• Brién – DIY VOL. 1

    August 26, 2020 - By 

      You wouldn’t want to put money on what’s going to drop next from the ever-reliable Soft Boy Records. Whether it’s creating a platform for groundbreaking Irish hip hop (Kojaque) or injecting new life into Dublin jazz (Five to Two), the collective has quickly established itself as a bastion of progressive and forward-thinking homegrown music, with each release offering something genuinely new.  DIY VOL. 1 from Belfast-based multi-instrumentalist Brién is no exception. Encompassing hip hop, jazzy broken beat and R&B in its short run-time, Brién’s latest offering encapsulates the very essence of Soft Boy Records into one, easily-digestible amuse-bouche of…

  • MuRli – Till The Wheels Fall Off

    August 25, 2020 - By 

    MuRli is an Irish music renaissance man. The Limerick rapper, producer and singer has stamped his mark on the Irish scene over the past half decade as part of Choice Music Prize winning  trio Rusangano Family and through a string of striking solo releases. 2019’s The Intangibles mixtape saw the Togo-born artist further establish his distinct sound through experimentation and collaboration with some his favourite Irish artists – including Outsider YP, God Knows, Farah Elle and Denise Chaila.  On 5th June, as Black Lives Matter protests took place around the world in reaction to the killing of George Floyd by a…

  • Evenings & Weekends – Your Guitar

    August 4, 2020 - By 

    Earlier this year, those lovely people over at Evenings & Weekends, the label run by Dublin’s Loud Mouth Collective, decided give us all a gift, Your Guitar. This 12-track compilation was gifted to the world just before lockdown began and was a perfect companion piece to those long, lonely days. The label, which chiefly trades in downtempo and electronic music, found the opportune moment to deliver their latest broadcast right as we divorced ourselves from the outside world. The brooding, yet warm-hearted, sounds granted us space and much-needed solace in that period isolation, and we suspect it will continue to do…

  • Julianna Barwick – Healing is a Miracle

    July 29, 2020 - By 

    In the four years since her last full-length release, Julianna Barwick uprooted herself from New York City, her home of sixteen years, and relocated to LA. A move spurred on by the need to discover “joy and delight” again, it was in the wake of this change of life and landscape that her aptly-titled, luminous new album, Healing is a Miracle was formed. In the spring of last year, Barwick began work on a new project; sitting down with a pared back array of her “most trusted” pieces of gear, she began shaping melodies, and looping her voice around skeletal,…

  • Bibio – Sleep on the Wing

    July 22, 2020 - By 

    Warp’s finest acoustically-inclined son, Bibio (Stephen James Wilkinson), has returned with Sleep on the Wing. It’s another shining example of meditative, textured experiments in meandering psych-folk and echoing found-sound that, despite being a stylistic sum of the parts of its creator’s output thus far, is anything but an exercise in pastiche. How Wilkinson continues to craft compositionally intriguing records under the auspices of his tried and tested “sound” is difficult to ascertain but the results speak for themselves across the 10 tracks on offer here. Unlike the titular bird to which the EP is tied, Sleep on the Wing does anything…

  • Brigid Mae Power – Head Above the Water

    July 21, 2020 - By 

    Some artists seem to arrive fully formed with a perfect debut that captures the public’s attention, only for their profile to ebb away as future work fails to match an early promise. Others make a slow ascent, each record building on the one before while more ears prick up each time. Brigid Mae Power falls into the latter category. After self releasing some home recordings in the earlier part of the decade, the Galway native made her debut proper with her self-titled 2016 album on cult US folk label Tompkins Square to a positive reception. Her 2018 follow up, The…

  • UD – Fruitless Grapevine

    July 14, 2020 - By 

    UD is an artist who knows who he is and what he wants. On his debut EP, Fruitless Grapevine, the Lucan rapper lays his cards on the table across five lushly produced and lyrically emotive hip-hop jams in his first attempt attempt to “build [a] legacy that echo when the signal fade away”.  Fruitless Grapevine’s biggest strength comes from its most vulnerable turns. ‘Felt’, which features Chicago MC Mick Jenkins, blends perfectly crafted hooks with a deep insight into UD’s internal process. Ruminating on the impacts of anxiety and depression against a seductive mellow beat, UD handles introspection with sincerity. It’s…

  • Jinx Lennon – Border Schizo FFFOlk Songs For The Fuc**d

    July 10, 2020 - By 

    “This is the border schizo cosmic folk sound, enjoy yourself today” sings Jinx Lennon on track three of his new album. The Dundalk folk-punk invites you to enjoy a glimpse of life in his hometown on his ninth album, Border Schizo FFFolk Songs For The Fuc**d. The collection captures the true essence of the popular cult artist, as he shares what grinds his gears in everyday life, as well as immortalising the atmosphere of living in a small border town with witty lyricism. The psychedelic 34-track collection is an amalgamation of comedy, criticism and unhinged ranting as well as social…

  • Various Artists – The 343 Vol.1

    June 25, 2020 - By 

    Named for Le Manifeste des 343,  a brave act of civil disobedience by French women who dared sign a Simone de Beauvoir penned petition, publicly declaring that they had undergone illegal abortions,  The 343 is a feminist-led, Queer art space that has swiftly become a thriving and vital corner stone of the Belfast music scene. Having  garnered a glowing reputation for its community-driven ethos and unflinching dedication to creating a safe and inclusive space for LGBTQIA artists, The 343 has now put together its first compilation album. The 343 Vol. 1 brings together a vibrant range of experimental artists associated…

  • Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher

    July 3, 2020 - By 

    It doesn’t seem all too long ago that Phoebe Bridgers released her stunning debut Stranger in the Alps, but on her sophomore album, Punisher, the Los Angeles-born artist solidifies her reputation for masterful songcraft. Following the release of her carefully assembled alt-folk debut, Bridgers appeared under various guises such as Boygenius (appearing alongside Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker) and Better Oblivion Community Center (with Conor Oberst), spending her time touring, collecting memories and co-conspirators along the way. Punisher gazes at a faltering future, guided by a cornucopia of instrumentation, laying her accumulated experiences on the table like a winning hand,…