One of our favourite Irish acts at the minute – and arguably the jewel in Belfast imprint Champion Sound’s crown – Dublin’s Contour has returned with ‘Rearrange & Realign’, a six-minute track bursting with the pair’s increasingly distinctive brand of electro-pop. Taken from their forthcoming second EP, the brilliantly titled Blessed With Weird Things, you can stream it below now via the Champion Sound Soundcloud page.
In a Thin Air we’re first we’re sharing footage a band’s band practice. But rather just any old band or any old practice, it’s Seán Zissou’s B&W mini-film of Belfast sludge-doom overlords Slomatics collectively self-exorcising themselves in behemothic adulation of the (very slow, most crushing) riff. Someone seriously needs to invent whiplash cream just so these guys can be sponsored by it. Watch the video – featuring additional camera by Dave Knox and audio recording/mix Thomas Parkes – below.
There’s videos capturing the sheer kinesis and electricity of performance, then there’s the video for ‘Big River’ Man by Dublin instrumental six-piece Overhead, The Albatross. Directed by the band’s guitarist Luke Daly, it masterfully taps into OTA’s inexorable brand of post-rock, capturing the sheer power innate in its pockets of ardor and zeal. We’re big fans. Watch the video below. And again.
Having announced its first acts late last month, Other Voices have revealed the full schedule for this year’s Electric Picnic. Taking place over the three days and nights of the festival (Friday, September 4 to Sunday, September 6) East India Youth, August Wells, Ham Sandwich and The Staves are amongst 21 acts set to perform at the OV stage. Check out the full line-up above and go here to win tickets to the festival courtesy of Other Voices.
The Winter Passing have released a video for Daisy, a pop-punk anthem wrought with harmonies from sibling combo Rob and Kate, reminiscent of The Get Up Kids and Joanna Gruesome. Their debut album A Different Space of Mind will be released on both FITA Records in Europe and 6131 Records in North America on September 18. Chatting with Rob, he informed us that “We put a lot of time and effort into the record, we figured out the type of band we wanted to be, we’re excited to let people hear it.” The group play the Grand Social on September 26. Tickets can be purchased by…
Last month, we featured a special The Record feature documenting the recording of ‘Play Fire’, the sublime new track by Kilcoole math-pop maestros Enemies. Their first release in two (long) years, it sees the band concoct one of their most wonderfully cohesive, deftly arranged and downright catchy tracks to date. Speaking of the single – taken from their forthcoming third studio album – Enemies’ guitarist Lewis Jackson said, “It was this idea of getting as far away from our comfort zone as possible, without losing what makes us Enemies.” And how they’ve succeeded. Watch Finn Keenan’s video for the song below.
“Hey, I wanna be different, so I shaved my head on both sides – I leave a little on top. You know I’m keeping it real fresh, man.” So goes the chorus to ‘Real Fresh’ by Dublin singer-songwriter David Blaney AKA Cat Palace, a self-proclaimed “devotional” artist whose hugely impressive debut self-titled debut EP quite frankly blew us away back in February. This latest single – featuring a simple yet wonderfully singular video – fuses woozy Americana with a brilliantly biting commentary on half-arsed, samey social charades. The track will also feature on a forthcoming Cat Palace EP, set for release at the beginning of September.
Striking a keen balance between Tame Impala, Vampire Weekend and Mac Demarco, Maynooth duo Michael Hopkins and Andrew Lloyd AKA Planet Parade have just release one of the most sublimely sun-kissed Irish singles of the Summer. Featuring Steven McCann on guitar and Graham Hopkins (assumingly a relative of Michael’s) on drums, the wonderfully throwback video – created by Brian Lloyd – just seals the deal and then some. One for the repeat button.
The follow-up to 2013’s hugely impressive The First Wave, Dublin producer Neil O’Connor AKA Somadrone is set to release his fifth album, Oracle, on September 18. The first track to be lifted from that, ‘Invitation’ – featuring fellow Redneck Manifesto alumni Richie Egan AKA Jape – is a hugely encouraging taste as to what’s in store from the forthcoming eight track-release. Accompanied by a video courtesy of Kevin Mc Gloughlain and Leon Giblin, ‘Invitation’ is perfectly balanced between sleep and release, its opening two minutes of teasing sparseness yielding to two minutes of throbbing, mildly kaleidoscopic electronica, each bar yielding to a new detail. Stream/download the…
The great people of the Co-Present on Radiomade.ie have, in one year and nine months of broadcasting, had some of the finest Irish acts come in and record live sessions with the team’s wingman Gav Hennessy. So, in an immeasurable act of kindness, they’ve made available each one of the 168 tracks recorded from various live sessions, available on Clowdy. As well as that, presenter Dwayne Woods has announced that this Friday’s show will be the final weekday show before a move to the more accessible 3-5pm slot on Saturday afternoon. To celebrate this, they’ve organised three days of awesome Irish music…