• M. Stevens & The Ghasts – Birds

    December 6, 2022 - By 

    David Berman died by suicide on August 7, 2019. He left behind loved ones, countless fans and a lyrical back catalog of unrivaled wit, bite and passion. He was the sort of figure who was impossible to merely “like”; You either loved him or hadn’t heard him. Naturally in the aftermath of this tragedy, a tribute night was held in Dublin for folks to celebrate those syllables and melodies one more time. One such performer that night was Popical Island co-founder Mr. Mike Stevens. Following that night, M. Stevens, Hugh McCabe, Mark Jordan, as well as Ciaran Canavan and drummer…

  • Stream: Skelocrats – Princeps

    May 1, 2020 - By 

    One of the gleaming jewels in the crown of Dublin collective Popical Island, Skelocrats dropped off the radar following the release of their second album, the still-excellent Bella Bella, back in 2015. One-off  single ‘You’ll Never Make Me Talk’ aside, their absence has been felt by many of us naturally predisposed to collaboratively-minded, fuzzed-out garage pop. Which is why we’re beside ourselves to share ‘Princeps’, the new single from Skelocrats. Brilliant and brisk at 2 minutes in length, it’s a song about strained devotion to the leader, and the first taste of the band’s forthcoming third album. Some things have changed: Paddy “supported…

  • Autre Monde – Autre Monde EP

    November 2, 2017 - By 

    We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Dublin quartet Autre Monde are one of the very best indie bands in the country at the moment – the proof being scattered all over their eponymous debut physical release, out now on borderline-iconic Dublin indie label Popical Island. Barely allowing us to sit upon their opening (acclaimed, by our reckoning) batch of singles – available on Bandcamp – the act are undeniably referential to contemporary pop & art-rock from the mid-sixties through today. Indeed, they make an art out of mining genuine originality from a breadth of genre touchstones like Talking Heads, Can or Pavement, simultaneously giving a nod to underground movements like CBGBs new wave…

  • Premiere: Lie Ins – Loose Lips Are For Losers/Sweet Galway

    July 10, 2017 - By 

    We’re pleased to present a first listen to the new double-single from one of the country’s finest indie-folk pop propositions, Dublin three-piece and Popical Island bunch Lie Ins. The fourth in a series, ‘Loose Lips Are For Losers’ (backed with b-side ‘Sweet Galway’) is a digital-only release, recorded completely on four-track cassette by Mark Chester and Ruan van Vliet and written by Mike Stevens. In typical Lie Ins form, the A-side – which is a track that “bemoans the loss of youth and of youthful friends” – is a catching burst of first-rate lo-fi indie-punk that will, if you let it, burrow in the…

  • Stream: Lie Ins – Potatoes/Back on the Clock

    September 28, 2016 - By 

    It’s sometimes good to remember: Lie Ins aren’t just for Sundays. And nowhere is that more evident than quickly glancing at the calendar before stumbling upon ‘Potatoes’ and ‘Back on the Clock’, a new double-single from the Dublin indie pop band of the same name. Sure, that doesn’t aeally make a whole lot of sense but in the words of Aerosmith, let the music – insistent, merry and earworming as ever – do the talking (via Bandcamp below). Potatoes b/w Back on the Clock by Lie Ins

  • Guide To Galway #4: Galway International Arts Festival 2016

    July 13, 2016 - By 

    The Galway International Arts Festival is here again and we’re all really happy about that – it’s the most wonderful time of the year! Yes, it’s the cultural equivalent of the Olympics or the World Cup, a time when the city’s social, economic and design problems are papered over for the visiting tourists. Lovely, lovely tourists with their lovely handsome faces. No, to be honest, it really is great. Galway is buzzing and never looks or feels better than for these two beautiful weeks in July. Shop Street is 110% the best street in the country right now – today…

  • No Monster Club – I Feel Magic

    February 19, 2016 - By 

    Magic conjures up images of David Copperfield making the Statue of Liberty disappear, David Blaine looking off-his-face with an eye drawn on his palm and saying ‘Shazam’ into a GMTV camera or even an uncle asking you to pick a card, any card, from a messily shuffled deck. In Ireland ‘I feel magic’ is a way of saying that we’re doing brilliantly. That we’re absolutely flying. On top of our game. Although there seems to be more than a hint of irony in that title here on Bobby Aherne’s twelfth release under the No Monster Club banner. He maintains the nursery rhyme-esque beats but gone are the…

  • Popical Island All-Dayer 5

    November 30, 2015 - By 

    With more acts to be announced (deep breath) Squarehead, Skelocrats, Lie Ins, Ginnels, No Monster Club, Walpurgis Family, The Number 1s and Me and My Dog will congregate for the common good AKA celebrating Dublin collective and label Popical Island’s grand fifth All-Dayer upstairs in Whelans on Saturday, December 19. And true to title, things will kick off at the sprightly hour of 3pm and wrap up around 11pm. Entry is a measly €10. Go here for the show’s Facebook event page.

  • EP Premiere: Shrug Life – The Grand Stretch

    July 23, 2015 - By 

    Having all but soiled ourselves listening to and shouting about its second track, ‘Funderland’, yesterday, we’re rather happy to present an exclusive first listen to The Grand Stretch, the debut EP by Popical Island’s latest – and perhaps some day greatest – outfit, Shrug Life. Life sucks and we all know it, but not all of us (in fact, very few of us) have the creative or whimsical tools at our disposal to express said utter despair and pointlessness via inescapably deadly, stupidly catchy, lo-fi indie rock. God knows we’d all love to, but who’s got the time to give…

  • Watch: Shrug Life – Funderland

    July 22, 2015 - By 

    Dublin-based bastion of jangle and virulent lo-fidelity, Popical Island’s latest “ingenues” Shrug Life have gotten off to a ridiculously catchy start with the release of tracks ‘Chewing Gum Breakfast’ and ‘Funderland’. Set to feature on the band’s debut EP, The Grand Stretch (which we’ll be streaming next week), the latter song was released earlier today and is for our money the finest (our at least our favourite) Popical Island track ever. Stick that on our tombstone; we shall forever stand by it. Not terrified of mimes? Watch the video for ‘Funderland’ below. Go here for the Facebook page event page…