• Chatting To The Cheesemonger: An Interview with Danny Carroll

    A quintessential indie rock showman-turned-millennial songsmith in the classical mode, we have a chat with Danny Carroll ahead of the release of his solo debut LP I Am The Cheese, out this Friday. Your debut LP I Am The Cheese shares its title with a 1977 young adult fiction novel, written by Robert Cormier. Could you tell us about the poignancy of that title to yourself and this body of work? It’s a book I read when I was 12 and was pretty haunted by. The final lines of the novel refer back to the folk song ‘The Farmer In…

  • The Low-End Theory: An Interview John ‘Spud’ Murphy

    Stevie Lennox chats with Spud Murphy about his crucial role in sculpting the soundworlds of Lankum, Black MIDI, ØXN and more Photos by Loreana Rushe In an inauspicious arch underneath the Dart line in North Dublin you’ll find John ‘Spud’ Murphy, working away in his longtime hub of Guerrilla Studios. “So it still is like a cave, which has pros and cons,” he says. “You’re in a cave. And there’s no external light, but you don’t know what time of the day it is. So you just keep working and you’re not looking outside going, oh, it’s beautiful outside. You…

  • Inbound: Spit

    ‘Indie rock’, ‘Post-punk’ – the music industry does an effective job of co-opting and commodifying terms originally defined by their reaction to stagnation, creating a deluge of so-close-yet-so-far simulacra. We’ve noticed young artists, of late, pushing back against algorithmically-pleasing confines, into creatively fertile territory. Dublin’s Spit are doing just that with their abrasive, experimental punk that conjures the essence of the movement. Guitarist Alex and bassist/violist Sarah connected with drummer Conor, and just days before their first gig, their first music was written, its credos tantamount to its sound.  Part of a crop of forward-thinking acts emerging in the wake…

  • Inbound: Search Results

    The most interesting sounds tend to come from those unencumbered with risk aversion. Take Devo, whose five gestative years before releasing a debut album bought them creative armour, allowing them to hone their worldview and arrive fully-formed. Search Results started writing in Dublin within a week of meeting in 2020, having moved from Waterford, Sligo, and Tipperary just prior to Covid. Drummer Jack Condon explains: “We assigned ourselves different instruments to the ones we would have been most comfortable on. Myself and Adam had more training in guitar, and Fionn in bass, so that took away any safety nets and…

  • Inbound: Touch Excellent

    The only thing in Ireland faster than the church dropout rate seems to be the growth of its queer and trans punk scene, with Dublin trio Touch Excellent being one of the latest, brightest prospects in the movement. Featuring Amber Excellent on drums, Lenny Hennessy on bass and vocals, and Ló Boyle on guitar, they’re a political band in the purest way that one can be: by simply existing as themselves – and themselves are as full of wit as they are passion. Both engaging and engaged, they’re a direct product of representation. “A big aim is writing songs that…

  • Inbound: Stratford Rise

    Photo by David McEneaney You might have noticed in these pages over the past year the refreshing air of a heteroglot of brand new, guitar bands. One such act that’s grabbed – and proceeded to mercilessly pulverise – our attention is Bangor quartet Stratford Rise. They’ve been together since early 2020, but it’s still early days, playing live for over a year, but having only just performed their first date outside Northern Ireland in May.  “Gilla Band and a number of no-wave bands inspired our interest in incorporating noise into our songs,” they tell us. Indeed, their debut single ‘Water…

  • A Litany of Failures: Volume IV is Announced

    Irish compilation series A Litany of Failures, which features independent acts from all corners of the island, has just announced the pre-order and tracklisting for its fourth volume.  Set for release on double vinyl and digitally on September 8th, it’s available via Bandcamp. The compilation features 22 brand new, exclusive tracks from some of our favourite acts on the island, as well as some exciting new prospects. The double vinyl set once again features artwork by Pipe & Pallet, and the first 30 pre-orders feature a bespoke print from Belfast-based artist Phantom Powered Pixels.  The Litany of Failures series aims to document the grassroots music community…

  • Video Premiere: Slouch – I Get What’s Mine

    Rising tides, self-help gurus, pricey new age answers to the unanswerable, unfettered capitalism, shitposting, a new video from Slouch; these are the harbingers of end times. Out today – and directed by Hugh Cannon – the video for their odyssey on the alpha male phenomenon, ‘I Get What’s Mine’ is a maelstrom of all of the above and more. It channels the likes of Ween and Brainiac, condensed into the kind of omni-layered satirical slacker noise they’ve near enough mastered. Long one of the most interesting bands operating in the Irish indie rock sphere, Dublin quartet Slouch have been working away behind closed doors on new material,…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 2nd June

    From every corner of the island, here’s the very best new music of the week from Elaine Malone, David Donohue, Trá Pháidín, Winnie Ama, Ryan Vail and more Elaine Malone – Moontread David Donohoe – Fen Fen by David Donohoe Trá Pháidín – cé mo dhuine si​ú​l sa hi​-​vis cé mo dhuine siúl sa hi-vis by Trá Pháidín Winnie Ama – Get on You Left Iris – Crash Ryan Vail – Silhouette Badhands – Bad Dreams The Wheel by Badhands

  • Inbound: The Personal Vanity Project

    Formed during lockdown by producer, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and all-round Limerick indie king Chris Quigley, The Personal Vanity Project is a new proposition sourced from high-spec parts in drummer/vocalist Brendan McInerney (Bleeding Heart Pigeons) and James Reidy (His Father’s Voice) on keyboards/space FX. Quigley gave us the full scoop: “The starting point was me hearing about this rumoured Kevin Shields drum’n’bass record that was never released, which left me thinking, ‘Oh I wonder what that would have sounded like?’. Terrible, really bad. So I made a few bits, but gradually found myself drifting towards something more interesting – which was this…