Author Archives: Nick Kelly

A Band Called Paul – In It For Money

Money changes everything.

A Band Called Paul is orchestral percussionist and soundtrack composer Paul McDonnell (top).

Here, the Dublin-based musician brews up a danceable concoction of Latin sounds while riffing on the hard realities of being an artist who needs to put food on the table.

Check out last year’s album Primero.

Nick says: Thrills, bills and bellyaches.

A Band Called Paul

Pinhole – Better Than One

How do you like your avant garde alt.pop?

Pinhole are one of those bands who defy easy categorisation. Strident and intense with a socially aware message, the band’s new single Better Than One concerns the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar in Galway.

Singer Ciara O’Flynn reflects:

“At the time, I was hit again and again by how our publicly elected representatives seemed to have no spines. In frustration, I was lamenting the lack of strong leaders guided by their own moral compasses.”

Pinhole’s debut album Come Curious is out on March 20.

Nick says: One love.

Pinhole



Was it for this?

Sam at Come Here To Me writes:

A History of Royal British Legion social clubs in Dublin & Wicklow is here. Structures in Killester, Inchicore & Enniskerry still stand….

…Has anyone more information about Legion Halls (long gone) in Balbriggan, Shankill, Harold’s Cross & possibly Swords and Donatabe?

Anyone?

Royal British Legion Halls (Come Here To Me)

Padraig Jack – Streetbed Ridden

Is it too real for ya?

Hailing from the Aran Islands, singer/songwriter Padraig Jack (top) has penned a heartfelt slice-of-life about the scourge of homelessness in Ireland.

Padraig says:

“While imagining the mental anguish that must be felt by someone living on the street, this song also ponders how easy it can be to fall through the cracks from a comfortable middle-class life into homelessness.

The section at the end of the song asks that we interrupt our non-stop lives and remember the inherent kindness in our being and re-think our willingness to support those at the bottom of the ladder.”

Hear, hear.

The song can be found on Padraig’s forthcoming album Making Sand, due April 24.

Padraig plays The Cobblestone, Smithfield, Dublin 7, on May 14.

Nick says: Home truths.

Padraig Jack

Lisa Lambe – Hunter’s Moon

There is a light.

The second single from Lisa Lambe’s new album Juniper is a slow-burning, dreamy love song that calls to mind Stevie Nicks at her smoky best.

The video was shot in moody monochrome by Dora Kazmierak.

Lisa supports Horslips on Paddy’s Day in The Olympia, Dame Street, Dublin 2 and launches the album in The Sugar Club, Leeson Street,Dublin 2, on April 3.

Nick says: Good moon rising.

Lisa Lambe

Via The Burkean (funded and run by conservative-leaning undergraduates):

In December of last year a Twitter account was set-up titled “Irish Students Against Fascism”.

it described itself as an aspiring antifascist organising hub to physically, socially and professionally harass individuals engaged with conservative or nationalist politics on campuses.

….What has been unknown until today was that, from the very onset, the page was operated by students involved with The Burkean.

The account was set up with the intent of performing long term investigative work into antifascism in Ireland, as well as its insidious and often blatant links with civic society, journalism and politics.

…Over the coming weeks, The Burkean will be publishing a series of exclusive messages, audio and video recordings that give a hint of the sheer scale of this corruption.

These materials will show how students and organizations deemed to be politically dissentious had their data gathered and distributed amongst a host of campus activists, violent and non-violent, all with the support student government.

This project will demonstrate how major student institutions treat those they perceive as politically dissident, as well as the degree to which they abuse their positions of power.

Organisations such as Young Fine Gael were specifically targeted, with senior members of student organisations expressing a desire to help for private meetings to be infiltrated and members doxxed.

From members of the Oireachtas to street activists, to an assortment of foreign financed NGOs and political activists ranging from Ógra Fianna Fáil to People Before Profit, the scale of the blatant corruption is remarkable.

A spotlight shall be shown not merely on a rotten system of partisan corruption, but also on how power relations operate in Ireland against those deemed a threat to established power…

Gulp

Introducing: The Irish Antifa Project (The Burkean)

Update:

Irish Antifa Project: USI Deputy President Michelle Byrne (The Burkean)

Isaac Butler – Young Forever

O to be in Dublin in the springtime.

Isaac Butler’s new video sees him hang out with an OAP in a tattoo parlour among other hi-jinks.

Directed by Peter Barnes, it’s a life-affirming and timely shot of positivity.

Isaac (top) says:

“Mike Timms is a phenomenal actor who shared some awesome stories about his college days at Trinity and his years of lecturing at UCD….. some I can’t repeat!

He has given me a totally new outlook on living life with passion and growing old with grace. I used to be a bit scared of getting older but now in a way, I’m almost looking forward to it.

Mike had never been in a tattoo parlour, his reaction was hilarious!! Mike is the perfect embodiment of what it means to live for now and be ‘Young Forever’”.

Nick says: What the Butler saw .

Isaac Butler