• Watch The Vox Set Episode 1: Joshua Burnside & Joel Harkin Live at Lost & Found

    February 5, 2021 - By 

    Featuring wonderful individual and collaborative performances from two of our finest alt. folk singer-songwriting talents, the first episode of The Vox Set is out now. Set in the intimate setting of one of Northern Ireland’s finest cups of coffee, Lost & Found, the increasingly world-beating Joshua Burnside – who recently released his second album Into The Depths of Hell – is joined by Donegal’s Joel Harkin – whose debut album Never Happy was shortlisted for the 2020 NI Music Prize. The series is supported by Help Musicians NI and Arts Council NI, with their team comprising Stuart Reid, Sam Kwan and Hannah McPhillimy. Their M.O. is as follows: “The Vox Set is a recorded, live…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – January 29th

    January 29, 2021 - By 

    HALLI – Body Never Lies Elaine Mai – No Forever (feat. MayKay) Wyvern Lingo – Only Love Only Light Ciarán Ruby – Landfall / March of the Dispossessed Sun Mahshene – The Righteous One The Righteous One by Sun Mahshene Laoise – Gravy Chósta – Rush Hour Badhands – Indian Ocean Toshín – She Elina Filice feat. Cat – First World Problems Alex Gough – FOREVER CLASSIC (Live At The Clinic) Bunkhouse – Bunkhouse LP Bunkhouse by Bunkhouse Ye Vagabonds – I’m A Rover Emiji – Larimar (feat. Hvmmingbyrd) Nylophone – Shy One   Arthuritis – My Ass, Around the…

  • Video Premiere: Arthuritis – My Ass, Around The World

    January 27, 2021 - By 

    Cork’s answer to Sun Araw, R Stevie Moore and Ween all at once, Arthuritis straddles the brow of art at its most extreme ends. Perhaps the finest example yet of this is his latest single, the electronic wonk-pop of the rather literal ‘My Ass, Around The World’, self-produced on a four track. “I’ve been really enjoying working with tape”, he tells us. “Once it’s recorded, that’s it. If you make a mistake, it either stays in the song or I record that all over again, I love how confining it is. The ability to endlessly twiddle on a computer sort of takes some of the fun…

  • Video Premiere: Any Joy – Sun

    February 1, 2021 - By 

    The Sun EP, which may have slipped you by at the end of last year, saw Any Joy chip further away at their singular heady brew of psychedelia, internalised doom and post-punk to follow up on their wonderful 2017 debut album, Cycles. The band have shared with us their Adam Curtis fever dream of a video for its title track, created by frontman Oisin Dineen. He tells us “Climate disaster and human displacement are the happy subject matter of Sun. The video paints a colourful, post apocalyptic landscape, running down the clock.” Check it out:

  • Stream: This Ship Argo – Hum

    January 15, 2021 - By 

    In recent years – and particularly in the last, thanks to Bandcamp – we’ve seen the rise of a wide net of self-produced superlative electronic artists. In the Northern Irish cul de sac, you have the increasingly world-beating Arvo Party, synthwave retromancer Alpha Chrome Yayo, and more recently, Aileen McKenna, AKA This Ship Argo has been cropping up on the radar with her singular brand of experimental electronic pop. At turns earworming, introspective and profoundly moving, TSA strikes a rare midpoint between densely-layered chamber pop, and ruminative minimalism. Her new single ‘Hum’ is out today, accompanied by alternate mixes from Arvo Party & A Cappella, following…

  • Facilitating Connection: An Interview With Fears

    December 15, 2020 - By 

    We can almost count on one hands the acts who’ve truly pushed against boundaries and thrived in the most challenging year for creatives in modern history. One such person is Constance Keane, who – aside from recently reuniting feminist punk act M(h)aol – has started her own record label (TULLE), made some of the most interactive underground radio shows in Ireland, performed several live sets, released single ‘two_’ with top-notch remixes, and today she rounds her year out with the release of ‘tonnta’. The song and video have already started to gain global traction, with plays on KCRW and NTS, and had a bespoke Dublin-wide scavenger hunt for a PR campaign, complete…

  • Compilation Premiere: The Space Between – First

    December 16, 2020 - By 

    Something you might have noticed from our end-of-year lists is that one of the biggest trends of 2020’s imposed isolation has been the willingness of Irish artists to to come together remotely. Be it for a cause or for the sake of maintaining some sense of artistic worth, or simply born out of malaise – it’s that which comes out of the undergrowth that generally leads to the most fascinating results, and indeed, this year has landed us with a wealth of phenomenal compilations and collaborations across the island, giving a pre-built sense of community when things get back to normality. Today, we’re pleased to give you a first…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – December 11th

    December 11, 2020 - By 

    We’re a whisper away from Christmas, and Ireland’s creative community is showing no signs of slowing as we gather our End-Of-Year Lists™. This week sees a selection of new singles, seasonal covers, remixes and live sessions from the likes of Bicurious, Kneecap, Mark Loughrey, Citrus Fresh, Kojaque, Aislinn Logan, Joel Harkin, Conchúr White, SON, 1000 Beasts and Pollena. Kneecap – MAM Citrus Fresh – Dustpan Kojaque – Coming Up Aislinn Logan – Never Stay Low Joel Harkin – Christmas Conchúr White – Lungs Bicurious – B-Sides and Bangers (Live Session) Mark Loughrey – The Snake With A Tale For A Mouth On Through the…

  • EP Premiere: Mark Loughrey – On Through The Veil Anew

    December 10, 2020 - By 

    On Through The Veil Anew is the new five-track EP from experimental folk artist Mark Loughrey, born near the border town of Strabane, and currently based in Berlin. His first major release since the 2017 release of debut album, Treppenwitz, it’s both sonically and thematically a marked progression towards more ambitious arrangements and experimental storytelling. Drawing from the kind of subtly subversive contemporary Northern Folk tradition carried out by the likes of Arborist & Joshua Burnside, it’s steeped in roots, but subtly subversive of genre convention. Its expansive, yet intricate, organically arranged compositions at varying points call to mind the earthly etherealism of Sufjan Stevens, Andrew Bird…

  • Watch: Problem Patterns – Christmas Number One

    December 11, 2020 - By 

    Whether you’re thrilled or dreading the prospect of a quiet Christmas this year, Belfast’s finest feminist punks have a single we’re delighted to let you hear. Its doo wop-via-Breeders harmonies guaranteed to have you grinning from ear to ear, ‘Christmas Number One’ is a refreshingly positive take on coping with expectations of seasonal cheer. Now, don’t let our lazy rhyming couplets put you off – Problem Patterns’ latest single is as earworming as they’ve ever been. Normally, we’re not ones to copy & paste a press release, but as ever, they put it better than we could have: “Known for their feminist punk ethos, Problem have tackled such topics as…