• Stream: Doubt – HD Tool

    September 3, 2019 - By 

    Flood co-founder Doubt will release his new EP, Steam Cycle, via the label on 4th October.  The Cork hard drum collective, run alongside fellow DJ/producers Syn and Tension, has become somewhat of a bastion for the niche genre since launching in 2017. With a sound defined by heavy, syncopated percussion and minimal (but very effective) electronic flourishes, the Flood crew have played alongside scene originators such as NKC. They have also become key reference points for the genre’s development thanks to a slew of digital releases on the label, their tracks becoming a trademark in many a DJ set and…

  • Watch: Captain A – Dog In The Woods

    June 23, 2019 - By 

    Captain A has returned with a more reserved affair than usual. Better known for his Tom Waits-y rasp and dreamy psyche-rock ventures with the Commercial Monsters, the Galway-based, Donegal-born songwriter contributed a new track, ‘Dog In The Woods’, to Cian Ó Cíobháin’s An Taobh Tuathail as part of the beloved RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta show’s recent 20th anniversary broadcasts. Composing with electronics for the first time, ‘Dog In The Woods’ is a delicate, touching affair with glistening synth lines and keys allowing his frank and deeply personal lyricism, delivered with an affectingly cracked vocal. “It was an acoustic track originally but as I’ve been exploring…

  • Participant shares sprawling and atmospheric folk single ‘Medicine’: Listen

    February 27, 2019 - By 

    Dublin’s Participant has shared the second single from his forthcoming Modern Retelling EP. ‘Medicine’ is yet another intimate and atmospheric cut from songwriter and multi-instrumentalist – real name Stephen Tiernan – following October’s stirring and string-laden folk number ‘Coast’. Sadly fitting that the patiently emerging artist would release this track this week, just days after news broke that Talk Talk’s visionary Mark Hollis had passed away aged 64. ‘Medicine’ holds a similar ambience and gentle pace to much of the band’s latter day work, with sparingly plucked guitar and up-close vocal delivery building slowly toward a sprawling, rich and climactic peak with lush strings and a piano hook…

  • Stream: Royal Yellow – Aruba

    February 12, 2019 - By 

    ‘Aruba’ is the slick new single from Mark O’Brien (A.K.A. Royal Yellow). The former Enemies front man has followed up on his infectious 2018 release ‘Hazeldene’ with a track which offers us a wider glimpse of Royal Yellow. Contrasting the lo-fi beats and melancholic lyrics of ‘Hazeldene’, ‘Aruba’ draws in the listener with whispered chanting reminiscent of Blue Swede’s ‘Hooked On A Feeling’. What follows is a rush of well polished pop, rock, soul, and everything in between. While the song features strings, flutes, and rich vocal harmonies alongside a grooving rhythm section, it remains balanced, never losing itself under…

  • Marcus Woods shares fast-paced electronic cut, ‘Saturn V’

    January 9, 2019 - By 

    We first became aware Marcus Woods back in 2017 around the release of his polychrome via the ever elusive Wooden Spoons imprint. The now tape exclusive EP of self-proclaimed ‘Chill Trash’ was a fine introduction to the Dublin producer whose atmospheric, lo-fi beats have seen him evolving to be one of the country’s most sought after young producers. Last October, he released his debut digital album, demo, which you can check out here. Now, the 18-year-old beatmaker is embarking on his 2019 release schedule, launching proceedings with the fast-paced and percussive electronics of ‘Saturn V’. Shared via his own Burner Records, the track is named after…

  • New Pope shares surprise EP, Mångata

    January 4, 2019 - By 

    TTA favourite and Galway institution, New Pope AKA David Boland has dropped a spontaneous EP to mark the new year. Titled Mångata, the seven-track release is, for now, a YouTube exclusive and is the first new music to come from the Citóg Records founder in over a year. Since we last spoke to Boland around the release of his 2016 debut LP Love, he’s shared a reworked edition of tracks from his former band The Depravations and continued to be a regular live fixture in Galway’s venues. Strangely though, 2018 also saw him removing all of his previous releases from Bandcamp, including Love and its preceding EP, Youth.  With the…

  • Maria Kelly – Notes To Self

    December 13, 2018 - By 

    Have you ever had that feeling of knowing something you shouldn’t? Something so intimate and raw, it creates a discomfort. Whether someone is opening up to you willingly, or passively through virtue of their lyrics, there’s something confronting about it. Maria Kelly confronts you. Her presence is gentle, maybe even unassuming. Her vocals, at times, barely a whisper. But in her delicacy, there is a cutting catharsis that hits with the strength of a train.   The singer-songwriter’s latest EP Notes To Self was written last summer when Kelly moved from Dublin to Berlin and it is the diary that the…

  • Album Stream: Trick Mist – Both Ends

    November 30, 2018 - By 

    We’ve been big fans of Trick Mist here at TTA for quite some time. We first became aware of him back when he lived in Manchester, after he released the lush, dark single ‘Crumbs Abound’. Since, he has travelled across India and South-East Asia, before ending up back to Ireland and relocating to Cork to write his debut LP Both Ends.  Released today (30th November) via Dundalk’s Pizza Pizza Records, this LP serves as the culmination of two years’ work, incorporating his trademark violin manipulations with electronic and organic soundscapes. In October, he released the video for album track ‘Abroad In The…

  • Album Stream + Interview: Woven Skull

    October 31, 2018 - By 

    Photo: Colum O’Dwyer Back at the end of 2016, we included Leitrim experimental/psych outfit Woven Skull in our 17 for ’17 round up of acts to watch in the coming year. We like to think we were fairly on the money with the trio, who both on an individual level and as an outfit delivered dividends throughout 2017 and well into this year… Mondola player Natalia Beylis, for one, developed her breathtaking field recordings and drones project with the release of The Sunken Hum Vol 1: Field Rhythms & Drones and Scchh​.​.​.​phh. Guitarist Aonghus McEvoy, meanwhile, continued his solo and…

  • Stream: Toucan – Toucan EP

    August 14, 2018 - By 

    Following the success of their single, ‘We Fell For Miles’, Waterford based soul-pop duo Toucan have released their self-titled debut EP. The brainchild of singer-songwriter Conor Clancy and multi-instrumentalist Martin Atkinson, Toucan is a project that highlights the talents of both musicians. Clancy’s ear for quaint yet infectious melodies and Atkinson’s full-bodied arrangements result in a collection of songs alive with rhythm and charm. The band’s style is positively upbeat, reminiscent of the likes of Stevie Wonder complete with riffing brass sections and memorable choruses. While most of the EP follows in the footsteps of ‘We Fell For Miles’, ‘Gold’…