• EP Stream: Galants – Galants

    May 19, 2017 - By 

    In case you missed the memo: Dublin noise-pop quartet Galants rule. Evoking the varyingly shaded, feedback-soaked lulls and barrages of Dinosaur Jr., Teenage Fanclub, My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, Swervedriver and Yo La Tengo, the band have caught our attention on numerous occasions of the last couple of years. Something of a feature-length culmination of this particular phase in the journey to date, their self-titled EP – which sees David Kennedy, James McDonald, Colin O’Dwyer and Ruairi Paxton concoct some real magic over four tracks – has now been release on 10″ via UK imprint Zen Ten. Delve in below. Galants by Galants

  • Stream: Isobel Anderson – Feed Me/Effortless Pain Relief

    May 19, 2017 - By 

    Having recently released the wistful ‘Flint Shingle’ – a track we called a “delicately textured, perfectly phantasmal ambient effort” – Belfast-based artist Isobel Anderson has return with its follow-up, ‘Feed Me’. A track that once more sees Anderson’s command of harmony and counterpoint blend with textures and rhythms that weave in wonderful patterns, it makes for an exquisite four minutes from the Sussex-born musician. Better still, the spectral, reverberating meditation that is ‘Effortless Pain Relief’ proves an equally enchanting b-side. Two of her strongest tracks to date, we reckon.

  • EP Stream: Silverbacks – Sink The Fat Moon

    May 19, 2017 - By 

    Set for a midnight launch at Whelan’s next Saturday night (May 27), Sink The Fat Moon by Dublin indie rock five-piece Silverbacks will sure rank up there with our favourite Irish releases of the year come December. A plinking, squalling five-track sweep of scuzzed-out tangents and lo-fi passages, it marries the patent – yet very impressively wrought – imprint of the likes of Parquet Courts, Sonic Youth and Pavement in fine fashion, revealing a band whose knack for forging something new from the aforementioned influence is really a delight to behold. For a sub-genre oversaturated with clumsily disaffected amour-propre, Silverbacks wield a far more natural…

  • Watch: Count Vaseline – Russia

    May 18, 2017 - By 

    Currently based in Atlanta, GA Dublin’s Stefan Murphy has set off on a compelling, genre-spanning and decidedly DIY solo journey as Count Vaseline following the disbanding of The Mighty Stef in May last year. A highlight from his second solo album, Cascade – a release Murphy has astutely called a self-contained “micro-universe” – ‘Russia’ is a timely release that, via a stripped back but layered sound that conjures the likes of Darklands-era Jesus and Mary Chain, meditates on and tussles with the the mystery of the past the precariousness of the future. Better still, Murphy vocals – emphatic as ever – veer into perfectly melodic, ear-worming…

  • Via: Barvikha – Chengdu EP

    May 17, 2017 - By 

    Belfast singer-songwriter Chris Leckey, aka Via: Barvikha releases debut EP, Chengdu, on June 16. The EP was written around a period of significant life change, as Leckey was uprooted to a new home 5329 miles away – the titular Chengdu – before coming back five months later. Channelling a brooding intensity never articulated as dynamically with his past hardcore outfit PigsAsPeople, Leckey has found a waypoint via common denominator Brand New to the darkly raw places of yearning, conjured by of Jason Molina and other quintessentially authentic Steve Albini-produced folk. Following up on a short string of singles from 2015, Chengdu is released through Belfast indie label Abbreviated Records on June 16. It was recorded & produced by the titular…

  • Album Stream: Matua Trap – Thunderous Silence

    May 17, 2017 - By 

    After a long wait seemingly nodded at by its title, Thunderous Silence, the debut album from Belfast progressive alternative rock trio Matua Trap is out today. The band formed in September 2013 from the ashes of Belfast post-rockers Kasper Rosa and experimental psych-poppers EatenByBears. Their sound undulates somewhere between upbeat vibes of 90’s and 00’s alt rock/pop outfits and the razor sharp riffage and mountaintop vocal hooks of ‘nu’ and progressive metal, maintaining a strong sense of song craft; owed in part to a constant influence from esoteric pop legends such as Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush. Taking a sharper turn from the post-rock format indulged…

  • Video Premiere: R51 – Heavy Friends

    May 17, 2017 - By 

    Having recently been in the studio recording new material, Belfast five-piece R51 will release a blitzing new single, ‘Heavy Friends’ and a b-side titled ‘Vitamin C’ on May 23. A song “about the realisation that all your friends are depressed weirdos”, it’s another starry-eyed – almost celebratory – blast of gaze-drenched alt-pop from the band. Accompanied by a DIY video (which has become something of a forte for the band), check out our premiere of the single and its artwork below.

  • Stream: Loah – This Heart

    May 17, 2017 - By 

    Having snuck a little preview, we are very excited about the release of This Heart, the debut EP from Irish/Sierra Leonean artist Loah. A release of extraordinary finesse and inimitable pop sway, it was recorded a 6 month period with a fine array of some of Ireland’s most eminent jazz, African, and classical musicians, including Brazilian drummer Andre Antunes, saxophonist Michael Buckley, Congolese guitarist Niwel Tsumbu, percussionist Eamonn Cagney, a string quartet of musicians from the Crash Ensemble, and Loah’s sister Fehdah on backing vocals. Talking about the release, Loah said: “This is a collection of tunes that all deal with similar…

  • Video Premiere: Aaron Shanley & The Horrortongues – My Mind Ain’t Pretty (At The Minute)

    May 17, 2017 - By 

    Primed to release his debut album, Metal Alligator, at Belfast’s Voodoo on May 24, Northern Irish artist Aaron Shanley now has a full band in tow in the form of the excellently named Horrortongues. Ahead of that, we’re pleased to present a suitably tripped-out live video for ‘My Mind Ain’t Pretty (At The Minute)’, a track we said was “a really tidy, very promising taste of things to come from the wanderlust-smitten artist” upon its original release back in 2015. Filmed at Millbank Studios in Lisburn, the well-honed, scuzzed-out lo-fi aesthetic of Shanley and the Horrortongues is laid bare in fine fashion Pre-order the stellar…

  • Premiere: Via: Barvikha – Willie Woods

    May 17, 2017 - By 

    Today, we’re delighted to be able to premiere ‘Willie Woods’, the second single from Via: Barvikha‘s new EP, Chengdu.  The song sees songwriter Chris Leckey make some concessions about himself directly to an unknown listener (‘I moved away, or so I thought’), which take on a deeper profundity within the frame of the EP, written around a period of significant life change, namely songwriter Chris Leckey’s uprooting to a new home 5329 miles away – the titular Chengdu – and then coming back five months later. Channelling a brooding intensity never articulated as dynamically with his past hardcore outfit PigsAsPeople, Leckey has found a waypoint via common denominator Brand New to the…