You don’t need an excuse to hear this song again. ‘Hold On’ is a glorious old-fashioned soulful rock ‘n’ roll song from Alabama Shakes‘ debut album Boys & Girls out in April on Rough Trade. It also features on their Bandcamp EP.
Things have been progressing nicely for Cork’s REID since 2012 hit. He’s got himself on a management agency and ‘Diptera’, one of the tracks released on his second release for the upcoming Blah Blah Blah label was used in a documentary From The Inside Out for US filmmakers Second Base Films. The doc also features tunes from Chase & Status, Nero and Digitalism.
‘Diptera’ / ‘Fall’ get a digital release on February 20th. The former is a quiet/loud compressed synth line workout while the latter is more fluid and rolling with bells and big beats.
Catchy and super fun debut garage pop single from Galway band Dott who are made up of former members of other bands Nicola Cosgrove (Rites), Laura Finnegan (Nevernoodz), Tony Higgins (Grand Pocket Orchestra, currently also Junior 85) and Anna McCarthy (Blasterbra).
They play their first ever gig this weekend in Galway.
It’s been a year and two months since Neil O’ Connor aka Somadrone’s third LP Depth Of Field was streamed here and next month he’ll play his first headline shows since that period kicking off with Friday February 4th in Triskel Arts Centre, Cork with support from Magic Pockets, Thursday February 23rd in Belfast’s Menagerie Club and culminating on Saturday February 25th in Dublin’s Unitarian Church on St. Stephens Green with support from Angkorwat and I Am The Cosmos (check the amazing flyer by M&E).
New Somadrone music on Skinny Wolves (bringing Grouper over in late March) in the woodblock percussion and starry synth-featuring ‘Reckoning’ is below which Neil says is indicative of new more upbeat songs.
“I was listening to alot of library music this time around, with alot of German stuff like Cluster and Harmonium. I just wanted to make a completely new record, challenge myself to write out of my style. The results are interesting, less acoustics on this one. It’s full on electronic pop. Our live set is now myself on stereo guitar, modular and other synths, Glenn Keating on drums/electronics and David Kitt on guitar and vocoder”.
Another Come On Live Long remix? Sure when they’re this good…
Lemonada chops and screws the last track off the Mender EP, ‘Someone’s Home’ into a skittery vocal beat combination. This the kind of music that if your granny heard you’d listen to, she’d ask if there was a “want” in you…
Everywhere I went at Eurosonic, people talked about James McMorrow. From the 3Voor12 to the BBC to the waitress in the local restaurant, everyone in Holland loved him. ‘Higher Love’ found itself in the UK charts the week before thanks to the Lovefilm campaign. Myles O’Reilly and Simon O’Neill joined him at the Paradiso in Amsterdam on his sold out Dutch tour last week and captured some of the excitement around an artist whose profile continues to rise.
A special version of the album with bonus tracks comes out shortly.
Donegal-based Keith Mannion is the man behind the SlowPlaceLikeHome project which dropped its second free download EP called Coastal Hubs for Chivalry EP this week. Mannion gallivants around the subgenres of electronic, never really committing to any one in particular but common in his palette are wandering instrumentals, treated vocals, ’90s electronica and swirling arrangements. It’s very effective thinking music. The first EP Waiting on The 3rd 2nd Chance is also on Bandcamp.
Coastal Hubs for Chivalry EP:
I’ve listened to this song a lot since I first heard it in November. It’s a headphone jam feat. Gemma Dunlovely and now it’s got a video projecting footage onto paper by 1441 Collective. Download the track below and check out more at Soundcloud & Facebook. They play The Grand Social with Lorem Ipsum at Cirque De La Mode this Friday and on February 2nd with Bantum and Bloody Ends.
Listen to Quompilation #2: Irish bands cover their favourite tracks of 2011
Mmoths – ‘Heart’ feat. Keep Shelly In Athens
The Nialler9 Dublin gig guide (January 24th – 30th)
Nialler9′s top 100 songs of 2011
Eurosonic 2012: The 10 best bands I saw
Listen to songs from the soundtrack to Drive
Video: The Cast Of Cheers – ‘Family’
