• Watch: Just Mustard – Frank

    With their singular brand of miasmic, trip-hop-inspired sorcery, the rise of Dundalk’s Just Mustard over the last few months has been a real pleasure to see. The latest milestone in their ascent is the release of ‘Frank’, a track that has emerged as something of a peak from the band’s scintillating live sets as of late. Accompanying the single release is Tim Shearwood’s video. Frontwoman Katie Ball said, “We thought it would be interesting to use stop motion animation to emphasise the broken rhythms of the song. Every character and prop in the video and their interactions represents a different musical or thematic…

  • Watch: VerseChorusVerse – INTRO (A Bandwidth Film)

    2018 was a busy year from Belfast-based jack of all trades (and master of many) Tony Wright aka VerseChorusVerse. As well as publishing his first book, the North coast musician, solo artist and ex-guitarist/founding member of And So I Watch You From Afar was made an artist-in-residence at the MAC. During that time, Will McConnell of Bandwidth popped by to capture Wright in his element. The result is INTRO, a candid, 22-minute film that hones in on the nuance and heart of Wright’s craft via stripped-back performance, improvised guitar sounds and snippets from the aforementioned first book. Framed by the…

  • Watch: The Man Whom – Nothing Gained (Live)

    Ian Doyle aka The Man Whom is an artist whose craft weaves together acoustic balladry with an ambient-folk sensibility. Having been quiet since 2011’s The Greatest Event LP, the Wexford singer-songwriter has returned with a gossamer tale that delves into the mind of the songwriter struggling with the devastating effects of recession. “I wrote Nothing Gained in the middle of the last recession in Ireland when its full effects had become apparent,” Doyle said. “Working in the construction sector up to that point the recession hit hard. Luckily for me and my family, we managed to struggle through. Unlike others around us who had…

  • Watch: Landless – Via Extasia (Live at St Joseph’s Church)

    If you’ve managed to catch them live recently, you’ll know that Dublin/Belfast-based vocal quartet Ruth Clinton, Meabh Meir, Sinead Lynch and Lily Power AKA Landless are a force to be reckoned with. Last week, the foursome effortlessly brought Belfast’s Sunflower to instant pin-drop silence. Hosted by the Sunflower Folk Club, it marked the first date of the foursome’s current run of Irish dates, which also took in Cork’s Quarter Block Party yesterday. A highlight from the foursome’s stellar debut album, Bleaching Bones, ‘Via Extasia’ reveals the wonderfully daedal arc and flow of the quartet’s traditional craft. It’s something that’s doubly on display on Joe…

  • Premiere: TAU – Craw

    TAU is the collective project of Berlin-based Irishman Shaun Mulrooney, an artist who refers to his psych-soaked, genre-mangling experimentalism as “medicine music”. It’s a term that fits well: also member of Dead Skeletons and Berlin Kraut conjurers Camera, Mulrooney’s sorcerous craft as TAU – which is strongly influenced by his interest in what lies beyond both the eye and the veil – carries with it a strong and slow-burning anagogic air. New single ‘Craw’ is a potent case in point. Featuring a sublime video, co-directed with Kyle Ferguson (who also filmed and edited the accompaniment), it’s a song that traces the dense…

  • Watch: Bouts – Love’s Lost Landings (Part 2)

    Next week, Bouts will release their highly-anticipated second album, Flow. It’s an release that finds the Dublin quartet distilling their star-shaped, and instantly recognisable brand of indie rock down to nine tracks. Doubling up as the long-awaited full-length follow-up to 2013’s Nothing Good Gets Away, the album – which was recorded by Fiachra McCarthy in Dublin – is an emphatic return effort at a time when carefully-crafted guitar music is experiencing a long-overdue renaissance. Coming off the back of singles ‘Face Up’ and ‘Love’s Lost Lost Landings (Part 1)’, the newly-released ‘Love’s Lost Landings (Part 2)’ is an irresistible shoegaze-leaning burst revolving around Barry Bracken’s…

  • Watch: JyellowL – True Colors

    Ahead of what we expect to be a strong year for Word Up Collective, JyellowL has unveiled the video for new single, ‘True Colors’. Taken from his latest EP, Me n Me Too, slick production and breathless bars meld for one of the strongest efforts from the Dublin-based rapper, aka Jean-Luc Uddoh, to date. We’re told, “The song is about becoming aware of the shadiness in the world and calling it as is but also exposing yourself for masking moments of vulnerability with exuberant confidence, hiding your true self behind the bravado.” Check out the video – and upcoming JyellowL tour…

  • Watch: That Snaake – Scofflaw // Sisyphus

    Remember that time we premiered the mighty ‘Scofflaw // Sisyphus’ by Dublin noise rock meddlers That Snaake? Two years on, the Paul O’Connor-fronted band are back with its suitably singular video. According to the band, the video is: a) About the budget-nightmare world of the Irish music scene b) Designed to be viewed on mobile devices as is the way of the future c) Taken from the release In The Court of the Baby Kyng out now on Little L records That’s the lowdown and you’re all the better for knowing it.

  • Watch: Sweat Threats – Suffocate

    London-based Irish duo Matthew Sutton (Tayne) and Niall Jackson (Bouts/Swimmers Jackson) AKA Sweat Threats know a thing or two about striking a balance between trouncing post-punk and pit-starting party music. The third single to be taken from their forthcoming EP, Sweet Treats, ‘Suffocate’ fits the aforementioned remit and then some. Accompanied with DIY visuals, it’s a typically pulverizing effort that doesn’t slack on the earworms. Sweet Treats is out via Wonky Karousel Records on October 13 (Cassette Store Day, no less.) Sweat Threats play tomorrow The Victoria E17 in Walthamstow tomorrow (Wednesday 12th) night.

  • Watch: Tristan Da Cunha – Opa

    You know what’s lovely and accomplished to nth degree? The debut single from Co. Wicklow’s Tristan Howard AKA Tristan Da Cunha. A woozy, snug-as-hell swell of homespun bedroom-pop, it marries sleepyheaded hip-hop instrumentalism via intent-drenched, longing lo-fidelity. Long story short: it’s one of our Irish songs of the year so far. Directed by Howard and Leslie Sharpe, and edited by Sam Zarrin, check out its video below.