Comprised of three members of defunct post-metal five-piece Annapurna, TOSKA have unveiled their debut track, ‘Polyforms’ Featuring furious vocals from Aran Glover of We Are Knuckle Dragger, the track – impressively clocking in at just under ten minutes – traverses progressive metal tangents, intricate instrumentalism and cyclopean down-tuned chords, reminiscent of the band’s previous incarnation. Stream the track via Bandcamp below. Polyforms ft. Aran Glover by TOSKA
The fifth release on his own imprint, Kinnego Records, the chameleonic Barry Lynn AKABoxcutter has returned with a garage-tinged new EP, Shea. Currently based in London, the Northern Irish producer’s latest, three-track release is the culmination of its lead track being streamed early last year via Soundcloud. It features kaleidoscopic sleeve art by Nia at Star Fu and was mastered by Bob Macc at Subvert Central Mastering. Stream the EP via Bandcamp below. Shea EP by Boxcutter
Officially launched on Friday, July 18 at Belfast’s Flow Yoga Studio, we’re very pleased to present an exclusive first-look at the video for ‘Border Blood’, the new single by Belfast-based band Arborist. The lead single from the Mark McCambridge-fronted band’s debut album, Home Burial, the track was recorded by Ben McAuley – also a member of the band – at Belfast’s Start Together Studios. Several local musicians – including core members McAuley, Richard Hill and James Heaney, as well as the likes of violinist Luke Bannon and trumpeter Linley Hamilton – perform on the song. The video was shot and edited by…
Derry garage-punk singer-songwriter Shannon O’Neill AKA Sister Ghost have unveiled the video for her debut single, ‘Scent’. Recorded by Russell Matbouli at Belfast’s Resonate Studio, the track is the first outing from multi-instrumentalist O’Neill, previously of Belfast-based three-piece Vanilla Gloom. The track – accompanied with an acoustic demo of the debut single – is available to stream/purchase via Bandcamp. Check that and the video for the track out below. Scent by Sister Ghost
Having caught our ear a few months back, Donegal producer Keith Mannion AKA SlowPlaceLikeHome has released his second single proper, the beguiling ‘Luna’. Lifted from Mannion’s forthcoming debut album, titled Romola, the track is a wonderfully phantasmal release, capturing a more fleshed-out, concentrated songwriting approach. Romola is released via August 11th via Bluestack Records. Stream SlowPlaceLikeHome via Soundcloud below.
The follow-up to their double single ‘Threnody for Vengaboyz/Snake Charmin’, self-proclaimed “chamber punk” four-piece Robocobra Quartet have made their latest double single, ‘Artbook Flipping/Spring Rounds’, available as a Pay as You Like download. A heady and compelling sonic concoction evoking Soul Coughing, Gil Scott-Heron, Charles Mingus, Allen Ginsberg, Isotope 217, John Zorn and Rage Against The Machine, the quartet’s blend of hip-hop, jazz, beat poetry-inspired vocals (courtesy of drummer/vocalist Chris Ryan) and improvisational noise is captured very nicely over the two tracks, alliterative throwdowns blending with frenetic sax overtures and some wonderfully boss bass work. Stream/download the double-single via Abbreviated Records on…
Belfast electro-indie three piece LORIS have released their second single ‘Do It Right’, the follow up to their debut single ‘I’ve Been Quiet’. Together since 2013, the band once again give us their own brand of thoughtful indie-pop that’s not too dissimilar to the likes of Skibunny or Little Boots. Albeit with a more upbeat atmosphere than their previous single you can stream and download it for free via their Bandcamp page. Listen to the new single ‘Do It Right’ below. Do It Right by LORIS
One for fans of abstracted, hip-hop inflected ambient noise, Belfast-based musician James Bruce AKA Oaks has released his eight-track debut album, Safe Haven. Calling to mind everyone from Mouse and Mars, Labradford and The Books to Tortoise, Exploding Orchestra and Boards of Canada, the album – recorded in different locations but predominantly Bruce’s home – melds found sounds and samples with scattered beats, brass and strings to form an impressive, nicely hypnotic mid-point between drifting melancholia and bold experimentalism. The artwork for the released – arranged by Bruce, also drummer with Belfast prog band Kasper Rosa – features a photo taken by Tom McGeehan. Stream Safe Haven via Bandcamp…
Taking place across the weekend of August 1-3, the wonderfully intimate and unaffected Forfey Festival returns to Forfey Farm near Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh with one of its strongest line-ups to date. As ever, homegrown folk and acoustic acts make up the majority of this year’s line-up, but there is also a wide range of electronic and rock artists – everyone from Hornets to Affleck – performing across the festival’s three days. With more acts still to be announced, the current line-up is: Callum Stewart, Beulah Kim, Wonder Villains, Travis Is A Tourist, The Emerald Armada, Skeletons, Rupture Dogs, RAMS’ Pocket Radio, More Than…
Ahead of their debut EP launch on Wednesday night, Belfast-based three-pieceFLAWS have released their video for their first single, ‘Feels Like Home’. Evoking the stadium-worthy melodic rock of In Case of Fire – a band that two thirds of FLAWS, Steven Robinson and Thomas Camblin, were once members – the track is an infectious three-and-a-half minutes of melodic alt-rock, redolent of a certain increasingly bygone sound of in Northern Irish music, Indeed, according to the band’s label, OLD FANG, FLAWS “pack a welcome punch not seen in Belfast this side of the late-noughties banjo haze”. A battle cry in favour of…