• Daithi – Tribes EP

    February 25, 2016 - By 

    With each passing release in the past couple of years, Galway based electronic producer Daithi has showcased a gradual but very definite increase in competency, confidence and determination in the music he is making; overtly melodic and bubbly electronica that has never failed at being colourful. The fault with his releases up to this point however always seemed to lie in his reliance on letting the equipment claim almost total ownership of the music. While the tracks were always evidently loaded with talent and careful construction, there was often too much of a feeling that the artist was clamouring for…

  • Stream: Badlands – Echo

    February 22, 2016 - By 

    Badlands started off life as a duo, releasing an EP entitled Battles Within in 2012, before eventually becoming the solo project of Malmö-based musician and producer Catharina Jaunviksna. Things were quiet for a while after that first EP, but picked up last year as she began to air new material while touring in Ireland with Somadrone. Then everyone’s attention snapped back to Badlands when she dropped the first new single ‘Caramisou’, five and a half minutes of swooping synth-rush crafted into a soaring, widescreen soundscape. Her latest single, ‘Echo’, is a continuation of that streak. ‘Echo’, is an exercise in split…

  • FEAST present: Alright the Captain, Steve Strong, A Werewolf – Irish Tour

    February 12, 2016 - By 

    For the past year or so, the dedicated team of Galway’s FEAST organisers have been hosting some of the most interesting acts that fit the spectrum of what one supposes could be called the more “colourful” side of metal. Having put on bands such as Math Rock heavyweights Alpha Male Tea Party and Roisin Dubh locals Race the Flux as well as more sludgy outfits such as Torche and Bitch Falcon, FEAST’s place has been to promote acts who, for reasons unknown, may go unnoticed outside of the niche in Ireland otherwise. Next week sees the first FEAST tour taking…

  • Watch: Bantum & Loah – Take It

    February 10, 2016 - By 

    Cork born, Dublin based producer Ruari Lynch (AKA Bantum) and Irish/Sierra Leonean vocalist Loah are two artists who have been keen to take their time with regard to individual releases over the past couple of years. The last piece of released music from Bantum was his 2014 collaborative EP with Eimear O’Donovan and Owensie while, despite her soulful and much lauded live performances, we will not be hearing a debut EP from Loah until later this year. What a treat it is then to hear these two artists collaborate on brand new track ‘Take It’, a swelling electronic arrangement embellished…

  • Watch: Naadia – Omut

    February 8, 2016 - By 

    Russian indie-pop quintet Naadia have, over the past few years, been firmly establishing themselves as towering examples of the country’s quietly bubbling alternative music scene; a scene that is, by and large, embarrassingly overlooked from our all-too-cosy, “western” media bubble. Moscow’s Naadia however, along with St. Petersburg’s dreamy shoegazers Pinkshinyultrablast, have recently begun making vibrant waves that have become utterly impossible to ignore. Naadia (Наадя) create music that is radiant and warm, and bouncing with melody. Nowhere is this dazzling sound more evident than in their most recent single Omut (Омут). Opening with a shimmering, echoed vocal, the song starts as it…

  • Stream: Vogelbat – Banx

    February 4, 2016 - By 

    Over the course of the past year, Berlin based Kilkenny native Vogelbat has been steadily releasing a stream of tracks that have ceaselessly dazzled. Crafting instrumental hip-hop that draws from the pools like Trip-Hop and Avant-garde R&B is a tough job to do while still managing to sound sincere and professional. Where others may stumble and crash at the first pretentious hurdle of trying too hard to be “experimental”, Vogelbat’s music takes that experimentation and plays with it like a new toy, ensuring that it remains playful and heartfelt. Work on a debut LP continues, but in meantime we have…

  • Stream: 202’s – ‘Oh My My’

    February 3, 2016 - By 

    Dublin three piece 202s have been more or less silent since their self-titled debut release in 2009. The first sound they’ve made since then has now arrived in the form of the lush ‘Oh My My’, a hypno-pop chunk of fuzzed vocal harmonies and slowly grooving drums. The track draws influence from across the genre spectrum with plenty of psych-rock and Krautrock sounds embellishing the more contemporary comparisons to the likes of Alt-J or Foals’ more recent output. With a new album due to drop in Autumn of this year, 202s patient approach to releasing music appears indicative of a “quality over…

  • MMOTHS unveils new LP track ‘Eva’

    January 22, 2016 - By 

    Jack Colleran AKA MMOTHS‘ long awaited debut LP Luneworks is set to drop on March 11th. Following from the stunning ‘Deu’ which was given to us in November of last year, ‘Eva’ is the second track from the album that we have heard. Like ‘Deu’, ‘Eva’ is giving us plenty of reason to suspect that this album is going to be a very special one indeed. Over the past couple of years MMOTHS has shied from from the bubbling pulses that defined his very early output, opting instead for a far more ambient, Boards of Canada-esque brand of electronica that has gradually…

  • Tortoise – The Catastrophist

    January 22, 2016 - By 

    There have been several acts that have stood as the totems of instrumental rock music, or post-rock in the broadest sense of the word: Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, Godspeed! You Black Emperor and Sigur Rós all acting as cornerstones of the genre’s respective corners. For the past 26 years however, Chicago five-piece Tortoise have been the oft-unsung heralds of a scene’s progressive evolution, gradually bubbling under as one of those defining acts, cementing their influence on the countless bands that have followed a similar stylistic path. Originating as a “rhythm section for hire” of sorts, the focus on rhythm…

  • 16 For 16: SlowPlaceLikeHome

    January 20, 2016 - By 

    We continue our 16 for ’16 feature – profiling sixteen Irish artists we’re pining our proverbial hopes on in 2016 – with Donegal’s Keith Mannion AKA SlowPlaceLikeHome. Words by Eoin Murray. Photo by Martin McGagh For several years, Donegal’s Keith Mannion has been crafting breezy music that channels the sensations of experiencing a coastal storm from behind a window; a fireplace warming your back, protecting you from the chaos outside. Moving from a style that closely resembled Boards of Canada, Solar Bears and Air on his Post Hoc EP in 2013 to a more live focus on 2015’s debut LP…