Tag Archives: Ireland

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Jogging – Dublin post-hardcore lads back from a break

What you may need to know…

01. At last, an excuse to talk about Jogging, a power-trio with a deft way with riffing, alongside belted, barking vocals.

02. While Minutes, released in 2010 on the sadly-missed Richter Collective label/co-op, came in for critical acclaim, its follow-up Take Courage truly shines as one of the best albums of the current of Irish music, a collection of taut, whipcrack broadsides.

03. Streaming above is a live performance from 2012 for the Practice Tapes webseries, where the lads perform Take Courage standout Stand Still with no frills or extras.

04. Appearing next, for the first time in a bit, alongside No Spill Blood and Horse at the Bello Bar on March 31st.

Thoughts: Math-rock-friendly hardcore, with indie-pop sensibilities. If you think that sounds convoluted, just dig in.

Jogging

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Farah Elle – Dublin singer/songwriter/pianist

What you may need to know…

01. Farah El Neihum, a.k.a. Farah Elle, is an alt-pop songwriter living and working in Dubland, with a Libyan background.

02. Graduating from BIMM in Dublin, Farah Elle kicked off in earnest in 2015. Debut single So Scarlet was followed by last year’s single Silk, and attendant critical acclaim. Also recently appeared on Bantum‘s Move album, on standout track Feel it Out.

03. Streaming above is Curfew, taken from her appearance at the December installment of Sofar Sounds in Dublin, alongside backing vocalists Cat Smyth and Fiona Harte.

04. Appearing at the 50th-episode special of Headstuff.org’s No Encore podcast, happening at the Workman’s Club on the 2nd of March. Also on the bill: We Cut Corners, Bantum and Windings performing live, and guest appearances from Michael Pope (Le Galaxie) and MayKay (Other Voices/Fight Like Apes).

Thoughts: Ridiculously talented, and with her whole career/body of work ahead of her, it’s surely only a matter of time before Farah Elle hits upon bigger things.

Farah Elle

Photo: Tara Thomas

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Look at that for a touring itinerary.

Cork/Wexford-based promotion/booking company Merakindie has a March/April jaunt lined up for three solo artists: Paula Cox, Paul Creane and The Man Whom, with a long and detailed list of non-traditional performance spaces alongside venues and theatres in uncommonly-toured towns.

Writes Emma Kelly:

“Although not exclusive to non-traditional music venues, we are choosing to put on shows in those special local independently run businesses who are keen be involved and support the indie culture of Ireland. This tour is all about community and collaboration, and is reflected by the artists themselves, who will be singing on each other’s material. By doing things this way, we want to shine a positive light on independent Ireland.”

Your thoughts on music outside of the main cities in Ireland, and your favourite non-venue music spots below, please.

Merakindie

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Graveyard Dirt – Donegal doom

What you may need to know…

01. Donegal trio Graveyard Dirt are venerable veterans of weighty riffage, as first seen on 1995 demo tape Of Romance and Fire.

02. Reuniting in 2007 after disbanding years previously, the band got straight to work on debut E.P. Shadows of Old Ghosts.

03. Streaming above is the band’s most recent effort, 2015 extended-player My Scourge, My Plague. Available for download solo, or in a discounted bundle with the band’s other digital re-releases.

04. Headlining Galway’s Walpurgis Night VI on Bank Holiday Sunday April 30th, at the Loft Venue, alongside a roll-call of immensely hefty bands, among them TOME, Owlcrusher, Soothsayer, and Genuflection (the artists formerly known as RITES).

Thoughts: Time-honoured and battle-tested doom-metal, seemingly unwearied by the passing of time.

Graveyard Dirt in the Irish Metal Archive

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Slow Riot – post-punk from Limerick

What you may need to know…

01. Limerick trio Slow Riot have been working away on honing their post-punk/shoegazing haze since the last time we checked in with them (coincidentally on this week last year).

02. They’ve busied themselves in the meantime, with late-2016 single Absent Dreams clocking BBC Radio airplay and earning adoring glances from U.K. and Irish music press.

03. Streaming above is new single Pink December, officially released yesterday on all major online download and streaming outlets.

04. Having done the rounds of the U.K. in the latter months of last year, they’re now hunkered down to finish their debut long-player for the label, due later this year.

Thoughts: A cavernous atmosphere takes an introspective slice of post-punk and makes something more of it, stuck halfway between grooving and sludgy tones.

SLOW RIOT

Dowth

Dowth – folktronica from Dublin

What you may need to know…

01. Describing themselves as ‘mythical folk’, there’s more than a little modernity to Dublin duo Dowth.

02. This comes as no surprise to eagle-eared listeners: producer Tim Ording is better known as Exile Eye, one-half of trad-inflected hip-hop duo Melodica Deathship, while fiddler John Kelleher makes noise in outfits like Rats’ Blood, Burnchurch and GRIT.

03. Streaming above is their self-titled EP, released last November on digital download via Bandcamp and 12″ vinyl.

04. Doing a double-header of shows this weekend with psych/world beats man T-Woc. Friday night sees them play Jigsaw in Dublin with support from Catscars, while on Saturday, they head to Cork’s Kino theatre, with local support from Underling.

Thoughts: Their blurbs and self-descriptions deal in brevity, boiling their sound down to one word: ‘epics’. It’s hard to argue with that assessment – there’s ambition aplenty evident throughout these songs.

Dowth

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For the weekend that’s in it.

March 16th, 2013.

Italy, the dreaded banana skin of the 6 Nations, fells a stunned Ireland.

Gerry Thornley holding back his tears wrote:

The most dejected trudge yet from the dressingroom to the coaches in the tunnel of the Stadio Olympico fittingly resembled another scene from MASH. A dazed and Luke Marshall followed by Keith Earls, his arm tucked under his tracksuit top. Luke Fitzgerals went by on crutches, his leg entirely encased. The ravages of the Six Nations campaign will be felt for some time.
A host of new men have been thrust into this ravaged squad, with the carnage of Saturday providing them with scenarios that they could not of imagined or experiencing in their fledgling careers to date…

Previously: Mi Fa Cagare

Retro Rugby on Broadsheet.ie

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Bitch Falcon – Dublin grunge/alternative trio

What you may need to know…

01. Aiding the seeming Irish alt-rock revival along are power trio Bitch Falcon.

02. Last we checked in with the band, they’d premiered single Clutch via Nialler9, since released on all digital outlets.

03. Streaming above is the video for same, released yesterday. Directed by Spiceburger, it plays on the band’s indomitable stage presence in a skewed take on the performance vid.

04. The band are going on a full national tour to support the new single, including dates in Cork, Waterford, Limerick, Portlaoise, Leap, Dublin and Castlebar. Full itinerary in the pic above..

Thoughts: A bold visual, accompanying a band kicking off the grunge shackles and tearing into something noisier and more grandiose.

Bitch Falcon

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Neon Atlas – indie-poppers preparing third full-length

What you may need to know…

01. Neon Atlas are an indie/alternative/pop power-trio from Cork City.

02. Emerging in the early part of the decade, the band released debut effort Absolute Magnitude in 2013, and followed up in 2015 with sophomore platter Graffiti Reality.

03. Streaming above is new single The Afterglow, released last night via Soundcloud and available for download from iTunes from March 2nd, ahead of the release later this year of their as-yet untitled third full-length.

04. A run of national touring to support the single begins on Saturday February 18th, with a hometown date at the Crane Lane Theatre.

Thoughts: Good, honest, indie-pop with that certain brightness that seems to be in the water in Cork-based guitar pop.

Neon Atlas

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YONEN – Dublin math-rockers go full-on jazz in new animated video

What you may need to know…

01. Last time we checked in on Yonen, we looked at their singles to date before a run of gigs around the country.

02. Business has picked up appreciably for the Dublin-based four-piece, most recently the release of new single Tokyo, via the band’s Bandcamp.

03. Streaming above is the frankly ridiculous promo video for the single. Produced by animator Ross Ryder and Algorithm Studios, it follows protagonist Podraig’s journey into the titular city over its six or seven minutes. The vid premiered on Nialler9 on Monday.

04. The band are presently on the tour in the UK with one-man band Steve Strong, having had a feature on Fecking Bahamas’ excellent Irish math-rock compilation.

Thoughts: An odyssey of a track and a stunning visual accompaniment. Top quality throughout.

YONEN