• Watch: FLAWS – Feels Like Home

    June 23, 2014 - By 

    Ahead of their debut EP launch on Wednesday night, Belfast-based three-pieceFLAWS have released their video for their first single, ‘Feels Like Home’. Evoking the stadium-worthy melodic rock of In Case of Fire – a band that two thirds of FLAWS, Steven Robinson and Thomas Camblin, were once members – the track is an infectious three-and-a-half minutes of melodic alt-rock, redolent of a certain increasingly bygone sound of in Northern Irish music, Indeed, according to the band’s label, OLD FANG, FLAWS “pack a welcome punch not seen in Belfast this side of the late-noughties banjo haze”. A battle cry in favour of…

  • Stream: Shabazz Palaces – #CAKE

    June 23, 2014 - By 

    A second single has been revealed from next month’s Lese Majesty, the much-anticipated new release from hip-hop experimentalists SHABAZZ PALACES. It’s as avant garde and genre-bending as we have come to expect from the Seattle based duo. It’s called ‘#CAKE,’ and follows the previously released single ‘They Come In Gold.’ The beat slowly pierces through the twitchy instrumental, which is a layered and jazzy affair. Unpredictable, eccentric and undeniably unique, Shabazz Palaces seem on par to match their lauded 2011 debut album Black Up. Listen to ‘#CAKE’ below. Lese Majesty comes out July 29th on Sub Pop.

  • Listen: Bent Knee – Being Human

    June 21, 2014 - By 

    ‘Being Human’ is the name of the newest single from Boston-based art rockers BENT KNEE, taken off of their forthcoming album Shiny Eyed Babies. The young band take the phrase ‘shifting dynamics’ to new extremes, constantly twisting and contorting their sound in new ways, and this new teaser is no different. The track begins delicate and ethereal, before shifting into something much more bombastic. The rhythmic and melodic explorations on the track are completely fresh, creating moody atmospheres trumped by theatrical breakdowns. The album, due July 15, can’t come soon enough. Listen to ‘Being Human’ below. Shiny Eyed Babies by Bent Knee

  • Inbound: Dear Desert

    June 19, 2014 - By 

    In this installment of Inbound – a feature introducing some of the country’s finest fast-rising musical talent – we chat to newly-formed Dublin-based band Dear Desert about how they got together, their influences and plans for the future. Hi guys. Can you tell us a bit about yourselves individually? Brendan: We are a Dublin based band but we all come from different parts of the country. We’re all working in Dublin and doing our best to make time to write and head to gigs. I work in music, so its easy to keep an ear out for new bands to see.…

  • Fucked Up – Glass Boys

    June 18, 2014 - By 

    Fucked Up are a band living in the shadow of some powerful things. In 2008, the band released their second record, Chemistry of Common Life, an immensely satisfying and exhilarating album that challenges the very essence of hardcore and distills it into something new and exciting. In 2011, they followed it up with David Come To Life, an ambitious, grandiose concept album which explores love, betrayal and metatextual analysis in Thatcher’s Britain over its seventy-eight minute run time. These records can be mentioned in the same breath as Refused’s Shape of Punk To Come or Husker Du’s Zen Arcade as vital punk albums…

  • Watch: Tucan – As It Was

    June 18, 2014 - By 

    In the very best sense possible, Sligo instrumental band Tucan have released easily one of the most gloriously messed up videos we’ve seen in quite some time for their new single, ‘As It Was’. Directed by Bobby McGlynn and Bryan Quinn, the video – featuring some extraordinary acting by Jonathan Gunning – features cinematography by Peter Martin and was filmed at The Model in Sligo last year. We challenge you to find a video featuring such an array of facial expressions – some more maniacal than others – from a single actor. Taken from Towers, ‘As It Was’ sees Tucan reinvent themselves…

  • Watch: Michael Mormecha – Mixtapes

    June 18, 2014 - By 

    Lifted from his forthcoming debut solo album, Mojo Fury frontman Michael Mormecha has unveiled the video to his first ever solo single, ‘Mixtapes’. A wonderfully idiosyncratic affair, nicely placed between Mojo’s symbolic sorcery and Mormecha’s more acoustically-inclined work as Clown Parlour, the track’s intrigue and charm resides in its masterfully stripped-back approach. Watch the video for ‘Mixtapes’ – directed by DogKennel productions, and featuring Mormecha perform the song in the woods – below.  

  • EP Stream: SertOne – Mouthful

    June 16, 2014 - By 

    Liverpool-based, Portadown-derived beatmaker SertOne has released a tasty new five-track EP, titled Mouthful. Available in both digital and cassette form, the EP – released via Fly High Society – is a brilliantly bass-led effort, layering warm textures with skittering rhythms and stabs of balmy synth. According to SertOne’s Bandcamp page, the EP “fuses the sounds of modern electronic music with the exciting new sounds emerging in the forms of Chicago’s Drill & Footwork.” And fuses extremely well at that, we reckon. Stream the EP below now. Mouthful EP by SertOne

  • EP Stream: Making Monsters – Attention

    June 16, 2014 - By 

    Having released the stellar ‘Nosebleed’ just last week, Derry alt-metal band Making Monsters have released their new five-track EP, Attention. Produced, mixed and mastered by Neal Calderwood at Manor Park Studios, the EP – an extremely impressive and powerfully attacking release – is the follow-up to the band’s promising 2012 self-titled debut EP. Check out the band’s forthcoming tour dates and stream Attention via Bandcamp below. Attention by MakingMonsters

  • Stream: Dear Desert – Give It Up

    June 13, 2014 - By 

    Comprised of Richie Fenon, James O’Donnell of Hush War Cry and Brendan Millar of Futures Apart, the band , new-fangled Dublin electro/indie-pop trio Dear Desert have unveiled their debut offering, ‘Give It Up’ – and what a resounding first offering it is. Conjuring the likes of Belfast band Go Wolf and The Radio Dept., the track betrays a real confidence and command that is often lacking from debut singles, the track’s lush amalgam of balmy synth lines, echoing beats and soulful vocals melding to deliver a subtly spellbinding four-minute track. Stream the track – produced by Darragh Nolan – via Soundcloud below.