• Album Premiere: Joshua Burnside – Ephrata

    May 5, 2017 - By 

    Ever since the release of his masterfully lo-fi 2012 EP The Winding Straits (and the string of memorable local shows that accompanied that release) Joshua Burnside‘s inimitable brand of alt-folk has commanded our attention like few others. Having really made a dent a year later with the release of his stellar five-track EP If You’re Goin’ That Way, the Belfast songsmith has evolved from wistful folk contender to a fully-fledged artist whose sound incorporates electronica and first-rate experimentalism in fine fashion. The full-length culmination of that evolution, his brand new debut album Ephrata is a real triumph of the spirit. Testament to refusing to be bound…

  • Premiere: Silverbacks – What’s In Your Bag?

    May 4, 2017 - By 

      Set to release their Sink The Fat Moon EP upstairs in Whelan’s on Saturday, May 27, Dublin lo-fi indie rock quintet Silverbacks couldn’t be more up our street. With an aesthetic stemming directly from the source U.S. alternative rock’s heyday of the late 80s and early 90s, they weave slack tales with killer Jazzmaster shapes and spirals of glassy melody like few others in these parts. Following on the heels of last month’s ‘Dirty Money’, new single ‘What’s In Your Bag?’ is another stellar effort from probably our favourite Irish band at the minute. Have an exclusive first listen to the single…

  • Watch: Mons Olympus – Incognito

    May 4, 2017 - By 

    Ahead of releasing their long-awaited debut album, Vampyroteuthis, at Belfast’s Empire Music Hall tonight, space-prog quartet Mons Olympus have unveiled one of the downright funnest music videos from an Irish act that we’ve seen in quite some time. The accompaniment to riff-fuelled new single ‘Incognito’, the cosmically-inclined visuals were filmed on location at The Burren in Co. Clare, and other locations.  Stream the album in full and check out the video – directed and edited by Mervyn Marshall and Chris McConnell, with after FX by Paul McGrath – below. Vampyroteuthis by Mons Olympus

  • Video Premiere: Hornets – Threads

    May 3, 2017 - By 

    On May 20, Belfast hardcore punk quartet Hornets will launch their long-awaited debut album, Witch Hunt, as part of one of the finest local heavy bills we’ve seen in quite some time. Ahead of that, we’re pleased to present an exclusive first look at the first video for a track taken from the release, ‘Threads’. Filmed and edited by band member Craig McCloskey, it’s a suitably menacing, monochrome accompaniment, driving home the track’s vengeful attack and tone. Witch Hunt is released via Solid Choice Industries on May 19.

  • Silverbacks – Sink The Fat Moon

    April 28, 2017 - By 

    Insofar as first-rate lo-fi indie rock goes, the island of Ireland is surely right up there with the most fertile.Laying claim to their stake amongst the very best, Dublin’s Silverbacks release a new EP, the five-track Sink The Fat Moon on May 19. If new single ‘Dirty Money’ is anything to by, we’re in for something well worth the wait. A terse, harmonic-laden effort that openly yet rather brilliantly filters the more more reclined efforts of the holy trifecta that is Sonic Youth, Pavement and Pixies, it’s a masterfully languid release betraying real purpose in its disaffected swagger. This follows up on their…

  • Premiere: Fox Colony – Patterns EP

    May 1, 2017 - By 

    Ahead of its release on May 4, we’re delighted to premiere the new EP from Belfast-based emo-tinged indie rock trio Fox Colony, Patterns. Associates & former bandmates of indie-pop outfit Brand New Friend, the young band recorded Patterns with Start Together Studios’ Rocky O’Reilly and have the uncanny ability to craft a tune without the usual fear of wearing their hearts – or accents – on their sleeves. The EP takes some cues from the current emo-pop revival of Modern Baseball, with slight glimmers of early ’90s alt. rock sophistication & dischordance seeping in that belies their youth. Patterns will be available from Bandcamp – both digitally on…

  • Stream: Vogelbat – Lithx (feat. Sad Mermaid

    April 27, 2017 - By 

    From 2015’s ‘Miw’ right through to ‘Ovl’ – a stellar single released back in September of last year – we’ve been closely following the output of Berlin-based Kilkenny producer and soundtrack composer Dave Sheenan AKA Vogelbat. New track ‘Lithx’ continues his run in fine fashion. Featuring Sad Mermaid – who featured on both the aforementioned singles – it’s another first-rate slice of ambient-leading electronica, melding shuddering pockets of rhythm, synth swells and abstracted vocals over nigh on five minutes. We dig it. Check it out.

  • Album Premiere and Q+A: Ships – Precession

    April 27, 2017 - By 

    The product of two long years of writing, demoing, debating and recording, Dublin electronic duo Ships will release their debut album – and one of the Irish albums of the year – on Monday. Ahead of its official release, have an exclusive first listen to Precession and read our interview with Simon Cullen and Sorca McGrath from the fast-rising outfit below. What was the writing process like for the album? And are there are any overarching main themes? The songs were written over the space of two years or so and the idea of the album gathered momentum over time.…

  • Stream: Skymas – BubbleDub

    April 26, 2017 - By 

    Back in September last year, Belfast duo Martin Corrigan (ex-Alloy Mental) and Nick Todd AKA Skymas released one of our Irish tracks of 2016 in the form of ‘No Easy Way Out‘. Seven months on, the pair are back with its follow-up, the equally virulent electro-rock blast of ‘BubbleDub’. Featuring none other than Stephen Leacock (Franklyn/ex-General Fiasco) on guitar, it’s a typically propulsive – and masterfully bombastic – banger from the pair, released a day ahead of supporting K-X-P at Belfast’s Voodoo as part of this year’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival. Propelled by Corrigan’s chorus refrain of “solution in destruction” the…

  • Premiere: Elma – Drive

    April 26, 2017 - By 

    One of the hardest working – and masterfully diverse – musicians in the island of Ireland, Derry multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer and songwriter Eoin O’Callaghan makes music both under the moniker Best Boy Grip and as part of Wake America. Adding yet another string to his sonic bow, new project Elma explores more more open-ended, soundscape-based terrain. A seven-month process in which O’Callaghan exclusively used analog gear – a Revox 77B tape machine, cello, bass and a bunch of synths – the project is predominantly instrumental in nature, but will also feature snippets of conversation with a Peruvian hermit by the name of Dolama. According to…