Tag Archives: Ireland

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Pigsaspeople – Farewell show in Belfast tomorrow night

What you may need to know…

01. Post-hardcore and noise-rock were in order for Pigsaspeople, a three-piece from Belfast.

02. Emerging in 2012, the band quickly trotted out (hurr) their debut EP, The First Four Months before settling into recording Idles & Us, written around the same time and released the following year. Debut LP The Plot Against Future Plans, released in 2014, was an underrated slab of dissonance.

03. Streaming above is the band’s now-final single, 65 Symptoms, recorded at Start Together Studios and released as part of that studio’s Singles Club.

04. They bid farewell tomorrow night, after four years of activity, with a big show at Belfast’s Limelight 2.  Also on the bill are 7.5 Tonnes of Beard, Bosco Ramos, and No Great Loss. Fiiiiiilth.

Verdict: With no shortage of either sonic or thematic heaviness, the band leaves behind a solid body of work, built on a rake of riffs.

Pigsaspeople

Photo: Ciara McMullan

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Sunday’s Sunday Business Post

In the Sunday Business Post, at the weekend, Elaine Byrne wrote about how, at 3am one morning, two men chased her in an attempt to attack her.

Recalling the event, Ms Byrne wrote:

The gardaí came. They said I shouldn’t be out so late and dropped me home.

I never really told anyone about this incident. The narrative would have been predictable. Were you drinking? “No.” Well, you should have known better anyway. You shouldn’t have been out so late. What were you wearing? Somehow, it would have become my fault. I was wrong. What did I expect at that hour of the night? There was no Garda report, no incident recorded for the statistics. Nothing.

Ms Byrne added:

I sat through my friend’s rape trial. I watched her on the stand being cross-examined by a barrister and heard him say the most disgusting line I have ever heard in the English language.

“Your injuries are consistent with the straddling of a gate. Did you straddle a gate?”

Because that’s what women do for fun. We straddle gates.

Why do we ignore Ireland’s rape problem? (Elaine Byrne, Sunday Business Post)

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Guilty Optics – new album enroute from post-punk power trio

What you may need to know…

01. Purveyors of a “unique style of down-stroke wizardry”, Guilty Optics are an important branch of the Irish DIY family tree, with ex-/current members of Elk, Crayonsmith and All Tvvins, and sharing releases with BATS, Hands Up Who Wants to Die and the dearly-departed C!ties.

02. Emerging from a quick side-project and becoming a going concern in 2009, the band have made the rounds of aforementioned split releases, and the current line-up has an LP on the way, recorded with Ben Moore (Rocket From the Crypt, Pinback, Hot Snakes, Switchfoot, Ravi Shankar, etc.).

03. Streaming above is new single The Kayapo Ghosts, the opening track from their forthcoming new LP, which centres on the plight of the Kayapo tribe of the Amazon.

04. Their next excursion goes down on August 19th, at Dublin’s Bello Bar (fka The Lower Deck), Portobello harbour, Dublin 8 ahead of more regular touring to accompany the album’s release this winter.

Verdict: A concise, energetic offering that nicely sets the tone for their impending debut platter.

GUILTY OPTICS

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WIFE – new single and EP from ex-Altar of Plagues man

What you may need to know…

01. James Kelly, formerly of atmospheric black metallers Altar of Plagues, continues his solo electronica journey as WIFE.

02. Following the band’s disbandment, WIFE emerged as a complete break from Kelly’s previous associations and body of work, with Pitchfork premiering debut single Bodies in late 2012. A debut album, What’s Between, followed on Tri-Angle Records, American touring, and LADBible immortality came soon after.

03. In case you missed it elsewhere earlier this week, streaming above is the video for Glass Interruption, the lead-off for upcoming EP Standard Nature, releasing on September 23rd via Profound Lore.

04. Pending more announcements on this side of the pond, Kelly’s next excursion will be a string of live dates Stateside with Animal Collective.

Verdict: Tense, challenging electronica that both keeps you in its atmosphere and in suspense.

WIFE

Pic: Pedro Roque

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Chris Power – Cork beatsmith returns with WhytFaux: The Conman & Slim

What you may need to know…

01. Amid an already stupidly-decent few weeks for Irish hip-hop comes another quality drop, this time from Cork beat-maker, previous column featuree and chicken roll aficionado Chris Power.

02. As mentioned previously, Power’s been a busy man, working with much-fancied MC Atari Jones, and hip-hop royalty in Illa J (J Dilla’s brother), with another flurry of new material due later this year.

03. Streaming above is WhytFaux: The Conman & Slim, a brand-new tape of instrumentals laden with smooth sampling and boom-bap goodness. Cover image  (top) by Shane O’Donovan features the entrance to Castlepalooza (Charleville Castle, Tullamore, Co Offaly),

04. This is also the debut release from the newly-formed label arm of Cork’s Cuttin’ Heads Collective, a multiple-headed beast of DJs, producers, promoters and other such folk that have banded together to advance the cause of beats in Leeside society.

Verdict: Innovative, yet instantly accessible sample-play and well-placed skits abound. Serious business.

Chris Power

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St. Marge, Recomposing from CUR on Vimeo.

CUR – DIY math/metal/hardcore from Dublin

What you may need to know…

01. Weighty yet atmospheric post-metal from Facing man Ro Conlan‘s new project CUR.

02. An one-man, do-it-yourself enterprise, the project’s debut extended-play, Fossil Feud, was self-released late last week.

03. Streaming above is the official visual/promo for lead-off track St. Marge, Recomposing.

04. In finest independent-music tradition, Conlan is pursuing a new business model beginning with this release. Listeners can grab the EP for free or donations, or subscribe to CUR and receive new music and other ephemera as and when it comes into being, in addition to discounts off future physical releases, should you so desire.

Verdict: Taut, considered and thoughtful, while sacrificing nothing in heft.

CUR

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Anna’s Anchor – new single Hampton and album

What you may need to know…

01. Limerick singer-songwriter Marty Ryan lives and works on the road under the nom-de-guerre Anna’s Anchor.

02. Never short on ambition, the indie/emo-influenced troubadour has self-released singles, EPs and a zine; travelled to each of the islands off our coasts and written/released a song about each; and in the process of shooting the massive album artwork for new album Nautical Miles (available for pre-order here), wound up catching pneumonia.

03. Streaming above is the video for the album’s lead-off single, Signal Tower. Filmed while on tour around Ireland, it takes in 200 locations and over 1300 road-miles. Also above, brand-new single Hampton, available for free download.

04. Playing this Sunday at the Nvr Mnt Records BBQ in Greystones, you can catch him throughout August in Belfast, Tralee and Cork.

Verdict: Honest in his endeavours, and earnest in his creations, without being either overwrought or cliched. A journey worth taking in, stories worth sitting down for.

Anna’s Anchor

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Spekulativ Fiktion – new tunes on the way

What you may need to know…

01. At last, an excuse to talk about Corkman Sean Murphy, a.k.a. rapper and beatsmith Spekulativ Fiktion.

02. Emerging earlier in the decade with scattered live appearances and periodic single releases, Spekulativ Fiktion arrived seemingly fully-formed with 2013’s Deathly Words, a gritty, incisive extended-play that touched on external themes & internal monologues. This was followed in 2014 by Slave Labour, a transcendent piece of collaboration with Limrock beat god Deviant & Naive Ted.

03. Streaming above is a live cut from office fave Alan Newman‘s Boss Level Series, with Spek and Switch X spitting over one of Newman’s own (saucy!) beats. FIlmed in Cork City’s White Street car park, a local graffiti hall-of-fame.

04. Himself and Switch are starting a new group off the back of this collaboration, and guest appearances are due soon on upcoming records for Sligo’s This Side Up and beatmaker Mankyy.

Verdict: With a prophet’s eye, and a most writerly verbal prowess beneath his Cork-accented flow, Spekulativ Fiktion is one of Irish hip-hop’s cornerstones.

Spekulativ Fiktion

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Ash – Power-pop trio to receive Oh Yeah Legend Award

What you may need to know…

01. The tight-knit Northern scene continues to honour its trailblazers and forebears with the Oh Yeah Legend award, previously bestowed upon The Undertones, The Divine Comedy, Therapy? and Terri Hooley. This year, it’s the turn of Oh Yeah Music Centre namesakes Ash.

02. Potted story to save time: teenage Iron Maiden tribute band start playing power-pop in the venerated Northern tradition, fetch local management attention, rocket straight to the top after their GCSEs off the back of a genius string of three-minute bijoux; burn out and still make a low-key gem of a difficult second album; return to form and conquers the world; do effectively whatever they please thereafter, including a series of alphabetically-labelled 7″ singles released fortnightly for a year, and setting up a studio in New York.

03. Like there’s anyone left in the country that needs any further info on Oh Yeah (streaming above), or any other of that immortal run of singles in the mid-Nineties-to-early-noughties.

04. The band will be honoured by the music centre named for their globe-straddling single, at a special ceremony before they perform their album 1977 (from start to finish) for its twentieth anniversary, at the Mandela Hall in Belfast on November the 11th. Tickets on sale now.

Verdict: Well-earned.

Ash