• Documenta – Drone Pop #1

    As one of the forerunners in a burgeoning Irish psych-rock scene, Documenta are an intriguing prospect.  They have realistic expectations of their audience and a keen sense of artistic integrity.  Their music doesn’t invite the fanfare of over-excited teens screaming a chorus back at them.  It is music to be absorbed, introspective and thought provoking; it lends itself well to the escapists among us, those who want to drift away momentarily to dream of halcyon days. There’s clarity in their approach – a three-record agenda has been mapped out, this being the second in the trilogy before they move on…

  • John Grant – Grey Tickles, Black Pressure

    A record whose title essentially means Middle-Aged Nightmares doesn’t sound like a particularly fun prospect. That said, Grey Tickles, Black Pressure is such a wonderful, euphemistic description of its subject, layering the deeply troubling topic in a layer of abstraction and disassociation. This idea is mirrored in its eerie, yet cheerful, album cover; a man dressed in WASPy attire, his eyes replaced with inhuman, piercing white beams of light. This balancing act between sinister and serene is to be expected from the likes of John Grant, the former Czars frontman, whose previous two records stand as some of the finest…

  • The Winter Passing – A Different Space of Mind

    Irish five-piece The Winter Passing have built up to their debut record for around a year now. Having announced the signing to US label 6131 Records, A Different Space Of Mind was scheduled for release back in May, and although a few delays surfaced, the band dropped the full length mid September to much hype around the genre and DIY scene. With a large fan base around Dublin, having played on some incredible shows supporting the likes of Balance And Composure, Touché Amore and will even be in attendance at Fest this year, momentum is gathering rapidly and with a full…

  • Stonemasons – Lost Letters EP

    There is a strange significance to this idea of an artist belonging to somewhere; Joyce belongs to Ireland, Martin Scorsese belongs to New York and NWA belong to Compton. Is it that there is this collective longing to, in someway, be involved in something bigger than ourselves? That, by virtue of having been in Dublin in the early 20th Century, 1970s New York or 1980s Compton, we can somehow feel as though part of something great? Maybe it’s the idea of being heard; that by having a voice that belongs to our home, we can all band together and feel…

  • Best Boy Grip – Best Boy Grip

    “You’ve been getting it on with the boys in the neighbourhood, and now it seems you’re all alone, living in shame…” As he sings those words on signature tune ‘Barbara’, a crafty, catchy ditty about a promiscuous woman, Derry-based singer, songwriter, guitarist and piano man Eoin O’Callaghan AKA Best Boy Grip, is making a powerful statement, not just in the song itself, but for the gist and wit of his written word in his self-titled debut album. His lyrics come across as a mixture of the mildly satirical and the genuinely sorrowful. Along with numerous memorable melodies, sometimes merry, sometimes miserable, they…

  • Girls Names – Arms Around a Vision

    Although the current line up of Girls Names have been playing live for well over two years now, aside from a cover of Brian Eno’s ‘Third Uncle’, new album Arms Around A Vision (and recent single ‘Zero Triptych’ – a track that would have made a perfect centrepiece to the album had it not been perversely left off) marks the debut of Gib Cassidy behind the drums in place of founder member, Sea Pinks’ Neil Brogan, as well as guitarist Philip Quinn’s full integration into the band, having only appeared on synth duty for two tracks on 2013’s The New…

  • Battles – La Di Da Di

    For Battles, it was always going to be downhill after a record like Mirrored; a strangely hypnotic and danceable collection of math rock songs that let the group kick in the door, guns blazing, announcing to the world that Battles were a fully formed and ready to rock. While recording their follow-up, 2010’s Gloss Drop, the group lost their lead singer and were forced to bring in a number of guest vocalists to fill the void as well as dropping vocals from a number of the tracks altogether. This schism of sound didn’t do the album, admittedly very good, many…

  • Somadrone – Oracle

    Looking back it’s hard to deny that Redneck Manifesto and its members’ various solo exploits stand as some of the more intriguing Irish records of the last decade. Records like I Am Brazil and Friendship have stood the test of time, Richie Egan’s Jape have been putting out some truly excellent music as demonstrated on Ritual and Somadrone’s AKA Neil O’Connor 2013 effort The First Wave was an Eno-inflected classic in waiting. Waiting two years to provide the follow-up, Somadrone has quietly released his latest LP, Oracle, and as to be expected from such stock as this, it’s very bloody good.…

  • Defeater – Abandoned

    There’s something so intrinsically lovely about really good album artwork. While you shouldn’t be able to judge a record by its cover, it should act as some kind of indication of what you can expect. Abandoned, the latest LP from hardcore punks Defeater, has one of those covers that sets the tone for the album in a rather sublime fashion. It’s this murky, shadowy image of a priest overshadowed by a stained glass representation of a mother and her children. Not only does it capture the record’s more atmospheric and moody elements, but it also provides a neat visual representation…

  • Girl Band – Holding Hands With Jamie

    Imagine any indie song from a young Irish rock band today; a conventional, radio friendly track that has something for everybody. Now deconstruct its parts and bend them into elastic. Allow them to stretch and make each movement as tensile as possible to the point of snapping. That’s what Dublin’s Girl Band offer with their debut, Holding Hands with Jamie. This may be their debut album but they’ve had several limited run releases which sold faster than they could be printed. Having played together for a number of years, their spontaneous and primal sets have been well established in the…