• Album Premiere: Ainriail – My Heart is a Knot of Blood

    July 12, 2016 - By 

    Imagine Killing Joke and Meshuggah had a baby together and dumped it in a bog. Then imagine that this baby grew into a sludge behemoth. That is the sound of Ainriail. The group has built a strong live reputation lurking about the squats and DIY spaces of Ireland and developing a sound marked by bone-rattling bass and bellowing vocals. And their debut album, My Heart is a Knot of Blood, doesn’t so much play out your speakers as much bursts out and oozes all over your furniture covering it in dark oils stains. While taking queues from the sludge and…

  • Album Premiere: Rory Grubb – Water House

    June 23, 2016 - By 

    Recorded in an old mill in Kilkenny, a wooden cabin in Carlow and a Georgian basement in Dublin over two very cold winters, Water House is the third album by Dublin artist Rory Grubb. Debuting Grubb’s much-admired creation, the Electric Ceramophone (a huge percussion instrument made from tuned clay pots) the release is a genre-warping, lo-fi gem evoking the likes of Beat Happening, The Microphones and Jeffrey Lewis. Largely opting for sampler keyboards and custom-made instruments throughout the release, Grubb has concocted another singular effort bursting with melody and bold experimentalism. Grubb launches Water House at Dublin’s Bello Bar on Friday night with support from Ross…

  • Album Premiere + Track-by-Track: Jealous of the Birds – Parma Violets

    May 4, 2016 - By 

    Deservedly tipped as an Inbound act in the seventh issue of our magazine back in May last year, it’s far from facetious to say that Portadown’s Naomi Hamilton AKA Jealous of the Birds has experienced nothing short of a remarkable rise over the last few months. Conjuring a perfectly solipsistic netherworld, where each syllable is intent and every heart-strung admission is illuminated with the wisdom of her deep engagement of both ephemeral and inner worlds, her debut studio album, Parma Violets, is a halcyon masterclass that wonderfully expands upon her early bedroom recordings. Having said “my only hope is that the songs sound like a…

  • Album Premiere: Heliopause – How Can We Laugh After This…

    February 15, 2016 - By 

    Released ten years to the day since performing his first ever show, How Can We Laugh After This… by Belfast’s Richard Davis AKA Heliopause is an exquisite electro-acoustic release confronting creativity, self-questioning and mental health with a refined, incisive delicacy that goes some distance in revealing the musician’s rejuvenated prowess. His 13th release to be self-released via Bandcamp, the 12 track album was mostly composed using Ableton Live, in which his usual backbone of acoustic guitar is replaced in favour of a baritone electric. Occasionally shaped by literary influences including Mysterious Stranger, the final novel by Mark Twain and James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room, Davis’ lyrics…

  • Album premiere: We/Or/Me – Everything Behind Us is a Dream

    January 27, 2016 - By 

    Bahhaj Taherzadeh is the man behind the moniker We/Or/Me. Based in Chicago, the Persian-Irish musician has steadily yielded a string of self-produced releases that have drawn admiration from the likes of NPR, Vashti Bunyan, Glen Hansard, and producers Brian Deck (Nathaniel Rateliff, Iron and Wine, Modest Mouse) and Adam Selzer, producer his exceptional new album, Everything Behind Us is a Dream. Evoking the likes of Nick Drake and Hansard, his timeless, wonderfully restrained indie folk summons muted twilight wandering; each softly resonant track proving a meditation on ardor and spirit. Everything Behind Us is a Dream is released on Friday (January 29). Have an exclusive first…

  • Album Premiere: A Co-Present Christmas

    December 14, 2015 - By 

    Featuring the likes of i am niamh, Sleep Thieves and Laura Ann Brady, we’re very pleased to present a premiere of the inaugural A Co-Present Christmas, a first-rate, fourteen-track compilation of covers, original tracks and Christmas themed tracks from various Irish artists. To celebration the end of what they rightly have called an amazing year for Irish music (and how) The Co-Present – hands down one of our favourite radio shows in Ireland, broadcast weekly on Radiomade.ie – selected some of their favourite artists to contribute their festive songs to release. Having launched in November 2013, the Co-Present – hosted…

  • Album Premiere: Imaginary People – Dead Letterbox

    November 30, 2015 - By 

    Produced by Kevin McMahon (Swans, Real Estate) we’re very pleased to premiere Dead Letterbox, the debut album from New York band Imaginary People. Marrying straight-up garage rock with a synth-laden, instantly infectious impetus, the Dylan Von Wager-fronted five-piece have forged an eleven-track release bursting with darkly, impassioned zeal tantamount to David Byrne and Protomartyr concocting all kinds of bunker-resigned sounds in the cold dead of night. You can stream the album in full via Soundcloud now below. Keep up to date with Imaginary People right here.

  • Album Premiere: Owensie – Dramamine

    November 3, 2015 - By 

    It’s not every day – or indeed week or month – an album like Dramamine is released into the world.  Set for release via stellar Limerick imprint Out On A Limb Records on Friday, November 13, the third studio album from Dublin songsmith Michael Owens AKA Owensie is a masterfully accomplished nine-track release of meditative, decidedly Autumnal folk-pop summing everyone from Department of Eagles, Sun Kil Moon circa Admiral Fell Promises and Kill Rock Stars-era Elliott Smith. Recorded in various indoor and outdoor locations across the country, using natural acoustics to create an instantly resonant sonic sojourn, there is a cunningly considered glory to the…

  • Album Premiere: Best Boy Grip – Best Boy Grip

    September 21, 2015 - By 

    Four years on from utterly bewitching us with singles including ‘Monster and Me’ and ‘You’, Derry singer-songwriter Eoin O’Callaghan AKA Best Boy Grip is on the brink of unveiling his highly-anticipated, self-titled debut album via Amelia Records. Having trailblazed the PledgeMusic campaign to see its release, we’re delighted to present an exclusive first listen to the release; eleven truly majestic, genre-warping tracks brimming with O’Callaghan’s inimitable flair of conviction, heart and extraordinary musicianship. With a full review of the album to come very soon, check it out – as well as forthcoming Best Boy Grip tour dates – below. October 1: Bad…

  • Album premiere: Túcan – Towers

    March 31, 2015 - By 

    With its launch set for Dublin’s Button Factory on Saturday night, we’re pleased to present a first listen to Towers, an album that confirms the hugely impressive metamorphosis of Sligo’s Túcan. A masterclass in perfectly-honed, brilliantly realised instrumentalism, the album straddles the fine line between decidedly soundtrack-like Cinematic Orchestra-esque post-rock and trad-inflected mini-symphonies. Having been steadily developing and spearheading progression in their guitar-led sound over the last twelve months, the eight-piece have delivered a record brimming with integrity, imagination and daring, capturing the thrill of their scintillating live show in the process. Stream Towers below.