• Premiere: Edward F Butler – Running From Fears

    October 7, 2014 - By 

    Originally from London, Belfast-based musician and filmmaker Edward F Butler first made his mark here with the now defunct HOWL, a genre-spanning outfit driven by Butler’s soulful, nigh on beatific vocals. Going several steps further – both in sound and scope – the artist’s debut single, ‘Running From Fears’, is an extremely impressive first gambit, marrying Butler’s idiosyncratic electro-acoustic music with his extraordinary vocals. Conjuring the likes of James Vincent McMorrow, James Blake and Nina Simone, they serve as a transformative centre-piece of a sound bearing the hallmarks of resounding inspiration. And if that wasn’t enough to convince you of his talents, Butler –…

  • Download: Princess – Molly

    October 7, 2014 - By 

    Another highlight from Hard Working Class Heroes festival at the weekend, Dublin noise-pop band Princess have released the bewitching ‘Molly’, the follow-up to their breakthrough single ‘Neverlook’, released back in June. A spectre-weaving, superbly slow-burning eight minutes of astrally-inclined rapture, the single evokes the likes of Bardo Pond, Galaxie 500, Beach House and fellow Irish sonicosmonauts The Altered Hours‘ more subtle efforts. Expect it to feature quite highly in our annual Best Irish Tracks End of Year list in December. Stream/download ‘Molly’ – produced by the band, engineered by Ian McNulty and mixed by Solar Bears’ Rian Trench – via Bandcamp below. Molly by Princess

  • Watch: Ciaran Lavery – Orphan

    October 6, 2014 - By 

    Having played a triumphant set at Dublin’s Grand Social as part of Hard Working Class Heroes festival at the weekend, Aghagallon singer-songwriter Ciaran Lavery has unveiled the decidedly cathartic video for his new single, ‘Orphan’. Created by ROC, the minimalist visual accompaniment features a few anonymous individuals baring themselves to the camera, a theme introduced in Lavery’s video for ‘Left For America’. Propelled by the Northern Irish songsmith’s instantly-recognisable husky vocals and progressively experimental alt-folk approach, ‘Orphan’ is the closing song on Kosher, Lavery’s latest EP. Stream/buy that here. Watch the video for ‘Orphan’ below.

  • Stream: September Girls – Veneer

    October 1, 2014 - By 

    Having gradually distanced themselves from the straight-up surf-rock of their early ruminations,September Girls have positively confirmed their rather exciting metamorphisis with ‘Veneer’, the title track from their forthcoming EP on Kanine Records. Psych-tinged and feedback-soaked in all the right places, the track is a swift, earworming lo-fi masterstroke; swooning and sinister in equal proportion, tapping into an inner recess, looking far beyond pacific, jangling, Summer pop. Veneer is released on November 25. Stream the single below.  

  • Watch: A Plastic Rose – Move Islands

    September 29, 2014 - By 

    Nottingham-based Northern Irish alt-rock quartet A Plastic Rose have unveiled the brilliantly adventurous, short film-like video for their new single ‘Move Islands’. Shot in Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, the video – directed by David Louis Lankester – features the Ian McHugh and Gerry Norman from the band going on a little journey in an attempt to make contact with something both unseen and unknown. Piqued your interest? Watch the video below. ‘Move Islands’ is the fourth single to be taken from the band’s forthcoming new album, Flickering Light of an Inner War, due out in February. The single itself is officially released…

  • Album Stream: Sea Pinks – Dreaming Tracks

    September 29, 2014 - By 

    Nine months in, Neil Brogan’s Sea Pinks have unveiled what could well be contender for our favourite Irish album of 2014: Dreaming Tracks. Going one better than 2012’s superb Freak Waves – a feat in itself – the album conjures brooding, sun-split coastal trawl imminent Autumnal solipsism via ten tracks of cello-lined melancholia and masterfully blithe jangle-pop. According to the band, “This a record about disorientation, ambivalence, and the overlapping of past, present and future that can happen in dream states as well as in waking life.” Dreaming Tracks is available as a Limited Edition Shell Pink 180g 12″ vinyl LP, which can…

  • Stream: Slow Skies – Bodies

    September 18, 2014 - By 

    The follow-up to the beguiling ‘Ice Field’ – released at the start of the month – Dublin dream pop duo Slow Skies have gone one better with ‘Bodies’, a wonderfully unravelling, reverb-soaked effort that lulls and summons in equal proportion. Delicate and funereal, the track – conjuring the likes of Hope Sandoval, Explosions In The Sky, Hanne Hukkelberg, Hope of the States and – teases with its perfectly plodding pace and Karen Sheridan’s increasingly beatific vocals. ‘Bodies’ will feature on Slow Skies’ forthcoming EP, Keepsake, set for release via faction on September 26. The duo play Donegal’s Balor Arts Centre on September 29, Dublin’s Sugar…

  • Watch: Groom – Colours

    September 10, 2014 - By 

    Dublin band Groom have long had an uncanny, seemingly effortless knack for no-shits-given guitar-pop. Their latest single, ‘Colours’, carries on the tradition in fine fashion, brilliantly barbed guitar lines entwined with subtle, Pulp-esque keyboard lines and chord progressions. The video for the track is a suitably simple and rather sweet affair, daughters of band-members kicking back with paints and crayons; not the slightest care in the world. The second song on Groom’s new album, Bread and Jam, ‘Colours’ is released via Popical Island at Sweeney’s, Dublin on Saturday night. Check out the artwork and video for the single below.  

  • Video Premiere: Hands Up Who Wants To Die – Dreft

    September 10, 2014 - By 

    Dublin noise-rock overlords Hands Up Who Wants To Die don’t as much beat around the bush as they tear right through it, an implacable beast steadfast in wreaking furious revenge. Over two years on from the release of their pummeling debut album, the brilliantly-titled Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo, the Barry Lennon-fronted quartet will resurface with its highly-anticipated follow-up, Vega In The Lyre, in just a couple of weeks. First up, though: the video for its merciless lead single, ‘Dreft’. Directed by Sean Zissou and featuring members of the band ensnared in a brilliantly absurd, ever-so-slightly NSFW confrontation with – wait for it – Kriss Akabusi MBE, it is, without…

  • EP Stream: Haüer – Esperbyte

    September 9, 2014 - By 

    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.