• Watch: Glass Wings – For A Little While

    May 17, 2018 - By 

    Glass Wings is the music-making moniker of Belfast-based artist Stephen Jones. Following on from the release of Jana from Barcelona – a carefully-crafted, acclaimed EP released back in May last year – he has recently recorded his forthcoming full-length debut album with Phil D’Alton of Master & Dog. Lead single ‘For A Little While’ set the tone for a body of work exploring personal and societal coming of age in an increasingly uncertain world. Directed, filmed and edited by Josh Brogan, check out the video for the single below.

  • Stream: Oh Joy – Cab Sad

    May 17, 2018 - By 

    We have a lot of time for Dublin indie rock trio Oh Joy here at TTA. They mean it, man. They really mean it. Recorded by Liam Mulvaney at Bow Lane, the brisk, heat-stung ache of new single ‘Cab Sad’ captures that intent, psychic wanderlust and heartbreak across 141 all-too-short seconds. Taken from their forthcoming EP, Good Grief – which is released on June 8 – the song is, as you might gleam from even a cursory listen, “about falling in love and how it can make you feel like a pathetic mess”. Ollie Moyles, Oh Joy lead songwriter wrote the…

  • Watch: Bouts – Face Up

    May 16, 2018 - By 

    It’s been five years since debut LP Nothing Good Gets Away, and four since their last release, Unlearn, but back in style are Dublin indie rock Bouts, with ‘Face Up’. Influenced by the kind of breezy, hook-laden indie rock best placed to soundtrack the main stages of the Irish summer, its DIY video fittingly  papers over the malaise with emphatic optimism. Of the song, frontman Barry Bracken says: “Face Up is a no-filter, punch the air plea for staring things down and pushing on through. Some songs you write, others just materialise. This seemed born ready. Its immediacy excites us as much now as those first moments playing it.…

  • Premiere: Heroes in Hiding – Berlin

    May 15, 2018 - By 

    The second single from their forthcoming debut album, Actor, ‘Berlin’ by Dublin quartet Heroes in Hiding is a cathartically-driven effort exploring “a want for change and a sense of belonging, or lack thereof.” According to the Joe Carroll-fronted band, “The narrator has become fed up with their surroundings, and fantasises about a new life in Berlin. They are convinced that by moving away they will be able to throw off the shackles of their old life and start afresh, leaving the anxious surroundings of their current world behind.” Exploring “a ‘moment’ of uncertainty in life – a moment where we are…

  • Premiere: Switzerland – Waste of Time

    May 14, 2018 - By 

    A song about “the futility of arguments and going with the flow” ‘Waste of Time’ by Dublin quartet Brian Walsh, Shane Murphy, Al Condon and Enda Canavan AKA Switzerland is, hands down, the finest dose of sleepy, jangle-heavy, Pavement-leaning loveliness we’ve heard in quite some time. Comprised of members of Drunken Boat, Hello Moon, Land Lovers, No Monster Club and Paddy Hanna, Switzerland will launch the single at Thomas House on May 19. You should go to that, and have a first listen to the single (and look at its video) below.

  • Watch: Saint Sister – Twin Peaks

    May 11, 2018 - By 

    Saint Sister have returned with their first new offering since last years ‘Causing Trouble’. ‘Twin Peaks’ is the first single from the bands forthcoming album Shape of Silence and shows a change of pace for the Northern Irish duo. While sonically not as dark as ‘Madrid’ or ‘Tinman’, it’s just as emotive. Here, the pair explore new textures while retaining all the best elements of their sound. Beautiful vocal textures and lush harp strings combine with driving drum and bass rhythms to create a satisfying interplay. Working once again with Hozier bassist, Alex Ryan, Doherty explains “The three of us…

  • EP Premiere: Mike Paterson – Devils In The Water

    May 11, 2018 - By 

    The third release on Homebeat Presents, Devils in the Water by Germany-based, Cavan indie-folk singer-songwriter Mike Paterson is an EP that bounds with nuance, conviction and heart. The EP – imbued with tones of Sufjan and Bon Iver – is a lo-fi tale of Paterson’s “flight from difficult times in Ireland to his new adopted home.” From opener ‘First Song in Germany’ to closer ‘Open Up’, it serves a emotionally-driven four-track introduction to an artist who, despite making his presence known as frontman of Travis Oaks, has re-emerged with a voice and touch all his own. Have an exclusive first listen…

  • Curfew Festival Announced For Twelfth of July

    May 11, 2018 - By 

    Making its return for the first time in many years, Belfast’s alternative, inclusive Twelfth of July proceeding Curfew, takes place across two of Belfast’s finest small venues – The Black Box & Voodoo. The whole day is kindly run by original runner Pete Jez’ Solid Choice Industries. In direct opposition of ‘the other one’, we don’t have to pretend to enjoy the rad tunes. The only cultural division to be seen is in the cross-genre venue booking -Voodoo is set to host the riff-centric acts, headed by Dublin’s synth-driven space-metal trio No Spill Blood, sludgy heavy rock trio Slomatics, Dublin hardcore act Destriers, space punks Wild Rocket, sludge-doom act Nomadic…

  • Gruff Rhys Announces Irish Dates

    May 10, 2018 - By 

    With his fifth solo album, Babelsberg, set for release via Rough Trade on June 8, Super Furry Animals main man Gruff Rhys has announced three Irish dates for December. Rhys will play Cork’s Live at St Luke’s on December 1, Galway’s Roisin Dubh on December 2 and Dublin’s Button Factory on December 2. Tickets – which go on sale on Friday May 11 at 9am – are priced €23, €20 and €23.50 respectively. His first record for Rough Trade since 2007’s Candylion, the tracks for Babelsberg were recorded in early 2016 across three days, alongside Kliph Scurlock (ex-Flaming Lips) and…

  • Stream: Shrug Life – Your Body (Acoustic)

    May 10, 2018 - By 

    Of all the songs written in the lead-up to this month’s Irish abortion referendum, ‘Your Body’ by Shrug Life strikes a particularly emphatic chord.  Originally released in September 2016, the song – with its refrain of “Your body is not your body/It’s the property of church and state” – has taken on a whole new sense of import with a new stripped-back version recently filmed in an abandoned Magdalene laundry by David Knox. Though the original has no dearth of impact, this version, featuring Shrug Life frontman Danny Carroll and vocalist Máire Carr delivering a sobering and masterfully poignant rendition of the…