• Annabelle: Creation

    August 8, 2017 - By 

    Someone call a priest. It’s last rites time. Studio horror is dead, or at least consistent in its undeadness; zombie movies, creaking bags of tricks with empty centres, haunted bodies without spirit. Warner Bros’ prequel-spinoff Annabelle: Creation, which sets up the origin story for the titular haunted doll of 2014’s lifeless Annabelle, confirms this. The latest offshoot from James Wan’s highly successful, ever expanding The Conjuring franchise (future releases include The Conjuring 3 and spinoffs The Nun and The Crooked Man), Creation is a box-ticking exercise with zero dread and a reminder of how essential the personalities of Patrick Wilson…

  • Loner Deluxe – Songs I Taped Off The Radio

    August 8, 2017 - By 

    The only way to discover something truly new in music is to experience it without any preconceptions as to what it could encompass. Remove all your expectations, clear your mind of any niggling biases, shut yourself off from any stimuli that could interfere and truly immerse yourself. It’s advice we could all do well to follow, but when the occasional press release promises the birthplace of a brand new genre it’s near impossible to stop your mind spinning with all possibilities of what’s about to happen. Songs I Taped Off The Radio, the second album by Galway-based Loner Deluxe does…

  • Premiere: Joey Gavin – Rolf/Run

    August 8, 2017 - By 

    No stranger to provocative, accessibly experimental indie rock, the latest two-track from Thumper‘s Joey Gavin is called Rolf/Run, released on 7″ through prolific Irish DIY label Little L Records (Shamir, Homeshake, Alex Calder, Syd Kemp etc.). It’s a catchy psych-pop number whose acid-dripped King Gizzard-lite melody belies a more acerbic message, veiling a darkness even The Zombies would nary have attempted. It’s framed, as you might have guessed, around the shortcomings of institutional hierarchies, and the abuse of power that they’ve given rise to, without forgetting to check ourselves for letting it happen; evenly, he also explores the shortcomings of the witch-hunt that can, and does take place, it’s…

  • Caroline Says – 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t be Wrong

    August 7, 2017 - By 

    Growing up in Alabama, Caroline Sallee (aka Caroline Says) wasn’t within reaching distance of the formidable west coast. After college, she became a waitress in Yellowstone as an exercise in solitude and isolation, saving up to complete a journey of transfiguration along the aforementioned path. She returned to Alabama to record 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t be Wrong in her parents basement, a debut album that captures the melancholic loneliness of such a journey within its nine tracks, just shy of 30 minutes. The thoughts that Caroline Says convey in this initial release are all felt in a passing manner. It’s…

  • Chirpy – Real Life

    August 7, 2017 - By 

    Rebecca Shannon, AKA Chirpy, is long due her time in the sun. Having been involved in various outfits and guises for much of the last decade, the Dublin native is owed acclaim. Her understanding of music is evident with her latest EP, Real Life. The release, which she wrote, recorded and produced, demonstrates her control over how she wants her work to be put forth. It’s delicate and raw with some truly gorgeous arrangements to boot. While it won’t set the world ablaze, it’s an extremely convincing attempt. At six tracks and a remix, it’s a tidy a little package which…

  • Watch: Alien She – Solitary

    August 5, 2017 - By 

    Bearing the sonic imprint of everyone from Patti Smith and Sonic Youth to Joy Division and The Cure, ‘Solitary’ by Dublin three-piece Alien She is hands down their strongest and most compelling single effort to date. Set to feature on their forthcoming debut album Feeler – which is set for release via the excellent Art For Blind in the Autumn – it’s a spectral, solipsistic affair, whose lo-fi tone and tangents marry nicely with the track’s accompanying visuals. Edited by the band’s guitarist/vocalist Katie O’Neill, check out the video below. Revisit our 17 For ’17 piece with the band here. Check out our…

  • Watch: Meljoann – Private World (Live)

    August 4, 2017 - By 

    You know what’s great and extremely re-watchable? This brand new live video of Irish producer, DJ and musician Meljoann performing ‘Private World’. Featuring a nice range of instruments and interfaces (namely Ableton Live, Akai LPD-8, MOTU Ultralite mk-3, JoeMeek threeQ, Alesis Vortex Wireless Keytar, and a guitar for all your gear heads), it is – as top comment on the video accurately sums up – a “deliriously fantastic” rendition, conjuring the likes of Prince and Janet Jackson fed through a prism of darkly electro sounds. THAT SOLO.

  • Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

    August 4, 2017 - By 

    Modern blockbuster film-making is calling out for a new The Fifth Element, but Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets isn’t it. Two decades after Luc Besson’s classically garish retro-future space opera, he’s returned to the same aesthetic; it’s another summer film based on a comic book, sure, but not what you would expect. Valerian is based on the French comic series Valérian and Laureline, written by Pierre Christin and illustrated by Jean-Claude Mézières, which began its run in the pre-Star Wars sixties. Besson, a long-time fan of the series, obviously drew on it for 1997’s weirdo favourite, and…