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Month: March 2021

Tipperary Songwriter Edel Meade Releases New Solo Album ‘Brigids and Patricias’

Acclaimed Irish vocalist and composer Edel Meade released her stunning new solo album ‘Brigids And Patricias’ on 8th March, International Women’s Day.

A strikingly original artist working in the field of jazz, folk and contemporary music; her voice has been described as mesmerising or magical even, while her music is haunting, evocative and powerful. This compelling new collection of original songs reflects on what it means to be an Irish woman living in 21st century Ireland, shaped by Irish history, folklore and contemporary society.

Having worked as a professional jazz vocalist for over a decade, Meade found herself performing in Spanish in Havana, Cuba in 2018 (she doesn’t speak Spanish by the way!) and promptly decided it was time to connect with music from Ireland and to explore what it means to be a creative artist from Co. Tipperary.

Standout tracks from the album include ‘Song For Bridget Cleary’ (burnt alive by her husband in 1895, not far from where Meade grew up in Co. Tipperary, although he insisted she had been taken away by the fairies!), ‘Long Way To Go’ a scintillating spoken word piece addressing misogyny and the cervical smear scandal in Ireland and ‘Ode To Old Noll’, a blistering ode to Oliver Cromwell who sent thousands of Irish people to the West Indies in the 17th century, among them, members of Meade’s family, some of whom continue to reside on the Caribbean island of Montserrat today. 

I wanted to explore what it means to be an Irish woman in order to understand who I am as an artist. I felt I needed to look at historic events as well as contemporary social issues and of course I believe it’s an artist’s duty to reflect the times.”  Edel Meade

‘Brigids and Patricias’ was recorded at Ventry Studios, Dublin in between lockdowns following on from the success of her critically acclaimed debut album ‘Blue Fantasia’ in 2017. For Edel Meade, music-making is less about playing within the confines of a particular genre and more about stretching her abilities as a creative artist with something to say. ‘Brigids and Patricias’ is available from edelmeade.com and Bandcamp.

Photo: Berit Alits 

Peter Doran Releases New Video for ‘Nothing New Under The Sun’

Peter Doran has released a video for his brand-new single ‘Nothing New Under The Sun’, out now. The video was directed and shot by the husband and wife team of Lucy Jones and John Hennessy of Kerbute Productions. The track is taken from ‘Voices’, his upcoming album, due for release this year.

Supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media.

Peter Doran explains, the official video for ‘Nothing New Under The Sun’ came to be in the same way as just about everything else in the Universe:

One small idea led to another until before I knew it I was standing in the cavernous space of an unused cinema in my Mullingar hometown with the camera rolling.

When I was a boy the Ritz cinema was coming to the end of its era but I did catch a few blockbusters there in my time. Before my time, my parents courted in the glow of the enormous screen. I’m told that space was used regularly for live music too and that in the 50s and 60s there was a stipulation that there had to be an interval in every feature where musicians would take to the stage and perform. I believe the great Joe Dolan was a regular performer here. All this is to say that the building is filled with a great history of film, music, community and young love. It was a real treat to spend a few hours there making this new video.”

Peter Doran is an independent Irish singer-songwriter and musician. ‘Voices’, the fifth studio album from the Mullingar native, was awarded a MISP grant to help fund its release.

Recorded and Co-produced by Hally at Arthouse Studios in Naas throughout 2019/20, ‘Voices’ features extensive contributions from multi-instrumentalist Lenny Cahill (Piano / Drums / Bass / Organ) and special guest vocals from US Songwriter Haley Heynderickx and Emmett Tinley (The Prayer Boat). String duties were shared by Dublin-based composer/arranger Mary Barnecutt and Peter’s long-term collaborator Gerard Toal.

‘Every Little Thing’ from his 2012 album “Overhead the Stars” has been played over 1,300,000 times on Spotify and is the theme tune for the American podcast series “The Minimalists”.

In recent years Peter has headlined shows in Holland, Germany, England, Ireland, Belgium and New York and opened shows for Mick Flannery, The Lone Bellow, Declan O’Rourke, Fionn Regan and Duke Special.

New Single and Album from Autumn Owls

After five years in the Middle East, Gary McFarlane returned home to Ireland to spend Christmas with family before a planned move to Asia in 2020. But with borders suddenly closed and flights grounded, he found himself once again back at Insomnia Lodge—a converted recording space in Dublin at the back of his family home. The result, ‘Three Winters in the Capital’, the first Autumn Owls album in three years. Set for release on April 28th, the first single, ‘Agatha’, was released on March 21st. 

Autumn Owls is the moniker of Irish songwriter, Gary McFarlane. Formed back in 2007, he released two EPs (‘Insomnia Lodge’ & ‘On the Trail of the Disappearing)’ in 2008 to critical acclaim. The band took advantage of this attention to hone their live performance and support acts such as Real Estate, Twilight Sad, Devotchka and Mark Mulcahy as well as headlining shows across Europe and North America. This led to a deal with Chicago-based record label Epitonic and the release of the debut album, ‘Between Buildings Toward The Sea’. The record was recorded in Chicago in 2012 with renowned producer, Brian Deck (Modest Mouse, Califone, Iron & Wine). The album received widespread acclaim, not least for its experimental nature. The band again took to the road for an extensive North American, touring with acts such as Why? and LOW.

McFarlane then took a break from touring and music and moved to the Middle East. However, in 2018 he did release new music for the first time in nearly five years when legendary DJ, producer and record label owner, James Lavelle, discovered unreleased Autumn Owls demos. Intrigued, Lavelle called on longtime collaborator, Cameron Craig (UNKLE, Bjork, Pulp) to work on the songs. The result, ‘Poverty and Ambition’, Autumn Owls’ sophomore album.

New Single from Slyrydes

Slyrydes are a four piece band from Galway City, Ireland. Slyrydes released their first five singles from March 2019 to March 2020 (‘Mental Health’, ‘Point Of View’, ‘Out Patience’, ‘Dangerous Animals’ and ‘I Claim To Be Intelligent’). The singles collected much critical acclaim nationwide and in the UK. Paul McLoone (Today FM/ The Undertones) has championed the band since the first single, ‘Mental Health’.

All of Slyrydes releases have been engineered and produced by Dan Doherty in Darklands Dublin. 

In 2020, against many odds, Slyrydes managed to record their debut album. “We managed to get into Dan in Darklands in between lockdowns in September 2020. I think it was a mixture of luck and sheer determination.” 

New single ‘Boy In The Debs Suit’ is one of the songs on their debut. “We definitely didn’t write the same song twelve times. Which made it so difficult to pick a new single. We cannot wait to share this album with the world.”

Slyrydes debut will be available on 12” and is set for release in 2021.

https://www.instagram.com/slyrydes/?hl=en
https://www.facebook.com/slyrydes/

Locklin Announce Next Single

The band, Locklin, is the brain child of Barry McLoughlin and hail from Thurles, Co.Tipperary.

Under the pseudonym of Locklin, they released their debut EP in late 2018, entitled ‘Never Forget’.

From that, a series of live gigs and a healthy amount radio play from the single ‘Two Shining Lights’ amounted. Sets in The Crane Lane in Cork occurred, as well as support slots with the likes of Seskin Lane in Whelans, Dublin and Hermitage Green on their tour in January 2019.

Locklin has released a number of singles following that and in July of 2021, during the initial lockdown, they decided to release the single ‘Setting Sun’, which fared well on radio and in print.

This upcoming single release, entitled ‘Shoot The Breeze’ is due out on March 26th and was recorded prior to the initial lockdown of March 2020.

The track features songwriter Barry McLoughlin on guitar and vocals, Eoin Ryan on guitar and vocals and Cian Cronin on drums. ‘Shoot The Breeze’ is an upbeat indie rock song, that might want you to dust off your air guitar and give it a go!

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2FWmhGY9gp2Do6cCGomiZA?si=rC__IUWuSpqjCjaAIDAkAw
www.instagram.com/locklinmac1
www.facebook.com/locklinmac
https://locklin.bandcamp.com/
www.breakingtunes.com/locklin

Cronin new single “BANK OF LOVE” out NOW on Live Transmission Records

Cronin open 2021 with a their 1st original single in 2 years “Bank of Love“.

“This was one of the first songs we started jamming to get the juices flowing after not seeing each other for 3 months when the first lockdown was lifted last year. We wanted to get back to the feeling of being a young band playing songs in a garage.

We were listening to a lot of Lou Reed’s Transformer, Richard Hawley, Jarv Is. We started it the night Scott Walker died and it took another form with the pandemic. A love song that you can wash the dishes to.”

Bank of Love was recorded at Transmission Rooms, Drumlish, Co Longford by Mick Cronin. Mixed by Ger McDonnell (U2, Manic Street Preachers) and Mastered by Richard Dowling at WAV Mastering, Limerick.

The Drumlish/Mullingar band who recently appeared on Ireland’s premiere TV Show The Late Late Show special to raise money for The Simon Community alongside U2, Glen Hansard with many more and appeared briefly in the Julien Temple Shane MacGowan documentary A Crock of Gold continue work on the follow up to their critically acclaimed debut The First Kiss of Love with a Mid 2021 release date penciled in.

LISTEN TO CRONIN BANK OF LOVE ON SPOTIFY

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Debut Album from Bobsleigh Bob

‘How To Measure A Coastline’ was born from a throw-away comment on a science podcast about ‘how measuring coastlines is notoriously difficult because as well as all the moving parts, the closer you look the more detail you see and therefore the longer the measurement’. This led Bobsleigh Bob to consider how the same applies to everyday scenarios and relationships, and how we can choose to not look too close, ignore the detail and simplify things, or we can look closely at the detail, make the task more difficult and intricate, but garner much more in the process. Bobsleigh Bob elaborates; “With the title track on the album (the first to be written and recorded over 3 years ago) I wanted to mirror this in the music as well as the lyrics. The contrast of the slow simple chords against the fast and complex percussion aims to represent the birds-eye view versus the microscopic. The same piece of music but viewed and explored in very different levels of detail. This theme is then reflected in the other 7 tracks on the album.” ‘How To Measure A Coastline’ will be released on Friday, March 26th.

The taster, ‘Civil Twilight’, for this debut long play, is quite the earworm which this writer believes should easily find a home on some alternative chill out playlists at streaming level while also strike interest amongst those of you who have a flair of discovering new music a tad different from all the excellent output currently coming from the mainstream genre in our country! ‘Civil Twilight’ is available from all digital platforms now with the album live for pre-sale from https://bobsleighbob.bandcamp.com/ .

Bobsleigh Bob is a Dublin-born and Limerick-based musician and music industry professional. After many years working behind the scenes in event production, festival management, sound engineering, design and marketing, he is now preparing to step out from behind the stage curtain with the release of this debut album, ‘How To Measure A Coastline’.

Having started his musical career playing guitar in teenage rock bands in the likes of Eamonn Doran’s and the Bruxelles basement, the guitar remained his instrument of choice into recent years. ‘How To Measure A Coastline’ marks a change in approach and style with mellow synths and plucky keys taking centre stage.

Insta. @bobsleighbob | T. @bobsleighbob | FB. @bobsleighbobmusic Bandcamp. https://bobsleighbob.bandcamp.com/

Local Boy Shares New Video ‘Al Bundy’

Local Boy is the alter-ego of Dublin musician, producer, singer, and Burner Records co-founder Jake Hurley. His new single ‘Al Bundy’ released recently landed on Spotify’s New Music Friday playlist, and has seen repeat plays on RTÉ 2FM, 98fm, Red FM & more. His previous releases have featured on other high-profile Spotify playlists such as “Lo-Fi Indie” and have subsequently amassed millions of plays on the platform between his own songs and collaborations with artists such as Tebi Rex.

The new song ‘Al Bundy’ was written, produced, mixed and mastered by Local Boy, and is built around the interplay of a bouncy guitar riff and a driving baseline.

Referencing the iconic sitcom ‘Married with Children’, Al Bundy explores heavy themes over a fun and danceable instrumental. The song is primarily a critique of the often-toxic self-help culture found online that can treat mental health interventions like a business.

Sharing the new video, Local Boy says, “I think this video matches the message and the vibe of the song perfectly. It was an absolute pleasure to bounce ideas off the director Daragh Goan and I was blown away by the talent and effort of everyone who worked on it. I’m really pleased with the finished product especially considering the constraints of shooting while maintaining social distance!”

Director Daragh Goan added “I wanted to use the Sitcom Dad character because we grew up watching men on screen, from The Simpsons to Al Bundy in Married with Children, work meaningless unfulfilling jobs and be sad as a result of it, and I wanted to ask what it would be like if one of them had a creative outlet or pursued something that made them happy.”

Having spent the pandemic working on music, Local Boy is gearing up for the summer 2021 release of his follow up EP ‘Local Boy Helps Himself’.

Buy/Stream the new single ‘Al Bundy’ here: https://linktr.ee/local_boy3000

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LocalBoy3000/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/localboy3000 / @localboy3000
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/local_boy3000/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/34Ze0nb54KG3gietZGFZIj?si=8-o0SwDiRka99CQCMDVBqw
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/ie/artist/local-boy/18474169

Megan O’Neill’s ‘Getting Comfortable With Uncertainty’ Out Now

Kildare singer-songwriter Megan O’Neill celebrates the her second full length studio album, ‘Getting Comfortable With Uncertainty’ out now. This much anticipated album follows her LP ‘Ghost of You’ (June 2018) which hit #1 on the iTunes singer/songwriter charts in the UK and Ireland.

“Finely crafted songs of defiance”The Irish Times

‘Getting Comfortable With Uncertainty’ consists of 13 songs – 12 originals and one cover. It is mostly autobiographical, yet the songs touch on range of universal topics – struggles with career, fear of change, moving to a new city or away from somewhere you love, unhealthy relationships. The songs vary from intimate and vulnerable (‘Head Under Water’, ‘Winter Sun’, ‘Strangers Before We Met’) to confident and resilient (‘Underrated’, ‘Should’ve Known Better’) to lonely and wistful (‘Ireland’).

“This album was much more personal for me than any of my previous releases. I suppose I’m that bit older (and none the wiser!) – I feel that the more I learn about life the less I actually know about anything. That is where the title came from – ‘Getting Comfortable With Uncertainty’. I’ve had a lot of change in my life in the past two years and I’ve felt pretty battered by the whole process to be honest. But I do believe that all those tough times bring about growth – in a way that contentment and comfort never will. So I’m learning to just get comfortable with the uncertainty of life – it’s always going to change.” Megan says.

The recording process began in October 2018 in Leeds, UK, with Joe and Dave Dunwell whilst Megan was living in London. Megan had been working with The Dunwells for a few years previous and found a great creative chemistry there, whenever they wrote together or played music together.

“Writing and recording these songs was so cathartic. Joe and Dave were amazing and really pushed me outside my comfort zone when we were in the studio. We threw around ideas and they were always up for trying anything and everything, which really allowed me the creative freedom to explore. I couldn’t have made this record with anyone else.”

‘Getting Comfortable With Uncertainty’ blends elements of Irish folk story-telling (especially heard on the track ‘Ireland‘) with modern pop and alt-rock influences. Throughout the record, you’ll hear that the stories are the focus. The vocal melodies and lyrics take centre stage and the Dunwells provide beautiful, warm and soaring backing vocals throughout – creating an amazing sibling harmony blend.

Deemed a “rising star” by uDiscover and Timeout Magazine London, Megan’s new album has already received huge attention in the sync world, with one track featured in the opening scenes of a new major Netflix series, ‘Firefly Lane’, which aired March 2021. She also performed it live on RTÉ’s Late Late Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHvmfj51CQE

To date Megan has toured the UK, Ireland, US and Germany. She has performed at private Oscars’ parties in LA alongside Gavin James (on invite from JJ Abrams) and has had her song ‘Don’t You’ featured on ABC’s hit TV Show ‘Nashville’ (Season 3). In 2019 Megan opened three stadium shows for the legendary Sir Tom Jones. In the first few months of 2020, Megan opened for Lighthouse Family at the Olympia Theatre, Dublin, and Jamie Cullum at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre. 

Prior to her album ‘Ghost Of You’; Megan released two EP’s: ‘Coming Home’ (2015) – produced by Philip Magee (The Script, Kodaline) and ‘Stories to Tell’ (2017) – produced by Guy Fletcher (Dire Straits, Mark Knopfler). She also released a single under Decca Records in collaboration with Ben Earle (The Shires) – ‘Can’t Put a Price on That’ (2016).

Live performances include main stage at the British Country Music Festival, C2C Festival, Body & Soul, Liverpool Folk Fest, The Long Road Festival, Nashville Meets London and much, much more! In early 2020, Megan finished work on a new project with Universal Music – performing as the lead female for a full compilation album. The project is set for a 100+ date tour across 2021 and 2022.

Megan O’Neill’s new album ‘Getting Comfortable With Uncertainty’ is out now. The album is available to buy on CD or digital, or stream on all digital platforms here: https://linktr.ee/meganoneill

https://www.facebook.com/MeganONeillMusic

https://instagram.com/meganoneillmusic

https://twitter.com/meganoneill / @meganoneill

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWajlM_WS19L91STNMyyyPw

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Photo: Mich Behan

RTS Ireland Television Awards 2021 | Shortlist Announced

Dara Ó Briain will be among those recognised in the inaugural RTS Ireland Television Awards 2021. Dara will receive the BAI Outstanding Contribution Award and nine other award winners will be revealed in a programme to be broadcast at 11pm on Virgin Media One on Tuesday March 30th, presented by Muireann O’Connell.

27 other nominees were announced today in nine categories from the 126 entries received, including RTÉ’s Normal People, Virgin Media Television’s News coverage – COVID News Special – Opening Up The Country, TG4’s Is Olc an Ghaoth and Sky Sports’ Coverage of the GAA Championships.

The RTS Ireland Television Awards are supported by all the mainstream Irish Broadcasters – Virgin Media Television, RTÉ, TG4 & Sky Ireland – and by the wider television industry including the Broadcast Authority of Ireland and Screen Ireland to recognise excellence in Irish Television production and in Irish international co-productions during 2020.  

Additional sponsors include IMRO, Screenscene, Windmill Lane, CameraKit.ie, TVM, Nemeton TV, Egg Post Production and Piranha Bar.

The RTS Ireland Television Awards committee recruited independent judges from across the industry at home and abroad, who spent the last few weeks reviewing and evaluating creative excellence and achievement in nine categories. Their short-lists for nominees in the respective categories are as follows:

1 – The Screen Ireland Drama Award

Dead Still – Deadpan Pictures, Shaftesbury
Normal People – Element Pictures
Is Olc an Ghaoth – Lunar Pictures

2 – Entertainment

Dancing with the Stars – ShinAwiL Ltd
Ultimate Hell Week – Motive Television
Marty & Bernard – On The Road Again – ShinAwiL Ltd

3 – Factual Series

David Brophy’s Unsung Heroes – Tyrone Productions
Big Life Fix – Kite Entertainment
The Boys In Green – Loosehorse

4 – Factual Single

Abbeyfealegood – Atom Films
Love & Loss in a Pandemic – RTÉ
Toraigh: Creag Bheag i Lár na Farraige – Lugh Films, Dearcán Media, Tita Productions

5 – Sport

Laochra Gael – Kieran Donaghy – Nemeton TV
New Gaels – Poolbeg Productions
Sky Sports’ Coverage of the GAA Championships – Sky Sports

6 – News & Current Affairs  

RTÉ Investigates – Inside Ireland’s Covid Battle; Life & Death  – RTÉ 
COVID News Special – Opening up the Country – Virgin Media News 
General Election 2020 – Results Coverage  – RTÉ

7 – Animation

The Voyage – JAM Media
The Christmas Letter – Dream Logic Animation
The Dead Hands of Dublin – Pink Kong Studios

8 – Specialist Factual

The Funeral Director – GMarshTV Productions
The Francis Street Photographer – Zucca Films/That’s A Wrap TV
Cogadh ar Mhná/ A War on Women – ForeFront Productions

9 – Children’s Programme

Home School Hub – Macalla Teoranta
Tina Times Two – Dyehouse Films
Sol – Paper Owl Films

Speaking at the announcement of the nominees, RTS Ireland Television Awards Committee chairperson, Niall Cogley, said:

“We are proud to launch our inaugural RTS Ireland Television Awards with the wholehearted support of all of the broadcasters in the country and from the wider Irish television industry. 2020 was an extraordinary year, but the TV community was able to adapt and excel despite the logistical, economic and the very human challenges it faced.

“We all wanted to come together to recognise some of those achievements, to celebrate the creative excellence that Irish audiences have enjoyed in this exceptional year, and to say ‘Thanks’ for sharing your talents with us.

“Our thanks to Muireann O’Connell who has kindly agreed to present the inaugural RTS Ireland Television Awards programme next week.

“We are very gratified to have had such a tremendous response to our invitation to submit entries from so many top-class Irish television production companies. Thanks also to our hardworking panel of Irish and international judges, to our very generous broadcasters and sponsors, especially Virgin Media Television who are hosting our inaugural awards this year.

“We wish all the short-listed nominees the very best of luck ahead of the announcement of winners in each category next Tuesday night”

The RTS Programme Awards are among the international gold standard awards for the TV industry and represent an important showcase for the extraordinary talent evident across the television industry in this part of the world.  This is the latest initiative of the Republic of Ireland Centre of Royal Television Society which has been operating since 1996. RTS Ireland organises a range of other events and awards every year including the awards ceremony for student productions in the categories of Drama, Short Form, Comedy, Animation, Factual and Craft Skills.  

Visit: https://rts.org.uk/award/rts-ireland-television-awards

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