• A Litany of Failures: Volume IV is Announced

    August 9, 2023 - By 

    Irish compilation series A Litany of Failures, which features independent acts from all corners of the island, has just announced the pre-order and tracklisting for its fourth volume.  Set for release on double vinyl and digitally on September 8th, it’s available via Bandcamp. The compilation features 22 brand new, exclusive tracks from some of our favourite acts on the island, as well as some exciting new prospects. The double vinyl set once again features artwork by Pipe & Pallet, and the first 30 pre-orders feature a bespoke print from Belfast-based artist Phantom Powered Pixels.  The Litany of Failures series aims to document the grassroots music community…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 27th January

    January 27, 2023 - By 

    Taking in every corner of the island, here’s the very best tracks of the week from This Ship Argo, Perlee, Meltybrains, Myles McCormack, Ailsha and more This Ship Argo – Flowers, Sparks, Fireworks Flowers, Sparks, Fireworks by This Ship Argo Perlee – Lampshade Meltybrains? – You Myles McCormack – To Better All Things To Better All Things by Myles McCormack Jam Hades – The Edge Jam Hades · The Edge Of Regret Ailsha – Sucker Stoat – Let’s Be Strangers Seba Safe – Afterlife

  • Best Album & Single Shortlists for NI Music Prize Revealed

    September 30, 2021 - By 

    The Best Album and Best Single shortlists for this year’s Northern Ireland Music Prize have been revealed. Supported by PPL, the Best Album shortlist includes the likes of This Ship Argo’s Always The Bees: Never The Honey, Fir Wave by Hannah Peel (pictured), Arvo Party’s Inheritiance, Isles by Bicep and Into The Depths of Hell by Joshua Burnside. See the full list below. Andrew McGibbon – Northern Gothic Arvo Party – Inheritance Bicep – Isles CATALAN! – Veritas Dani Larkin – Notes for a Maiden Warrior Hannah Peel – Fir Wave Jealous of the Birds – Peninsula Joshua Burnside –…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – September 10th

    September 10, 2021 - By 

    As things look set to gradually open again, this week sees some key releases from the likes of Sive, Thumper, This Ship Argo, Elaine Mai & Sinéad White, Lisa Hannigan & Crash Ensemble, Let’s Set Sail, Vale, as well as the long-awaited collaborative album from Mick Flannery and Susan O’Neill. Mick Flannery & Susan O’Neill – In The Game This Ship Argo – The Ornament of the Lovestruck Heart The Ornament of the Lovestruck Heart by This Ship Argo Elaine Mai – Go Slow (feat. Sinéad White) Lisa Hannigan & Crash Ensemble – MCMXIV MCMXIV by Lisa Hannigan & Crash Ensemble…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – April 30th

    April 30, 2021 - By 

    This week’s refreshingly eclectic releases include Loah’s incredible National Poetry Day release, Irish Refugee Council fundraising compilation European Endless – featuring Arvo Party, The Bonk, Fixity, Whozyerman? and more – Ghostking Is Dead, Soda Blonde, and many more. Loah – The Body to the Soul The Body to the Soul by Loah Ghostking is Dead – Biceps Biceps by Ghostking Is Dead Various Artists – European Endless European Endless: 12 by European Endless Bedrooms – Afterglow EP Afterglow by Bedrooms Ódú – Men Like Me Soda Blonde – In The Heat of the Night Small Talk by Soda Blonde Dani Larkin –…

  • This Ship Argo – Always the Bees: Never the Honey

    February 16, 2021 - By 

    Belfast’s Aileen McKenna, aka This Ship Argo, named her new album, Always the Bees: Never the Honey, after an old Irish curse: “May you find the bees but not the honey”. With a vengeful origin encased in natural imagery, it is a fitting title for an album that dwells first on negative emotions, only to later dispel them through pastoral sonic escape. The electronic compositions across these nine-tracks are deceptively low-key. McKenna includes a run of instrumental tracks in the first half, which reward close listening. She pays attention to each track’s subtle development, with peripheral sounds reappearing as primary…

  • Stream: This Ship Argo – Hum

    January 15, 2021 - By 

    In recent years – and particularly in the last, thanks to Bandcamp – we’ve seen the rise of a wide net of self-produced superlative electronic artists. In the Northern Irish cul de sac, you have the increasingly world-beating Arvo Party, synthwave retromancer Alpha Chrome Yayo, and more recently, Aileen McKenna, AKA This Ship Argo has been cropping up on the radar with her singular brand of experimental electronic pop. At turns earworming, introspective and profoundly moving, TSA strikes a rare midpoint between densely-layered chamber pop, and ruminative minimalism. Her new single ‘Hum’ is out today, accompanied by alternate mixes from Arvo Party & A Cappella, following…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – July 3rd

    July 3, 2020 - By 

    It’s been a huge week, featuring new EPs from the likes of  MuRli, Arvo Party, And So I Watch You From Afar, Aislinn Logan and King Pallas, a bonus charity compilation of NI-based artists covering each other, as well as welcome returns from the likes of Fontaines DC, VerseChorusVerse, Gemma Dunleavy, Elaine Mai, Malojian, and many more. And in case you haven’t had it telegraphed by the independent acts of Ireland already today, Bandcamp are waiving all their takings until 8am on Saturday. MuRli – the CULTURE And So I Watch You From Afar – Odd Seal Successors by And So I Watch…