• Shrug Life – ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    August 29, 2017 - By 

    Dublin’s foremost purveyors of wit-pop and satirists of modern day Ireland, Shrug Life, release their long-awaited album, titled ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ – fitting, really, given that bass player Keith Broni is the world’s first emoji translator. The jangle-pop trio are notable for having some of the most pointed lyrics on the island, courtesy of frontman Danny Carroll – who penned the album’s most recent single, the Repeal-themed ‘Your Body’. This is the band’s first lengthy release since 2015 debut EP The Grand Stretch on Popical Island. The album was produced by ‘veteran wildcard’ Fiachra McCarthy (also known for Dott, Squarehead & So Cow), with its artwork coming…

  • Watch: Eraser TV – Golden Boy

    August 29, 2017 - By 

    The astutely-named debut EP, Buzzfeed Depression Quiz, from Limerick indie rockers Eraser TV now has an accompanying video for its nine minute centrepiece, ‘Golden Boy’. A composition reminiscent in scope and mood to David Pajo’s Papa M, or slowcore greats Codeine, ‘Golden Boy’ never drags as much as it could; Functioning as something as a Freebird as far as rock epics go, it bucks the trend by saying more in its sole lyric than all the confederate flagwavers the ’70s could muster. The video itself eschews a potentially overdriven narrative or the dreaded ‘live performance video’ in favour of grainy, intensely frisson-inducing archival footage of war, giving the song…

  • Ger Fox Sailing – Ger Fox Sailing

    August 21, 2017 - By 

    The self-titled, self-produced debut album from Wexford quartet Ger Fox Sailing is a richly-woven, nicely eclectic collection of songs from a band who have just set out their stall and then some. From the contemplative precision of ‘Nowhere Without You’ and the poppier tangents of ‘What It Is’ to blistering closer ‘Best Friend’ via a stream of scuzz-laden, occasionally prog-leaning rock, reverberations from the likes of Longpigs, Incubus, Queens of the Stone Age, Grandaddy and, in parts, Northern Irish alt-rock band Pocket Promise (though we suspect the latter is something of a total coincidence) coalesce with the band’s own brand of deft,…

  • Elder Druid – Carmina Satanae

    August 21, 2017 - By 

    Ballymena/Belfast occult-loving stoner-doom outfit Elder Druid have announced details of their debut album, Carmina Satanae – the Latin Term for Songs of Satan. The LP was recorded live in the studio by certified heft-bringer Niall Doran at Start Together Studios in Belfast over 3 days in August. As well as inevitable genre touchstones like Sleep & Electric Wizard, the iron lungs of frontman Gregg McDowell lends it a fury matched only by the likes of Down. Eight tracks strong, two of which are fresh recordings from their prior Magicka EP, they look set to make a significant dent on the UK & Irish doom scenes, having already toured…

  • Video Premiere: Chirps – Pink Noise

    August 21, 2017 - By 

    It’s been seven years since their debut album, Future Static Prologue, but Ballina-formed, Dublin-based shoegazey alt. rockers Chirps are finally gearing to follow it up with a second LP, from which we’re delighted to premiere first single ‘Pink Noise’. Featuring members of esteemed noisemakers like Hands Up Who Wants To Die, Wild Rocket, Crowhammer and Oilbag, their new album has been in the works over the last few years, gradually recorded by John ‘Spud’ Murphy – who’s also behind many of the finest independent Irish releases in recent years. A definite progression from previous work, Chirps have clocked up an astounding number of nods toward underground subgenres – most evidently shoegaze,…

  • Slow Place Like Home – When I See You…Ice Cream!

    August 18, 2017 - By 

    Long one of our favourite Irish acts – here they are as cover stars of our fifteenth issue – Donegal-based psychedelic electronic outfit Slow Place Like Home release their new album, When I See You…Ice Cream! on October 20. As with all Slow Place… material to date, it’s written, performed and produced by Keith Mannion. Written between Knather Woods in Donegal’s Ballyshannon, and the Algarve in Portugal, it somehow bears a sun-kissed somnambulance to match the cartography. The second single, ‘Echoes‘, featuring vocals from Fearghal McKee of ’90s cult Irish alt. rockers Whipping Boy, and album artwork comes from Derry artist John Rooney. The album was mastered by Morr Music’s Antony Ryan…

  • Stream: Slow Place Like Home – Echoes (feat. Fearghal McKee)

    August 18, 2017 - By 

    Long one of our favourite Irish acts – here they are as cover stars of our fifteenth issue – Donegal-based psychedelic electronic outfit Slow Place Like Home have lifted the cloche on their latest single, ‘Echoes’, featuring vocals from Fearghal McKee of ’90s cult Irish alt. rockers Whipping Boy. As with all SPLH material to date, it’s written, performed and produced by Keith Mannion. Released on August 22, ‘Echoes’ is the second single taken from the band’s next album, When I See You…Ice Cream, which is due for release on October 20, and follows their June single, ‘When I See You‘. The latest LP was written…

  • So Much For The Sun – So Much For The Sun

    August 14, 2017 - By 

    Lisburn doom-laden stoner rock/sludge trio So Much For The Sun have just released their debut album. Mastered by doom stalwart Brad Boatright, the album was recorded and mixed by Niall Doran at Start Together Studios – who has recently become the go-to guy for any production of noteworthy heft in NI. The band’s eponymous debut is a lengthy and dynamic affair, its samples and lyrics delving into sociopolitical commentary with a careful blend of clean and guttural vocals that’d see them sit well on any Desertfest billing. With the crushing low-end of post-metal & doom, its heaviness is framed within the midrange-bogarting fuzz of early…

  • Owlcrusher – Owlcrusher

    August 10, 2017 - By 

    One of the finest metal releases Ireland will see this year comes in the form of the long-awaited debut from Banbridge blackened sludge/doom trio Owlcrusher. Its three long songs – including the obligatory eponymous track – were recorded by Niall Doran at Start Together Studios in Belfast. The album came out on Seeing Red Records, and is available to order in a limited CD run, with vinyls in the works. A sprawling, funereal affair, it has harsh, distant, blackened vocals from guitarist Andrew Speir and evokes the crushing sorrow of the likes of Warning and low end devastation of Yob. Live, the band are a must-see. Owlcrusher…

  • Premiere: Joey Gavin – Rolf/Run

    August 8, 2017 - By 

    No stranger to provocative, accessibly experimental indie rock, the latest two-track from Thumper‘s Joey Gavin is called Rolf/Run, released on 7″ through prolific Irish DIY label Little L Records (Shamir, Homeshake, Alex Calder, Syd Kemp etc.). It’s a catchy psych-pop number whose acid-dripped King Gizzard-lite melody belies a more acerbic message, veiling a darkness even The Zombies would nary have attempted. It’s framed, as you might have guessed, around the shortcomings of institutional hierarchies, and the abuse of power that they’ve given rise to, without forgetting to check ourselves for letting it happen; evenly, he also explores the shortcomings of the witch-hunt that can, and does take place, it’s…