• Video Premiere: PORTS – The Few and Far Between

    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

    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

    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

    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

    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

    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…

  • Premiere: Feather Beds – ‘Headache Dreams’

    Back in August of 2015, we premiered Ah Stop, a stellar, four-track EP from Dublin producer Michael Orange AKA Feather Beds. Seventeen months on, Orange has resurfaced with the news that he will release a new album, Blooming, later this year. To tide us over in the meantime, we’re very pleased to premiere its first single, ‘Headache Dreams’, a whirling, tripped-out surge of electronica summoning Porcelain Raft, Jape and Panda Bear. We’re big fans. Feather Beds should and hopefully will be massive. Have a first listen below.

  • Video Premiere: Saramai – Heavenly

    Having popped up on the likes of Hard Working Class Heroes and Other Voices last year, Co. Meath duo Samarai straddle a wonderfully inviting line between longing chamber pop and straight-up balladry. The third track on their sublime Magnetic North EP, the ‘Heavenly’ distils the duo’s essence to a song conjuring the subtle, gossamer-like emotive power of This Mortal Coil’s ‘Song to the Siren’ and ‘Mysteries of Love’ by Julee Cruise. Currently working on a new single which they will release in the coming weeks with their eyes on a full-length album, Saramai play Dublin’s Workman’s Club on Tuesday for Syrias…

  • Premiere: Owen Denvir – Siren Song

    Taken from an upcoming live EP, Motion Picture Soundtrack, ‘Siren Song’ is the first of five videos being released by fast-rising Belfast singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Owen Denvir on each Friday in the month of January. Featuring a five-piece choir, this first cut from the EP – recorded by Mike Mormecha and filmed by Dog Kennel Productions at Queen’s University – puts Denvir’s vocals centre-stage, making for a masterfully meditative tale of pain, solace and redemption. Have a first look at the video below.

  • Premiere: exmagician – Desperado (Remix)

    Rounding off a busy year that saw them unleash their stellar, Bella Union-released debut album, Scan The Blue, Belfast’s Daniel Todd and James Smith AKA exmagician have bookended 2016 with the release of a wonderfully simmering High Noon remix of STB highlight ‘Desperado’. Following on from Jacknife Lee’s sprawling 18-minute remix of single ‘Job Done’ and the band’s own sublime re-imaging of ‘Tear On Let Off Steam‘, the track – which sees harmonies and rhythmic patterns come to the fore – is stripped back to its skeletal core, bursting forth with a subtly propulsive electro swagger. Dig it below. Photo for the…