The sun is out and the mighty Dott are back with another summery tune. ‘Bleached Blonde’ is lifted directly from their new album Heart Swell, set for release on Graveface Records next week. The song is a slice of fuzzy-pop written about Anna McCarthy’s love of surfing and her self confessed lack of real talent for it. It’s a treat. Play loud. Pre-order Heart Well here.
It’s been five years since debut LP Nothing Good Gets Away, and four since their last release, Unlearn, but back in style are Dublin indie rock Bouts, with ‘Face Up’. Influenced by the kind of breezy, hook-laden indie rock best placed to soundtrack the main stages of the Irish summer, its DIY video fittingly papers over the malaise with emphatic optimism. Of the song, frontman Barry Bracken says: “Face Up is a no-filter, punch the air plea for staring things down and pushing on through. Some songs you write, others just materialise. This seemed born ready. Its immediacy excites us as much now as those first moments playing it.…
The month of May is now upon us and with the referendum on the 8th amendment fast approaching we’re seeing a rise of support from artists across the country, urging the people of Ireland to vote YES. We’re pleased to present the Irish premiere of ‘Like a Girl’ by Dott, featuring a guest appearance from Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz. The video was made by Alison McDonnell-White and features members from Galway Pro-Choice, Galway Parents for Choice and Galway Roller Derby as well as lots of footage of recent marches for women’s rights in Galway. The band along with the many supporters in…
Just over a week from the release of a debut album that’s long been one of NI’s most anticipated, The Wood Burning Savages have just dropped a surprise video for single ‘I Don’t Know Why I Do It To Myself’. The video accompanies another rock anthem from an act seemingly set to posit themselves as spiritual and sonic successors to the proudly socialist, alternative punk torch long-carried by the Manic Street Preachers. Minimal, but effective, we see frontman Paul Connolly stroll from inauspicious, disenfranchised beginnings through to the coke-fuelled neoliberal dream – think Ken Loach taking a shortcut through Jordan Belfort. Debut LP Stability was produced by Start Together’s Rocky O’Reilly and…
Alongside cornerstones of a Limerick DIY scene that’s organically developed over the last few years, threaded with the spirit of independence shared by Anna’s Anchor, Cruiser, Eraser TV and Post-Punk Podge & The Technohippies, Casavettes have shared with us the video for new single, ‘Winter Smoke’. Channelling the similarly independent – and undeniably stronger – recesses of the Biffy Clyro back catalogue and more recent guitar-led post-hardcore & emo, it’s another step up for the outfit who debuted back in 2015. It’s also further evidence of the organic development of an integral, genuine community founded by artists and fans in a corner of Ireland that’s too often overlooked. ‘Winter Smoke’ was…
One of the finest to sprout from Limerick’s DIY scene, Eraser TV have some lo-fi scuzz for you this lazy Sunday, in the form of ‘NYP’. It’s the first single from the as-yet-untitled follow-up to their 2017 debut EP Buzzfeed Depression Quiz. Sonically, it’s a direct descendent of idiosyncratic 90s guitar rock a la Dinosaur Jr melded with the anxious excitement of the Dismemberment Plan; add that to its modern indie-punk & emo tint and you’re left with a sound that could’ve fallen off the shelves of the Exploding In Sound catalogue. Where the wartime paranoia video for experimental previous epic ‘Golden Boy‘ was steeped in deeply affecting, this kitschy Eurodance throwback visual accompaniment…
Photo by Silvio Severino Propelled by paranoid immediacy, we’re pleased to unveil the visual feast that is the video for ‘Avert Your Eyes’ by Cork psych-tinged post-punk outfit Any Joy. When it comes to psychedelia, lyrical content commonly takes a vague supporting role, but as we said in our 18 For ’18 piece, it’s the throughline that ties the band’s concise, yet sprawling 2017 debut LP, Cycles together, as well as delineating them from many of their genre contemporaries. Created by New York-based commercial director, animator & collagist Mac Premo, the video is an attention span-grabbing visual overload that could as easily double as psychedelic propaganda masquerading as a Visit Modern Ireland tourist board ad. Borrowing as…
The name Tracy Bruen will be a familiar one to many who have spent some time in the heart of Galway. A singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, theatre director and actor, her music blurs the lines between folk, pop, prog and classical, as well as theatrical influences. A keen eye will also know her as the woman behind the Galway’s legendary Roisin Dubh Open Mic night. Set to embark on a national and European tour from tomorrow, Bruen is back with the video for recent single ‘Fall Away’, a highlight from her ten-track debut album, Mirror. Confronting “a woman’s right to bodily autonomy and speaks against…
Leftfield pop duo Blue Americans have just lifted the cloche on the video for ‘Apparition’, their fourth single in five months, and it’s once more a pristine, self-produced slice of vibing, somnambulant pop that begs to be listened to in a warmly-lit bedroom, well into the early AM. As with the singles that have preceded it, we’ve also found much allure in the genuinely leftfield, exploratory B-side, with Danny Ball production transforming Platt’s vocal on ‘Beetroot (What If I Was 1?)’ into very real moment of yearning. It’s out now on their own label, Oil Tape Records, ahead of the release of their debut album later this year. They’ve nailed it on…
Sea Pinks frontman Neil Brogan reflects on the pleasures and slight pitfalls of compiling and releasing new compilation Minimum Wage – BBC Sessions (& Others). See below for video premiere for lead single ‘Minimum Wage’. A few months ago we went into a studio in Amsterdam and recorded three songs. We were on tour at the time and it seemed like a good thing to do on our day off. When I came to think about what to do with these tracks I remembered we had recorded some other songs for the BBC. After being broadcast just once years ago most…