Tag Archives: new music

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Strangefish – Irish hip-hop superteam from the archives

What you may need to know…

01. Strangefish was/is a collaborative effort between Northern emcee Jee4ce, Belfast beatmaker SertOne, and Limrock cutman(s) Deviant & Naive Ted, operational between 2012 and 2013.

02. This self-titled E.P. was assembled inbetween shiftwork and fits of existential crisis in bedrooms in Liverpool, Dublin and Edinburgh, with ideas and bits flung back and forth over the interwebs.

03. It’s streaming and available for download in the widget above, releasing via Liverpudlian label Fly High Society.

04. The blurb/copy accompanying this record states that this is the “first compilation” from the outfit, implying either more archive material or fresh cuts down the road.

Thoughts: With the recognisable sonic fingerprint of each participant evident, this extended-player provides plenty for Irish hip-hop heads to dig into, while the EP’s digs into psychedelia and playfulness ought to appeal to first-timers.

Strangefish

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Lighght – Oddball electronic noises from Cork

What you may need to know…

01. Cork musician Éamon Ivri makes sounds under the moniker of Lighght.

02. The project has been in development for about a year, working on it when not sessioning for 12-15-headed funk monster Quangodelic, or running Cork community nightclub Diffract.

03. Streaming above is free-download single What U Need, available now via Lighght’s Soundcloud.

04. The next Diffract night happens on the 28th at the Kino in Cork, headlined by a live appearance by YMLT featurees ooSe.

Thoughts: Off-kilter soundings from the fringes of a booming Leeside electronic scene.

Lighght

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REPLETE – Kilkenny electronica

What you may need to know…

01. Replete is Kilkenny-based electronic composer Peter Lawlor, releasing material through American techno label Always Human.

02. Having been on the scene in some capacity or other for a few years now (your writer seems to remember streaming some old stuff on ye olde Drop-d.ie), it comes as a surprise that his first physical release only occurred recently, compiling some older material with an EP’s worth of fresh kill.

03. The (fairly amusingly-monikered) Zizek at the Discotheque is streaming now from Always Human Tapes’ Bandcamp page, premiering this week on The Thin Air.

04. As the label’s name might suggest, it’s available for download and purchase (plus shipping from the States!) on cassette.

Thoughts: No-nonsense beats and pieces from a consistent producer who’ll hopefully finally get his dues in 2017.

REPLETE

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Bisect – multicultural hardcore outfit releasing new split 12″

What you may need to know…

01. With band members of Polish, Italian and Irish backgrounds, Bisect’s no-nonsense, d-beat rage is fuelled by a diverse range of outlooks and musical influences.

02. Gigging around Ireland the past few years, the band emerged in earnest with debut full-length We Are The Migrants, self-released in 2013, a sturdy, socially-conscious hardcore broadside with unusually polished production.

03. Streaming above is their half of a split extended-player with fellow Cork-based destroyers Horse, co-released in December through the band’s self-release label, Almost Records.

04. The other half, including Horse’s YMLT-featured single Dragging, can be streamed on that band’s own Bandcamp.

Thoughts: Since being slimmed down in a personnel shift, Bisect have moved to focus their sound, and it shows.

Bisect

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Sillk – String-laden alt-folk from Cork

What you may need to know…

01. Sillk are a Leeside three-piece, and while at their heart a folk band, exhibit noirish/chamber-pop tendencies in places, due mainly to a dense undercarriage of cello and violin in their tunes.

02. The band’s debut E.P. Time is a Clock, recorded by Elastic Sleep/African Fiction man Chris Somers, releases this week on CD and digital download.

03. Streaming above is the video new single Switchblades Don’t Sleep, taken from the extended-player, directed by Eadaoin O’Donoghue and shot by Enrique Carcinero.

04. Launching tomorrow night at the Village Hall venue on Patrick’s Quay, Cork at 8.30. More info here.

Thoughts: A dichotomy of light-hearted play and heavy subject matter, balanced, bearing a wide, irreverent grin.

Sillk

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Naive Ted – Limerick weirdo beat don returns

What you may need to know…

01. Co-founder of the Community Skratch Games festival, and founder of the Unscene label/collective (see yesterday’s YMLT), Naive Ted is arguably one of the cornerstones of independent music in Ireland, in addition to his own ever-expanding body of increasingly experimental beat-tapes and production credits.

02. We’re reliably informed the follow-up to 2015 magnum opus The Inevitable Heel Turn is on the way.

03. Streaming above is a video released on the quiet over the post-Xmas/pre-New Year fug, for single Post-Factual (That Old Chestnut).

04. Appearing next at Quarter Block Party on North Main Street, Cork, from February 5th to 7th, where he’ll be performing all-new material which may or may not be new-LP-related. More info here.

Thoughts: More oddball beats and pieces with a reliably lo-fi feel, albeit a tad more ’90s-feeling in places. Looking forward to hearing where this might lead.

Naive Ted

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Mankyy – Clare beatmaker gets in with the first new release of the year

What you may need to know…

01. Mankyy is the beatmaking pseudonym of Clareman Daithí MacCrúitin. At a tender eighteen years of age, he’s already been up and down the country, sharing stages with This Side Up and the Cuttin’ Heads Collective.

02. Debut extended-player Character Development guest appearances from a litany of Irish hip-hop leaders, including Limerick trio Same D4ence, fellow prodigy Jonen Dekay, and Spekulativ Fiktion.

03. The E.P. is available for streaming and download in the widget above.

04. Technically the first release of the year in Ireland, the E.P. dropped in the early hours of New Year’s Day, via Limrock beatgods The Unscene.

Thoughts: Some absolutely scorching guest bars are the cherry on top of a well-developed, dense and eclectic collection of beats.

Mankyy

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Switzerland – Dublin indie-pop via Popical Island

What you may need to know…

01. Something of a Dublin lo-fi supergroup are four-piece Switzerland.

02. Nostalgia-tinged pop is the name of the game, from members of Drunken Boat, Hello Moon, Land Lovers and the Paddy Hanna Band.

03. Streaming above is the band’s new single, Starting Out, a taster of debut album Long Gone, releasing via Dublin pop collective Popical Island in January.

04. The album launch happens at Whelan’s on the 27th. Stay tuned to the band’s social media for more info.

Verdict: Ramshackle indie of the variety that is staple to Popical Island and its attendant bockety-pop remit. Fun for fans of Teenage Fanclub and the like.

Switzerland

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Run the Jukes – collaborative beats via The Unscene

What you may need to know…

01. Galway beatmaker and high-ranking Street Fighter competitor Jimmy Penguin teams up with Mikey B-Side, a.k.a Michael Fallon of Cork’s Cuttin’ Heads Collective. By their powers combined, they are Run the Jukes.

02. The Kralbum is the result of their collaborative labours, dropped by surprise last night via Limerick weirdo music propagation magnates The Unscene.

03. The twelve-minute, one-track mix can be streamed above, and downloaded for free from the project’s Bandcamp.

04. Other than telling us that apparently “Jukes reign supreme over nearly everyone“, there is literally zero other information on this particular project. This was an intentional move, according to the Unscene’s crack PR team.

Verdict: More handy, weirdy, noisy beats from the sweet spot of Irish hip-hop.

Run the Jukes

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Mongoose – jazz/folk Dublanders curating special gig line-ups

What you may need to know…

01. Dublin four-piece Mongoose bring together a wide pool of influences to create folk with an alternative tinge.

02. Coming together in 2012, the release of the band’s self-titled debut album last year follows a clutch of self-released singles and extended-players.

03. Streaming above is Doing Things Wrong, a single released earlier this year in solidarity with the Repeal the Eighth campaigns.

04. They’ve recently been curating their own line-ups of musical and spoken word artists, in a series of gigs called Winter Longing. Next up: Levis’ of Ballydehob on Saturday night, with Anna Mieke Bishop and more in support.

Verdict: Solid and spirited jazz/folk with a keen melodic sensibility.

Mongoose