Featuring some of our favourite Bandcamp tags ever – “ringo starr, soundtrack, good life, ringo starr lower road, ireland” LIFE IS GOOD by inscrutable Irish noise duo SENIOR INFANTS is likely to feature on the Hollyoaks soundtrack any day soon. Marrying sparse blips and sunless splurges of sound with the odd melodic stream and percussive dance, it throws caution to sonic wind, expectant of nothing but itself in fine and mad fashion. LIFE IS GOOD by SENIOR INFANTS
From Joy Orbison, Camper Van Beethoven and Chet Faker to Truman Peyote, Ringo Deathstar and Joanna Gruesome, punny musical monikers range from the positively inspired to the downright cringeworthy. Falling very much into the former camp, Arvo Party is the new-fangled electronic-leaning appellation of Belfast’s Herb Magee of kaput riffmasters general LaFaro and three-piece GOONS. Diametrically at odds to said heavydom, Magee has unveiled two EPs of sublime throwback minimalist electronica: four-track release Beep and the five-track Tintinnabuli, which features two re-imaginings of (the actual) Arvo Pärt’s ‘Für Alina’ and ‘Solfeggio (Excerpt in C Major)’. Back to back, it’s an exceptional double curveball from the Belfast-based bassist and…
Dropping at the perfect time of year, The Front by Conor Walsh doubles up as a four-track soundtrack to those dark late afternoons and walks home guided by the glow and haze of streetlights and passing streams of strangers. Hailing from Swinford in Co. Mayo, Walsh’s piano and electro-acoustic minimalism wields understated repetition like a sword and that couldn’t be more emphatic on this beautiful new EP, out now via Ensemble Records.
Set for vinyl release via Trout Records on November 6, Lizard feels like a real arrival for Waterford quintet O Emperor . A four-track EP of harmony-driven psych-pop conjuring the likes of Gruff Rhys, Ariel Pink and Tame Impala’s more restrained efforts, it’s a suitably kaleidoscopic masterstroke revealing a band on the cusp of potentially extraordinary things. O Emperor play the following dates in November and December: November 15: Theatre Royal, Waterford November 26: Sugar Club, Dublin November 28: Roisin Dubh, Galway November 30: Shacklewell Arms, London December 3: The Pavilion, Ireland
Having just returned to Dublin following two years living in Quebec, Dublin producer Michael Orange AKA Feather Beds has hit the ground of his homeland running with Ah Stop, a stellar new EP was recorded “in the middle of a particularly gruelling and sub-zero winter in Montreal” back in February. An appendix of sorts to his debut album, The Skeletal System, which was released at the start of the year, the EP shows a self-described “marked shift in direction towards a more electronic feel and brings an introduction to the second full-length album, which is scheduled for release in 2016.” As just under…
Having delivered a convincing set supporting SOAK at Belfast’s Empire on Wednesday night, new-fangled Derry duo Colm Hinds and Daniel Kerr AKA Rosseau have hit the ground running with their new six-track, self-titled debut EP. Calling to mind the likes of the Appleseed Cast and Codeine, the release traverses moments real, beguiling fragility, striking a nice balance between sparse emo, imaginative musicianship and slowcore-esque passages. According to their Bandcamp page, Rosseau “was formed in the late summer of 2014 following some shitty circumstances.” Rosseau EP by Rosseau
Ahead of its official launch on Friday, we’re pleased to present an exclusive first listen to Decorated Absence, the second EP from Heroes in Hiding. Produced, recorded and mixed by Philip Magee, the three-track release is all-killer, no-filler folk-pop from the Dublin four-piece, fresh from their performance at Forbidden Fruit at the weekend. Ahead of an in-studio The Record with the band tomorrow – featuring an insight into the recorded and release of the EP and featuring candid shots from our photographer Tara Thomas – stream Decorated Absence in full below. Photo by Tara Thomas
A more abstracted and sample-heavy affair when paired against the comparatively more linear jazz-punk experimentalism of his band, Robocobra Quartet, Belfast-based musician and producer Chris Ryan AKA Craft Work has unveiled 3 Songs, a triptych of hip-hop-leaning tracks featuring samples from the likes of Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, Olivier Messiaen and Steve Reich. Whilst parallels can be drawn to Ryan’s Beat-like lyricism in the aforementioned quartet (who play our Tuesday Throwdown at Belfast’s Lavery’s tomorrow night, don’t you know?), there is a distinctive open-ended sense of freedom to the release that lends to its all-too-brief charm and appeal. 3 Songs by Craft Work
Far beyond bustling venues of the capital and endless streams of self-congratulatory press releases, Ireland is home to some decidedly more furtive, sub-rosa artists. Conjuring the intimate post-rock solipsism of Hood and Blue Aeroplanes with the wispy, inward-working bedroom electronica of World’s End Girlfriend, Lia by Dublin-based Irish-Iranian songwriter and producer Keian Roohipour AKA Keian falls under the aforementioned bracket, proving an initially unassuming yet very promising triptych of considered alt-pop. At the root of the material is an experimental knack that transcends sub-genre which, along with the music’s altogether charming lo-fidelity, coalesces to deliver something that proves encouraging for future material. Keian’s debut release, Lia was recorded, produced…
Ahead of its launch at Belfast’s Voodoo on April 9, we’re pleased to present an exclusive first listen to Carcassonne, the second EP from Co. Down singer-songwriter Patrick Gardiner. A subtly eclectic mix of incisive, occasionally wry and consistently considered acoustic tale-telling, the five-track release sees Gardiner’s earnest words drive forth full-band tracks underpinned with some instantly memorable melodic threads and pop nuances. Better still is Gardiner’s guitar-playing throughout, proving very much representative of a craftsman who has played and commanded the instrument from a young age. Go here for the Facebook event page for the launch show and stream the EP below.