• Watch: Eraser TV – Golden Boy

    August 29, 2017 - By 

    The astutely-named debut EP, Buzzfeed Depression Quiz, from Limerick indie rockers Eraser TV now has an accompanying video for its nine minute centrepiece, ‘Golden Boy’. A composition reminiscent in scope and mood to David Pajo’s Papa M, or slowcore greats Codeine, ‘Golden Boy’ never drags as much as it could; Functioning as something as a Freebird as far as rock epics go, it bucks the trend by saying more in its sole lyric than all the confederate flagwavers the ’70s could muster. The video itself eschews a potentially overdriven narrative or the dreaded ‘live performance video’ in favour of grainy, intensely frisson-inducing archival footage of war, giving the song…

  • Premiere: Pale Rivers – West Point

    August 29, 2017 - By 

    One of our must-see Irish acts at Electric Picnic this weekend, Cork five-piece Pale Rivers released one of our favourite Irish tracks of 2016 – debut single ‘August 6th‘ – back in October last year. Having arrived in such promising fashion, the band have doubly confirmed with new single ‘West Point’. Accompanied by visuals Kevin McGloughlin and Mike Lee, it’s a wonderfully earworming effort betraying the band’s knack for combining inward-looking lyricism with their own brand of instantaneous alt-pop. Wrangling with spectres of the past as framed by the present day, this is a refined primal scream that broods as much as it…

  • Watch: SlowPlaceLikeHome – Echoes

    August 24, 2017 - By 

    Fronted by Keith Mannion, Donegal psychedelic electronic act Slow Place Like Home returned last week with one of the Irish tracks of the year so far, ‘Echoes’. The second single to be lifted from the band’s forthcoming album, When I See You…Ice Cream, the track – which features vocals from Fearghal McKee of ’90s cult Irish alt rocker Whipping Boy – now comes bolstered by a stellar video courtesy of Michael Liston. Filmed on location in July in and around Ballyshannon and Dicey Reillys in Donegal, it very nicely reflects the song’s nocturnal, otherworld sway. Slow Place Like Home play Electric Picnic…

  • Premiere: Autre Monde – Village of Loomers

    August 22, 2017 - By 

    Without the faintest shadow of a doubt, Dublin quartet Autre Monde are one of the very best bands in the country at the minute. A stellar live proposition to boot, the Paddy Hanna-fronted foursome funnel their myriad influences in magnificent ways; bearing the imprint of but never kowtowing or passing off bygone sounds as their own. Concluding and very nicely capping off their opening four-track offering, ‘Village of Loomers’ – a self-proclaimed “indie ballad” of sorts – was recorded with Daniel Fox of Girl Band in Spring. Here, as with their previous material to date, Hanna, Padraig Cooney, Mark Chester…

  • Elder Druid – Carmina Satanae

    August 21, 2017 - By 

    Ballymena/Belfast occult-loving stoner-doom outfit Elder Druid have announced details of their debut album, Carmina Satanae – the Latin Term for Songs of Satan. The LP was recorded live in the studio by certified heft-bringer Niall Doran at Start Together Studios in Belfast over 3 days in August. As well as inevitable genre touchstones like Sleep & Electric Wizard, the iron lungs of frontman Gregg McDowell lends it a fury matched only by the likes of Down. Eight tracks strong, two of which are fresh recordings from their prior Magicka EP, they look set to make a significant dent on the UK & Irish doom scenes, having already toured…

  • Video Premiere: Chirps – Pink Noise

    August 21, 2017 - By 

    It’s been seven years since their debut album, Future Static Prologue, but Ballina-formed, Dublin-based shoegazey alt. rockers Chirps are finally gearing to follow it up with a second LP, from which we’re delighted to premiere first single ‘Pink Noise’. Featuring members of esteemed noisemakers like Hands Up Who Wants To Die, Wild Rocket, Crowhammer and Oilbag, their new album has been in the works over the last few years, gradually recorded by John ‘Spud’ Murphy – who’s also behind many of the finest independent Irish releases in recent years. A definite progression from previous work, Chirps have clocked up an astounding number of nods toward underground subgenres – most evidently shoegaze,…

  • Album Stream: Ger Fox Sailing – Ger Fox Sailing

    August 21, 2017 - By 

    Released today, the self-titled, self-produced debut album from Wexford quartet Ger Fox Sailing is a richly-woven, nicely eclectic collection of songs from a band who have just set out their stall and then some. From the contemplative precision of ‘Nowhere Without You’ and the poppier tangents of ‘What It Is’ to blistering closer ‘Best Friend’ via a stream of scuzz-laden, occasionally prog-leaning rock, reverberations from the likes of Longpigs, Incubus, Queens of the Stone Age, Grandaddy and, in parts, Northern Irish alt-rock band Pocket Promise (though we suspect the latter is something of a total coincidence) coalesce with the band’s own…

  • And So I Watch You From Afar Announce Fifth Studio Album, Release New Track

    August 21, 2017 - By 

    Having revealed details of a December Irish tour just last week, North Coast instrumental rock maestros And So I Watch You From Afar have announced details of their forthcoming fifth studio album. Set for release via Sargent House on October 20, The Endless Shimmering was recorded at Machines with Magnets, a professional recording studio, art gallery, experimental music venue in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Essentially held captive in the studio due to a snowstorm, the band used the incarceration to their advantage. Rory Friers from the band said, “We tracked, ate, washed and slept at the studio, and 9 days later we had recorded…

  • Slow Place Like Home – When I See You…Ice Cream!

    August 18, 2017 - By 

    Long one of our favourite Irish acts – here they are as cover stars of our fifteenth issue – Donegal-based psychedelic electronic outfit Slow Place Like Home release their new album, When I See You…Ice Cream! on October 20. As with all Slow Place… material to date, it’s written, performed and produced by Keith Mannion. Written between Knather Woods in Donegal’s Ballyshannon, and the Algarve in Portugal, it somehow bears a sun-kissed somnambulance to match the cartography. The second single, ‘Echoes‘, featuring vocals from Fearghal McKee of ’90s cult Irish alt. rockers Whipping Boy, and album artwork comes from Derry artist John Rooney. The album was mastered by Morr Music’s Antony Ryan…

  • Stream: Slow Place Like Home – Echoes (feat. Fearghal McKee)

    August 18, 2017 - By 

    Long one of our favourite Irish acts – here they are as cover stars of our fifteenth issue – Donegal-based psychedelic electronic outfit Slow Place Like Home have lifted the cloche on their latest single, ‘Echoes’, featuring vocals from Fearghal McKee of ’90s cult Irish alt. rockers Whipping Boy. As with all SPLH material to date, it’s written, performed and produced by Keith Mannion. Released on August 22, ‘Echoes’ is the second single taken from the band’s next album, When I See You…Ice Cream, which is due for release on October 20, and follows their June single, ‘When I See You‘. The latest LP was written…