• Premiere + Interview: Ryan Vail – Invert

    March 4, 2016 - By 

    Whether you’re a newcomer or have been following his slow-burning, revelatory evolution as of late, Derry’s Ryan Vail has always commanded a domain that he can call his own. A master of subtlety, nuance and the hallowed space between the notes, his debut EP These Words revealed fully-formed promise that has only grown (and grown into itself) in the half-decade since. Whether you look to EPs including Fade and Grow, tracks such as ‘Sunlight’ and ‘Days’, superb new single ‘Wounds’ or Sea Legs, his well-received concept collaboration with Ciaran Lavery, Vail’s music and the sphere he conjures via slowly bobbing, synth-laden electronica has always…

  • EP Premiere: Bouts – Unlearn

    February 29, 2016 - By 

    Self-described as a “pop-grunge noise rock band with an inherent, unashamed attachment to big pop hooks” Dublin indie rock quartet Bouts have well and truly lived up to that explication over the last few years. Having fully arrived with their stupendous debut album Nothing Good Gets Away back in 2013, today marks the release of a five-track EP that sees their craft as downright convincing as ever, in spite of two members living overseas. Recorded at various points in 2015, at no point during the process where all members present together – a fact that both underlines the studio efforts of John Murphy and Shane…

  • Video Premiere: Left With Pictures – Terra Firma

    February 22, 2016 - By 

    Having made fans out of BBC 6 Music’s Gideon Coe and Lauren Laverne amongst others, the music of London orchestral pop ensemble Left With Pictures is an exquisite proposition. Belying the classically-trained trio’s command of contemplative, layered textures, upon which vocals dance and harmonies entwine, their new single ‘Terra Firma’ summons a wall of gently swelling strings, ghostly church-pew background vocals and a gorgeous looped keyboard motif, evoking the quiet sanctity of Wild Beasts at their most ruminating. Taken from the band’s forthcoming album Afterlife – set for release on April 29 – have yourself an exclusive first peek at the video for the track, made by Jonathan…

  • Premiere: Orchid Collective – Lay As Stone

    February 22, 2016 - By 

    Set to be launched at Whelan’s on March 11, ‘Lay As Stone’ by Dublin quartet Orchid Collective is an unwinding alt-folk meditation on weariness and reprieve that sees wonderfully-woven harmonies come to the fore across the track’s nigh on four minutes. Recorded by Mojo Fury’s Mike Mormecha at Lisburn’s Millbank Studios, it’s a similarly rousing, radio-seeking effort to previous singles including ‘Figure It Out’. Orchid Collective also play Belfast’s Eglantine this Thursday night (February 25). Have an exclusive first listen to ‘Lay As Stone’ below.

  • Premiere: Monster Monster – The City’s Ours

    February 12, 2016 - By 

    Ahead of its release on March 11, we’re pleased to present a premiere of ‘The City’s Ours’ by Dublin alt-pop duo Mick Stuart and Ríona Sally Hartman AKA Monster Monster. Taken from their debut EP of the same name (released last year and recorded with UK producer James Lewis) the lead track is a rousing battlecry of urban abandon and collective immunity. Check out the video for the single and forthcoming Monster Monster tour dates below. Tuesday, March 1 – Ruby Sessions, Dublin Saturday, April 9 – Brewery Corner, Kilkenny Friday, April 15 – Boyles, Slane Thursday, April 21 – Róisín Dubh, Galway Saturday, May 14 –…

  • Premiere: Hot Cops – Scared of Everything

    February 11, 2016 - By 

    It’s no coincidence that we’ve hosted Belfast indie rock trio Hot Cops in four different TTA shows over the last couple of years, most recently at a packed-out show at Belfast’s Lavery’s on Tuesday night for the launch of their stellar new single ‘Passive Passive‘. The b-side to that, ‘Scared of Everything’ is an equally emphatic effort from the fast-rising threesome, forging pounding, fuzzed-out chords and frontman Carl Eccles’ admissions of apprehension (“I’m afraid to go outside/I don’t want to see your skin/I’m afraid to let you in”). Conjuring the likes of Pinkerton-era Weezer and Cloud Nothings’ more tuneful throwdowns, it gives everyday quasi-agoraphobic dread yet another…

  • Premiere: A Northern Light – Paranoia

    February 5, 2016 - By 

    Having formed back in the starry-eyed days of 2010, Belfast-based alt-rock trio A Northern Light have always leaped straight for the jugular, a tradition which their rousing new single, ‘Paranoia’, more than comfortably attests to. Recorded for the most part with Neal Calderwood at Manor Park studio, much of the instrumentation on the track, including its web of synths, drum loops and backing vocals, were recorded by the band at home. Driven by Omar Ben Hassine’s urging drum-and bass rhythm – often an ANL sonic trademark – it’s a subtly layered, typically impassioned effort from the threesome. Taken from the forthcoming first installment of their two-part LP, Kingdoms, ‘Paranoia’ is released on February…

  • Premiere: Warriors of the Dystotheque – Return To Coney (feat. Ella Joy – Candi Bianca Remix)

    January 31, 2016 - By 

    An aptly-coined “dystopian journey deep into the heart of modern trip hop and gloomtronica” the forthcoming Return To Coney EP from Warriors of the Dystotheque is a sublime statement of intent set for release via Tigre Fair on March 4. Having formed via Facebook, the four members – including Derry’s Jonny Mac – have coalesced to create a release inspired by cult 70s film The Warriors and in particular, one of the final moments of the film, where The Warriors return to their home turf, Coney Island. A slick maze of lo-fi trip-hop and darkly soundscapes, the upcoming five-track EP evokes the like of Massive Attack,…

  • Album premiere: We/Or/Me – Everything Behind Us is a Dream

    January 27, 2016 - By 

    Bahhaj Taherzadeh is the man behind the moniker We/Or/Me. Based in Chicago, the Persian-Irish musician has steadily yielded a string of self-produced releases that have drawn admiration from the likes of NPR, Vashti Bunyan, Glen Hansard, and producers Brian Deck (Nathaniel Rateliff, Iron and Wine, Modest Mouse) and Adam Selzer, producer his exceptional new album, Everything Behind Us is a Dream. Evoking the likes of Nick Drake and Hansard, his timeless, wonderfully restrained indie folk summons muted twilight wandering; each softly resonant track proving a meditation on ardor and spirit. Everything Behind Us is a Dream is released on Friday (January 29). Have an exclusive first…

  • Premiere: Malojian – Crease of Your Smile

    December 16, 2015 - By 

    Having released one of our favourite Irish albums of the year in Southlands back in May, it’d be something of an understatement to say Lurgan singer-songwriter Stevie Scullion AKA Malojian has had a busy and quite brilliant year. As well as being nominated for the 2015 NI Music Prize, Scullion has keep us on eager toes with the steady release of three singles, the equally sublime ‘Bathtub Blues’, ‘No Alibis’ and ‘Communion Girls’, over the last nine months. The fourth and final of the year, the masterfully meditative lullaby folk of ‘Crease of Your Smile’ might well be our favourite of the lot, a…