• Video Premiere: Songs of Green Pheasant – Lucy Says

    December 8, 2020 - By 

    Over the years Galway imprint Rusted Rail have specialised in putting out a mottled array of homespun sounds. Their latest release is a textbook case in point.  Eight years on from his debut release on the label, Soft Wounds, When The Weather Clears by Duncan Sumpner aka Songs of Green Pheasant is another batch of wonderfully nocturnal paeans that double as a perfect soundtrack to taking cosy refuge from the growing winter cold. Evoking And Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out-era Yo La Tengo, ‘Lucy Says’ is but one highlight here. Have a first look at the video for it below.

  • EP Premiere: Mark Loughrey – On Through The Veil Anew

    December 10, 2020 - By 

    On Through The Veil Anew is the new five-track EP from experimental folk artist Mark Loughrey, born near the border town of Strabane, and currently based in Berlin. His first major release since the 2017 release of debut album, Treppenwitz, it’s both sonically and thematically a marked progression towards more ambitious arrangements and experimental storytelling. Drawing from the kind of subtly subversive contemporary Northern Folk tradition carried out by the likes of Arborist & Joshua Burnside, it’s steeped in roots, but subtly subversive of genre convention. Its expansive, yet intricate, organically arranged compositions at varying points call to mind the earthly etherealism of Sufjan Stevens, Andrew Bird…

  • Album Stream: Tandem Felix – Tapley Sings​.​.​. The Hits! And Other Favourites

    December 7, 2020 - By 

    If you’re familiar with the lifestyle choices of Dublin songsmith extraordinaire David Tapley aka Tandem Felix, you’ll probably know that he’s partial to the occasional flagon or two of coffee. And it checks out. Off the back of his stellar latest single ‘The Assassination‘, he’s somehow managed to put together a thirty-track covers album to mark his 30th birthday today. Highlights abound. From opener, a take on Tammy Wynette’s ‘Stand By Your Man’ and Madonna’s ‘Ray of Light’, to Sparklehorse, Celine Dion, Broadcast, ABBA and beyond, it’s a genre-spanning triumph, doubly confirming Tapley to be maestro like few others. “Today, on…

  • Watch: Problem Patterns – Christmas Number One

    December 11, 2020 - By 

    Whether you’re thrilled or dreading the prospect of a quiet Christmas this year, Belfast’s finest feminist punks have a single we’re delighted to let you hear. Its doo wop-via-Breeders harmonies guaranteed to have you grinning from ear to ear, ‘Christmas Number One’ is a refreshingly positive take on coping with expectations of seasonal cheer. Now, don’t let our lazy rhyming couplets put you off – Problem Patterns’ latest single is as earworming as they’ve ever been. Normally, we’re not ones to copy & paste a press release, but as ever, they put it better than we could have: “Known for their feminist punk ethos, Problem have tackled such topics as…

  • Myles Manley – Cometh The Softies

    November 27, 2020 - By 

    Myles Manley’s new album has been a long time coming. After a series of EPs earlier in the decade, along with ironically titled compilation Greatest Hits 2012-13, the last few years have only seen occasional singles emerge from the hive, though his live shows have promised plenty, with a string of new songs and a sterling three piece band lineup completed by Chris Barry and Solamh Kelly – the former expertly juggling guitar, bass and keys, while the latter takes his place as one of the country’s most impressive drummers, full of jerky, jazz-inflected rhythms across a kit that even…

  • Video Premiere: Field Trip – Weatherman

    November 27, 2020 - By 

    We’re pleased to present a first look at the video for ‘Weatherman’ by Galway garage-pop band Field Trip. Heartfelt and subtly earworming in all the right places, the single – which is about “drifting apart from friends despite one’s best intentions – was recorded in a primary school at the end of 2019 alongside other tracks that the band will be releasing over the next while. And the video is something special. The band said: “It features clips from a 90s documentary entitled Clear The Streets, a feature on homeless people in Galway. It is co-directed by local legend Mark Kennedy who has since passed…

  • Video Premiere: Ana Gog – Breaking The Atom

    November 26, 2020 - By 

    Dublin-based atmospheric alt. folk quintet Ana Gog are back with their first new music in three years with the video for ‘Breaking The Atom’. Ornately arranged with glistening textures, the song was produced at Arad Studios. Its intricately woven Abbey Road-esque – and we don’t say that lightly – outro harmonies are amongst the finest compositional moments they’ve achieved thus far. Ana Gog tell us more: “‘Breaking the Atom’ was written shortly after coming home from a long tour across Europe in our beloved, soon-to-be stolen van, Morris. In the midst of all the sleepless nights (mostly for ‘good’ reasons!), logistical nightmares and petty fights that accompany touring,…

  • Premiere: Robbie Strickland – Suffocated

    November 26, 2020 - By 

    Back in January, Dublin musician Robbie Stickland made a strong impression with ‘Lizard‘. Taken from his debut album, Warm Jeans in the Morning, it was a compelling return from an artist who is something of a cult figure in Dublin’s indie scene. Though brief, new single ‘Suffocated’ ups the ante. Clocking in at just over two minutes, it’s a masterfully lax DIY effort that – alongside material that will feature on a forthcoming EP – was recorded in a city centre apartment with a half-functioning four-track tape machine. According to Strickland, the single aims to capture “the experience that many sensitive and…

  • Premiere: Comrade Hat – Whatever You Do

    November 19, 2020 - By 

    Off-kilter pop genius Neil Burns, AKA Comrade Hat has shared the latest single from his forthcoming album, Old Gods, Vol. 1. ‘Whatever You Do’ sees the lounge lizard in more reflective form, taking a slight left from his arch persona; It’s jazz-flecked, instilled with a morsel of vulnerability. Messr Hat told us more about the song: “It’s a ballad from BC (before Covid) about the struggles of physical distances in relationships, but it took on a whole new resonance this year. Aptly, it’s a remote collaboration with two of the finest heads around – rising stars of jazz and everything in the vicinity, Jack Kelly (double…

  • Irish Releases of the Week – November 6th

    November 6, 2020 - By 

    On another hallowed Bandcamp Friday, we’ve got an extra-long list of new releases this week, from JaJa Studios’ fundraising compilation, debut albums from Bitch Falcon and Silverbacks’ Kilian O’Kelly, and more from Arthuritis, 7.5 Tonnes of Beard, Ghost Office, Joshua Burnside, Zizou, Wyvern Lingo and more. Various Artists – The Lost Sound Vol. 1 The Lost Sound by JaJa Studios Joshua Burnside – Under The Concrete Bitch Falcon – Staring At Clocks Staring at Clocks by Bitch Falcon Skelocrats – City of London Boy Bitten by a Lizard by Skelocrats Kilian O’Kelly – Luzhny’s Layer Luzhny’s Layer by Kilian O’Kelly…