• EP Premiere: Bob Skeleton – If This Isn’t Love

    February 17, 2017 - By 

    Galway young guns Bob Skeleton have returned with their second EP If This Isn’t Love. Following from their 2016 debut Shade, the four piece have continued on the path of confessional, bright indie-rock on this new EP. Adding some stylistic flourishes here though, the band showcases a tangible progression, suggesting a determination to grow and develop as a unit with each release in their still quite nascent stage. The opening title track is an uptempo pop cut while ‘Living In The Deep End’ is a jangling, dreamy and quaint offering that will satisfy fans of Real Estate and The Shins. The EP’s real highlight though is on the stripped…

  • Stream: Lighght – Superstar (unmix)

    February 14, 2017 - By 

    Cork based electronic producer and promoter with the Diffract club night, Lighght, has released a new track. And yes, before you ask, it is of course swirling, atmospheric edit of Jamelia’s 2003 R&B classic ‘Superstar’. Duh. Having put out a variety of glitching, industrial tracks reminiscent of Nicolas Jaar and Dorian Concept in the past year or so, the producer will be releasing more singles and audiovisual projects in the coming months as well as continuing to host the regular Diffract events.

  • Video Premiere: Tayne – Heartbeat

    February 14, 2017 - By 

    It being Valentines Day and all, Tayne, the brand new project from Matthew Sutton, guitarist from It Was All A Bit Black And White, has unveiled the spick and span video for his debut single ‘Heartbeat’. The Galway native, London based musician first debuted his new musical endeavour back in December with a suitably glistening cover of Fleetwood Mac‘s ‘Dreams’. Stepping further into the light then, Tayne’s debut original track is a dazzling synth pop romp that will satisfy fans of All Tvvins and The Naked and Famous. With more to come from the artist in the coming months, enjoy the flashy video for ‘Heartbeat’…

  • EP Stream: Tinfoil – Tinfoil 5

    February 1, 2017 - By 

      Tinfoil, the collaborative brainchild of Irish techno heavyweights DeFeKT (Matthew Flanagan) and Sunil Sharpe, have announced their fifth EP. The four track EP is available to stream in full now through the HATE YouTube channel and will be available on 12″ and digital download later this week. Both producers being behemoths of propulsive, hardware driven techno in their own right, the Tinfoil collaboration has seen the pair create some distinctly gnarled electro crossovers since their first release in 2014. The fifth addition to their catalogue is no different, with ‘Twerp’s drilling percussion and ‘Leave Your Body’s jagged bass stabs injecting an immediate surge of adrenaline…

  • Watch: Easy Tide – Denim on Denim

    February 1, 2017 - By 

    Navan trio Easy Tide have unveiled the video for their new single ‘Denim on Denim’. Formed in 2010, the band blend elements of garage rock, shoegaze and post-punk to create a sound that veers from the raw and energised to the altogether more fragile. ‘Denim on Denim’ sits modestly in the latter category. Their first release of 2017, the track follows from the release of their debut LP Ennui from February 2016 and singles ‘Tea Party’ and ‘Mind Your Head’. A hoarse serving of fuzzed up melodies and a honest lyricism, ‘Denim on Denim’ will satisfy fans of Yo La Tengo and Built To Spill. In…

  • Watch: I Have a Tribe – After We Meet

    January 19, 2017 - By 

    Patrick O’ Laoghaire AKA I Have a Tribe has unveiled a chirpily nostalgic video for ‘After We Meet’, a track which initially appeared on his LP for Gronland Records last year, Beneath A Yellow Moon.  The track, which on the album was presented in a delicately wrapped package of piano, vocals and fractured drums, is given a make-over for its forthcoming single release. Featuring a soulful and rich guest vocal from Mary-Kate Geraghty, the track now bounces with a cosmic jubilance with added bass, spiralling keys and shivering guitars. The video is directed by Myles O’Reilly, who was also behind the video for…

  • 17 For ’17: Woven Skull

    January 17, 2017 - By 

    Including Woven Skull in our 17 for ’17 list feels like a little bit of a cheat, seeing as they have been producing music together since 2008. The trio have been lurking quietly in rural Leitrim, making music that is as rugged, gnarled and atmospherically captivating as the landscape they operate within. Utilising raw experimental sounds and field recordings from woods, hills and abandoned houses as textural enhancers has given Woven Skull’s output to date a depth of space and size that is exhilaratingly tense. While most of their releases up to this point have been collections of assembled field…

  • Enemies Final Show @ Vicar Street, Dublin

    December 20, 2016 - By 

    For Enemies’ final show to land at this stage of an already turbulent year for Irish independent music felt significant. Throughout the course of a Sunday night in Vicar Street there was a sense of one era’s gradual end and another’s step further to the fore permeating the venue. Looking back on a year that saw more than a fair share of independent acts bow out gracefully from the scene, to have this gig as somewhat of a bookend for that felt meaningful. It re-instilled the importance for a band or artist to always act on their own terms, to…

  • Stream: Overhead, The Albatross – Our Youth Our Younger

    December 8, 2016 - By 

    Dublin instrumental behemoths Overhead, The Albatross have premiered their first new track since the release of their debut LP in May of this year. The track, ‘Our Youth, Our Younger’ is a deftly assembled mix of glitchy electronics, ferocious post-rock guitars and percussion, longing strings and curious, philosophical audio cuts of children’s voices. It is the first track the band have recorded since the departure of their previous bassist Joe Panama, with Twiggy taking over duties on this particular track. The strings and vocals are performed by Lia Wright. This release comes a day before the band play their biggest…

  • Enemies – Valuables

    December 12, 2016 - By 

    It’s been a tough year of seeing some of Ireland’s best-loved acts announce that they would be calling time on their current incarnations. From Fight Likes Apes to Solar Bears, from The Funeral Suits to Land Lovers, it’s been a year of sobering reminders that no matter how many hours are notched up in the “joyful slog”, no matter how many momentous shows are played and records released, it is a Herculean task for independent bands to keep it going forever. No matter how much we want these acts to consistently be releasing albums and traversing the country to play…