Attention REM fans – Peter Buck is among us.

The REM guitar hero (top centre) has formed a veteran indie supergroup of sorts with Sleater Kinney singer Corin Tucker (top right), drummer Linda Pitmon (top left) as well as Scott McCaughey (second right) and Bill Rieflin, who were in REM’s touring band for many years. The line-up is completed by guitarist Kurt Bloch (top second right) of The Fastbacks.

The name of the group is Filthy Friends and they play Dublin’s Button Factory tonight.

The band have just released their second album ‘Emerald Valley’, having debuted with ‘Invitation’ in 2017. You can hear Buck’s trademark Rickenbacker jangle all over their new single ‘Break Me’ (above), the video for which was shot in the band’s home state of Oregon.

Nick says: Any chance of ‘Gardening At Night’, Peter?

Filthy Friend at the Button Factory

eur(elle) – Borrowed Blood

Neil Eurelle (top), from Dublin indie rockers Empire Circus, has a solo album ‘The Dark Chromatic’ due on July 1.

‘Borrowed Blood’ is the second single from the LP, and mixes a traditional singer/songwriter approach with contemporary r’n’b and electronica to create something that defies easy categorisation.

Eurelle describes the song as “honest cinematic soundscapes, tinted with a touch of melancholy”.

Nick says: There will be blood on the tracks

eur(elle)

Just Mustard – Frank

Something strange this way comes. Hailing from Dundalk, County Louth, Just Mustard offer an almost sinister take on early ’90s shoegaze (who remembers The Cranes?) that will shake the listener out of their comfort zone.

Nominated for last year’s Choice Music Prize for their album ‘Wednesday’, Just Mustard have produced an unforgettable video (above) that is David Lynch levels of dark, dystopian, dreamlike, disturbing and other words not necessarily beginning with D.

The band, led by Katie Ball’s haunting vocals, have since dropped another single ‘October’, but the video is the Metal Machine Music of pop promos – an impressively non-commercial anti-video. Respect.

Nick says: Move over Ham Sandwich, Just Mustard are here!

Just Mustard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvQPlb9MpK0&feature=youtu.be

Blaithin Carney – Crystalize

A professionally trained musician from Naas, County Kildare, Blaithin plays a headline show tonight in Dublin’s Whelan’s of Wexford Street accompanied by a string quartet.

As a taster, check out this accomplished live-in-studio performance (above) from January featuring a crack band of top local musicians and Blaithin herself on piano and smooth-as-you-like vocals.

This is old-school songcraft that will never go out of fashion.

Nick says: Bring on the violins…

Blaithin Carney

The Swedish Railway Orchestra – The Subjection

A triumphant return from Workman’s Club DJ and Argentine soccer fanatic Rob Smith (top) – who is from Dublin, not Stockholm – this pulsating blast of indie-tronica takes the square root of The Fall and multiplies it with LCD Soundsystem.

The Subjection is lifted from SRO’s superb second album ‘This Is A Mixtape’. The uber-cool video features vintage footage of Berlin before the Wall came down.

Proceeds from a limited batch of CDs of the new album go to [suicide charity] Pieta House, and are available here 

Rob says:

“The lyric is based upon an Emmaline Pankhurst quote, and musically I’ve had one person comment that it’s ‘like Anton Newcombe on ecstasy’, which is frighteningly accurate.”

Nick says: Welcome to suffragette city.

Swedish Railway Orchestra

Basciville – Post-Youth

Wexford siblings Cillian and Lorcan Byrne follow their 2016 EP ‘Blues In Red’ with a highly atmospheric shot of gothic r’n’b humming with passion and intensity. Take note, too, of Darragh Nolan’s impressively moody production.

Basciville say:

“Sometimes we’re too quick to disregard and chase the mystery up out of our lives.”

Nick says:‘Post-Youth’ is not wasted on the young.

Basciville

The Whileaways – It’ll Come Around

Combining the talents of Noelie McDonnell, Noriana Kennedy and Nicola Joyce, The Whileaways have just released this slow-burning gem from last year’s album ‘From What We Made’.

The gentle harmonies and subtle banjo add to the soul-searching vocals to create a mini treasure.

You can catch them live in Dublin’s Lost Lane on June 13.

Nick says: Stay a While.

The Whileaways

Sorcha Richardson – Ruin Your Night

Dublin-born, New York-based Sorcha has reached – count ’em – 10 million streams on Spotify of this song she wrote in her bedroom in Brooklyn.

To celebrate, she booked herself into Windmill Lane Studios to record this stripped down acoustic version with her bandmate Theo on piano.

A new single is also imminent.

Catch this tremendous talent play rare Irish shows this Friday at Dublin Whelan’s and on Sunday at Cork Cyprus Avenue.

Nick says: Ruin Your Night has made my day.

Sorcha Richardson

BOUTS – Passing Through

Homegrown power-pop doesn’t get any better than BOUTS.

The video for ‘Passing Through’ – the extremely catchy new single from their second album ‘Flow’ – was shot in Amsterdam and is giving us that Friday feeling.

If you’re a Weezer-loving geezer, you’ll want to catch the Dublin four-piece – that’s Niall, Barry, Dan and Colin – when they play the Knockan Stockan festival in Blessington in July.

Nick says: Introducing your new favourite band… BOUTS!

BOUTS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjLjMrZkFQo&feature=youtu.be

Polyglove – Solstice

Analog lo-fi dreamy techno from beyond the astral plane. That’s how Dubin-based electronic duo PolyGlove describe their sound on their Bandcamp page. And that’s just what they serve up on their new EP ‘Leisureplex’.

The video for the hypnotic final song on the EP, ‘Solstice’, was inspired by “nature, paganism and nostalgia” and will appeal to any animal-lovers out there.

PolyGlove say:

“We centred production around analog tape delays and endless reverbs, prioritising our poly synths… opening up the sound for a richer melodic experience.”

Nick says: PolyGlove is in the air

Polyglove