• Palehound – A Place I’ll Always Go

    June 19, 2017 - By 

    Difficult experiences can be a source of great inspiration and a catalyst behind profound art. Palehound’s sophomore release, A Place I’ll Always Go is testament to just that as vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Ellen Kempner adds to the band’s repertoire with a host of touching songs informed by her experience dealing with the unexpected loss of a close friend. The resulting songwriting is deeply honest and personal; trading the guitar hooks of 2015’s Dry Food for more meaningful lyrical content. Although still drawing on the stylings of bands like Pavement and Modest Mouse, Palehound’s sound developes on this album into…

  • Watch: SlowPlaceLikeHome – When I See You… Ice Cream

    June 19, 2017 - By 

    Having graced the cover of the fifteenth issue of our soon-to-return physical magazine, Keith Mannion’s SlowPlaceLikeHome have long been one of our favourite Irish acts. The follow-up to 2016 single ‘Tiger Lilly’, new track ‘When I See You…Ice Cream’ is a playful burst of electro-pop betraying SPLH’s signature brand of somnambulant wonder but with an evolutionary twist. Released today via Strange Brew Rekkids, the single was written between Knather Woods, Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal, and the Algarve in Portugal. It was recorded and produced in its entirety by in Keith’s bedroom studio in Donegal and mastered by Antony Ryan (Morr Music label)…

  • Premiere: Aislinn Logan – So Loud/Dance With Demons

    June 19, 2017 - By 

    Having released her promising debut EP, Lost or Gone, last year, London-based, Belfast-born multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and vocalist Aislinn Logan is primed to release its highly-anticipated follow-up at some point in the coming months. Bolstered by an equalling compelling b-side in the form of ‘Dance With Demods’, new single ‘So Loud’ suggests some great things in the making. A wonderfully skeletal release that sees Logan’s knack for a burrowing melody and cutting refrain take centre-stage, it presents the artist as a real contender, with a voice and deep yet understated emotive flair all her own. Speaking about the single, Logan said, “So Loud…

  • EP Premiere: RMCK – RMCK

    June 16, 2017 - By 

    Belfast-based booking agent and record label Solid Choice Industries have been knocking it out of the park recently. As well as putting out Witch Hunt, the blistering debut album from hardcore metal quartet Hornets, they have also lined up with shows from Zu, Lemuria, Sunn O))) and the mighty Boris over the next few months. Today we’re pleased to exclusively unveil their latest release, the self-titled debut EP by anonymous artist RMCK. Featuring five tracks of equal parts squalling and meditatively cyclical instrumentalism recorded by Rocky O’Reilly at Belfast’s Start Together Studios, SC’s own blurb on the EP – which…

  • Stream: Bicep – Aura

    June 15, 2017 - By 

    Hold the phone: London-via-Belfast electronic duo Andy Ferguson and Matt McBriar AKA Bicep are back with one almighty banger. Lifted from the pair’s forthcoming Ninja Tune-released debut album – set to drop on September 1 – ‘Aura’ is a slick, beat-heavy and brilliantly propulsive five-minute effort that aims straight for the sonic jugular.

  • Watch: Group Zero – Pyramid of Light/Love And The Present

    June 15, 2017 - By 

    Girls Names‘ frontman Cathal Cully AKA Group Zero recently dropped one of the Irish albums of the year so far in the form of Structures and Light, a release we said “traversed brittle cold wave gems, pre-dawn electro throwdowns and shivering industrial instrumentalism over ten tracks, each as commanding as the last”. Released via Belfast imprint Touch Sensitive, the album has a new single, ‘Pyramid of Light/Love And The Present’ – a double-sided, softly rapt peak highlight now masterfully bolstered by Dublin-based visual artist Dorje De Burgh’s visual accompaniment. Speaking of the video De Burgh said, “The visual that accompanies ‘Pyramid of…

  • Inbound: Silverbacks

    June 13, 2017 - By 

    Having just released one of our favourite Irish EPs of the year so far, Sink The Fat Moon, Dublin indie rock five-piece Silverbacks chat to Will Murphy about lo-fi aesthetic, the imprint of the 90s on their sound and their plans for the rest of the year. Your sound picks up where the likes of Pavement, The Pixies and other fuzzier 90s groups left off. What about that era appeals to you so much? Everyone in the band is drawn to guitar bands and I quite like when that’s paired with lyrics of a humorous nature. You find bands like…

  • Watch: Malojian – Some New Bones

    June 13, 2017 - By 

    Having released one of the Irish albums of last year in the Steve Albini-produced This Is Nowhere, Stevie Scullion’s Malojian have spent the last while working on its follow-up, the brilliantly-titled Let Your Weirdness Carry You Home. The lead track from that, ‘Some New Bones’ is a spirited return that marries psych-dappled textures and a Motorik groove with swaggering guitar patterns and brief passages of sublime orchestration. Adding another dimension to the release is Colm Laverty’s stellar video, which comprises archive footage from BFI’s digital archive and newly-shot footage from Malojian’s recording sessions at Rathlin East Lighthouse in February. Combined, the…

  • Album Premiere: Bear Worship – WAS

    June 13, 2017 - By 

    Back in January last year, we were pleased to share ‘Our Friends’ by Dublin’s Karl Knuttel AKA Bear Worship. A track we said “evoked everything from the chamber folk balladry of Department of Eagles to the floaty dream-pop of Candy Claws” it marked the arrival of an artist with remarkable potential. Having moved to Shanghai, Barcelona and back to Dublin in the meantime, Knuttel has come good and then some on his sublime, nine-track debut album WAS. A prismatic traipse of melodically rich, compositionally ambitious alt-pop, the likes of the subtly ecstatic ‘Shimmerings’ and ‘Galapagos’ conjure the aforementioned acts, Grizzly Bear,…

  • Stream: Rory Nellis – All I Ever Wanted Was a Chance

    June 13, 2017 - By 

    Set to headline a free Thin Air show at Lavery’s in Belfast on Thursday night, Rory Nellis remains one of our favourite solo artists from these shores. The fifth consecutive single from his forthcoming album, There Are Enough Songs In The World, ‘All I Ever Wanted Was A Chance’ is a full-band alt-pop gem that tussles with disenchantment and apathy in masterful fashion, revealing a darker yet no less incandescent shade to Nellis’ expansive musical palette.