• Stream: Matua Trap – Glossolalia

    November 1, 2016 - By 

    Set to play the next live Thin Air Tuesday Throwdown at Belfast’s Lavery’s on next Tuesday with Mons Olympus (it’s free entry and everything) Belfast prog trio Matua Trap have unveiled their new single, ‘Glossolalia’. The first cut to be taken from the band’s forthcoming debut album The Thunderous Silence, it’s a potent epistemological rumination betraying the band’s ever-growing knack for forging deft musicianship with cogitative lyricism courtesy of guitarist/vocalist Steven Butler. The track was recorded, mixed and mastered by bassist/vocalist and drummer James Bruce at Great Northern Productions and Snakehole Studios. Glossolalia by Matua Trap

  • EP Premiere: Brash Isaac – In Two

    October 27, 2016 - By 

    A familiar face behind the kit of folk-rock band New Ancestors, Andrew Cameron’s Brash Isaac is a project that launched back in May. With their spirited brand of earworming, FM-friendly alt-folk, his latest two-track release, In Two, is the third and final mini EP to be released from June to October. Ahead of its official launch on Halloween, we’re pleased to present a first listen to the release – also featuring guitar by Christopher McKay and additional vocals by Beulah Kim – here. Feeling a bit bummed out? Have a listen.

  • Album Premiere: The Urges – Time Will Pass

    October 25, 2016 - By 

    When it comes to swirling, baroque-tinged neo-psychedelia and throwback (yet forward-looking) garage rock, Dublin’s The Urges are, without a doubt, in a league of their own. Spearheading a modern manifestation of a lineage stemming from The Doors, Scott Walker and Love, the five-piece’s new album Time Will Pass is testament to following collective vision rather than moving with the whims of trend. Set to be launched at The Grand Social in Dublin this Saturday, the album – which comes nine years on from the release of their debut full-length – is a wonderfully flesh-out effort that doesn’t shy away from layering strings and brass upon…

  • Clever Things Done Simply: An Interview with Wyvern Lingo

    October 22, 2016 - By 

    Catching some downtime following a busy few months that saw the release of their stellar A Letter For Willow EP and a UK support tour with James Vincent McMorrow, Bray trio Wyvern Lingo will soon set off for a string of Irish dates across November and December. Ahead of those – as well headlining Jameson’s Bow St Sessions at Cork’s Crane Lane on October 27 – Brian Coney talks to drummer/vocalist Caoimhe Barry about plans for their debut album, the open road and striking a balance between accessible and experimental. Register for free tickets to the band’s Bow St Session with Pleasure Beach and Amaron + Magic…

  • Premiere: The Mad Dalton – Devil Came To Derry

    October 20, 2016 - By 

    Keeping the candle burning for the dying tradition of the Halloween single, Belfast-based Scots/Canadian singer-songwriter Peter Sumadh AKA The Mad Dalton’s ‘Devil Came To Derry’ is a slow-burning dose of malevolent Americana that puts sparsely plucked guitar guitars and a bleak, unravelling narrative centre-stage. Accompanied by a video shot up Derry way by Dog Kennel Productions, the single is the follow-up to Sumadh’s 2015’s The Little Belfry EP, which we reviewed here. Have an exclusive first look at the video for the single (“a song for people of all faiths and for people with no faith at all.”) below.  

  • Premiere: That Snaake – Scofflaw // Sisyphus

    October 18, 2016 - By 

    We’ve a lot of time for Dublin’s That Snaake. Cutting a singular figure in a scene of prevailing alt-rock uniformity, the Paul O’Connor-fronted quartet’s live shows are some akin to shock-and-awe; a steady blitzkrieg of carefully honed noise and unrelenting disdain. Taken from their forthcoming second EP, Blinded By The Smell (“the melodious outward looking companion to the short-sighted tumultuous rage of [their debut EP] At Swim One Stone“) we’re pleased to premiere the band’s new single ‘Scofflaw // Sisyphus’. According to the band, “It tells the story of an ageing musician who played a bit part in the Commitments desperately trying to…

  • Video Premiere: The Urges – Echoes Softly

    October 17, 2016 - By 

    Ahead of premiering their second album, Time Will Pass, next week, we’re pleased to present a first look at the video for ‘Echoes Softly’ by Dublin psychedelic garage trailblazers The Urges. Filmed in Florence during an Italian tour last year, the video was directed by Amos Kahana and features Julien Vannucchi as Director of Photography. The single is now available via iTunes and all other usual online outlets as a download only. The Urges launch Time Will Pass at Dublin’s Grand Social on Saturday, October 29.

  • Arborist – Home Burial

    October 14, 2016 - By 

    Master craftsman Mark McCambridge finally releases his debut album, Home Burial, under the guise of indie-Americana outfit Arborist, on November 11. Drawing influence from the wise, heartfelt likes of Bill Callahan & Jason Molina in terms of eclectic-yet-familiar instrumentation paired with thoughtfully-penned personal songs, it also features an indie rock pairing with Kim Deal on last year’s single, ‘Twisted Arrow‘. Recorded at Start Together Studios with Arborist drummer Ben McCauley, the album is launched in Belfast at Mr Tom’s Lounge in Lavery’s on October 28, with support from Dublin indie outfit Tandem Felix. Stream ‘I Heard Him Leaving’, Arborist’s interesting gender-subverting play on traditional Americana:

  • Gross Net – Quantitative Easing

    October 13, 2016 - By 

    Not content to solely be in arguably Ireland’s finest post-punk act, Philip Quinn of Girls Names releases his debut album, Quantitative Easing under the Gross Net moniker on November 25. Starting out alongside Autumns’ Christian Donaghey as a guitar, bass & drum machine combo, they released their eponymous debut cassette in 2014. Donaghey departed, and Quinn followed up earlier this year with the even better, dark, Berlin techno-tinged Outstanding Debt; it’s brimming, poetically enough, with the kind of satirical econofear channelled by the likes of Cabaret Voltaire & Throbbing Gristle in the Thatcher era. If you’d like to get further under Gross Net’s nihilist skin, check out our recent…

  • Magic Pockets – Volcano of the Bleeding Skies

    October 12, 2016 - By 

    With a beautiful, Roger Dean-esque album cover befitting a ’70s proggy Krautrock cult classic, Ruadhan O’Meara AKA Magic Pockets has unveiled his debut album titled Volcano of the Bleeding Skies. Also known for providing the synthesised sonic tapestries in Dublin noise-merchants No Spill Blood, O’Meara’s album comes out via Cork label Penske Recordings – home also to The Altered Hours and Woven Skull – on Friday, November 25. Expect a world of psychedelic & minimal synthscapes from the album, which was recorded using vintage synthesisers, drum machines, electronics and manipulated samples, recorded to 1 inch tape. In the same way the likes of Boards of Canada have…