This is a must watch for anyone with an interest in Ireland’s DIY music scene. Hats off to all involved.
I’ve had the pleasure of catching Dublin’s Ships twice recently. Once as they played support at Jape’s leaving gig and then again last week at an intimate little set in Pygmalion. I was mightily impressed on both occasions. They’re a three piece with a great late night sound. There’s an almost Kraftwerkian edge to their hypnotic sound, which is augmented by the subtle dual vocals of Simon and Sorca. They’ve got The Naked and Famous’ boy girl dynamic but the sound that surrounds it is of a more meaty variety than our Kiwi friends.
At both gigs the crowd were doing dancing! Not like the gig shuffle but proper dancing! Ships seem to have something that works well as a live (crowd all facing the band) gig, or as floor filling dance. If it’s something they’ve done on purpose it’s clever!
Below is their solo Souncloud effort to date Two Hearts, but there’s more to come from Ships very soon, they’ve got a double a-side coming, click here for details.

Heineken Green Spheres free live gigs series are a long time favorite of The Clink, they always manage to get a stellar line up of acts, it’s organized to the tee and it’s all bloody FREE.
For the final event of the year Heineken Green Spheres are putting on a mammoth series of free shows, not one but four! All taking place across Dublin.
The line up is as follows:
Thu 1st Dec @ The VIllage; Drums + Cloud Control
Fri 2nd Dec @ the Olympia; Aloe Blacc
Sat 3rd Dec @ The Academy; Wild Beasts + Summer Camp
Sat 3rd Dec @ Workmans; SBTRKT
Interested? Yeah, I thought so. You can apply for free tickets at heinekenmusic.ie up until Nov 11th.
If I had to choose one gig only to attend (and it’s hard), it would have to be Wild Beasts + Summer Camp. Smother, Wild Beasts third studio album is glorious and gets better with every listen. While Summer Camp are just coming out with their debut full length and it’s goood. Both should put together a damn fine evening of music.
Some tunes from each of the bands mentioned are featured below.
The Drums – ‘I Need a Doctor’
Cloud Control – ‘There’s Nothing in the Water We Can’t Fight’
Fionn Regan’s new album 100 Acres of Sycamore is due to be released on August 12th, in support of this Fionn is heading off on a small irish tour which kicks off Friday July 8th in The Wexford Arts Centre. We’ve got two tickets to give away for the Dublin date of the tour on [...]
I went to Tower Records last evening to see Bipolar Empire put on a free instore performance. They played an excellent half hour set, which sounded great and the small crowd loved it. I was really surprised though that Tower wasn’t jammed with people.
This laid back Kiwi quintet, who seem to be getting bigger by the day, play The Button Factory tomorrow night. So it’s only right you get a wee taster. Here you go: The Naked And Famous – Girls Like You. Enjoy the squelchy super anthemic electro-poptastisity! (My mother warned me about) Girls Like You
Probably because of the massive success of his interview with The Clink James Blake has announced his first live performance in Ireland! The show is on 29th March in Whelan’s and tickets (€15) go on sale this Saturday.