• Landless – Bleaching Bones

    January 16, 2018 - By 

    Dublin/Belfast-based vocal quartet Landless are set to release their debut album in March 2018 on new Irish label, Humble Serpent Records. Landless was formed in 2013 by Lily Power, Meabh Meir, Ruth Clinton & Sinead Lynch, and subsequently released their Landless EP the following year. They’ve spent the last year recording in a variety of churches, corridors and other acoustically fascinating spaces with ‘Spud’ Murphy, who’s responsible for some of Ireland’s most important releases in recent years – notably Lankum, The Jimmy Cake and a number of Ireland’s finest. Entitled Bleaching Bones, we have good faith that the LP will be another feather in the cap of an Irish folk resurgence that…

  • The Number Ones – Another Side of The Number Ones

    January 15, 2018 - By 

    Back with another celebration of retro power-pop songwriting, following their 2014 debut LP, The Number Ones have just released their Another Side of The Number Ones EP. The Buzzcocks and, to a lesser degree of global dominance, Good Vibrations Records – think Protex, Rudi & the likes – injected the British invasion sound with lightning-in-a-bottle youthful insurgency in the late ’70s. Half a decade later, The Number Ones’ latest takes great pride in doing much the same across its twelve hasty minutes. Infectious, immediate, and essential for any fans of modern purveyors of garage pop – Oh Boland, Sheer Mag, and the aforementioned – or the band’s ‘sideline’ projects, Cryboys and internationally-renowned…

  • Plain Living & High Thinking: An Interview With Belfast’s Latest Promotion

    January 8, 2018 - By 

    If you’ve been keeping track of the Belfast live music scene lately, you might have noticed – despite well-intentioned pockets and open-minded promoters – that it’s somewhat fractured and currently lacking the infrastructure to cultivate a strong grassroots music community beyond those looked after by management and the likes. Two bands who have organically harnessed their substantial following in a very short space of time are the groove-strewn, endlessly soulful jam trio Electric Octopus – having toured the UK, look to extensively traipse across Europe in Spring following the release of their latest album – and stoner-doom outfit Elder Druid, who released…

  • General Fiasco Set For One-Off Reunion Show

    January 4, 2018 - By 

    Formerly the indie kings of Belfast, General Fiasco return for a one-off reunion show at Voodoo on Wednesday, January 31. The band, formed of Mid-Ulster natives Stephen Leacock and brothers Owen & Enda Strathern, gained notable popularity in the UK indie circuit in their stint together, before the trio’s last show together as General Fiasco took place in June 2013. Their early EPs & 2010 debut album Buildings, led to their featuring in the likes of The Inbetweeners, and in the years since their dissolution, they’ve performed together and apart in various guises, including with Oh Volcano and Franklyn. Tickets cost £10, and in the spirit of independent venue support, will only…

  • Hands Up Who Wants To Die Announce Lineup Change & Return Show

    December 18, 2017 - By 

    For several years, arguably Ireland’s finest noise rock outfit, Dublin’s Hands Up Who Wants To Die have devastated rooms across Ireland & Europe, led by the singular stage presence of one Barry Lennon. His ominous presence read death knells over the unified metallic discord conjured by Paul Clynes, Matt Hedigan and John Breslin – known for respected DIY-spirited acts like No Spill Blood, Wild Rocket and Vatican II. Two spectacular records rose out of that particular alchemy: Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo, and Vega In The Lyre. The band have announced Lennon’s unfortunate departure from the band with the following statement: “It’s been a…

  • Somadrone – Wellpark Avenue

    December 13, 2017 - By 

    Dublin producer Neil O’Connor AKA Somadrone has announced details of his forthcoming sixth studio album. The full-length follow-up to 2015’s stellar Oracle, Wellpark Avenue will be released on February 1. According to O’Connor, the album will mark a departure from previous outings. With “dystopia, LSD, Timothy Leary and TV music of the 1970s” all contributing to the sound of the album – elements of which have permeated his work over his two decades of activity – it will forsake drum machines and heavy synth usage in favour of a return to traditional song and instruments akin to his 2010 album Depth of Field. O’Connor has also said…

  • Comrade Hat – Ho Ho Hum

    December 13, 2017 - By 

    After the year we’ve had, it’s quite honestly surprising we’ve not reached another Gary Jules moment of collective despair, but fear not: Comrade Hat has it covered in a typically loungey, subversive fashion. Following up on his five previous Winter ‘festering season’ releases between 2009 & 2015, this latest EP, Ho Ho Hum, manages to smirk through winter’s grimace. It proffers five sunnily low-key ditties that dabble in jazz muzak, apocalyptic calypso [see ‘Driving Home for the Apocalypse-oh’] and and some swooning Stevie Wonderesque turns that bely its sinister undertones, offering another glimpse at the singular, surrealistic, oneiric sonic tapestry woven by Derry-based experimental pop songwriter and avant-crooner Neil Burns. To help set the scene, here’s the…

  • Watch: And So I Watch You From Afar @ The Live Room Belfast

    December 11, 2017 - By 

    Having just returned from a mammoth European tour and ahead of their biggest hometown show to date, our very own world-beating instrumental titans And So I Watch You From Afar play the inaugural session at The Live Room Belfast, following the release of their massively acclaimed fifth album, The Endless Shimmering. Having transcended their reputation as not just an internationally-respect math-rock outfit, but one of the cornerstones of contemporary Irish – specifically Northern – subculture, the north coast quartet are in many ways they’re the only band who could’ve fittingly kicked off this series of sessions Start Together Studio‘s Live Room, where four of their five albums have been…

  • Wyvern Lingo – Wyvern Lingo

    December 12, 2017 - By 

    It’s been a long time in waiting as the Bray trio have traipsed across the world, dominating stages in clubs, arenas and festivals alike in support of fellow Irish icons like Hozier & James Vincent McMorrow, but it looks like Wyvern Lingo are set to arrive, when they unleash their eponymous debut album on Friday, February 23. Out through Rubyworks on vinyl, CD & digitally at the usual outlets, it was primarily recorded in Dublin by producer James Kelly, as well as in Donegal, London & Cologne. The trio of Karen Cowley, Caoimhe Barry & Saoirse Duane released their debut EP The Widow Knows back…

  • The Altered Hours – On My Tongue EP

    December 8, 2017 - By 

    In many eyes the country’s best band, Cork’s The Altered Hours have just announced details of a forthcoming new EP, On My Tongue, and an accompanying European tour. The follow-up to their stellar 2016 full-length In Heat Not Sorry, the five-piece will release the four-track On My Tongue via Art For Blind Records and Penske Recordings early next year. A typically first-rate effort from the band, lead single ‘Open Wide’ premiered over on Clash. To coincide with the release, the band will also embark on a nine-date European tour across February-April, which incorporates shows on March 29th at Dublin’s DBD Venue, Letterkenny’s Regional Cultural Centre on 30th. Yours truly will…