• Video Premiere: Son of the Hound – I.O.U.

    November 22, 2016 - By 

    Not an artist to get too comfortable in one guise, Belfast-based musician Michael McCullagh AKA Son Of The Hound resurfaced back in August with quite possibly the darn catchiest song we’ve heard from an Irish artist this year, ‘I.O.U’. Something of a curveball when compared with the Omagh artist’s previous, more trad and folk-leaning output to date, its 50s swagger and twang revealed yet another colour on McCullagh’s wonderfully varied sonic palette. Whether you missed it the first time around or fancy a fresh listen, check out the single via Colm Laverty’s brand new video for the track – culminating in…

  • Premiere: Fears – Blood

    November 21, 2016 - By 

    Fears is the solo project of Constance Keane, drummer of Dublin feminist and animal welfare noise/post-punk quartet M(h)aol, and November 25 sees the release of new single ‘Blood’, following last year’s ‘Priorities‘, through her own label, Fears Records. In stark contrast to M(h)aol’s raw power, ‘Blood’ is an exercise in intense restraint and silently brooding alternative pop. Its brooding synth is evocative of the likes of John Carpenter (minus the timestamp), accompanied by claustrophobic, dissonant beats, with Constance’s lyrics and vocal performance lending the track the kind of somnambulist atmosphere to accompany a sleepless night. Ever the elusive entity, Fears’ first show takes place in Belfast on December 2 at a…

  • EP Stream: Galants – Galants

    November 21, 2016 - By 

    There’s something profoundly excellent about seeing a band wear their influences on their sleeve with a level of musicianship and a forward-thinking mentality that doesn’t yield to straight-up imitation. Dublin noise-pop Galants comfortably slot into that bracket – a fact very impressively underscored on their debut self-titled EP. Set for release on November 25 via US imprint Jigsaw Records, the four-track release – which masterfully tips its hat to the holy triptych, Teenage Fanclub, Dinosaur Jr and My Bloody Valentine – was recorded with Stephen Dunne at Lamplight Studios and mastered by Fergal Davis. Galants launch the EP at Whelan’s in Dublin on December 3.…

  • Stream: Deadman’s Ghost – Unsaid

    November 21, 2016 - By 

    Back in April we shared ‘Insula’, a new cut from Belfast musician and producer Jason Mills AKA Deadman’s Ghost. Betraying some sonic lineage to the likes of Beak> and Tortoise, it promised the unravelling of new territory and – we hoped – some new material from the multi-instrumentalist artist. Now, seven months on, Mills has just announced details of his forthcoming third full-length release, Hypocritical Oath, which promises to be an album in which “dark tales, ambient swells, field recordings, ominous electronics and banjo twangs form part of a sonic tapestry”. Featuring additional production by David Baxter, Barry Lynn and Simon…

  • Premiere: Dowth – Dowth

    November 16, 2016 - By 

    Every once in a while something lands in our inbox that makes us punch the air in quiet “fuck yeah” abandon. In the case of Dublin’s self-proclaimed “greatest pagantronic duo in the universe” Dowth, their debut self-titled LP induced that precise reaction on our first listen this morning. Comprise of John Kelleher (Rats Blood, GRIT) and Tim Ording (Melodica Deathship), the pair fuse acoustic instrumentation from melodica and fiddle to sample-based beats and synth drones, the pair conjure heavy, atmospheric sounds that draw “inspiration from the concept of ‘the otherworld’ in Irish folk and mythology.” Ahead of its release on hand screenprinted 12″…

  • Watch: Hot Cops – Dumbbo

    November 14, 2016 - By 

    Ahead of their debut London show at the Islington on November 30, Belfast trio Hot Cops have resurfaced with the suitably spaced-out video for recent single ‘Dummbo’. Featuring age-old visual hallmarks like burning marshmallows, pink bedsheet ghosts and some field ironing at dusk, it makes for a curious, uniquely realised four minutes for the threesome.

  • Watch: Robyn G Shiels – If I Were Thy Demon

    November 14, 2016 - By 

    Unveiled with the launch of a brand new website, Kilrea doom folk master Robyn G Shiels has teamed up once again with Belfast illustrator (and musician) Richard Davis for the funeral video for the former’s exceptional new single, ‘If I Were Thy Demon’. Having worked together on singles ‘Underneath The Night of Stars’ and ‘Hello Death’, it marks the third in a long-running series of collaborations between the two artists. Great as they all are, this might well be our favourite of the three to date. Get lost in the pair’s darkly netherworld.

  • Video Premiere: Hannah McPhillimy – Ruins

    November 14, 2016 - By 

    For many in the North (and quite a few others further afield) the name Hannah McPhillimy is synonymous with a very particular brand of delicately-woven, jazz-tinged indie-pop. Bearing the imprint of the likes of Feist and Daughter, the Belfast-based North Coast singer-songwriter has been on our radar for a few years now, with EPs Freedom Songs, Seeing Things and new four-track Wind Machine tracing the bloom of an artist whose craft and confidence have segued in sublime fashion. The second single to be taken from Wind Machine, ‘Ruins’ takes a philosophical look at a disintegrating relationship with both its musical and visual backdrop…

  • Premiere: Mojo Fury – Trying To Get Free

    November 10, 2016 - By 

    As of noon today, it’s been 6,717,600 minutes since the first ever Mojo Fury band practice. Having released three EPs and two stellar studio albums over the space of 12 years, the Michael Mormecha-fronted band have long established themselves as one of the country’s most commanding alternative rock acts, always progressively pushing their craft into new, uniquely bombastic terrain, most recently on 2013’s The Difference Between. Ahead of headlining Spectrum Festival at Belfast’s Elmwood Hall on Saturday, we’re very pleased to present a first listen to ‘Trying To Get Free’, the long-awaited, typically emphatic new single from the Lisburn quartet. Making for…

  • Watch: VerseChorusVerse – The New Paranoia

    November 11, 2016 - By 

    North Coast singer-songwriter Tony Wright AKA VerseChorusVerse is very much an artist that embodies the idea “when it rains it pours.” Aside from the release his as-of-yet untitled third solo album, he has announced that he will also publish his first book and unveil what he calls a “socio-economic/musical pilgrimage/documentary filmed in Spain next year. Ahead of that highly-anticipated flurry of activity, Wright has unveiled a pre-emptive statement in the form of ‘The New Paranoia’, a new, full-band track featuring bass from Herb Magee and drums from Andy Coles, who recorded and mixed the track. Ex-ASIWYFA axeman Wright said, “In light of…