Tag Archives: new music

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Cruiser – fuzziness and pop from Limrock

What you may need to know…

01. Limerick four-piece Cruiser make minor-key pop that falls somewhere inbetween shoegaze’s fuzziness, and pop-punk’s enthusiasm.

02. Coming together in 2014, the band settled on a solid line-up in 2015, and have since been a solid presence on Limerick gig bills, sharing stages with The Altered Hours, Windings and Rats on Rafts among others.

03. Streaming above is the HOT 4U E.P., released in May of this year. Available for free/name-your-price download along with the rest of their tunes on Bandcamp, including a non-loathsome take on Fairytale of New York. In fairness, etc.

04. Catch them next at Dolan’s in Limerick on Stephens’ Night, as part of I’ll Be Home for Christmas, a big, feck-off wedge of Limrock for holiday returnees, also including Windings, FONDA and Slow Riot.

Verdict: Immediately likeable, earnest music, slathered in fuzz and feedback, with a notable (and much-needed) lack of notions.

Cruiser

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ooSe – Experimental/’dream-hop’ from Cork

What you may need to know…

01. Absorbing elements of experimental, funk, hip-hop, house and math-rock into itself like some sort of beast are Cork folk ooSe.

02. Somehow encompassing all of this into a three-piece, the band first emerged in August of last year, releasing three-track E.P. Ephem.

03. Streaming above is an excerpt from the band’s show at the Triskel Arts Centre, this past September, a taster of their depth in the live field.

04. Gigging next on the 23rd of December, returning to the Triskel, with support from Donal Dineen on the decks, and visuals from Isaac Stillwell.

Verdict: A layered, complex, bewitching, yet seemingly fully-polished proposition. A hidden gem.

ooSe

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The Orange Kyte – madness escaping Dublanders via Canada

What you may need to know…

01. Dublin-rooted psychedelia/fuzz/pop, emerging nowadays via their home in Vancouver, British Columbia.

02. Led by vocalist/guitarist Stevie Moonboots, a solo recording project took a transcontinental move to be fleshed out into a functioning band, but the last year has seen exponential growth, including monthly single releases throughout 2016, and consistent gigging around their new home territory.

03. Streaming above is the band’s last single of the year, Fizzy Orange, available for streaming and download at their Bandcamp.

04. Home for the holidays, and gigging around Ireland post-Xmas, including the 28th, alongside the Urges at Dublin’s Grand Social for the Retro Revival Indie Club; the 29th, at the Kino in Cork with The Sunshine Factory, Oh Boland! and more in support; and the 30th in Derry’s Sandinos Bar, with local boys Asimo’s Understudy.

Verdict: A madcap rush through a whole musical idiom, from minor-key shoegazing and psychedelic walls of sound to retro-pop keys and four-to-the-floor indie-rock stomping. A treat for those what wants it.

The Orange Kyte

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Demeter – black metal from Cork veterans

What you may need to know…

01. Bleak yet subtly atmospheric black metal is the modus operandi for Cork four-piece Demeter.

02. Comprised of veterans of Irish metal and hardcore, including members of Kawtiks, Soothsayer, Dominus, Slugbait, Hope is Noise and one-man project Molde, the band have more than enough miles behind them.

03. Streaming above is the band’s first demo, Blight, available now for free download from their Bandcamp.

04. Catch them tonight in Cork at Fredz, supporting for Soothsayer, and on the 25th of February at the Urban Assault all-dayer, confirmed for An Spailpín Fánach on Cork’s North Mall.

Verdict: Raw and unremittant black metal with a quietly melodic sensibility, alternating between barebones riffing and blast-laden noise.

Demeter

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Ghostking – ‘post-mortem’ from Cork

What you may need to know…

01. Last we saw of young Corkman Matt Corrigan’s solo ‘post-mortem’ project Ghostking, he’d just released his second E.P.

02. Latest extended-player Leaf sees Corrigan move away from guitars and reverb, and into more structured, keys-and-beats territory, for the main.

03. It’s streaming above, rolled out quietly over Spotify last weekend, and released last night on Bandcamp, etc on a free/donations.

04. No word yet on more live appearances – the lad is three extended-players into his body of work and hasn’t even done his Leaving Cert, in fairness.

Verdict: As technically accomplished as you’d expect from a musical prodigy, with a bone-dry sense of humour to boot. Grand.

Ghostking

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LE BOOM – Dub-American synth-pop

What you may need to know…

01. Chris and Aimie (no surnames) are the transatlantic synth-pop duo LE BOOM, based between Dublin and Brooklyn.

02. Hotly tipped by the Irish Times and State.ie for bigger things domestically, their work in the U.S. is paying off, with recent glowing reviews from Paste Magazine.

03. Streaming above is the video for single What We Do, a taster of their first formal release due next year. Filmed in Brooklyn, with featured dancer Breckyn Drescher.

04. Catch them next at Floating Joints XI at Connolly’s of Leap on the 17th, supporting Meltybrains?

Verdict: Super-tight synth-pop with indie touches, the duo easily has it in them to elude the big-name comparisons and put their own stamp on Irish electronica.

LE BOOM

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African Fiction – techno, techno, techno

What you may need to know…

01. African Fiction is the new nom-de-beats of former Agitate the Gravel/Elastic Sleep man Chris Somers, now holding it down as the events man at Cork’s PLUGD Records.

02. Trading shoegaze for techno, Somers utilises live synths, drum machines and guitar pedals, investing his new project with a similar density.

03. Streaming above is a sampler of what can be expected from African Fiction, in an as-yet untitled eight-minute piece.

04. Catch him this Saturday at the Triskel’s TDC space, with a live set. DJ support from OutOut, kickoff at 10.30. €4 in.

Verdict: A new chapter for one of Cork music’s hardest-working folk, with no-nonsense, ambient yet layered electronics that ought to translate well to the live stage.

African Fiction

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Agro Phobia – DIY Limerick noise

What you may need to know…

01. In 1981/1982, teenagers Brian Hartnett and Barry Warner didn’t have much in the way of musical equipment with which to take out their frustrations. So they improvised.

02. AGRO PHOBIA was the result of the two lads bashing out noises on piano, Stylophone, and whatever household implements were handy at that moment. Rhythm tracks were recorded into one tape recorder, which was then played back as ambient backing audio for the duo’s improvisations.

03. Streaming above is Waiting Room, the first song to be publicly released from the duo’s FIRST CASSETTE, a compilation of the duo’s hitherto unreleased body of work.

04. FIRST CASSETTE releases digitally this week through The Unscene, a marked shift into noisier climes for the doggedly DIY hip-hop label.

Verdict: A time capsule, alternately harsh in its sparse, detached nature and poignant in the toll time has taken on the recordings, comforting in its layers of tape distortion.

The Unscene

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William Street – hip-hop from Cork

What you may need to know…

01. A relatively new name and face to Cork’s slowly renaissant hip-hop scene, is MC Shane Kavanagh, aka William Street.

02. Quietly getting around Cork with gigs, and garnering community radio play around the country, he’s picked his time well to horse into formally releasing music.

03. Streaming above is Move E.P.: Part One, available for download from his Bandcamp now. A pair of tracks featuring production from Irish beatmakers Gerryboy and G.I.

04. Part two of the extended-player is due in early 2017, according to the man himself.

Verdict: A Cork-accented voice, with a way for verbal broadsides that’s complemented by the accent itself.

William Street

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Crowhammer – sci-fi inflected heaviness from Dublin

What you may need to know…

01. Crowhammer. A power-trio from the capital. Self-described as “Dublin’s premier narrative driven sci-fi/fantasy stoner rock/krautrock music group”.

02. The band has gigged semi-regularly around the country since their foundation, most recently including Little Gem Records‘ pre-Halloween throwdown at the bandstand in Phoenix Park.

03. Streaming above: 2013 single Wizard & Flame, available for FREE download NOW.

04. Catch them next, playing the Retro Revival Indie Club at Dublin’s Grand Social on December 9th, supporting No Spill Blood.

Verdict: Atmospheric, sludgy heft from a galaxy, far, far away.

Crowhammer