• Video Premiere: Any Joy – Sun

    February 1, 2021 - By 

    The Sun EP, which may have slipped you by at the end of last year, saw Any Joy chip further away at their singular heady brew of psychedelia, internalised doom and post-punk to follow up on their wonderful 2017 debut album, Cycles. The band have shared with us their Adam Curtis fever dream of a video for its title track, created by frontman Oisin Dineen. He tells us “Climate disaster and human displacement are the happy subject matter of Sun. The video paints a colourful, post apocalyptic landscape, running down the clock.” Check it out:

  • Premiere: Nylophone – Shy One

    January 27, 2021 - By 

    Wicklow-based artist Niall Woods aka Nylophone marked his arrival last year with well-received singles ‘Summer Feeling’ and ‘Let’s Go Driving’. A few months on, Woods has returned with ‘Shy One’, a deftly-produced dose of indie-folk whose lyrics are based off W.B Yeats’ ‘To an Isle in the Water’. It’s an approach that works wonders here. Featuring finger-picked guitar by Jonny Dillon aka Automatic Tasty and percussion/production by TTA favourite Rian Trench of Solar Bears & Panik Attaks, it’s a wonderfully bucolic offering that, in Woods’ own words, centres on “a longing and a desire to escape from something or somewhere.” Have a first listen…

  • Premiere: An Cárthach – ARBATAX

    January 27, 2021 - By 

    An Cárthach is the music-making moniker of Cork beatmaker and producer Diarmait Mac Cárthaigh. Arriving off the back of debut mixtape Grand In General, which was released at the tail-end of last year, ‘Arbatax’ doubles up as a slick and neatly understated re-introduction to an artist carving out a niche in a thriving South West solo scene. Featuring Brian Dunlea (Moken Troll) on bass, and by a video courtesy of The Lawd Mayor Colm Walsh, it’s a self-proclaimed “goat-inspired” instrumental named for the Sardinian village where much of the video footage was shot. Ahead of new material in the coming months, have…

  • Premiere: Gaze is Ghost – Wild Geese/Feather and Bone

    January 26, 2021 - By 

    We’re calling it now: 2021 is the year of Gaze is Ghost. The recording moniker of Northern Irish musician Laura McGarrigle, the project saw TTA favourite Keith Mannion aka Slow Place Like Home and Casey Miller get on board back in 2018. Two years on, the trio offer up two carefully-woven, wonderfully ruminative gems. Inspired by the “fragile beauty” of the Scottish coastline where McGarrigle currently live, ‘Wild Geese’ is equal parts gossamer and quietly defiant, McGarrigle’s cyclical patterns and recurring refrain of “I’ll try to do better” doubling as a mantra for future days. The full band ‘Feather and Bone’,…

  • Premiere: Boyfrens – Kiss Dance Sweat Move

    January 21, 2021 - By 

    The songwriting and production project of Dublin-based artist Jack Hevey, the music of Boyfrens strikes a slick midpoint between tightly-produced electronica & synth-pop, threaded with deft elements of hip-hop and R&B. Having launched in 2019 while he was completing a Musicology MA in Amsterdam, Hevey on new, the forward-pushing electro-pop gem ‘Kiss, Dance, Sweat, Move’. Speaking about the track, Hevey said, “‘Kiss, Dance, Sweat, Move’ was written and recorded with dimly lit dance floors and cramped smoking areas in mind, where the freedom to brush up against one another, touch, groove and embrace hasn’t been lost. The track meditates on one…

  • Video Premiere: Gnarkats – All The Time

    January 21, 2021 - By 

    Ahead of the release of their highly-anticipated new The Dreamer EP tomorrow, we’re pleased to share a first look at the video for ‘All The Time’ by Belfast three-piece Gnarkats. Delivering another dose of the band’s increasingly earworming brand of alt-rock, the track now comes accompanied by a stellar video courtesy of photographer and filmmaker Niall Fegan. Watch it below. Speaking about The Dreamer EP, which saw the band team up once more with producer and The Answer guitarist Paul Mahon, vocalist/bassist Louis Nelson said, “Lyrically, it’s our expression of a drastic change within our lives, and how we dealt with those problems. “It was…

  • Goat Girl Set For Whelan’s Show

    January 19, 2021 - By 

    South London post-punk foursome Goat Girl are set to play Dublin later this year. The band, who release their second studio album On All Fours via Rough Trade on January 29, will – all being well in the world – play Whelan’s on September 18. Tickets for the show are €15 and go on sale this Thursday (January 21) at 10am. Described by Goat Girl’s Lottie Cream as a song centering “around the idea of losing a grip on reality and how often this can happen” watch the video for ‘Sad Cowboy’ from On All Fours below.

  • Stream: This Ship Argo – Hum

    January 15, 2021 - By 

    In recent years – and particularly in the last, thanks to Bandcamp – we’ve seen the rise of a wide net of self-produced superlative electronic artists. In the Northern Irish cul de sac, you have the increasingly world-beating Arvo Party, synthwave retromancer Alpha Chrome Yayo, and more recently, Aileen McKenna, AKA This Ship Argo has been cropping up on the radar with her singular brand of experimental electronic pop. At turns earworming, introspective and profoundly moving, TSA strikes a rare midpoint between densely-layered chamber pop, and ruminative minimalism. Her new single ‘Hum’ is out today, accompanied by alternate mixes from Arvo Party & A Cappella, following…

  • Watch: Hannah Peel – Emergence in Nature

    January 15, 2021 - By 

    As one of the country’s most masterfully explorative composers, Hannah Peel has delivered some forward-pushing gems over the years. From 2011’s The Broken Wave, to last year’s Chalk Hill Blue, she has always delivered sounds that push beyond the here and now. On March 26th, the Northern Irish musician returns with a brand new album, Fir Wave. Lifted from that, lead single ‘Emergence in Nature’ is an exercise in pure ingenuity. Across four and a bit minutes, it makes for an unravelling tapestry of curveballing electronica, sealed by Peel’s compositional Midas touch. Pre-order Fir Wave here and watch the video for ‘Emergence in Nature’ below.

  • Moving on Music Launches Middle Aisle Music Agency and Development Project

    January 14, 2021 - By 

    One of the country’s most reliable promoters, Belfast’s Moving On Music have today launched a new music agency and development project. Working with a selection of folk, jazz, classic, trad and ‘other’ music from these shores, the aim of Middle Aisle is to “support and develop a selection of artists, introduce more ears to incredible music, and help musicians move forward in their careers.” Already, the initiative has added Arborist, Bairie, Blue Whale, Cahal Masterson, Gráinne Meyer, Jack Joseph James, Jack Warnock, Junk Drawer, Laytha, Réalta with Myles McCormack, Robocobra Quartet, Ruth McGinley, Scott Flanigan Trio, and TRÚ to its roster. Fair payment,…