Tag Archives: new music

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Cat Palacetextured pop from Dubland

What you may need to know…

01. Cat Palace is a reverb-laden, poppy, vaguely shambolic front for songwriter/vocalist David Blaney and various collaborators.

02. Emerging in earnest in 2015 with two extended-players, the band, fleshed out by long-term collaborator Christopher Barry and Enemies man Oisín Trench, has been between Dublin and Kentucky getting the last touches in on a debut long-player.

03. Streaming above is the video for new single Peddle It, a tragicomic rumination on routine, sustainability of music and all that attends.

04. Having somehow avoided immediate bankruptcy to pay Myles Manley the going rate for the advance on new stuff, Little L Records are releasing the album, entitled Why Don’t You // Why Don’t You, Go Off, next month.

Thoughts: Melancholy, but not without a sideways smirk, and plenty for fans of the wider indie-rock diaspora aside from reverb heads and shoegazers.

Cat Palace

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Myles Manleythe world’s greatest popstar returns

What you may need to know…

01. Last time we checked in with Myles Manley, he was back in Ireland after a spell in Arsenal’s starting eleven.

02. He’s since returned his focus to the oddball, Beefheartian pop with which he’s earned his name, signing to Dublin-based Little L Records for a seven-figure advance on a ten-album contract.

03. Streaming above is the high-budget video for new B-side Pasta Solo, accompanying new single Relax, Enjoy Your Night Upon the Town.

04. The following dates line his tour itinerary before the European festival-headliner swing: March 23:  Buncrana, Ned’s Point; March 24: Derry, Bennigans; March 25: Dublin, The Workman’s Club; Apr 8: Limerick, Dolan’s Warehouse; Apr 9: Dundalk, The Spirit Store.

Thoughts: Smart-aleckry aside, some genuine ingenue on display here, as is typical for someone that seemingly inhabits a creative bubble all his own.

Myles Manley

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Buffalo WomanDublin funky synthiness

What you may need to know…

01. Elements of synthpop, funk, and indie are in evidence throughout the work of Dublin duo Buffalo Woman.

02. Comprised of former Neosupervital controller Tim O’Donovan and actor/dramatist/former Alternative Miss Ireland winner Neil Watkins.

03. Streaming above is 2015 single U Make Me High, a headturner for the outfit that brings together low-key synths and subtle grooves.

04. Playing tomorrow night at Future Proof #1 at Bello Bar, curated by Nialler9 and Homebeat. Also on the bill: Come on Live Long and debuting Limerick outfit Proper Micro NV.

Thoughts: Smart, suave and possessed of some serious songwriting.

Buffalo Woman

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GROUNDSIrish blood, English situation

What you may need to know…

01. Loud, Limrocker-fronted noises, based in London. That’s Grounds, properly weighty rock ‘n’ roll in the mid-’00s Brit post-hardcore vein.

02. Having assembled mid-last year, the band has been slowly making their way around their city’s gig scene, garnering adoring eyes from local media and UK rock blogs in the process.

03. Streaming above is the video for debut single Stutter, available for streaming and download over at their Bandcamp.

04. No word on any flights home for live dates, which needs rectifying, but London-based readers can catch them on a stacked punk gig at Luna on April 30th.

THOUGHTS: Noisy and unpretentious, with a fair amount of heft in those tones. Grand.

GROUNDS

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[r]evolution of a sunCork hardcore veterans reuniting for a good cause

What you may need to know…

01. At varying points throughout their over-decade-long run, Cork metal/hardcore band [r]evolution of a sun, anchored by Cork metal mainstays Noel Lynch, Christophe Erpelding, and Eoin Kelleher, had up to seven or eight members in a single live line-up.

02. They were ridiculously heavy, a reputation hammered home by three extended-players, the highlight of which is 2007’s Sacrificehellroutine, and Hell, an album that was a decade in the making.

03. The aforementioned is available for streaming above, and free download from their Bandcamp. The album is an unloved belter also.

04. They return from retirement for a charity show on April 13th at Fred Zeppelin’s in Cork. A benefit gig for the family of much-missed engineer and producer Laurence White, the line-up also includes Bisect and Hope is Noise.

Thoughts: One of the heaviest, sludgiest, most unforgiving bands to ever surface on our island. Should be visceral to see again live.

[r]evolution of a sun on Irish Metal Archive

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PercolatorDublin shoegaze/indie

What you may need to know…

01. Comprised of former members of Irish outfit Dae Kim, Percolator came together in 2009, with the current lineup solidifying a few years later: founder members Ian Chestnutt and Eleanor Myler were joined by Ilya K/Guerrilla Studios man John Murphy.

02. The band have made with a consistent stream of extended-play releases over the past few years, and their journey into a Venn diagram of shoegaze, psych, kraut and ’80s UK indie has led them to tread stages in support of Michael Rother of NEU!, A Place to Bury Strangers, and Deerhoof.

03. Streaming above is the video for new single CRAB SUPERNOVA, directed by Thom McDermot. Self-produced and mixed by the band at Guerilla, it’s been mastered by veteran engineer Harvey Birrell (Therapy?, among others).

04. It’s taken from the band’s upcoming debut full-length, entitled Sestra, releasing April 14th in Ireland and France via Penske Recordings and Permafrost Records, and April 28th everyplace else. Digital and vinyl pre-orders here.

Thoughts: Precise and pointed, yet layered and gently exploratory. Nerds of the aforementioned genres will find as much as ever to love here, but so too will lapsed indie-rock heads looking for something genuinely new.

Percolator

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Phantom Dog Beneath the Moonrural psychedelia/shoegaze

What you may need to know…

01. Aaron Hurley and Scott McLaughlin make up the duo of Phantom Dog Beneath the Moon, proponents of “folk-gaze”.

02. Releasing their first new material in almost seven years, the pair have broken a silence that’s been since 2010’s full-length The Trees, the Sea in a Lunar Stream.

03. Streaming above is the newly-released video for the title track from third album The Statue of the Hunter is Lost at Sea.

04. Catch them at the Roisín Dubh in Galway on March 22nd, as part of a double-header with labelmate A Lilac Decline, for a joint record launch.

Thoughts: Minimal, yet dense in terms of themes and atmosphere, with newfound strokes of ambience and psychedelia leading it all forward.

Phantom Dog Beneath the Moon

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A Lilac Declinelo-fi dream-folk

What you may need to know…

01. Visual artist Cecilia Danell takes the letters of her name and rearranges them into A Lilac Decline, a pseudonym for her dream-pop-inflected folk.

02. Striking out solo after stints with Cubs and Loner Deluxe, the Galway-resident Swede veers between the aforementioned and barebones composition with the implements and objects around her at the time.

03. Streaming above is her do-it-yourself video for single A Fine Day at Last, the first single from her album The Mountain Rages, available for pre-order from Rusted Rail.

04. Performing live next at Rusted Rail’s double-album launch for herself and Phantom Dog Beneath the Moon (more in this column tomorrow) at the Roisín Dubh in Galway on the 22nd.

Thoughts: Heartening, rootsy folk with traces of shoegazing and DIY ingenue throughout.

A Lilac Decline

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SissyDublin agitpop punk trio

What you may need to know…

01. Lo-fi, noisy and aggressive, precisely the way agitpop ought to be. That’s Sissy in a nutshell, a pissed-off, Sleater-Kinney-riffing outfit grappling with gender inequality and other issues facing women in Irish society.

02. September 2014 saw the release of the band’s debut extended-player on cassette, featuring pro-choice anthem Sail and Rail, followed by 2015 EP Gave Birth to a Mum.

03. Streaming above is the latter, also available for download and physical purchase on 7″ from their Bandcamp.

04. Also available for pre-order is Put Ears on Yourself Vol.1, a split single releasing soon via Art for Blind Records, featuring the band’s new track Nice Guy, an affront to “nice guy” syndrome and the privilege that accompanies.

Thoughts: The kind of band our society needs at a time when there’s still a fair amount of bullshit, both current and legacy, to be speaking up against.

SISSY

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Rusangano FamilyRTÉ Choice Prize Album of the Year winners

What you may need to know…

01. Honestly? This was the YMLT we were hoping to write this morning – mynameisj0hn, GodKnows and Murli took home the Album of the Year last night at the Choice Awards in Vicar Street.

02. Our thoughts on Let the Dead Bury the Dead, from last year’s year-end list:

“Rusangano Family are more than a critically-acclaimed Irish act that’s threatening to go mainstream. They represent a moment in Irish culture, a turning point, a look at the ever-changing Irish identity, the meeting point of tradition and progress, the emerging Irish multiculture.

Equal parts personal earnestness on the immigrant experience in Ireland and social commentary from the perspective of someone raised latterly in the culture, Let the Dead Bury the Dead is, in their words, “an objective album”.

But as important as the weight it carries, the tunes it bears across its near-40-minute runtime run the gamut, from the mid-paced stepping of Kierkegaard to the flat-out, shirt-waving banger that is Soul Food, there’s not a single doubt of the latter either. A momentous accomplishment.”

03. Streaming above are the album that took home the championship, available for streaming and download, and a Guerrilla Session & interview with Ray Wingnut released this morning.

04. See the champs on tour around the country over the course of the next month, including the National Concert Hall in Dublin, among other dates. See here for the full rundown.

Thoughts: The hardest-working outfit in Irish music today begin to reap the rewards of their grind. Proof that hard work, persistence and dedication always pay off.

Rusangano Family