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1 week ago | 
hotpress.com | Caroline Kelly
Cliffords. If you haven’t heard their name – stretched on billboards and blasted on the airwaves – yet, it’s only a matter of time. Last year, the Cork band released their debut EP Strawberry Scented, a self-financed labour of love that earned some glowing critical notices. They've followed it up with an excellent sophomore EP, Salt Of The Lee, which is only a few days old when I meet singer Iona Lynch and keyboardist Locon O’Toole over Zoom.
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1 week ago | 
hotpress.com | Caroline Kelly
Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears dished his admiration for British pop songsmith Self Esteem in the May issue of Hot Press Magazine. Speaking to Flo Laurent, the New York frontman called the singer—aka Rebecca Lucy Taylor—a “fucking clever” artist whose stage production inspired Scissor Sisters’ upcoming UK and Ireland tour. “I saw Self Esteem play on Sunday at this residency that she had in the West End, which was incredible,” Shears noted.
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1 week ago | 
hotpress.com | Caroline Kelly
After a six-year-long battle to secure the rights to her first six albums, Taylor Swift is now officially the sole owner of her masters. The popstar announced via a letter on her website on Friday, 30 May, that she has bought back her music catalogue from Shamrock Capital, with the price of the settlement being kept under wraps. "Hi. I’m trying to gather my thoughts into something coherent, but right now my mind is just a slideshow.
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1 week ago | 
hotpress.com | Caroline Kelly
KNEECAP shared news saying they have been removed from the TRNSMT musical festival in Glasgow due to safety concerns from police. In a statement posted to Instagram, the Belfast rap group announced a new show at O2 Academy in Glasgow, writing: To the thousands of people who bought tickets, flights and hotels to see us play, we are sorry...it is out of our hands. “Glasgow has always been a huge city for us. We’ve played there many many times, with no issues - ever. Make of that what you will.
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1 week ago | 
hotpress.com | Caroline Kelly
When I meet with NewDad’s Julie Dawson over Zoom, the Galway frontwoman is enjoying a well-deserved break from rehearsal. In a few days, they’ll play the Dome in London, their first gig as a trio following bassist Cara Joshi’s departure in March. Since releasing their supernova of a debut with Madra last year, the London-based rockers have been gearing towards a follow-up.
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2 weeks ago | 
hotpress.com | Caroline Kelly
Over the weekend, For Those I Love began teasing a highly-anticipated return to music. The Dubliner dropped hints via his Instagram yesterday with a short video, following a series of Instagram stories showing the artist dropping off promotional coasters around various Dublin pubs and record shops. It would be the first release from For Those I Love since his eponymous debut album, which won a Choice Music Prize for Album of the Year and was nominated for an Ivor Novello.
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3 weeks ago | 
hotpress.com | Caroline Kelly
That M(h)aol have been influenced by punk rock is hardly a secret. But, now down to a core three-piece, these influences come to a head on Something Soft – which is, of course, a gloriously inappropriate title. Atop its pulverising textures and distorted instrumental cries, the album pulls no punches in its talking points, which range from animal welfare and intersectional feminism, to the struggle of finding hope in a world marred by consumerism and dwindling supplies of empathy.
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3 weeks ago | 
hotpress.com | Caroline Kelly
Lauded singer-songwriter Yusuf/Cat Stevens will unveil his fascinating life story in the memoir, Cat on the Road to Findout, which is set to hit shelves on 18 September in the U.K. via Constable and 7 October in North America via Genesis Publications. The memoir begins with his upbringing in the West End of London, where he was born Steven Demetre Georgiou in 1948, and his start as a musician in ‘60s.
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1 month ago | 
hotpress.com | Caroline Kelly
In the midst of the pandemic in 2020, VARO – Lucie Azconaga and Consuelo Nerea Breschi – set out to create a project that would reflect the fraught global situation, using songs that existed long before the album’s inception. A collaborative effort nearly five years in the making, The World That I Knew sees VARO tapping a fleet of Irish trad mainstays, among them Lankum’s Ian Lynch and Cormac Mac Diarmada, Junior Brother, John Francis Flynn, Lemoncello and more.
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1 month ago | 
hotpress.com | Caroline Kelly
André 3000 has released a surprise instrumental project titled 7 Piano Sketches. True to its name, the release features seven piano-focused tracks, each introduced by either André himself, Emmy Paalman, or Fatima Robinson reading the song titles aloud. The EP also includes subtle vocal effects and occasional samples—such as a laugh track on ‘Off Rhythm Laughter’. “The original title for it was The Best Worst Rap Album in History,” André 3000 stated in a press release.
