Dublin indie rock noisenik duo Not I are back with ‘At The Beach’, the second single taken from their forthcoming debut album – reportedly due next year. Produced by Christopher Barry at Ailfionn Studio and artwork from Linden Pomeroy, it conjures the no-peak malaise of The Microphones and Pavement at their most jittery. A singularly voiced lyricist, Thomas O’Reilly’s vaguely-pitched Lee Ranaldo-esque sing-talk has never been more convincing. Listen below:
Limerick ambient and experimental electronic producer Paddy Mulcahy has shared a video for ‘Sunset Connoisseur’. Lifted from his new album, ‘How To Disappear’, the track is a delicate work of muffled piano motifs, dusty percussion and warm atmospherics. The nostalgic visual pairing comes coutresy of Dublin based director Dave Fox. “The song instantly struck a nostalgic chord with me,” says Fox of the video. “There’s a texture within Paddy’s music that has grit and grain and I thought that shooting on film would be the perfect way to compliment that sound. I recently inherited a super 8 camera that had…
Ahead of our annual Top 50 Irish Releases of the Year (that is to say EPs, compilations, reissues & albums) list later this week, we’re counting down our Top 100 Irish Tracks of 2019 daily. While we always say it, we had a hard time cutting down the list – however, we hope this list will highlight the ongoing mission to promote island-wide solidarity between musicians and listeners alike, turning you on to something you otherwise might never have listened to, whether that be hip-hop loaded with kitchen sink realism, fist-clenched DIY LK indie rock, boundary-crushing experimental composition, or any flavour in between. And rather than giving the game away too soon, we’ve opted for the age-old descending option, starting with 100-76. Dig…
Dublin three-piece Ronan Jackson, Nigel Farrelly and Christopher Barry aka Like Chandeliers have been concocting supremely sleepy sounds since 2016. Doubling up as their latest and greatest effort to date, new single ‘Scars’ is a wonderfully balmy dose of dream-pop, marrying broad, Badalamentian washes of synth with twinkling arps and Kranky-worthy, spoken-word vocals. Think Devotion-era Beach House, playing in the corner in a back room of the Bang Bang Bar, quietly relaying the heart-stung pangs and unknowability of it all in super slo-mo. It’s something Rita Macedo’s beautifully understated visuals for the track taps into and then some. Have a first listen and look below.
Dundalk’s finest Just Mustard with support from Enola Gay at Voodoo in Belfast. Photos by Colm Laverty
As with last year, it’s been another stellar for Irish compilations. From Live @ Fennor Lane and Buntús Rince: Explorations in Irish Jazz, Fusion & Folk 1969-81 in the first half of the year, to Cítog Records Vol. 4 and Wacker That! by Belfast imprint Touch Sensitive in the second, we’ve been gifted all kinds of carefully-compiled, far-reaching sounds from labels, producers and collectives right across the island. Joining the list, right on the cusp of 2020, is How Bazaar, the seventh installment of Limerick imprint-of-sorts Unscene’s consistently rewarding compilation series. And what a trove it is, too. Offering up sounds that span drone, turntablism, hip-hop, improve, noise,…
Northern Ireland’s premiere music & arts festival, Limavady’s multi-award-winning Stendhal holds its tenth edition over the weekend of 6th-8th August 2020. Its organisers have just announced the re-opening of musical submission – with many of last year’s most prominent names [SOAK, Roe, Ryan McMullan] initially coming to their attention in previous years through the submission process. Festival Director Ross Parkhill said “We welcome submissions from acts in every genre, every age, every background, every level of experience. If you play music we want to hear from you. 2020 is a benchmark year for us, a real milestone for Stendhal and we want to make it as memorable as possible for all…
“Nice one, I can tell we’re gonna have a great night. Loving the air drumming too!” are the first words frontman Adam Thompson utters early doors. There’s an obvious likeability factor that oozes from Thompson, with his laidback and up for a laugh persona clear for all to see. Edinburgh’s We Were Promised Jetpacks are now into their sixteenth year and have returned to Dublin as part of the ten-year anniversary of their debut album These Four Walls. Thompson is accompanied by Sean Smith (bass) and Darren Lackie (drums), with former Frightened Rabbit member Andy Monaghan currently part of their…
Talk about a first line-up announcement. Kendrick Lamar, Tyler, The Creator and A$AP Rocky are among the first names announced to play next year’s Longitude festival. Returning to Marlay Park in Dublin across July 3-5, the festival have also revealed the following in the first line-up announcement: J Hus, AJ Tracey, Young Thug, Dababy, Aitch, Playboi Carti, Lil Tecca, Mabel, Charli CXC, Jay1, Earthgang, Pop Smoke, IDK and Santi. More acts are to be announced. See the day-by-day headliner breakdown below. Friday July 3rd: Kendrick Lamar & J Hus Saturday July 4th: Tyler, The Creator & AJ Tracey Sunday July…
To say that it’s been a busy 2019 for Belfast’s Alpha Chrome Yayo would be something of an understatement. The one-man, full-blown synthwave whizz has very kindly drip-fed us a string of masterfully shapeshifting releases, from Lithobreakin‘ and Malediction Boulevard, to Komorebi and After Dinner Cigar last month. And what better way to round off 2019 than with Twirl, ACY’s new, ten-track album? This is the part where we normally wax lyrical about a release but, in this instance, we’ll happily defer to the artist, who sums up the release as so: With a sound-palette straight out of the Encarta era, it’s…