• Album stream: Women’s Christmas – Too Rich For Our Blood

    October 13, 2014 - By 

    In his review of the album in the first issue of our physical magazine – out now – Mike McGrath Bryan called Too Rich For Our Blood, the debut album by Dublin indie-rock trio Women’s Christmas “an enjoyable excursion into the pop sensibilities of its constituent parts.” And that it is. Comprised of members from Villagers, Jogging and I Heart the Monster Hero, the band have delivered on what came across in our Inbound feature with them back in February. If you like your lo-fi catchy and your catchiness lo-fi, this is well worth a listen. Women’s Christmas will play…

  • Album premiere: Meb Jon Sol – Southpaw Niños

    October 13, 2014 - By 

    Belfast-based folk singer-songwriter Michael McCullagh AKA Meb Jon Sol has been on something of a far-reaching musical expedition since his Colenso Parade days. A far cry musically from the starry-eyed indie pop of the latter – now defunct – Omagh five-piece, McCullagh’s debut solo album bears the lyrical and thematic imprint of wisdom and experience throughout, each track underpinned by the inner workings of wanderlust or quixotic wondering. Preceded by “yeo!”-generating singles ‘Leave All Your Troubles With Me‘ and ‘Captain of this Ship‘, Southpaw Niños strikes a keen balance between self-reflection and knowingly cavalier abandon, McCullagh’s quasi-mystical, eager tales of the open road and distant…

  • A Brief History of Post-Punk

    October 10, 2014 - By 

    Unlike many genres of music susceptible to the prefix ‘post-’, post-punk stems from largely traceable foundations. Just as the first wave of punk rock formed via so-called ‘protopunk’ pioneers in Velvet Underground, The Stooges and MC5, post-punk represented the inevitable manifestation of punk rock’s reaction against itself. In other words, despite what it apparently implies, post-punk did not arrive ‘after’ punk: it formed and co-existed alongside it, mirroring its DIY values whilst looking towards a more rigorous aesthetic of artistic complexity beyond punk’s stripped-back musical revolution. Whilst not exactly an outright ‘Year Zero’ or some pre-determined period of rebirth at…

  • Watch: Le Galaxie – Carmen

    October 10, 2014 - By 

    If you weren’t one of the lucky few to witness its launch at Dublin’s Workman’s Club last night, check out Le Galaxie’s video for ‘Carmen’ (featuring Fight Like Apes‘ May Kay and comprised of fan footage) below. We’re fans.

  • Watch: Cal Folger Day – Homez-a-Place

    October 9, 2014 - By 

    The first single to be taken from her new EP, Adornament, Dublin-based New York artist Cal Folger Day has released the wistful, minimalistic ‘Homez-a-Place’. As with her previous EP, Drom-d’reau, the rudiments of Adornament were recorded on an 8-track in Woodstock, New York. According to Folger Day, “Those analog frameworks were then frankensteined to vocal takes captured in Brooklyn and Dublin”. The track – pieced together by Forest Walker Christenson in Columbus, Ohio – features violins, drum machines, guitars, wurlitzer and vocals, evoking the likes of Julia Holter, Lisa O’Neill and Belfast-based musician Caroline Pugh. Watch the video below.  

  • Gigs of the Week: The High Dials, Sea Pinks LP Launch, Slow Skies, Skymas etc.

    October 8, 2014 - By 

    Slow Skies @ The Sugar Club, Dublin – Wednesday, October 8 Having released their slick, elegiac Keepsake EP at the tail-end of last month, fast-rising Dublin dream-pop duo Slow Skies will surely spellbind Dublin’s Sugar Club on Wednesday, October 8. Catch them before they go positively stratospheric.   Fox Jaw, Gascan Ruckus, Th Greased Palm @ Voodoo, Belfast – Thursday, October 9 Limerick band Fox Jaw (recently abbreviated from Fox Jaw Bounty Hunters) bring their gloomy alt-rock up North for the Belfast launch of their new album, Ghost’s Parades, at Voodoo on Thursday night. Belfast-based acts Gascan Ruckus and The Greased Palm make…

  • Premiere: Edward F Butler – Running From Fears

    October 7, 2014 - By 

    Originally from London, Belfast-based musician and filmmaker Edward F Butler first made his mark here with the now defunct HOWL, a genre-spanning outfit driven by Butler’s soulful, nigh on beatific vocals. Going several steps further – both in sound and scope – the artist’s debut single, ‘Running From Fears’, is an extremely impressive first gambit, marrying Butler’s idiosyncratic electro-acoustic music with his extraordinary vocals. Conjuring the likes of James Vincent McMorrow, James Blake and Nina Simone, they serve as a transformative centre-piece of a sound bearing the hallmarks of resounding inspiration. And if that wasn’t enough to convince you of his talents, Butler –…

  • Download: Princess – Molly

    October 7, 2014 - By 

    Another highlight from Hard Working Class Heroes festival at the weekend, Dublin noise-pop band Princess have released the bewitching ‘Molly’, the follow-up to their breakthrough single ‘Neverlook’, released back in June. A spectre-weaving, superbly slow-burning eight minutes of astrally-inclined rapture, the single evokes the likes of Bardo Pond, Galaxie 500, Beach House and fellow Irish sonicosmonauts The Altered Hours‘ more subtle efforts. Expect it to feature quite highly in our annual Best Irish Tracks End of Year list in December. Stream/download ‘Molly’ – produced by the band, engineered by Ian McNulty and mixed by Solar Bears’ Rian Trench – via Bandcamp below. Molly by Princess

  • Watch: Ciaran Lavery – Orphan

    October 6, 2014 - By 

    Having played a triumphant set at Dublin’s Grand Social as part of Hard Working Class Heroes festival at the weekend, Aghagallon singer-songwriter Ciaran Lavery has unveiled the decidedly cathartic video for his new single, ‘Orphan’. Created by ROC, the minimalist visual accompaniment features a few anonymous individuals baring themselves to the camera, a theme introduced in Lavery’s video for ‘Left For America’. Propelled by the Northern Irish songsmith’s instantly-recognisable husky vocals and progressively experimental alt-folk approach, ‘Orphan’ is the closing song on Kosher, Lavery’s latest EP. Stream/buy that here. Watch the video for ‘Orphan’ below.

  • Inbound: Jess Kav

    October 6, 2014 - By 

    In the latest installment of Inbound, Brian Coney talks to multi-talented Dublin singer Jessica Kavanagh AKA Jess Kav about everything from her early influences, studying jazz in college, performing as part of Hozier’s band and her hugely eclectic musical journey to date. Hi Jess. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your background in music? I’m Jess Kav and I am a professional singer in Dublin. I started off in a stage school when I was younger, then got into the live scene from about eighteen. Since then I have been working with an array of different bands. They…