• Stream: Junior Brother – Take Guilt

    September 19, 2024 - By 

    A new Junior Brother song has long been good cause for some celebration here at TTA. In the six years since we featured him as one of our 18 artists to watch out for in 2018, Ronan Kealy has underscored his status as one of the island’s all-time songwriting greats. A born curveballer par excellence, the Kerry native increasingly put paid to the kneejerk “alt-folk” mantle via sprawling songs that are as burrowing and beatific as they are brilliantly-realized. It’s a fact woven throughout his latest, ‘Take Guilt’. Paired with a lyric video by Dylan Gomery, it’s a sorcerous five-minute…

  • Stream: Big Daisy – Poinsettia

    December 14, 2021 - By 

    Belfast quartet Big Daisy have unveiled a new festive single titled ‘Poinsettia’. Capping off a busy year emerging as one of the island’s first indie-pop propositions, it is – true to form – a wonderfully lo-fi gem from the four-piece, honing in on the true spirit of the season. “‘Poinsettia’ is a Christmas love song,” said the band.” The main lyric “Christmas without you baby, I would be so blue” is sang with heart at the thought of being without your true love at Christmas time.” Stream the song – which was recorded in the attic of Big Daisy’s home by the…

  • Stream: Kineograph – I Can See 3 People

    November 24, 2021 - By 

    On Friday, December 3rd, Cork composer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Waldron-Hyden releases CAPRICORN, his stellar full-length debut in the guise of Kineograph. Following on from the release of Future Life Continuity, a genre-warping feat released under his own name in early 2020, Capricorn walks the line between conventional and experiential, in pursuit of a release that – among other things – tries to emulate rhythms the artist encountered naturally throughout the everyday, be it the countryside or in the city. Speaking about the release, Waldron-Hyden said: “Where Future Life Continuity was about investigating the presence of life after death, CAPRICORN almost…

  • Premiere: Strange Boy feat. Hazey Haze – Hahaha

    June 17, 2021 - By 

    Back in April, we had the pleasure of premiering one of the Irish songs of the year so far: ‘Waiting’ by the fast-rising Jonen Dekay aka Strange Boy. Two months on, the Limerick rapper is on the cusp of releasing his highly-anticipated debut album, Holy/Unholy. Dropping next Friday, June 25th, the 10-track album features collaborations with the likes of Clannad’s Moya Brennan (‘Beginnings’) and Seán McNally Kelly (‘Forgotten’). Elsewhere is an outright peak from the album, ‘Hahaha’. A collaboration with fellow Limerick rapper Hazey Haze, it’s a masterfully believable effort that marries marrying skeletal trad with bars of pure-cut personal truth. Have a…

  • Stream: Mícheál Keating & Brendan McInerney – It’s Still There

    June 10, 2021 - By 

    Last May, Bleeding Heart Pigeons released one of the most emphatic Irish albums in recent times, Stir. Thirteen months on, two-thirds of the Limerick band—frontman Mícheál Keating and drummer Brendan McInerney—have returned with the 10-minute epic ‘It’s Still There’. Commissioned by The Source Arts Centre of Thurles, and supported by both Tipperary County Council and The Arts Council, it’s a genre-mutating feat, melding Burial-esque menace with a slowly unfurling patchwork of ambient prog. Speaking about the track, Keating said: “This commission was a great incentive to play and experiment, and this was an ideal approach to writing the first tune we’ve made together since Stir was…

  • Stream: Sun Collective – Ogham Scars

    April 15, 2021 - By 

    Blurring the lines between chamber pop, indie rock and contemporary folk, the craft of Dublin’s Sun Collective strikes a midpoint between delicate and resolute.  Featuring from Saint Sister’s Gemma Doherty on harp, it’s an M.O. that their new single, ‘Ogham Scars’, takes and runs with. Marrying the gossamer beauty of a long-lost Cinematic Orchestra track with the burgeoning deep ambience of latter-day Massive Attack, it’s a triumphant return, produced by Ross Turner and recorded by Ber Quinn. Speaking about the song, the group’s frontman Caimin Gilmore says, “I robbed the title (& possibly the entire meaning) of ‘Ogham Scars’ from the work of painter, John Noel…

  • Download: Brigid Mae Power – I Had To Keep My Circle Small (Alternate Version)

    March 16, 2021 - By 

    A few months on from releasing one of the albums of 2020, Head Above The Water, Galway singer-songwriter and TTA favourite Brigid Mae Power is back with a new charity single. An alternate version of the subtly majestic ‘I Had To Keep My Circle’, the song has been released to raise money for Cope Domestic Abuse Services in Galway. Posting on Twitter, Power said, “This song was written reflecting on how important it is to support women in situations of abuse and assault. It was written in the heat of experiencing a lack of support, understanding and even implications of…

  • Premiere: Gaze is Ghost – Wild Geese/Feather and Bone

    January 26, 2021 - By 

    We’re calling it now: 2021 is the year of Gaze is Ghost. The recording moniker of Northern Irish musician Laura McGarrigle, the project saw TTA favourite Keith Mannion aka Slow Place Like Home and Casey Miller get on board back in 2018. Two years on, the trio offer up two carefully-woven, wonderfully ruminative gems. Inspired by the “fragile beauty” of the Scottish coastline where McGarrigle currently live, ‘Wild Geese’ is equal parts gossamer and quietly defiant, McGarrigle’s cyclical patterns and recurring refrain of “I’ll try to do better” doubling as a mantra for future days. The full band ‘Feather and Bone’,…

  • Stream: Bad Operator & Artois – 130 University Street EP

    December 22, 2020 - By 

    If you’re in any way au fait with Irish drum & bass, you’ll most likely be familiar with Crilli. A Belfast clubbing institution, specialising in DnB, jungle and footwork, its residents and rotating cast of guests have been responsible for some downright legendary nights in venues including Black Box, Voodoo and the Menagerie. The address of the latter space – which sadly recently closed its doors after yet another rebirth – gives its name to the debut release by Crilli residents Bad Operator aka David Campbell and Artois, otherwise known as Seamus Barnett. Across four tracks, 130 University Street offers…

  • Stream: Fixity – Still Still

    August 10, 2020 - By 

    One of the island’s most consistently intriguing musical minds, Dan Walsh is a composer and drummer who has spent the last few years honing and expanding his hyper-explorative craft. Beyond performing with TTA favourites The Bonk and Ireland’s premier rock n’ roll band (their words – but who are we to disagree?) The Tan Jackets, his output as Fixity has been reliably nonpareil. On August 17th, Walsh will push further still via FIXITY 6, a new, seven-track release available on limited edition cassette. Featuring Muireann Levis of Elastic Sleep and Magdalena on theremin, and accompanied by visuals courtesy of David…