Hold the phone: London-via-Belfast electronic duo Andy Ferguson and Matt McBriar AKA Bicep are back with one almighty banger. Lifted from the pair’s forthcoming Ninja Tune-released debut album – set to drop on September 1 – ‘Aura’ is a slick, beat-heavy and brilliantly propulsive five-minute effort that aims straight for the sonic jugular.
Girls Names‘ frontman Cathal Cully AKA Group Zero recently dropped one of the Irish albums of the year so far in the form of Structures and Light, a release we said “traversed brittle cold wave gems, pre-dawn electro throwdowns and shivering industrial instrumentalism over ten tracks, each as commanding as the last”. Released via Belfast imprint Touch Sensitive, the album has a new single, ‘Pyramid of Light/Love And The Present’ – a double-sided, softly rapt peak highlight now masterfully bolstered by Dublin-based visual artist Dorje De Burgh’s visual accompaniment. Speaking of the video De Burgh said, “The visual that accompanies ‘Pyramid of…
Last October we wrote about Galway ambient-folk artist Kieran O’Brien‘s After The Storm EP, a heartfelt, raw and honest exploration of personal rediscovery, nature and memory. Returning now with ‘Only a Dream’ taken from his forthcoming EP, O’Brien continues to explore similar themes with an added verve and a wealth of vibrant atmosphere. Stylistically, the track shifts slightly from the folkier leanings of After The Storm and instead takes a swing at the dream-pop pace and textures of Real Estate, The War on Drugs and fellow Galway artists like New Pope. It is a path that is well-trodden by upcoming artists and one that is all too often…
Having released one of the Irish albums of last year in the Steve Albini-produced This Is Nowhere, Stevie Scullion’s Malojian have spent the last while working on its follow-up, the brilliantly-titled Let Your Weirdness Carry You Home. The lead track from that, ‘Some New Bones’ is a spirited return that marries psych-dappled textures and a Motorik groove with swaggering guitar patterns and brief passages of sublime orchestration. Adding another dimension to the release is Colm Laverty’s stellar video, which comprises archive footage from BFI’s digital archive and newly-shot footage from Malojian’s recording sessions at Rathlin East Lighthouse in February. Combined, the…
With The National already announced, it’s been revealed that Bon Iver will play Cork’s Sounds from a Safe Harbour festival on Friday, September 15. Set to return from September 14-17, more acts for the annual festival – which is curated by Bryce & Aaron Dessner, Cillian Murphy, Enda Walsh and Mary Hicksonare – are yet to be announced. Tickets go on sale via the Cork Opera House website on Wednesday, June 21 at 10am.
Back in January last year, we were pleased to share ‘Our Friends’ by Dublin’s Karl Knuttel AKA Bear Worship. A track we said “evoked everything from the chamber folk balladry of Department of Eagles to the floaty dream-pop of Candy Claws” it marked the arrival of an artist with remarkable potential. Having moved to Shanghai, Barcelona and back to Dublin in the meantime, Knuttel has come good and then some on his sublime, nine-track debut album WAS. A prismatic traipse of melodically rich, compositionally ambitious alt-pop, the likes of the subtly ecstatic ‘Shimmerings’ and ‘Galapagos’ conjure the aforementioned acts, Grizzly Bear,…
Set to headline a free Thin Air show at Lavery’s in Belfast on Thursday night, Rory Nellis remains one of our favourite solo artists from these shores. The fifth consecutive single from his forthcoming album, There Are Enough Songs In The World, ‘All I Ever Wanted Was A Chance’ is a full-band alt-pop gem that tussles with disenchantment and apathy in masterful fashion, revealing a darker yet no less incandescent shade to Nellis’ expansive musical palette.
Set to return to Derry for its 17th outing across June 28-July 2, the full programme for Ireland’s leading electronic music festival, Celtronic, has been announced. Kicking off on June 28 with a massive party at St Columbs Hall with The Black Madonna, Mike Servito and Deep Fried Funk DJs, Carl Craig, Ellen Allien, Ben UFO, Move D, Levon Vincent, Job Jobse, Ryan Vail and many more will also make an appearance over the five days. The full line-up and access to buy tickets are available to buy here.
Heft, beautiful heft. Hands down one of the country’s finest heavy psych propositions, Dublin quartet Wild Rocket have returned with the fuzzed-out, low-end, bastardised cosmic mastery of ‘The Future Echoes’. Taken from their forthcoming second studio album, Disassociation Mechanics – released via the mighty Art for Blind on July 7 – the track has a brand new (and suitably impressive) video courtesy of Thomas Parkes. Check it out below.
Having recently released her debut album The Inbetween, Strabane singer-songwriter Lauren Bird has made a name for herself on the live circuit in the North over the last couple of years. Making a little go a long way via just her vocals and ukulele, she delivers confessional lyricism, subtle-wielded truths and a strong knack for melody – something new single ‘The Way Out’ has by the bucketload. Undoubtedly Bird’s most quietly emphatic effort to date, it’s a maudlin and nicely earworming song from an artist whose pop prowess grows stronger by the day. Featuring animation by Gina Cuarán, here’s a first look at the video for…