• Premiere: Galants – Evergreen

    Dublin noise-pop quartet Galants are a band that proudly – and very impressively – wear their influences on their collective sleeve. Forging the fuzzed-out, forward-moving indie rock of Dinosaur Jr. and early Yo La Tengo with the nebulous ‘gaze of My Bloody Valentine and tight, Byrds-influenced harmonies of Teenage Fanclub, their sound is unabashed hero worship but with more than enough deviation and departure to make it all their own. The first track from their forthcoming debut EP, ‘Evergreen’ is a perfect case in point. Have an exclusive first listen to that below and make sure to catch the guys at Dublin’s The Workman’s Club on Saturday, October 8…

  • Sound of Belfast Programme Launched

    Promising “live gigs, music industry, awards, learning and community” the programme for this year’s Sound of Belfast was launched earlier this afternoon at Belfast’s Oh Yeah Centre. The nominal successor to Belfast Music Week, the 10 day annual festival is, according to Oh Yeah Music Centre CEO Charlotte Dryden, “a celebration of a great music city impressing audiences with new sounds, providing youth and community with access, encouraging participation through workshops and discussing the sector with industry and artists”. With highlights including Malojian’s This Is Nowhere album launch at the MAC, Robyn G Shiels’ ‘If I Were Thy Demon’ single…

  • Stream: Bad Sea – Solid Air

    The debut single from Dublin’s Ciara Thompson AKA CMAT and Alan Farrell AKA Bad Sea, ‘Solid Air’ is a wistful quality that evokes nostalgic memories of hazy summer days. With the slightest tinge of sadness, CMAT’s soft voice is dulcet and bright against guitar and synth, combining to make a song that doesn’t leave your head, and leaves you wanting more. It’s an exciting start from the pair who, having been steadily building up this moment via sets at the likes of Castlepalooza and Working Class Heroes, as well as recently supporting Mitski in the Workmans. Stream the track – produced by Oli…

  • Album Premiere: Count Vaseline – Yo No Soy Marinero

    Whilst many musicians tend to tread the thin, often imperceptible lines blurring their status as performer or full-blown artist, it’s safe to say Dublin’s Stefan Murphy falls very comfortably into the latter. With his unique brand of urgent, genre-warping sonic wanderlust, from his days fronting the much-loved The Mighty Stef to his current guise as Count Vaseline, Murphy has always clearly lived, felt and fully meant his calling. Set for release on Friday (September 30) via OCDC, the debut Count Vaseline album, Yo No Soy Marinero, was born as a DIY project in Berlin back in the Spring. Having spent much of his time since in…

  • Album Premiere: windings – Be Honest and Fear Not

    It takes a certain amount of gall to open an album with a 7 minute epic culminating in an arena-seeking, solo-drenched crescendo. But in the case of much-loved Limerick alt/folk five-piece windings that gall is something far more akin to collective poise and confidence on ‘Ambivalence Blues’, the lead track from their wonderfully-realised fourth studio album, Be Honest and Fear Not. Four years on from the release of the band’s sublime, Choice Prize-nominated I Am Not The Crow, this new record – recorded at Attica Studios in Donegal with Villagers’ Tommy McLaughlin – bursts forth with the band’s “modus operandi in 2016: if you are…

  • Kraftwerk 3D Set For Dublin and Belfast

    Following hugely successful worldwide concert tours, German electronic legends Kraftwerk will bring their career-distilling 3-D show to Dublin’s Bord Gais Energy Theatre and Belfast’s Waterfront Hall on June 2 and 4 next year. Bringing together music and performance art, the concerts are a true “Gesamtkunstwerk – a total work of art.” Tickets for both shows go on sale this Friday (September 30), priced from €62.50 (Dublin) and £49.00 (Belfast).

  • Video Premiere: No Monster Club – Do The Mess Around

    In case you missed the memo, Dublin’s No Monster Club are catchier than velcro with a cold.  They’re catchier than Avian flu on the 212 to Derry from Belfast on a Friday afternoon. They’re catchier than Brian Wilson spinning a whole stack of Ty Segall records back-to-back for eternity, ad infinitum. You get the picture. With its synopsis of “en route to the big gig, the boys cross paths with a peculiar stranger…” the Bobby Aherne-fronted outfit’s latest visual extravaganza is a veritable feast for the senses. The track itself is one of four new songs on the 7″ EP Where Did You…

  • Watch: Meltybrains? – Know My Name

    Still very much one of the country’s most singular sonic propositions, Dublin five-piece Meltybrains? have returned with ‘Know My Name’, a new track featuring their trademark blend of warped electronic textures and auto-tune sprinkled harmonies. The track is the first single to be taken from the band’s upcoming Kiss Yourself EP, which is released on November 18. Meltybrains? play the following dates in October and November: 01/10/16: Nelliefreds – Dingle 07/10/16: Billie Byrnes – Kilkenny 08/10/16: Connolly’s of Leap – Cork 15/10/16: Roisín Dubh – Galway 31/10/16: KEX Hostel – Reykjavik (Iceland) 05/11/16: Loft – Reykjavik (Iceland) 11/11/16: Eagle Inn – Manchester (UK) 12/11/16: Legain –…

  • Stream: Rejjie Snow – D.R.U.G.S

    Doubling up as his first release since signing to Lyor Cohen’s 300 Entertainment (home to Fetty Wap, Young Thug et al) Rejjie Snow is streaming his stellar, subtly euphoric new single, ‘D.R.U.G.S’. Featuring a laid-back Rahki-produced beat, it’s a typically slick, blip-heavy three-minutes from the fast-rising Dublin rapper and the lead single from his forthcoming – and long-awaited – debut album.

  • Stream: Shrug Life – Your Body

    We in the Republic don’t like to talk about the big things, and if our history of women’s rights is anything to go by, we especially don’t like to talk about the big things that involve women. As Dublin gears up for Saturday’s March For Choice, jangle poppers Shrug Life have decided to celebrate the event with their latest single, the 8th amendment baiting ‘Your Body’. Leaving subtly and nuance at the door, the trio launch into their polemic with the jugular strike of the track’s opening line: “Your body is not your body/ It’s the property of church and state”.…