• EP Premiere: Warriors of the Dystotheque – Return To Coney

    March 4, 2016 - By 

    A self-proclaimed “dystopian journey deep into the heart of modern trip hop and gloomtronica” Return to Coney is the second EP from multi-national outfit Warriors of the Dystotheque. Founded by Derry’s Jonny Mac, the quartet’s craft is a darkly blend of slick, lo-fi soundscapes in the vein of Massive Attack and UNKLE, rounded off by a deft cinematic scope and solid command of layered, trip-hop leaning instrumentalism. Released via Tigre Fair today, Return to Coney is inspired by cult 70s film The Warriors and particularly one of the final moments of the film, where The Warriors return to their home turf – Coney…

  • Electric Picnic Reveal First Acts

    March 2, 2016 - By 

    With the rumours coming thick and fast over the last couple of weeks, Electric Picnic have revealed the first acts confirmed to play this year’s festival. With much more yet to be revealed, LCD Soundsystem, Lana Del Rey, New Order and The Chemical Brothers top this year’s festival. Super Furry Animals, Haim, Todd Terje, Animal Collective, Broken Social Scene, Savages are also amongst the first confirmed acts. See the full first announcement below. Weekend camping tickets for Electric Picnic 2016 are now on sale here. To enter our competition to win two weekend tickets to this year’s festival, go here.

  • Stream: Solar Bears – Gravity Calling

    March 2, 2016 - By 

    This time last month we were rather giddily raving about Solar Bears‘ ‘Wild Flowers’, a track we said seen the Dublin duo “as prismatic and sorcerous as ever”. Very much following in that vein, ‘Gravity Calling’ is the latest track to be streamed from their forthcoming third album, Advancement, which drops via Sunday Best Recordings on March 18. Inducing yet another neon-lit netherworld of lambent retro-futurism, it’s a superbly synth-driven, soundtrack-like four minutes of flawless mastery from the twosome. Solar Bears play Belfast’s Lavery’s on Friday, March 18. Pre-order Advancement here.

  • Watch: New Secret Weapon – You’re Still Losing (Live)

    March 1, 2016 - By 

    Few Irish alt-rock bands command their own sound quite as convincingly as Dublin’s New Secret Weapon. Counting The Fear, The Late Late Show and OJ Simpson as their many influences on their Facebook page, the David Griffin-fronted trio have unveiled a live version of ‘You’re Still Losing’, a riff-fuelled, multi-part ode to the interminable, Sisyphean strife of The Everyday. Evoking everything from Jeff Buckley’s more tenacious efforts to the backwashed urban doom of Enablers and Incubus’ earlier, more emphatic material. Created by Scan and recorded by Deaf Bros, watch the video below.

  • Watch: Bad Bones – Games

    March 1, 2016 - By 

    Set to play the next installment of Psykick Dancehall – our new night with Medium presents at Dublin’s Bello Bar – Dublin producer Sal Stapleton AKA Bad Bones released her shadowy, wonderfully cloistered first gambit last month in the form of ‘Beg’. Going one better, her new single ‘Games’ is a delicious slice of darkly electronica weaving perfectly-spliced beats, bobbing bass and modulated vocals in a fine, cimmerian mesh of noise. Check out the video for ‘Games’ – also created by Stapleton – below.  

  • EP Premiere: Bouts – Unlearn

    February 29, 2016 - By 

    Self-described as a “pop-grunge noise rock band with an inherent, unashamed attachment to big pop hooks” Dublin indie rock quartet Bouts have well and truly lived up to that explication over the last few years. Having fully arrived with their stupendous debut album Nothing Good Gets Away back in 2013, today marks the release of a five-track EP that sees their craft as downright convincing as ever, in spite of two members living overseas. Recorded at various points in 2015, at no point during the process where all members present together – a fact that both underlines the studio efforts of John Murphy and Shane…

  • Stream: Extra Fox – Lunar Float

    February 26, 2016 - By 

    Having premiered his subtly euphoric single ‘Palm of Gold’ back in November (stream it here) Dublin’s Neil Adams AKA Extra Fox has returned with nigh on onomatopoeic new track, ‘Lunar Float’. A drifting, typically synth-driven effort full of mellow restraint, it induces a netherworld of loose, burrowing oblivion over three and a half minutes. Stream/download ‘Lunar Float’ via Soundcloud below.

  • Belsonic Reveal First Acts, New Location

    February 26, 2016 - By 

    Attributing it to a higher demand for tickets in recent years, it’s been announced that Belfast multi-night festival Belsonic will relocate to the Titanic Building for its 9th outing this June. Launched at Katy Daly’s last night, Foals (frontman Yannis Philippakis, pictured) Biffy Clyro and Faithless were amongst the first headliners revealed to play the festival, taking place two months prior to its usual August slow. See below for the full line-up as it stands. Tickets for Belsonic 2016 go on sale on Friday, March 4 at 9am, priced from £29.50 (and booking fee).

  • Watch: Patrick Freeman – POWER

    February 26, 2016 - By 

    Dublin based musician Patrick Freeman‘s 2015 album Cherry Blossom Fall was a terrific debut. Recorded at Big Skin HQ in Cork where Waterford natives O Emperor have been operating from for the past couple of years, there is a similar sound permeating through his music; a blend of folk and psych rock with sprinklings of surfy Beach Boys elements there to make the whole experience all quite dreamy. Not to mention vocals that were very subtly touched up with distortion or phasers to add even more intrigue to already deft lyrics that veer on the tongue-in-cheek side. Even more tongue-in-cheek still is…

  • Caribou, Cat Power and more for Castlepalooza

    February 25, 2016 - By 

    Marking its tenth anniversary, Castlepalooza will return to Charleville Castle, Tullamore in Co. Offaly from July 1 to July 3 this year. With more acts to be revealed in the coming weeks, Caribou, Jurassic 5, Cat Power, Villagers, Romare, Colm Mac Con Iomaire and Cork’s The Altered Hours are amongst the first acts announced to play the annual summer festival. See below for the first announcement in full. Tickets for Castlepalooza 2016 are priced at €134 and €115 (without camping) and go on sale this Monday.