• Premiere: Joey Gavin – Rolf/Run

    August 8, 2017 - By 

    No stranger to provocative, accessibly experimental indie rock, the latest two-track from Thumper‘s Joey Gavin is called Rolf/Run, released on 7″ through prolific Irish DIY label Little L Records (Shamir, Homeshake, Alex Calder, Syd Kemp etc.). It’s a catchy psych-pop number whose acid-dripped King Gizzard-lite melody belies a more acerbic message, veiling a darkness even The Zombies would nary have attempted. It’s framed, as you might have guessed, around the shortcomings of institutional hierarchies, and the abuse of power that they’ve given rise to, without forgetting to check ourselves for letting it happen; evenly, he also explores the shortcomings of the witch-hunt that can, and does take place, it’s…

  • Watch: Meljoann – Private World (Live)

    August 4, 2017 - By 

    You know what’s great and extremely re-watchable? This brand new live video of Irish producer, DJ and musician Meljoann performing ‘Private World’. Featuring a nice range of instruments and interfaces (namely Ableton Live, Akai LPD-8, MOTU Ultralite mk-3, JoeMeek threeQ, Alesis Vortex Wireless Keytar, and a guitar for all your gear heads), it is – as top comment on the video accurately sums up – a “deliriously fantastic” rendition, conjuring the likes of Prince and Janet Jackson fed through a prism of darkly electro sounds. THAT SOLO.

  • Eraser TV – Buzzfeed Depression Quiz

    August 3, 2017 - By 

    Just released is Limerick post-punk noise-pop act Eraser TV‘s debut EP, the wryly-titled Buzzfeed Depression Quiz, that tells you all you need to know about the wry wit of the trio. Featuring zero short, snappy numbers and a nine-minute epic celebration of languor, no compromise has been made on the EP, filled with all the trimmings, creases, and slightly-off guitar lines you’d hope from a band with nothing to lose. Buzzfeed Depression Quiz is a completely unselfconscious release, and is all the better for it. The EP was recorded and produced by Chris Quigley, self-released and available on Bandcamp on a pay-what-you-like basis. Stream below:…

  • GOURD/Luxury Mollusc Split LP

    August 1, 2017 - By 

    Two of Ireland’s premier doom-laden purveyors of noise release a split record on August 21st through Cursed Monk Records. Melding the suffocating, guttural blackened doom of Gourd with the harsh atmospheric ‘scrap abuse’ of Luxury Mollusc, the split opens with two longer tracks from Gourd and five snappier little numbers from Luxury Mollusc. It’s available to pre-order on cassette from Bandcamp. Stream the split below: GOURD/Luxury Mollusc by GOURD/Luxury Mollusc

  • Stream: Autumns – Female Model/No More Luxury

    July 31, 2017 - By 

    Having first featured the project back in February of 2014, the music of Derry’s Christian Donaghey AKA Autumns has steadily mutated from shoegaze-inflected, willfully acerbic noise rock into a much darker, beat-orientated and industrially-inclined proposition. Following a string of single and EP releases, Donaghey is set to cement that gestation by unveiling his debut album, Suffocating Brothers, via Glasgow imprint Clan Destine Records on September 23. To accompany the new singles, two new tracks ‘Female Model’ and ‘No More Luxury’ are equally emphatic fist-clenched efforts that aim straight for the jugular. Featuring suitably stellar artwork from Belfast artist Claire Miskimmin (also of Girls Names/Cruising/New…

  • Premiere: Ryan Kelly – G.O.N.E.

    July 28, 2017 - By 

    Dublin’s Ryan Kelly set out his singer-songwriter stall earlier this year with the piano-driven ‘City Views’, a track which married his recognisable influences with a refreshingly stripped-back take on youth and becoming. New single ‘G.O.N.E.’ goes one step further. An easy-listening ballad, it is simultaneously an effort that is endearingly simple in its composition and tone, as well as one of that’s unashamedly pop at its very core. Sometimes, that’s more than enough. Have a first look at the beat-up VHSesque visuals for the single below.

  • Watch: Sleep Thieves – Is This Ready?

    July 28, 2017 - By 

    Having released one of the Irish albums of 2014 in the form of You Want The Night, Dublin-based synth-pop trio Sorcha Brennan, Wayne Fahy, and Keith Byrne AKA Sleep Thieves has spent the last couple of years concocting a strong return. Bolstered by a sublime short film accompaniment courtesy of Spiceburger, new single ‘Is This Ready?’ exceeds expectations. A simmering, four-minute burst of darkly electro-pop, it sees the band’s sorcerous brand of sonic nocturnalism as potent as ever. Speaking of the track, the band said it was “the sonic realization of memories, visions, emotions, and experiences, set to a backdrop of the…

  • Help Musicians NI Partner with Stendhal Festival for Henry McCullough Stage, Announce New Acts

    July 27, 2017 - By 

    To honour the life and career of outstanding guitarist Henry McCullough, who sadly passed away last year, Limavady’s Stendhal Festival – August 11th & 12th – have announced a Henry McCullough Stage, and new partnership charity Help Musicians Northern Ireland. HMNI curate the stage on Friday night, as well as the Oh Yeah Centre stage, and have announced the first wave of acts for their bill. As well as a distinguished solo career, McCullough was best-known for his time with Wings, and was famously the only Irishman to play Woodstock, where he played with Joe Cocker in one of the all-time great live performances.…

  • Porphyry – Ursa Minor/Coming Home EP

    July 24, 2017 - By 

    Experimental singer-songwriter Porphyry has just released his debut EP, Ursa Minor/Coming Home. Solely performed by Derry multi-instrumentalist Daryl Coyle, it’s an ambitious EP that’s difficult to pin down in genre, with lush arrangements and instrumental flourishes, and truly unpredictable songwriting. Independently released, it was recorded by Start Together’s Niall Doran & Smalltown America’s Caolan Austin, and mixed by Doran. The EP, although could be categorised as baroque pop, or psych-folk, or ambient, or shoegaze or even *gasp* prog rock, it manages the unenviable job of being boldly unpigeonholeable as art, and deeply personal, without approaching any level of bloated grandiosity. Check it out below – we’d…

  • Tiny Magnetic Pets – Deluxe / Debris

    July 24, 2017 - By 

    Collecting krautrock grooves, ’70s electronica and oddball pop, Dublin outfit Tiny Magnetic Pets – named after the Japanese collectable toy – release their new album Deluxe / Debris on August 25 through Happy Robots Records. This follows up on their 2009 debut, Return of The Tiny Magnetic Pets and two EPs. Sounded at times like a prime-era William Orbit electronic pop production, featuring the kosmische space race synth sounds of the likes of Harmonia and Neu! – incidentally, the album features two collaborations with Kraftwerk’s Wolfgang Flür. Flür isn’t the only synth-pop fan either, with the band having built support from members of Visage & OMD, as…