• Stream: Kid Karate – No Way

    January 25, 2017 - By 

    Describing themselves as “Mike Tyson serenading his wife with a heavy metal cover of Abba’s ‘Waterloo'” (hey, why not?) Dublin trio Kid Karate evolved many moons ago from a two-piece jam in a Crumlin shed. Ever since, the band – comprised of Kevin Breen, Steven Gannon and Ian McFarlane – have grown into a formidable beast with their earworming, slightly left-of-centre craft. Having had their heads down creating some new sounds, the trio have unveiled their single, ‘No Way’, a four-minute alt-pop anthem set for official release on February 20 that’ll be lingering in your inner ear for hours. Don’t believe…

  • 17 for ’17: Alien She

    January 26, 2017 - By 

    While 2016 has proved a political and problematic wreck in many regards, Dublin trio Alien She have made the most of it, using the ups and (mostly) downs of the past twelve months to fuel their experimental and progressive sound. While the group has been floating around the Dublin music scene for the last number of years, 2016 proved to be a particularly productive year. Besides their active gigging schedule, the latter half of last year brought the release of the track ‘Cold Brain’ from their debut album Feeler, soon to be released. The group comprises of artists and activists…

  • 17 for ’17: Bad Sea

    January 25, 2017 - By 

    There’s nothing rough about the waves that Bad Sea have been making in the Irish gig scene. Their dreamy folk-country combo has seen them playing everything from Castlepalooza to Other Voices to the recent Therapy Sessions at the Workman’s Club (as part of the First Fortnight Festival). The duo, Ciara Thompson and Alan Pharrell, met on Tinder, and managed to form a powerhouse of a musical relationship out of a dating site. All that’s available for listening online at the moment is the band’s poignant debut single, Solid Air, which offers the perfect juxtaposition between Thompson’s unique and gentle swaying…

  • 17 for ’17: Our Krypton Son

    January 25, 2017 - By 

    Our Krypton Son’s ethereal sounds may seem bathed in “the glow that flashes red” from the sun of Superman’s home planet, but we don’t really need to look as far as the celestial bodies. Those auroras closer to home should take just as much responsibility for where Chris McConaghy’s melodies emanate from, piercing every so often through the coastal skies to inspire and ignite. Written in the small village of Creeslough in northwest Donegal, the sonic themes of Fleas and Diamonds swell and meander like the landscape of the county that birthed it; impenetrable yet so welcoming once breached, a…

  • Watch: For Foresters – Towels

    January 23, 2017 - By 

    Having been playing together for the better part of six years, Donegal/Dublin trio For Foresters are a self-proclaimed theatrical, poetic and expressive act comprised of Gabriel Paschal Blake, Conal Doherty and Gary Hamilton. Presenting themselves as “not just musicians but storytellers who recite their pro’s through raw, rustic tunes” their debut single ‘Towels’ is a strong and summoning effort that – whilst certainly a long time coming – has been worth the wait. Accompanied a sublime – albeit rather bleak – video courtesy of Charlie Joe Doherty featuring Michael Kennedy, the single is a swelling cloud of first-rate experimental ambient…

  • 17 for ’17: Super Silly

    January 24, 2017 - By 

    There’s a need for the kind of music Super Silly are currently making. Sonically rooted in the anthemic theatricality of gospel, the warmth of R’n’B, and with a proclivity for the cutting-edge end of the urban music spectrum, theirs is a prospect that slices through the doom and gloom and offers acute relief. Take debut single ‘No Pressure’ as an example. A slickly produced showcase for the vocal dexterity of the collective of Precious, Solbas, Grooves, and Shek, the track extends to the listener the positive, familial, and inclusive attitude of Super Silly – not entirely surprising given their background…

  • 17 for ’17: Beach

    January 23, 2017 - By 

    The spirit of psychedelia is alive and well and living in the heart of Dublin, or at least that is what Dublin based five-piece Beach would have you believe. The quintet has spent the last few years finely honing their brand of everything but the kitchen sink psych into a well-oiled machine. Even a cursory glance at the band reveals a vast depth and scope at their very core. These are not minor or modest compositions. They’re huge ambitious beasts meandering through an unpredictable, almost endless series of twists and turns. As you listen closely you can pick out these…

  • 17 for ’17: Damola

    January 27, 2017 - By 

    Nigeria, Jamaica and Ireland mightn’t be known as hip-hop hotspots, but it’s these unexpected influences that seem to characterise Damola’s music. He cites listening to his parents’ Jamaican music as a child in Nigeria as his earliest influence, although he didn’t start performing until he was a teenager in Dublin, making up raps to impress his friends. Since 2014 he’s been releasing tracks and videos with the Backshed Inc. collective, allowing him the freedom to develop his increasingly idiosyncratic sound. Last year’s ‘Workflow’, in both it’s production and hard-hitting, rhythmic flow, owed a lot to the earlier work of Kendrick…

  • Watch: Bad Sea – Solid Air

    January 23, 2017 - By 

    When it was released back in September last year, TTA’s Aoife O’Donoghue said ‘Solid Air’ by Dublin duo of Ciara Thompson AKA CMAT and Alan Farrel Bad Sea had “a wistful quality that evokes nostalgic memories of hazy summer days.” Ahead of what’s expected to be a busy 2017 for the fast-rising pair, they have just unveiled Ricardo Deakin’s video for said debut single, a narrative-driven, nicely presented accompaniment impressively reflecting the hidden fragility that can often underpin a relationship. Have a peek.

  • 17 For ’17: Fears

    January 23, 2017 - By 

    There’s something otherworldly about Constance Keane, and her solo project, Fears. The music here is remove from what Keane was making as the drummer of the feminist/animal welfare punk group M(h)aol, though keeping that distinctive dark tone. Her latest single Blood, a follow-up to 2015’s Priorities is a journey through alternative pop, with dark and looming synths and minimalist vocals, reminiscent of both BANKS and FKA Twigs. Produced and written by Constance, and mastered by Huntley Miller (Bon Iver, Tallest Man on Earth, The Staves) the track wouldn’t be unusual to hear on a John Carpenter soundtrack, or indeed in…