• 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…

  • 17 For ’17: New Pagans

    January 19, 2017 - By 

    While new bands are The Thin Air’s raison d’être, new bands full of familiar faces are always a particularly mouthwatering prospect. Featuring Cahir O’Doherty of Jetplane Landing/Fighting With Wire and Claire Miskimmin of Girls Names on guitar and bass respectively, along with Balkan Alien Sound’s Conor McAuley on drums and vocalist Lyndsey McDougall, New Pagans are a veritable supergroup of Irish talent to rival Miskimmin’s other side project, Cruising. With one double A-side single to their name so far featuring the tracks ‘I Could Die’ and ‘Lily Yeats’, the latter is a paean to one of the oft-forgotten sisters of…

  • Album Premiere: Switzerland – Long Gone

    January 19, 2017 - By 

    Set for its launch upstairs in Whelan’s on Friday, January 27, Long Gone is both the first release of 2017 from Popical Island and the debut album from Dublin quartet Switzerland, a band comprised of members of Drunken Boat, Hello Moon, Land Lovers and Paddy Hanna. Having premiered its stellar lead single, ‘Starting Out’, just last month, we’re pleased to present an exclusive first listen of the album, a ten-track release that goes some distance to confirm their arrival as serious contenders. Recorded with the help of Fiachra McCarthy, who has previously produced Squarehead, Brian Walsh from the band says of the early writing…

  • Premiere: Guilty Optics – And So It Goes

    January 18, 2017 - By 

    In the sixth issue of our physical magazine, Joe Madsen said Dublin trio Guilty Optics “proudly steer clear of poppy trends”, an observation that came to full-blown fruition in July last year via ‘The Kayapo Ghosts’, the virulent lead single from their forthcoming album Colossal Velocity.  The equally commanding successor to that opening gambit, ‘And So It Goes’ is a five-minute post-punk burst “confronting the role government plays in our lives, it’s desire for control and its previous attempt to abolish the senate.” Dig below.