• Album Stream: Arvo Party – Devotions

    May 1, 2020 - By 

    If you were to look us dead in the eye and say “Arvo Party doesn’t sleep” we would genuinely believe you. The musical nom de plume of Belfast-based musician and producer Herb Magee, Arvo Party has been responsible for some of the most eclectic and forward-moving electronic sounds in Ireland over the last four years. His solo journey to date has almost been radically restless, propelled by a sense of determination that is unmistakable once you heed it. With his next album proper set to land in June, new release Devotions is an inspired feature-length diversion in its own right. Balmy…

  • Our Krypton Son To Release Deluxe Album Raising Funds for NHS, Unveils ‘Sunlight in the Ashes’ Remix

    May 1, 2020 - By 

    We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Derry singer-songwriter Chris McConaghy aka Our Krypton Son is one of the finest writer of heart-stung tales this island has ever seen. While his 2017, Northern Ireland Music Prize-nominated second album, Fleas & Diamonds, still proves Technicolour testament to this fact, McConaghy’s 2014 self-titled debut album set the scene in exceptional fashion. Across 11 songs, he swiftly established himself as an artist with an uncanny knack for mining elemental human truths as perfectly formed dream-pop gems. On Wednesday, May 6th, McConaghy is releasing a deluxe reissue of Our Krypton Son, with all proceeds going…

  • Stream: Joel Harkin – Vada

    May 1, 2020 - By 

    In just under three weeks, Belfast-based songwriter Joel Harkin releases his debut album, Never Happy. A ten-track distillation of the Donegal artist’s singular alt-folk vision, it filters the influence of artists as disparate as Conor Oberst, Modest Mouse, Bjork and Gregory & The Hawk to deliver a compelling statement of intent. The follow-up to March’s ‘No Recycling‘, new single ‘Vada’ is an outright highlight from the album.  “The song creates a world in which my mates from Letterkenny and the main character of my favourite film, the 1991 classic ‘My Girl’, exist in the same universe,” Harkin says. “It’s about how they…

  • Premiere: Deathbed Convert – Inner Mountain

    April 30, 2020 - By 

    Two years on from releasing the stellar Sentience and Sapience under his Ai Messiah alias, Belfast producer and musician Connor Dougan is back as Deathbed Convert. Set for release via NI’s finest imprint Touch Sensitive tomorrow (Friday, May 1) Dougan’s debut in his new guise is a feature-length exploration of bygone times, conjuring the melancholic beauty of The Durutti Column, Gigi Masin’s deep, ambient ocean, and Iasos’ endless expanse. Running parallel with Ai Messiah’s subjective speculations on the future, Debris of Echoes – which betrays the influence of Talk Talk, Alice Coltrane, Miles Davis and Pharoah Sanders – goes the other way, casting its inner…

  • Premiere: The Zang – Drinking With You

    May 1, 2020 - By 

    The music-making moniker of Belfast artist Chris Molloy, The Zang is a project that’s ultimately about having a sense of humour even in the darkest of times. The opening track and lead single from Molloy’s forthcoming debut album, ‘Drinking With You’ is an earworming pop rock gem, doubling up as equal parts a celebration of human connection and the joy of spending time with loved ones, versus the feeling of detachment and loneliness that we are all capable of enduring. Across three minutes, it makes for a subtly anthemic, harmony-laden effort that demands a repeated listen. Released in Oiltape Studios in Belfast…

  • Album Stream: Mark Waldron-Hyden – Future Life Continuity

    April 29, 2020 - By 

    Back in the mists of time – Monday – we happily premiered ‘I Can’t See You: Where Did You Go?’ by Cork musician Mark Waldron-Hyden. Subtly scopic and immersive in all the right places, it doubled up as a suitably emphatic first taste of his stellar new album, Future Life Continuity. Released today via Cork imprint Sunshine Cult, it’s a masterfully mottled full-length effort that, perhaps more than any other Irish release we’ve heard this year thus far, fully rewards a repeated listen – not least on good speakers or headphones. Recorded over a two-month period, “in pretty intense solitude” in his studio…

  • Premiere: Myles Manley – Aaa Episode 3 and 0

    April 29, 2020 - By 

    Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been offering a first look at Aaa, a new music video series by Dublin-based artist Myles Manley. A three-part collaboration with various filmmakers, it has honed in on exactly what sets Manley apart as a genre-contorting pop auteur. In Part 1, Myles visited a group of wealthy businesspeople, seeking investment for a new streaming service, www.musiccool.ie. In Part 2, our intrepid hero suffered a bout of depression and seeking some counselling, following the rejection of Music Cool. Today, in episode 3 and 0, he frames his experiences in another way. Watch Bob Gallagher’s…

  • Stream: Danny Madigan – Bruiser

    April 27, 2020 - By 

    Danny Madigan has evidently been riding a wave of inspiration as of late. A leading light in Belfast’s somewhat unexpected, yet fully operational synth-wave scene, along with Alpha Chrome Yayo and Transpacifica, his throwback craft betrays heaps of savvy and a full-blown recognition of the weight of a hook. Across six tracks, Madigan’s new mini-album, Bruiser, takes that M.O and runs with it – far beyond the stratosphere and right back again. Bruiser by Danny Madigan

  • Premiere: Mark Waldron-Hyden – I Can’t See You: Where Did You Go?

    April 27, 2020 - By 

    On Wednesday, Cork artist Mark Waldron-Hyden releases an album that is surely going to go down as one of the Irish titles of the year. Recorded over a two-month period, “in pretty intense solitude” in his studio in the Nagle mountains of rural North Cork, Future Life Continuity is a clear-cut statement of intent, melding singular abstract ambience via prismatic noise and first-rate polyrhythmic forays. Lead single, ‘I Can’t See You: Where Did You Go?” is one of many gems here. Across five minutes, it makes for a masterfully shapeshifting trip, melding widescreen, Kranky-leaning ambience with submerged Brainfeeder-esque textures. Featuring visuals by Con O’Brien, have a first listen to…

  • Stream: James Joys – Kink (Double A-Side)

    April 27, 2020 - By 

    The scope and intent of James Joys‘ output knows no bounds. One-third of Ex-Isles, one-half of The Night Guild, and a forward-pushing, consistently unpigeonholeable musician in his own right, the Belfast artist and composer – otherwise known as Jamie Thompson – no doubt revels in defying expectation to excavate new sonic spectacles. New double A-Side is a double-pronged triumph of disentangling techno. The clubs may be closed, but across 10 minutes, Joys proposes some pure-cut escapism via this perfectly pupil-dilating brace. KINK (Double A-Side) by James Joys