• Stream: Pat Dam Smyth – Dancing

    April 1, 2019 - By 

    When we last spoke to him, back in March of 2016, we reasoned that London-based Northern Irish troubadour Pat Dam Smyth stood tall as one of the country’s most distinctive and vital songwriting voices. Three years on, that theory needs underlining. Having recently signed to Belfast’s Quiet Arch, Smyth is back with a new single – the first for a forthcoming album – called ‘Dancing’. Reflecting on his life as a teenager in Belfast, it’s a pensive, full-band affair, bursting with pathos and Smyth’s singular melodic knack. Stream it below. Smyth’s second album is out in July 2019.

  • First Names Announced for Stendhal

    March 29, 2019 - By 

    Long one of the country’s very best summer festivals, Stendhal returns to Ballmully Cottage Farm in Limavady, Co Derry/Londonderry across August 15-17th. Today, organisers have announced the first acts to play this year’s outing and it’s a strong mix of established and fast-rising, international and homegrown. With many more to be announced, among the highlights is a DJ Set from Basement Jaxx, Borders aka Elma Orkestra and Ryan Vail (pictured), Dublin indie rock quartet Bouts, Mob Wife, Amy Montgomery, Lost Brothers, David Keenan, Roe and Stevie Scullion aka Malojian. Check out the first line-up announcement in full below and go here…

  • Girls Rock Dublin Announce 2019 Camp

    April 3, 2019 - By 

    Following the success of the past two years, Girls Rock Dublin has announced the return of its summer camp for 12-17 year olds. Set to take place over the last week of June, from 25th-29th, the camp has taken great care in ensuring more inclusivity than ever before. There are spaces for 20 (cis & trans) girls and gender non-binary folks, with half of this number designated as scholarships to applicants from Direct Provision and low-income households. Over the five days, twenty applicants will form a band, learn an instrument, write a song & perform onstage by the end, with no previous…

  • Stream a new Kobina remix of Bouts’ Love’s Lost Landings Pt. 2

    March 22, 2019 - By 

    In one of the finest musical meeting of minds we’ve heard in quite some time, Amsterdam-based Irish producer Sean Arthur aka Kobina has reworked ‘Love’s Lost Landings Pt. 2’, a recent single from Dublin indie rock heroes Bouts. Across four minutes, it makes for a glitchy, subtly propulsive affair that masterfully ekes out hidden rhythms and streams of melodic finesse from the original. Start your weekend right by giving it a spin or two below. Arthur said, “With any remix I try to find the core of what makes the original stand out to me and then flip it. For me the original…

  • Premiere: Any Joy – The Sea

    March 25, 2019 - By 

    One of the great hidden gems in Irish independent music today are Cork’s Any Joy. Sublimating varied strains of psych, post-punk & indie rock, they manage to recall the quintessential Deerhunter-esque pop-conscious, experimentally-natured sound of internalised dreams. Their 2017 debut album, Cycles, was a minor triumph, and was followed up last year with ‘Sucker’, a track that was included on last year’s Irish compilation A Litany of Failures: Volume II. Their new single, ‘The Sea’, bears all the Any Joy hallmarks: alpine guitar lines, tension, an impenetrable, masked vocal, and a wall of sound, all imbued with tape adulation. It’s their finest work to date. Another self-recorded effort in…

  • Premiere: Oisin o’ Scolai & The Virginia Slims – Vacation

    March 22, 2019 - By 

    Backed by the Virginia Slims, Belfast-based Donegal musician Oisin o’ Scolai has been on our radar since last July. Signed to Black Tragick Records – a label founded by none other than Kilrea’s finest Robyn G Shiels – he creates folk-pop brimming with pathos, heart and nuance. Exhibit A is new single ‘Vacation’. Taking from o’ Scolai’s forthcoming debut album, Vacant Sea, it’s a heart-stung, lo-fi effort tussling with social cul-de-sacs and growing fernweh. Officially out on April 5, ó Scolaí launches Vacant Sea alongside An Auld Lad, Hatchetfield, Franklyn and more at a Black Tragick night at Belfast’s Voodoo on April 4. Pre-order it…

  • Premiere: Alpha Chrome Yayo – Cerberus 3000 (Killing Time)/A Sweet Car Named Demented

    March 21, 2019 - By 

    Last month, we had the pleasure of premiering ‘Breakfast in Daytona’ by Belfast producer and musician Alpha Chrome Yayo. It was, as we saw it, “soaked, SEGA-leaning gem” from an artist who, alongside the likes of the equally mysterious Danny Madigan, are flying the chequered flag for Belfast’s surprising, yet thriving synthwave scene. A self-proclaimed “hi-octane hellride”, new single ‘Cerberus 3000 (Killing Time’) ups the ante from ACY. Building on previous releases, the track – just like shorter, but no less inspired b-side ‘A Sweet Car Named Demented’ – is a pure-cut dose of synth-drenched, shred-heavy retromancy from the producer.…

  • Watch: The Man Whom – Nothing Gained (Live)

    March 20, 2019 - By 

    Ian Doyle aka The Man Whom is an artist whose craft weaves together acoustic balladry with an ambient-folk sensibility. Having been quiet since 2011’s The Greatest Event LP, the Wexford singer-songwriter has returned with a gossamer tale that delves into the mind of the songwriter struggling with the devastating effects of recession. “I wrote Nothing Gained in the middle of the last recession in Ireland when its full effects had become apparent,” Doyle said. “Working in the construction sector up to that point the recession hit hard. Luckily for me and my family, we managed to struggle through. Unlike others around us who had…

  • Premiere: RUNAH – Shame

    March 20, 2019 - By 

    Tara May is a Dublin musician who makes mesmeric art-folk in the guise RUNAH. It’s something that’s on full display on her new single, ‘Shame’, which we’re pleased to premiere today. Conjuring the likes of Cat Power, Lana Del Rey and Kimbra, May said the song is “based on the changeable feminine divine being painted as shameful, but also how shame is constantly perpetuated in society. “We are ashamed of sexuality and sexual expression, we endure shame around self-expression, we endure shame for the space we take up, always coming from a feeling of lack. In a society where we are…

  • Stream: Oranges – Upside Upside

    March 20, 2019 - By 

    Last December, we premiered ‘The Way You Look’ by Dublin three-piece Oranges. The lead single to be taken from Hey Zeus, the band’s forthcoming debut album, we said it “recalled the abrasive, minimalist alchemy of The Fall”. In truth, this is something that – all credit to its players – could be as comfortably applied to the latest track from Gavin Duffy, Mici Durnin and Ed Kelly. Across three minutes, ‘Upside Upside’ is skeletal post-punk riposte that, in its simmering climb and surging climax, hints at something special in the works for Hey Zeus. Set for release on limited orange + black coloured cassettes and…