• A Litany of Failures: Volume III Announced

    July 3, 2020 - By 

    Two years on from its second volume, islandwide independent music compilation series A Litany of Failures has opened pre-orders and announced the tracklisting for Volume III in the series – out Friday, October 2nd. More eclectic, and more export-ready than ever, the compilation features brand new music from 22 acts across Ireland, including the first recorded output from Fifty Years of Hair (Postcard Versions/Girl Band’s Dara Kiely), The Golden Cleric (Shrug Life/Girlfriend/That Snaake) and Grave Goods (Girls Names, Pins, September Girls), as well as many of our favourites – Robocobra Quartet, Silverbacks, Rising Damp, Percolator, Extravision and many more. With cover art by Nathanaël Roman, it will be accompanied by…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – May 29th

    May 29, 2020 - By 

    How better to reboot our weekly round-up of the very best new Irish music than with tracks by Denise Chaila, Our Krypton Son, Naoise Roo, Brigid Mae Power, Paddy Hanna, Bantum, Just Mustard and more? Delve in below. Denise Chaila – Chaila C H A I L A by Denise Chaila Our Krypton Son – White Sun Our Krypton Son · White Sun Naoise Roo – Sick Girlfriend Just Mustard – October (Live) Sinead White – The World Stops Spinning Song Sung – Telling Tales Havvk w/ Participant – Operate HAVVK · Operate Ft. Participant Brigid Mae Power – Wearing…

  • Album Stream: Joel Harkin – Never Happy

    May 19, 2020 - By 

    Over the last few months, Donegal singer-songwriter Joel Harkin has steadily cast a spell upon us and many others via first-rate singles ‘Vada’, ‘No Recycling’ and ‘Thought I’d Go Home’. Collectively, they are but three peaks from Harkin’s exquisite debut album, Never Happy, which is released today. Produced by George Sloan at Half Bap Studios, it’s a masterfully focused, filler-free release from the Belfast-based artist, distilling his brand of alternative folk down to ten tracks, each as inviting and incisive as the next. Delve in below. Never Happy by Joel Harkin

  • Our Krypton Son To Release Deluxe Album Raising Funds for NHS, Unveils ‘Sunlight in the Ashes’ Remix

    May 1, 2020 - By 

    We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Derry singer-songwriter Chris McConaghy aka Our Krypton Son is one of the finest writer of heart-stung tales this island has ever seen. While his 2017, Northern Ireland Music Prize-nominated second album, Fleas & Diamonds, still proves Technicolour testament to this fact, McConaghy’s 2014 self-titled debut album set the scene in exceptional fashion. Across 11 songs, he swiftly established himself as an artist with an uncanny knack for mining elemental human truths as perfectly formed dream-pop gems. On Wednesday, May 6th, McConaghy is releasing a deluxe reissue of Our Krypton Son, with all proceeds going…

  • Stream: Joel Harkin – Vada

    May 1, 2020 - By 

    In just under three weeks, Belfast-based songwriter Joel Harkin releases his debut album, Never Happy. A ten-track distillation of the Donegal artist’s singular alt-folk vision, it filters the influence of artists as disparate as Conor Oberst, Modest Mouse, Bjork and Gregory & The Hawk to deliver a compelling statement of intent. The follow-up to March’s ‘No Recycling‘, new single ‘Vada’ is an outright highlight from the album.  “The song creates a world in which my mates from Letterkenny and the main character of my favourite film, the 1991 classic ‘My Girl’, exist in the same universe,” Harkin says. “It’s about how they…

  • Premiere: The Zang – Drinking With You

    May 1, 2020 - By 

    The music-making moniker of Belfast artist Chris Molloy, The Zang is a project that’s ultimately about having a sense of humour even in the darkest of times. The opening track and lead single from Molloy’s forthcoming debut album, ‘Drinking With You’ is an earworming pop rock gem, doubling up as equal parts a celebration of human connection and the joy of spending time with loved ones, versus the feeling of detachment and loneliness that we are all capable of enduring. Across three minutes, it makes for a subtly anthemic, harmony-laden effort that demands a repeated listen. Released in Oiltape Studios in Belfast…

  • Album Stream: Mark Waldron-Hyden – Future Life Continuity

    April 29, 2020 - By 

    Back in the mists of time – Monday – we happily premiered ‘I Can’t See You: Where Did You Go?’ by Cork musician Mark Waldron-Hyden. Subtly scopic and immersive in all the right places, it doubled up as a suitably emphatic first taste of his stellar new album, Future Life Continuity. Released today via Cork imprint Sunshine Cult, it’s a masterfully mottled full-length effort that, perhaps more than any other Irish release we’ve heard this year thus far, fully rewards a repeated listen – not least on good speakers or headphones. Recorded over a two-month period, “in pretty intense solitude” in his studio…

  • Premiere: Mark Waldron-Hyden – I Can’t See You: Where Did You Go?

    April 27, 2020 - By 

    On Wednesday, Cork artist Mark Waldron-Hyden releases an album that is surely going to go down as one of the Irish titles of the year. Recorded over a two-month period, “in pretty intense solitude” in his studio in the Nagle mountains of rural North Cork, Future Life Continuity is a clear-cut statement of intent, melding singular abstract ambience via prismatic noise and first-rate polyrhythmic forays. Lead single, ‘I Can’t See You: Where Did You Go?” is one of many gems here. Across five minutes, it makes for a masterfully shapeshifting trip, melding widescreen, Kranky-leaning ambience with submerged Brainfeeder-esque textures. Featuring visuals by Con O’Brien, have a first listen to…

  • Premiere: The Mad Dalton – Skeleton Waltz

    April 27, 2020 - By 

    Belfast-based songwriter Peter GW Sumadh aka The Mad Dalton first appeared on our radar back in 2015, via the release of his ruminating, Americana-tinged debut EP The Little Belfry. Five years on, Sumadh’s craft has evolved to a point where harmonic savvy and incisive turns-of-phrase effortlesly take centre-stage. Having finished 2019 with gigs supporting both Malojian and Junior Brother, new ‘Skeleton Waltz’ arrives, fittingly, in surreal times. Recorded at Millbank Studios, this latest offering featuring Michael Mormecha on drums and artwork by renowned Belfast creative Andrew Train (Giraffe Stairs Tattoos), it follows cancellation of recording sessions and ahead of the…

  • Premiere: Bedrooms – Party Piece

    April 21, 2020 - By 

    Back in February, we flew the flag hard for Dublin quartet Bedrooms. Bearing the imprint of indie rock royalty including Dinosaur Jr, Galaxie 500, Guided by Voices and Pavement, we lauded their ability to bridge the gap between dream-pop and gazed-out indie via a straight-up slowcore sensibility. Recorded with Girl Band’s Daniel Fox in his Stoneybatter studio last November, new single ‘Party Piece’ delivers much of the same, the song conjures Dean Wareham stepping in on a stripped-back Cocteau Twins jam. “We sort of wrote this one backwards,” Devin from the band told us. “We had the second half of the song for a…