Tag Archives: new Irish music

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Hilary Woods – playing Cork on Sunday

What you may need to know…

01. Hilary Woods has decisively stepped out of her previous body of work as bassist of JJ72, and into her own element.

02. Debut E.P. Night set the scene, moving from Woods’ old band’s jangles and into darker, more shoegazey territory when premiered at the Dublin Fringe Festival. This June saw the release of second extended-player Heartbox, which moves things further forward. Among her collaborators this time around are The Jimmy Cake’s Paul G. Smyth, who manned some of a vast array of synths and handled the artwork on the record.

03. Heartbox is streaming and available for download in the widget above.

04. Woods plays Cork this Sunday night, at the Triskel Arts Centre’s Gulpd Cafe. Tickets are €8 from PLUGD Records, with drone/improv man HAMES in on support.

Verdict: Heartbox is a lush, expansive work that packs a lot into three tracks, and it’ll be interesting to see how all the various layers and elements translate to a live show in an intimate venue.

Hilary Woods

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SOLAR BEARS – announce breakup and final single

What you may need to know…

01. We seem to be at that time in a wave of music/artists where people are reorganising or going on to pastures new, and after Enemies and Starters‘ recent disbandings, comes news of the breakup of electronic duo Solar Bears.

02. Rian Trench and John Kowalski formed the duo in 2009, and across three albums explored electronica’s limits via sampling, synth, tape machine and acoustic instrumentation, veering between ambience and psychedelia.

03. Streaming above is the band’s farewell single, Across Yesteryear, available for free download from the band’s Soundcloud.

04. Speaking in Thump on their breakup, the band kept their statement succinct. “We have decided to call it a day after 8 years together… Thank you to everyone that listened and came to see us play. Major love to (labels) Planet Mu, Sunday Best and (agents) Littlebig for believing in us.”

VERDICT: A sombre parting note that perfectly summarises the band’s essence, bidding good tidings to the universe with a long, slow fade.

Solar Bears

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Dr. Strangely Strange – the return of legendary folk freaks

What you may need to know…

01. Started in 1967, folk experimentalists Dr. Strangely Strange were among the tenants of legendary Dublin rock lodgings The Orphanage, the same circle of people that produced Phil Lynott and Gary Moore among others.

02. Signing with Joe Boyd, producer/manager for the Incredible String Band, the band released debut LP Kip of the Serenes via Island Records in 1969, and the following year, recruited Moore for follow-up record Heavy Petting. The band disbanded in 1971 after a European tour, and have since reunited on a number of occasions inbetween other work in the arts, including for third LP Alternative Medicine in 1997.

03. Streaming above is one of the band’s calling cards, Strangely Strange But Oddly Normal, from the band’s first full-length.

04. The band plays its first gig in Cork city in over four decades this Sunday at the Kino, as part of IndieCork festival. Tickets €12, including a screening of a short documentary on the band filmed in 2007 before the performance.

VERDICT: One of the bands that helped set the scene for all manner of alternative music and experimentation in this country.

Dr. Strangely Strange

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SAND – second album for post-rock solo project

What you may need to know…

01. Keen observers of post-rock/instrumental ongoings may recall North Atlantic Oscillation, an Irish/English/Scottish outfit based in Edinburgh, releasing thru KScope, that came in for serious critical acclaim in the early part of the decade.

02. They’re fronted by Dublin/Limrock man Sam Healy, whose solo project SAND surfaced with a self-titled full-length in 2013, taking NAO’s soundscaping in a more introspective direction.

03. Streaming above is Seldom-Used Furniture, taken from SAND’s newly-released sophomore effort, A Sleeper, Just Awake.

04. The album is available now on CD and digital. Meanwhile, fans of Healy’s mothership will be happy to learn that a compilation of the band’s tunes is also up for pre-order at present via the band’s site.

VERDICT: Arriving at a mad intersection of post-rock, prog, psychedelia and taking on inflections of jazz, SAND plays with the various boundaries and lines between them all, to glorious effect.

SAND

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Enemies – announce split and details of final long-player

What you may need to know…

01. Last time we checked in with Wicklow math/pop quartet Enemies, they’d put out single Play Fire and were gearing up for the festivals.

02. Unfortunately, the band announced this week that they’ll be winding up operations at the end of the year, calling it a day after the completion and release of their final album.

03. Streaming above is itsallwaves, the second single from the album, entitled Valuables. Releases on digital, CD, vinyl and cassette on December 9th via Topshelf Records.

04. Their farewell show will be their biggest ever, when they play Vicar St. in Dublin on December 18.

VERDICT: Another sad loss to Irish music in recent times, albeit a band that leaves a rich and varied body of art behind them, and arguably one of the cornerstones on which Ireland’s math/post-rock scene was built.

Enemies

Photo: Niall O’Kelly

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No Monster Club – lost somewhere in the backwoods

What you may need to know…

01. Bobby and the lads are off in Amerikay at present, pressing the flesh and raking up road miles to support their current 7″ record, Where Did You Get That Milkshake?.

02. It’s somehow the Dublin lo-fi lads’ debut 7″ after a rake of releases, but also their first for Stateside label Emotional Response.

03. We would hope that the video above, for single Do the Mess Around, has not been an accurate portrayal of events thus far.

04. Broadsheet readers situated Stateside might be able to show up and give ’em the shlag. The rest of their tour takes them to the Dev in Utica tonight; tomorrow night to Otto’s Shrunken Head in Manhattan; Candy Apple Island in Bloomfield, NJ on the 2nd, and New Funky Jungle in Providence, RI on the 5th.

VERDICT: Another pop gem the likes of which Bobby Aherne and the boys seem to just have in a stockpile somewhere. Grand.

NO MONSTER CLUB

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Magic Pockets – spacey synths/drones from No Spill Blood man

What you may need to know…

01. Magic Pockets is Ruadhán Meara, better known to fans of Irish heft as the synth-man from No Spill Blood.

02. Performing solo under the moniker since 2012, Meara’s sonic explorations emanate from a growing collection of vintage analogue synths, drum machines and various electronics. His odyssey has led him to share stages with Umberto, The Ex, Blanck Mass, and others.

03. Streaming above is Lunar Caustic, taken from the project’s debut LP Volcano of the Bleeding Skies.

04. The album releases on digital and vinyl formats on November 25, via Penske Recordings, the new label of ex-Out on a Limb/current PLUGD Records man Albert Twomey.

VERDICT: First listens of the record are promising, as synths usually heard poking from under chaos and distortion make themselves retail-VHS-clear and unfold at their own pace.

Magic Pockets

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Loah – playing Cork for d’Jazz

What you may need to know…

01. Sallay Matu Garrett is a soul singer of Irish/Sierra Leonean origin, dealing in a self-devised fusion she’s monikered ArtSoul.

02. Having collaborated extensively with a wide variety of musicians from all over the Dublin scene during her time in Trinity College, she’s struck out with a solo run that’s won over a lot of people in the past year or so.

03. Streaming above is the video for most recent solo single Cortege. You can also check out Take It, her collaboration with producer Bantum, here.

04. Appearing next at Cork Jazz Festival weekend, playing the Green Room at Cork Opera House on the 28th of October, with DJ set from Colm K. Tickets on sale now.

VERDICT: Effortlessly cool and fearless in her sound. She makes the whole music thing look easy. Big things surely await.

Loah

Photo: Tara Thomas Photography

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HORSE – Cork hardcore quartet playing Lodgefest in October

What you may need to know…

01. Leeside hardcore four-piece Horse comprises members of former Cork axe-wielders Ghost of Medina, Terriers and Slugbait among others.

02. Surfacing with initial live excursions around the city in 2014, the band released its debut EP, fünderland, in March of 2015, shortly before recruiting their current vocallist.

03. Streaming above is the video for the band’s recent single Dragging. Shot and edited by Rob O’Halloran.

04. Next live appearance is at Cork’s Lodgefest II excursion at the Pine Lodge, in Myrtleville. Hope is Noise are launching their album, Ten Past Seven play their first show in three years, and new band Onkalo also debut.

VERDICT: Uncompromising and weighty, and as singularly focused as you’ll see in Irish heavy music. See them live to get the full extent of it.

HORSE

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Yonen – Dublin instrumentalists gigging this week

What you may need to know…

01. Dublin four-piece Yonen ply an exploratory, proggy, and in places jazzy take on post-rock.

02. Formed after those involved were inspired to do so, upon seeing Japanese instrumental trailblazers Toe perform, they quickly set about releasing a performance video for debut single Nuatum.

03. Streaming above is the band’s most recent single, Sanctos, available for free/pay-what-you-want download via Bandcamp. The whole odyssey was recorded live (!) at Volt Studios and mixed by the band’s guitarists.

04. Catch them this Thursday night at the Roisín Dubh in Galway supporting Brighton’s Poly-Math, and this Saturday night at the Spirit Store in Dundalk, headlining the main stage of the venue’s Oktoberfest proceedings.

VERDICT: Taking elements of the post-rock and math-rock oeuvres and repositioning them as suits the moment, like kids with Lego, Yonen are a joyful proposition to take in.

Yonen