• Split EP Premiere: Mob Wife / Cruiser

    November 27, 2019 - By 

    It’s easy for bands to serve up those oft. espoused platitudes about the value of “co-operation in the music scene”, but to be pro-active in that is another matter entirely. Gladly, we’re seeing that attitude start to spread, with the latest in the trend being two of the most exciting DIY, guitar-driven bands on the island coming together for a split EP release. Mob Wife/Cruiser features, unsurprisingly, two tracks each from Belfast trio Mob Wife and Limerick quartet Cruiser, conceived of in early 2019. Both with their own singular imprint, Mob Wife and Cruiser share the emotionally-charged influence of 90s post-hardcore and fist-clenched modern indie rock & punk sensibility, as well…

  • This Month in Irish Music: February

    March 3, 2019 - By 

    In the latest of a new regular series, Colin Gannon rounds up the very best Irish tracks released of the month just gone, featuring ELLLL, Mob Wife, Fehdah, Larry, Sunken Foal, Soulé, Postcard Versions and more. ELLLL — Pepsi Ellen King’s work as ELLLL is fast becoming one of the most searingly vital things in Irish music. As well as being super busy (she’s released two equally erudite EPs in the space of two months), King has managed to keep the quality to an almost peerless quality. The latest batch of tracks, Confectionary, all named after a sweet shop delicacy,…

  • Premiere: Mob Wife – Captain Care A Lot & Hellsong

    February 8, 2019 - By 

    Following the release of debut single ‘Warm Water’ in August, Belfast’s Mob Wife are back with new double A-side Captain Care A Lot / Hellsong. Recorded by Chris Ryan at Start Together Studios, with striking artwork by Billy Woods, the release strikes a midpoint between the dissonant fury of Metz or Unwound, and the melodic vulnerability of Pile. A contrasting couplet, ‘Captain Care A Lot’ continuing down the narrative & noise-ridden path of twentysomething angst and confusion laid by ‘Warm Water’, sardonically chronicling mass depersonalisation as a result of social media. ‘Hellsong’ is a more inward-looking exploration of disintegration, through the maelstrom of substance abuse, isolation and depression; in eschewing the…

  • Premiere: Mob Wife – Warm Water

    August 17, 2018 - By 

    In the vein of past noise rock/post-hardcore outfit PigsAsPeople, and following the closure of Chris Leckey’s emo-hued dark alt. country project Via:Barvikha, he returns to the idea of the power trio. Today, we introduce you to Mob Wife, a new project that carries the heft of the former without losing the subtlety of the latter. The band’s caliber isn’t under question, with one of Belfast’s busiest drummers in Gascan Ruckus‘ Mark McDaid and producer & Ghost Office/Pale Lanterns‘ Carl Small on bass. ‘Warm Water’ is characteristic Leckey – blackly comic in its nihilism, the song tackles the 9-5 office grind that Dolly loved so well – stale coffee…