• Stream: Gumshoe – Ninbasu

    December 7, 2016 - By 

    Wicklow ambient hip-hop duo Gumshoe have debuted another track. ‘Ninbasu’ is the third cut to be revealed from Shannakie and Yam Faddah (Real names: Conor Murphy and Keith Ferguson) following from October’s lush ‘Yom Kippur’. The track is another ethereal trip from the pair, all fluttering melodies and crisp percussion, drifting to-and-fro between its phases with the most gentle aplomb. ‘Nimbasu’ feels the way your bed does in the five minutes before you have to get up for work. Expect to hear more from Gumshoe in 2017. Find Gumshoe on Facebook

  • Inbound: Pale Rivers

    December 6, 2016 - By 

    Cork’s Pale Rivers burst into life at the start of October with the track ‘August 6th’.  As far as debuts go, this came with an immediate energy and purpose, straight away showcasing the band as a future force to be reckoned with. Built on big synths and rousing guitars it boldly leans toward a sound suited for a larger stage, the ambition oozing from every note. Eoin Hally’s vocals begin with a feeling of reservation but it’s not long before they become an uninhibited, visceral plea of sorts. The raw, honest lyricism allows the track to avoid the possible pitfalls…

  • Watch: Swords – Sixty Thousand Years

    November 16, 2016 - By 

    Dublin three-piece Swords returned recently with their sophomore LP Tidal Waves. Moving away from the dense layers of production that occupied their – still excellent  – debut Lions and Gold, the band have have strived to create a more organic, live sound on this record. Nowhere is this more present than on new single ‘Sixty Thousand Years’, a fragile ballad sparingly built on piano, drums, bass and vocals with little or no added embellishments. The forthright structure of the song allows Diane Anglim’s vocals to shine more prominently with an aching honesty not dissimilar to Sharon Van Etten or Broken Twin.  The song is accompanied by an equally…

  • Bayonne – Primitives

    November 14, 2016 - By 

    There is a delicate, reserved complexity in the opening of Austin, Texas multi-instrumentalist Roger Seller’s third album Primitives. The LP, which was originally released in 2014 was recently re-issued on Mom + Pop Music to coincide with Seller’s newly adopted pseudonym, Bayonne. As the intro builds with cascading layers and loops of guitars, keys and vocals, the rhythm manages to be dizzyingly off-kilter while maintaining a enthralling punch. And that is by and large how the album plays out. It is an LP of measured technicality, celestial melody and an infectious pulse. While its perfectly polished production and careful restraint may prevent it from being…

  • Premiere: SpudGun – We Share This Space

    November 8, 2016 - By 

    Formed in January, Dublin based “music band from space” Spudgun smash elements of psyche rock, funk, jazz and punk to create something really quite captivating. The octet are now premiering the latter half of their debut release We Share This Space, an ambitious piece of theatrical noise preceded by the the cacophonous ‘Sandpaperteeth’. Fans of The Mars Volta, Mr. Bungle or the idea of Girl Band with saxophones will be immediately drawn to the sound of this “space goo” as the group refer to it.  The group will be giving the release its live debut this Friday November 11th at fellow Dubliners Beach‘s “Some Sort of Gathering” at The…

  • We Cut Corners – The Cadences of Others

    November 4, 2016 - By 

    The first time I saw Dublin’s We Cut Corners was on a nasty, raining evening in October 2014. I’d never heard of them but a friend dragged me out and I was in the mood to be distracted. They had just released their sophomore effort Think Nothing. Each song they played that night was a masterstroke of brevity, every line smacked with authenticity, sitting gingerly on top of John Duignan’s clanging guitars and Conall Ó’Breacháin’s drums. By the end, lyrics like “You live by the sword and get hit by a bus” and “Maybe in the future I will say more…

  • Watch: Rejjie Snow – Pink Beetle

    November 1, 2016 - By 

    Was your Halloween not quite spooky enough? That case of the hangover terrors you have after the long weekend not quite sufficient? Rejjie Snow will solve that for you. Yesterday, the Dublin born rapper unveiled the feverishly uncomfortable video for ‘Pink Beetle’, his second track to be released via  300 Entertainment, the same label who will be releasing his debut LP. The aim of the video, according to Rejjie, was to emulate the “hyperreal imagery that one envisions when thinking about going to the dentist”. And that he has done. The unsettling, surreal, squirm inducing visuals manage to trigger every uncomfortable image that…

  • Stream: Saint Sister – Tin Man

    October 31, 2016 - By 

    Saint Sister returned on Friday with their first new music since the enchanting Madrid EP from November of last year. ‘Tin Man’ and B-Side ‘Corpses’ carry on the same atmospheric mood that defined their debut with delicate melodic textures deftly propping up Gemma Doherty and Morgan MacIntyre’s gossamer vocals. In this instance though the music, produced by Alex Ryan, feels somehow disintegrated and sparse in a conscious way, the plucked harps on ‘Tin Man’ sounding somehow distant, the echoing vocal loops in ‘Corpses’ like a far-off siren song to lure you in. This fragility is a powerful poetic fallacy for the lyrics, each line feeling…

  • Watch: Gumshoe – Yom Kippur

    October 24, 2016 - By 

    At the end of September, Wicklow based producers Gumshoe revealed themselves, emerging from the undergrowth with the smooth down-tempo cut ‘ducats’. Now the duo of Shannakie and Yam Faddah take a step further into world with the mesmerizing ‘Yom Kippur’, another gently glitching instrumental that blossoms to life with a resonant vocal sample, delicate keys and sprinklings of clicks and claps to push it along. It’s the sort of track that unexpectedly stuns you while effortlessly drifting past, a beautifully simple slice of organic electronica that will appeal to fans of ambient hip-hop producer Shlohmo and the quieter parts of Flying Lotus‘ catalogue. The track is accompanied…

  • Ilenkus – Hunger

    October 24, 2016 - By 

    Galway’s Ilenkus returned this month with their first release since 2014’s EP The Crossing. Hunger sees the quintet moving from the sludgy Neurosis-leaning sound of their previous work into a considerably more frenetic, uninhibited direction. This has done them plenty of favours, the tracks on this 15 minute offering being a step up both in terms of technicality but also in its immediate appeal. While it is by no means a re-invention of the wheel, it is a triumphant chunk of energy that deserves to stand front-and-centre within its realm. Written as a single piece, Hunger‘s four sections flow into one another with hurricane ferocity. From…