Tag Archives: indie

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John Blek and the Rats – Cork indie/pop

What you may need to know…

01. Long-running, underrated road warriors of Leeside-based guitar noises, are John Blek and his Rats.

02. After an extended period of solo touring around Europe, the band is back on the road with an extensive transnational run of dates.

03. Streaming above is the video for last year’s single Dead Friends, taken from second band album Borders.

04. They perform this Sunday at the Cork Opera House, as part of Right Here, Right Now festival, in a double-headliner with The Shaker Hymn.

Thoughts: Weighty, folk-tinged guitar-pop tempered with a double-dose of reality.

John Blek and the Rats

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The one that got away, the misspent youth, the late nights winding on. The thoughts of the late-stage twenty-something feeling that vim and vigour go past them. It’s the crux of single Let Go, by songwriter Final Boss of My Twenties.

Writes Danny Carroll:

Final Boss Of My Twenties is the well-chosen moniker of Simon Maguire. The twenty-eight year old Dubliner has been many things in his life – a gardener, barman, shelf-stacker and admin office drone – negotiating the precarious employment prospects of a philosophy graduate post global crash. Looking into his thirties and increasingly feeling his youth slip away, Maguire has now chosen to face his final boss – songwriting. Attending the BIMM School Of Music, Maguire honed his craft, arriving at a sound that evokes literate 80s crooners such as Julian Cope and Morrissey.

Video directed by Sean Gallagher, camera by Joe van Velzen.

Final Boss of My Twenties

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Hot CopsBelfast indie/alternative

What you may need to know…

01. Washed-out, jaded Americana-esque alt-rock? Right this way, please, to Belfast poster boys Hot Cops.

02. They’ve been busy in the last year or so, with a pair of 7″ releases via Paper Trail Records, enroute to more touring and releases in 2017.

03. Streaming above is new single Dumbbo, with b-side Auto, available for download and on pink 7″ from their Bandcamp.

04. Catch them next in Cork on the 22nd of April, in a free show at the Crane Lane Theatre. 8.30pm, with support from fellow Northy noisemakers Junk Drawer. An Alliance Promotions™ production.

Thoughts: A contemporary, disengaged, wonderfully bleary-eyed take on the old slacker tropes.

Hot Cops

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Laurie ShawCork/Wirral guitar-pop peddler

What you may need to know…

01. So, how many albums did you record and release by the time you were twenty-two years old? If the answer is “over 57”, you’re probably Cork-based Wirral man Laurie Shaw.

02. Having resided in Kenmare, where the surrounding atmosphere gave Shaw the space to create in such a rapid-fire fashion, he’s now in Cork city, with his band The Swamp People. Themes vary from love & non-league soccer to alternative soundtracks to popular TV dramas.

03. Streaming above is a preview of Shaw’s next album, The Great British Night Out. Recorded over Christmas, it’s releasing this week via his Bandcamp, and on super-limited handmade CD.

04. Catch Shaw live with The Swamp People on Thursday 13th at Gulpd Cafe in Cork, launching the album, his fifty-something-th full-length(?). No support act.

Thoughts: A musical renaissance man, Shaw moves between frames of pop-music reference with the greatest of ease. Once you get over having wasted your own teens and twenties by comparison, Shaw’s output is immensely enjoyable.

Laurie Shaw

Deep Sky ObjectsCork/Kerry alt-rock

What you may need to know…

01. Big riffs and dirty bass-tones emerge from the most recent studio excursion from Cork-based trio Deep Sky Objects.

02. Having emerged a few years back, the band have been steadily gigging around Cork city, with the odd excursion home to Kerry, including last year’s K-Fest in Killorglin.

03. Streaming above is single Desire, the first in a series of monthly singles leading up to August, to be accompanied by UK and Irish summer touring.

04. Catch them at Whelan’s in Dubland on the 15th, and back in Cork city’s Brú Bar on the 22nd.

Thoughts: A tighter, more elastic take on stadium-filler indie/alt, sans the bullshit. Good hustle.

Deep Sky Objects

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Come On Live Longsoundscapes and breathy vox from Dublin

What you may need to know…

01. Last time we checked in on Dublin four-piece Come on Live Long, they’d just launched single For the Birds with a gig at the Unitarian Church in Dublin.

02. Since then, they’ve been busy preparing their follow-up album to 2013’s Everything Fall, while vocalist Louise Gaffney also contributed to the sublime Glow, on Wicklow math-rockers Enemies‘ final album Valuables.

03. Streaming above is the video for new single Sum of its Parts, with footage taken by the band from the recording process.

04. It’s taken from upcoming sophomore album In the Still, available for pre-order on vinyl and streaming from May 19th.

Thoughts: A glimpse of something that could be absolutely breathtaking, from the less-is-more school of composition.

Come On Live Long

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Saint CaoilianCork music superman polishes his halo

What you may need to know…

01. Since we last checked in with Shaker Hymn/Southern Hospitality Board/Quarter/regular disc-jockeying man Caoilian Sherlock, he’s met the minimum requirements to formally receive sainthood before embarking on his solo career in earnest.

02. Himself and Leeside music omnipresence Mr.K have been jamming under the Worm name and have started Small Town Disco, a wee label between them, as reported last week.

03. Streaming above is the video for single I’ll Be a Fool for You, premiered last week over at Nialler9. It’s the leadoff single for Faraway, available May 5th through Small Town Disco.

04. Catch him in Dubland on April 6th in Whelan’s, providing support for Marlene Enright on her tour for album Placemats and Second Cuts.

Thoughts: One of Irish music’s real renaissance men; an artist, curator and enthusiastic spectator in equal measure.

Saint Caoilian

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Cat Palacetextured pop from Dubland

What you may need to know…

01. Cat Palace is a reverb-laden, poppy, vaguely shambolic front for songwriter/vocalist David Blaney and various collaborators.

02. Emerging in earnest in 2015 with two extended-players, the band, fleshed out by long-term collaborator Christopher Barry and Enemies man Oisín Trench, has been between Dublin and Kentucky getting the last touches in on a debut long-player.

03. Streaming above is the video for new single Peddle It, a tragicomic rumination on routine, sustainability of music and all that attends.

04. Having somehow avoided immediate bankruptcy to pay Myles Manley the going rate for the advance on new stuff, Little L Records are releasing the album, entitled Why Don’t You // Why Don’t You, Go Off, next month.

Thoughts: Melancholy, but not without a sideways smirk, and plenty for fans of the wider indie-rock diaspora aside from reverb heads and shoegazers.

Cat Palace

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Some more new Irish music for the morning that’s in it, courtesy of electronic/indie outfit Columbia Mills, with a new live video for new single Battles.

Writes the band:

It was shot live in the RHA, when they kindly let us in to film and make noise in the Dr. Tony Ryan Gallery room. The art is all by Leah Hewson, who is an upcoming artist and an old friend of the band who is doing all the artwork for the debut album.

The video was directed by Peter Kingston and is the first in a series of three live videos we will be releasing with our album singles.

We thought it would be cool for people to see and hear what we sound like live, rather than using the studio recording which is widely available on steaming services, as live is where we feel we are strongest.


Columbia Mills

Cassavettes

CasavettesLimerick alternative upstarts

What you may need to know…

01. A pensive, post-hardcore take on the broad alternative/indie sound is offered up by Limrock upstarts Casavettes.

02. Emerging in the latter half of 2014, the band has steadily built up a presence in their home city with single Maybe Someday and extended-player The Difference and the Distance.

03. Streaming above is new single Reunion, released last week via the band’s Bandcamp, accompanied by sleepy b-side In April.

04. Catch them next on April 7th in Limerick, supporting Anna’s Anchor at the Loft venue in a full-band show, with Empty Lungs and Life Goals alongside them on the bill.

Thoughts: Dense in their heavier moments, and weighing heavy even in moments of relative levity, “evocative” might even be too stock a word for these lads.

Casavettes