• Stream: The Thin Air’s Death Culture Blues #3 on Dublin Digital Radio

    December 16, 2016 - By 

    Despite a little technological hitch, we returned with Death Culture Blues on Dublin Digital Radio last night spinning two hours of psychedelic, experimental and ambient sounds in the varied vein of Füxa, William Basinski and The For Carnation. Check out the full playlist (which, it seems, features no less than four umlauts) and listen back to the show in full via DDR’s Mixcloud below. Death Culture Blues returns to Dublin Digital Radio on Thursday, December 22 from 8-10pm. 1. Silver Apples – Ruby 2. Bruce Haack – Party Machine 3. Amon Düül – Yeti (Improvisation) 4. Michael Turtle – Spooky Boogie…

  • Stream: Switzerland – Starting Out

    December 15, 2016 - By 

    On the cusp of releasing their debut album, Long Gone, via Popical Island in January, Dublin quartet Switzerland have resurfaced with its lead single, ‘Starting Out’. Conjuring the likes of R.E.M. and The Byrds and The Cars in unison (as stated in the press release – absolutely spot on, we reckon), the track is a crisply-produced, wonderfully earworming effort hinting at special things for their full-length. According to the band, the single is “about finding your way in a new place and about making the most of what you have.” Hear, hear. We have this one on repeat. Dig below and keep an…

  • Stream: Deadman’s Ghost – Unsaid

    November 21, 2016 - By 

    Back in April we shared ‘Insula’, a new cut from Belfast musician and producer Jason Mills AKA Deadman’s Ghost. Betraying some sonic lineage to the likes of Beak> and Tortoise, it promised the unravelling of new territory and – we hoped – some new material from the multi-instrumentalist artist. Now, seven months on, Mills has just announced details of his forthcoming third full-length release, Hypocritical Oath, which promises to be an album in which “dark tales, ambient swells, field recordings, ominous electronics and banjo twangs form part of a sonic tapestry”. Featuring additional production by David Baxter, Barry Lynn and Simon…

  • Stream: Marlene Enright – Alchemy

    November 11, 2016 - By 

    Beyond her work as a member of The Hard Ground, Cork’s Marlene Enright occupies a wonderfully spectral – and increasingly promising – place within the realm of Irish alt-folk and dream-pop. Conjuring the very best, inward-leaning hallmarks of acts like Mazzy Star and Sparklehorse, her new single ‘Alchemy’ is a truly accomplished effort weaving Enright’s command of forging vulnerability with mettle, all framed with some sublime production. Enright plays the following Irish dates in November and December. November 19: supporting John Blek in John Cleere’s Bar & Theatre, Kilkenny November 25: supporting John Blek in Coughlan’s Bar, Cork November 26: supporting…

  • Premiere: SpudGun – We Share This Space

    November 8, 2016 - By 

    Formed in January, Dublin based “music band from space” Spudgun smash elements of psyche rock, funk, jazz and punk to create something really quite captivating. The octet are now premiering the latter half of their debut release We Share This Space, an ambitious piece of theatrical noise preceded by the the cacophonous ‘Sandpaperteeth’. Fans of The Mars Volta, Mr. Bungle or the idea of Girl Band with saxophones will be immediately drawn to the sound of this “space goo” as the group refer to it.  The group will be giving the release its live debut this Friday November 11th at fellow Dubliners Beach‘s “Some Sort of Gathering” at The…

  • Stream: Matua Trap – Glossolalia

    November 1, 2016 - By 

    Set to play the next live Thin Air Tuesday Throwdown at Belfast’s Lavery’s on next Tuesday with Mons Olympus (it’s free entry and everything) Belfast prog trio Matua Trap have unveiled their new single, ‘Glossolalia’. The first cut to be taken from the band’s forthcoming debut album The Thunderous Silence, it’s a potent epistemological rumination betraying the band’s ever-growing knack for forging deft musicianship with cogitative lyricism courtesy of guitarist/vocalist Steven Butler. The track was recorded, mixed and mastered by bassist/vocalist and drummer James Bruce at Great Northern Productions and Snakehole Studios. Glossolalia by Matua Trap

  • Stream: Kieran O’Brien – Won’t You

    October 12, 2016 - By 

    Rediscovery is a central concept when listening to the music of Kieran O’Brien. The songwriter spent four years after finishing university living in Dublin and Athlone but found himself drawn back to life closer to ocean in his home county of Galway, thus re-emersing himself in the place that had inspired his musical awakening. Reconnecting with home and the associated memories and emotions both positive and negative therein became a fuel for O’Brien to re-awaken the songwriter within him. This “un-freezing” as he describes it came to be defined by his life by the ocean and the memories of youth that…

  • Stream: Shrug Life – Your Body

    September 22, 2016 - By 

    We in the Republic don’t like to talk about the big things, and if our history of women’s rights is anything to go by, we especially don’t like to talk about the big things that involve women. As Dublin gears up for Saturday’s March For Choice, jangle poppers Shrug Life have decided to celebrate the event with their latest single, the 8th amendment baiting ‘Your Body’. Leaving subtly and nuance at the door, the trio launch into their polemic with the jugular strike of the track’s opening line: “Your body is not your body/ It’s the property of church and state”.…

  • Stream: Chris Hanna – Twitch Set

    September 16, 2016 - By 

    Comprised entirely of new material made in the two/three months ahead of the appearance, Belfast producer Chris Hanna has released a stream of his hour-long set at Twitch last week. Also set to make an appearance at Culture Night in Belfast tonight at Left (well worth swinging by if you get the chance) have a stream of Hanna on fierce form below.

  • Stream: Lighght – What U Need

    September 14, 2016 - By 

    Over the past year or so, mysterious Cork based producer Lighght has been steadily building a collection of dark, ambient, sometimes industrial electronica, with each new composition feeling like a movement in a much more driven direction. Beginnings with tracks like ‘Oppen’ and ‘Croesus Pieces’ were sparse but were enticing in their intent, droning backdrops providing stable bases for muffled melodies. Three months ago saw the unveiling of ‘Drown’, a track which saw the artist veering into more dub, garage influenced territory while still hanging onto the ambient drones. Now Lighght reveals ‘What U Need’, yet another step forward in the artists’ technical…