From right across the island, here’s the very best Irish tracks of the week, featuring Meljoann, Malaki, Bicurious, Mano Le Tough, John Francis Flynn, JJ Bloom, Delacy and more. Meljoann – I Quit I Quit (single) by Meljoann Malaki – Head Highs Bicurious – I Can Hear Them Too Mano Le Tough – Together CARSTEN2X – Beaucoup John Francis Flynn – ‘Bring Me Home, pt. ii: I Would Not Live Always JJ Bloom – Cool Kids Oscar Blue – Backyard Mafia Delacy – Rewind
As frontman of Sea Pinks, Belfast’s Neil Brogan established – and consistently re-established – himself as one of the island’s most distinctive songwriting voices. On albums such as Dreaming Tracks and Soft Days, he delivered nuanced, sun-bleached indie-pop sound and made it sound effortless. Last year, Brogan ventured out solo with Life Itself, a stellar four-track EP, and Weird Year, a collection of demos with all the markings of an artist at his peak. Taken from his recent album – and one of the Irish albums of the year at that – Magnolia Day, new single ‘New Development’ distils this fact down to exactly…
Consistently one of Ireland’s most well-curated festivals, Another Love Story has announced the first selection of artists set to play next year’s edition. The 2022 edition is set to return to the rolling meadows and cosy corners of Killyon Manor, Co. Meath, on August 19th-21st, and the first names seem a positive indicator for the kind of tastefully-selected eclecticism typically on display at the festival. Set to play are legendary Manchester selector, event creator & personality Luke Una, emerging Irish composer & singer-songwriter Rachael Lavelle, Berghain regular Barker, Choice Prize nominee Niamh Regan, live electronics from Leipzig’s Map.Ache, and Cork psych outfit The Altered Hours. Tickets are on sale now and available here, priced…
Here are the very best Irish tracks of the week, featuring Caoilean Sherlock, Tebi Rex, Cherym, KK Lewis, Pretty Happy, Laytha and more. Caoilean Sherlock – Dream About The Night Dream About The Night by Caoilian Sherlock Cherym – We’re Just Friends Tebi Rex – Deadman II F.R.U.I.T.Y. – U.P.S. U.P.S by F.R.U.I.T.Y. Pretty Happy – Sudocream Tung In Cheek – Psychonaut KK Lewis – Petals Lonesome George – The Lying Devil Laytha – What Will I Gain Odd Morris – The Once Was Enough The Zang – Where Do You Go? The Crayon Set – Rock Star // Dream…
Last week, North Coast artist Tony Wright aka VerseChorusVerse returned with his fourth solo album, what if we won. It marked a vital, full-length statement from one of the country’s most distinctive songwriting voices. Lead track ‘Algorithm & Blues’ sets the pace with typical aplomb. Darkly and unraveling, it’s a track whose dense disorientation is wonderfully mirrored in Wright’s accompanying visuals. According to the Belfast-based artist, it was “recorded in January in a locked-down, quarantined Heathrow airport hotel room at about 2 am after binge-watching Atlanta.” Truly, it doesn’t get more DIY than that. Have a first look below.
Belfast-based singer-songwriter Colm Warren has unveiled the video for his new single, ‘Just Me’. Directed by musician, videographer and filmmaker Matthew Killen, it’s a striking accompaniment to a song that delicately explores the solace that can be gained in one’s own company. Off the back of singles including ‘Choked’ and ‘Shame’, Warren – who is the former frontman of NI punk band The Twenty – further carves out a niche for himself as an artist wielding carefully considered songwriting with real candour. Have a first look below.
Ahead of the release of his stellar new single ‘All The Time To Kill’ on May 14, Waterford artist and former O Emperor frontman Paul Savage aka Whozyerman? selects, as he puts it, a random selection of tunes that I’ve brain labeled as “class”. Tindersticks – The Organist Entertains I discovered this piece watching ‘Eastbound and down’ – a series I would also highly recommend. I wasn’t too familiar with Tindersticks before this but it was a great introduction to their vast body of work, which I’m still only scratching the surface of. The tune itself is a beautifully brooding yet gentle…
The twelfth album from the always-challenging, always-experimental group Xiu Xiu is a study of severed relations, and the way one copes with that pain. While their previous work teems with lyrical provocation and queer euphoria, OH NO finds them stepping outside of their (dis)comfort zone in favour of an emotional overhaul: it may be their most radical decision of all. The irony of it all is that, while exploring their new soundscape, Jamie Stewart and co. don’t rock up alone, and opt instead to invite a cast of collaborators in for a selection of modest duets. Stewart notes in the…
Shapeshifting Derry-based musical polymath Neil Burns, aka Comrade Hat has just announced details of his new album, Old Gods, Vol. 1, which is set for release on April 13. Its final single is ‘Deep Sleep’, which we’re happy to share ahead of its popping on Bandcamp. Part experimentalism, part finely honed pop songcraft, it draws upon the familiar sounds of confessional, lonesome Americana, mystique, and glistening, low-key-yet-expansive 80s-recalling spectral echoes – possibly stemming from a Canadian stint. Equally, its sense of glacial, otherly pastoralism is not unlike that of experimental, avant-pop singers like David Sylvian, Talk Talk and Mary Margaret O’Hara, with his trademark self-deprecation…
Beating out the rest of 2021 so far in terms of both quality and quantity, check out the very best Irish tracks of the week, featuring Lighght, Soda Blonde, Poor Petal, SORBET, HAVVK, Æ MAK, Lilac, Ghostking Is Dead, For Those I Love, Gender Chores, Cussen, CMAT, This Ship Argo, Saint Sister, Dunx, Travi The Native and K3:LU. Ghostking Is Dead – I Don’t Need Help I Don’t Need Help by Ghostking Is Dead Æ MAK – New Friend Lighght – there are parts of my soul i don’t dare speak Holy Endings by Lighght Gnarkats – All The Time…