• EP Premiere: R51 – Pillow Talk

    Belfast-based quintet R51 have come on leaps and bounds over the last couple of years. Having cultivated a perfectly pulverizing live show and an effects-laden, shoegaze-tinged noise-pop craft that continues to surprise and intrigue, the Melyssa Shannon-fronted quartet will launch their debut EP, Pillow Talk, at Belfast’s Bar Sub on Wednesday night (April 25). In his review of the EP for the Thin Air, Will Murphy said, “Each one of the songs has something to recommend, be it the Sigur Ros vibe permeating throughout the EP closer, ‘Seaweed’, the spaced out verses on ‘I Hate That Too’ or the monstrously huge chorus on ‘Pillow…

  • Premiere: White Sage – Way Beyond Our Means EP

    Beyond running Dublin’s newest record shop, Little Gem, or performing as part of I Heart The Monster Hero and GODHATESDISCO, Andy Walsh has been concocting his own solo sonic wizardry as White Sage. Evoking the likes of Kraftwerk, Cluster and Harmonia, his superb debut EP, Way Beyond Our Means, is a self-proclaimed “sonic exploration of thought, emotion, dreams and imaginings through melody, countermelody and rhythms created using conventional and unconventional recording techniques.” Released via Little Gem Records on March 20, the EP – performed and recorded entirely by Andy Walsh between November 2013 and June 2014 – was layered using an early 20th century Ritzmar…

  • Premiere: Autumns – Blonde EP

    Fronted by Christian Donaghey, Derry noise-pop trio Autumns are easily one of our favourite live acts from Northern Ireland. Their shows are generally compact, explosive affairs; whirlwinds of feedback-soaked noise and jangling gusto. Released via Belfast’s CF Records, the band’s new four-track EP, Blonde, manages to contain the fervent, kinetic essence of their live show, bursting out of the traps on ‘Je Vous Être’ and crashing back down to earth on ‘You’re Not Tough Enough’. The follow-up up to their Downwards-released debut mini album, the EP was recorded in a single day at their first ever studio recording at Belfast’s Start Together. Blonde…

  • EP Download: Winterlude – Four Songs

    An unexpected start-of-year surprise, Belfast-based musician Neil Brogan has released Four Songs, a wonderfully stripped-back EP as Winterlude. Whilst certainly redolent of certain aspects of Sea Pinks – the Brogan-fronted trio who have have recently released the stellar Dreaming Tracks – the EP is underpinned with more touches of Americana, country and jangle-noir. Download the EP for free via Bandcamp below. Four Songs by Winterlude

  • EP Stream: September Girls – Veneer

    Ahead of its official release next week, September Girls are streaming their new four-track EP, Veneer. Wearing its influences very much on its proverbial sleeve, the release – conjuring the likes of Jesus and Mary Chain and The Cure – shows marked progression and experimentation with production and effects from the five-piece September Girls launch Veneer at Dublin’s Bello Bar on November 28, supported by Squarehead and Sissy. Go here to win a pair of tickets to the show. Stream Veneer via Vice right here.

  • EP Stream: Silences – Sister Snow

    Having experiencing a very encouraging 2014, Armagh indie-folk outfit Silences is the harmony-driven, effortlessly impressive brainchild of one Conchúr White. With a voice instantly conjuring two of the band’s biggest influences in Villagers and Death Cab For Cutie, there is an earthly, delicately pastoral allure to their craft; something that is in abundance on their second EP, Sister Snow. Over four wonderfully wistful tracks, the release never strays too far from its source – a distinctly provincial air of yearning, propelled by subtly hypnotic acoustic instrumentalism and White’s breathy meditations upon home, belonging and adulation. The fact that the band manage to set themselves apart…

  • EP Download: The Altered Hours – Outskirts

    Currently out of action for a few weeks due to injury, Cork psych-rock conjurers The Altered Hours have unveiled a three-track mini EP, Outskirts. Speaking of the release – recorded at different times in different places – the band’s frontman Cathal Mac Gabhann said, “We just wanted to share it as its a particular psychedelic feeling to all three that work well together.” And that they do: cushioned by the swelling ambience of ‘Joy’ and ‘Outskirts’, the two-chord swoon of ‘I’m On a High’ hits home, proving a super-stripped-back masterstroke evoking the likes of Galaxie 500, Yo La Tengo and…

  • EP Stream: Haüer – Esperbyte

    Dublin electro wizard Haüer immediately grabbed our attention last week with ‘Merc II’, the lead single from his second EP, Esperbyte. “Cursed with a weakness for nostalgic 80’s music production and synth-based cinematic film scores”, the producer has concocted real retrofuturistic, synth-governed magic on the aforementioned four-track release – evoking everyone and everything from Perturbator to Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury’s Drokk: Music inspired by Mega​-​City One – set for release on Friday. Ahead of our interview with producer – as well as our review of the EP – stream the Esperbyte via Soundcloud below. Photo by Loreana Rushe.

  • EP Stream: Making Monsters – Attention

    Having released the stellar ‘Nosebleed’ just last week, Derry alt-metal band Making Monsters have released their new five-track EP, Attention. Produced, mixed and mastered by Neal Calderwood at Manor Park Studios, the EP – an extremely impressive and powerfully attacking release – is the follow-up to the band’s promising 2012 self-titled debut EP. Check out the band’s forthcoming tour dates and stream Attention via Bandcamp below. Attention by MakingMonsters

  • EP Stream: Little Rivers – Little Rivers

    Set for its official launch at a secret show at Belfast’s Menagerie tonight (Wednesday, June 6), Northern Irish singer-songwriter Callum Cairns AKA Little Rivers has digitally released his second – self-titled – EP. The follow-up to his 2012 debut EP, We, I, the release six-track release features single ‘I Have No Sleep’ and a live version of the poignant ‘Hold On’. According to Cairns’ Bandcamp page the EP “stems from uprooting and moving to England, the loneliness accompanying it, and the first steps following a heartbreak”. Little Rivers was produced by Cairns, Michael Mormecha and Thomas Camblin. Stream it below via Bandcamp. Little…