• EP Stream: Silverbacks – Sink The Fat Moon

    May 19, 2017 - By 

    Set for a midnight launch at Whelan’s next Saturday night (May 27), Sink The Fat Moon by Dublin indie rock five-piece Silverbacks will sure rank up there with our favourite Irish releases of the year come December. A plinking, squalling five-track sweep of scuzzed-out tangents and lo-fi passages, it marries the patent – yet very impressively wrought – imprint of the likes of Parquet Courts, Sonic Youth and Pavement in fine fashion, revealing a band whose knack for forging something new from the aforementioned influence is really a delight to behold. For a sub-genre oversaturated with clumsily disaffected amour-propre, Silverbacks wield a far more natural…

  • Watch: Count Vaseline – Russia

    May 18, 2017 - By 

    Currently based in Atlanta, GA Dublin’s Stefan Murphy has set off on a compelling, genre-spanning and decidedly DIY solo journey as Count Vaseline following the disbanding of The Mighty Stef in May last year. A highlight from his second solo album, Cascade – a release Murphy has astutely called a self-contained “micro-universe” – ‘Russia’ is a timely release that, via a stripped back but layered sound that conjures the likes of Darklands-era Jesus and Mary Chain, meditates on and tussles with the the mystery of the past the precariousness of the future. Better still, Murphy vocals – emphatic as ever – veer into perfectly melodic, ear-worming…

  • Album Stream: Matua Trap – Thunderous Silence

    May 17, 2017 - By 

    After a long wait seemingly nodded at by its title, Thunderous Silence, the debut album from Belfast progressive alternative rock trio Matua Trap is out today. The band formed in September 2013 from the ashes of Belfast post-rockers Kasper Rosa and experimental psych-poppers EatenByBears. Their sound undulates somewhere between upbeat vibes of 90’s and 00’s alt rock/pop outfits and the razor sharp riffage and mountaintop vocal hooks of ‘nu’ and progressive metal, maintaining a strong sense of song craft; owed in part to a constant influence from esoteric pop legends such as Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush. Taking a sharper turn from the post-rock format indulged…

  • Video Premiere: R51 – Heavy Friends

    May 17, 2017 - By 

    Having recently been in the studio recording new material, Belfast five-piece R51 will release a blitzing new single, ‘Heavy Friends’ and a b-side titled ‘Vitamin C’ on May 23. A song “about the realisation that all your friends are depressed weirdos”, it’s another starry-eyed – almost celebratory – blast of gaze-drenched alt-pop from the band. Accompanied by a DIY video (which has become something of a forte for the band), check out our premiere of the single and its artwork below.

  • Stream: Loah – This Heart

    May 17, 2017 - By 

    Having snuck a little preview, we are very excited about the release of This Heart, the debut EP from Irish/Sierra Leonean artist Loah. A release of extraordinary finesse and inimitable pop sway, it was recorded a 6 month period with a fine array of some of Ireland’s most eminent jazz, African, and classical musicians, including Brazilian drummer Andre Antunes, saxophonist Michael Buckley, Congolese guitarist Niwel Tsumbu, percussionist Eamonn Cagney, a string quartet of musicians from the Crash Ensemble, and Loah’s sister Fehdah on backing vocals. Talking about the release, Loah said: “This is a collection of tunes that all deal with similar…

  • Swans To Play Final Irish Show In Current Guise

    May 17, 2017 - By 

    As part of a lengthy tour, U.S. noise rock masters Swans will play their final Irish show with the current line-up at Dublin’s Button Factory on Tuesday, May 30. A last-minute show, support on the night comes from Little Annie (Crass Records/On-U Sound). Tickets will go on sale today here.

  • First Acts Announced for Forbidden Fruit By Night

    May 17, 2017 - By 

    With Orbital, Aphex Twin and Bon Iver headlining the main event, the first acts set to play Forbidden Fruit By Night have been announced. Taking place over the June Bank Holiday weekend of June 3-5, the likes of Maceo Plex, Booka Shade, Kink, Snakeships, Hot Chip (DJ Set) and Denis Sulta will play various Dublin venues until 3am across the weekend. Forbidden Fruit by Night are ticket only events. After-party tickets are only valid with a Forbidden Fruit Festival Saturday, Sunday, Monday or Weekend tickets. The festival will also be running a bus from Kilmainham each night. With more acts to be…

  • Premiere: Via: Barvikha – Willie Woods

    May 17, 2017 - By 

    Today, we’re delighted to be able to premiere ‘Willie Woods’, the second single from Via: Barvikha‘s new EP, Chengdu.  The song sees songwriter Chris Leckey make some concessions about himself directly to an unknown listener (‘I moved away, or so I thought’), which take on a deeper profundity within the frame of the EP, written around a period of significant life change, namely songwriter Chris Leckey’s uprooting to a new home 5329 miles away – the titular Chengdu – and then coming back five months later. Channelling a brooding intensity never articulated as dynamically with his past hardcore outfit PigsAsPeople, Leckey has found a waypoint via common denominator Brand New to the…

  • Sun Kil Moon Set For Vicar Street

    May 16, 2017 - By 

    Having released his eighth studio album, Common as Light and Love Are Red Valleys of Blood, back in February, Mark Kozelek AKA Sun Kil Moon will play Dublin’s Vicar Street on November 28. His biggest ever headline show here, tickets for the show – which will be fully-seated and come at the end of a European tour that will see Kozelek and his band play eleven countries in seventeen days – go on sale at 9am this Friday priced €29.80 including booking fee. Read Justin McDaid’s review of Common as Light… here.

  • Watch: RUTH – Off My Mind

    May 15, 2017 - By 

    Fast becoming one of the country’s finest alt-pop propositions, Co. Kerry’s RUTH caught our attention back in October with her single ‘Queen of the Con’. A few months on, new single ‘Off My Mind’ goes one further, proving a slick, synth-driven effort that perfect encapsulates her knack for a killer, FM-friendly hook. Be warned: this one burrows deep. Check out the track and its rather celestial visuals (courtesy of Ciarán O’Brien) below.