• 19 for ’19: Nealo

    March 8, 2019 - By 

    We continue 19 for ’19, our feature looking at Irish acts we’re convinced are going places in 2019, with Dublin MC Nealo. Photo by Zoe Holman If the name Nealo is unfamiliar to you I have two very simple instructions: firstly, get your head out of the sand, and secondly, lend your ears to one of this country’s finest MCs. Nealo, real name Neal Keating, is a rapper from North Dublin that has exploded onto the Irish music scene over the last few months. Having first found international recognition as the vocalist of hardcore punk band Frustration, he has since…

  • Watch: New Pagans – It’s Darker

    March 8, 2019 - By 

    ‘It’s Darker’, the new single from Belfast-based band New Pagans, has its origins in a messy incident at a house party. A musician, we’re told, became aggressive and wouldn’t tolerate frontwoman Lyndsey McDougall’s opinions. “That’s where the original anger comes from – a confrontation,” says McDougall. “It’s happened to me a few times. It’s like, ‘Oh you’re a girl, you should just shut up’. A feminist anger came from that. Yes, I should be able to have an opinion. And it can be different to yours.” The single wears this defiance firmly on its sleeve. It’s a potent and insubmissive alt-rock blitz from…

  • Premiere: Larry – Liar

    March 7, 2019 - By 

    You may have caught wind: we’re very excited for the release of the forthcoming self-titled debut album from Dundalk three-piece Larry. Set for release via Pizza Pizza Records on April 26, the nine-track release was recorded by none other than Steve Albini at Electrical Audio, and mastered by the one – the only – Bob Weston. A track we called a “fervent, four-minute paean to freedom and psychic wanderlust” lead single ‘Cocker Spaniel’ packed a big punch. ‘Liar’ goes one further. Capturing the band’s increasingly distinctive and implosive push-and-pull, its skeletal dynamics brilliantly mirror frontman Joey Edwards’ confessionalism. Have a first listen to…

  • Stream: James Joys – A Constellation Of Bargained Parts

    March 6, 2019 - By 

    For any number of avertible reasons, there are criminally underrated artists sprawled right across the island of Ireland, and none more than James Joys. The Belfast composer, musician and producer (real name James Thompson) is someone whose emphatic, masterfully-woven craft operates “somewhere between the concrète and the kinetic.” A Constellation Of Bargained Parts takes that particular turn-of-phrase and transmits it as a full-blown reality. Teaming up with the Codetta Choir and vocalist Peter Devlin – who Joys also makes music with via the guise of the exceptional Ex-Isles – the musician spans choral, electroacoustic, postmodern classic and electronic worlds to deliver five powerful “modern lamentations” that,…

  • 19 for ’19: TAU

    March 6, 2019 - By 

    We continue 19 for ’19, our feature looking at Irish acts we’re convinced are going places in 2019, with Berlin-based Irish artist Shaun Mulrooney aka TAU. Photo by Brian Mulligan Though it’s early days, come December, you’ll almost certainly find the second album from Berlin-based Irish musician Shaun Mulrooney aka TAU featuring high in myriad end-of-year lists. The follow-up to 2016’s TAU TAU TAU – a release whose recording started on the day Bowie died – TAU & The Drones Of Praise sprung forth last month as a sorcerous statement of intent. The genre-mangling psych experimentalism of TAU (who, with Mulrooney at…

  • Video Premiere: Jake Regan – Over It

    March 5, 2019 - By 

    On Friday night, the packed-out downstairs venue of Dublin’s International Bar played host the first ever music video exhibition by C-47. As well as delivering a stellar debut solo set on the night, Dublin singer-songwriter’s Jake Regan’s ‘Over It’ proved a highlight among the various videos that were screened. Produced by C-47, directed and edited by John D Breen, produced by M.A.K and featuring cinematography by Helton Nóbrega, the video – which features Regan and Eilish Malon from Girlfriend among others – was shot on Wicklow beaches and in the Dublin mountains over two days. While many will know Regan from Dublin band Segrasso, ‘Over It’…

  • Stream: Kyoto Love Hotel – The Shapes That Bond You

    March 5, 2019 - By 

    Marrying sublime autotuned vocals with balmy synth-pop production, ‘The Shapes That Bond You’ finds Tipperary duo Joe Geaney and Laura Sheary aka Kyoto Love Hotel confidently expand upon their increasingly distinctive brand of woozy nocturnalism. Doubling as the duo’s strongest single effort to date – and one of the Irish singles of the year thus far – it’s a brisk and nuanced gem that instantly demands a repeated listen. Keep up to date with Kyoto Love Hotel here.

  • This Month in Irish Music: February

    March 3, 2019 - By 

    In the latest of a new regular series, Colin Gannon rounds up the very best Irish tracks released of the month just gone, featuring ELLLL, Mob Wife, Fehdah, Larry, Sunken Foal, Soulé, Postcard Versions and more. ELLLL — Pepsi Ellen King’s work as ELLLL is fast becoming one of the most searingly vital things in Irish music. As well as being super busy (she’s released two equally erudite EPs in the space of two months), King has managed to keep the quality to an almost peerless quality. The latest batch of tracks, Confectionary, all named after a sweet shop delicacy,…

  • Premiere: Slyrydes – Mental Health

    March 1, 2019 - By 

    We’re pleased to present a first look at the video for the debut single from Galway band Slyrydes. A self-proclaimed “frank take on the shambolic Irish Health Service”, ‘Mental Health’ is a potent and necessary first offering from the quartet. It’s something the video, which you can view below, taps into to and then some. This is vital music from a band we’re sure are destined for big things in 2019 and beyond. Slyrydes play Galway’s Roisin Dubh on March 23 and Dublin’s Grand Social on March 29.

  • Listen: Jackie Beverly – Talk It Through

    February 28, 2019 - By 

    Here at TTA, we like our pop to be danced to with unselfconscious reckless abandon, and that’s why the second single from Dublin indietronic artist Jackie Beverly is our bag. As with previous single ‘Out of Reasons’, it’s club-ready as it is a nuanced, brooding study of human relationships that avoids the usual poptimistic pitfalls. Bolstered with nostalgia-charged synths and rich harmonies, thanks in no small part to the subtly buoyant production of Darragh Nolan & Joseph Panama. Of the song, Jackie “wanted to venture into the difficult aspects of loving someone, and tease out the idea that it’s possible to break through and recover something…