Berlin-based Irish songsmith Wallis Bird (top) reflects on the lockdown in her new video shot in Germany by Joe Wright.
Wallis writes:
“It documents the silence and the beauty of hearing the birds for miles and miles at the beginning of lockdown when there was no traffic and nobody was leaving their house. It moves from that into when things began reopening a little more.
“This quiet, uneasy safety at the start develops into a spiral of unending possibilities. The end of this song expresses all of the possibilities of where we’re going to go from here.”
“Screw getting laid when the pills are this great.”
Glen Brady (top), aka DJ Wool, takes it to the limit with his debut single as Def Nettle.
Additional vocals are by Lisa Doyle-Taafe and the video is by Dave Mack, Lindsey Brady and Beatrice Brady.
Glen says:
“Def Nettle is me looking in the mirror and seeing the stories of my life and everyone I’ve loved or lost staring back at me, telling me to get on with it. Make the fucking music. Use your voice. Take advantage of what you’ve learned, what you’ve seen. Over a lifetime of different jobs within the music industry, I would regularly have discussions with myself about the project that is now called Def Nettle. I knew it was coming. I just didn’t know when or how until it revealed itself last year.”
The death of Donegal electronica pioneer Aengus Friel (top) aka Shammen Delly has left his many friends in the Irish music scene reeling.
Aengus had just uploaded this mind-bending video (above) to YouTube of a song from his psychedelic EP The People’s Temple OV Big Tom.
We send our condolences to his friends and family.
Below is the blurb for the EP on his bandcamp page.
‘This is a vivid reimagined vision of a time when Irish Country legend Big Tom and his Mainliners were leaders of ‘The Peoples Temple’ in Monaghan back in the late 70’s and would travel around the country summoning new followers for the sacred dances around stone circles and beaches.
‘His followers would come down the Four Country Roads in droves, the Smithwicks would be flowing and be tainted with thee auwl Magick Mushrooms, the masses would be waltzing and jiving around large fires howling to the skies as the sun rises as the big beat keeps on thumping.
‘The music in this EP is a mixture of old and new music Shammen Delly produced in his Dunge up north in Donegal, which sounds like a surreal noise fest of oneiric electronica distorted whirling warbly synth chords and thoughts of 70’s German Krautrock emotional mellotrons, blending in hidden country bass lines, and a wash of psychedelic industrialistic rhythms and downtempo decrepit trip-hop big beats, and organic recordings of piano,harmonium, and personal recordings from Friel’s family members throughout the past.’
Irish songsmith and former Grand Pocket Orchestra leader Paddy Hanna (top) charms with a languid stroll through the Big Apple on his new single on the Strange Brew label.
Paddy writes:
“I rather optimistically believe that many of the mistakes or misadventures that happen in our lives can become great anecdotes down the line, a sense of humour can be a real balm in tough times. ‘New York Sidewalk’ is very simply about that – moving on from the past with a wry grin. It’s about laying to bed past failures, leaping forward and seeing the love that’s all around you.”
Wynona Bleach are an indie guitar troupe from Belfast whose new album Moonsoake has just been released on Fierce Panda Records.
Recorded in central Portugal, the album features: Melyssa Shannon (vocals), Jonny Woods (guitar, vocals), Aaron Black (guitar), Matt Killen (drums) and Carl Gilmore (bass).
