• Album Premiere: Alpha Chrome Yayo – Twirl

    December 6, 2019 - By 

    To say that it’s been a busy 2019 for Belfast’s Alpha Chrome Yayo would be something of an understatement. The one-man, full-blown synthwave whizz has very kindly drip-fed us a string of masterfully shapeshifting releases, from Lithobreakin‘ and Malediction Boulevard, to Komorebi and After Dinner Cigar last month. And what better way to round off 2019 than with Twirl, ACY’s new, ten-track album? This is the part where we normally wax lyrical about a release but, in this instance, we’ll happily defer to the artist, who sums up the release as so: With a sound-palette straight out of the Encarta era, it’s…

  • Video Premiere: Rory Nellis – When I Sleep

    October 17, 2019 - By 

    Over the last few years, Belfast artist Rory Nellis has steadily emerged as one of the country’s most respected songwriting voices. On albums Ready For You Now and 2017’s There’s Enough Songs In The World, his thoughtful, earworming craft has garnered comparisons to everyone from Conor O’Brien Villagers to Grandaddy at their most gossamer and contemplative. Nellis’ forthcoming new single, ‘When I Sleep’ is a meditative and delicately-crafted case in point. Released ahead of a new album in the works for release next year – and mixed by and featuring backing vocals from long-time friend collaborator Philip Watts d’Alton (Master…

  • Stream: Myles McCormack – Merry Go Round

    August 29, 2019 - By 

    Belfast-based musician Myles McCormack occupies a very special place within the Northern Irish music community. Beyond his work as a founding member of forward-pushing trad-folk outfit Lonesome George, the songwriter and multi-instrumentalist crafts considered, reflective tales under his own name. It’s something that comes into sharp focus on McCormack’s forthcoming twelve-track debut album, Real Talk. Set for release on September 13th, it’s a gossamer and quietly emphatic first gambit from an artist who continues to set himself apart. From ‘Lifeline’ and the wonderfully-woven melancholia of opening track ‘When’ to the throwback folk phantasm of new single ‘Merry Go Round’ and beyond,…

  • Premiere: Careerist – Slasher

    August 26, 2019 - By 

    Doubling up as their first offering as Careerist, the Belfast threesome formerly known as Hot Cops strike a confident tone on ‘Slasher’. The lead single taken from their forthcoming debut album Weird Hill (which is set for release on 12″ vinyl and DSP via Dundalk’s Pizza Pizza Records on November 15th) it’s a typically slick and Malkmus-esque mid-tempo gem from the Carl Eccles-fronted band. Featuring Eccles as an overworked athlete (and more), Hannah Schierbeek’s video – which is below – seals the deal.  

  • Watch: THVS – Palisades

    August 24, 2019 - By 

    Fast-rising Belfast heavy pop band THVS have unveiled the video to new single, ‘Palisades’. From the get-go, it’s a blistering, riff-fuelled statement of intent from the Michael Smyth-fronted trio. Taken from their forthcoming debut album Fevers, the single’s video was shot at MSI Studios and THVS HQ “on a temperate May Sunday afternoon” by Bob Logan. Check it out below. Fevers is released on October 7. THVS play Pavilion in Belfast on Friday, August 30.

  • Premiere: The Rackets – 1-2 FU/Dead Rebel

    July 31, 2019 - By 

    For whatever combination of reasons, Belfast has peerless form for producing first-rate garage bands. From Them and The Wheels back in the 1960s right up to The Groundlings, The Dreads and others in the present era, the city has always reliably churned out bands wielding straight-up rock ‘n’ roll like it’s no one’s business. In the day of our Lord  John Dwyer, you need not look much further than The Rackets. A suitably elusive outfit, with an ever-revolving line-up, the band currently operate as a three-piece of Sunglasses After Dark’s Ryan Fitzsimmons, frontwoman Aileen McKenna aka This Ship Argo and the downright legendary Chappy of the aforementioned The Groundlings…

  • Stream: Danny Madigan – Lost Shore

    July 26, 2019 - By 

    You might not know it yet, but Belfast, of all places, is home to a steadily-thriving synthwave scene. Look no further than Transpacifica, the remarkably prolific Alpha Chrome Yayo and Belfast-based whiz Danny Madigan. Today, the latter releases his strong single effort to date.  ‘Lost Shore’ finds Madigan taking inspiration from his homeland, revealing that the song was inspired by, and written whilst sitting beside, Lough Neagh. Abstract, but somehow familiar, this new release is another step forward for the musician and the rest of his fellow synthwave artists, who gather themselves together under the mysterious ‘Club Arnold’ banner. Stream the single – and it’s…

  • Stream: Alpha Chrome Yayo – Lithobreakin’

    June 28, 2019 - By 

    On the slinky, interstellar ‘Lithobreakin”, Alpha Chrome Yayo confirms our suspicions that he’s a jack of all trades and a master of many. Having emerged as a maestro of stellar synthwave retromancy over the last few months, the Belfast producer’s new single is a first-rate foray into interstellar electro-funk. Inspired, he tells us, “in almost equal parts by the interstellar grooves of Zapp and Roger, vintage Sega Mega Drive title Toejam and Earl, and the surprisingly sexy world of astrophysics”, it’s a bombastic, wonderfully curveballing new effort from the remarkably productive artist. Better yet, the single’s masterfully downtempo, Jean-Michel Jarre-influenced b-side ‘Escape Atrocity’ melds a…

  • Watch: No Oil Paintings – Something Like The Truth

    June 14, 2019 - By 

    Two years on from the release of their well-received second EP, Too Close to the Sun, fast-rising Belfast quartet No Oil Paintings have returned with their most emphatic single to date, ‘Something Like the Truth’. Across four minutes of ascending, fist-clenched intent, the harmony-driven ‘Something Like the Truth’ firmly positions the four-piece as one of Ireland’s finest, most forward-pushing alternative folk outfits. Accompanied by a stellar video courtesy of By Elephant, the single is equal parts equal parts socio-political and earworming gem focusing on the increasing lack of humanity in modern society. Bolstered by the soaring backing vocals courtesy of brothers…

  • EP Stream: Gender Chores – Womensplain

    May 27, 2019 - By 

    At the heart of Bangor three-piece Gender Chores‘ fuzzed-out punk craft is ardent political consciousness and incisive activist spirit. Staring down and decimating everything from Northern Ireland’s archaic abortion laws, the patriarchy and more, new EP Womensplain is a self-assured and vital statement that, rather than meekly express the desire for change across the board, positively demands it. Stream the EP in full below.