The Grand Social

Friday 17th August - Space Talk

SPACE TALK is every Friday night downstairs at the Grand Social, FOR FREE, FOREVER. Every weekend, Space Talk resident DJ Dilly will be taking a journey through DISCO, FUNK, SOUL, AFROBEAT, HIP-HOP, R&B and NOVELTY SUNGLASSES. Expect plenty of SPECIAL GUEST DJs and ONE OFF TAKEOVER EVENTS and FLIPPIN MASSIVE DISCO-BALLS. Flip! Oh my goodness! It’s your Friday night, every night for the rest of your life, forever!
Venue: The Ballroom Doors: 10pm - 3am Admission: FREE

Saturday 18th August - Eleanor Friedberger

Showcasing her new critically acclaimed album ‘Rebound’, American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Eleanor Friedberger travels to Dublin for an intimate solo show in The Grand Social. Friedberger – who is also one half of the indie rock duo The Fiery Furnaces – has broadened her musical palette on her brilliant new record and this show is a must see for fans of intelligent, alt pop music.

On Rebound, Eleanor Friedberger has created a subtle world that is a little fizzier, a little synthier – more cinematic, more meditative – than her previous three albums. In the wake of 2016’s jarring political shift, Friedberger felt a need to be even more self-reliant, right down to the album artwork, in which she painted a backdrop and styled herself as an attempt to look like an amped up Lizzy Mercier Descloux.

In contrast to the sonic serenity of 2016’s New View, which she arranged and recorded with her touring band, Rebound was recorded mostly on her own and with the producer Clemens Knieper. Programmed drums, a Juno synthesizer, and muted rhythm guitars dominate the landscape where influences range from Stereolab and Suicide to Lena Platonos and Yellow Magic Orchestra.

Venue: The Loft Doors: 8pm - 11pm Admission: €15 Buy Tickets Now!

Sunday 19th August - Full Of Hell

Full of Hell - “In certain circles, Full of Hell needs no introduction. This young band has made a name for themselves in a short amount of time, racking up a prolific touring and release history while exploring a gamut of sounds within the spectrum of extreme and avante garde music. Formed in 2009, the embryonic beginnings of Full of Hell display their palette at it’s most primitive, d-beat and blast ridden hardcore punk with spats of noise and caustic rhythm, and within a few short years, they have bloomed into a true force to be reckoned with within the punk and metal communities. Within the past two years the band has released their now acclaimed 2xCD collaboration with none other than MERZBOW himself, which showed the band truly beginning to come into their own, combining elements of grindcore, death and black metal, punk and hardcore with a smattering of sonically laden power electronics and industrial pounding. 2016 saw the release of their collaboration with the thundering and depressive duo, THE BODY, entitled “One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache”.. This acclaimed release was followed by a collaborative live tour, where the band bent expectations again in a whirlwind of electronic percussion and drone. 2017 will see the release of an as-of-yet untitled third full-length LP. Numb your mind.”
Venue: The Loft Doors: 7pm - 10.30pm Admission: €16

Wednesday 22nd August - Traditional Arts Collective Presents: Céilí

Ceili - Learn Irish Dancing! Let the MC take you by the hand and lead you through some lively Irish Ceili dances. With live music and sean-nos dancing displays from Traditional Arts Collective. No experience is necessary so come along, let your hair down and dance the night away! Traditional Arts Collective is made up of some of Ireland’s most talented traditional musicians and dancers. T.A.C have performed at concerts, weddings and festivals in Ireland and abroad including Body and Soul and the International World Music festival Suklegos in Lithuania. Individuals: €8. Groups: €7 per person
Venue: The Loft Doors: 8pm - 11pm Admission: €8

Wednesday 22nd August - JFDR

Homebeat & Islander join together once more to bring Icelandic songwriter JFDR back to Dublin. Having played at Another Love Story last August, as well as numerous other headline shows, Jófríður Ákadóttir (Samaris, Pascal Pinon, Gangly) is no stranger to Ireland. JFDR is a blend of cyclical guitar parts, soft minimal soundscapes, and poetic wonderings of a journey that ends where it began. Drawing from classical, folk, and electronic backgrounds, JFDR amalgamates the sounds of changing seasons, her voice a current that moves from rough seas to smooth waters. But perhaps JFDR shines the most in her capacity as a wordsmith, employing rich imagery to evoke the subtle emotions embedded in each song. Her first full length album, co-produced with legendary multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily, was released March 17th 2017.
Venue: The Loft Doors: 8pm - 11pm Admission: €12 Buy Tickets Now!

Friday 24th August - Elephant Album Launch

Pizza Pizza Records Presents: Elephant 88 Album Launch w/ guests Montauk Hotel. Elephant, the musical vehicle of Dundalk based multi-instrumentalist Shane Clarke has taken a turn to a darker alternative-pop sound with his new album, titled ‘88’. Coupled by his love of the 80’s new romantics and an aversion to complacency, Shane and producer Joseph Edwards have produced a genre spanning, hour long concept album about a man who travels back in time to all the most important conversations of his past. And, as the fly on the wall, asks the question…what if I had done things differently? Elephant and his band will be hitting the road late summer to showcase the new album with a greater focus than ever on musicality, playing alternate versions of early Elephant songs to keep the set fresh and vital. The album, a 180gram double disc gatefold sleeve record, will be available for sale at each show thanks to the amazing fans that crowd-funded the records pressing. Without their support, the album would remain stuck in the clouds with all the selfies and kitten videos.
Venue: The Loft Doors: 8.30pm - 11pm Admission: €10

Friday 24th August - Space Talk

Saturday 25th August - The Prodigy Appreciation Night Vol. 2

This is Vol. 2 - DoubleScreen and FlutterTone have joined forces to bring you another great night of music. A night filled with a 2 Hour set of The Prodigy’s best hits from ‘Experience’ all the way to ‘The Day Is My Enemy’ and everything in between. You can expect to hear some Big Beat, Breakbeat, DNB, and Techno! On the night you can expect: -Live Visuals | -2 Hour set of The Prodigy’s Finest Tracks | -Light Show | -Drink Deals. Tickets: Tickets are on sale for €8 and can be bought by clicking the link. (Admission without a ticket will cost €10).
Venue: The Loft Doors: 11.30pm - 2.30am Admission: €8

Sunday 26th August - Buck Meek

Buck Meek’s songs are for the lost dogs of honest mechanics, good guys and girls born into a life of crime, runaways, snow spirits, the ghosts of Central Park, unsung diving-board stars, the affection shared through gambling, and so on. Bred in Texas, more bread in New York City, Meek spins outlaw ballads and quotidian fairy tales into a yarn, with Adam Brisbin on guitar (Jolie Holland, Sam Evian, Katie Von Schleicher), Mat Davidson on bass (Twain, The Low Anthem, Spirit Family Reunion), and Austin Vaughn on drums (Here We Go Magic, Luke Temple, Sam Evian).

Meek’s self-titled debut album was recorded with ace engineers Phil Weinrobe (Really Big Pinecone, Ceramic Dog, Nick Murphy) and Andrew Sarlo (Big Thief, Nick Hakim). The process took place between Rivington 66, an orange den beneath the Lower East Side in Manhattan and the cork womb of Figure 8 Recording in Brooklyn, as well as the wainscoted, old-growth oak-joisted parlor of the Lethe Lounge in upper Manhattan. In addition to the core band, album personnel includes Mikey Buishas (Really Big Pinecone) on pump organ, Dave Harrington (Dark Side, Nicolas Jaar) on pedal steel, Adrianne Lenker (Big Thief) on vocals, Buck’s brother Dylan Meek (Miguel, Grant AME Gospel Choir, Post Malone) on Wurlitzer, and Michael Sachs (Little King, Secret Sibling) on clarinet.

Looking to the past, following his fledgling years as a boy playing gut-bucket blues, manouche jazz, and western swing in bars and dance halls across Texas, he moved to NYC and released two solo EPs, Live from a Volcano (2013), and Heart Was Beat (2015). Shortly after moving to NYC, he met songwriter Adrianne Lenker, and after a year of fervent collaboration, they recorded two EPs, A-sides and B-sides (2014). The duo went on to circle the USA several times over in the orange velvet Van Bon Jovi, playing Appalachian school houses, Alabaman birthday BBQs, Arkansanian book fairs, Texan Star Parties, Massachusettsan cattle farms, Minnesotan fireworks displays, and so forth. From there they expanded into a four-piece outfit, Big Thief, and have since released two records, Masterpiece (2016) and Capacity (2017).

In the words of Mat Davidson (Twain):
“I’m going to tell you about Buck Meek the only way I know how. No bully here. I don’t take kindly to intruders, and in a such a devilish world as this, so full of trickery and illusion, you can bet your cannabis I take my sweet time to vet each and every guttersnipe that happens across my field of consciousness.

But it’s not every day that you find a 16th-generation Texan leaning on your banister and offering you a short-rib in the comfort of your very own home. How did he get there? I was alarmed. Yet, there was something unusual in his eyes… something you’re about as likely to stumble upon as you are a sleeping weasel. It was Trust. So, naturally, I invited myself into his traveling band and we hit the road.

I never had much use for friendship, but meeting a soul such as Mr. Meek gave me pause; he changed this old Buckskin – and I wager he’ll change you too.”

Buck Meek is a kaleidoscope of human relationships — of widows, daughters, flight attendants, best friends, bar flies, neighborhood heroes, and troublemakers — it illuminates mysticism in the temporal, humor unearthed in tragedy, the strength of vulnerability, and the words unspoken that elucidate love.

Venue: The Loft Doors: 8pm - 11pm Admission: €12 Buy Tickets Now!

Wednesday 5th September - Peking Duck

Who Are Peking Duck? The Canberra-bred duo of Adam Hyde and Reuben Styles soared into the Australian music scene in 2014 - Their massive four times Platinum single “High” (feat. Nicole Millar) was the #1 most played single on Triple J radio in 2014 and was #2 on Triple J’s Hottest 100 poll, the world’s biggest music poll with over 2.2 million votes. High also won an ARIA award for 2014’s best dance release.

• “High” peaked at:
– #1 on Hype Machine
– #1 on Australian Shazam
– Top 5 on ARIA singles & club charts

• Their 2nd single “Take Me Over” went triple platinum in
Australia and reached #5 on Triple J’s Hottest 100 plus
#6 on the ARIA chart. Nominated for Best Dance Release
& Song of the Year at the ARIAs. Take Me Over
was also named the most played track in Australia of
2015 and named Best Dance Release at the 2016 APRA

Awards.

• Their last single “Stranger feat. Elliphant” has
already had over 20 million plays on Spotify, Hit #3 overall
on iTunes, and was the #1 Australian Artist Single for
10 weeks running. The song is on high rotation on every
major commercial Australian radio station and has been
one of the most played tracks on Triple J. Stranger has
just received 3 x Platinum accreditation and placed #9 in

the Triple J Hottest 100.

• Released follow up singles to ‘Stranger’ in 2017. These
singles were ‘Fake Magic w/ AlunaGeorge’ which went
platinum in Australia and has amassed over 15 million
streams on Spotify and their latest Gold certified single

‘Let You Down’ feat. Icona Pop

Venue: The Loft Doors: 8pm - 10pm Admission: €17.35

Thursday 6th September - Screaming Females

New Jersey DIY-punk luminaries Screaming Females announced their seventh studio album All At Once early this year. Celebrating their new release with a headline show at The Grand Social, 6th September 2018. Tickets will go on sale this Friday at 10am. The band collaborated with producer Matt Bayles (Pearl Jam, Mastodon), setting out to make an album in the spirit of a salon-style gallery show, where larger pieces provide an eye-level focal point to a galaxy of smaller works. Concision took a back seat to experimentation, with arrangements meant to evoke the energy and spontaneity of their live performances.

Now more than a decade into its existence, Screaming Females can claim something that
few of their peers possess in a comparable capacity: experience. “When you’ve been a
band for 12 or 13 years, the resources can dry up and you just go back to what feels
comfortable,” explains Dougherty.
“The other option is that you develop stuff that a younger band would not have been able
to do.” All At Once is the evidence of that growth — in its sprawl and scope, but also in its
subtleties. “A song like ‘Glass House’ is something we knew we were capable of, but it took a while to fully embrace,” says Paternoster. “It’s very simple — just bass, drums, and two simple riffs. In the past, I might have insisted on adding more. Practicing self-restraint is something I have consciously been trying to do.”

The expectations that surround being in a band have changed a lot since Screaming Females started up in 2005. All At Once is a reminder there a hopeful and joyful energy to underground music-making. Patience, perseverance, and long term dedication still work.

Venue: The Loft Doors: 8pm - 11.30pm Admission: €15 Buy Tickets Now!

Friday 7th September - Soccer Mommy (Sold Out)

Soccer Mommy is the project of twenty-year-old Sophie Allison, a Nashville native. She cut her teeth in her local DIY scene, going to shows and hanging out with other musicians, though she kept her own song-writing secret. “I’ve played music since I was six,” says Allison, “and I always wrote songs just for myself. I did it for fun, posting songs on Tumblr, Bandcamp, and Soundcloud. I didn’t think anyone would notice.”

All that changed the summer before Allison left for college. She bought a Tascam digital recorder and began to experiment with production, pushing the quality and craft of her songs to new heights. A buzz began to grow around her Bandcamp recordings, leading to live shows and eventually a record deal, with 2017’s critically acclaimed bedroom-recorded compilation Collection. “I realized that I could do this full-time,” says Allison. “It was either quit school now and do it, or stop growing as an artist. It was now or never.”

So Allison took the plunge. She quit school, moved back home to Nashville, shifting all her focus to music. She toured with Mitski, Jay Som, Slowdive, and others, and was featured in the New York Times article “Rock’s Not Dead, It’s Ruled By Women.” The bedroom project of Sophie Allison is now a full-time band with a new studio-album debut, Clean. Produced by Gabe Wax (War On Drugs, Deerhunter, Beirut) and mixed by Ali Chant (Perfume Genius, PJ Harvey), Clean is Allison’s journey out of the bedroom and into the studio.

“I wanted it to be a lot more cohesive than the rest of the stuff that came before,” says Allison, on her decision to record in a studio. “I’d never made a full album before, just EPs and random tracks thrown together. I wanted to make something that was a full piece of my life, that addressed similar themes and held together as a whole.”

The higher production values play to Allison’s strengths, highlighting the maturity and growth of her song-writing. The music gains clarity and power, losing none of the trademark intimacy of her Bandcamp work, something Allison credits to days spent recording in Wax’s home studio. “It still felt do-it-yourself,” she says. “It didn’t feel like making a pop album. It was like being in a nicer bedroom, with better quality stuff. It was a natural progression. I’d always wanted my music to sound this way, I just didn’t have the means before.”

Clean presents Sophie Allison as a singular artist, wise beyond her years, with an emotional authenticity all her own. “It feels like my first real record,” says Allison. “It’s my first real statement.” It’s an emotional album, heavy on themes of growth, isolation, and change, but balanced by a lightness of touch, and with hooks to spare. Clean is a true step forward, a mature, powerful album from an artist just coming into her power.
“The singer-songwriter Soccer Mommy (aka Sophie Allison) details the never-ending growing pains of young adulthood with uncanny precision.” – Pitchfork

Venue: The Loft Doors: 8pm - 10pm Admission: SOLD OUT

Friday 7th September - Space Talk

Saturday 8th September - Tupelo

Tupelo are an award-winning alt-folk act hailing from Ireland. Featuring members from different musical backgrounds and an all acoustic line-up, the band got together in 2008 and set about creating a sound which can only be described as unique, a result of the melting pot of influences brought to the table from the individual members. Over the years, Tupelo have collected an eclectic array of instruments including double bass, acoustic guitar, fiddle, mandolin, harmonic, dobro and several banjos which they incorporate into their music. A hardworking band, Tupelo enjoy the road and have played an impressive number of gigs since the band’s formation, appearing at major festivals, playing support to some of music’s biggest acts and attracting plenty of fans along the way, which they thrive off.

In May 2011 Tupelo signed to Crashed Records and released their 14 track debut album ‘Dirty Money’ on September 23rd. An appearance at the All-Ireland Hurling Final at Croke Park in front of 80,000 people was the opportunity of a lifetime for Tupelo. Several tracks from the album such as ‘Don’t Let Go’, ‘Firefly’, and ‘Irishman’ were released as singles and received rave reviews as well as plenty of airplay from Irish and UK radio stations including RTE Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2. The summer of 2012 saw Tupelo embark on their first overseas tour with a string of dates in the UK and Denmark. Great news was to follow for the band in March 2013 when they were announced as the ‘Best Folk Act 2013’ by the music magazine, Hot Press. They also travelled to Russia for the first time in early 2013 as well as embarking on a wider European tour in the summer taking in countries including France, Norway, as well as a return to Denmark , the UK and Russia.

In between the touring, Tupelo managed to escape to a wonderful country manor in the beautiful surroundings of County Wicklow for a couple of weeks where they recorded a batch of new songs with the help of producer Joe Chester. A 4 track EP titled ‘Ballerina’s Call’ was released in September with the full album release titled ‘Push On’ released in February. The new album debuted at no. 7 in the Danish iTunes charts and no. 12 on the the Irish iTunes charts with the first single from the album, ‘Old Country’ receiving nationwide radio airplay including RTE Radio 1. The next single from the album ‘The Shifting Ground’ will feature the great Sharon Shannon and is set to be released on June 20th.

Venue: The Loft Doors: 8pm - 11pm Admission: €12 Buy Tickets Now!