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.
Just off the back of the release of their fourth album, Dreaming Tracks, Belfast three-piece Sea Pinks graced the cover of the second issue of our magazine back in November, 2014. Almost three years on, album number six, Watercourse, finds the Neil Brogan-fronted band at the peak of their most ruminative, surf-dappled and jangle-popped best. Striking yet another keen balance between dream and power pop, the album’s ten tracks slot into a half-hour running time – testament, not that it’s necessarily needed, to the refined punch and finesse of the band’s craft to date. Speaking of the album, Brogan said, “The…
Whilst you might know him for his distinctive animation work for the likes of fellow Northern Irish songsmiths Malojian, Robyn G Shiels and Our Krypton Son as Lumo, Belfast-based musician Richard Davis has also been crafting some exceptional sounds as Heliopause for a number of years now. Released early last year, his third album How Can We Laugh After This… married subtly-woven soundscapes with pining tales of redemption, and explored a range of themes and sounds over twelve tracks. A highlight from that, new single ‘Falling (Part 2)’ tussles with the powerful birth of attachment to another, a motif nicely reflected in the single’s (naturally)…
With the prospect of up to three new albums set for release before the end of the year, (presumed) Northern Irish punk-funk masked duo Pinner are back with a new video single, ‘Head For The Bedlam’. Released in advance of forthcoming radio single ‘Incendiary’ – which will be released ahead of Return of the Pin Vol.2: Bloody Murder Picture on June 1 – this new effort is a typically left-of-centre blast of wilfully DIY garage from the pair, whose penchant for and ease at genre-hopping should fully reveal itself on forthcoming full-length releases throughout 2017. In the meantime, have a first peek…
Primed to release his debut album, Metal Alligator, at Belfast’s Voodoo on May 24, Northern Irish artist Aaron Shanley now has a full band in tow in the form of the excellently named Horrortongues. Ahead of that, we’re pleased to present a suitably tripped-out live video for ‘My Mind Ain’t Pretty (At The Minute)’, a track we said was “a really tidy, very promising taste of things to come from the wanderlust-smitten artist” upon its original release back in 2015. Filmed at Millbank Studios in Lisburn, the well-honed, scuzzed-out lo-fi aesthetic of Shanley and the Horrortongues is laid bare in fine fashion Pre-order the stellar…
One of many shining lights in a potent local scene at the minute, Derry singer-songwriter Conor Mason is an artist of equal subtly and humility. Having released one of our Irish tracks of 2016 in ‘On The Surface’, new single ‘Follow’ is a beautiful and brilliantly-realised pop masterstroke conjuring everyone from Grandaddy at their most inward-looking, fellow Derry songsmith Chris McConaghy AKA Our Krypton Son and mid-era Elliott Smith. Released soon as a free download, have a first listen to the track below.
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
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.
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…
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…