• Stream: Rory Nellis – Crossed Out

    April 17, 2017 - By 

    The fourth single from his forthcoming second studio album, There Are Enough Songs In The World, ‘Crossed Out’ by Belfast’s Rory Nellis is – much like the three efforts that have preceded it – a masterstroke of subtle harmonic power and lyrical finesse. Betraying the songsmith’s acutely perceptive take on the everyday and the much bigger picture, there’s something impossibly timely about its earworming refrain: “Getting sentimental over things that never really happened. Sitting here and waiting for someone to hit the panic button.” Recorded and mixed by Phil D’Alton (with mastering courtesy of Stephen Quinn), the single features d’Alton…

  • Cat Palace – why don’t you // why don’t you, go off

    April 14, 2017 - By 

    We’ve had our eye on Dublin’s Cat Palace since their 2015 debut EP. The moniker under which frontman David Blaney operates, the act balances social commentary, personal revelations and kitchen sink absurd realism by way of very listenable alt. rock and folk forays. Featuring a full band, debut album why don’t you // why don’t you, go off is out now through Little L Records. Absorbing you into his worldview for about 40 minutes, it’s a stream-of-consciousness trip through ruminations on life, from the deeply relatable nostalgic yearning and the dissatisfaction brought to you by your 20’s (Bret Hart & Vince McMahon, 1997 in ‘Welcome…

  • Album Premiere: Percolator – Sestra

    April 13, 2017 - By 

    Last month we had the honour of premiering ‘Crab Supernova’ by new-fangled Dublin maestros Percolator, a band we said “conjured a thick miasma of ‘gazey Kosmiche textures and Motorik groove” over their debut single’s four off minutes. Today we’re very pleased to go one further with this first listen of the band’s exceptional full-length debut album, Sestra. Set for official release tomorrow, the eight-track release is a masterclass in filtering the band’s through their own brand of at times woozy, at others brilliantly breakneck hybrid of Krautrock locked patterns and submerged psych-pop. This is confident, carefully-crafted music, betraying a real respect of the…

  • Watch: Le Galaxie – Pleasure

    April 12, 2017 - By 

    Le Galaxie have always been good for a music video that capture the heart and soul of their craft. Following on the heels of ‘Le Club’ and ‘Love System’ from last year, the Michael Pope-fronted quartet’s latest single, ‘Pleasure’ (featuring the tones of Fight Likes Apes’ certifiably deadly MayKay) now comes with its own rather colourful visual accompaniment. Combining light and kinesis, darkness and subtle dance, paint and confetti, the video – which you can watch below – was directed by Sam Hooper. ‘Pleasure’ is out on April 21 via Reckless Records.

  • Stream: Pat Dam Smyth – Juliette

    April 12, 2017 - By 

    Ask a selection of the country’s most well-regarded and successful singer-songwriters who their own favourite Irish songsmith is and there’s a very strong chance that Pat Dam Smyth will crop up. An artist whose candour, lyricism and musicianship leaves affectation and hubris at the door, his long-awaited new single ‘Juliette’ is a masterfully mournful cut, concisely relaying the tale of a woman attempting to escape an abusive relationship. Cut from the same cloth of Nick Cave and John Grant, the full-band effort also conjures Dark Side-era Pink Floyd in its braying brass and portentous, swaggering pop élan. The first single to be taken from…

  • Inbound: Foreign Owl

    April 11, 2017 - By 

    Foreign Owl is a band whose members have found their musical home in Derry by way of a protracted route through the Southern prefecture of Fukuoka, Japan and the mean streets of Burt, Donegal. Members, Eoghan Donegan (Guitarist/Singer), along with brothers Míchéal (Bass/Singer) and Ciarán McCay (Drums/Singer) struck up a friendship after meeting at Japanese drumming (Taiko) classes in Derry. What started out as a mutual appreciation of film, soon germinated into a real desire to express themselves through music, inspired by their surroundings, art and Japanese culture. Along the way, Radio Foyle’s Stephen McCauley has championed the band by…

  • Mons Olympus – Vampyroteuthis

    April 10, 2017 - By 

    Northern Irish quartet Mons Olympus have announced details of their forthcoming debut album, Vampyroteuthis. Produced by the band’s guitarist Stephen O’Hagan, and Nathan Murray, (minus single ‘Critical Mass’, which was recorded by Michael Mormecha) the eight-track Vampyroteuthis will be launched and officially released at Belfast Empire Music Hall on May 4. Blending the Rory Dee-fronted foursome’s potent amalgam of space-rock and neo-prog, it’s sure to establish the band as one of the country’s leading exponents of cosmically-inclined, riff-fuelled alternative rock. Critical Mass by Mons Olympus With more shows to be announced, Mons Olympus will play the following dates off the back of the release:…

  • Premiere: Hand Models – TV Kids/Wednesday

    April 12, 2017 - By 

    Having pulled back the cloche on their debut tune, a fine slice of fuzzy surf-pop, ‘TV Kids’ last week, young Belfast indie rock upstarts Hand Models have now unveiled both sides of their debut single, ‘TV Kids/Wednesday’. Assisted by the hushed tones of vocalist/guitarist Gareth Murray, B-side ‘Wednesday’ calls to mind the phase-heavy, rhythmically-light likes of Kurt Vile and Mac DeMarco. It’s a slight ditty that’s so chilled it’s practically horizontal, an apt flip side to its jaunty, grunge-lite A-side. Both tracks were recorded & produced by Niall Doran at Start Together Studio, Belfast. Hand Models hold their single launch at McHugh’s Basement on April 26, with support from Bdbr & LetGo Dive. TV…

  • Premiere: Cat Palace – Don’t Come Around

    April 7, 2017 - By 

    Last month we had the distinct pleasure of premiering ‘Peddle It’ by Cat Palace, a Dublin act with one David Blaney at the helm. Set to release their debut album Why Don’t You // Why Don’t You, Go Off on Monday, new single ‘Don’t Come Around’ is a reflective, two-minute flicker of throwback garage-rock that sees Blaney waxing delirious on backwashed memories of youth, from WWF to Donkey Kong, and later, the dregs of friendship when it goes little pear-shaped (like, totally, man) heading into adulthood. Cat Palace play alongside Junk Drawer, Autre Monde and Oh Joy at Tivoli Backstage in Dublin on April 21. Have…

  • Stream: Isobel Anderson – Flint Shingle

    April 7, 2017 - By 

    A compelling highlight from her recent live shows, ‘Flint Shingle’ by Belfast-based artist Isobel Anderson is a wonderfully meditative song inspired by the jagged cliffs of her childhood in South East England. The first single to be taken from her fourth studio album, CHALK/FLINT, the track – a “self-proclaimed symphony to the sea” – is a delicately textured, perfectly phantasmal ambient effort written in her birthplace of Sussex and recorded in Belfast. Anderson said, “It is sort of a love song, if only with a nostalgic, almost regretful, sentiment. The idea is that the landscape acts as a sort of sobering force, a marker of…