• 10 for ’20: Mob Wife

    March 11, 2020 - By 

    In the latest installment of 10 for ’20 – our series looking at ten Irish acts that are well and truly going places in 2020 – Will Murphy extols the “hefty, passionate punk” of Belfast trio Mob Wife. Photo by Joe Laverty Try as the world might, some pairings can’t be separated. Think of Killer Mike and El-P, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, Stills and Nash, and, of course, Eric Clapton and cocaine. No matter what happens, the fates always seem to bring these two back together. With the rhythm powerhouse of Wilson Davidson and Chris Leckey, Belfast’s punk scene…

  • 10 for ’20: Rachael Lavelle

    March 10, 2020 - By 

    Jack Rudden predicts exciting things for Dublin’s Rachael Lavelle in 2020 and far beyond. Photo by Kevin Hennessy Gothic, bewitching and haunting, Rachael Lavelle is all of these things and many more. The Dublin musician is as multifaceted as she is enchanting. A competent songstress and interesting producer, Lavelle creates music that exists somewhere between Baroque compositions and ambient experimentations. She is the intersection of Bjork and Laurie Anderson. In Lavelle’s music there are countless layers of sonic peculiarities. Found sounds dissolve into oceans of ambient electronics, which are counterpointed by assertive piano lines and a strikingly idiosyncratic vocal tone. She…

  • 10 for ’20: Grave Goods

    March 9, 2020 - By 

    In the latest installment of 10 for ’20 – our feature series previewing ten Irish acts we’re sure are set for great things in 2020 and beyond – Cathal McBride says 2020 is post-punk trio Grave Goods‘ for the taking. Photo by Moira Reilly It’s difficult enough to get a band off the ground when you all live in the same location, but what about when your three members are spread across three different cities, one of which is separated by water? Somehow Grave Goods have managed to make such impossible circumstances work. First conceived by Lois MacDonald and Sarah…

  • Watch: God Knows – Who’s Asking? (South West Allstars Remix)

    March 4, 2020 - By 

    Prepare yourself for something special. A handful of days on from striking gold with the four-track Who’s Asking? EP, the unstoppable God Knows has unleashed one fierce edit of the release’s title track. Although a highlight in its original form, the Rusangano Family rapper has assembled a veritable dream team for a SertOne-produced South West Allstars remix. Uniting Denise Chaila, Citrus Fresh, Hazey Haze, Gavin DaVinci and Strange Boy Nature, it’s a supreme, frisson-inducing version that – paired with Stephen Hall’s video – absolutely demands your attention.

  • 10 for ’20: His Father’s Voice

    March 4, 2020 - By 

    In the latest installment of 10 for ’20, Christine Costello tips Limerick quartet His Father’s Voice for massive things in 2020 and beyond. Photo by Aaron Corr Blurring the lines between post-punk and shoegaze, His Father’s Voice are just one of many enterprising outfits to come out of DIY LK music collective. Since the release of their self-recorded EP Contexts and Perspectives in 2018, the group have met high critical acclaim, been awarded support slots with Viagra Boys and Cherry Glazerr on their Irish tours and will support Dream Wife at their upcoming Whelans show this May. In 2019, the band bounced…

  • Premiere: Gas Hands – I’m Not In Love (With You)

    March 5, 2020 - By 

    Been missing that singular blend of melodic punk rock and post-hardcore that NI – not least the North-West – has mastered for over two decades? Derry-based trio Gas Hands are here to sort you out with their latest single, ‘I’m Not In Love (With You)’. Formed by frontman & guitarist Dylan Bradley & drummer Michael Brown, formerly of Lost Avenue, they’re joined by Mosmo Strange/Calling All Horses guitarist Nolan Donnelly on bass. Recorded & mixed at Smalltown America Studios by Caolan Austin, the trio’s economical, tightly knit release strikes a midpoint between signature North-West punk and the vitality of a young band hitting their stride. Gas Hands kick off their…

  • Stream: Kyoto Love Hotel – I Float

    March 2, 2020 - By 

    Ever-increasingly over the last few months, the name Kyoto Love Hotel has cropped up left, right and centre. And very deservedly so. The Tipperary pair, comprising Joe Geaney and Laura Sheary, have succeeded in their M.O. of making “songs for thoughts to dance to.” Better still, via tracks including previous singles ‘Still’ and last year’s stellar ‘Shapes That Bond You‘, their live shows – including a stand-out performance at Output Belfast last month – have proven wonderfully escapist affairs, brimming with entrancing electronic pop. New single ‘I Float’ is a textbook case in point. Taken from a new EP, which is expected to drop…

  • 10 for ’20: Rising Damp

    February 28, 2020 - By 

    In the latest installment of 10 for ’20 – our feature looking at ten Irish acts we’re sure are set to do great things in 2020 and beyond – Eoin Murray profiles genre-warping musician and visual artist Michelle Doyle aka Rising Damp. Photo by Peter O’Hanlon One of the Irish undergrowth’s most febrile live acts, Rising Damp, makes music to be shook to. We first heard her at Banger Cliff, on the Sunday of Open Ear 2019, when she played an appropriately head-scrambling live set of ravey electronic punk and EBM. The Dublin artist’s effect-soaked howls and propulsive rhythms injected…

  • Stream: Tuath – pAy Ur TaXeS! (Feat. Post Punk Podge)

    February 20, 2020 - By 

    Having been called psych, noise rock, trip-hop, industrial, and any other lysergic-laced subgenre under our dying sun, Letterkenny’s Tuath continue to defy classification. They remain as shapeshifting an entity as the likes of Mr Bungle, Ween, and Primus – the latter of whose bulbous low-end shares a lot in common with their pulverising, singular new ‘doomer metal’ single ‘Pay Ur Taxes!’. The release, part of the forthcoming The Fuckening EP, sees frontman Robert Mulhern continue to laugh into the void, distilling their 2020 modus operandi into one easy to understand – unless you’re a conglomerate – mantra. Mulhern has submitted to us an essay on the origin…

  • 10 for ’20: Denise Chaila

    February 18, 2020 - By 

    In the latest installment of 10 for ’20, Kelly Doherty tips Limerick-based Zambian-Irish rapper and poet Denise Chaila for huge things in 2020 and beyond. Photo by Tara Thomas Few Irish artists are swimming as smoothly in a wave of excitement and anticipation as Denise Chaila. The rapper and poet, despite having only two solo singles to her name, has been turning heads across live venues and major publications for the last couple of years. Winning herself a cover spot on the Irish Times’ 50 People To Watch in 2020, a celebrity fan in BBC Radio 6’s Cillian Murphy and…