The latest in a spate of new material, Belfast electronic producer Chris Hanna AKA OneKnown has unveiled a new track, ‘Jektify’. Speaking of a forthcoming EP, titled Blue Galaxy, Hanna said, “I might just release it on Bandcamp as a Pay What You Want thing. I wanted the EP to be a bit spacey and weirder. Maybe I’m hanging out with Jack (Space Dimension Controller) too much.” Stream the track via Soundcloud below.
Forging heady spiels of stream of consciousness with Mingusian sax forays, open-ended punk abandon and skilfully loose improvisation, Belfast’s Robocobra Quartet are right up there with the country’s very best live acts. Ahead of supporting Not Squares at Belfast’s Bar Sub tomorrow night – and appearing at our second birthday show at Dublin’s Twisted Pepper on Saturday, May 2 – the Chris Ryan-fronted four-piece have unveiled ’80-88′. the lead single from their new EP, Bomber (“‘four songs about three people, two novels, a failed assassination attempt and a volunteer-run community arts space” – obviously). We’ll soon have a premiere of the second single from the…
Few Irish bands defy categorisation so impressively as Dublin instrumental four-piece Alarmist. The closest thing the country has come to (that is: bettering, if not matching) the likes of Battles, Maps & Atlases and Giraffes? Giraffes! – the band’s unravelling, math-tinged tracks are equally parts complex and cunning, meshing effects-laden guitar lines with skittering keyboard lines and consistently engaging percussion. Two years on from it featuring on their Pal Magnet EP, ‘Aztec Dreams’ by the band has finally been released with a fittingly hypnotic video courtesy of Cormac Murray & Daniel Staines. Triangles are very much still in, kids.
Having first reared its head as a demo back in early 2013, Fight Like Apes have unveiled ‘Pretty Keen on Centerfolds’, the first single from their eagerly-anticipated third studio album. Bursting with the band’s immediately recognisable, ridiculously catchy synth-pop shtick, it’s a hugely promising first release from the MayKay-fronted quartet’s as-of-yet untitled new album, set for release this year.The album will be released fives on from the Andy Gill-produced The Body of Christ and the Legs of Tina Turner. Stream ‘Pretty Keen on Centrefolds’ below. Single artwork by Loreana Rushe. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/197601133″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
Just over a year on from released the exquisite Leafy Stiletto – one of our Irish albums of 2014 no less – Dublin’s Paddy Hanna has returned in something of a new guise with ‘Austria’, a jangle-pop mini-masterstroke evoking the likes of Morrissey, The Divine Comedy and Elvis Costello. There’s also a vague hint of Joe Dolan in there too but we’ll pretend we didn’t hear that. Or will we? Anyway, we’re very fond of ‘Austria’ and wouldn’t even remotely kick up a fuss if Hanna deciding to dander down this sonic path for an eon and an age. Paired with a b-side,…
Conjuring the likes of Midlake, The Antlers (and in its most dusky passages, The Twilight Sad), Dublin’s Orchid Collective have released their debut single, ‘Figure It Out’. Disentangling over five minutes of delay-laden atmosphere, the song – mixed by Stephen Dunne and mastered by Richard Dowling – is a subtly anthemic first gambit from a band whose reputation on the live front grows in stature by the week. The band officially released ‘Figure It Out’, with supported from We Raise Bears and Joey Gavin, at Dublin’s Whelan’s on Thursday night (February 12). Stream the track below.
With a title immediately conjuring the titular despondence of The Twilight Sad or a Mark Kozelek album track, Dublin’s Tandem Felix have unveiled the mellow, Americana-tinged ‘Nothing I Do Will Ever Be Good Enough’. Having featured in the third issue of our monthly physical magazine, the band – sporting a new line-up and notable shift in sound – will release their new EP, Comma, on Trout Records on April 27. Read our feature on the label in the second issue of our magazine online here.
Having received its premiere on Zane Lowe’s Radio 1 programme last night, All Tvvins are streaming their debut single, the totally triumphant ‘Thank You’. Last month we summed up the track – namely a live version released last year – as “A charming and bewitching math-pop track released as a live video from the post-Adebisi supergroup. Whip-smart in the composition, and beautifully restrained in the delivery, it is a wonderful dichotomy of heart-warming melodies and existential uncertainty, sealed with searing, aching swell guitar.” The recorded version is just that and more – truly sublime.
Having unveiled his debut release – the eight-track Safe Haven – back in June, Belfast-based musicians James Bruce AKA OAKS has returned with ‘SG REX’. Clocking in over nine minutes, the track traverses all kinds of sonic territory, driven forward with a thoughtful restlessness, finally culminating in a wonderful, twisted throb. Stream the track via Bandcamp below. SG REX by Oaks
Jeremy Hickey AKA R.S.A.G. has returned with yet another wonderfully propulsive solo effort, ‘Don’t Move So Fast’. Driven by an urgent House beat and featuring Hickey’s ever Alan Vega-esque vocals, the track was produced by Hickey, Darkin and The Kilo 1977. R.S.A.G. plays Waterford’s Central Hall on Friday, December 5 and Dublin’s Grand Social with Plutonic Dust, Dear Desert and White Collar Boy on Friday, December 12. Stream ‘Don’t Move So Fast’ via Soundcloud below.