The Point of Everything

Dublin-based traditional Irish duo Varo (Lucie Azconaga and Consuelo Nerea Breschi) released their second album The World That I Knew on May 9. A collaborative album produced by John 'Spud' Murphy (Lankum), it features some of the most acclaimed names in the Irish folk music world in 2025: Ruth Clinton (Landless, Poor Creature), Cormac Mac Diarmada (Lankum, Poor Creature), Alannah Thornburgh, Inni...

Dublin rapper Curtisy released his debut album What Was The Question on May 3, 2024, and releases his new project, a mixtape made with producer Hikii called Beauty in the Beast, on May 30, 2025. We talk about both releases - marking a year of the debut album - and everything in between as Curtisy won a whole host of new fans with his searing and honest lyrics and was nominated for the Choice Prize...

Dublin-based artist Danny Groenland (fka Danny G and the Major 7ths) released his third studio album Burning Rome on April 25. He says: "The issues I focus on with this album - climate disaster, war, genocide, division, homelessness, inequality, mental health, police brutality, institutional racism - all stem from the same root cause. Our economic system is destroying our planet. We need a complet...

Paddy Hanna released his fifth album Oylegate on April 11 via Strange Brew Records and returns to the podcast for the first time since TPOE 90 in 2018. That was around his second album Frankly, I Mutate. In between, there have been two albums, The Hill in 2020 and Imagine I'm Hoping in 2022, which Paddy himself says flopped. While he's got married and become a dad of two since we last chatted, art...

French-American musician and composer Zoé Basha released her debut album Gamble on April 17. Blending storytelling traditions, Appalachian mountain songs, Irish traditional music, and American blues and ragtime, the album is a woozy melange. We talk about her life journey, travelling around the US, joining the Occupy San Francisco protests, moving to Dingle, Dublin, France to learn traditional Fre...

Daniel McIntyre aka Lullahush released his second album Ithaca on April 11 via Future Classic. Having collaborated with the likes of AE Mak in the past and attended the Red Bull Music Academy, Lullahush released his debut album A City Made of Water and Small Love in 2022, an ode to his home town Dublin. He's developed a complicated relationship with it, which he explores on Ithaca, having moved to...

Alan Duggan Borges, the guitarist in Gilla Band, released his debut self-titled EP as The Null Club on April 4. Comrprising three tracks, 'Frameshift' features the rapper ELUCID (one half of Armand Hammer), '14 Hours' features Faris Badwan (The Horrors), and 'Slip Angles' has vocals by Valentine Caulfield (Mandy, Indiana). We talk about how the Null Club began and what it was like making the track...

Matthew Xavier Corrigan, an artist who splits time between Cork and Dublin, released his debut solo album Beast of Changing on March 21. Written in reflection of a tempestuous season of change across Irish coastlines, centred on Ballinskelligs in Co. Kerry, Myrtleville in Co. Cork and Clare Island in Co. Mayo, Beast of Changing follows a story of growth, of love lost and found, of crossing the thr...

Declan McClafferty aka Ramper released his debut solo album Loner on March 7. Formerly a member of the award-winning Donegal band In Their Thousands, along with his brother, Declan is a session musician who plays as part of Ryan McMullan’s band. He says of Loner: "It’s about lots of things. About my childhood growing up and feeling the wheel go around when I had children of my own and I was on the...

Maria Kelly released her second album Waiting Room on February 28. The followup to 2021's The Sum of the In-Between, the title is a very real place as Maria found herself stuck in sterile clinics hoping for answers to inscrutable chronic pain, and a dream-like, surreal space representing her own inner world. “This album is an exploration of the roadblocks, both internally and externally, that keep...

Julie Feeney won the inaugural Choice Music for her debut album 13 Songs in 2005. Ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Choice on March 6, Julie talks about what it was like to win the award and the impact it had on her career. We also talk about how she made 13 Songs; playing all of the instruments, including a clock, across the record; self-financing the LP; why albums still matter; and lots more...

The Choice Music Prize for Irish album of the year 2024 will be announced at Vicar Street on Thursday, March 6, 2025. Ahead of the show, John Barker from new Irish music show Tilt (Dublin City FM) joins to run through the 10 nominated acts and help predict a winner. The 10 nominees: A Lazarus Soul - No Flowers Grow In Cement Gardens Curtisy - What Was The Question Fontaines D.C. - Romance Orla Gar...

Mayo harpist Alannah Thornburgh talks about her debut album Shapeshifter, released February 12. She is inspired by the traditions of fairy folklore and mythology from rural Ireland. The project began when Alannah was commissioned to compose a piece for the Linenhall Arts Centre’s New Music in Mayo series, curated by traditional musician Emer Mayock. With the support of the Arts Council's Next Gene...

Mark Chester aka Ginnels released their first album in a decade, The Picturesque, on February 7. He talks about what he's been up to (becoming a dad of two, mostly), playing with Autre Monde and why they've come to an end, songwriting, nostalgia, Popical Island, and lots more. Buy The Picturesque: https://ginnels.bandcamp.com/album/the-picturesque --- Press release: Ginnels never let up. Though it...

London-based industrial noise pop trio Tayne (Matt Sutton, Tom Hancock, Paul Traveller) released their debut album LOVE on January 31. Frontman Matt talks about moving to London, how the band started, the influence of his dad on the lyrics, Matt's tattooing career, and art. Buy LOVE: https://tayneband.bandcamp.com/album/love

London-born, Donegal-based singer-songwriter Anna B Savage released her third album You & I Are Earth via City Slang on January 24. Calling it a love letter to a man and to Ireland, the record features Irish musicians Anna Mieke, Kate Ellis and Caimin Gilmore (Crash Ensemble), Cormac Mac Diarmada (Lankum), and Lankum producer John 'Spud' Murphy'. On the episode, Anna B Savage talks about books and...

Aaron Corcoran aka Skinner released his debut album New Wave Vaudeville on January 7. He talks about playing open mic nights when he was in his mid-teens, his DIY ethos, his creative process and influences, and discusses making some of the tracks on the album. Buy New Wave Vaudeville: https://skinner97.bandcamp.com/album/new-wave-vaudeville ---- Press release: Skinner is the project of the Dublin-...

It's the end of the year - we made it! And that means it's time to look over our favourite music moments of 2024. Nicole Glennon, assistant editor of the Irish Examiner Weekend magazine, and Cíara Byrne, a music writer with bylines in the Examiner, Golden Plec and the Thin Air, join to talk through our favourite live shows, best albums, best tracks - and some disappointments as well. 2.55: Best li...

Peter Lawlor aka Polytunnel, a producer and DJ, releases his debut album The Word for World is Forest via Alien Communications on December 13. He says: "The Word for World is Forest is an album influenced by the city of Glasgow, showcasing Polytunnel’s love of classic detroit-inspired electro along with nods to the techno and house that has influenced his work over previous records. Recorded in Gl...

SIlverbacks (Daniel O'Kelly, Kilian O'Kelly, Peader Kearney, Emma Hanlon, Gary Wickham, Paul Leamy) released their third album Easy Being a Winner on October 18 via Central Tones Records. Scattered around Dublin, Drogheda, Kildare and Paris, Silverbacks have really found their groove on this album. It sounds like an effortless progression. I talked to Dan about making the album, life in Paris, cyc...

His Father's Voice (Ash O'Connor, James Reidy, Laya Meabhdh Kenny and Cian McGuirk) released their debut album Black Poison Morning on September 6. Frontwoman Ash talks about how the band have developed over the years, making the record with Micheál Keating (Bleeding Heart Pigeon), the Limerick scene and Féile na Gréine, and lots more. Buy Black Poison Morning: https://hisfathersvoice.bandcamp.com...

Dublin singer-songwriter Daniel Anderson aka Anderson released his second album Some Rain Must Fall on November 1. It's nine years since he released debut album Patterns (2015), after going solo following his band The Rags. Named after Karl Ove Knausgaard's book Some Rain Must Fall, Anderson says of the record: “This album was a long time in the making, perhaps these songs offer clues as to why. I...

Cork artist Yenkee aka Graham Cooney released his long-awaited debut album Night Golf via Soft Boy Records on October 25. He talks about making the album, being inspired by labelmates Kojaque and Kean Kavanagh, life in London, the dream of owning a house, the housing crisis, songwriting, and lots more on this episode of TPOE. Yenkee tour dates: December 1: Upstairs at Whelan's, Dublin December 10:...

HousePlants are Paul Noonan and Daithi. They released their second album Half Known Things on October 18 and talk about its creation on this episode of the TPOE podcast. Buy Half Known Things: https://wearehouseplants.bandcamp.com/album/half-known-thingsh HousePlants tour dates: December 27: Roisin Dubh, Galway December 28: Cyprus Avenue, Cork January 11: Dolan's Warehouse, Limerick January 30, 31...

Cork singer-songwriter Stephanie Rainey has had an interesting year, appearing on America's Got Talent over the summer. She talks about that experience, why she felt like she wanted and needed to do it to shake things up, and her new EP The Highs and Lows of It All, due out next month. Stephanie Rainey tour dates: November 14: Button Factory, Dublin December 18: Cork City Hall --- Press release: I...