• Stream: Hozier – From Eden

    February 6, 2014 - By 

    Back in December last year, Fast-rising Co. Wicklow artist Andrew Hozier-Byrne AKA Hozier reached number 20 in our Top 100 Irish Tracks of 2013 with his spellbinding single, ‘Take Me To The Church’. His latest single effort, ‘From Eden’, has us equally impressed, suggesting great things for the songwriter on his forthcoming second EP. Featuring delay-soaked guitar chords, swaggering bass patterns on the verse and Hozier’s increasingly inimitable soulful twang, the single was Zane Lowe’s Hottest Record In The World on BBC Radio 1 last night. Set to feature on his upcoming Rubyworks-released second EP – also titled From Eden…

  • Inbound: Cruising

    January 30, 2014 - By 

    Comprised of members from Belfast and Dublin respectively, Cruising reared their head back in November with a scuzzy, two-chorded burst of overcast garage-rock in the form of ‘You Made Me Do That’. It pricked our ears and spiked our inner eye from the first crashing cymbal, the four-piece’s albeit “early days” vibe positively promising some great things in the making. Ahead of their debut Belfast show supporting September Girls at the Menagerie on Saturday, February 1, we fired a few questions to band (featuring one or two familiar faces) and they fired some answers back. Hello, Cruising. Whilst we could be…

  • Stream: The Rupture Dogs – Before The Flood

    January 28, 2014 - By 

    With an extremely promising year ahead of them, Belfast-based alt-rock quartet The Rupture Dogs have released ‘Before The Flood’, the second single to be taken from their debut album, Feral. Featuring two accompanying b-sides – ‘Hangman’ and an acoustic BBC session version of ‘Wake Up’ – the single comes to from on its chorus, the band’s grunge-tinged chord progressions melded perfectly with frontman Allan McGreevy’s wonderfully rasping vocals. The Rupture Dogs will play Belfast’s Stiff Kitten on Friday, January 31 alongside the likes of Safe Ships and Nomadic Rituals. Go here for the show’s Facebook event page. Stream the ‘Before The Flood’…

  • Stream: The Wood Burning Savages – Flu Season

    January 23, 2014 - By 

    Having just announced that they’ve been selected to play at the Derry Music Trail as part of Other Voices in February, Derry four-piece The Wood Burning Savages have released a wonderfully understated new track titled ‘Flu Season’. Written only two days ago, the song – propelled by fingerpicked guitar shapes, frontman Paul Connolly’s increasingly earnest delivery and impressively unravelling vocal harmonies – was recorded in the band’s wood shed just yesterday. Stream/download the track (for free) via Soundcloud below.

  • Stream: Ed Zealous – Diamonds For Eyes

    January 20, 2014 - By 

    Belfast-based quartet Ed Zealous have released ‘Diamonds The Eyes’, the latest single to be taken from their forthcoming debut album, Wired. A typically starry-eyed slice of dancefloor-flooding electro-pop, the three-and-a-half minute track comes after the release of the singles ‘Medicines’, ‘Thanks A Million’ and ‘Telepaths’. Check out our exclusive track-by-track preview of Wired here. Wired will be officially launched at Belfast’s Limelight 2 on Thursday, February 20. Go here for the show’s Facebook event page and win tickets to the show here. Stream ‘Diamonds For Eyes’ via Bandcamp below.

  • Watch: Phantogram – Nothing But Trouble

    January 14, 2014 - By 

    Taken from their forthcoming new album, Voices, New York electronic rock duo Josh Carter and Sarah Berthel AKA Phantogram have released their intoxicating new single, ‘Nothing But Trouble’. “Don’t listen to me, I’m nothing but trouble,” Berthel warns on the chorus, an ensnaring electro-pop refrain oddly reminiscent of Eels’ ‘Bus Stop Boxer’. Over the course of four minutes, the track’s fizzling, skittering, synth-driven spell imparts a exceptional nocturnal pulse that promises some great things for the pair’s upcoming second studio album. Voices  is released via Republic on February 18. Check out ‘Nothing But Trouble’ via YouTube below.

  • Watch: Meltybrains? – Green, Yellow & Purple

    January 7, 2014 - By 

    Dublin weirdo/electro-pop five-piece Meltybrains? have long been a band that have piqued our interest. Becoming less a mere curiousity, that interest has blossomed into full-blown excitement with the release of the band’s latest single, the ten-minute ‘Green, Yellow &Purple’. Created by Louise Gaffney (of Come On Live Long, no less), the video for the single is a decidedly tripped-out accompaniment that nicely weaves around the track – a skittered, blissed-out mini-odyssey that forges the eccentric with the stellar in thoroughly confident fashion, unravelling to become something of a prog/electro masterstroke. Immerse yourself in the video below.

  • Stream: The Groundlings – Life Is Fine/Roses Red, Violence Blue

    December 9, 2013 - By 

    Belfast-based rock n’ roll band The Groundlings have unveiled a stream of two new tracks titled ‘Life Is Fine’ and ‘Roses Red, Violence Blue’. Two brilliantly garagey efforts from the three-piece – recorded by the band themselves – both tracks are expected to feature on a six-track EP at some point in the new year. The Groundlings play a Cramps Tribute night at Belfast’s Voodoo on February 8. Go here for the event page. Stream ‘Life Is Fine’ and ‘Roses Red, Violence Blue’ below.

  • Watch: The Late David Turpin – Fur

    December 6, 2013 - By 

    Taken from his third studio album We Belong Dead, Dublin-based singer-songwriter The Late David Turpin has unveiled the video to his new single, ‘Fur’. Made in collaboration with photographer Mark Duggan and the actress Julie Shanley as well as friends of Turpin, the video was inspired by Derek Jarman’s The Angelic Conversation and Jean Cocteatu’s La Belle et la Bete. Speaking of the video, Turpin said, “When I made ‘Fur’ I was thinking about hair. Because we live in a pornographic society, hair – like all the realities of the body – is something we seem to either fetishise or…

  • Stream: Darling – Echoes

    October 24, 2013 - By 

    One of the downright catchiest songs we’ve heard from a new Irish act in ages, Dublin duo Gary Harding and James McGuire AKA Darling have unveiled their debut single, ‘Echoes’. A starry-eyed, three-and-a-half-minute hit in the making – calling to mind everyone from Two Door Cinema Club to Ed Zealous – the track was produced by Stephen Lipson, an English producer/engineer who has worked with the likes of  Annie Lennox and Pet Shop Boys. Check out the Feel Good Lost-directed video to the song below.