Zara Hedderman
@zarahedderman
Listens to albums & writes (mostly) & talks (sometimes) about them in The Quietus, Aquarium Drunkard, Northern Transmissions, RTÉ Arena, The IMRO Podcast. 📩: heddermanzara@gmail.com Newsletter: The Bad Arts
Latest The Bad Arts: Any Gigs? dispatch has landed in inboxes. If you don’t want to miss out on important dates for your calendar, subscribe! zarahedderman.substack.com/p/the-bad-ar...
Latest edition of Any Gigs? has been sent out! If you’re looking for some hidden gems to catch over the next two weeks, subscribe to The Bad Arts! Any Gigs?: zarahedderman.substack.com/p/the-bad-ar...
✨ Started a new fortnightly gig guide over on The Bad Arts ✨ Featuring gigs I’d actually go to & artists in keeping with the features I do over on my newsletter, subscribe to stay in the know of what to add to your cultural calendar! Read & Subscribe: zarahedderman.substack.com/p/the-bad-ar...
Getting my ducks in a row for the coming weeks/months with work. I’m available for album/artist bios, copywriting & more. Please get in touch: heddermanzara@gmail.com
Will be on RTÉ Radio One’s Arena this evening talking about Bad Bunny’s half-time Super Bowl show! Tune in from 7pm 📻
RIP Bob Weir. Shredder of guitars, voice of an angel & wearer of denim hot pants.
Sent out my last newsletter of 2025 🎉 A look back on 22 of my favourite albums from the year with plenty of honourable mentions. Thanks to everyone who has subscribed, read & been nice about The Bad Arts. Looking forward to many more posts in 2026. zarahedderman.substack.com/p/the-bad-ar...
Talking about Brian Eno’s Discreet Music, a benchmark in ambient music, which turned the ripe age of 50 this month on RTÉ’s Arena. Say a prayer that I get the method of recording explained correctly 😅 Tune in from 7pm 📻
I've also been able to chat with newer Irish acts and hopefully make people curious to check them out! S/o to Cable Boy & Dose.
It's given me a chance to share films, books, gigs, albums & other bits in my monthly round-ups. Hearing that people have checked out some of those recommendations (and enjoyed them!) has been especially nice.
It's been fun doing features that take different approaches to discover more about the processes, inspirations & stories behind recent releases from Junk Drawer, M(h)aol, Poor Creature & the recent Litany of Failures compilation.
I've had the chance to speak with so many incredible artists I've admired & been curious to hear them expand on their work. So far, I've had the pleasure of interviewing Gwenno, Maria Somerville, Search Results, Paddy Hanna, Naima Bock, Juan Wauters, Clara Mann & more.
So unbelievably buzzed to be this month’s film selector for the @irishfilminstitute.bsky.social Bigger Picture. I obviously picked the greatest film of all time, Five Easy Pieces. Come along & watch it on Thursday, October 30th 🎹 ifi.ie/film/the-big...
An absolutely mind blowing performance from Hayden Pedigo in Dublin last night. Could have listened to him play for hours! A true guitar hero.
I spoke to Gwenno, an artist whose music I adore, about her extraordinary new album, Utopia (an easy contender for AOTY). I loved this chat & could have heard all about her approach to this LP & working w/ the Lord of the Dance show in Las Vegas all day. zarahedderman.substack.com/p/the-bad-ar...
Was an absolute buzz to speak with the legendary Meg Remy about the excellent new U.S. Girls’ LP Scratch It. She told me all about her experience making the album in Nashville, embracing mistakes & so much more including her go-to meals. northerntransmissions.com/all-american...
Had a lot of fun speaking with Search Results for this week’s newsletter post. Particularly enjoyed hearing about croquette gate when they played in Amsterdam and, of course, talking to them about their deadly new album Go Mutant (out May 23rd). Read: zarahedderman.substack.com/p/the-bad-ar...
A shorter than usual monthly round-up over on my Substack - link in bio, plz subscribe. As the preview says, I spent a lot of the month watching Married At First Sight Australia (season 12) and snooker and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Read: zarahedderman.substack.com/p/the-bad-arts…
This week’s newsletter features an interview with one of my favourite Irish artists Maria Somerville. I adore her debut LP so it was amazing to chat with her about her excellent second album Luster. Read & Subscribe: zarahedderman.substack.com/p/the-bad-ar...
Spoke to Lewis Evans & Charlie Wayne of BC,NR about Forever Howlong, the brilliant third studio album from the band for @northern-trans.bsky.social. We chatted about working w/ James Ford, learning the recorder & artists who’ve influenced their playing. northerntransmissions.com/black-countr...
It was an absolute dream to speak with the legendary Dan Bejar for @northern-trans.bsky.social about the exquisite new Destroyer LP, Dan’s Boogie. Thanks to Dan for being so open & fun to speak w/ about this record, his songwriting, piano trios & more. northerntransmissions.com/we-are-now-ent…
In the latest episode of The IMRO Podcast, you can listen to the panel I moderated featuring Elaine Mai, Adam Shanahan & Daniel Fox. I loved hearing them talk about getting into production, their processes, collaborating, AI & more. Listen: pca.st/episode/f265a1…
New newsletter sent out featuring some things that brightened up my month 🌸 Read the post & subscribe to The Bad Arts: zarahedderman.substack.com/p/the-bad-ar...