• Premiere: Gas Hands – I’m Not In Love (With You)

    March 5, 2020 - By 

    Been missing that singular blend of melodic punk rock and post-hardcore that NI – not least the North-West – has mastered for over two decades? Derry-based trio Gas Hands are here to sort you out with their latest single, ‘I’m Not In Love (With You)’. Formed by frontman & guitarist Dylan Bradley & drummer Michael Brown, formerly of Lost Avenue, they’re joined by Mosmo Strange/Calling All Horses guitarist Nolan Donnelly on bass. Recorded & mixed at Smalltown America Studios by Caolan Austin, the trio’s economical, tightly knit release strikes a midpoint between signature North-West punk and the vitality of a young band hitting their stride. Gas Hands kick off their…

  • A Litany Of Failures Vol. II Announced

    July 3, 2018 - By 

    Following the limited release of cross-Ireland Little L Records compilation, 2016’s A Litany of Failures – featuring Oh Boland, Shrug Life, That Snaake and Junk Drawer – an expanded second edition has been confirmed for release on July 13. Set to be released on 180g gatefold double vinyl, as well as through Bandcamp, Spotify and the usual outlets, it features 18 acts from Belfast, Cork, Derry, Donegal, Dublin, Galway & Limerick. The DIY, co-op endeavour aims to provide an opportunity to perform outside each of their hometowns, shortening the mental distances between bands, and encouraging a cross-pollination of musical communities. Splitting costs between artists and the organisers, a sense of…

  • Watch: Haunch – Twitching

    January 17, 2018 - By 

    The inaugural release from Robyn G Shiels’ new record label, Black Tragick Records, is one of major sonic heft from some of Northern Ireland’s pedigree bringers of the riff. After two years or writing and recording behind closed doors, Haunch release their debut album, Lay My Bones Beside The Others on January 26, and you can watch the video for first single, ‘Twitching’ below. Based in Larne – Larnia, for the rose-tinted – the band comprises Rory McGeown, Michael McKeegan & Willy Mundell, each of whose noisemaking chops are in no doubt, being current & former members of Therapy?, Throat and Dutch Schultz. A seemingly inevitable combination, the trio bonded over a mutual love of…

  • Ger Fox Sailing – Ger Fox Sailing

    August 21, 2017 - By 

    The self-titled, self-produced debut album from Wexford quartet Ger Fox Sailing is a richly-woven, nicely eclectic collection of songs from a band who have just set out their stall and then some. From the contemplative precision of ‘Nowhere Without You’ and the poppier tangents of ‘What It Is’ to blistering closer ‘Best Friend’ via a stream of scuzz-laden, occasionally prog-leaning rock, reverberations from the likes of Longpigs, Incubus, Queens of the Stone Age, Grandaddy and, in parts, Northern Irish alt-rock band Pocket Promise (though we suspect the latter is something of a total coincidence) coalesce with the band’s own brand of deft,…

  • Video Premiere: Chirps – Pink Noise

    August 21, 2017 - By 

    It’s been seven years since their debut album, Future Static Prologue, but Ballina-formed, Dublin-based shoegazey alt. rockers Chirps are finally gearing to follow it up with a second LP, from which we’re delighted to premiere first single ‘Pink Noise’. Featuring members of esteemed noisemakers like Hands Up Who Wants To Die, Wild Rocket, Crowhammer and Oilbag, their new album has been in the works over the last few years, gradually recorded by John ‘Spud’ Murphy – who’s also behind many of the finest independent Irish releases in recent years. A definite progression from previous work, Chirps have clocked up an astounding number of nods toward underground subgenres – most evidently shoegaze,…

  • Premiere: Slouch – It’s Not a Man Abandons Post

    May 24, 2017 - By 

    Never ones to sit on an idea for too long, pragmatic, scuzzy South Dubliners Slouch have followed up previous double A-side their whiteboyfilingcabinetfaxmachinestapler release from March with another, titled It’s Not a Man Abandons Post. A lethargically-paced brace that reaffirms what we learned from its predecessor – that you’d never get a hard day’s work out of the lads – It’s Not a Man… sees Slouch really lean into their name on this one, conjuring more slack indie rock by way of Weezer and the Seattle sound this time around, the Loctite rhythm section proving more than adequate foil for Conor Wilson’s Xanax’d-out vocal. The release is the…

  • Album Stream: Matua Trap – Thunderous Silence

    May 17, 2017 - By 

    After a long wait seemingly nodded at by its title, Thunderous Silence, the debut album from Belfast progressive alternative rock trio Matua Trap is out today. The band formed in September 2013 from the ashes of Belfast post-rockers Kasper Rosa and experimental psych-poppers EatenByBears. Their sound undulates somewhere between upbeat vibes of 90’s and 00’s alt rock/pop outfits and the razor sharp riffage and mountaintop vocal hooks of ‘nu’ and progressive metal, maintaining a strong sense of song craft; owed in part to a constant influence from esoteric pop legends such as Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush. Taking a sharper turn from the post-rock format indulged…

  • Bosco Ramos – Signs of Life

    March 30, 2017 - By 

    Fuzzy Belfast-based alt. punk bass & drum duo Bosco Ramos release their debut EP Signs of Life on March 31. Recorded and produced by Jonny Woods of R51 at Start Together Studios, it follows up on their debut double-A-side SNKSWM from early 2016. Phil Brown and Calum McGeown have a knack for an earworm, taking influenced from Death From Above 1979 and Torche-esque aggressively uplifting alt. rock, without hiding behind Americanised accents. Check out the video for lead single, ‘Rolling Sea’: Bosco Ramos launch Signs of Life at McHugh’s, Belfast on Friday, April 7, with support from Junk Drawer, Vulpynes and Gnarkats.

  • Premiere: Slouch – whiteboyfilingcabinetfaxmachinestapler

    March 10, 2017 - By 

    Following up on their Feminine Elbows EP from last year, the pop culture-savvy scuzzy alt. rock trio Slouch channel some Office Space-era jobsworth apathy on their latest release, the two-track whiteboyfilingcabinetfaxmachinestapler. The first of five singles to be released over the coming months by the industrious triad of South Dublin fellas, they know too well the meaning of the suburban minutia and drudgery rhymed off on its constituent parts, whiteboyfilingcabinetfaxmachinestapler & whiteboycoffeemachinebaker. Building on their traditionally QOTSA & Pixies-esque desert & alt-rock leanings, the band have upped their dosage of indie & garage rock energy – à la self-titled-era Blur & Ty Segall – and laced it with even…

  • Droids – Vessels EP

    February 2, 2017 - By 

    After a break of several years, Derry riffers Droids release their new EP, Vessels, on March 27. Recorded at Smalltown America Studios over the last few years, it’s a long time coming after their excellent, raw eponymous debut EP in 2012. Stream the first track to be unveiled from the EP, ‘Burn Down’: Vessels by Droids