Tag Archives: Ireland

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Generic People – Cork audiovisual collective now curating a stage at Electric Picnic

What you may need to know…

01. Ant, Ronin and collaborators are the ever-evolving, media-agnostic group known as Generic People.

02. Beginning life as a collaborative electronic project, the group has expanded from production, DJing and playlisting, to live open improv performances, to large-scale visuals and multimedia installations, including the recent large-scale projections of Maser’s Repeal the 8th logo in Cork City.

03. Streaming above is a preview of the band’s upcoming live album, recorded live at the Cork School of Music and filmed by local production house EPIC. The band have also put down a live 12-hour mixtape of dark disco and other deep cuts.

04. The collective presents Afterdark in the Hazel Wood, their first-ever curated stage, at Electric Picnic, a massive coup to say the least. Confirmed so far are Cathy Davey, We Lived In Cities, Jack O’Rourke, MKAI, Carried By Waves, Exit: Pursued by a Bear, Emmet Homebeat and Cork record-slinging legend Jim X Comet’s David Bowie Experience.

VERDICT: Platform and medium are no restriction for the ever-evolving Generic People, and given the opportunity to flourish on the biggest stage Irish music has to offer, you can guarantee something special.

Generic People

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Ilenkus – new single from post-metal Galwegians

What you may need to know…

01. Previous column featurees Ilenkus return with their first new material in nearly two years.

02. Emerging in 2011, the band combines heavy-duty riffage with atmosphere and technical proficiency, as best displayed on their 2014 sophomore effort The Crossing.

03. Streaming above is new single Hunny Bunny, which premiered last week on MetalSucks before going on general release via Bandcamp.

04. It’s taken from the band’s upcoming Hunger 7″ E.P., for released later this autumn, pending the current crush on vinyl production.

Verdict: Hunny Bunny takes the band’s dynamic and turns it on its head, as long-form compositions give way to more focused aggression.

Ilenkus

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JAMES VINCENT MCMORROW – New single and big gigs announced for October

What you may need to know…

01. Dubliner James Vincent McMorrow is a world-travelled troubadour and songwriter, possibly in scarce need of an introductory piece at this stage.

02. New album We Move is up for pre-order now, following on from much-fancied sophomore LP Post-Tropical, which led McMorrow around the world and to sold-out shows in Sydney Opera House, Choice Music Prize nominations, and getting sampled by hip-hop oligarch Drake.

03. Streaming above is the video for first single Rising Water, directed by Freenjoy and according to McMorrow, documents “the things we tell ourselves to move through loss”.

04. Big gigs announced to launch the record include Galway’s Black Box on August 5th, and Dublin’s National Stadium on August 7th.

VERDICT: Wonderfully barebones, cathartic synthiness that bodes well for the upcoming LP.

James Vincent McMorrow

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FONDA – New single and gigs this weekend

What you may need to know…

01. Galway/Limerick/Glasgow garage-rock trio FONDA have emerged as ones-to-watch in Irish music in recent times.

02. Specialising in a brittle, melancholic, but warm strain of croon-along, garage-rock-inflected pop, the band formed in January of last year, and got their debut EP, Social Services, out of their systems in June.

03. Streaming above is the video for new single Dreaming, described by The Thin Air as “probably our favourite Irish track of 2016 so far”. Produced by Bloom Media, it was shot in the none-more-Limerick location of Costello’s Tavern, once described perfectly by a friend of your writer’s as “Freakscene on Craggy Island”.

04. Playing tonight at the Bernard Shaw in Dublin with Shrug Life, and tomorrow night at Fred Zeppelin’s in Cork with Limrockers Slow Riot. Catch them supporting Gun Outfit upstairs in Dolan’s in Limerick on the 16th, also.

VERDICT: FONDA bring together the existential horrors and the warm-and-fuzzies. What’s not to like?

FONDA

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Hero In Error – Dublin metal/hardcore veterans ready new material

What you may need to know…

01. Having featured on metal bills up and down the country for the better part of a decade, Hero in Error feel like they’ve been a part of Irish music forever.

02. Getting their start in 2008, the band began to ascend in 2011, with E.P. The High Point of New Lows releasing on Sony-distributed US indie Mediaskare.

03. Following some personnel shifts, the band returns with their first new single in quite some time, The Hollow Truth, streaming above.

04. The band hit the road again shortly in support of the single, on September 23rd and 24th, to be precise, with a formal announcement on venues due shortly.

Verdict: A rousing return for the band, built on big riffs and a sonorous hook. Here’s to more.

HERO IN ERROR

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dowry – Playing Dublin this weekend

What you may need to know…

01. dowry is the solo project of Ena Brennan, and sees the accomplished violinist and composer play with loops and layering among other elements in her compositions.

02. The Tandem Felix and Bad Sea member, is a longtime musician, writer, graphic designer and arts administrator, and her variety of experience in bands, orchestras and solo performance speaks for itself.

03. Streaming above is most recent single Sincerely, a gentle and seemingly fraught piece, the latest addition to an eclectic and ever-growing body of work.

04. Playing next at Thirty-Four in Dublin this Saturday, with Caoilian Sherlock in support.

Verdict: Forward-thinking, innovative music, panoramic in scope and fearless in execution.

dowry

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Fox Jaw – celebrating ten years and a new E.P.

What you may need to know…

01. It’s been a long road for the folk-informed alt-rockers formerly known as Fox Jaw Bounty Hunters.

02. Over three-hundred shows, two full-lengths and a rash of singles and E.P.s, the lads have traipsed across Europe and America, completing the Irish festival-grind checklist in the process, including Castlepalooza, Knockanstockan, and Indiependence, among many others.

03. Streaming above is the video for most recent-single Hit It Off, a slower-moving number indicative of their rock ‘n’ roll leanings, with a promo featuring a Munster fan having a terrible evening altogether (possibly NSFW). It’s taken from their next E.P., Black Light Vignette.

04. See them next at Electric Picnic‘s Electric Side Show stage, or if you’re in Limrock, drop in to Dolan’s on the 17th of next month for their tenth-anniversary/record-launch proceedings.

Verdict: Heads-down, no-nonsense rock ‘n’ roll, well-honed over the years and the result of obvious passion for their craft.

Fox Jaw

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Caoilian Sherlock – folk-pop troubadouring from Cork

What you may need to know…

01. Shaker Hymn frontman and event-management magnate Caoilian Sherlock is venturing into solo territory.

02. Ploughing a melancholy, poppy folk furrow, reminiscent of Big Star among others, he’s already been busy on his own, including playing last year’s IndieCork festival and a number of support slots around Cork.

03. Streaming above is newly-released single I’ll Be a Fool for You, available on Bandcamp.

04. Catch himself and Dowry playing Mallow tomorrow as part of the Living Space Project music trail of the town, and in a more intimate gig setting Sunday evening at Gulpd Cafe in the Triskel in Cork. The duo will also have a Dublin leg on Saturday 13th at Thirty-Four.

Verdict: As warm and welcoming as his main outfit’s music, but vested with a voice and flair for lovelorn songcraft that’s all his own.

Caoilian Sherlock

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Dott – Galwegian pop duo release new E.P.

What you may need to know…

01. Robust cheering and rejoicing could be heard for miles from the usually austere Karl’s den Broadsheet offices yesterday, with the release of new material from Galwegians Anna and Tebs, a.k.a. Dott.

02. Beginning life as an four-piece plying a ramshackle, yet impossibly, heart-warmingly, happy pop, the band came to attention with 2012’s Button E.P., featuring one of your writer’s favourite Irish pop cuts ever, in Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love).

03. Streaming above is the band’s new E.P., Beverly Baldwin, releasing digitally and on cassette on New York’s Mirror Universe Tapes label.

04. Having bust down to a two-piece after getting married and moving to Toronto, the EP marks a turn for more focused, dreamy/gazey material with the aid of loops and effects.

Verdict: Older, wiser, better-travelled and more experienced, yet no less starry-eyed and hopeful. Fantastic.

DOTT