• Watch: New Solar Bears Album Trailer

    January 12, 2016 - By 

    Having had the head down over the last while, Dublin electronic duo John Kowalski and Rian Trench AKA Solar Bears have unveiled a trailer for their hugely anticipated third album, Advancement. Set for release via Rob Da Bank’s Sunday Best Recordings in March 18, the album – which took a year to make – was recorded in various locations and, according to the label, “[emphasises] the sonic quality of different spaces, plus incorporating and manipulating indigenous instruments to “[mirror] the widespread decay of the natural world.” Sounds pretty sweet, eh? Peer further behind the veil via the album trailer below. Photo by Dorje De Burgh

  • Watch: Gascan Ruckus – Bitter Victories

    January 12, 2016 - By 

    The Middletown boys in Gascan Ruckus are at it again, with the video for the second, semi-titular single from their forthcoming long-awaited debut album, Narrow Defeats and Bitter Victories. Never concerned with taking themselves more seriously than is necessary, it comes complete with an Uncle Hugo-friendly countrified intro. It’s noticably more hook-driven than past efforts, but still channelling some of the contemporary anthemic post-hardcore in the vein of Dinosaur Pile-Up or Basement that they’ve been plying in recent years. The video was recorded by Belfast Yank BeeMickSee and Axis Of’s Niall Lawlor, with their latest album recorded by Ben McAuley at Start Together Studios. You can…

  • Stream: exmagician – Job Done

    January 8, 2016 - By 

    If there’s one Irish album we’re nigh on pant-wettingly excited for this year it’s Scan The Blue by Belfast’s exmagician. A titular (and slight member) shift from the embers of Cashier No. 9, the project has had us quietly agog since the release of their debut EP Kiss That Wealth Goodbye via Bella Union in November. A perfectly crafted, psych-laced alt-pop gem, the band’s new single ‘Job Done’ distils Danny Todd and James Smith’s prismatic mastery to four all-too-fleeting minutes. As you might have guessed, we’re big fans. WordPress code More options

  • Video Premiere: Bosco Ramos – SNKSWM

    January 8, 2016 - By 

    Previously called GIRL, experimental Belfast duo Bosco Ramos are just one of a number of acts in the city making some first-rate fervent noise at the minute. Recorded with R51’s Jonny Woods at Start Together studio in late 2015, the pair’s seismic new single ‘SNKSWM (Sink Swim)’ – their first official release – is accompanied by a video courtesy of Niall Lawlor and Brendan Seamus. Have an exclusive first look at that below.

  • Stream: Little Green Cars – The Song They Play Every Night

    January 7, 2016 - By 

    Laced with pathos in all the right places, ‘The Song They Play Every Night’ is the wonderful lead single from Dublin five-piece Little Green Cars‘ second album, Ephemera. Swooning, brittle and impossibly earnest, the track – driven by Stevie Appleby’s exquisite, whole-hearted delivered – taps into the all often unspoken world of loss and recovery. Top drawer. Ephemera will be released on March 11.

  • Second Quarter Block Party Line-up Announced

    January 7, 2016 - By 

    Having made their first announcement back in December, Cork’s Quarter Block Party have revealed a slew of new acts and events set for their 2016 outing from February 5-7. Amongst the new additions is Cathy Walsh’s Running Up That Hill, a celebration of feminism equality and solidarity. Provoked by the #wakingthefeminists movement and inspired by Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’, the people of Cork City will march through the streets and dance together in celebration on North Main Street, the historic spine of the city. Elsewhere, Abigail Conway’s participatory installation Time Lab will ask visitors to “dismantle a wristwatch or clock and reconstruct…

  • 2016 Choice Music Prize Shortlist Announced

    January 6, 2016 - By 

    With The Gloaming proving well-deserved victors last time round, the shortlist for this year’s Choice Music Prize has been announced. Set to be selected by an industry judging panel at Dublin’s Vicar Street on Thursday, March 3, the following albums are all vying for the prize: Girl Band – Holding Hands with Jamie (Rough Trade) HamsandwicH – Stories From The Surface (Route 109A Records) Gavin James – Bitter Pill (Warner Music Ireland) Jape – This Chemical Sea (Faction Records) Le Galaxie – Le Club (Universal Music Ireland) Colm Mac Con Iomaire – And Now The Weather (Plateau) Roisin Murphy – Hairless…

  • EP Stream: SENIOR INFANTS – LIFE IS GOOD

    January 5, 2016 - By 

    Featuring some of our favourite Bandcamp tags ever – “ringo starr, soundtrack, good life, ringo starr lower road, ireland” LIFE IS GOOD by inscrutable Irish noise duo SENIOR INFANTS is likely to feature on the Hollyoaks soundtrack any day soon. Marrying sparse blips and sunless splurges of sound with the odd melodic stream and percussive dance, it throws caution to sonic wind, expectant of nothing but itself in fine and mad fashion. LIFE IS GOOD by SENIOR INFANTS

  • EP Streams: Arvo Party – Beep/Tintinnabuli

    January 5, 2016 - By 

    From Joy Orbison, Camper Van Beethoven and Chet Faker to Truman Peyote, Ringo Deathstar and Joanna Gruesome, punny musical monikers range from the positively inspired to the downright cringeworthy. Falling very much into the former camp, Arvo Party is the new-fangled electronic-leaning appellation of Belfast’s Herb Magee of kaput riffmasters general LaFaro and three-piece GOONS. Diametrically at odds to said heavydom, Magee has unveiled two EPs of sublime throwback minimalist electronica: four-track release Beep and the five-track Tintinnabuli, which features two re-imaginings of (the actual) Arvo Pärt’s ‘Für Alina’ and ‘Solfeggio (Excerpt in C Major)’. Back to back, it’s an exceptional double curveball from the Belfast-based bassist and…

  • Stream: Villagers – Wichita Lineman

    January 4, 2016 - By 

    Taken from Where Have You Been All My Life? (a collection of re-imaginings set for release on Friday) Villagers are streaming their sublime cover of Glen Campbell’s stone-cold classic ‘Wichita Lineman’. Meeting and exceeding all expectations, it’s an expectedly heartfelt, full-band affair that pays tribute to the original in extraordinary fashion. Distilling five years and three albums of Villagers’ songwriting into “one flowing narrative” Where Have You Been All My Life was recorded in one day at London’s RAK Studio with Richard Woodcraft and Villagers live engineer Ber Quinn.