Tag Archives: psych

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The Great Balloon Race – Cork 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

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BODIES – Mope-core

What you may need to know…

01. The solo outlet of musician David Anthony McGeown, BODIES specialises in what he refers to as “mope-core”.

02. A new outfit, emerging first as McGeown’s recording pseudonym and subsequently as a live band, BODIES’ debut album Drench was completed last year and should be enroute later in 2017.

03. Streaming above is the project’s debut single Nightmoves, released in December of last year, accompanied by a remix from much-fancied producer Kobina.

04. Next live excursion is Friday night at the Mezz in Dublin, supporting Cork psych-rockers The Sunshine Factory. Also on the bill are Death in the Sickroom and The Thrash Blues.

THOUGHTS: A bleak take on the broad church of alternative sounds and reference points.

BODIES

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For your consideration.

The video for The Laws of Nature, the new single from Dublin singer/composer Candice Gordon, featuring dancer Zoe Darling. A foreboding visual for a foreboding slice of noirish psychedelia. Says Gordon of the video, and the Butoh dance through which Darling tells the song’s story:

“Butoh is a Japanese dance form where you see a lot of transformation through animals. In the video, the dancer makes very slow dance moves and you see her transforming into different life forms.

I wanted parts of it to be unclear and uncanny. It’s a very wytchy song, it’s about being under the spell of the natural order,” said Candice.

The single is taken from upcoming album Garden of Beasts, available for pre-order here and released via Proper Octopus.

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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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The Sunshine Factory – releasing new single Cruelest Animal

What you may need to know…

01. Leeside neo-psychedelia five-piece The Sunshine Factory are on a roll after less than a year together.

02. In that short span of time, they’ve put together their first demo cassette, sold out hometown shows, and gone on Irish tour with UK psych legends The Telescopes.

03. Streaming above is their FIFA Records debut, a newly gussied-up take on early track Cruelest Animal.

04. They’re launching the aforementioned tomorrow night at DeBarra’s in Clonakilty and Saturday night at the Crane Lane in Cork.

VERDICT: Dreamy, hazey psych-pop perfect for the humid, dead air of the end of the summer. Grand.

The Sunshine Factory