Tag Archives: Ireland

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Loner Deluxe – new “cassingle” Long Shore Drift

What you may need to know…

01. Since the last time we stopped in with Rusted Rail Records jefe Keith Wallace, he’s put together a third in a series of digital “cassingles” under the pseudonym Loner Deluxe.

02. Entitled Long Shore Drift, the whole enterprise was inspired by a trip to a remote island off the west coast, and slowly developed from there into tunes for imagined, abandoned spaces.

03. Streaming above is the video for lead-off track Moon Dunes, animated by Galway studio Tiny Epics. It’s a sequel to Deluxe’s last vidjo.

04. Long Shore Drift is streaming and available for download now at Rusted Rail’s Bandcamp.

VERDICT: Beatsier than previous outings, but with no less emphasis on spacey noises or atmosphere.

Loner Deluxe

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New Valley Wolves – releasing new single Silver Tongue

What you may need to know…

01. Dublin duo New Valley Wolves specialise in stripped-back, no-nonsense, heads-down rock ‘n’ roll.

02. Last year saw the release of debut album Refusal is Our Weapon on iTunes/Apple Music. “It doesn’t break the mould but it should break your mood”, said Nialler9 in the Irish Times.

03. Streaming above is the video for new single Silver Tongue, filmed on the road during the band’s summer touring by Junior Soares.

04. Having just finished the summer festival grind with two sets at Electric Picnic, more live dates to support the single release are to be announced, but for a start, catch ’em at Hard Working Class Heroes.

VERDICT: If you’re going to do the blues, do ’em with the same piss and vinegar as these lads.

New Valley Wolves

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Beithíoch – releasing a new full-length

What you may need to know…

01. A one-man project from the north-west, Beithíoch (“the beast”) plies an atmospheric take on black metal with doomy undertones, and pauses for breath of eerie ambience.

02. Emerging in 2008 with debut full length Aisling Dhorcha, Beithíoch’s explorations have moved further and further into heavier territory, while retaining a pensive air.

03. Streaming above is most recent album Ghosts of a World Long Forgotten, released last week digitally and on CD via Irish metal label HI ARC TOW.

04. In lieu of live activity anytime soon, Beithíoch’s discography to date is available in a digital bundle at the project’s Bandcamp, with certain albums available for free at the label’s website.

VERDICT: A focused, fleshed-out work that balances aggression, heft and atmosphere.

Beithíoch

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The Sunshine Factory – releasing new single Cruelest Animal

What you may need to know…

01. Leeside neo-psychedelia five-piece The Sunshine Factory are on a roll after less than a year together.

02. In that short span of time, they’ve put together their first demo cassette, sold out hometown shows, and gone on Irish tour with UK psych legends The Telescopes.

03. Streaming above is their FIFA Records debut, a newly gussied-up take on early track Cruelest Animal.

04. They’re launching the aforementioned tomorrow night at DeBarra’s in Clonakilty and Saturday night at the Crane Lane in Cork.

VERDICT: Dreamy, hazey psych-pop perfect for the humid, dead air of the end of the summer. Grand.

The Sunshine Factory

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Tenro – new single from electronic power-duo

What you may need to know…

01. Tenro ply an oddly trippy, contemplative ambient electronica, busy, yet sparse.

02. Comprised of Marc Aubele (Nanu Nanu, Bell x1) and Brian Conniffe (Catscars, Nurse With Wound), the duo have been slowly working on their debut full-length inbetween live appearances and cryptic social media postings.

03. Streaming above is single Vimana, replete with suitably psychedelic (and possibly not for the light-sensitive) visual accompaniment.

04. The duo’s debut album comes out through Little Gem Records next month.

VERDICT: Fragments of recognisable musical reference points abound, but escape the grasp as quickly as the next one appears. These lads aren’t for pigeonholing, and all the better for it.

Tenro

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SKYMAS – new single ‘No Easy Way Out’

What you may need to know…

01. SKYMAS are a Belfast electronic/rock duo comprised of Martin Corrigan and Nick Todd.

02. Emerging in 2013, the band have slowly been releasing a series of singles that have begun to bring them to the attention of Northern music media, including The Thin Air, who’ve called them “an act that aim straight for the sonic jugular”.

03. Above is streaming audio of the new single, as premiered on TTA’s website.

04. Available for download now via Amazon Music, with another single and attendant live engagements to follow later this year.

VERDICT: Like early Therapy?’s big-beat moments, welded to the grooves, riffs and rhetoric of Nine Inch Nails. For those who are so inclined.

SKYMAS

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Windings – new single and album release date announced

What you may need to know…

01. Last time we stopped in with Windings, they’d just released the first single from their upcoming album.

02. The band’s leanings toward a more foreboding mood continue with You’re Dead, albeit taking a step back from the madness unleashed by previous single Helicopters.

03. Streaming above is the accompanying video clip, produced by Stephen Boland.

04. Full-length Be Honest and Fear Not has just been announced for a September 30th release via Out on a Limb Records. A launch tour is to be announced shortly to accompany same.

VERDICT: Soaked in keyboards and chorus pedal, You’re Dead scares up tension and uneasy memories with the most unlikely tools. A journey hopefully extended by the new long-player.

Windings

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Danny Deepo – releases new album ‘Sounds from a Living Planet’

What you may need to know…

01. Limrock-resident turntablist and sonic explorer Danny Deepo released new full-length Sounds from a Living Planet last week via Bandcamp.

02. One of the foundations of Irish skratch and general weirdo beats, he co-founded the Galway Community Skratch Games along with Deviant, Jimmy Penguin and Mikey Fingers, then all collaborating as Vince MackMahon.

03. He’s manipulated decks for a number of groupings and bands, but has been exceptionally busy as a solo producer in recent years, with two albums and an E.P. to his name since the beginning of 2015.

04. Sounds from a Living Planet is streaming above in its entirety and available for download in the widget above.

VERDICT: Drawing samples and sounds from all over the world, and melding them via sampling and turntablism, Danny Deepo’s expositions journey from beats into psychedelia and experimentation.

Danny Deepo

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Hope is Noise – Cork alt-rock veterans release fifth album

What you may need to know…

01. The last time we stopped in with Hope is Noise, the lads were getting ready for their fifth full-length.

02. The story of Hope is Noise is a remarkable one, of four lads that got together in secondary school, and after years of touring, labels, UK/US press, and the usual passage of life like relationships and families, are still together eighteen years later, being conferred godfather status in the Cork scene as a result. A documentary on same is currently in post-production.

03. Streaming above is the aforementioned full-length, entitled Demons. A concept piece, each tune deals with a different worry or recurring thought. Available for download now, and on CD from next week at gigs and in Leeside institution PLUGD Records.

04. The band launch the record on October 8th in the Pine Lodge, Myrtleville, Co. Cork on October 8th, with the usual bus/ticket package for city folk. Joining them will be the returning Ten Past Seven, hardcore brow-beaters Horse, and new band Onkalo. Closer to home, they’ll be playing City Hall as part of the Great Irish Beer Festival from the 22nd to the 24th.

Verdict: Over the years, the lads have alternated between polished alt-rock and feral post-hardcore broadsides, and Demons sees them reconcile these urges to immediate and impactful effect.

Hope is Noise

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GRIT – new demo out via Distr-Oi! Records

What you may need to know…

01. Hailing from Dublin, GRIT deliver seething female-fronted Oi! punk.

02. Consisting of members of RATS BLOOD and Burnchurch, the band debuted this past July at a gig in Grangegorman, followed by the digital self-release of their eponymously-titled demo.

03. The demo is streaming above in its entirety, available for streaming and download.

04. Sligo-based label and distro Distr-Oi! (an imprint of metal label Distro-y) have just announced the band will be releasing the demo on vinyl later on this year.

VERDICT: Challenging the predominantly male narrative of Oi!/punk in general, GRIT’s visceral disgust at the state of Irish society is not so much a breath of fresh air as a much-needed fist to the face.

GRIT