• Beyond The Divide: An Interview with Pat Dam Smyth

    March 29, 2016 - By 

    There are few more inimitable and instantly engaging songsmiths than London-based, Northern Irish troubadour Pat Dam Smyth. Five years on from the release of his stellar debut album, The Great Divide, Smyth is currently crowdfunding for its forthcoming follow-up via Pledge Music, a release that will surely doubly confirm his standing as one of the country’s most distinctive and vital voices. Ahead of shows at Belfast’s The MAC on Friday, April 1 and Rathfriland’s Bronte Church on April 2, Smyth chats to Brian Coney about his pledge campaign, touring across Europe and finally feeling he belongs to the current era.…

  • Not Just Feeding a Scene: An Interview with Chad Ubovich of Meatbodies

    March 25, 2016 - By 

    Fronted by Chad Ubovich who has worked with the likes of Ty Segall, John Dwyer and Mikal Cronin, Meatbodies are embedded in California’s idiosyncratic garage rock revival.  Much like the bands connected to the aforementioned names – and they are plentiful – Meatbodies blend pop influences with heavier elements such as noise rock, metal and psych. This is evidenced in the other bands Chad Ubovic has worked with, from the sunny disposition of Mikal Cronin’s band mixed with the dark, dense sounds of Ty Segall’s, Fuzz, which is heavily indebted to Black Sabbath. Meatbodies rest somewhere between these two bands, exhibiting a…

  • Stream: Participant – Leave Me Here

    March 25, 2016 - By 

    Last October we were very impressed by ‘A Change’ by Dublin-based musician Stephen Tiernan AKA Participant. Smitten by the track’s “curious, otherworld charm”, our verdict could well be – and is, in fact – equally applicable to his new single, ‘Leave Me Here’, a wonderfully nuanced effort traversing more brooding, inward-looking territory for the artist. An sublime outtake from his November, 2015 EP Content, Tiernan said, “[Its] lyrical ideas had served as the blueprint for Content for a long time. A fear of progress and happiness, the idea that you might need to struggle as an artist. I shouldn’t have been surprised when…

  • Album stream: exmagician – Scan The Blue

    March 25, 2016 - By 

    Having delivered a blinding set as part of our Output showcase with Nialler9 back in February, Belfast’s exmagician also featured as one of our 16 For ’16 acts back in early January. Re-launching from the embers of Cashier No. 9, Danny Todd, James Smith and co. fully  command in their psych-soaked, decidedly mesmerizing indie rock realm more than ever before, a fact perfectly illuminated on their debut album, Scan The Blue, which is released via Bella Union today. Buy it here and stream it in full via Spotify below.

  • Stream: Ryan Vail – Mirrors

    March 25, 2016 - By 

    Having successfully completed a pledge campaign to ensure the release of his forthcoming debut album, For Every Silence, Derry musician Ryan Vail is streaming one of its highlights, ‘Mirrors’. An all-too-brief, electro-ambient effort recalling the Jon Hopkins at his most reticent, balmy beats and broad washes of synth entangle over the track’s three odd minutes, acting as a bed upon Vail’s spoken omnipresence firmly takes centre-stage. You can still pre-order For Every Silence via Vail’s pledge page here.

  • Psykick Dancehall No. 2: Laura Sheeran, Bad Bones & Katharine Philippa

    March 22, 2016 - By 

    Almost a year on from featuring as the cover artist on the eighth issue of our physical magazine (which you can revisit here) Laura Sheeran will headline the next Psykick Dancell at Dublin’s Bello Bar on Saturday, April 2. Co-presented by The Thin Air and Medium Presents, the show will also feature two more of the country’s most exciting acts, Belfast’s Katharine Philippa and Dublin producer Sal Stapleton AKA Bad Bones. That’s three of the country’s very best dark experimental pop artists for just €6/7. Event page here.

  • Video Premiere: Contour – Oppression

    March 22, 2016 - By 

    “All too often, women are stuck in a vicious cycle of low self-esteem, depression, eating disorders, sexual harassment and addiction as a result of negative gender stereotypes and body image oppression enforced by the patriarchal system and the media. As the dust settles on another Paddy’s day we have had a taste of what is to come as the days grow longer. This video depicts a snapshot of an inebriated adventure around a sunny Dublin city. The song is like the stream of thought of the wild spirit who tries to negotiate the issues related to this cycle within the confines…

  • Beauty From the Dark: An Interview with Blanck Mass

    March 21, 2016 - By 

    When he’s not mustering majestic noise as one half of Fuck Buttons, Benjamin John Power has, for the last five years, been producing his own powerful, synth-heavy sounds as Blanck Mass. Having released one of 2015’s most wonderfully challenging and downright rewarding full-length listens in Dumb Flesh, he has firmly established himself as a conjurer to be reckoned with in the realm of bracingly euphoric dark electronica. Ahead of debut Irish solo shows at Belfast’s Black Box on April 1 and Dublin’s Grand Social on April 2, Brian Coney chats to Power about his thirst for discovery, remixing John Carpenter, the imprint of…

  • Premiere: Oh Joy – Habits & Recreations

    March 21, 2016 - By 

    Recorded with Liam Mulvaney at Bow Lane Studio, the forthcoming self-titled EP by Dublin alt-rock band Oh Joy faithfully throws back whilst keeping a fixed eye on the present-day, fuzzed-out ruminations. Counting the likes of Pixies, Elliott Smith and DIIV amongst their main influences, there’s an authenticity to the trio’s intent-drenched throwdowns, not least on the EP’s lead single ‘Habits & Recreations’, which we’re pleased to premiere here. Oh Joy will be released at the end of the month.

  • Independents In Paris: Cracki Records

    March 21, 2016 - By 

    In the latest installment of Independents in Paris, Tom McGeehan pops into the HQ of Parisian imprint Cracki Records to discuss and trace their five years in the indie game. For those unfamiliar with Cracki Records, can you tell us a little bit about where the label came from and how it came to exist? Whilst doing a scooter tour of France, we met Flo, who works for a label called ‘Dawn’. He explained how their label works, from starting out to making it a success. A few months later, we ended up in India, which was a big influence…