• Stream: Leo Drezden – A Place For You and I/Neo Tolkien

    April 7, 2020 - By 

    It’s been a while since we heard from Leo Drezden. Comprising Rian Trench, Steve McKinney, Dan Le Bolloc’h and Chris Con, the band’s shapeshifting brand of heavy prog instrumentalism has long defied comparison, which is why their return – not least in such trying and unprecedented times – comes not a second too soon. Comprising two tracks clocking in at just over ten minutes, Leo Drezden Present is a suitably emphatic brace from the Irish quartet. While opener, the wonderfully widescreen ‘A Place For You and I’ marries jazz, prog and electronic for a first-rate, Brainfeeder-y trip, ‘Neo Tolkien’ is an ambitious and equally interstellar effort that,…

  • Stream: Squarehead – Radiation Vibe (Fountains of Wayne cover)

    April 2, 2020 - By 

    Among the many tributes pouring in for Fountains of Wayne bassist Adam Schlesinger, who has tragically passed aged 52 from coronavirus, Roy Duffy of Dublin indie-rock threesome par excellence Squarehead has offered up something special. Recorded in memory of Schlesinger, Duffy’s rendition of Fountain of Wayne’s debut single, ‘Radiation Vibe,’ feels like the sonic equivalent of a perfectly drawn-out embrace with someone you thought you’d never see again. “I came late to the realisation that I was a big fan of Adam Schlesinger’s work,’ Duffy said. “Maybe about 10 years ago when I began writing my own “song songs” in earnest I delved into anything that…

  • Ciaran Lavery Announces New LP, Unveils ‘Count To Ten’

    March 27, 2020 - By 

    Not exactly one to rest on his laurels, TTA favourite Ciaran Lavery has been extra busy as of late. Quite likely the only musician from the small Co. Antrim parish of Aghagallon currently active and based in Brighton, the 33-year-old has just revealed details of his forthcoming fourth album, Plz Stay, bb. The follow-up to 2018’s inspired Sweet Decay, it is, we are reliably informed, a full-length release bearing the imprint of everything from Thom Yorke’s The Eraser and Mitski’s Be The Cowboy to Beastie Boys classic Ill Communication. To accompany the news, Lavery has unveiled easily one of his compelling singles to date. Bolstered by…

  • EP Stream: Perlee – Slow Creature

    March 27, 2020 - By 

    Late last year, we were pleased to host Maija Sofia’s introduction to Saramai Leech and Cormac O’Keefe aka Perlee. An Irish-bred dream-pop duo based in Berlin, the fast-rising duo’s creative process and broader impetus as a recording duo came to the fore in a revealing exchange. Five months on and the pair have officially released their debut EP, the sublime, and suitably slow-burning Slow Creature. Including new single and opener ‘Conditions to Thrive’, it’s singularly elegiac release, melding minimalist alt-pop songwriting with balmy textures and nigh on filmic lyricism. If you’re fond of artists like Mazzy Star, Julee Cruise, Low, Weyes Blood and Portishead at their most restrained, expect…

  • Mixtape Premiere: Acid Granny – Just Be Hoors

    March 27, 2020 - By 

    One of a handful of Irish acts that we recently singled out as being destined for special things in 2020 and beyond, Dublin’s perfectly unpigeonholeable Acid Granny have wasted no time in making their very own brand of face-searing, genre-flaunting shock-and-awe heard. Stocking more bangers than a mid-Ulster fireworks dealer come October, their freeform explorations via the time-untested medium of drum kit and electrified shopping trolley will, if you allow them, yield demented patterns and ecstatic locked grooves à la Afrika Bambaataa on sneachta and Zach Hill being flung down a flight of stairs. Intrigued? Daunted? Barely keeping it together after a couple of weeks in the gaff? Look no further than…

  • Video Premiere: Gnarkats – Dreamers

    March 27, 2020 - By 

    Among the many Irish acts to give us some insight into how they’re coping in this unchartered era of self-isolation, Belfast trio Gnarkats know a thing or two about looking on the bright side. On singles such as ‘Take Me Away’, ‘War Cry’ and ‘Enigma’, the band’s slick brand of indie-pop has always felt unapologetically optimistic and forward-looking to its core. Rather than wallow or peer collectively inwards, Louis Nelson, Jordan Evans and Stuart Robinson instead opt to wield hope via their craft. Which is to say, their thoroughly idealistic new single ‘Dreamers’ couldn’t have arrived at a better time. Distilling Gnarkats’…

  • A Problem Shared: How The Irish Music Community is Navigating Self-Isolation

    March 25, 2020 - By 

    A wise man once said, “The country’s cowped”. And you know what? He wasn’t wrong. But in strange, unprecedented times – in totally unchartered territory such as this – it doesn’t take long for the best of us to come together. Even now, as we’re all adapting to being cooped up in our own liminal little worlds, a sense of solidarity in numbers grows stronger by the day. For many of us self-isolating like it’s nobody’s business, the last week-and-a-bit has felt more than a little dream-like. And yet, loitering in the forefront of my mind, demanding to be heeded, is…

  • Premiere: Joshua Burnside – Nothing For Ya (Whisper Project Session)

    March 23, 2020 - By 

    Bridging gaps between quiet song and forgotten space, one-off performance and liminal place, the now and nevermore, Whisper Project is an ever-evoling series by Belfast photographer and filmmaker Joe Laverty capturing acoustic performances filmed in forgotten spaces. Having previously featured Alana Henderson, Landless, DANI, King Cedar and Lemoncello performing in an array of liminal spaces in Belfast and beyond, Laverty now turns his attention to easily one of the most fêted songwriters from these shores in recent times, Joshua Burnside. Filmed and edited by Laverty, with sound recorded by Phil d’Alton, Burnside’s rendition of ‘Nothin For Ya’ at Vault artist studios feels nothing short of…

  • Premiere: Gaze is Ghost – Abacus

    March 23, 2020 - By 

    It’s majorly reassuring to know that, despite these unprecedented times of lockdown and worldly uncertainty, many Irish artists are, despite facing huge limitations, pushing forward and releasing new music as scheduled. One such act is Gaze is Ghost, comprising classically-trained Strabane composer and songwriter Laura McGarrigle, drummer Casey Miller and Keith Mannion aka Slow Place Like Home. Doubling up as the threesome’s first release with Mannion on backing vocals, synths and electronc production, new single ‘Abacus’ is a gossamer and carefully-crafted alt-pop gem confronting themes of environmental destruction, guilt and responsibility, asking “how the individual can respond to issues that threaten to ovewhelm…

  • Premiere: Swimmers Jackson – Bliss

    March 12, 2020 - By 

    There’s reliable, then there’s London-based Dubliner Niall Jackson aka Swimmers Jackson. Whether you look to his output as a member of Dublin indie-rock heroes Bouts, the more in-your-face efforts of Sweat Threats or his solo output as Swimmers Jackson to date, he has a country-spanning, genre-flaunting track record of digging deep to deliver something brimming with pathos and intent. Recorded by Darragh Nolan at Asta Kalapa studios in Co. Wexford (below) new single ‘Bliss’ is no exception to the rule. Taken from Jackson’s forthcoming debut album, Murmuration, it’s a beautifully-crafted tale capturing those longed for moments of happiness and quiet satisfaction. “I spent…