• Watch: Comrade Hat – From Lost To The River (feat. Inishowen Gospel Choir)

    March 2, 2022 - By 

    Ahead of his first Belfast show in over 3 years for Brilliant Corners Jazz Festival this Friday, 4th March at the Black Box Green Room – and another on the 11th – staple of the Northern jazz scene Neil Burns, aka Comrade Hat is back with his definitive artistic statement to date in ‘From Lost To The River’, the first single taken from his forthcoming album, Old Gods, Vol. 2, the follow up to last year’s Vol. 1. Without straying from the oneiric yearning that’s been threaded through his work so far, the single truly levels up his practice. Starting out with a locked, deep-pocket…

  • Video Premiere: Arthur Itis – I Wish I Was Here

    March 3, 2022 - By 

    The word ‘shapeshifter’ loiters never too far from Cork experimentalist Arthur Itis, aka Arthur Pawsey, having cultivated a prismatic pop alter ego via a singular blend of electronics, psychedelia, looping & glitched-out Sun Araw-esque rhythms, and the avant-garde. Having released a truly accomplished LP in 2021 with Occam’s Razor (Art For Blind), he returns today with ‘I Wish I Was Here’ the first track from his forthcoming, altogether more minimalist, home-recorded new mini-album Longhand. Coloured with tape warbles, hiss, inbuilt reverb and a more traditional kind of homespun aesthetic, the tape method’s limited parameters enable Pawsey to strip back layers of the usual…

  • Clara Tracey Pays Tribute to Irish Stain Glass Icon Harry Clarke in New Video

    February 22, 2022 - By 

    Pizza Pizza Records’ latest signing and experimental pop auteur Clara Tracey today releases the video for her wonderful latest single ‘Harry Clarke’. The lushly-arranged Daniel Fox production puts the Fermanagh-born, Belfast-based Tracey’s layered, technically superlative vocal range at front and centre, offers fragments of the subtly subversive, highly influential Irish stain glass artist & illustrator Harry Clarke. Initially inspired by window ‘The Eve of Saint Agnes’, Clara tells us more about the song’s inception: “Stained glass windows often bring to mind biblical scenes and churches, they don’t tend to be associated with dark eroticism. While Harry Clarke did receive most of his commissions from…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – February 19th

    February 18, 2022 - By 

    This week has seen new music, and long-awaited albums from some of Ireland’s finest acts, including David Holmes, Paddy Hanna, Wallis Bird, Clara Tracey, Fontaines D.C., Sinead O’Brien, Ye Vagabonds, Paper Tigers, Dirty Dreamer, Junk Drawer & more. Paddy Hanna – New York Sidewalk New York Sidewalk by Paddy Hanna David Holmes – It’s Over if we Run out of Love It’s Over, If We Run Out Of Love by David Holmes feat. Raven Violet Clara Tracey – Harry Clarke Harry Clarke by Clara Tracey Fontaines D.C. – I Love You Sinead O’Brien – Holy Country Dirty Dreamer – Piano 39…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – January 28th

    January 28, 2022 - By 

    It’s that time of year again, as many of Ireland’s finest acts release new singles to announce their prospective AOTY contenders, as well as a smattering of singles from exciting emergent acts, including the likes of the Thumper, Soak, Naked Lungs, Willhouse feat. GI, Wynona Bleach, My Tribe Your Tribe, Jossle, Rowan and Wallis Bird. Thumper – Overbite Wallis Bird – What’s Wrong With Changing? Soak – Last July Book of the Dead – Mercury At Greatest Eastern Elongation MERCURY AT GREATEST EASTERN ELONGATION by BOOK OF THE DEAD My Tribe Your Tribe – I Stay Quiet I Stay Quiet by My Tribe Your Tribe…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – December 3

    December 3, 2021 - By 

    On this, the final Bandcamp Friday of 2021, we’ve been landed with a wealth of fascinating singles from emergent acts, plus new albums and mixtapes from the likes of Kineograph, Hilary Woods, Arthur Itis and the North Cork Organic Group. Dig deep, and maybe support a few underground artists, if you fancy? Hilary Woods – Feral Hymns Feral Hymns by Hilary Woods Kineograph – CAPRICORN CAPRICORN by KINEOGRAPH FIXITY – [Do The] Bits and Pieces Arthur Itis – Am I Dancing? North Cork Organic Group – Blackwater Valley High (Landscape Mixtape) Blackwater Valley High (Landscape Mixtape) by North Cork Organic Group Me…

  • Video Premiere: Fixity – [Do The] Bits and Pieces

    December 2, 2021 - By 

    One-man psych-jazz engine room Dan Walsh, aka Fixity, has just released a video for new single ‘[Do The] Bits And Pieces’ – no relation – taken from the latest LP, FIXITY7. The song itself, Walsh tells us, is “inspired by evil surf riffs, big band music, wrong notes and the hectic feeling of keeping up with the world while it turns, ‘Bits And Pieces’ is a direct expression of making things happen and living.” The video – directed by The Altered Hours’ Cathal MacGabhan – is a wonderful foil, manipulating time and expectation for the listener, mirroring the song as it at-turns burrows and upends the…

  • Monday Mixtape: Fixity

    November 1, 2021 - By 

    If you’ve not been following, Cork-based Dan Walsh is a fixture across many of Ireland’s most essential improvised and experimental music happenings. Be it on drums, sax, synth or otherwise, his work with – amongst others – Cork Improvised Music Company, The Bonk, Senior Infants, and not least his primary project, Fixity, speaks for itself. Fixity 7, his latest with the latter, came out last week, and continues to push forward his exploratory practice. Get a listen to some of the music that’s informed Walsh creatively over the years, from Johnny Keating and Ivor Cutler to The Hives and Teenage Jesus & The Jerks. Johnny Keating – Listen I…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – October 8th

    October 8, 2021 - By 

    As well as a plethora of great singles from the likes of Whozyerman?, Silverbacks, Rory Nellis, Wynona Bleach, Cabin and more, the week has featured new EP and album releases from the likes of Silverbacks, Elaine Mai, Shibashi and Rachel Mae Hannon. Whozyerman? – Why What Silverbacks – Archive Material Wynona Bleach – Aubergines Aubergines by Wynona Bleach Rory Nellis – Strange Behaviour Cabin – Dull Aonair – Think Twice (feat. Caoi de Barra) Shibashi – Shibashi EP Rachel Mae Hannon – Like It Is EP Odd Morris – Silhouette

  • Maija Sofia, Mhaol, Pretty Happy, Elaine Malone & More Set to Perform 30th Anniversary Tribute To Nirvana’s Nevermind

    September 21, 2021 - By 

    Friday, 24th September marks the 30th anniversary of one of the finest, most essential albums in recorded music history – Nirvana’s breakthrough album Nevermind. To mark the occasion, a selection of Irish acts from across the island have come together in celebration of its release and ongoing influence, each performing their own takes on track from the album in an event which will be live-streamed this Friday. The line-up, consisting of Maija Sofia, Havvk, Alien She, Cruiser, Laurie Shaw, Junk Drawer, Uaim, Aoife Wolf, Pretty Happy, Elaine Malone, Mob Wife and Mhaol will be a combination of videos performed and recorded in Dublin venues Sin É and…