• 16 For 16: Joni

    January 14, 2016 - By 

    In the latest installment of 16 For 16 – in which we profile sixteen up-and-coming Irish acts we’re very excited about this year – Eoin Murray introduces Wicklow vocalist Joni. Photo by Brian Mulligan Genres like grime, garage and bass music in the broadest sense are rarely thought of as being the most flourishing in Ireland.  This however was seen to be a less than accurate view following Dublin’s very successful first Boiler Room event in May 2015 which showcased some of the best that Ireland had to offer in the underground scene. While Bray vocalist Joni was not involved…

  • Stream: Autumns – The Fall

    January 12, 2016 - By 

    As many of you will know by now, Derry’s Christian Donaghey AKA Autumns isn’t exactly in the business of snappy middle 8s and earworming refrains. Delving further into more experimental and decidedly murkier territory than before, his new track ‘The Fall’ summons the ghost of impoverished Düsseldorf winters and squalid cold water flats, bug-infested floorboards, insurmountable overdue rent and Suicide soundtracking the End on some barely musical engine of ruin. Donaghey said, “Lately I’ve been incredibly inspired and obsessed with transgressive authors and philosophers. This track is influenced just as much by the literature I’m reading than the dark industrial, electronic sound that I hear in my…

  • Watch: Gascan Ruckus – Bitter Victories

    January 12, 2016 - By 

    The Middletown boys in Gascan Ruckus are at it again, with the video for the second, semi-titular single from their forthcoming long-awaited debut album, Narrow Defeats and Bitter Victories. Never concerned with taking themselves more seriously than is necessary, it comes complete with an Uncle Hugo-friendly countrified intro. It’s noticably more hook-driven than past efforts, but still channelling some of the contemporary anthemic post-hardcore in the vein of Dinosaur Pile-Up or Basement that they’ve been plying in recent years. The video was recorded by Belfast Yank BeeMickSee and Axis Of’s Niall Lawlor, with their latest album recorded by Ben McAuley at Start Together Studios. You can…

  • Stream: exmagician – Job Done

    January 8, 2016 - By 

    If there’s one Irish album we’re nigh on pant-wettingly excited for this year it’s Scan The Blue by Belfast’s exmagician. A titular (and slight member) shift from the embers of Cashier No. 9, the project has had us quietly agog since the release of their debut EP Kiss That Wealth Goodbye via Bella Union in November. A perfectly crafted, psych-laced alt-pop gem, the band’s new single ‘Job Done’ distils Danny Todd and James Smith’s prismatic mastery to four all-too-fleeting minutes. As you might have guessed, we’re big fans. WordPress code More options

  • Inbound: Bagels

    January 5, 2016 - By 

    Dublin’s Bagels have got no time to waste. Having spent the guts of half a decade honing their craft, the group are ready to make 2016 their year. Having recently released their first single, The Cast of Cheers inflected ‘To An End’, we had wee sit down with the band’s own Adam Redmond to talk about influences, the trappings of youth and the group’s curious choice of name. Words by Will Murphy. How long has it been since your first started playing together? It’s been the best part of five years now. Jaysus, aren’t we old. We started when we…

  • EP Streams: Arvo Party – Beep/Tintinnabuli

    January 5, 2016 - By 

    From Joy Orbison, Camper Van Beethoven and Chet Faker to Truman Peyote, Ringo Deathstar and Joanna Gruesome, punny musical monikers range from the positively inspired to the downright cringeworthy. Falling very much into the former camp, Arvo Party is the new-fangled electronic-leaning appellation of Belfast’s Herb Magee of kaput riffmasters general LaFaro and three-piece GOONS. Diametrically at odds to said heavydom, Magee has unveiled two EPs of sublime throwback minimalist electronica: four-track release Beep and the five-track Tintinnabuli, which features two re-imaginings of (the actual) Arvo Pärt’s ‘Für Alina’ and ‘Solfeggio (Excerpt in C Major)’. Back to back, it’s an exceptional double curveball from the Belfast-based bassist and…

  • Stream: Sea Pinks – Yr Horoscope

    January 4, 2016 - By 

    Launched at Belfast’s Lavery’s this Friday night (January 8) Soft Days by Sea Pinks sees the Neil Brogan-fronted trio in rudest of health. A highlight from the album – their fifth to date – the band have unveiled single ‘Yr Horoscope’, a twanging, surf-laced earwormer. Read our review of Soft Days here. Stream ‘Yr Horoscope’ below.

  • Album stream: Allez Bartoli – Everything.Forever

    January 4, 2016 - By 

    Almost two years on from their last release, three-track EP Space is an Ocean, Belfast-based experimental electronic twosome Allez Bartoli are back with Everything.Forever, a mini-album very tidily imbued with the pair’s penchant for post-rock leaning soundscapes. DIY at its beating heart, the seven track release was recorded throughout 2014 and 2015 and further reveals AB’s reluctance to aspire to anything even remotely resembling linear imitation. Ahead of our review of the release, stream/download it now via Bandcamp. Everything.Forever by Allez Bartoli

  • Album stream: Morning Veils – Her Kind

    December 29, 2015 - By 

    Tagged with the sole, supremely apt descriptor “experimental” on their Bandcamp page, Cork outfit Morning Veils have unveiled their debut album, Her Kind, a release that channels bedroom solipsism, backwashed thoughts and psychic corners in perfectly phantasmal fashion. Comprised of members including Elaine Howley of The Altered Hours and Roslyn Steer, the band’s brilliantly burrowing brand of forgotten folk unravels over thirteen tracks to inveigle and sedate with real, restrained purpose and cursive cool. Her Kind is launched at St. Lukes in Cork City tonight (Wednesday, December 30). Limited tickets available from Plugd Records and on the door at 8pm. Show starts at 8.15pm.…

  • Stream: Kowalski – The Kowalski Archives: 2007-2009

    December 30, 2015 - By 

    Having been quiet since the release of their long-awaited debut album, For The Love Of Letting Go, back in the Summer of 2013, London-based Bangor indie-pop quartet Kowalski have returned with The Kowalski Archives 2007-2009, a stellar fifteen-track digital release capturing various performances from their early days. As well as its release, the band revealed their reason for absence was due a serious illness within the band: “Hello you lovely folk! I’m sorry we have been very quiet over here in Kowalski land but we thought it was time to update you on what is going on. Unfortunately our bass player Tom has been very ill for…