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Rundfunk Der Dublin!

In Blog, Culture, Interviews, Musicby beggarsLeave a Comment

A new online radio station based in Dublin is about to take off. What’s in store? We checked in the DDR crew to find out.

So, a new digital radio station is in the pipeline. Tell us how it came about?

The idea was floating around in our heads for a while I think. A few of us have been involved in different forms of radio over the years and I think we all wondered why Dublin didn’t have something like this already. We went to Open Ear festival on Sherkin Island earlier this year and started talking seriously about it. A five hour car journey home with only national radio for company really got the wheels moving then. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. I guess it’s a bit reactionary in that sense, we were a bit angry with the lack of coverage for certain areas of culture in Ireland so we are trying to fill that void in a small way.

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Feeling A Bit Shook.

In Blog, Interviews, Musicby Bit ThornLeave a Comment

Following the release of their new album Drinking About You, Bit Thorn caught up with Everything Shook to find out where they’re heading and what makes them tick. Plenty of talk of synths, recording in gaffs and the whatchamacallit genre game.

Hi, Everything Shook… For the uninitiated can you tell us a bit about your sound?

Jessica: We’ve been called ‘experimental electro’, ‘dance-punk,’ and the Irish Times recently called us ‘wonkypop’, which is a new one. Our sound is mainly various synths and keyboards, electronic drums and bass guitar, (and some other smaller instruments). The vocals are layered with all of our voices, (harmonies, growls, oohs and shouts). Someone recently said to me at a gig that we should be playing in New York to people on coke. I don’t think you need to be on coke though, maybe just beer

Robyn: I always call it Electronic Goth Pop, but there’s Punk and Folk elements to it too. I think we get our sound by not having one, if that makes sense. We never set out to sound like anything or anyone in particular, instead we each kind of throw our individual influences and interests into this big pot and mix it up.

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Dissenting Drogheda.

In Blog, Culture, Highlights, Music, Politicsby Martin LeenLeave a Comment

Nolan spent many months in Drogheda interviewing people who were involved in the punk community and gathering their stories of dissent including Paddy Dillon who disrupted Sunday mass in the early eighties by letting loose a clutch of hens.

This secret history is documented in the publication ‘Subvert All Power’ Drogheda’s Punk History, in the theatre space of the Droichead Arts Cent which will be launched on Saturday the 27th of August. To coincide with the launch there will be talks of feminist punk culture, 24 hour punk gigs and other goings on.
On Sunday 28th there will be a Parade of Dissent including banners, madzers and music through Drogheda and a punk picnic and a free punk concert.

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What’s London?

In Blog, Musicby BeardyLeave a Comment

  Manchester’s LEVELZ roll into town this weekend for their Irish debut. No hype needed here – you know the score, huge stage swagger and pulling sounds from the bassier end of the spectrum to match. They just dropped an intense 15 minute blast for Radio 1Xtra and are hitting up The Wiley Fox on Saturday with an army of Irish support. Beardy had this exchange with some of the … Read More

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Too Many Men.

In #rabble12, Blog, Culture, Music, Print Editionby BeggarsLeave a Comment

In many ways Ireland punches above its weight when it comes to dance music. Struggling against restrictive licensing laws, exorbitant rents, harsh drug policies and a general ignorance of electronic music and clubbing by those in officialdom, the scene is still kicking. However, you could go out every weekend and never see a woman djing.

Beggars chats to two collectives changing all of that.

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Forrests.

In Blog, Musicby Seán O'ReillyLeave a Comment

Organs by Forrests Forrests, comprised of Dublin based Paul O’Reilly and Owen O’Mahony have, excuse the pun, played a blinder with their latest collaboration Organs. Released in 2014 to much interest, the album is a really beautiful ambient electronic gem. It’s striking how much I enjoyed this record, as young Seán was a big fan of metal and didn’t have much time for anything that wasn’t guitar driven, never mind … Read More

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Sounds From The Undergrowth.

In Blog, Musicby Rashers TierneyLeave a Comment

Scrobarnach means “undergrowth” and its a handy way for the guys behind next weekend’s field antics to signal their festival’s intentions. We asked them to send on three track three tracks from artists performing over the weekend to give us a sense of what its all about.   1. Colman Buckely – All Over This first of our essential selections is from Westmeath’s homegrown Colman Buckley, of Local Talk and Traveller … Read More

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Home Brewed Danceable Madness.

In Blog, Musicby Bit ThornLeave a Comment

  Bifurcation Arrows Misleading Visuals by Paddy Steer Paddy Steer is a multi-instrumentalist who got into the habit of making his own synths more than half a decade ago. He uses them to produce his own brand of homebrewed danceable madness. Ahead of a slew of Irish gigs, Bit Thorn caught up with the dude to chat about the what’s and the whys of everything from touring some unusual places … Read More

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Ghost Estates.

In Blog, Musicby Seán O'ReillyLeave a Comment

One from the Crate highlights releases from the Irish artists putting out their stuff on black and white. Many of these releases are self-published or are put out through small independent labels and can be hard to find. There’s no list to work off, just lucky finds in Dublin’s record shops. For the first, Sean O’Reilly takes a look at the Ghost Estate’s debut from four years ago. Ghost Estates, it has … Read More

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A Quickie With February And Mars.

In #rabble12, Blog, Musicby Simon PriceLeave a Comment

Simon Price sat down with Galway’s February And Mars to talk about their heady brew of intergalactic space funk and psychedelic rock and roll. So Mojuba Records putting out a spacey record from Galway, how did that happen? We were playing the same festival as Don Williams, Drop Everything out on Inis Oírr. He expressed an interest so we passed on some music and he wanted to sign it. He … Read More