.
Filmmakers will have the chance for their work to be seen by a prestigious panel of adjudicators which has in recent years included leading lights such as Richard Baneham who is an Academy Award and BAFTA winning Animator, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Screenwriter Mark Bomback, Directors Lenny Abrahamson and Paul Greengrass, and Producer Finola Dwyer.
KFF works to promote the best in filmmaking, endorsing the short film as a significant film genre and assigning the short equal status to the feature. As credit for its efforts in this regard, Kerry Film Festival is listed as the Best Short Film Festival in Ireland and one of the top in the world by ifilmfestapp.com.
With an early bird deadline of 25th May and a final closing date for submissions to the 2015 competition on 25th July, there’s plenty of time to send your film. Check out www.kerryfilmfestival.com for full details on how to submit your entry.
