• Stream: Arborist – Twisted Arrow (feat. Kim Deal)

    In one of the more curious, unlikely – and, let’s face, envy-inducing – collaborations headed by a Irish singer-songwriter in quite some time, Belfast-based folk songsmith Mark McCambridge AKA Arborist has unveiled his latest effort, featuring backing vocals from none other than Kim Deal. Speaking about the collaboration, McCambridge said: “The harmony part was always there, from the moment the song was written and recorded here in Belfast.  But it needed a unique voice.  Fancifully, we drew-up a shortlist of desirable candidates with Kim far and away top of the list.  So, we contacted her – as you do – and after a…

  • Watch: Meltybrains? – Donegal

    Ahead of jetting off to SXSW next week – and our Belfast show with them and Blue Whale at QUBSU’s Bar Sub on Friday, April 10 – Dublin experimental band Meltybrains? have unveiled the video for the stupendous ‘Donegal’. When the track first reared its heard at the start of February we called it a “spirited, expansive ode to escapism – reverb-laced lingering vocal lines and shuffling rhythms marry in a mighty mesh of fist-clenched, impassioned abandon.” Donegal will be released as part of the band’s debut vinyl release, ‘Donegal/IV’, on February 16. Buy it here. Watch the video for ‘Donegal’…

  • Watch: Skelocrats – Zirconium Heart

    Not that you need reminding, but those notoriously sonically incestuous Popical Island lads are a quare bunch of busybodies this weather. Having unveiled the video for his very own ‘The Loneliest Master’ just yesterday, Bobby Aherne AKA No Monster Club is the directorial maestro behind the cosmic-romance themed video for Skelocrats‘ effortlessly earworming ‘Zirconium Heart’. The song will feature on the Dublin band’s forthcoming album, Bella Bella, which is launched at Dublin’s Bello Bar with Ginnels and Switzerland on Friday, April 17.  The band will also play Sweeney’s, Dublin on May 9 and  Galway’s Roisin Dubh with Paddy Hanna on May 14.…

  • First acts announced for Body & Soul 2015

    Delivering one seriously impressive opening line-up announcement, Body & Soul have unveiled the first acts set to play this Summer’s Festival. Taking place, as per usual, during the Summer solstice weekend of June 19-21 at Ballinlough Castle, Dan Deacon, Goat, Savages (pictured), Clark and Matthew E White and more are amongst the first wave of acts set to play the annual festival at Clonmellon, Co. Meath. With many more acts yet to be announced, check out the full line-up below and go here to buy tickets. Savages photo by Misha Vladimirskiy.  

  • Watch: Cloud Castle Lake – Glacier

    Last month, we called ‘Glacier’ by Dublin trio Cloud Castle Lake “a wonderfully-layered effort, beautifully disentangling over five-and-a-half minutes, that sees Daniel McAuley’s high falsetto vocals take centre-stage yet again – and how.” Now the Rian Trench-produced song – set for release via Happy Valley Records on March 16 – has a suitably intense video to accompany it. Directed by Cáit Fahey, the video is a shadowy, contorted affair, nicely interspersed with bursts of light and colour. Cloud Castle Lake will play Galway’s Roisin Dubh on March 26, Dublin’s Workman’s Club on March 27 and Limerick’s Kasbah Social Club on March 28.

  • Watch: Villagers – Hot Scary Summer

    The second single to be released from his forthcoming third studio album, Darling Arithmetic, Conor O’Brien AKA Villagers is streaming the exquisite ‘Hot Scary Summer’. An outright highlight from the album – released via Domino on April 13 – the track is one features instrumentation written and recorded exclusively by O’Brien in the loft of a converted farmhouse that he lives in in Malahide. Pre-order the album here. Go here to check out Villagers’ forthcoming tour dates and watch the video for ‘Hot Scary Summer’ below.

  • First acts announced for Indiependence 2015

    Ash, Mark Lanegan Band, The Dandy Warhols and Jape are amongst the first ten acts announced to play this year’s Indiependence Festival. Set to return to Deer Farm in Mitchelstown, Cork, across the weekend of July 31 to August 2, the festival will also see performances from Gavin James, Admiral Fellow, Little Hours, The North Sea, Wyvern Lingo and The Flaws. Go here to buy tickets to the festival.

  • Watch: No Monster Club – The Loneliest Master

    Featuring Bobby Aherne from the band tackling the most fearsome of extreme sports – thumb wrestling – Dublin’s No Monster Club have unveiled the video for ‘The Loneliest Master’. Featuring a support cast comprised of Owen Colgan (Buzz from Hardy Bucks) and a host of local comedians and musicians on Popical Island, the video was created by Giles Brody and Conor O’Toole. ‘The Loneliest Master’ is taken from People Are Weird, which is launched at Dublin’s Bello Bar this Saturday evening. Stream/buy it here and read our review of it here.

  • Watch: Princess – Black Window

    One of our main 15 For ’15 acts, Dublin dream-pop Princess have unveiled the video for their new single, ‘Black Window’, an accompaniment that more than tips its visual hat to the disembodied female mouth in Samuel Beckett’s ‘Not I‘. In our post of the track last month, we called it “one of their shining moments to date, covering more ground in their perpetually evolving blend of shoegaze, krautrock and noise, as heard on the pair of singles and EP they’ve so-far released.” Princess play the following Irish dates in March and April: March 20: Whelan’s, Dublin March 28: TDC/Triskel, Cork April 11:…

  • Stream: Orchid Collective – Figure It Out

    Conjuring the likes of Midlake, The Antlers (and in its most dusky passages, The Twilight Sad), Dublin’s Orchid Collective have released their debut single, ‘Figure It Out’. Disentangling over five minutes of delay-laden atmosphere, the song – mixed by Stephen Dunne and mastered by Richard Dowling – is a subtly anthemic first gambit from a band whose reputation on the live front grows in stature by the week. The band officially released ‘Figure It Out’, with supported from We Raise Bears and Joey Gavin, at Dublin’s Whelan’s on Thursday night (February 12). Stream the track below.