• Watch: The Wood Burning Savages – Lather, Rinse, Repeat

    April 7, 2015 - By 

    Derry alt-rock quartet The Wood Burning Savages aren’t exactly ones to slack with their music videos. Take the engaging, narrative-driven visual accompaniments to previous singles ‘Boom’ and ‘America’ – two strong, wonderfully considered videos that really manage to drive Paul Connolly’s words home. Directed by Cillian Farrell and Sonni Ross , the band have just went one better with the video for new single ‘Lather, Rinse, Repeat’, an instantly captivating accompaniment to a track bursting with upbeat gusto and eager flair. Check that out below.

  • Watch: Subplots – Future Tense (Live; Higher Ground #01)

    April 7, 2015 - By 

    Back in November, Dublin duo Phil Boughton and Daryl Chaney AKA Subplots played the first ever Higher Ground in the city’s spectacular Pepper Canister Church, a series of shows hosted by Hidden Agenda. According to Hidden Agenda, “These shows focus on showcasing the best international and local talent performing in alternative and spectacular venues across the country. Each act is carefully chosen on their musical and artistic merit with a focus on showing only the most exciting, innovative and creative acts from across the board.” Setting themselves apart from the get go, each of the shows are also filmed on the night and released…

  • Watch: White Sage – Parnell Street June 1955

    April 7, 2015 - By 

    When he’s not busy running Dublin’s newest record shop, Little Gem Records or performing as part of both I Heart The Monster Hero and GODHATESDISCO, Andy Walsh has been concocting his own inimitable, solo sonic wizardry as White Sage. The first manifestation of that is the perfectly phantasmal Way Beyond our Means, a Kraut-echoing, decidedly experimental quartet of tracks, including lead single ‘Parnell Street June 1955’. Evoking the likes of Neu! and Fujiya and Miyagi, the track swaggers forth with its chugging groove, broad synth shapes and twinkling notes marrying in a swirl of blissed-out haze. Watch the simple yet very…

  • Stream: Robocobra Quartet – 80-88

    April 7, 2015 - By 

    Forging heady spiels of stream of consciousness with Mingusian sax forays, open-ended punk abandon and skilfully loose improvisation, Belfast’s Robocobra Quartet are right up there with the country’s very best live acts. Ahead of supporting Not Squares at Belfast’s Bar Sub tomorrow night – and appearing at our second birthday show at Dublin’s Twisted Pepper on Saturday, May 2 – the Chris Ryan-fronted four-piece have unveiled ’80-88′. the lead single from their new EP, Bomber (“‘four songs about three people, two novels, a failed assassination attempt and a volunteer-run community arts space” – obviously). We’ll soon have a premiere of the second single from the…

  • Stream: Alarmist – Aztec Dreams

    April 7, 2015 - By 

    Few Irish bands defy categorisation so impressively as Dublin instrumental four-piece Alarmist. The closest thing the country has come to (that is: bettering, if not matching) the likes of Battles, Maps & Atlases and Giraffes? Giraffes! –  the band’s unravelling, math-tinged tracks are equally parts complex and cunning, meshing effects-laden guitar lines with skittering keyboard lines and consistently engaging percussion. Two years on from it featuring on their Pal Magnet EP, ‘Aztec Dreams’ by the band has finally been released with a fittingly hypnotic video courtesy of Cormac Murray & Daniel Staines. Triangles are very much still in, kids.

  • Stream: Fabric – Jungle

    April 7, 2015 - By 

    Of the increasing number of new bands to emerge in Derry over the last while, Fabric are easily one of the more curious propositions. Having formed in the summer of last year, Ruairi Coyle (drums) and Lorcan Hamilton (bass/vox) are, according to their Facebook bio, “striving to invent a new sound by exploring many different genres/artists and musical styles.” You might as well aim high, right? Accompanied with wonderfully bombastic b-side ‘Ascot Blondes’, the duo’s debut single, ‘Jungle’ is certainly hard to pin down. At a push, we’d be inclined to say it sounds a bit like Death From Above 1979 jamming Joy Division (or…

  • Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival Programme Launched

    April 2, 2015 - By 

    Having mightily weathered the storm of threatening arts cuts, Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival have launched the full programme for their 16th outing, set to take place from April 30 to May 10. With an already stellar cast of musicians, artists, comedians, actors, poets and every other ilk of performer and event already confirmed, the final programme also boasts the inclusion of The Stranglers, comedian David O’Doherty, several tantalizing theatre productions, Liverpudlian psych-folk band Stealing Sheep, fast-rising festival artist-in-residence Ciaran Lavery and much more. Go here to check out the full festival schedule and how to purchase tickets. Shot in the Cathedral Quarter…

  • Stream: VerseChorusVerse – Lake of Fire

    April 1, 2015 - By 

    With new material very much on the horizon, it’s no surprise that North Coast singer-songwriter Tony Wright AKA VerseChorusVerse is a bit of a lifelong Nirvana fanatic. With his music-making nom de plume deriving from the legendary trio’s non-album track of the same name, Wright has gone one further and released a striking, decidedly lo-fi cover of a song that they too covered (and thereby made famous the world over): the Meat Puppets‘ prophetic ‘Lake of Fire’. With the aforementioned original studio material set for release in the coming months, Wright’s rendition is the lead track of a new collection of…

  • Watch: Imploded View – Subliminal Summer

    March 30, 2015 - By 

    Taken from his forthcoming album, Longford producer Jerome McCormick AKA Imploded View has released a wonderfully woozy slice of throwback electro-pop, ‘Subliminal Summer’. With his vocals taken centre-stage, it’s a pretty linear and cunningly straightforward effort, hinting at some promising stuff for the album.

  • Album premiere: Túcan – Towers

    March 31, 2015 - By 

    With its launch set for Dublin’s Button Factory on Saturday night, we’re pleased to present a first listen to Towers, an album that confirms the hugely impressive metamorphosis of Sligo’s Túcan. A masterclass in perfectly-honed, brilliantly realised instrumentalism, the album straddles the fine line between decidedly soundtrack-like Cinematic Orchestra-esque post-rock and trad-inflected mini-symphonies. Having been steadily developing and spearheading progression in their guitar-led sound over the last twelve months, the eight-piece have delivered a record brimming with integrity, imagination and daring, capturing the thrill of their scintillating live show in the process. Stream Towers below.