• Album Premiere: Clang Sayne – The Round Soul of the World

    March 21, 2017 - By 

    Conceived in London by Wexford artist Laura Hyland back in 2008 as a means to forge her interests in song, story and sound improvisation, Irish quartet Clang Sayne are an act that have been mentioned in the same breath as such alt-folk luminaries as diverse and inimitable as Tim Buckley and Jandek. Eight years on from their debut Winterlands – a brooding and emotionally potent release – the four-piece (in its current incarnation of in its current incarnation of Hyland on acoustic guitar and vocals, Judith Ring on vocals, Carolyn Goodwin on bass clarinet and drummer Matthew Jacobson) have been busy working on its…

  • Album Premiere: Our Krypton Son – Fleas & Diamonds

    March 10, 2017 - By 

    Four years ago Derry songsmith Chris McConaghy AKA Our Krypton Son released one of the all-time great Irish debut solo albums. A self-titled release, it traversed an extraordinary palette of heart-wrung balladry and fervent, at times quite remarkable pop majesty. Today McConaghy returns with its highly-anticipated follow-up, Fleas & Diamonds. A wonderfully refined release – in both senses of the word – it betrays the hallmarks of an artist whose knack for weaving exquisite, emotionally potent songwriting with crushingly resonant lyrics is unparalleled on this island at present. Conceived over two days, from a tent pitched in an abandoned building on…

  • Album Premiere: Waldorf & Cannon – Old Dogs New Tricks

    January 18, 2017 - By 

    An alternative multi-instrumentalist duo from Derry and Donegal, Waldorf & Cannon make a little go a very long way.  With both members on vocal duties, Philip Wallace AKA Walford playing a Farmer Footdrum kit (check it out, it’s pretty awesome), guitar and harmonica, and Oisin Cannon on bass, their craft – influenced by the likes of Pixies, Devo, Link Wray and Beck – is testament to the fact that the song, no matter how it’s written, wrangled or performed, reigns supreme. A consistently intriguing release from one of the country’s most idiosyncratic alternative propositions have a first listen to their debut album, Old…

  • Album Premiere: Exploding Eyes – Exploding Eyes

    January 18, 2017 - By 

    In his review of this, the Dublin progressive garage-rock trio’s self-titled debut album, TTA’s Trev Moran said Exploding Eyes “greets you with a welcoming invitation to something a little less serious and a lot more fun.” Sure enough, the ten-track release is something of a feature-length celebration of cutting loose without overthinking the dynamism that makes their craft so instantly gratifying. Having formed just over a year ago, the band – comprised of members of The Things, Cheap Freaks, Humanzi and The Mighty Stef – bursts forth from a lineage spearheaded by masters Blue Cheer, Mountain and Cream on the likes of…

  • Album Premiere: Whim – 400 Days

    December 1, 2016 - By 

    Writing in the October issue of our physical magazine, David Boland said of Galway-based, U.S. singer-songwriter Sarah Di Muzio AKA Whim: “For a young songwriter to have such a sense of self, composition and trajectory is a rare thing. [She] combines these with emotional depth and charming, unaffected vocals.” A feature-length testament to David’s astute verdict, Di Muzio’s debut album, 400 Days, is a wonderfully woven patchwork of perfectly-wielded sentiment, lyricism and skilfully stripped-back musicianship. Ahead of its official release tomorrow (Friday, December 2), have an exclusive first listen to the album below.

  • Album Premiere: Walpurgis Family – Live Your Life Around It

    November 21, 2016 - By 

    Following a hiatus of a few years, Dublin indie pop quartet Walpurgis Family are back with a new full-length album – their third record to date – in the form of Live Your Life Around It. A self-proclaimed “eclectic, energetic and upbeat roller coaster trip through various scenes, all centred around the theme of how mental health is absorbed into everyday life”, the album touches on everything from panda surgeons, War and Peace, the thin line between reality and delusion, Don Quixote, the panic caused by a breakup and more. Recorded by Mark Chester (Ginnels, Grand Pocket Orchestra, Lie Ins, No…

  • Album Premiere: The Urges – Time Will Pass

    October 25, 2016 - By 

    When it comes to swirling, baroque-tinged neo-psychedelia and throwback (yet forward-looking) garage rock, Dublin’s The Urges are, without a doubt, in a league of their own. Spearheading a modern manifestation of a lineage stemming from The Doors, Scott Walker and Love, the five-piece’s new album Time Will Pass is testament to following collective vision rather than moving with the whims of trend. Set to be launched at The Grand Social in Dublin this Saturday, the album – which comes nine years on from the release of their debut full-length – is a wonderfully flesh-out effort that doesn’t shy away from layering strings and brass upon…

  • Album Premiere: Katie Kim – Salt

    October 14, 2016 - By 

    Whether you look to Ireland or further afield, few artists cut such a compelling and fiercely individual figure as Waterford’s Katie Sullivan AKA Katie Kim. Four years on from the magisterial, slowcore-tinged indie-folk of her second album Cover and Flood, the Dublin-based musician has returned with its extraordinary, fully-realised follow-up, Salt. A nine-track ode to the unknowable sway of memory, transience, indestructible love, the spectre of loss & longing and what Kafka called the Indestructible, sparsely plucked guitars, disembodied piano shapes, washes of droned ambience and quietly-woven percussion plait to propel Katie Kim’s wonderfully esoteric, deeply-felt inner narratives to a realm of almost meditative poise and intent. Recorded with John…

  • Album Premiere: Count Vaseline – Yo No Soy Marinero

    September 27, 2016 - By 

    Whilst many musicians tend to tread the thin, often imperceptible lines blurring their status as performer or full-blown artist, it’s safe to say Dublin’s Stefan Murphy falls very comfortably into the latter. With his unique brand of urgent, genre-warping sonic wanderlust, from his days fronting the much-loved The Mighty Stef to his current guise as Count Vaseline, Murphy has always clearly lived, felt and fully meant his calling. Set for release on Friday (September 30) via OCDC, the debut Count Vaseline album, Yo No Soy Marinero, was born as a DIY project in Berlin back in the Spring. Having spent much of his time since in…

  • Album Premiere: windings – Be Honest and Fear Not

    September 27, 2016 - By 

    It takes a certain amount of gall to open an album with a 7 minute epic culminating in an arena-seeking, solo-drenched crescendo. But in the case of much-loved Limerick alt/folk five-piece windings that gall is something far more akin to collective poise and confidence on ‘Ambivalence Blues’, the lead track from their wonderfully-realised fourth studio album, Be Honest and Fear Not. Four years on from the release of the band’s sublime, Choice Prize-nominated I Am Not The Crow, this new record – recorded at Attica Studios in Donegal with Villagers’ Tommy McLaughlin – bursts forth with the band’s “modus operandi in 2016: if you are…