• Watch: The Shaker Hymn – Sucking It Out

    December 8, 2015 - By 

    Having supported Gaz Coombes at Cyprus Avenue on Saturday night – an apt local/international pairing if there ever was one – Cork four-piece The Shaker Hymn look back on a two month U.S. road trip as the spur for their de facto formation in 2012 having made “rudimentary teenage noises” since 2005. To say the least, the imprint of this rather curious, drawn-out gestation period shines through on the band’s new single, ‘Sucking It Out’. Revealing a band who seem to know each other’s musical anatomy inside out, it’s a perfectly discriminating release, tipping its hat to the likes of QOTSA’s more undemanding, subtly swaggering…

  • Stream: The Altered Hours – Silver Leather

    December 8, 2015 - By 

    Unveiled with a string of European dates for Spring – including a Belfast show hosted by yours truly on Friday, February 26 – Cork five-piece The Altered Hours will release their hugely anticipated debut album, In Heat Not Sorry, via Art For Blind and Penske Recording on January 29. The second single to be taken from that, five-minute cut ‘Silver Leather’ reveals the more rapt and ruminative side to the band, evincing a woozy netherworld full of brilliant restraint and shoegaze-leaning dark psych wonder. Stream the track and check out the band’s forthcoming tour dates below. Sat 19th Dec – Connolly’s of Leap, Co. Cork (IE)…

  • Watch: i am niamh – Creep

    December 7, 2015 - By 

    Evoking the likes of Julia Holter and Kate Bush, Dublin singer-songwriter Niamh Parkinson AKA i am niamh has unveiled the video for her sublime new single, ‘Creep’. Showing how far a simple set-up can be stretched to great effect, the video – directed by Aidan Duffy – features the fast-rising, classically-trained Parkinson in positively phantasmal form. Check out the video and i am niamh’s debut album Wonderland below.

  • Mixtape: 30 Years of Dinosaur Jr.

    December 7, 2015 - By 

    Currently celebrating their grand 30th anniversary with a seven-night run at the Bowery, Dinosaur Jr. have long laid claim to being bona fide indie rock dignitaries. From their 1985 self-titled debut as Dinosaur and almighty 87-89 heyday to Lou Barlow’s acrimonious departure shortly thereafter and the founding threesome of Barlow, J Mascis and Murph’s Second Coming in 2007, they have time and again re-asserted their peerless status. With every glorious hook, “Come on down/over” and fuzzed out, wailing guitar solo in mind, we’ve compiled a thirty-track Spotify playlist of our very favourite Dinosaur Jr. songs in chronological order. Check it out and keep up…

  • Premiere: Wake America – Government Said

    December 7, 2015 - By 

    When he’s not making truly wonderful music as Best Boy Grip, Derry singer-songwriter Eoin O’Callaghan is channeling another side to his broad alt-pop wizardry as Wake America. Taking from Silly Boy – his forthcoming debut EP in this guise – we’re very pleased to premiere ‘Government Said’, a track that falls very, very comfortably the impossibly infectious bracket. One listen and you’ll be hooked – mark our words. Written, produced, mixed and mastered by O’Callaghan, watch the video for the new single (featuring footage from Cosmos: War of The Planets) below. You can catch Wake America in Lavery’s Belfast on Tuesday, December 15 with Guillem…

  • Premiere: The Irish Youth Music Awards Volume 8

    December 4, 2015 - By 

    Back in April, we took part in the voting process of this year’s Irish Youth Music Awards at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium. A hugely encouraging, jam-packed day of genre-spanning music and performance from some of our country’s best budding talent, it fully reinforced the importance of grassroots educational programmes that extend a platform to homegrown artists in the making. Eight months on, we’re pleased to present a premiere of The IYMAs Volume 8, a five-track release featuring participating acts from Louth – Jake Mc Ardle, Kate Rogers and Bobby Bankole – the recipient region of this year’s IYMAs. The album also features a track from…

  • Stream: Paddy Hanna – Chocolate and Salt

    December 1, 2015 - By 

    To say Dublin’s Paddy Hanna is on a bit of a roll would be a towering understatement. Off the back of November’s sublime ‘Underprotected‘ – hands down one of our favourite Irish tracks of the year – and a string of Irish dates with Girl Band, he has unveiled the bobbing and brilliant mastery of ‘Chocolate and Salt’, the b-side to the aforementioned single. Described by Hanna as “an ode to self-doubt, a story of embracing worth, while mourning the loss of a sorrow which once defined you” it’s another solid, pathos-laden pop effort from the artist, summoning Summertime disconnection in perfectly restrained…