• Premiere: Arvo Party – Null Set

    July 6, 2017 - By 

    Although many of you won’t need told, Belfast-based musician and producer Herb Magee is a jack of all trades, master of many. A current or past bassist for several stellar Northern Irish acts including three-piece GOONS and riffmasters general LaFaro, Magee has also been drip-feeding us varyingly-shaded electronic and ambient sounds as Arvo Party since early last year. A handful of original efforts and various first-rate covers later, Magee will release his brilliantly inspired, self-titled debut album on Friday. Traversing ambient, drone, neo-classical and experimental electronic sounds – as well full-on, straight-up electronica – the release is an 11 track, 50-minute masterstroke from an…

  • Album Stream: Blake’s Fortune – Hello World

    July 6, 2017 - By 

    In March of this year, Dublin based musician John Lennon aka Blake’s Fortune quietly released Hello World, a modest collection of contemporary folk that is at once charming and nostalgic for summers long past. Aptly described by the man himself as a “road trip” album, there is more than a light dusting of the quintessentially “Dublin” early naughties folk trend in this album, a tone that soundtracked many’s the gravelly, bumpy drive in a packed Ford Fiesta along the Irish coast. Think drinking cheap tins while your mate scrambles to build a dodgy fire on a beach, all to the tune of David Kitt‘s The…

  • Watch: JyellowL – ‘Cold In The Summer’

    July 5, 2017 - By 

    One of many shining lights that make up Dublin’s Word Up Collective, Dublin-based rapper JyellowL has just unveiled the new video/short film for his new seven-minute single ‘Cold In The Summer’. Bolstered by its masterfully lax pace and slick production, the song – which is a socially-conscious and nicely earworming effort – tackles the issues that affected him as a young man of Nigerian/Jamaican heritage growing up in Ireland. Speaking of the release, the young artist said, “The title is a euphemism for racism, black oppression, police brutality and death. “It is an artistic reminder that racism still ever present and has been an…

  • Premiere: Gnarkats – Something To Say

    July 5, 2017 - By 

    We’ve been closely following & supporting the rise of Belfast-based quartet Gnarkats over the last couple of years. Having proved real contenders via the fuzzed-out alt-rock of their Waves Collide EP back in November, the foursome are back with a stellar new single, ‘Something To Say’. An equally earworming and riff-fuelled effort, have an exclusive first listen to that and learn more about the track – as well as the band’s plans for the rest of ’17. Hi guys, the release comes off the back of last December’s Waves Collide EP. Was it written before or after that release? It…

  • Album Premiere: Wild Rocket – Dissociation Mechanics

    July 5, 2017 - By 

    Following our stream of lead single ‘The Future Echoes‘, we’re delighted to exclusively premiere the fuzzed-out, low-end heft of Dublin quartet Wild Rocket‘s second LP, Dissociation Mechanics, released through the perennially reliable Irish independent Art for Blind on July 7. Already respected for their distinctive amalgam of groove-strewn heavy psych, sludge and space rock after debut studio album Geomagnetic Hallucinations, they’ve seemingly a complete grasp of the art of kosmische repetition. Disassociation Mechanics is an even more fully-realised and beautifully produced iteration of the band’s sound, with the album being recorded by Ireland’s Deaf Brothers – also known for their work with No Spill Blood, Alarmist and Meltybrains?. Unsurprisingly, given the monolithic sprawl of the…

  • Album Stream: The Jimmy Cake – Tough Love

    July 4, 2017 - By 

    Experimental kosmiche post-punks The Jimmy Cake have released their sixth album Tough Love through respected Irish indie label Penske Recordings. Formed as a 10-piece in Dublin back in 2000 from the ashes of experimental noiseniks Das Madman, they’ve had a revolving lineup, recording – the last being 2015’s Master. Tough Love was written for a one-off performance in Dublin arts space The Joinery in 2015, with two distinct movements and styles – blending their usual Krauty psychedelia with some stoner groove. Delve into the ambitious and brilliantly realised forty-two minute masterstroke below.

  • Premiere: Mosmo Strange – L’etrange

    June 25, 2017 - By 

    Having ascended to the higher (and notably more well-attended) ranks of the live scene in the North over the last couple of years, Belfast quartet Mosmo Strange are a band that have always been as much indivisible with the low-end as they are lo-fidelity. A particularly spartan and stripped-back case in point can be found on the band’s new single ‘L’etrange’ – the lead track from their forthcoming Strangetapes release – is an untreated blast of strutting, desert-inflected rock featuring saxophone from Peter Howard of Derry’s Scenery. Have a first listen to the single right below.

  • Stream: Wyvern Lingo – I Love You, Sadie

    June 25, 2017 - By 

    Hands down one of the real musical success stories in Ireland of the last couple of years, we have firmly enjoyed following the rise and rise of Bray alt-pop Wyvern Lingo. With a launch party set for Dublin’s Grand Social on Friday, August 25, new single ‘I Love You Sadie’ is another instant gem bursting at the seams with the threesome’s slick marriage of exquisite, RnB-inflected harmonies, groove-laden patterns and their collective ear for a killer hook. Be prepared to the hit that repeat button as soon as those initial three minutes run out. Tickets for the Grand Social show are…

  • The Jimmy Cake – Tough Love

    June 22, 2017 - By 

    Experimental kosmiche post-punks The Jimmy Cake release their sixth album Tough Love on July 14 through the respected Irish indie label Penske Recordings. Formed as a 10-piece in Dublin back in 2000 from the ashes of experimental noiseniks Das Madman, they’ve had a revolving lineup, recording – the last being 2015’s Master. Tough Love was written for a one-off performance in Dublin arts space The Joinery in 2015, with two distinct movements and styles – blending their usual krauty psychedelia with some stoner groove. Check out ‘Observatory Destroyer‘. The Jimmy Cake launch Tough Love at the Grand Social on July 8, and tickets are priced at €13 from Billetto,…

  • RMCK – RMCK

    June 20, 2017 - By 

    Anonymous, instrumental, distorted banjo looping project RMCK has just released their self-titled debut EP through Solid Choice Industries. The EP was recorded in Belfast’s Start Together Studios by Rocky O’Reilly, with engineer Ben McAuley on drums. Hypnotic & swirling, the music could broadly fall under the banner of math or post-rock but falls into fewer of its trappings, being much more intuitive and less maximalist – the work of one lone artist who remains unidentified. Solid Choice claim to know their identity but wish to protect their anonymity – colour us very intrigued as to whether they make the move to live…