• Irish Tracks of the Week – 4th November

    November 4, 2022 - By 

    On this, the penultimate Bandcamp Friday of 2022, delve into the very best Irish releases of the week from Pretty Happy, Jape, Ex Isles, Le Boom, Thumper, Akrobat, HousePlants & more Pretty Happy – Boots Echo Boy by Pretty Happy Ex Isles – Deaf Republic Deaf Republic / The Smallest Plot Of Land by Ex-Isles Jape – Secret Area Akrobat – Eskimo THUMPER – Summer Assault Beauty Pageant – Born to Stay Le Boom w/ Andy – Next Time Cursed Murphy Versus the Resistance – Republic of the Weird Republic of the Weird by Cursed Murphy Versus the Resistance HousePlants…

  • Pete and Jamie, Jamie and Pete

    February 3, 2021 - By 

    On Thursday, 14th January 2021, Jamie WhatsApped me with a private Soundcloud link and message that read, “Very sneak peek at Pete’s solo record. Just finished producing and mixing last night”. I was doing something, probably footering about with the Air Fryer I got for Christmas, so I didn’t listen to it. I didn’t listen to it the next day either. Or the day after. 3 days it lay in my phone, falling down the WhatsApp chat list with every new message that came in. Then I remembered, and stuck it on. It is – and I’m not being excessive…

  • Inbound: Ex-Isles

    October 31, 2018 - By 

    Last month, Belfast duo James Joys and Pete Devlin AKA Ex-Isles released one of the strongest debuts from an Irish act in recent memory. Masterfully nuanced and politically-minded, the expansive chamber pop of Luxury Mass conjured everyone from John Grant and Scott Walker, to David Sylvian and ANOHNI, all while introducing a project mustering its very own magic. With the pair currently working on the follow-up to Luxury Mass, and a busy 2019 forecast, James Joys talks to us about their “dark swoon”, impetus, collaboration, literary and musical influence, and crafting music that explores our growing alienation from agency over our own lives under capitalism. Ex-Isles…