• EP Premiere: Licehead – Friends

    May 19, 2020 - By 

    Paul O’Connor – of That Snaake notoriety – has shared with us his latest release under the Licehead banner, which follows up on last year’s Music For Normal People album, and precedes upcoming summer LP Perfect Death Forever, which is set in a modern Ireland and based around a reincarnated lung’s attempts to kill its host. An aural equivalent to peeling-paint walls-closing-in claustrophobic hysteria, Friends at its extremes recalls the torpid squalor of Fat White Family or The Fall in dada-techno mode. Partly written over the last two months, the EP sees O’Connor turns the pen upon himself and loved ones, and societally-ingrained truths; title track ‘fRENDS’ is itself a reworking of ‘I’ll Be There For You’,…

  • Video Premiere: Hey Jigsaw – Where Do You Wanna Go

    May 14, 2020 - By 

    Hey Jigsaw is the new project from Dublin musician Alan Finnerty – also of punk heroes Guilty Optics – and today, we’re delighted to premiere their first single, taken from their forthcoming debut album Who’s Your Dark Master? Featuring Dave Prendergast on trumpet and Niamh Buckley on backing vocals, ‘Where Do You Wanna Go’ recalls the discordant melodicism of Les Savy Fav or Q And Not U. It’s difficult to avoid every cliche of this trying time, so if you’ll indulge us, the video and song’s unified sense of bittersweet widescreen escapism is exactly what we could be doing with. Watch it below:

  • Premiere: SIIGHTS w/ JyellowL – Blue Skies

    May 7, 2020 - By 

    Last month, Irish-Scottish electro-pop twosome Mia Fitz and Toni Etherson aka SIIGHTS unveiled the lead track from their self-titled debut EP. Having clocked up over 180k streams over the last few weeks, ‘Blue Skies’ now comes with a stellar remix featuring an artist we handpicked as one to watch back in 2018, fast-rising Dublin rapper JyellowL. “We reached out to JyellowL and having him involved has been amazing,” SIIGHTS said. “He’s so talented, we love what he brought to the track and the personal perspective he shared lyrically. This song means a lot to us and was hard to write. We have…

  • EP Stream: Shammen Delly – The Peoples Temple OV Big Tom

    May 1, 2020 - By 

    Without a doubt our favourite hauntological, psychogeography peddler around, Donegal experimental electronic auteur Aengus Friel, AKA Shammen Delly has released his mythological magnum opus, created in the midst of lockdown. This latest heady, hazy trip-hop-influenced concoction was recorded at his own ‘Red Dunge’, inspired by country & Irish legend Big Tom‘s 70s little-known wilderness years: “This is a vivid reimagined vision of a time when Big Tom and his Mainliners were leaders of ‘The Peoples Temple’ in Monaghan back in the late 70’s and would travel around the country summoning new followers for the sacred dances around stone circles and beaches. His followers…

  • Stream: Denise Chaila – Down

    May 1, 2020 - By 

    ‘Leigh anois go curamach / Can’t define who I am with a Trocaire box’ Back in February, we featured Limerick-based Zambian-Irish rapper and poet Denise Chaila as one of a handful of Irish acts we’re convinced are set for huge things in 2020 and beyond. A few weeks and breathtaking set at Other Voices Ballina later, Chaila has knocked it out of the park with new single ‘Down’. Produced by MuRli, it’s a slick and instant classic. Denise’s independent label, narolane records, said, “It may be called ‘Down’ but the energy is all the way up on this one. A…

  • EP Stream: Philip Watts d’Alton – Reflections

    May 1, 2020 - By 

    Much too young to be considered a veteran, and far too accomplished to be considered anything resembling a newcomer, Belfast musician and producer Philip Watts d’Alton is a rare breed indeed. An in-demand producer, serial collaborator, founding member of NI alt-folk heroes Master & Dog and a craftsman in his own right, his songs stem from a place of pure, unadulterated candour and spirit. Thankfully, the music more than matches up with the intent. New EP, Reflections, more than sees to that. Across four tracks, d’Alton delivers a wholehearted, exquisitely produced EP that is well worth 15 minutes of your time. Reflections by Philip Watts…

  • Album Stream: Department of Forever – Flickering Light

    May 1, 2020 - By 

    Last May, we premiered the rapt and immersive ‘A Simulation of Here’ by Irish sound designer and musician Steve Fanagan aka Department of Forever. The closing track from his sublime album, Unseen Pictures, it hit home and then some. One year on, Fanagan’s sublime soundscapes can be heard in Normal People, the TV adaptation of Sally Rooney’s best-selling novel of the same name. New release Flickering Light contains four of those tracks and a couple more. “The original recordings for this release were improvised on a piano one night in late 2018, when I was living in a house share in London, before…

  • Stream: Skelocrats – Princeps

    May 1, 2020 - By 

    One of the gleaming jewels in the crown of Dublin collective Popical Island, Skelocrats dropped off the radar following the release of their second album, the still-excellent Bella Bella, back in 2015. One-off  single ‘You’ll Never Make Me Talk’ aside, their absence has been felt by many of us naturally predisposed to collaboratively-minded, fuzzed-out garage pop. Which is why we’re beside ourselves to share ‘Princeps’, the new single from Skelocrats. Brilliant and brisk at 2 minutes in length, it’s a song about strained devotion to the leader, and the first taste of the band’s forthcoming third album. Some things have changed: Paddy “supported…

  • Stream: The 343 Vol 1

    May 1, 2020 - By 

    In virtually no time at all, Belfast’s 343 has established itself as a vital part of the city’s creative community. An artist-focused, feminist-led, queer art-space in East Belfast, it’s one of many venues fighting to survive during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Currently fundraising as part of a national initiative launched by the Music Venue Trust, the 343 are going one further with the release of the aptly-titled The 343 Vol 1. Across fifteen tracks, it’s an endlessly listenable, perfectly genre-traversing compilation, featuring TTA favourites Rising Damp, Natalia Beylis, Elaine Howley, Gross Net & Fears and more. Best of all, seeing as Bandcamp…

  • Album Stream: Arvo Party – Devotions

    May 1, 2020 - By 

    If you were to look us dead in the eye and say “Arvo Party doesn’t sleep” we would genuinely believe you. The musical nom de plume of Belfast-based musician and producer Herb Magee, Arvo Party has been responsible for some of the most eclectic and forward-moving electronic sounds in Ireland over the last four years. His solo journey to date has almost been radically restless, propelled by a sense of determination that is unmistakable once you heed it. With his next album proper set to land in June, new release Devotions is an inspired feature-length diversion in its own right. Balmy…