• Watch: Tied To Machines – Tampa Bay Mutiny

    May 22, 2014 - By 

    In what might well prove to be their curtain call, Belfast-based hardcore punk band Tied To Machines have unleashed the bloodthirsty ‘Tampa Bay Mutiny’. Accompanying by a wonderfully hypnotic video by Andrew Wilson, featuring spliced archive footage, the two-minute track bursts rabid from the traps, culminating in a skull-crushing second half that instantly necessitates a second or third listen. Recorded by Rocky O’Reilly at Belfast’s Start Together Studios, the track can be streamed/purchased here. Watch the video for ‘Tampa Bay Mutiny’ below.  

  • Watch: Elastic Sleep – Leave You

    May 22, 2014 - By 

    Taken from their debut EP, Cork dream pop band Elastic Sleep have unveiled the decidedly phantasmal video for its eponymous single, ‘Leave You’. Directed by Emmet O’ Brien for Thinking Cog productions in conjunction with Limbo, the murky, psychedelic video really captures the track’s stalking, woozy tangents. Comprised of hazy projections and leering silhouettes, it features Muireann Levis and co. performing the track as if on some subconscious stage; a recess of the band’s collective mind. Leave You was released FIFA Records and Big Tea Records on 10″ white vinyl with a digital download code. Purchase it here and stream three tracks from the five-track release: Elastic Sleep have…

  • Interview: Malibu Shark Attack!

    May 22, 2014 - By 

    Almost a year to the month since our introductory piece with the duo, transatlantic indie-rap band Malibu Shark Attack! are set to release their self-titled debut album tomorrow, Friday, May 23. Comprised of Belfast musician/producer Rocky O’Reilly and American rapper Tribe One, the pair have delivered a fun, imaginative and consistently impressive thirteen-track album kickstarted with their debut split single ‘Monsters Under Your Bed’/‘Internal Organs’. Ahead of the official launch of the album at McHughs, Belfast, tomorrow night, we talk to Rocky about songwriting via the internet, touring the album live and what the future holds in store for one of music’s more interesting…

  • Stream: Master & Dog – Follow You

    May 19, 2014 - By 

    Having released its lead single, ‘Candlelight’, back in February, Belfast-based alt-folk four-piece Master & Dog are streaming a second track from their sublime new EP, Things You Should Know. Clocking in at just over five minutes, we had this to say about the song, titled ‘Follow You’, in our review here: “With its opening, Mogwai-like triptych of solitary, echoing piano chords – evoking the ineffable melancholia of ‘Bye’ by Elliott Smith and ‘Sing’ by Blur – ‘Follow Me’ boasts, upon first listen, the alchemical structure of a straightforward dancefloor single. There’s the Dm-C-F descending chord progression, the line “I think I’m in love for the first time” and the unravelling, stripped-back…

  • EP Stream: Hannah McPhillimy – Freedom Songs

    May 19, 2014 - By 

    Six months on from her Freedom Songs event in November last year, Northern Irish singer-songwriter Hannah McPhillimy has released a three-track EP of the same name. Fully a cappella, the three tracks – including a cover of spiritual ‘Wade In The Water’ – brilliantly illustrate McPhillimy’s vocal range and tonal ingenuinity. The EP, which you can stream/purchase via Bandcamp below, will see all proceeds going to anti-slavery charity No More Traffik. Read James Magill’s review of McPhillimy’s Freedom Songs at Crumlin Gaol here. Freedom Songs by Hannah McPhillimy

  • Watch: Ciaran Lavery – Left For America

    May 15, 2014 - By 

    Taken from his forthcoming EP, Kosher, Northern Irish singer-songwriter Ciaran Lavery has unveiled the video for his wonderful new single, ‘Left For America’. Having first caught a visual glimpse of the song in a BalconyTV session last year, we’re very impressed (and rather charmed) by the accompanying visuals for the single, filmed by ROC and stars Ro Graham. Lavery launches Kosher at the Belfast’s Black Box on Thursday, June 19 as part of this year’s Open House Festival. Go here to buy tickets.  

  • Stream: Solar Bears – Last To Leave Morning Dawn

    May 14, 2014 - By 

    Dublin electronic two -piece Solar Bearshave released ‘Last To Leave Morning Dawn’, a brand new track taken that might well feature on their forthcoming third studio album. Titled from cult 1973 surf film called Crystal Voyager, the three minute track shows a definite progression in the duo’s approach, melding samples with bobbing bass work, shimmering synth arpeggios and splatterings of cymbals. Emerging from a brooding, Broadcast-esque intro, the song surges forth for three minutes, fading out and leaving the listener wondering if it will find its place on the forthcoming full-length, which is still being recorded in The Meadow, located…

  • Stream: Sleep Thieves – You Want The Night

    May 14, 2014 - By 

    Taken from the band’s highly-anticipated second studio album, You Want The Night, Dublin electro-pop three-piece Sleep Thieves have really delivered on the release’s title track. With Sorcha Brennan’s entrancing vocals taking centre-stage, Keith Byrne and Wayne Fahy weave a spectral, nocturnal web around the song’s forward-moving rhythms. Sitting side-to-side with the band’s previous single, ‘City of Hearts’, it makes for extremely encouraging stuff. You Want The Night will be released via Minty Fresh records on June 17. Stream the title track from the album below.

  • Stream: UNKNWN – BBY

    May 14, 2014 - By 

    Having performed at The Great Escape festival last week, electronic duo Chris Hanna and Gemma Dunleavy AKA UNKNWN have released a stream of a transfixing new track, ‘BBY’. The first track to be taken from the double A sided Devil/BBY, the release is available in a limited run of 300 hand stamped 140g blue vinyl which can be ordered here via Champion Sound. Stream ‘BBY’ via Soundcloud below.

  • EP Stream: Astralnaut – Thieves, Beggars and Swine

    May 14, 2014 - By 

    The follow-up to their strong second EP, In The Gaze of the Gods, Nothern Irish stoner rock five-piece Astralnaut are streaming the behemothic triumph that is its follow-up, Thieves, Beggars and Swine. Evoking everyone from Orange Goblin, Fu Manchu and Electric Wizard, the five-track release – driven by blistering riffs, grooves and Pearse Donnelly’s pronouncements – was largely recorded by Alan Hanlon at Hi-Tone Studios and Clark Phillips (Great Northern Productions). It was mixed and mastered by the band and Clark Phillips over the last four months. Stream the EP in full via Soundcloud below.