• Irish Tracks of the Week – 23rd September

    September 23, 2022 - By 

    It’s been another stellar week for Irish music. Dig into the best new sounds of the past seven days below, featuring Elaine Howley, coldcall, Anna B Savage, ROE, Cormorant Tree Oh and more Elaine Howley – Autumn Speak Cormorant Tree Oh – Swoontide Swoontide by Cormorant Tree Oh coldcall – day_01 Anna B Savage – Ghosts ROE – That’s When The Panic Sets In Trick Mist – The Hedge Maze and the Spade The Hedge Maze and The Spade by Trick Mist Talos – Kites Dutch Schultz – Levil9 LØ – Green Out Patrick Kavanagh – Almost Everything… Anna Mieke –…

  • Trick Mist releases new album, The Hedge Maze and The Spade, on Pizza Pizza Records

    September 23, 2022 - By 

    Trick Mist has released his second album, The Hedge Maze and The Spade, via Dundalk’s Pizza Pizza Records. Listen below.  The Cork-based Louth native’s personal brand of experimental folk is fleshed out across these 10 tracks, evolving on the lush electronic manipulations, violin loops and introspective songwriting of his 2018 debut, Both Ends. Where that album was created in a period of flux for the artist, written partly during his travels across India and South-East Asia, and amidst his relocation to Cork, the inspirations for this new collection are tied to more internal concerns, and are rooted in memory.   The…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 16th September

    September 16, 2022 - By 

    Dive into the best Irish music of this week from Gilla Band, Farah Elle, Joshua Burnside, Kynsy, Clara Tracey, Meljoann and more.  Photo by Mark McGuinness Gilla Band – Post Ryan Farah Elle – Laundry Elaine Mai & MuRli – Ready Calmea – I know now I didn’t know, what it meant to really go I know now I didn’t know, what it meant to really go by Calmea Thee U.F.O. – Ponderous Fug Ponderous Fug by Thee U.F.O Waldorf + Cannon – Cut Loose Krea – September Sun Joshua Burnside – Late Afternoon In The Meadow (1887) Kynsy – Simple Life…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 9th September

    September 9, 2022 - By 

    Here’s the very best Irish releases of the week, featuring Narolane, Katie Kim, Ciaran Lavery, Aoife Nessa Frances, Grave Goods, Akrobat, Junior Brother and more Narolane – Rent Free Katie Kim – Hour of the Ox Ciaran Lavery – A Confident Woman Grave Goods – Die Akrobat – Basquiat’s Widow Zaska & Melina Malone – Just For One Day Aoife Nessa Frances – This Still Life Junior Brother – Good Friday Kyoto Love Hotel – When Do You Think It Begins EP When Do You Think It Begins (EP) by Kyoto Love Hotel Ben Flavelle-Cobain – electric//emotion electric//emotion by Ben…

  • Inbound: Bengo

    September 7, 2022 - By 

    Recent years have seen the culture of Ireland, music or otherwise, in constant flux. A new generation of heads has embraced a new sound, one that is led predominately by black artists who have thankfully dragged the country into the global world of Afropop and beat. It’s here we find producer and songwriter Daryl Bengo, or simply Bengo. Officially getting his start in music as a member of the now-gone Fresh Ré, Bengo cut his teeth playing the piano in church, watching his father. Now, the son of the preacher man is a solo artist that counts collaborations with Alicia Raye and…

  • Music From Beyond: An Interview With Fort Evil Fruit

    September 7, 2022 - By 

    Paul Condon of Limerick-based cassette-only label Fort Evil Fruit discusses spreading outsider music with a DIY ethos Words by Justin McDaid Photo by Nance Hall One Step Beyond and Hits Out of Hell by Madness and Meatloaf, respectively, held residency in my dad’s car for as long as I can remember. I still have those tapes. I still love Madness and Meatloaf. I might not own my own car but thanks to people like Paul Condon and Fort Evil Fruit, my tape collection has multiplied and diversified exponentially, particularly over the various lockdowns we’ve all endured in recent times. Before…

  • Track Record: Aoife Wolf

    September 6, 2022 - By 

    Fast-rising Irish psych-folk Aoife Wolf gives a guided tour of the records she can’t live without, featuring My Bloody Valentine, Kate Bush, Grouper, John Martyn and more Photo by Jane Donnelly My Bloody Valentine – Loveless There’s that saying that talking about art is like dancing about architecture. I don’t often feel that I have a lot to say about the music I love but a hell of a lot to feel about it. When I really like a sound I feel like I can’t get close enough to it like I want to drink it or bathe in it,…

  • Inbound: NIMF

    September 6, 2022 - By 

    Last July, we had the joy of premiering ‘Cloudy Dreams,’ a three-minute gem by Arklow’s Aoibhín Redmond aka NIMF. Representing her experiences as an autistic musician, and the need to indulge in her imagination, it married acoustic motifs with found sound and homespun electronica, as well as influences including Kero Kero Bonito. Four months on from that luminous introduction, the sugar-spun DIY pop of ‘Space’ plumbed prismatic new depths. Delving into what Redmond referred to as “the beautiful worlds within our own minds,” which open up “endless possibilities when overwhelmed by the day-to-day,” it was a dreamscape that hit like…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 2nd September

    September 2, 2022 - By 

    On this Bandcamp no-fee Friday, dig into the best Irish music of the week from Junior Brother, New Pagans, F.R.U.I.T.Y., Celaviedmai, Phil Kieran, Arvo Party and more Junior Brother – The Great Irish Famine The Great Irish Famine by Junior Brother Padraig Cooney – Houses Centuries of Learning by Padraig Cooney Mount Palomar ft Joshua Burnside – Simmer Phil Kieran & Green Velvet – Enjoy The Day ‘Enjoy The Day’ by Phil Kieran & Green Velvet New Pagans – Better People F.R.U.I.T.Y. – Fruiterama FRUITERAMA by F.R.U.I.T.Y. Celaviedmai – Go Down Low Arvo Party – Suave Sauve by Arvo Party…

  • Monday Mixtape: Akrobat

    August 29, 2022 - By 

    Ahead of the release of their debut single ‘Basquiat’s Widow,’ Shane Regan and Paddy Lyons of Dublin indie/art-rock band Akrobat wax lyrical about some of their all-time favourite songs, featuring Sonic Youth, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Velvet Underground, Silverbacks and more Sonic Youth – Kool Thing This song bursts with gritty attitude and swings in Kim’s understated lyrics and vocals, Thurston’s wailing guitar lines and a bizarre cameo from Chuck D. It’s what true indie rock should be and the song is an unapologetic flag for the counter-culture. It sounds as fresh today as it was way back in 1990. The song is…