• Premiere: Maija Sofia – Dreamscape

    September 29, 2016 - By 

    Dublin-based Galway antifolk singer-songwriter Maija Sofia is an artist whose craft fully benefits from taking the road less travelled. A self-proclaimed “surreal romance interweaving music with samples from an interview with the poet Anne Sexton” ‘Dreamscape, her new audio-visual effort with London independent filmmaking duo Will & Joe, is a short but striking abstracted meditation on truth, sex, The End, the transience of existence and Earth, as well as intersubjective role we play ‘neath the gossamer-like fabric of this mortal coil. Speaking about the collaboration, Will & Joe said: “‘Dreamscape’ has been a labour of love in-between other jobs and commitments for over a year. It is the shortest music video we’ve…

  • Premiere: Galants – Evergreen

    September 28, 2016 - By 

    Dublin noise-pop quartet Galants are a band that proudly – and very impressively – wear their influences on their collective sleeve. Forging the fuzzed-out, forward-moving indie rock of Dinosaur Jr. and early Yo La Tengo with the nebulous ‘gaze of My Bloody Valentine and tight, Byrds-influenced harmonies of Teenage Fanclub, their sound is unabashed hero worship but with more than enough deviation and departure to make it all their own. The first track from their forthcoming debut EP, ‘Evergreen’ is a perfect case in point. Have an exclusive first listen to that below and make sure to catch the guys at Dublin’s The Workman’s Club on Saturday, October 8…

  • Premiere: Hiva Oa – mk2 (part 1) EP

    September 15, 2016 - By 

    With core members Stephen Houlihan and Christine Tubridy having recently returned to Belfast from Edinburgh Hiva Oa are an outfit currently experiencing a well-earned revelatory upswing. Drawing from the limitless realms of fear, loneliness, abandonment and awakening, their new EP, mk2 (part 1) is an emphatic, wonderfully-realised dose of experimental electronica that wears the influence of Radiohead, in particular, on its sonic sleeve. Where this would perhaps prove a hindrance for other acts of their ilk, Tubridy and Houlihan filter that imprint via a much vaster palette of sound, conjuring everyone from The Twilight Sad, Interpol and Jeff Buckley across the release’s four tracks. Though still…

  • Premiere: Arborist – I Heard Him Leaving

    September 12, 2016 - By 

    With a sound in which subtlety holds sway where a scream would fall short, Mark McCambridge AKA Arborist is a craftsman of nuance. With his debut full-length album, Home Burial, set for release on November 11 via Kirkinrola Records, the Belfast-based singer-songwriter’s recent single ‘A Man of My Age’ garnered comparisons to such venerated figures as Leonard Cohen, Bill Callahan and Jason Molina with very good reason. In knowing there’s no need to clothe a skeleton, McCambridge’s knowingly stark, wonderfully composed songs put the cutting phrase and heavy allusion centre-stage, each lyric lit by softly lilting Americana folk betraying both longing and hope…

  • R51 – No Chill EP Premiere & Interview

    September 9, 2016 - By 

    R51 are amongst the hardest working bands on the island right now; they’re taking this seriously. Falling broadly into a nu-gaze sound without ever losing sight of their carefully crafted & thoughtful pop sensibility, they’re a five piece with all the right components. In the studio, they’re all about pop perfection and live, it’s a padded mallet of sound. They’re led by the power coupling of frontwoman Mel Shannon’s soaring vocals – also band photographer & craftsperson – and lyricist & guitar wizard Jonny Woods – who records & produces everything in their studio – with the punk edge coming from…

  • Premiere: Invaderband – Ship of Nothing

    September 1, 2016 - By 

    With their self-titled debut album set for release on November 25, Derry quartet Invaderband‘s idiosyncratic brand of garage-laced artrock betrays the hallmarks of a band content in doing things their way without neglecting the power of the hook. Nowhere is that more self-evident than on their forthcoming single ‘Ship of Nothing’, an impossibly earworming three minutes that simultaneously rollicks and lulls via chopping guitar chords, handclaps, seagull samples and organ lines in confident, mercurial synchronicity. Invaderband songwriter and vocalist Adam Leonard, “Lyrically this record covers a number of disparate bases: The invasion of Iraq, ectoplasm, alien attack and Alan Rickman, and that’s…

  • Premiere: Tenro – Vimana

    September 5, 2016 - By 

    Dublin duo Marc Aubele and Brian Conniffe AKA Tenro meld darkcore, ambient techno and deathpop with an outsider fearlessness that isn’t likely to yield to populism or calculable trend any time soon. Taken from their forthcoming debut album – which is set for release via Dublin’s Little Gem Records on October 7 – the pair’s latest track, ‘Vimana’, forges warped, Mogwai-esque modulated vocals with infernal synth textures and perfectly demented samples across five minutes. Accompanied by a suitably tripped-out (possibly seizure inducing – be warned) video, the track sits at the right side of nefarious, each phrase clawing away at some vague malevolent inking just out of view.

  • Premiere: Scenery – Howlin’

    August 25, 2016 - By 

    Early days though it is, Derry’s Scenery have already established themselves on the live front as an act that won’t likely be slotted into a neat box any time soon. With a sound confidently traversing progressively-minded rock, soul, jazz and blues, the Stephen Whiteman-fronted band’s debut single ‘Howlin” is a feverish effort weaving wanton sax and vocals over a creeping chord progression that burrows deep. For a band proudly wearing throwback sounds on their collective sleeve, it’s a first gambit that edges into forward-looking, decidedly urgent territory. Taken from their debut EP, Far Out, exclusively stream ‘Howlin” – and check out forthcoming Scenery…

  • EP Premiere: New Gods – Weird War Tales

    August 22, 2016 - By 

    A self-proclaimed “sleazy punk/rock n’ roll junk” band, Dublin’s positively scuzz-infested New Gods will play their swansong alongside the likes of Murder and Overbite at Fibbers in Dublin this Saturday night. But before bowing out in a blaze of old school punk abandon (a highly recommend proposition in and of itself) the five-piece will release their latest and last four-track EP, Weird War Tales, on Thursday. Tipping its pissed-off hat to everyone from Dead Boys, Sex Pistols and The Wipers, the EP – which we’re pleased to premiere here – offers up just over nine minutes of breakneck, begrimed brilliance.

  • Premiere: Drown – Drown EP

    August 19, 2016 - By 

    Having formed less than a year ago, Galway noise-pop outfit Drown have quickly emerged as a group you’d be foolish to ignore. Following their lo-fi post-punk debut single ‘Descent’, released earlier in the summer, the five piece now unveil their full debut EP, a feast of melancholic pop that steers resolutely toward the grittier, unpolished realms of post-punk and shoegaze. ‘Narcos’ sounds like a West of Ireland interpretation of Turn on the Bright Lights era Interpol while ‘Tao’ is a teasing, woozy goodbye to close the release, leaving the path ahead unlit and open to change. While the group’s nods to Joy Division and…