• Album Premiere: Wild Rocket – Dissociation Mechanics

    July 5, 2017 - By 

    Following our stream of lead single ‘The Future Echoes‘, we’re delighted to exclusively premiere the fuzzed-out, low-end heft of Dublin quartet Wild Rocket‘s second LP, Dissociation Mechanics, released through the perennially reliable Irish independent Art for Blind on July 7. Already respected for their distinctive amalgam of groove-strewn heavy psych, sludge and space rock after debut studio album Geomagnetic Hallucinations, they’ve seemingly a complete grasp of the art of kosmische repetition. Disassociation Mechanics is an even more fully-realised and beautifully produced iteration of the band’s sound, with the album being recorded by Ireland’s Deaf Brothers – also known for their work with No Spill Blood, Alarmist and Meltybrains?. Unsurprisingly, given the monolithic sprawl of the…

  • Album Stream: The Jimmy Cake – Tough Love

    July 4, 2017 - By 

    Experimental kosmiche post-punks The Jimmy Cake have released their sixth album Tough Love through respected Irish indie label Penske Recordings. Formed as a 10-piece in Dublin back in 2000 from the ashes of experimental noiseniks Das Madman, they’ve had a revolving lineup, recording – the last being 2015’s Master. Tough Love was written for a one-off performance in Dublin arts space The Joinery in 2015, with two distinct movements and styles – blending their usual Krauty psychedelia with some stoner groove. Delve into the ambitious and brilliantly realised forty-two minute masterstroke below.

  • Premiere: Mosmo Strange – L’etrange

    June 25, 2017 - By 

    Having ascended to the higher (and notably more well-attended) ranks of the live scene in the North over the last couple of years, Belfast quartet Mosmo Strange are a band that have always been as much indivisible with the low-end as they are lo-fidelity. A particularly spartan and stripped-back case in point can be found on the band’s new single ‘L’etrange’ – the lead track from their forthcoming Strangetapes release – is an untreated blast of strutting, desert-inflected rock featuring saxophone from Peter Howard of Derry’s Scenery. Have a first listen to the single right below.

  • Q+A: Bear Worship WAS Here

    June 25, 2017 - By 

    Karl Knuttel – or Bear Worship, to use his professional name – has just released his nine-song debut album, WAS. It’s an exotic, hypnotic record that seems to exist in a time and place all of its own. Here, he talks to David Turpin about the process of making the album. I’d like to ask about the title of the album, WAS. It’s a very emphatic one-word title, and yet it also happens to be a very ambiguous word. I guess what I wanted to represent with the title is that every person wants to feel like they matter. Making…

  • Stream: Wyvern Lingo – I Love You, Sadie

    June 25, 2017 - By 

    Hands down one of the real musical success stories in Ireland of the last couple of years, we have firmly enjoyed following the rise and rise of Bray alt-pop Wyvern Lingo. With a launch party set for Dublin’s Grand Social on Friday, August 25, new single ‘I Love You Sadie’ is another instant gem bursting at the seams with the threesome’s slick marriage of exquisite, RnB-inflected harmonies, groove-laden patterns and their collective ear for a killer hook. Be prepared to the hit that repeat button as soon as those initial three minutes run out. Tickets for the Grand Social show are…

  • The Jimmy Cake – Tough Love

    June 22, 2017 - By 

    Experimental kosmiche post-punks The Jimmy Cake release their sixth album Tough Love on July 14 through the respected Irish indie label Penske Recordings. Formed as a 10-piece in Dublin back in 2000 from the ashes of experimental noiseniks Das Madman, they’ve had a revolving lineup, recording – the last being 2015’s Master. Tough Love was written for a one-off performance in Dublin arts space The Joinery in 2015, with two distinct movements and styles – blending their usual krauty psychedelia with some stoner groove. Check out ‘Observatory Destroyer‘. The Jimmy Cake launch Tough Love at the Grand Social on July 8, and tickets are priced at €13 from Billetto,…

  • RMCK – RMCK

    June 20, 2017 - By 

    Anonymous, instrumental, distorted banjo looping project RMCK has just released their self-titled debut EP through Solid Choice Industries. The EP was recorded in Belfast’s Start Together Studios by Rocky O’Reilly, with engineer Ben McAuley on drums. Hypnotic & swirling, the music could broadly fall under the banner of math or post-rock but falls into fewer of its trappings, being much more intuitive and less maximalist – the work of one lone artist who remains unidentified. Solid Choice claim to know their identity but wish to protect their anonymity – colour us very intrigued as to whether they make the move to live…

  • Watch: SlowPlaceLikeHome – When I See You… Ice Cream

    June 19, 2017 - By 

    Having graced the cover of the fifteenth issue of our soon-to-return physical magazine, Keith Mannion’s SlowPlaceLikeHome have long been one of our favourite Irish acts. The follow-up to 2016 single ‘Tiger Lilly’, new track ‘When I See You…Ice Cream’ is a playful burst of electro-pop betraying SPLH’s signature brand of somnambulant wonder but with an evolutionary twist. Released today via Strange Brew Rekkids, the single was written between Knather Woods, Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal, and the Algarve in Portugal. It was recorded and produced in its entirety by in Keith’s bedroom studio in Donegal and mastered by Antony Ryan (Morr Music label)…

  • Premiere: Aislinn Logan – So Loud/Dance With Demons

    June 19, 2017 - By 

    Having released her promising debut EP, Lost or Gone, last year, London-based, Belfast-born multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and vocalist Aislinn Logan is primed to release its highly-anticipated follow-up at some point in the coming months. Bolstered by an equalling compelling b-side in the form of ‘Dance With Demods’, new single ‘So Loud’ suggests some great things in the making. A wonderfully skeletal release that sees Logan’s knack for a burrowing melody and cutting refrain take centre-stage, it presents the artist as a real contender, with a voice and deep yet understated emotive flair all her own. Speaking about the single, Logan said, “So Loud…

  • EP Premiere: RMCK – RMCK

    June 16, 2017 - By 

    Belfast-based booking agent and record label Solid Choice Industries have been knocking it out of the park recently. As well as putting out Witch Hunt, the blistering debut album from hardcore metal quartet Hornets, they have also lined up with shows from Zu, Lemuria, Sunn O))) and the mighty Boris over the next few months. Today we’re pleased to exclusively unveil their latest release, the self-titled debut EP by anonymous artist RMCK. Featuring five tracks of equal parts squalling and meditatively cyclical instrumentalism recorded by Rocky O’Reilly at Belfast’s Start Together Studios, SC’s own blurb on the EP – which…