Tag Archives: music

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Unkindness of Ravens – sludgy gothic rock from Offaly

What you may need to know…

01. Offaly four-piece Unkindness of Ravens are a doom-metal-influenced outfit with gothic inflections. Think Sabbath by way of Chelsea Wolfe and Sisters of Mercy.

02. Certainly no strangers to reverence for metal traditions, the band started out as a motorcycle-fixated stoner-rock group monikered Road Rash, releasing a single extended-player before regrouping to their current configuration.

03. Streaming above is the band’s debut full-length, released last November via Michigan mail-order specialists Dura Gesta Records.

04. They’re on the road this weekend, playing Dublin’s Hangar on Saturday night, and Cork’s Urban Jungle on Sunday, in support of UK post-metallers OHHMS.

VERDICT: Big aul’ riffs are in as much abundance as cheesy organs here, and it makes for an immersive listen for fans of the aforementioned. One to be appreciated live.

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Katie Kim – ambient folk from the Déise

What you may need to know…

01. The return of Waterford singer/composer Katie Sullivan, a.k.a. Katie Kim, has been two years in the making, and comes four years after previous full-length Cover and Flood.

02. Debuting in 2008 with full-length Twelve, recorded after a virus wiped fifty existing finished songs from Sullivan’s PC, she quickly made a name for sparse, lo-fi alt-tinged folk in PJ Harvey vein. 2012’s Cover and Flood continued to flesh out her vision.

03. Streaming above is Sullivan’s newly-released long-player SALT. Available now on vinyl from independent record retailers around the country, and digitally via Bandcamp and Spotify.

04. Having launched the record at The Unitarian in Dublin a few days ago, upcoming launch dates remain on October 31st at The Loft in Reyjavik (for our Iceland-based readers), and December 3rd at St. Patrick’s Gateway in Waterford.

Verdict: The realisation of the sound and vision that’s undoubtedly been brewing in Sullivan’s work over all this time. A haunting, reverb-laden missive.

Katie Kim

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FIXITY – Cork psych-rock outfit with fourth record this year

What you may need to know…

01. The brainchild of sticksmith extraordinaire Dan Walsh and collaborators, FIXITY are among the outfits at the centre Cork’s nascent psych-rock community.

02. Walsh is certainly keenly aware of the joys of productivity – not content with being one of the city’s busiest session musicians, he’s been at the helm of two full-length improv records since June (!), and a live album of same.

03. Streaming above in its entirety is Blue Paint, the leadoff for FIXITY’s third studio full-length, The Things in the Room…

04. …which will be available shortly on double-vinyl, CD and digital download via Penske Recordings, the new label of ex-Out on a Limb/AMC and current Plugd Records man Albert Twomey. Meanwhile, the project turns out to support The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock on Sunday October 30th at the Opera House for d’Jazz.

Verdict: This time around, the band seems to journey into more sparse, repetitive, Krautrock territory. Another in a series of left-turns from an already-insanely prolific outfit.

FIXITY

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EORÐESLAJYR – Dublin experimental soundtracks for silent film classics

What you may need to know…

01. Loosely pronounced “earth-slayer”, this Dublin avant-garde outfit is a fringe supergroup of sorts. Synth wizard Simon Bird is joined by Spudgun vocalist Sam Burton and Turning Down Sex bassist Tom Morris on guitars.

02. Started initially as a project for providing new soundtracks and scores to classic silent cinema, the band met their match in 1922 opus Häxan (a.k.a. Witchcraft Through the Ages), and feeling the project required more, recruited a cellist, saxophonist and percussionist to fill proceedings out.

03. Streaming above is the trailer for the resulting full-length, Häxan, to be released by the band this Oiche Shamhna, on cassette, VHS (soundtracking an edit of the film) and digital download.

04. As if to summon the Quare Fella himself, the band will screen the film with their new score as a pre-release for the record, at Filmbase in Temple Bar on the 27th. Defilers, deviants, and idolaters most welcome.

Verdict: From what your writer has heard so far – abrasive and uncomfortable. Perfect for their source material.

EORÐESLAJYR

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The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock – Folk group reprise and release large-scale pieces

What you may need to know…

01. Marrying noises from the Irish folk canon with experimental rock sounds, The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock take their name from a poem about a haunted canal lock.

02. They’ve released two full-lengths to date: an eponymous self-titled album in 2008, and The Brutal Here and Now, in 2012, via Japanese label Transduction Records.

03. Streaming above is the video for the first movement of recently-toured set Lockout. A large-scale piece, requiring a guitar orchestra, and based on the 1913 strike and lockout, Lockout will be reprised with a performance at the Cork Opera House on October 30th, as part of the Green Room stage.

04. Follow-up piece The Bullet in the Brick, marking the hundredth anniversary of the Rising as it draws to a close, is released on 12″ on November 25th. Preorders available now. They’ll also be performing at the No Idle Day weekender in Dublin next week.

VERDICT: Expanding their sonics to accomodate the weight and expectation of their subject matter and its retelling, The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock have risen to the challenge of history in fine fashion.

The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock

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Clerk 5 – Ennis rapper appearing live in Cork

What you may need to know…

01. Hailing from Ennis, Co. Clare is Clerk 5, one of a host of hip-hop people to have emerged from the Clare/Limerick area to form a good part of the basis of the current hip-hop community in Ireland.

02. A quiet man online, he’s last been seen collaborating with Limerick beats don Naive Ted (and his partner Deviant), on E.P. Authority Figures.

03. The E.P. is streaming and available for free download, above, and even comes with the instrumentals if it takes your fancy.

04. On Tuesday week, he’ll be making a live appearance at the Brú Bar with fellow Ted collaborator Spekulativ Fiktion, with Cork cutman JusMe on the decks.

Verdict: Rapid-fire with words, and possessed of an intensity of cadence that adds to the tension in his verbiage.

Clerk5

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Zinc – debut album from Galway trio

What you may need to know…

01. Galway post-rock/electronica trio Zinc have brought those bordering-on-arrogant grooves you ordered.

02. Forming in 2014, the trio quickly set about jamming out melodies and textures in equal measure, and empowered by a Galway City Council grant last year, put down their first full-length this year, with production from Solar Bears’ Rian Trench.

03. Streaming above is the band’s eponymous debut album, available now for download via Bandcamp.

04. Having launched the long-player with gigs at Galway Jazz Festival and the An Áit Eile weekender this past week, more dates are to be announced shortly.

Verdict: Sparse soundscaping meets unnecessarily fat bass and some seriously cocky percussion. Possibly one of the year’s low-key highlights.

ZINC

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Nylon Primate – instrumentals from Sons Phonetic beatman

What you may need to know…

01. Waterford man Rabiah Zaruq, a.k.a. Mook, beatmaker and one-sixth of the Sons Phonetic collective, is branching out solo, as Nylon Primate.

02. Heading into instrumentals for the majority of the new record, Zaruq extends his reach from backdrops to soundscaping, playing equally with ambience and beats.

03. Streaming above is the video for leadoff tune Matador, featuring Irish hip-hop legend/Scary Éire man RíRá on wordsmithery duties.

04. The Mancala E.P. releases next Monday online, via Limerick beats house Unscene Music.

Verdict: At the blissed-out intersection of psychedelia, beats and ambient noises, there’s much to be discovered among Nylon Primate’s layers of sound.

Nylon Primate

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#coldplaydublin

Previously: Ticketmaster on Broadsheet

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LUX – release new single Blank Page

What you may need to know…

01. On the outer reaches of the Cork scene (Youghal, to be precise) lies electronic duo LUX.

02. Comprised of producer Claire Regan (f.k.a. Spill and Ambience) and vocalist Colin Lee, the duo specialise in synthpop that marries the eighties’ more downbeat sensibilities with ambient & classical leanings.

03. Slowly developing a body of work over the last three years, the duo began with a pair of singles, Warmsad and Vital Signs, before setting about limited live engagements around Cork city and county and releasing follow-up single Solace last year.

04. Streaming above is new single Blank Page. A video is enroute and another new tune on the way shortly, according to the band.

Verdict: Informed by the past without resorting to nostalgia, and possessed of a lingering melancholia, Lux’s music moves in ebbs and flows.

Lux