• Stream: Lantern For A Gale – Captain

    Taken from their forthcoming debut album, From Adversity, Belfast-based hardcore five-piece Lantern For A Gale are streaming the blistering ‘Captain’. Stream the track below and make sure to catch them at Atlantic Lounge, Portrush on December 23 with 7.5 Tonnes of Beard and PigsAsPeople. Photo by Tom McGeehan.

  • The Thin Air Top 100 Irish Tracks of 2014 (100-75)

    Twelve months, a billion tracks (probably) and a ridiculously impressive crop of new, emerging musical talent the island of Ireland over: yes, 2014 was been very generous indeed on the ol’ new music front. In a year when (the altogether sonically disparate) Girl Band and SOAK signed with Rough Trade, Adebisi Shank broke hearts in parting ways and Hozier “did a Kodaline” by going positively stratospheric – more on that later – innumerable lesser-known acts have also been slogging away in the garage, creating some of the very best sounds here or anywhere else on the face on the planet. In the first of a two-part feature,…

  • Watch: I Heart The Monster Hero – Bozo vs Slug

    Directed by Sean Zissou, Dublin lo-fi indie-pop band I Heart The Monster Hero have unveiled the video to their new single, ‘Bozo vs Slug’. It features lots of swirling camera angles and dogs – we couldn’t remotely disapprove. Watch the video for the track below, buy IHTMH’s debut album, Rhythm & Pals, via Bandcamp here and make pop into Dublin’s new-fangled Little Gem records to pick up a physical copy of ‘Bozo vs Slug’ (artwork above) from tomorrow, Monday, December 15. I Heart The Monster Hero play upstairs in Whelan’s on Friday, December 19.

  • Watch: Not Squares – Oops Said Hi

    Featuring a sweetly simple and – for fans of their earlier material – compositionally familiar video by their drummer/vocalist Keith Winter, Belfast electro-pop dons Not Squares have resurfaced with a new track, ‘Oops Said Hi’. Taken from their forthcoming second, Strange Brew-released Bolts, it is the sound of a band simultaneously staying true to their (instantly recognisable, Vocoder and beat-driven) sound whilst breaking some new territory. Not Squares will play an all-ages show at Belfast’s Oh Yeah Centre on December 18 and the next installment of Seven Quarters at Dublin’s Whelans on December 19. Watch the video for ‘Oops Said Hi’…

  • Stream: OAKS – SG REX

    Having unveiled his debut release – the eight-track Safe Haven – back in June, Belfast-based musicians James Bruce AKA OAKS has returned with ‘SG REX’. Clocking in over nine minutes, the track traverses all kinds of sonic territory, driven forward with a thoughtful restlessness, finally culminating in a wonderful, twisted throb. Stream the track via Bandcamp below. SG REX by Oaks

  • Ed Zealous Announce Split, Final Show

    Having released their long-awaited (not to mention, altogether stellar) debut album, Wired, back in February, Belfast-based electro-rock band Ed Zealous have announced they’re to split. With a final farewell gig – hosted by yours truly – set for Belfast’s Voodoo on February 7, the band said in a statement: “To our Fans, Friends & Family as Ed Zealous, we have made the incredibly difficult decision to call it a day as a band. What an unbelievable adventure it has been. What started life as a little drunken banter has taken us to playing the Odyssey with Snow Patrol, to Glastonbury,…

  • Stream: R.S.A.G: Don’t Move So Fast

    Jeremy Hickey AKA R.S.A.G. has returned with yet another wonderfully propulsive solo effort, ‘Don’t Move So Fast’. Driven by an urgent House beat and featuring Hickey’s ever Alan Vega-esque vocals, the track was produced by Hickey, Darkin and The Kilo 1977. R.S.A.G. plays Waterford’s Central Hall on Friday, December 5 and Dublin’s Grand Social with Plutonic Dust, Dear Desert and White Collar Boy on Friday, December 12. Stream ‘Don’t Move So Fast’ via Soundcloud below.

  • Watch: Christmas Hearts – Christmas Is In Your Heart

    Let’s be honest: the vast majority of Christmas charity singles – no matter how worthy the charity – suck. Either overly earnest or compositionally benign (and often both), they leave the tendency to leave the listener feeling a little crippled inside, stripped of any latent festive cheer. Fortunately, there are exceptions – exceptions like ‘Christmas In Your Heart’ by the utterly-enviably talented troupe of tale-telling troubadours that is Christmas Hearts. Comprised of Niall Jackson from Bouts, Conor O’Brien of Villagers, MayKay of Fight Like Apes and many more, the guys have concocted a real gem with the single, imagined and released with the aim to…

  • Premiere: Boss Sound Manifesto – Full Moon Crazy Dog

    Self-proclaimed “four old punks and a soul boy from Belfast”, Boss Sound Manifesto will launch their debut vinyl and digital EP, In It For The Good Times, at Belfast’s Voodoo on December 20. Ahead of that, we’re pleased to premiere the wonderfully tripped out video to the release’s lead single, ‘Full Moon Crazy Dog’. Created by Belfast-based visual maestros DSNT, the promo – very much in accordance with the music – distils the band’s brilliantly left-of-centre, decidedly no-fucks-given approach. “In it for the good times” indeed. Watch the video below and go the Facebook event page for the EP launch here.