• The Altered Hours – Convertible

    November 1, 2021 - By 

    Given that they’ve been releasing music for a full decade now, it’s easy to forget that Cork quintet The Altered Hours are only now releasing their second full length album, Convertible. It must be down to the quality of the EPs they’ve released along the way – no mere stopgaps, releases like 2013’s Sweet Jelly Roll or 2018’s On My Tongue house so much of their most essential material. Debut long player In Heat Not Sorry surfaced in 2016 – an excellent collection of tracks, but one that often took a slower and starker direction than previous releases in a…

  • Deafheaven – Infinite Granite

    September 1, 2021 - By 

    One could argue that Deafheaven are to so-called “blackgaze” music what the Sex Pistols were to punk rock: they weren’t the first on the scene, but the genre would be nothing without their influence. Black metal has incorporated atmospheric overtones since the early-to-mid-‘90s through the work of notorious acts like Mayhem and especially Burzum, and later groups such as Agalloch, Wolves in the Throne Room and Ireland’s own Altar of Plagues. Contemporary acts expanded upon the shoegaze Wall of Sound that tremolo picked guitars offered to include strings, synths and melodic passages, with Frenchman Neige being credited with providing the…

  • Horsey – Debonair

    August 18, 2021 - By 

    It was already evident from their slow drip of sporadic singles over the last five years that Horsey were a band lacking neither in ambition or invention, even if the inclination to get a record out seems not to have been a pressing concern. Their debut album, Debonair, is a little over 30 minutes long but within that span is a carnival cast of gonzo characters and leftfield sojourns.  The standard verse-chorus-bridge formula is accounted for, sure enough, but  what transpires between the first few seconds of a song and where it eventually winds up is anybody’s guess. If Jim Steinman…

  • John Francis Flynn – I Would Not Live Always

    July 30, 2021 - By 

    While Ireland’s contemporary folk scene continues to go from strength to strength, London label Rough Trade must take some credit for bringing it to a wider audience beyond these shores. As well as releasing the past two Lankum albums on their main label, their burgeoning folk imprint River Lea has debuted with records by both Lisa O’Neill and Ye Vagabonds, and now brings us I Would Not Live Always, the debut from John Francis Flynn.  Flynn has been a longtime member of Dublin five piece Skipper’s Alley, with whom he’s already released two albums of traditional covers, but his more…

  • Wolf Alice – Blue Weekend

    July 13, 2021 - By 

    Creeping back into the scene, Wolf Alice first teased the release of their third album, Blue Weekend, three months ahead of its arrival. In a world of surprise drops, the four-piece led by Ellie Roswell went for a more traditional album cycle, building anticipation with a string of singles, reminding us each time of their skills in simultaneously attacking your eardrums and playing with your heartstrings. After winning the Mercury Prize for the sophomore effort, Visions of a Life, there was a lot riding on Wolf Alice’s much-hyped return. Luckily, they’ve hit all the sweet spots across these 11 tracks. …

  • Eimear Reidy and Natalia Beylis – Whose Woods These Are

    July 6, 2021 - By 

    If day trip destinations and social media posts are accepted as a metric, most Irish people view forests as a good thing. But excepting the few lucky enough to live beside one, they are largely a box to tick on the summer to-do list. While beloved for their soul-refreshing qualities, much of the population does not have an everyday relationship with them. This is not surprising, given that government mismanagement has made the arboreal a remote presence. Ireland has the least woodland of any country in Europe, a miserable 11% coverage compared to an European average over 40%. Such disheartening…

  • KMRU – Logue

    June 29, 2021 - By 

    Nairobi-born, Berlin-based KMRU’s Logue is a collection of ambient snapshots, compiling previously self-released individual pieces that chart his journey to date, and his rising prominence in the world of experimental electronic music. Where his three albums released in 2020,Peel, Jar and Opaquer, were cohesive, flowing works, the stitches in Logue are cut loose due to its loosely assembled nature. Nonetheless, it is an album of shining moments, thrilling ambience and transportive field recordings.  Following the legacy of his famed Kikuyu Benga musician grandfather, music is in KMRU’s blood. The 24-year-old artist, however, opts for a less traditional route. Teaching himself FL Studio while…

  • St. Vincent – Daddy’s Home

    June 21, 2021 - By 

    On her nostalgic new album, Daddy’s Home, St. Vincent searches for herself, using a funky, ‘70s sound palette to examine themes of parenthood, power and incarceration. In contrast to the futuristic Masseducation, the artist’s seventh album takes a step back in time, looking at the idea that more things change, the more they stay the same.  Co-produced by Clark and Jack Antonoff, Daddy’s Home explores a feeling of being lost without a sense of home, and sonically jumps to and from the past without a feeling of stability in either. Clark uses nostalgic techniques and stylistic cues to signify that one…

  • Post Punk Podge & The Technohippies – Euphoric Recall

    June 14, 2021 - By 

    Take one look at (and listen) to Post Punk Podge & The Technohippies and you might think at first that you’ve seen and heard it somewhere before.  Limerick accent? Check. Acerbic wit, social satire and commentary against outdated modes of masculinity? Check. Mask, self-made from a well-known local institution? Double-check. Be that as it may, that’s where the comparisons between Post Punk Podge and fellow artistic disruptors, The Rubberbandits, end. Post Punk Podge & The Technohippies are an entity unto themselves, and a true standout act in the Irish music scene. Their debut album, Euphoric Recall, is proof of that.…

  • Nigel Rolfe – Island Stories

    June 7, 2021 - By 

    The excavation of Ireland’s buried electronic past by All City’s Allchival imprint continues with a reissue of Island Stories, a contribution by English multimedia artist Nigel Rolfe, who moved to Ireland in 1974 to commence a long career in the fine arts. Recorded in 1985 at the famous Windmill Studios, assisted by a cadre of musicians and vocalists, Rolfe performed most of the songs on the ’80s defining DX7 synthesizer. While the idea of a solo keyboard album may conjure thoughts of minimal synth isolationism, this is a vibrant collection of tracks that sometimes approach Art of Noise-style avant-pop, with…