One of our must-watch Irish acts for 2018, Cork five-piece The Sunshine Factory have been on a major roll recently. Having released Cruelest Animal, their four-track EP of first-rate slow-burning neo-psych, back in November, the band are back with a killer double-single, ‘Exploding Head’ and ‘Negative Light’. Recorded by Chris Somers live in Cork’s Crane Lane on October 30 last year, the new tracks – released via their DIY label Sunshine Cult and produced by Mark Waldron-Hyden from the band – present a masterfully claustrophobic brace of urgent, hazed-out sounds from the fast-rising Cork quintet. Negative Light/Exploding head by The Sunshine Factory
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The follow-up to 2016’s gem-laced Do You Think You’re Clever?, Cork alt/psych-pop five-piece The Shaker Hymn will release one of the most anticipated Irish albums of 2018, Colour Of The Holy Sun, later this year Singer Caoilian Sherlock said of the album: “We don’t often write new songs out of an improv “jam” type of thing – but this started as a little two chords warm up at rehearsal a few months back. I went away and wrote a melody, and lyrically I was aiming for a joyous apocalypse kind of thing. A song to celebrate The Rapture heading our way.…
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Counting Foals, Biffy Clyro and the North Coast’s finest And So I Watch You From Afar as their main influences, Belfast-based quartet Ferals are an act that is spurred on by – and openly nods to – the scene for inspiration. “Watching all our favourite local bands take themselves to heights we didn’t know were reachable in this country has totally inspired us,” the band said. “It gave us a beacon of hope that we could be successful.” Out on Zool Records, debut single ‘Brendan Rodgers’ introduces the band as an act filtering the imprint of the aforementioned influences, while pushing towards a modern,…
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Alongside cornerstones of a Limerick DIY scene that’s organically developed over the last few years, threaded with the spirit of independence shared by Anna’s Anchor, Cruiser, Eraser TV and Post-Punk Podge & The Technohippies, Casavettes have shared with us the video for new single, ‘Winter Smoke’. Channelling the similarly independent – and undeniably stronger – recesses of the Biffy Clyro back catalogue and more recent guitar-led post-hardcore & emo, it’s another step up for the outfit who debuted back in 2015. It’s also further evidence of the organic development of an integral, genuine community founded by artists and fans in a corner of Ireland that’s too often overlooked. ‘Winter Smoke’ was…
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As we’ve said before, Letterkenny’s Tuath are one of the most genuine purveyors of hepped-up psychedelia on this island, with band leader Robert Mulhern having, as we’ve said before, drawing a consistent thematic throughline throughout the band’s extensive output; one that’s about questioning accepted ideals, organised ideology, and what it means to be, if anything. Once more, they effuse their worldview with a half-maniacal cackle, half-nihilistic-shrug, helped along by its kitchen sink absurdist imagery. Since midway through last year, they’ve been drip-feeding singles from their latest EP, Youth, which we’re delighted to exclusively premiere here today, on its day of release. It’s launched upstairs at Galway’s Roisin Dubh tonight,…
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With the Waterboys and Public Image Ltd. previously announced as headliners, it’s been revealed that Iceland-based American musician John Grant will play this year’s Open House Festival in Bangor. Grant will play Bangor’s seafront – the first time the festival has had a large-scale outdoor space for evening concerts at its disposal – on Sunday, August 19. “It’s clear that Bangor has become an attractive destination for international touring artists,” said Open House director, Kieran Gilmore. “Gaining access to the outdoor space beside the marina, slap bang on Bangor seafront, has been pivotal in allowing us to programme acts like…
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The second single from his forthcoming sixth studio album, Wellpark Avenue, Juniper & Lamplight by Neil O’Connor AKA Somadrone is a sublime, genre-warping reworking of Simon and Garfunkel’s 1969 song, ‘For Emily Where I May Find Her’. According to O’Connor, what began as a simple reworking, soon turned into a fully orchestrated soundscape where simple electronics weave to and fro. Referencing acts like Scott Walker and Air, harpsichords drive the instrumentation into a lush and psychedelic pool of sounds. Wellpark Avenue is out on April 10. Have a first look at the suitably cosmic visuals for the single below.
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Their first headline shows in the country since 2013, The xx have announced that they will play “intimate” shows in Belfast and Dublin in May. Ahead of a show at All Points East in London on Saturday, May 26, the band will play Belfast’s Ulster Hall on Monday, May 21 and Tivoli Theatre in Dublin on May 23 and 24. Pre-sale goes on sale on Monday, March 5 at 10am and general public tickets are on sale on Thursday, March 8 at 10am.
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A new photography book showcases cutting-edge documentary portraits from across the UK. Independent film director Paul Sng has launched a crowdfunding campaign for Invisible Britain: Portraits, a unique book of documentary images from more than 30 award-winning photographers including Belfast’s James McCourt. Co-curated by Chloe Juno and Laura Dicken, the book features stories and portraits from across the UK, showing the sharp edge of austerity and cuts to public services. The book arises from the documentary Sleaford Mods: Invisible Britain, co-directed by Sng in 2015, and follows the success of follow-up film Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle. “Negative and…
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We’re rather fond of Myles Manley here at the TTA. In fact, we have no qualms saying that we think the English-born, Sligo-raised, Dublin-based musician is one of the country’s most masterfully idiosyncratic artists. Take 2015’s “comprehensively endearing” ‘Pay Me What I’m Worth’, or last year’s ‘Relax; Enjoy Your Night Upon the Town’, a track that featured highly in our Top 100 Irish Tracks of 2017. Manley’s craft doesn’t serve up the odd gem here and there – he consistently delivers the goods, forever finding ways to make music whose points of reference often squarely fall back facing his very own direction. Accompanied by Sebastian MacDermott’s…