• Cardboard Gangsters

    June 23, 2017 - By 

    Cardboard Gangsters is an Irish crime drama from writer/director Mark O’Connor (King Of The Travellers) that tells a story familiar to fans of gangland movies, running through all the stereotypes and cliches that come with this oversaturated genre (which tend, in fairness, to be accurate). Thankfully the filmmakers have still managed to create a plausible and socially relevant film with an authentic grittiness and suitably dark premise, one bolstered by a strong lead performance from co-writer John Connors (Love/Hate). On the tough Darndale council estate in Dublin, four twenty-somethings, led by local DJ and hard lad, Jay Connolly (Connors) live…

  • Night Drive – Night Drive

    June 22, 2017 - By 

    There’s nothing quite like an album that manages to fuse the past with the present, and even the future for that matter. Rodney Connell and Brandon Duhon, the Texas-based, future-wave duo better known as Night Drive do just that with their new self-titled, debut album. The pair first met when when the woman they were both dating died in a car crash. Neither knew the other before the accident, but from this inauspicious encounter stemmed something very powerful indeed. Their sound, a time machine of sorts, combines elements of 80s synth-pop with futuristically dynamic instrumentation, while brilliantly remaining both sleek and…

  • The Jimmy Cake – Tough Love

    June 22, 2017 - By 

    Experimental kosmiche post-punks The Jimmy Cake release their sixth album Tough Love on July 14 through the respected Irish indie label Penske Recordings. Formed as a 10-piece in Dublin back in 2000 from the ashes of experimental noiseniks Das Madman, they’ve had a revolving lineup, recording – the last being 2015’s Master. Tough Love was written for a one-off performance in Dublin arts space The Joinery in 2015, with two distinct movements and styles – blending their usual krauty psychedelia with some stoner groove. Check out ‘Observatory Destroyer‘. The Jimmy Cake launch Tough Love at the Grand Social on July 8, and tickets are priced at €13 from Billetto,…

  • RMCK – RMCK

    June 20, 2017 - By 

    Anonymous, instrumental, distorted banjo looping project RMCK has just released their self-titled debut EP through Solid Choice Industries. The EP was recorded in Belfast’s Start Together Studios by Rocky O’Reilly, with engineer Ben McAuley on drums. Hypnotic & swirling, the music could broadly fall under the banner of math or post-rock but falls into fewer of its trappings, being much more intuitive and less maximalist – the work of one lone artist who remains unidentified. Solid Choice claim to know their identity but wish to protect their anonymity – colour us very intrigued as to whether they make the move to live…

  • Kevin Morby – City Music

    June 20, 2017 - By 

    If one thing about Kevin Morby’s latest LP, City Music, immediately leaps out, it’s the sense of playfulness. The album is not light and fluffy by any means, but there is this unflappable feeling of spontaneity and glee that instantly grabs your attention. This is the fourth solo outing from The Babies’ frontman. Like his 2016 effort, Singing Saw, the album is a mixture of folk quiet intensity and some rollicking good rock music. While it never becomes a great collection, it is one of the more thoroughly and consistently pleasant and enjoyable releases of the year. As mentioned before,…

  • Submissions Open For Hard Working Class Heroes 2017

    June 20, 2017 - By 

    The country’s leading annual celebration of homegrown, independent music, Hard Working Class Heroes will return to Dublin from September 28-30. With less acts set to appear this year, the festival are now taking submissions via here. According to the festival, “HWCH is an event with a proven pedigree when it comes to showcasing new and exciting talent. The key difference is that international agents, festival bookers, record labels, publishers, managers, event curators, journalists, editors, radio DJs and taste-makers come to HWCH to find new Irish acts only The closing date to apply is July 14.