Category Archives: Music

Every kind of sound imaginable.

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Young Phantom – playing Connolly’s of Leap on Saturday

What you may need to know…

1. Young Phantom is the alter-ego of Cork-based Mark Mavambu. Growing up around a variety of music and pop-culture reference points, he’s parlayed their influence into a worldly-wise, cool and collected extension of his own personality.

2. After garnering attention as part of Tralee collective ApocalypsE, Mavambu has since set about creating a body of work encompassing hip-hop, spoken-word poetry, literature (his debut novel is currently in the writing), and fashion (as modelled in the pic above).

3. Streaming in its entirety at the link above is his first full-length, September. Though not his début proper (that’s due later this year), it’s a look at his and his collaborators’ fusion of hip-hop, electronic and ambient that underlies his stream-of-consciousness oratory.

4. Next appearing in Connolly’s of Leap this Saturday, as part of Word Up Collective’s second show at the venue, along with AikJ and Katie Laffan. 9pm, tenner door tax.

Verdict: One of the most exciting artists to emerge in Irish DIY/independent music in the last few years.

Young Phantom (YP)

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God is an Astronaut – rescheduled Dublin date & Cork date

What you may need to know…

01. With a career spanning nearly fifteen years and nigh-on grandfather status in the post-rock genre, Glen of the Downs’ favourite sons God is an Astronaut have continued to evolve and innovate.

02. One of the country’s most successful musical exports of the past two decades, the band last year announced a new deal with metal label Napalm Records, and subsequent worldwide touring.

03. Their most recent album, Helios/Erebus, is streaming in its entirety in the widget above, and available for download on its own, or in a frankly fantastically-priced bundle alongside the rest of their discography to date.

04. Before heading to North America throughout September, the band have two Irish shows: a rescheduled date for Whelan’s in Dublin on July 2nd, and Cork’s Cyprus Avenue on the 23rd.

Verdict: A phenomenal band that carry over all of their spacey, yet intricate sonic adventuring to their live show. Seldom seen in these parts anymore, and unmissable when they are.

God is an Astronaut

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He’s back.

Video editor, remix artist  Steve Collender (previously) writes:

The final X-Men movie is coming out next month. As a tribute to the franchise I’ve combined all of the X-Men movies into one epic music video (I left out X-Men 3 because it was the only bad one…).

The video features over 30 X-Men characters spanning 15 years in 3 minutes, with the action syncing up to the song Capital M-E by Taking Back Sunday.

Meanwhile..

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The ’00s emo outfit in question show their love.

Steve Collender

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ZASKA – Got to Go

What you may need to know…

1. Led by and named for frontman Max Zaska, this Dublin outfit has been garnering high praise for jazzy, forward-thinking funk and soul, and continues the momentum with new single Got to Go.

2. The accompanying video, streaming above, features a Countdown theme with a DIY vibe, and lots of Post-Its. Co-imagined, shot, and edited by Patrick Ryan.

3. The band launches Got to Go this Saturday with a date at The Sugar Club. Support from Kojaque. Tickets available here.

4. Fun fact, fact fans: people coming and going through the ranks over the years include Karen Cowley (Wyvern Lingo), Dylan Lynch (Little Green Cars), and some other obscure singer-songwriter… Hozier, or somesuch.

Verdict: Big grooves for them what wants them, even if they are little overly sunny for this time of year.

ZASKA

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Not Earth – released self-titled LP last week

What you may need to know…

1. Neither a band nor an album in the traditional sense, Not Earth comes about from a single four-hour recorded improv session in Cork’s Big Skin studio, featuring the trio of Dan Walsh (drums), Darren Keane (bass) and David O’Máthúna (synth).

2. Says Darren: “We’ve played in various bands over the years but first played together as a trio in 2014 at an improv night run by Dan. Something clicked then and we jammed a few times culminating in the recording session.”

3. Recorded, edited and engineered by Walsh, who cut the jams down to an album’s length, the resulting LP was mastered by Tim Fitzgerald (fka Twin Lights).

4. The album launched last night at Gulpd Cafe in Cork’s TDC, as part of Record Store Day weekend shenanigans, and is available for download from Bandcamp. This Sunday sees the Cork Improvised Music Club, under whose auspices the project’s initial jams occurred, host an open workshop in the same venue.

Verdict: Some fairly wild jams picked from the ether of improvisation. Spontaneity meets density and dexterity.

Cork Improvised Music Club

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Slow Moving Clouds – embarking on the Os Tour throughout April and May

What you may need to know…

1. Drawing on both Irish and Nordic traditions, Dublin-based Slow Moving Clouds present a rich fusion of sound and influence.

2. Comprised of Aki (vocals, nyckelharpa), Danny Diamond (fiddle, Strohviol) and Kevin Murphy (cello, vocals), Slow Moving Clouds adds Murphy’s depth and penchant for experimentation to an already-successful creative partnership.

3. Last November saw the band release debut record Os to critical acclaim, and recognition of their twist on the trad template leading to comparisons to contemporaries Lynched. Streaming above is the video to instrumental piece Devil’s Polska.

4. The band heads on tour to support the record in April & May: April 30th at the Triskel in Cork, May 5th in Dublin at Bello Bar, May 20th in Galway at The Crane Bar, and May 28 at Belfast’s Duncairn Centre.

Verdict: Slow Moving Clouds draw from individual and collective musical lexicons to create fearless and inventive music, binding the traditional with the experimental.

Slow Moving Clouds

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The Mighty Stef – playing farewell gigs in May

Here’s what you may need to know…

1. The Mighty Stef are a band, led by namesake Stefan Murphy. But after four albums, two EPs and a decade of gigging, they’re about to call it a day, announcing their final live dates earlier this year before assuming other projects.

2. Most recent album Year of the Horse, released in September 2014, picked up critical plaudits, and distribution via London tastemakers Rough Trade. The entire Mighty Stef discography is streaming here, a patchwork of punk, alternative, and assorted influences that maps the changes the band has undergone over the years.

3. Onward and upward for the band, however: the titular Stef is working on the debut album of new project COUNT VASELINE, Gary Lonergan is developing a live set for his solo electronic compositions, while Daniel Fitzpatrick is recording solo material with Tom Cosgrave (The Minutes) and running O’Donoghue’s Open Mic, one of Dublin’s oldest open-mic nights.

4. The band wind it up at the Empire Music Hall in Belfast on May 12, and say their goodbyes to the city that inspired the band’s existence on May 13 at Dublin’s Button Factory.

Verdict: Come out and show support for one of Irish music’s most enduring fixtures before they head for pastures new.

The Mighty Stef

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Caoimhín O’Raghallaigh – playing Carlow and Cóbh this month

Here’s what you may need to know…

1. Plying his craft on a 10-string violin known as the hardanger d’amore, Caoimhín treads the world’s stages as part of a variety of duos, as well as with trad outfits The Gloaming and This Is How We Fly.

2. Among these stages have been the Sydney Opera House, London’s Royal Albert Hall, and the Lincoln Centre in New York..

3. O’Raghallaigh recently became the artist-in-residence at the National Concert Hall, Dublin and will be working with collaborators on monthly live shows ’til June. All the info here.

4. Among a spate of upcoming gigs with The Gloaming and his NCH residency are a smattering of once-offs, including a May 14 show in Visual Carlow with Iarla O’ Lionáird, and a solo show on May 23 at Cobh’s Sirius Arts Centre.

Verdict: A unique instrument with rich, droning tones is Caoimhín’s tool of trade, and his mastery of it is testament to a true artistic calling, as he, among others including his The Gloaming bandmates and contemporaries, write a new chapter in trad’s history.

Caoimhín O’Raghallaigh

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Ealadha – Hurricanes

What you may need to know…

1. Cork post-metal/post-rock trio Ealadha have quietly set about impressing a lot of fans of the genre in the past year…

2. Not the least of whom are 2FM/2XM’s Dan Hegarty, who’s been somewhat of a champion for the band, giving their past two singles regular airtime.

3. Sticking their heads above the live parapet, the band gigged consistently throughout 2015, including a featured slot of IndieCork festival’s new music programme, and making the trip to Dublin for the Mother Fuzzer’s Ball.

4. Hurricanes is taken from upcoming debut EP Limit of Our Sight, the artwork for which was revealed yesterday on the band’s Facebook. More details impending.

Verdict: Atmospheric, soaring stuff that doesn’t spare their own tendencies toward heavyweight tones and riffs in pursuit of beauty.

Ealadha