• Watch: Bouts – Love’s Lost Landings (Part 2)

    January 18, 2019 - By 

    Next week, Bouts will release their highly-anticipated second album, Flow. It’s an release that finds the Dublin quartet distilling their star-shaped, and instantly recognisable brand of indie rock down to nine tracks. Doubling up as the long-awaited full-length follow-up to 2013’s Nothing Good Gets Away, the album – which was recorded by Fiachra McCarthy in Dublin – is an emphatic return effort at a time when carefully-crafted guitar music is experiencing a long-overdue renaissance. Coming off the back of singles ‘Face Up’ and ‘Love’s Lost Lost Landings (Part 1)’, the newly-released ‘Love’s Lost Landings (Part 2)’ is an irresistible shoegaze-leaning burst revolving around Barry Bracken’s…

  • Stream: Arvo Party – ouroboros

    January 17, 2019 - By 

    Following a big 2018, a year that saw the Belfast-based producer and musicians release his second album, II, all while emerging as one of the country’s strongest electronic artists, Herb Magee AKA Arvo Party has returned with ‘ouroboros’. Across nine minutes, the track untangles as a masterfully propulsive effort, marrying ecstatic synth shapes, woozy ambience and drubbing rhythms. Better still – in a move that fully underscores the broad-minded spirit that’s setting Magee apart – there is, ladies and gentlemen, a sax solo. Delve in below. ouroboros by Arvo Party

  • 19 For ‘19: Lighght

    January 17, 2019 - By 

    We continue 19 for ’19 – our month-long series profiling nineteen Irish acts that we’re certain will do great things in 2019 – with Cork producer Lightght. Photo by Silvio Severino. We first became aware of Cork experimental producer Lighght back in 2016 when he shared the bracing and multi-dimensional single, ‘What U Need’. Since, we’ve been keeping a close eye on his prolific output, which has included numerous collaborations, solo cuts and remixes of acts ranging from Jamelia to Lankum. 2018 saw the producer feature on Sesh FM’s charity compilation for Palestine as well releasing two EPs: the hectic trance inflected…

  • Watch: JyellowL – True Colors

    January 17, 2019 - By 

    Ahead of what we expect to be a strong year for Word Up Collective, JyellowL has unveiled the video for new single, ‘True Colors’. Taken from his latest EP, Me n Me Too, slick production and breathless bars meld for one of the strongest efforts from the Dublin-based rapper, aka Jean-Luc Uddoh, to date. We’re told, “The song is about becoming aware of the shadiness in the world and calling it as is but also exposing yourself for masking moments of vulnerability with exuberant confidence, hiding your true self behind the bravado.” Check out the video – and upcoming JyellowL tour…

  • EP Premiere: Fierce Pit Bosses – Sharks In The Bathtub

    January 17, 2019 - By 

    The seed of Donegal emo-tinged alt punk trio Fierce Pit Bosses has been growing the North West for a while now. Starting out as the folk-punk vessel for Eoin Gillespie’s kitchen sink small-town listlessness, he hit early the emotional notes of the likes of Jeff Rosenstock, before the project grew into a righteously fierce (sorry) live outfit. With Tuath’s Robert Mulhern at the helm on production, their debut Sharks in the Bathtub EP captures the raw, fizzing energy of Hüsker Dü, as buzzsaw guitars, snare & cymbal clatter collide with pop sensibility, and the irresistible sound of a young band with a beating heart on their sleeves. The EP is launched at Letterkenny’s Central Bar this Saturday, January 19, with support…

  • 19 for ‘19: Natalia Beylis

    January 15, 2019 - By 

    19 for ’19 rolls on, featuring nineteen Irish acts we’re convinced are going places in 2019. Throughout January we’ll be previewing each of those acts, accompanied by words from our writers and an original photograph from one of our photographers. Third in our series marks a leftfield turn in the form of one of Ireland’s most evocative sonic artists, Natalia Beylis. Photo by Sean McCormack ___ As a member of Leitrim experimental/psych outfit Woven Skull, Natalia Beylis’ mandola offers an earthiness and melodic weight to the clamorous percussion and howling guitars that surround it. The band – who featured two years ago in our 17…

  • 19 for ’19: Post Punk Podge & the Technohippies

    January 14, 2019 - By 

    We continue 19 for ’19, our feature showcasing nineteen Irish acts we’re convinced are going places in 2019. Throughout January we’re going to be previewing each of those acts, accompanied by words from our writers and an original photograph from one of our photographers. Next up, one of Limerick’s finest, Post Punk Podge & The Technohippies. Photo by Sean McCormack ___ Beginning to describe Post Punk Podge is a task within itself. Post Punk Podge is kind of like Jello Biafra from the Dead Kennedys, but he’s got a Limerick accent, plays viola and wears a postage envelope over his head.…

  • 19 for ’19: Problem Patterns

    January 11, 2019 - By 

    Happy new year! We’re pleased to present 19 for ’19, a handpicked selection of Irish acts we’re absolutely convinced are going places in 2019. Over the next couple of weeks, we’re going to be previewing each of those acts, accompanied by words from our writers and an original photograph by our wonderful team of photographers. First up is Belfast-based feminist punks Problem Patterns. ___ Jokingly describing themselves as “A bunch of women screaming in a room”, Belfast’s Problem Patterns wasted little time getting under our skin with the raucous and politically charged bombast of their debut track ‘Allegedly’. Released in December…

  • 19 For ’19: PowPig

    January 16, 2019 - By 

    It’s that time again; back to earth, grounding those Great Hopes and the potential of our best selves in reality once more. We do have a few great hopes for 2019, however. As always, over the remainder of January, our wonderful and talented team of photographers have paired with our writing team to deliver some previews of some artists to keep an eye on in the year ahead. Third out of the traps, we have one of the most exciting emergent acts from Limerick, a city whose 2018 solidified its status as Ireland’s current musical incubator. They featured prominently on our end of year singles and releases lists, and are astonishingly still all in their teens. Photo by…

  • Video Premiere: Arthuritis – Let’s Touch

    January 8, 2019 - By 

    You might have missed idiosyncratic Cork auteur Arthuritis inconspicuously dropping one of the best Irish releases of 2018 at the end of November. Released through Cork independent label KantCope, I’m Great pulled off that rare balancing act of being equal parts opaque and inviting, its shards of influence – electronic, minimalism, drone, R&B, psychedelia, dreams (presumably) – painting vividly abstract images of an alien, dissociated consciousness, and one that’s all the more human for it. Following on from his wealth of releases – that include the deservedly-titled Neglected Ambient Shirts Vol 1 – lead single ‘Let’s Touch’ and its accompanying video are as good a Rosetta Stone for his output as you’re likely to…