• Irish Tracks of the Week – 19th April

    April 18, 2024 - By 

    From every corner of the island, here’s the most essential new Irish music of the week, featuring Pillow Queens, exmagician, Stray Planets, Winnie Ama, Stomptown Brass and more Pillow Queens – Name Your Sorrow Name Your Sorrow by Pillow Queens exmagician – Sharpen These Stray Planets – I Liked You Better Before Winnie Ama – Tangled Stomptown Brass – It Did Went Down It Did Went Down by Stomptown Brass Colm Warren – Dead Days SLOUCHO feat. EMBY and Zack Oke – Brand New PostLast – Connect 4 Nylophone – More of the Same  

  • Premiere: exmagician – Desperado (Remix)

    December 22, 2016 - By 

    Rounding off a busy year that saw them unleash their stellar, Bella Union-released debut album, Scan The Blue, Belfast’s Daniel Todd and James Smith AKA exmagician have bookended 2016 with the release of a wonderfully simmering High Noon remix of STB highlight ‘Desperado’. Following on from Jacknife Lee’s sprawling 18-minute remix of single ‘Job Done’ and the band’s own sublime re-imaging of ‘Tear On Let Off Steam‘, the track – which sees harmonies and rhythmic patterns come to the fore – is stripped back to its skeletal core, bursting forth with a subtly propulsive electro swagger. Dig it below. Photo for the…

  • exmagician Scan The Blue Album Launch w/ Waldorf & Cannon @ McHughs, Belfast

    April 4, 2016 - By 

    Having caught them play a blinder of a showcase in The Duke of York as part of the wider Output Belfast initiative in February, the promise of an intimate album launch show for exmagician in McHughs Basement tonight is a tantalising prospect – all the more so considering debut LP Scan The Blue seems made for the stage and the snippets offered not more than six weeks ago are still ringing merrily in our ears. And, as we descend into the venue, the intimacy of this show becomes more than just a cursory description. There’s but a metre between us…

  • Album stream: exmagician – Scan The Blue

    March 25, 2016 - By 

    Having delivered a blinding set as part of our Output showcase with Nialler9 back in February, Belfast’s exmagician also featured as one of our 16 For ’16 acts back in early January. Re-launching from the embers of Cashier No. 9, Danny Todd, James Smith and co. fully  command in their psych-soaked, decidedly mesmerizing indie rock realm more than ever before, a fact perfectly illuminated on their debut album, Scan The Blue, which is released via Bella Union today. Buy it here and stream it in full via Spotify below.

  • 16 For ’16: exmagician

    January 26, 2016 - By 

    With their debut album teetering on the brink of release, Belfast’s exmagician are primed for a remarkable 2016. Cathal Mc Bride traces their formation, recent output and what lies ahead. Photo by Ruth Kelly Rising from the ashes of Cashier No.9, that band’s primary forces Danny Todd and James Smith have put their old project to bed and reinvented themselves as exmagician. The sunny sound of Cashier’s To The Death Of Fun has now been traded for something slightly darker, and although acoustic guitars are still a dominant force, it’s less folksy this time out, with a greater leaning on electronic…

  • Stream: exmagician – Job Done

    January 8, 2016 - By 

    If there’s one Irish album we’re nigh on pant-wettingly excited for this year it’s Scan The Blue by Belfast’s exmagician. A titular (and slight member) shift from the embers of Cashier No. 9, the project has had us quietly agog since the release of their debut EP Kiss That Wealth Goodbye via Bella Union in November. A perfectly crafted, psych-laced alt-pop gem, the band’s new single ‘Job Done’ distils Danny Todd and James Smith’s prismatic mastery to four all-too-fleeting minutes. As you might have guessed, we’re big fans. WordPress code More options

  • Stream: exmagician – 2000 Miles

    December 23, 2015 - By 

    Truth be told, not every well-meaning stab at a festive cover comes off in a blaze of glory. Falling very much into the category of those that do, Belfast’s exmagician have re-imagined the Pretenders’ seminal Christmas cut ‘2000 Miles’ in very fine fashion indeed, conjuring a beautifully reflective netherworld edging nicely into the realms of dream-pop. Stream/download the track below.

  • Inbound: exmagician

    November 12, 2015 - By 

    Cashier No. 9’s debut album To the Death of Fun was a quiet triumph for the Northern Irish music scene; a record that showed off the quartet’s songwriting imagination whilst still being respectful to their heroes – thanks in no small part to David Holmes’ lightness of touch on production duties. Whilst Cashier officially became defunct earlier this year, creative duo Danny Todd and James Smith have returned with a new EP under the exmagician moniker. Lead single ‘Kiss That Wealth Goodbye’ feels instantly more urgent than the pair’s previous output, who liken their latest material to “…the dirt under…