• Premiere: WASPS – Future Endeavours

    March 1, 2017 - By 

    Having bonded over their love of North Coast post-rock machine And So I Watch You From Afar, Belfast-based “math-punk” duo Charlie Cairns and Danny McClelland WASPS released their debut single, ‘Godzilla is Dead’ back in December. Three months on, the pair are back with ‘Future Endeaours’, a three minute burst fusing almost ballad-like heart with zealous, intricate instrumentalism. The single is released on March 17 and launched at their first headline show at Voodoo in Belfast on March 18. Have a first listen below.

  • Premiere: Field Trip – Evening’s Over

    March 1, 2017 - By 

    The title track from their forthcoming, Eoin Dolan-recorded EP of the same time, ‘Evening’s Over’ is a wonderfully restrained slice of jangle-pop from Galway’s Field Trip. All but lullabyesque in its sleepy lo-fi tone and pace, Sean Walsh from the band said, “The song reflects on the scenario of a night of drinking. You’re on the couch, it’s 5am and getting bright, the birds are singing, you’re comrades are passed out around you and now you get the chance to gather your thoughts and reflect on the evening. The song is sort of sigh of relief that the night is…

  • Premiere: Ro Gang – Smoking

    February 28, 2017 - By 

    Having previously went under the name Mr. Rosso, Dublin two-piece Isaac Clarke and Henry Ernest AKA Ro Gang will release their second album, H.E.R. – an album reportedly informed by everything from Young Thug to Burt Bacharach – via Little L Records on March 15. The first single to be taken from that, ‘Smoking’ is a typically riotous affair melding far-out lo-fi tangents with chorus-pedal-soaked tones. We’re sold. Have a first look at the video for the single – a VHS-shot effort featuring Clarke and Ernest trying, and failing, to crash a party – below.

  • Premiere: Scenery – Fool For You

    February 10, 2017 - By 

    Counting their main influences as Jeff Buckley, Amy Winehouse, Tame Impala, Matt Corby, Mac DeMarco and The Beatles, new-fangled Derry outfit Scenery have already struck a keen balance between throwback and contemporary. A slickly-produced single conjuring at least a couple of the aforementioned acts, ‘Fool For You’ is a swooning ballad that, falling comfortably into the former camp, reveals the band’s pop prowess and melodic flair. Scenery launch ‘Fool For You’ alongside Orchid Collective and Emer McLaughlin at Bennigans in Derry tonight. Have a first listen to the single via Soundcloud below.

  • Video Premiere: PORTS – The Few and Far Between

    February 7, 2017 - By 

    Having been busy in the studio recording new material, PORTS are currently gearing up for a trip to Kansas to showcase at the prestigious Folk Alliance International festival. A soaring peak from the Derry band’s debut album, The Devil Is a Songbird, ‘The Few and Far Between’ is a song that precisely distils the Derry band’s anthemic alt-pop craft. Marrying soaring crescendos with finely-woven instrumentation and sublime harmonies, it’s become something of a highlight from the Steven McCool-fronted band’s live shows as of late. Released as a single at the tail-end of last year, the song now comes accompanied with…

  • Premiere: Milky Teeth – Sleepiness and Weary Wit

    February 6, 2017 - By 

    Currently on some downtime from Cork’s The Shaker Hymn and John Blek & The Rats, lead guitarist and vocalist Robbie Barron has been busy writing and recording his own material under the solo moniker Milky Teeth. Conjuring the likes of his main influence in The Beatles, as well as Ed Harcourt, Elliott Smith circa XO/Figure 8, Friendly Fire-era Sean Lennon and Jon Brion, debut single ‘Sleepiness and Weary Wit’  is a first-rate slice of woozy throwback-pop, propelled by hooks, harmonies and a stellar full-band production. With a full-length album primed for release, have a first look and listen to the single.  

  • Album Premiere: Switzerland – Long Gone

    January 19, 2017 - By 

    Set for its launch upstairs in Whelan’s on Friday, January 27, Long Gone is both the first release of 2017 from Popical Island and the debut album from Dublin quartet Switzerland, a band comprised of members of Drunken Boat, Hello Moon, Land Lovers and Paddy Hanna. Having premiered its stellar lead single, ‘Starting Out’, just last month, we’re pleased to present an exclusive first listen of the album, a ten-track release that goes some distance to confirm their arrival as serious contenders. Recorded with the help of Fiachra McCarthy, who has previously produced Squarehead, Brian Walsh from the band says of the early writing…

  • Premiere: Guilty Optics – And So It Goes

    January 18, 2017 - By 

    In the sixth issue of our physical magazine, Joe Madsen said Dublin trio Guilty Optics “proudly steer clear of poppy trends”, an observation that came to full-blown fruition in July last year via ‘The Kayapo Ghosts’, the virulent lead single from their forthcoming album Colossal Velocity.  The equally commanding successor to that opening gambit, ‘And So It Goes’ is a five-minute post-punk burst “confronting the role government plays in our lives, it’s desire for control and its previous attempt to abolish the senate.” Dig below.

  • EP Premiere: NERVVS – A Mixtape of Love Vol. One

    January 18, 2017 - By 

    Dublin’s finest self-proclaimed “sick-wave” (noise rock, to you and I) duo NERVVS caught our attention back in 2015 with their debut EP, Death House. In the two years since, the pair have been active on the scene in Dublin, sharing scenes with some TTA favourites including That Snaake and Naoise Roo. Produced by Chris Barry, who has worked with Myles Manley and Cat Palace, their forthcoming EP A Mixtape of Love Vol. One is – to get a little alliterative – a fervent, five-track slab of first-rate, fucked-off fury conjuring the likes of Nomeansno, Bleach-era Nirvana, Fugazi, Butthole Surfers, early Flipper and Sebadoh at their…

  • Premiere: The Mad Dalton – Oh Marseille

    January 15, 2017 - By 

    Taken from his forthcoming debut album, which is set for release at some point this year, ‘Oh Marseille’ is the latest single from Belfast-based Scots-Canadian singer-songwriter Peter Sumadh AKA The Mad Dalton. Featuring Zarah Fleming on cello and Ciaran “Scruffy” Gallagher on accordion, the track – a gently affecting folk-classical ballad produced by James Lyttle at Lisburn’s Millbank Studios – is something of a delicate, more formalised departure from previous material, including October single ‘The Devil Came To Derry’. Have a first listen to the single and check out Dog Kennel Productions’ video below. ‘Oh Marseille’ is officially released on Saturday, January…