• 17 For ’17: TOUTS

    February 1, 2017 - By 

    Three-piece Derry band TOUTS have quickly established a name for themselves in the local music scene and beyond by delivering incendiary live performances, underpinned with an ol-school punk attitude. Still in their teens, Matthew (singer/guitarist), Luke (bassist), and Jason (drummer) have opened for punk rock royalty in Derry’s own, The Undertones.  They’ve also played high-profile support slots and secured upcoming shows with Blossoms and The Coral. As a band, they have been sustained on a diet of stellar mod/punk rock throughout their formative years – who whilst indebted to pioneering artists – have quickly forged an identity of their own…

  • Group Zero – Structures and Light

    February 1, 2017 - By 

    With his primary project currently working on album number 4, Girls Names frontman Cathal Cully is to release his debut solo effort, Structures and Light under his Group Zero pseudonym. Released on February 17 on Touch Sensitive Records, like his bandmate Philip Quinn’s Gross Net electronic side-project, it projects the flip-side of their post-punk day-job, instead channelling the shadowy intensity along the lines of Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire, without ever approaching an over-reliance on nostalgia or pastiche. As Touch Sensitive & Cully himself say: The genesis of this newly discovered musical freedom coincided with a viewing of ‘Pyramid of Light’ by Heinz Mack from the post-war Dusseldorf based…

  • Fecking Bahamas – V. Ireland

    February 1, 2017 - By 

    To say Ireland has an unusually rich track record in the realms of math-rock, post-rock and instrumental music would be something of an understatement. This is something Melbourne music website Fecking Bahamas (assumingly named after the latter-day Don Caballero song ‘Palms Trees In the Fecking Bahamas’) have copped onto, manifesting in V. Ireland, a new, 21 track compilation featuring tracks from the likes of And So I Watch You From Afar, The Redneck Manifesto and Abebisi Shank to lesser-known but no less sorcerous sonic conquistadors in We Are Knives, Val Normal and Psychojet. Their fifth-region specific compilation and their first release…

  • Compilation: Fecking Bahamas – V. Ireland

    February 1, 2017 - By 

    To say Ireland has an unusually rich track record in the realms of math-rock, post-rock and instrumental music would be something of an understatement. This is something Melbourne music website Fecking Bahamas (assumingly named after the latter-day Don Caballero song ‘Palms Trees In the Fecking Bahamas’) have copped onto, manifesting in V. Ireland, a new, 21 track compilation featuring tracks from the likes of And So I Watch You From Afar, The Redneck Manifesto and Abebisi Shank to lesser-known but no less sorcerous sonic conquistadors in We Are Knives, Val Normal and Psychojet. Their fifth-region specific compilation and their first release…

  • Stream: Joshua Burnside – Tunnels Pt. 2

    January 31, 2017 - By 

    Long one of our favourite Irish singer-songwriters, Joshua Burnside has been experiencing a real lease of life over the last few months. Having recorded his long-awaited debut album, Ephrata, with the likes of Smalltown America in Derry, Lisburn’s Millbank Studios and producer Phil D’Alton last year, the Belfast-based musician will set it loose via Quiet Arch on May 5. The first single to be taken from the release, ‘Tunnels  Pt. 2’ sees Burnside effortlessly adopt a slicker, more fleshed-out alternative folk aesthetic than material of yore, delivering a propulsive and impassioned ode that puts his tale-telling centre-stage once more. Make sure to…

  • 17 for ’17: Maija Sofia

    January 31, 2017 - By 

    Maija Sofia was reared in remote Connemara, lived in London and now resides in Dublin. Places with their own unique idiosyncrasies and experiences awaiting the inhabitants of such diverse environments. Experiences that inform the decisions we make and the things we create. Maija Sofia’s songs – soft, melancholic compositions guided by the harp and guitar –   encapsulate the creative output born from a wonderment spurred by isolation, something that is omnipresent. She has been compared to Kate Bush, Pj Harvey and Elliott Smith and there are traces of those great artists in her sound but Maija Sofia is a true…

  • 17 for ’17: ELLLL

    January 31, 2017 - By 

    Ellen King AKA ELLLL is a Cork City native who started a music degree with a background in classical piano. When the opportunity arose she immersed herself in every available course on tech and minimal composition, and around 2011 she started performing as ELLLL. She was soon supporting acts like Bee Mask, Vessel and Tim Hecker in venues across Ireland, as well as travelling abroad to support Carter Tutti Void in London. A slow but steady stream of cuts on SoundCloud have become gradually less abstract and more beat-focused, retaining the singular character that’s driven her approach over recent years. A…

  • Watch: Myles Manley – Relax; Enjoy Your Night Upon The Town

    January 31, 2017 - By 

    We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: you would be hard-pressed to find a more fiercely inimitable solo artist residing on this small island than English-born, Sligo-raised, Dublin-based Myles Manley. Set for a 250 copy limited 7″ release on midnight blue vinyl via Dublin indie imprint Little L Records on February 17, his new single, ‘Relax; Enjoy Your Night Upon The Town’ finds Manley in particularly joyous form, blending Tune-Yards-esque melodic sensibility with layered, deceptively intricate instrumental panache reminiscent of Dirty Projectors. Featuring an equal beatific video directed and edited by Seamus Hanly, ‘Relax; Enjoy Your Night Upon The Town’ comes backed…

  • Stream: Group Zero – The Pummelling Repetition Inside

    January 30, 2017 - By 

    Beyond the more post-punk and art-rock leaning world of his main project, Girls Names‘ frontman Cathal Cully has always had a strong interest in esoteric electronic sounds. Having recently finished up recording Girls Names’ forthcoming fourth studio album, Cully has announced news of his debut solo album as Group Zero, Structures and Light, a release written, recorded and mixed intermittently over the space of four years. Set for release via Belfast’s Touch Sensitive records on Friday, February 24, Cully said of the release: “It was as an exercise in my own development and it was fun. It brought the naivety and spontaneity back…

  • Stream: New Pagans – Worker’s Song/Ode To None

    January 30, 2017 - By 

    One of our featured acts in 17 For ’17, New Pagans, have just released two new tracks following their debut tunes in September of last year. The band is one of NI music royalty, featuring Girls Names & Cruising‘s Claire Miskimmin, Jetplane Landing, Goons & Fighting With Wire‘s Cahir O’Doherty – whose trademark memorable alt. rock riffing is on display – as well as vocalist Lyndsey McDougall and Conor McAuley on drums. The band have yet to perform live, but by their sound and aesthetic so far – with each song featuring unique artwork from the band – New Pagans forms the bridge teased…