• Stream: Kowalski – The Kowalski Archives: 2007-2009

    December 30, 2015 - By 

    Having been quiet since the release of their long-awaited debut album, For The Love Of Letting Go, back in the Summer of 2013, London-based Bangor indie-pop quartet Kowalski have returned with The Kowalski Archives 2007-2009, a stellar fifteen-track digital release capturing various performances from their early days. As well as its release, the band revealed their reason for absence was due a serious illness within the band: “Hello you lovely folk! I’m sorry we have been very quiet over here in Kowalski land but we thought it was time to update you on what is going on. Unfortunately our bass player Tom has been very ill for…

  • Stream: exmagician – 2000 Miles

    December 23, 2015 - By 

    Truth be told, not every well-meaning stab at a festive cover comes off in a blaze of glory. Falling very much into the category of those that do, Belfast’s exmagician have re-imagined the Pretenders’ seminal Christmas cut ‘2000 Miles’ in very fine fashion indeed, conjuring a beautifully reflective netherworld edging nicely into the realms of dream-pop. Stream/download the track below.

  • Watch: Orchid Collective – The Power of Love

    December 23, 2015 - By 

    Having had a very encouraging 2015, Dublin alt-folk four-piece Orchid Collective found some time when recording their forthcoming next single at Lisburn’s Millbank Studios last week to re-imagine and cover Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Christmas classic ‘The Power of Love’. A wonderfully paced, subtly spellbinding rendition of the 1984 original, their rendition is accompanied by a video by filmmaker Tiaran Larkin. Check it out below.

  • Steve Albini Set For Belfast Conference

    December 18, 2015 - By 

    Following in the well-partied footsteps of  Andrew WK, legendary Chicago recording engineer and Big Black/Rapeman/Shellac frontman Steve Albini has been announced as the next Keynote speaker at music conference Output in Belfast on Thursday, February 18. Also feted for his music writing, commentary and keynote speeches throughout the U.S. and further afield, Albini – best known for his work with Nirvana and the Pixies – is a bona fide music industry veteran, as well as a famous supporter of analog recording over digital. As with last year, Output – organised by Belfast City Council in partnership Generator NI – will feature panel discussions, music sessions, networking…

  • Premiere: Malojian – Crease of Your Smile

    December 16, 2015 - By 

    Having released one of our favourite Irish albums of the year in Southlands back in May, it’d be something of an understatement to say Lurgan singer-songwriter Stevie Scullion AKA Malojian has had a busy and quite brilliant year. As well as being nominated for the 2015 NI Music Prize, Scullion has keep us on eager toes with the steady release of three singles, the equally sublime ‘Bathtub Blues’, ‘No Alibis’ and ‘Communion Girls’, over the last nine months. The fourth and final of the year, the masterfully meditative lullaby folk of ‘Crease of Your Smile’ might well be our favourite of the lot, a…

  • Stream: Lie Ins – Love In The Arctic/Go Back To Billy

    December 15, 2015 - By 

    Ahead of the fifth annual Popical Island All-Dayer at Whelan’s on Saturday (more info right here), Dublin’s Lie Ins are streaming their forthcoming double A-side, ‘Love In The Artic/Go Back To Billy’. Respectively described as “a post-apocalyptic hoe-down” and a “pop tune about returning to past follies”, the lo-fi indie trio recorded their tracks straight to tape by the threesome’s new bassist Mark Chester at Popical Island hub The Pop Inn. Officially released on January 25, stream the tracks below.

  • Quarter Block Party Launch 2016 Programme

    December 15, 2015 - By 

    Having delivered and then some at its inaugural outing earlier this year, Cork’s Quarter Block Party have unveiled the music, pop-up performances and community events that will make up 2016 programme from February 5-7 2016. Presented by Makeshift Ensemble and Southern Hospitality Board, QBP is a three-day music and arts festival on the city’s North and South main street with community at the beating heart of its ethos. With much more to be announced, organisers have revealed that experimental folk-rock band Spooks of the Thireenth Lock, Daniel Knox – long known for darkly distorting traditional American popular song styles resulting in…

  • Album Premiere: A Co-Present Christmas

    December 14, 2015 - By 

    Featuring the likes of i am niamh, Sleep Thieves and Laura Ann Brady, we’re very pleased to present a premiere of the inaugural A Co-Present Christmas, a first-rate, fourteen-track compilation of covers, original tracks and Christmas themed tracks from various Irish artists. To celebration the end of what they rightly have called an amazing year for Irish music (and how) The Co-Present – hands down one of our favourite radio shows in Ireland, broadcast weekly on Radiomade.ie – selected some of their favourite artists to contribute their festive songs to release. Having launched in November 2013, the Co-Present – hosted…

  • Elastic Sleep – Bad Machine

    December 11, 2015 - By 

    We’ve a lot of time for Cork noise-pop wizards Elastic Sleep here at TTA Towers (ok, it’s a singular tower) and never has that been more the case than now, with the release of their rapturous new single, ‘Bad Machine’. Continuing to sound like no other band in the island (at the very least) the Muireann Levis-fronted five-piece the song explores the idea of wilful submission in the face of self destruction, segueing from a hypnagogic groove to full-blown, feedback-drenched ire. Check out Echo Tree’s tripped-out video for the new single (available as a free download from the band’s Bandcamp and Soundcloud pages) and…

  • Premiere: Ealadha – ‘Hurricanes’

    December 10, 2015 - By 

    Since emerging in the past few months, and steadily beginning to gig around the country, Cork post-metal trio Ealadha have rapidly become an important part of the city’s scene, hazily bringing together post-metal heft and dreamy ambience, as amply showcased in their debut single released earlier this year, ‘Dive’. We’re excited to premiere their follow-up here on TTA: ‘Hurricanes’ sees them expand their sonic palate with the inclusion of electronic elements and gentle, layered piano, further widening their scope. Frontman/guitarist Dom Murphy had this to say: “This track sees the band exploring new ground and expanding our ambient haze to…