Category Archives: Music

Every kind of sound imaginable.

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Jar Jar Jr. – DIY beats from Cork

What you may need to know…

01. Jar Jar Jr (or ｊａｒ ｊａｒ ｊｒ, to use the proper nomenclature) is the nom-de-plume of Cork beatmaker Robert O’Halloran.

02. He’s amassed quite the cult following for himself, particularly in the last year, where fan-made videos of his tracks have racked up massive views, including over 300,000 for fan visuals for his track ambitions.

03. The wider music internet has taken notice, with playlist site/aggregator Indie Shuffle placing him in their hip-hop best-of for 2016, alongside DJ Shadow, Chance the Rapper and Jurassic 5. As you do.

04. Streaming above is the video for ah well, released last month via his own Soundcloud, and featuring UK rapper/poet Looms. Visuals directed by Aleks Podhorowska.

Thoughts: Progressing from jazzier beatmaking to lo-fi compositions and collaborations in recent times, Jar Jar Jr.’s 2016 surely serves as a portent for bigger things this year.

Jar Jar Jr.

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The line-up for South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas is taking shape, and today’ saw the announcements for the complement of Irish artists headed over with Music in Ireland.

Artists of note include neo-soul vocalist LOAH (pictured), jazzcore headwreckers Robocobra Quartet, Northern folk artists Ciaran Lavery & Jealous of the Birds, and Dublin outfit Cloud Castle Lake.

Full announcement and more over at Nialler9.

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The shortlist for the recently-rechristened RTÉ Choice Music Prize is out.

Previous winners in recent years have included SOAK, The Gloaming and Villagers, with former gong-holders including The Divine Comedy, Two Door Cinema Club and Jape.

This year’s shortlist:

All Tvvins – IIVV (Warner Music)

Bantum – Move (Self Released)

Wallis Bird – Home (Mount Silver / Caroline International)

The Divine Comedy – Foreverland (Divine Comedy Records)

Lisa Hannigan – At Swim (Hoop Recordings)

Katie Kim – Salt (Art For Blind Records)

James Vincent McMorrow – We Move (Faction Records)

Overhead, The Albatross – Learning to Growl (Self Released)

Rusangano Family – Let The Dead Bury The Dead (Self Released)

We Cut Corners – The Cadences Of Others (Delphi)

To mark the occasion, RTÉ 2fm is playing all Irish music, all day, until midnight, with a CMP special at 8pm.

By the way – Broadsheet’s tip for the top?

Rusangano Family, one of our joint Albums of the Year from 2016.

Stream all the entrants at the website.

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Strangefish – Irish hip-hop superteam from the archives

What you may need to know…

01. Strangefish was/is a collaborative effort between Northern emcee Jee4ce, Belfast beatmaker SertOne, and Limrock cutman(s) Deviant & Naive Ted, operational between 2012 and 2013.

02. This self-titled E.P. was assembled inbetween shiftwork and fits of existential crisis in bedrooms in Liverpool, Dublin and Edinburgh, with ideas and bits flung back and forth over the interwebs.

03. It’s streaming and available for download in the widget above, releasing via Liverpudlian label Fly High Society.

04. The blurb/copy accompanying this record states that this is the “first compilation” from the outfit, implying either more archive material or fresh cuts down the road.

Thoughts: With the recognisable sonic fingerprint of each participant evident, this extended-player provides plenty for Irish hip-hop heads to dig into, while the EP’s digs into psychedelia and playfulness ought to appeal to first-timers.

Strangefish

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Lighght – Oddball electronic noises from Cork

What you may need to know…

01. Cork musician Éamon Ivri makes sounds under the moniker of Lighght.

02. The project has been in development for about a year, working on it when not sessioning for 12-15-headed funk monster Quangodelic, or running Cork community nightclub Diffract.

03. Streaming above is free-download single What U Need, available now via Lighght’s Soundcloud.

04. The next Diffract night happens on the 28th at the Kino in Cork, headlined by a live appearance by YMLT featurees ooSe.

Thoughts: Off-kilter soundings from the fringes of a booming Leeside electronic scene.

Lighght

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Looking for Change – Just Mikey

Neil Buckley writes:

Six weeks ago, inspired by a freezing night, Mick posted a video on Facebook appealing to people to support the homeless campaign. It was picked up across multiple news and media outlets, and since then the Home Sweet Home campaign came to prominence.
We’re delighted to present the song that was inspired by that original video. Filmed over the course of a day with the Home Sweet Home supporters, it’s our way of providing support to the objectives of the movement in the best way we can as artists.

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REPLETE – Kilkenny electronica

What you may need to know…

01. Replete is Kilkenny-based electronic composer Peter Lawlor, releasing material through American techno label Always Human.

02. Having been on the scene in some capacity or other for a few years now (your writer seems to remember streaming some old stuff on ye olde Drop-d.ie), it comes as a surprise that his first physical release only occurred recently, compiling some older material with an EP’s worth of fresh kill.

03. The (fairly amusingly-monikered) Zizek at the Discotheque is streaming now from Always Human Tapes’ Bandcamp page, premiering this week on The Thin Air.

04. As the label’s name might suggest, it’s available for download and purchase (plus shipping from the States!) on cassette.

Thoughts: No-nonsense beats and pieces from a consistent producer who’ll hopefully finally get his dues in 2017.

REPLETE

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Bisect – multicultural hardcore outfit releasing new split 12″

What you may need to know…

01. With band members of Polish, Italian and Irish backgrounds, Bisect’s no-nonsense, d-beat rage is fuelled by a diverse range of outlooks and musical influences.

02. Gigging around Ireland the past few years, the band emerged in earnest with debut full-length We Are The Migrants, self-released in 2013, a sturdy, socially-conscious hardcore broadside with unusually polished production.

03. Streaming above is their half of a split extended-player with fellow Cork-based destroyers Horse, co-released in December through the band’s self-release label, Almost Records.

04. The other half, including Horse’s YMLT-featured single Dragging, can be streamed on that band’s own Bandcamp.

Thoughts: Since being slimmed down in a personnel shift, Bisect have moved to focus their sound, and it shows.

Bisect

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From top: Samoa Joe and Finn Balor: Finn’s tweet

Former WWE Universal Champion Finn Bálor on Twitter yesterday, repping Miltown Malbay beatmaker Mankyy and his debut E.P. to wrestling rival/colleague Samoa Joe.

The lad’s so good, he’s brought about peace between two lads that only recently settled their score in a steel cage.

Fergal Devitt, the man behind the facepaint, is a Bray, Co. Wicklow native, and a renowned Irish music nerd, as some may recall, going as far as having Naive Ted write his old baddie gang’s theme tune. He’s had plenty of time to get caught up, while out with a shoulder injury.

Rumble!

You May Like This: Mankyy

Previously on Broadsheet: Finn Bálor