• Album Stream: Tandem Felix – Tapley Sings​.​.​. The Hits! And Other Favourites

    December 7, 2020 - By 

    If you’re familiar with the lifestyle choices of Dublin songsmith extraordinaire David Tapley aka Tandem Felix, you’ll probably know that he’s partial to the occasional flagon or two of coffee. And it checks out. Off the back of his stellar latest single ‘The Assassination‘, he’s somehow managed to put together a thirty-track covers album to mark his 30th birthday today. Highlights abound. From opener, a take on Tammy Wynette’s ‘Stand By Your Man’ and Madonna’s ‘Ray of Light’, to Sparklehorse, Celine Dion, Broadcast, ABBA and beyond, it’s a genre-spanning triumph, doubly confirming Tapley to be maestro like few others. “Today, on…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – November 27th

    November 27, 2020 - By 

    You know how, traditionally, the music industry starts to grind to a halt around this time of year? Irish music is having none of it in 2020. Here’s the very best tracks of the week. Tandem Felix – The Assassination The Assassination by Tandem Felix Ra Gerra – Terrified LAOISE – Movies Ten Past Seven – County Council (Live) NewDad – I Don’t Recognise You Messyng x Post Punk Podge – Still At The Music Proper Micro NV – You Knew Longer Than Me Any Joy – Sun EP Sun by Any Joy Eoin Dolan – Superior Fiction The Love…

  • Video Premiere: Messying x Post Punk Podge – Still At The Music

    November 23, 2020 - By 

    “Are you still at the music? Are you making a few bob? Are you happy in yourself?”  Taken from the wonderful Litany of Failures Vol. III compilation, released last month, Kerry producer Messyng and underground Limerick mouthpiece par excellence Post Punk Podge have teamed up to deliver a spicy video – directed by Steve Savage – for their collaborative single, ‘Still At The Music’, featuring Podge’s Great Giveaway of a Antique Shitshow™. Its timing an act of serendipity, today has seen equal shares of elation and deflation with regards to the results of potentially career-changing musical project support grants for artists across the Irish music industry. As is Podge’s M.O.,…

  • Monday Mixtape: Tandem Felix

    November 23, 2020 - By 

    Ahead of the release of his stellar new single ‘The Assassination’ on Friday, David Tapley AKA Tandem Felix handpicks some of his all-time favourite tracks, from Abba and Aphex Twin, to George Michael and Richard Dawson. Aphex Twin – ‘korg funk 5’ This is one of the pieces that Richard D. James made as a demonstration of the Korg Monologue synthesiser. As one of the top YouTube comments says: “A product demo has no business sounding this good.” At the start of lockdown, I was drinking six cups of coffee a day. This song was one that perfectly matched my…

  • Banríon – Airport Dads

    November 10, 2020 - By 

    With a refreshing youthful energy, and a clear sense of care and purpose, Dublin band Banríon’s debut EP, Airport Dads, slots them firmly into the Irish music scene as ones to watch.  Singer-songwriter Róisín Ní Haicéid fronts this indie-rock outfit, completed by drummer Michael Nagle , bassist John Harding and guitarist Ivan Rakhmanin. The three track EP was entirely mixed and produced in Nagel’s home in Connemara, and you can hear a dedication to craft in its charmingly lo-fi sound, calling to mind the likes of Snail Mail, Soccer Mommy and Julia Jacklin. Opening track, ‘Yesterday’s Paper’ is a strong…

  • Monday Mixtape: Ben Harris (The Dreads)

    October 26, 2020 - By 

    Frontman of Belfast’s premier garage-psych proposition The Dreads, and would-be character in an M.R. James story, Ben Harris takes us through some of his Samhain favourites. Timberjack – Come To The Sabbat Sabbats were pretty much an invention by judges and inquisitors during the 14th and 15th centuries that became mythologized before people then started actually practicing their own sabbats themselves. I find this and cans are a great opener to any sabbat. The Electric Prunes – Shadows One of the first songs I learned to play on the guitar was an Electric Prunes song. It wasn’t this one. Grand Theft…

  • Album Stream: The Zang – The Zang

    October 16, 2020 - By 

    Belfast-based musician Chris Molloy aka the Zang has unveiled his long-awaited self-titled debut album. Having won acclaim from the likes of BBC 6Music for singles including ‘Drugs’, ‘Drinking With You’ and ‘Football Sundays’, Molloy’s first first-length – which was recorded at Oiltape Studios in Belfast – underscores his growing reputation as one of the country’s finest alternative pop propositions. From the slow-burning indie balladry of ‘Sick Fantasy’ to the breezy alt-folk of closer ‘Time’, it’s a carefully-crafted, genre-spanning release from an artist on the rise. Stream the album in full below.

  • Premiere: nimf – Space

    October 1, 2020 - By 

    Kaleidoscopic Wicklow sugar-pop performance artist nimf has returned with new single ‘Space’. Its production is as synapse-firing it is personal, a bricolage that effortlessly conjures the 3D candied earfloss dreamscapes nimf speaks of when discussing its themes of imagination, and “the beautiful worlds within our own minds”, which open up “endless possibilities when overwhelmed by the day-to-day” on when left to our own devices. Certainly, the young singer-songwriter’s singles thus far are not just accomplished as elements of a bigger body of pop artistry, but of an already fully-realised sound world. Listen to ‘Space’: nimf · Space

  • Premiere: IN-IS feat. Haula – Broken Ones (Ryan Vail Remix)

    September 17, 2020 - By 

    Last year’s NI Music Prize winner Ryan Vail teamed up with BAFTA-nominated film & TV composer Sheridan Tongue, AKA IN-IS to bring us a remix of the latter’s ‘Broken Ones feat. Haula’. Another characteristically panoramic blend of balmy atmospheric washes and lush synth arpeggios, Vail continues to deliver in abundance as a collaborator, remixing with the same verve and creativity as can be found across his body of solo compositional work. Of the remix, Sheridan told us: “Ryan Vail is a producer I have admired for many years. Coming from the world of film and television soundtracks, I find his ability to create an expansiveness and…

  • Erasure Set For Dublin’s 3Arena

    August 28, 2020 - By 

    Synthpop legends Erasure are Ireland-bound. Having last played the city back in 2018, Andy Bell and Vince Clarke will return to Dublin to play the 3Arena on October 4th 2021. Marking the release of their new album, The Neon, the tour will take the duo across Europe throughout the month. Tickets for the Dublin show cost €64.50 i and go on sale on Friday, September 4th at 10am.