Tag Archives: new music

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Cat MeatAmericana with some very familiar faces

What you may need to know…

01. Cat Meat are something of a hub of Irish music veterans to say the least: Ian Olney (Power of Dreams/Cypress, Mine!) is central to the main line-up, while Morty McCarthy (Sultans of Ping/Pharmacy) has guested behind the kit, and live bassist Mark Healy has prior form in Cypress, Mine! and Lift.

02. Emerging a few years back, the band have recently dropped by some old stomping grounds, with gigs in Cork city and Ballydehob. The outfit plies a warm if somewhat forlorn mix of folk, Americana and blues.

03. Streaming above is the band’s new full-length, Trembling Tongues Make Magpie Bait, also available for free/pay-what-you-want download from the band’s Bandcamp.

04. We’ll keep you posted on any upcoming return Irish legs for the band, though video from their last few shows is up on their Facebook.

Thoughts: The sum of their influences and reference points, but with a hint of ’90s alternative ingenue amid it all.

Cat Meat

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Morning VeilsCork folk harbingers

What you may need to know…

01. The bearers of bad tidings sometimes do so with a slight grin, knowing well the nature of their predicament. So too do Leeside “forgotten folk” trio Morning Veils.

02. Emerging a few years back as an aside to its members’ main preoccupations, the trio is comprised of Elaine Howley (The Altered Hours/Crevice), Roslyn Steer (solo/Crevice/KantCope label/ex-Saint Yorda) and Aisling O’Riordan (Quarter Block Party festival).

03. Streaming above is the newly-released video for single Elusive Fruit, created, produced and directed by local performance artist Eilis Collins.

04. It’s taken from the band’s debut release, Her Kind, available for streaming and download from KantCope’s Bandcamp page. Cassette copies long sold out by now, of course.

Thoughts: Rarely seen in the wild, but always worth observing, Morning Veils’ reverby, shoegaze-leaning folk is a joy.

Morning Veils

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Sons PhoneticDéise hip-hop collective

What you may need to know…

01. Acting as both a name for their collective creative endeavours and an umbrella for their solo work, Waterford beats co-op Sons Phonetic is comprised of Rabiah “Mook” Zaruq (aka Nylon Primate), Sammy Dozens, Tommy Tyler, Ian Kav, Mouse Hughes and DJ/cutman Tom Dunne.

02. This past weekend, the collective’s first collaborative release since 2011 debut album Twelve Labours was released, entitled Deloreans.

03. The self-produced LP features cuts from UK skratchologist Moschops and Corkonian hip-hop godfather JusMe.

04. The album is streaming in the widget above, and available for download via their Bandcamp, along with several of the members’ solo releases.

Thoughts: Proper, boom-bap production and clinical, precision wordplay. Decent Irish hip-hop™, indeed.

Sons Phonetic

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Outsider Y.P.conceptual hip-hop

What you may need to know…

01. He’s been a regular feature of these posts, and for good reason: the Cork-based artist formerly known as Young Phantom continues to set out his stall.

02. After throwing an album listening party at the Glucksman last weekend, Mark Mavambu announced his debut album “proper”, Alone/Insane/Alive would drop that night at midnight on Soundcloud and his website.

03. That LP is streaming above. A concept piece exploring isolation, masculinity and depression.

04. Due today on Spotify, Apple Music and the like if Soundcloud isn’t your bag. Expect live activity to follow.

Thoughts: It’s one thing for an artist to outline their ambitions as much as Mavambu has, and quite another to see that passion and grandeur being realised.

Outsider Y.P.

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regret will comebubblegum guitar-pop

What you may need to know…

01. Regret Will Come is the bedroom-pop project of confirmed sad-boy Fintan Gallagher. “Discerning pop for the depressed millennial”, or so runs his tagline.

02. Lo-fi bubblegum pop is the order of the day here, in the vein that Ireland seems to produce at a prodigious rate in the past decade, albeit with a more pop-culture-tinged aesthetic.

03. Streaming above is the video for single Holy Cross Made of Flesh, directed by the team Sunburnt Soul Films and featuring a cameo from Ronald Reagan. It’s taken from Gallagher’s debut full-length, I Hope You Thrive.

04. Catch Gallagher, alongside Cat Palace and Oh, Boland at Mistake, a brand-new pop night happening at The Hub in Phibsborough, tomorrow night.

Thoughts: Warm, fuzzy guitar pop, sans the warm and fuzzies. Anxiety, catharsis, and bittersweetness abide.

Regret Will Come

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Patrick KelleherDublin electronica

What you may need to know…

01. Progressing from synth-pop and new-wave inflections that earned his second album a Choice Prize nomination, Patrick Kelleher’s new material apparently veers into acid house and early techno for inspiration.

02. Over the years, Kelleher has trod the boards with acts like Future Islands, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, A Flock of Seagulls and Dan Deacon, performing live with collaborator Brian Conniffe (Nurse With Wound).

03. Streaming above is the video for Miracle Candle, taken from the aforementioned Choice nominee, Golden Syrup.

04. Catch him this Thursday as part of Bodytonic’s new weekly series at the Bernard Shaw in Dublin, 8pm, free in.

Thoughts: A purveyor of quality Irish synth-explorations, Kelleher’s lateral moves into dingier territory ought not disappoint.

Patrick Kelleher and his Cold Dead Hands

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VogelbatKilkenny electronica

What you may need to know…

01. A Kilkenny man now plying his trade in Berlin, Dave Sheenan creates ambient glitchiness under the name Vogelbat.

02. Emerging in 2015, Sheenan has kept a steady flow of tunes coming, varying from trip-hop to ambience, including standout track Ovl.

03. Streaming above is latest single Lithx, featuring the vocal talents of now-regular collaborator Sad Mermaid.

04. Described by The Thin Air as “another first-rate slice of ambient-leading electronica, melding shuddering pockets of rhythm, synth swells and abstracted vocals over nigh on five minutes”.

Thoughts: Ethereal electronics from the heart of the medium’s world capital.

Vogelbat

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John Blek and the Rats – Cork indie/pop

What you may need to know…

01. Long-running, underrated road warriors of Leeside-based guitar noises, are John Blek and his Rats.

02. After an extended period of solo touring around Europe, the band is back on the road with an extensive transnational run of dates.

03. Streaming above is the video for last year’s single Dead Friends, taken from second band album Borders.

04. They perform this Sunday at the Cork Opera House, as part of Right Here, Right Now festival, in a double-headliner with The Shaker Hymn.

Thoughts: Weighty, folk-tinged guitar-pop tempered with a double-dose of reality.

John Blek and the Rats

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The Great Balloon RaceCork folk/psychedelic

What you may need to know…

01. Last time we checked in with The Great Balloon Race, they’d just released single Chocolate Beans, a venture into jazzier climes.

02. They’ve finally put the last bits in order for their second album, Gently, Gently, releasing via May 5th on Leeside label KantCope.

03. Streaming above is the live video of Daryl and John, filmed by Blair Massie, as featured on the new long-player.

04. Catch them live on May 5th at Coughlan’s on Douglas Street, Cork, launching the long-player. Available for digital download or in a cassette/download bundle.

Thoughts: First thoughts on listening to the album in advance are those of a band finding their feet and moving with assurance into new waters.

The Great Balloon Race

Daithí - Photography by Ruth Medjber www.ruthlessimagery.com

Daithífolk/electronica from Galway

What you may need to know…

01. Last time we checked in on Daithí, he’d been touring his recently-released extended-player, his first formal release as an independent artist.

02. Using elements of Irish pop-culture and music in his improvised, audiovisual live show, his work is another element in the modernisation of the trad/folk oeuvre.

03. Streaming above is the video for new single Aeroplane, featuring regular vocal collaborator Sinéad White. In his own words:

“Sinead and I wrote this song inspired by old Irish TV dramas from the ’80s and ’90s. True to the people of Ireland at the time, the characters in these shows all seem to have a hard time expressing their feelings, and we wanted to write a song that imagined what was going on in their heads, while they stumbled through talking to their love interest.

The video for the song uses footage from a short film that was shot in my home town Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare, in the 1990s. The video stars real locals from the area, and deals with the hardships of being a bachelor in rural Ireland. I had completely forgot about it until I came across the tape in my parents’ house, and some of the footage is just incredible.”

04. This Friday, he plays the Roisín Dubh in Galway, followed by a Saturday night date in Dublin’s Opium Rooms and a Bank Holiday Sunday show at Cyprus Avenue in Cork. Check social media for more info/times.

Thoughts: More polished pop than jigs ‘n’ reels referencer, Daithí and Sinéad White’s thematic drawings on the Irish condition accompany an expansion of his sound.

Daithí

Pic by Ruth Medjber