• Inbound: Slouch

    August 2, 2016 - By 

    Perhaps it’s just us, but we’re noticing a serious – and welcome – islandwide resurgence on the scuzzy alternative rock front as of late, with Dublin way ahead of the pack. This month, it’s young trio Slouch, who come from Knocklyon, on the outskirts of the city, just before the mountains – and they sound like it. They released their debut EP, Feminine Elbows, last year, which boasts the sound of a desert contained within a garage in the ‘burbs. They’re carried with the just-loose-enough, gut-led rhythmic swagger of Physical Graffiti-era Zeppelin with the influences of a subsequent three decades…

  • Ben Chatwin – Heat and Entropy

    August 2, 2016 - By 

    It’s nice when an LP’s cover so succinctly summarises what the album holds. Heat and Entropy, the latest LP from experimental Scottish composer Ben Chatwin, has one of those images. The picture in question is of the underside of a squid against a purely black backdrop. It’s crisp, detailed and leaves to the imagination as the mouth, suction cups and moisture of the cephalopod’s underside are prominently visible. It’s a striking and almost hideous vision of the natural world that because of the void-like darkness that surrounds it; it looks as though it would torment you were you in a…

  • Inbound: Franklyn

    July 30, 2016 - By 

    It seems like a case of twice bitten, thrice wise for Frankyln’s Owen Strathern. After initially finding some success with Magherafelt mods The Tides, Strathern’s growing indifference to the lad rock pedalled by his school friends lead to the bassist joining forces with his brother Enda and Tides newbie Stephen Leacock to explore poppier territories. General Fiasco, including Enda on guitar and Leacock on drums, seemed destined for big things: the band’s pop punk melodies, paired with Owen’s deceptively vulnerable lyrics, drew the attention of the British indie press, and the success of early singles ‘Sometime Sometime’ and ‘Ever So…

  • TTNG – Disappointment Island

    July 26, 2016 - By 

    Despite the vast number of changes in line-up since their formation just over twelve years ago, TTNG have been a steady trio for the past five years. This comes across in what is over all, a solid and consistent third album from the math-rock Brits. Even the title, Disappointment Island could suggest a bout of confidence for them, as had they failed to produce a somewhat decent listen the title itself would provide an ideal base for thoughtless, crummy criticism. Instead, they have succeeded in compiling a reliable set of ten tracks that hold true to the sound that TTNG (or This Town Needs Guns as they…

  • Róisín Murphy – Take Her Up To Monto

    July 26, 2016 - By 

    With the promotional admission that Róisín Murphy’s latest full-length album Take Her Up To Monto was born from sessions concurrent to her last LP, the faultlessly idiosyncratic Hairless Toys, the worry listeners faced was that the ‘new’ material on offer so shortly after might have been, well, old. But in typically daring fashion, what has resulted from these sessions is a collection of tracks that boasts the same verve and vibrancy as heard on Hairless Toys, but with a razor’s edge running throughout that’s explicit in differentiating THUTM from its predecessor – a feat that few manage to coherently demonstrate. The thing is though, fans can…

  • Inbound: Lauren Bird

    July 21, 2016 - By 

    Hailing from Strabane in County Tyrone, Lauren Bird is is an artist steadily making a name for herself within the Irish singer-songwriter scene. In May 2014 Bird – or McGeogh to the family postman – uploaded her self-titled debut EP onto Bandcamp, and within two days it had hit the number one spot on the site’s acoustic chart. Bird’s affiliation with the world of music began after she took up the viola aged 7, and from there she gravitated toward the guitar, piano, drums, bass and finally the ukulele. It’s the latter instrument that is the main focus of her…

  • Biffy Clyro – Ellipsis

    July 19, 2016 - By 

    There is that Morrissey line that seems rather pertinent when discussing the latter part of Biffy Clyro’s career: we hate it when our friends become successful. Witnessing one of the UK’s most beloved cult acts completely dominate the charts was always going to be true sight to behold. On their journey to the top however, the group lost what made them so fascinating in the first place; their ridiculous tonal shifts sidelined in favour of more straightforward pop-oriented direction. Their previous album – the bloated, underwhelming double album Opposites – was a testament to this fact as none of its twenty…

  • Inbound: Flecks

    July 19, 2016 - By 

    There is an intimacy inherent in Flecks’ understated, atmospheric songs – enveloping sonic warmth that’s an invitation to lean closer; to listen beyond the quintet’s instrumental weave and hear what whispered reflections await to be deciphered. The members have converged from various musical outfits and endeavours, uniting with an ease that manipulates the auditory sense; slowly coating the listener in an aural glaze like the honey that seems to glisten on Freya Monks’ vocals. Soft, insistent percussion pushes and pulls the band along – both a quickened heartbeat and a measured pulse behind the tonal undercurrents and lyrical disclosures. Their…

  • Watch: Hilary Woods – Sabbath

    July 14, 2016 - By 

    Back in May, ex-JJ72 bassist and solo artist Hilary Woods released easily one of our favourite Irish of the tracks of the year in the form of ‘Bathing‘. Following on in perfectly sanguine repose, ‘Sabbath’ – the second track taken from her forthcoming Heartbox EP – is a masterfully meditative six-minute effort from the Dublin musician, melding sparse rhythms with a serene fog of softly swirling piano lines, synth and more. Accompanied by wonderful visuals courtesy of Joshua Wright, it’s a spectral combo that burrows deep. Heartbox is released on 7″ vinyl on Monday, July 18. Pre-order here.

  • The Julie Ruin – Hit Reset

    July 13, 2016 - By 

    Julie Ruin isn’t a new concept for Kathleen Hanna. The moniker has been around since the mid- nineties as the title of her post-Bikini Kill solo album, one that bridged the gap and foreshadowed what was to come with Le Tigre. That trio’s explorations with sampled music and drum machines expanded on Julie Ruin’s bedroom-recorded experiments, and the pseudonym was put to bed for over a decade, during which time Hanna’s productivity was curtailed by a long-term debilitating illness. Her struggle with Lyme disease, undiagnosed for years, is documented with stark candour in the 2013 film The Punk Singer, and it’s a topic that crops up…