• 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Eraser TV – Buzzfeed Depression Quiz

    August 3, 2017 - By 

    Just released is Limerick post-punk noise-pop act Eraser TV‘s debut EP, the wryly-titled Buzzfeed Depression Quiz, that tells you all you need to know about the wry wit of the trio. Featuring zero short, snappy numbers and a nine-minute epic celebration of languor, no compromise has been made on the EP, filled with all the trimmings, creases, and slightly-off guitar lines you’d hope from a band with nothing to lose. Buzzfeed Depression Quiz is a completely unselfconscious release, and is all the better for it. The EP was recorded and produced by Chris Quigley, self-released and available on Bandcamp on a pay-what-you-like basis. Stream below:…

  • GOURD/Luxury Mollusc Split LP

    August 1, 2017 - By 

    Two of Ireland’s premier doom-laden purveyors of noise release a split record on August 21st through Cursed Monk Records. Melding the suffocating, guttural blackened doom of Gourd with the harsh atmospheric ‘scrap abuse’ of Luxury Mollusc, the split opens with two longer tracks from Gourd and five snappier little numbers from Luxury Mollusc. It’s available to pre-order on cassette from Bandcamp. Stream the split below: GOURD/Luxury Mollusc by GOURD/Luxury Mollusc

  • Porphyry – Ursa Minor/Coming Home EP

    July 24, 2017 - By 

    Experimental singer-songwriter Porphyry has just released his debut EP, Ursa Minor/Coming Home. Solely performed by Derry multi-instrumentalist Daryl Coyle, it’s an ambitious EP that’s difficult to pin down in genre, with lush arrangements and instrumental flourishes, and truly unpredictable songwriting. Independently released, it was recorded by Start Together’s Niall Doran & Smalltown America’s Caolan Austin, and mixed by Doran. The EP, although could be categorised as baroque pop, or psych-folk, or ambient, or shoegaze or even *gasp* prog rock, it manages the unenviable job of being boldly unpigeonholeable as art, and deeply personal, without approaching any level of bloated grandiosity. Check it out below – we’d…

  • Tiny Magnetic Pets – Deluxe / Debris

    July 24, 2017 - By 

    Collecting krautrock grooves, ’70s electronica and oddball pop, Dublin outfit Tiny Magnetic Pets – named after the Japanese collectable toy – release their new album Deluxe / Debris on August 25 through Happy Robots Records. This follows up on their 2009 debut, Return of The Tiny Magnetic Pets and two EPs. Sounded at times like a prime-era William Orbit electronic pop production, featuring the kosmische space race synth sounds of the likes of Harmonia and Neu! – incidentally, the album features two collaborations with Kraftwerk’s Wolfgang Flür. Flür isn’t the only synth-pop fan either, with the band having built support from members of Visage & OMD, as…

  • The Jimmy Cake – Tough Love

    June 22, 2017 - By 

    Experimental kosmiche post-punks The Jimmy Cake release their sixth album Tough Love on July 14 through the respected Irish indie label Penske Recordings. Formed as a 10-piece in Dublin back in 2000 from the ashes of experimental noiseniks Das Madman, they’ve had a revolving lineup, recording – the last being 2015’s Master. Tough Love was written for a one-off performance in Dublin arts space The Joinery in 2015, with two distinct movements and styles – blending their usual krauty psychedelia with some stoner groove. Check out ‘Observatory Destroyer‘. The Jimmy Cake launch Tough Love at the Grand Social on July 8, and tickets are priced at €13 from Billetto,…

  • RMCK – RMCK

    June 20, 2017 - By 

    Anonymous, instrumental, distorted banjo looping project RMCK has just released their self-titled debut EP through Solid Choice Industries. The EP was recorded in Belfast’s Start Together Studios by Rocky O’Reilly, with engineer Ben McAuley on drums. Hypnotic & swirling, the music could broadly fall under the banner of math or post-rock but falls into fewer of its trappings, being much more intuitive and less maximalist – the work of one lone artist who remains unidentified. Solid Choice claim to know their identity but wish to protect their anonymity – colour us very intrigued as to whether they make the move to live…