• Irish Tracks of the Week – 20th October

    October 20, 2023 - By 

    Dive into the very best Irish releases of the week, featuring John Francis Flynn’s stellar new single, the second LP from Tandem Felix, Nyahh’s essential Irish experimental compilation, Naoise Roo, I Dreamed I Dream, Ciaran Lavery and more   Nyahh Records – Under the Island: A Compilation of Experimental Music in Ireland 1960-1994 Under the Island: Experimental Music in Ireland 1960 – 1994 by Nyahh Records Tandem Felix – There’s a New Sheriff in Town There’s a New Sheriff in Town by Tandem Felix Naoise Roo – Silent Halls John Francis Flynn – Willie Crotty I Dreamed I Dream –…

  • Video Premiere: John Blek feat. Cathy Davey – Lyric & Air

    September 14, 2022 - By 

    Over the last few years, North Cork singer-songwriter John Blek has consistently underscored his rep as one of the island’s most deeply engaging artists. On albums such as 2020’s The Embers and 2016’s Cut The Light, he has offered up carefully-crafted folk majesty of the highest order. It’s something Blek wonderfully doubled down on last year, with the release of ‘Ether & Air,’ the final part in the artist’s Catharsis Project – a four-album exploration into themes of the sea, the earth, the embers, and the air. A year on, Blek returns with arguably his strongest single effort to date, ‘Lyric &…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – June 11

    June 11, 2021 - By 

    It’s been another big week for new Irish music, with tracks coming from all over the country from emerging artists and established favourites. Dig into new releases from HAVVK, Cat, Orla Gartland, John Blek, Smoothboi Ezra, Jack O’Rourke and more. Mícheál Keating & Brendan McInerney – It’s Still There It’s Still There by Mícheál Keating & Brendan McInerney HAVVK – Automatic Automatic by HAVVK Cat – baby, blue HOROSHOKINO – Comrades Smoothboi Ezra – Without Me John Blek – Long Strand Orla Gartland – Do You Mind? Celaviedmai – Heal milk. – ‘In LA.’ Jack O’Rourke – Opera on the…

  • Video Premiere: John Blek – Death & His Daughter Fair

    March 12, 2020 - By 

    Cork singer-songwriter John Blek is a rare master of his craft. Whist and masterfully considered, he plays a brand of contempoary folk that can snare a listener with the slightest chord change or incisive turn-of-phrase. Take new single, the quietly mesmeric ‘Death & His Daughter’. A delicate folk dance accompanied by easily one of our favourite videos of the year so far, it’s a feature-length meditation on loss and deliverance that encapsulates motifs right at the heart of Blek’s recently-released fifth solo album, The Embers. Catch Blek at the following shows this weekend, and have a first look at the video for ‘Death & His…

  • Premiere: John Blek – The Blackwater

    January 3, 2019 - By 

    Cork singer-songwriter John Blek is a master at weaving gossamer tales stemming as much from his own headspace as the lineage of various transatlantic folk traditions. Set for release on February 1, Blek’s fourth studio album, Thistle & Thorn, is set to underscore that repute tenfold. Recorded between Clonakilty and Louisville, Kentucky at the start of last year, the album is a largely collaborative, with Brian Casey, Davie Ryan, Joan Shelley and guitarist Nathan Salsburg among the artists who have lent their own touch to the release. Lead single ‘The Blackwater’ is a delicate and carefully-crated sample of what to expect. Brimming with pathos,…

  • Video Premiere: John Blek – Salt In The Water

    September 18, 2017 - By 

    More than many of his peers and others of his ilk further afield, Cork songsmith John Blek is a master of subtlety in realms of folk-informed pop. Set for release on October 6, his third studio album, Catharsis Vol. 1, is a release that – as its title duly attests – stems from some personal hardship. Speaking of the release, Blek said: “I spent much of the early part of 2017 in and out of hospital with some mysterious illness that was intent on wasting my now 30-year-old body. My energy was at an all-time low and all that gave me…