Tag Archives: music

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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

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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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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