It’s always great to see a new regular live gig night crop up. Launching at Belfast’s McHughs on Saturday, May 22, BASECAMP is the a new venture from Four Acre, the brainchild of Neil Allen of all but revered NI alt-folk band The Emerald Armada. For its first outing, the night – which is calling itself “the home of emerging artists – will see sets from Brash Isaac, Jamie Neish and Benjamin Hamilton. Admission is £5, doors are at 8pm.
Look as far and wide as you so please but you’ll struggle to find a more positively unique, perfectly fitting and cosmically-inclined musical obituary than ‘Henry McCullough’ by BP Fallon and David Holmes. A peak on the latter’s exceptional Late Night Tales release from last year, the six-minute sonic eulogy is a sorcerous tribute of semi-mystical proportions, weaving Fallon’s beautiful offering to the late, great McCullough with keyboards and drum programming from Holmes, guitar work from Noel Gallagher, additional drums Emre Ramazanoglu and backing vocals from Nina Holmes and Lisa Di Lucia. Ahead of the release of ‘Henry McCullough’ – The Andrew Weatherall…
The long-awaited follow-up to the longing ‘Winter Night – a track released back in February last year – ‘Shut Your Eyes’ by Dublin’s Karen Sheridan AKA Slow Skies is a slow-burning pop ballad where subtlety and restraint is tantamount to emotive power. Accompanied by a video courtesy of Kevin and Páraic McGloughlin, we’re hoping this is an indication of some more new Slow Skies material in the making.
Late last month we had the pleasure of premiering ‘Customs’, the first gambit from Dublin-based indie supergroup of sorts Autre Monde. first of a series of releases planned for spring and early summer, stemming from their time in the studio with Jamie Hyland & Girl Band‘s Daniel Fox, it proved an idiosyncratic, dynamic number conjuring the likes of Television, Suicide and Pere Ubu. Going one step further in our eyes, new single ‘New Recruit’ is a gleaming burst of throwback power-pop that harks back to 70s NYC with its slinking post-punk pockets of groove and its burrowing, leather-and-neon cool. According to band…
London-based Cork producer Toby Kaar has returned with the beat-driven, vocoder-heavy strut of ‘Promises’. The follow-up his debut EP, last year’s Gumbrielle, the single – which Kaar said was recorded “some time ago” – is deceptively earworming in its reiterative patterns and woozy, cyborg-like vocals, not least via its closing refrain: “I just want to know, what happened to our love? We used to be best friends, where did it go wrong?” We dig.
We’ve had our eye on Dublin’s Cat Palace since their 2015 debut EP. The moniker under which frontman David Blaney operates, the act balances social commentary, personal revelations and kitchen sink absurd realism by way of very listenable alt. rock and folk forays. Featuring a full band, debut album why don’t you // why don’t you, go off is out now through Little L Records. Absorbing you into his worldview for about 40 minutes, it’s a stream-of-consciousness trip through ruminations on life, from the deeply relatable nostalgic yearning and the dissatisfaction brought to you by your 20’s (Bret Hart & Vince McMahon, 1997 in ‘Welcome…
Last month we had the honour of premiering ‘Crab Supernova’ by new-fangled Dublin maestros Percolator, a band we said “conjured a thick miasma of ‘gazey Kosmiche textures and Motorik groove” over their debut single’s four off minutes. Today we’re very pleased to go one further with this first listen of the band’s exceptional full-length debut album, Sestra. Set for official release tomorrow, the eight-track release is a masterclass in filtering the band’s through their own brand of at times woozy, at others brilliantly breakneck hybrid of Krautrock locked patterns and submerged psych-pop. This is confident, carefully-crafted music, betraying a real respect of the…
Le Galaxie have always been good for a music video that capture the heart and soul of their craft. Following on the heels of ‘Le Club’ and ‘Love System’ from last year, the Michael Pope-fronted quartet’s latest single, ‘Pleasure’ (featuring the tones of Fight Likes Apes’ certifiably deadly MayKay) now comes with its own rather colourful visual accompaniment. Combining light and kinesis, darkness and subtle dance, paint and confetti, the video – which you can watch below – was directed by Sam Hooper. ‘Pleasure’ is out on April 21 via Reckless Records.
Ask a selection of the country’s most well-regarded and successful singer-songwriters who their own favourite Irish songsmith is and there’s a very strong chance that Pat Dam Smyth will crop up. An artist whose candour, lyricism and musicianship leaves affectation and hubris at the door, his long-awaited new single ‘Juliette’ is a masterfully mournful cut, concisely relaying the tale of a woman attempting to escape an abusive relationship. Cut from the same cloth of Nick Cave and John Grant, the full-band effort also conjures Dark Side-era Pink Floyd in its braying brass and portentous, swaggering pop élan. The first single to be taken from…
Foreign Owl is a band whose members have found their musical home in Derry by way of a protracted route through the Southern prefecture of Fukuoka, Japan and the mean streets of Burt, Donegal. Members, Eoghan Donegan (Guitarist/Singer), along with brothers Míchéal (Bass/Singer) and Ciarán McCay (Drums/Singer) struck up a friendship after meeting at Japanese drumming (Taiko) classes in Derry. What started out as a mutual appreciation of film, soon germinated into a real desire to express themselves through music, inspired by their surroundings, art and Japanese culture. Along the way, Radio Foyle’s Stephen McCauley has championed the band by…