On this Friday, 25th June, ‘The Hypnotist’, the third single from Those Nervous Animals’ highly acclaimed album ‘The Mission Sessions’, is released on digital platforms.
Those Nervous Animals used Lockdown #1 in March 2020 to work on their first full-length album, ‘The Mission Sessions’. The first recording, now the third single from the album, was a brand-new arrangement of a fan favourite. ‘The Hypnotist’ grew organically as a song from TNA’s often spontaneous gigs and jam sessions. As it evolved, the tune was never played the same two nights running. It perhaps best represents the Animals live sound, funky, unpredictable and with a singalong chorus. In re-creating the track, they used a bootleg of a live gig in the Strand Bar, Strandhill from 2014 for reference. They then recorded individual parts, including Barry Brennan and Susan Rowland’s vocals, Eddie Lee’s bass, Padraig Meehan on rhythm guitar and longstanding contributor Seamie McGowan making his customary mischief on guitar synth. Gerry Leonard (ex-David Bowie) added guitar and mixed the track in New York.
‘The Mission Sessions’ album is available on all download and streaming platforms, and the limited edition vinyl via thosenervousanimals.ie. It is also available for download from all streaming or downloadable platforms.
Sea Sessions, Ireland’s number 1 surf and music festival, have announced an unbelievable array of diverse acts for June 2022. From Chart Toppers Kodaline to Cork Hero Lyra. From Superstar DJ Joel Corry to Dublin favs All Tvvins and a lot more in between. The full lineup of acts performing at Ireland’s Biggest Beach Party include Kodaline, Lyra, Joel Corry, All Tvvins, Ejeca, David Keenan, Wyvern Lingo, True Tides, Malaki, Gemma Dunleavy, Aby Coulibaly, Monjola, Barely Legal, Thumper, Dart and loads more to be announced.
Tickets are available from all Ticketmaster outlets nationwide, www.ticketmaster.ie and www.seasessions.com. Priced from €119.90 for 3 days and €149.90 including 4 nights camping. There’s also Surfers Bar (VIP) upgrades available from €60 extra. There s also Sea Sessions Merch’ available at www.seasessions.com/shop.
Sea Sessions started in 2008 and has grown from strength to strength over the years. In fact the last 7 festivals have sold out well in advance and with such pent up demand 2022 should be no different. The whole party takes place right on the beach in Bundoran, Donegal and has hosted some of the biggest International acts on the circuit including the likes of Dizzee Rascal, Bastille, Dermot Kennedy, Tinie Tempah, Paul Weller, Clean Bandit and Picture This to name but a few. Alongside music, there’s also Ireland’s biggest Surf Comp’, Skating, BMX, Street Art, Beach Sports and much more packed into the 3 full days of partying by the beach.
Ray O’Donoghue, Festival Director says, “We’ve had a really tough 15 months or so but there’s a lot of hope on the horizon. 2022 can’t come soon enough. We’re extremely proud of the array of acts already booked and we reckon there’s a bit of something for everyone in there. We may have one or two events happening before next year but it will be a full 3 years before we can operate at full capacity and we really can’t wait. 2022 is going to be one helluva party.”
THE BEACH PARTY WEEKEND OF THE YEAR
JUNE 17TH – 19TH: 2022
EARLY BIRD TICKETS GO ON SALE THIS TUESDAY JUNE 29th AT 9.00AM
Limerick based producer and composer Paddy Mulcahy is delighted to announce that his new EP ‘Tidal Oscillations’ will be released in partnership with XXIM Records at Sony Masterworks, as the first instalment in their new XXIM:EXPO series 1. The EP will be available on 16/07/21.
For XXIM:EXPO, the label will invite young artists from across the whole spectrum of
progressive instrumental music to curate and release an EP, sharing their unique vision with
as wide an international audience as possible.
“Supporting young artists in their musical experimentation has been part of XXIM’s mission statement from day one, with this new project, we want to invite artists in, help them to present themselves to a wider audience, and map out all the interesting and exciting developments in post-genre instrumental music.” Alex Buhr – XXIM Label Head
The first cut from the forthcoming EP is ‘A Dream, A Sequence’, an entrancing track fueled by a simple six-note piano motif. The song first came to Paddy in a dream, which he later re-imagined and explored using synthesizers. As the track comes to a close, it slowly resolves to silence, as the listener is awoken from its trance.
‘Tidal Oscillations’ finds Mulcahy delving deep into the art of new-wave ambient electronica, on his new EP, his first full release since 2019’s much lauded ‘How To Disappear’ album. ‘Tidal Oscillations’ examines the themes of consciousness, anxiety and exploration. The 4-track project takes the listener on a journey through Mulcahy’s electronic re-awakening.
All music written, recorded and produced by Paddy Mulcahy.
Make Me Feel (Believing) is the new single from Danny G & the Major 7ths featuring an all-star cast of Irish hip-hop artists. Breezy Ideygoke, 0phelia & King Koko provide the verses. The track is a rework of the song ‘Believing‘, reimagined by producer JusMe, using samples & audio stems of the original to create something entirely new. Digital release on June 25th, 2021 – listen on streaming services.
Danny: “I’d been a fan of Breezy’s for ages. I worked with 0phelia on my first album, and DJ Stevie G put me onto King Koko. I reached out to them and everything was recorded remotely. We’ve got 3 completely different rap verses, each with their own unique personality, energy and style. 0phelia got beatmaker and skratchologist JusMe involved which was a gamechanger – he transformed the instrumental, and I sprinkled some of my original vocals and flute from our track ‘Believing’ on top of his production. What we’ve ended up with is a feelgood summer banger with a positive message.
The intro features interviews with Sinead O’Connor (2020 – talking about her mental health) and Seamus Heaney (1995 – speaking about his Nobel prize). The two clips struck me in different ways, O’Connor’s for the bravery and power of her words “we’re all going through these things”. And Heaney although he’s speaking in ’95, could be describing today’s lockdown in Ireland – “a new mood in the country that promises new energy”. Even though there is this frustration and anxiety at not being able to play live music, it also seems like Irish artists are on a creative high right now, particularly in the Soul / Hip-hop arena. The struggles of lockdown can force you to get to work DIY style and find new ways of making music, and for me this track is a perfect example of that.“
In a first for award-winning, double platinum selling, Mick Flannery, he and Co. Clare newcomer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Susan O’Neill have come together for a collaborative album, ‘In the Game’, set for release September 2021. Today, they share the first single from it ‘Chain Reaction’.
This new single follows their 2020’s duet ‘Baby Talk’, which won ‘Best Original Song of The Year’ at the RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards and has racked up nearly 1 million streams to date. The pair’s compelling live performances on both The Late Late Show and Other Voices ‘Courage’ were widely lauded as performances of the year.
‘Chain Reaction’ is a startlingly beautiful track, showcasing the pair’s inimitable vocals; incredible on their own, spellbinding together. The single offers the first glimpse at an album that documents a couple’s coming together and falling apart, offering up longing, redemption and equal measures of seduction and sorrow, desire and despair.
Of the track, Susan says “This is the sweet one, the call and response. There is a feeling of love and balance here as both voices verbalise the same lyrics, thoughts and gratitude.”
Mick adds “This song arrived at night/morning early in pandemic lockdowns. It was partly inspired by hopeful talk of a “reset” and/or environmental benefits to a great slowing of human activity.”
Mick and Susan recorded in Co. Cork, with Christian Best engineering all the Irish musicians as well as playing drums on the track. Tony Buchen then took over producing duties in Los Angeles, bringing in various players including ‘Death Cab for Cuties’ Zac Rae on Wurlitzer duties. The infectious feel-good video filmed in Co. Clare and directed by West Cork Director Christopher Luke.
The pair have also announced a string of Irish shows in support of the new record, happening October and December 2021. Including Cork Opera House, Dolan’s Warehouse, Limerick, and Whelan’s in Dublin. New dates go on sale today [Friday 25th June]. More shows to be announced soon.
SINGLE ‘CHAIN REACTION’ BY MICK FLANNERY AND SUSAN O’NEILL IS OUT NOW | Friday 25th June 2021
ORIAN is finally ready to give us the full picture after teasing a constant string of single releases over the past year with the release of his debut EP ‘Before It Weighs Us Down’.
His debut release, ‘Before it Weighs Us Down’ is a collection of five songs including the much loved ‘What Pulls You’ and singer-songwriter ballad ‘Jewellery Box’ alongside previously unreleased indie belter ‘Beautiful Disguise’, co-written with Italian songstress Violetta Zironi.
The EP showcases the songwriter’s journey from his delicate debut pop track ‘Tryin’ ‘in 2018 to a more introspective and organic space, with lyrical themes focusing on the self, family, important social issues and relationships presented in a melodic soundscape of gentle electronics and drifting guitars.
After radio coverage on BBC Radio, RTE One and RTE 2Fm, ORIAN has put together this EP to deliver his tracks to a growing fanbase. More and more people are becoming fond of his intricate, compelling style and ORIAN’s new EP is his answer to this request.
Written mostly during the winter of 2019, ‘Before It Weighs Us Down’ is a true collaborative effort including esteemed collaborators such as Irish legend Craig Walker (Archive, Power of Dreams) and GRAMMY Award winning songwriter Erik Alcock (Pink!, Eminem, Celine Dion). The EP was produced by Roman Andor in Berlin, and mastered by Latin GRAMMY Award winner Ainsley Adams (Adele, Train).
Having spent the past year reimagining and refining his craft, ‘Before It Weighs Us Down’ shows ORIAN as an artist that has come full circle and found a maturity in a sound that reflects this, whilst still remaining honest and true to himself. It is a culmination of a songwriter reflecting on the world around him, and exploring his inner emotions in a way that is both liberating and staggering, and also beautifully necessary.
“This EP is for those who find comfort in isolation and feel overwhelmed by the world sometimes. I often feel not only lost in my thoughts, but also displaced as to how to pull myself out of my head. I wanted this collection of music to be the comfort for me that allows me to climb out of myself, as so much music has been for me over the years”. – ORIAN
Graham Coe releases new single ‘Every Day’ on 8th July.
‘Every Day’ is the classic tale of young love and a lost and lonely summer. Graham writes about the all too familiar angst and loss that so many people have felt when a loved one goes away and comes back a changed and different person.
After the successful release of his first two folk songs A Moment In Time’ and ‘Here I Am’ Graham has taken a different approach with ‘Every Day’ and gone for a more rock-inspired sound laced with heavy guitar-driven choruses and dramatic Ennio Morricone inspired backing vocals. It’s starts slow and soft until it builds into a powerful and cinematic landscape of sound with the main vocal billowing out a feeling of despair and heartbreak.
It was recorded, produced and mixed by Sean Corcoran at Bikini Island Studios, Dublin, Ireland. Graham is currently working on an EP and is very excited to get that out later this year.
‘New Vessels’ is the debut album from Ra Gerra – the Irish electronica / hip-hop duo consisting of electronic musician and producer Kobina and rapper and singer MuRli – and it’s out on Friday 16th July.
Today, Friday 25th June, Ra Gerra share new single, ‘Indecisive’ – a song that looks at how making a choice is often preceded by a sacrifice, but even when the decision is difficult, indecision is rarely ever bliss.
Despite being separated by about 2,000 kilometres, the Amsterdam-based Kobina and Limerick-based MuRli have forged a partnership to produce melodic, shifting music with emotive clarity and immediacy.
Singles ‘Terrified’ (November 2020) and ‘Pressure’ (April 2021) have already alerted music media to the project, with iconic Irish music podcast No Encore dedicating a stand-alone episode to the project, Leeds-based underground music bible Pretend.co.uk featuring a full-length interview with MuRli and Kobina, District naming ‘New Vessels’ in their ‘21 Albums We Can’t Wait For’ feature and Nialler9 writing about Kobina’s “melodic textured electronic production” mixed with MuRli’s “emotive words”.
The project also caught the attention of super-director P.O.B. of Motherland, who loved the Ra Gerra project so much that he asked MuRli and Kobina if he can direct the video for ‘Indecisive’ – a video that will be released next week.
MuRli (A.K.A. Mawuli Boevi) is a rapper, producer and songwriter, who is well known for his evocative lyrics, incredible technique, and is widely sought after for both his pen and production. His first two solo EPs, ‘Surface Tension’ and ‘Till The Wheels Fall Off’, have been lauded by critics both at home and abroad for being both catchy and flawlessly capturing the heart of moments and movements. He is also one of the founders of narolane records.
Speaking about ‘New Vessels’, MuRli says: “This is one of the most organic projects I’ve been a part of. It’s almost like a freestyle album. We had no expectations going into it, other than writing a bit of music together, so there were no rules. I was just laying down whatever came naturally to me wherever I’d find myself writing. There was no specific direction I wanted to go into with this project. I was exploring new ways of writing and performing and this is the result.”
Kobina is Dublin-born, Amsterdam-based musician and producer Seán Arthur. His work pulls together diverse and often disparate strands of music to create textured, rich and emotive sounds. After three well received E.Ps, the latest being 2019’s ‘Four Poems’, in 2020 Kobina released the charity compilation album ‘For Nora’ featuring collaborations with a number of his musical peers, as well as original material.
Speaking about ‘New Vessels’, Kobina says: “’New Vessels’ is all about pushing one another to dig deeper within ourselves and to look for new ways of communicating with and navigating our relationships with ourselves and the world around us.”
Ardú today release ‘To Feel The Power Of Love’, written by Carl Corcoran. This song was born in the early days of Covid Lockdown 2020. Sunrise walks; some Covid Cave ruminations and meditations; Observations of dedicated front-line workers; Everyday displays of simple acts in common purpose.
A serendipitous introduction to the talented arranger Ciarán Kelly and the vocal ensemble Ardú, of which he is the Artistic Director, breathed new life into ‘To Feel The Power Of Love’. Ardú is an award-winning ensemble and a pioneer of contemporary vocal music in Ireland.
“The greatest thrill that one can experience as a songwriter, is to hear one’s song performed by others. That thrill was heightened when I heard Ciarán Kelly’s arrangement of ‘To Feel The Power Of Love’, and the subsequent performance by Ardú, one of Ireland’s premiere vocal ensembles, which is available courtesy of the first of two summer 21 releases by Ardú.”
Available for purchase Bandcamp, and streaming on all the usual digital platforms.
Rushes is set to release his sophomore single from his upcoming project ‘Glowchild’, the uptempo, high-energy ‘Funds’ on June 25th.
From the small, rural town of Skibbereen, Co.Cork, Alternative-Pop artist Rushes exudes an iridescent sound and style like no other. He blends his craft of sensitive songwriting with inventive melodies to produce ambient styles with eager, soulful vocals and cutting-edge hazy electronic sounds.
‘Funds’ was written during a period when Rushes was working tirelessly on music, uncertain of whether it would see the light of day. “I was really burning the candle at both ends” Rushes explains, “it’s like I was laser focused on some vision that has no guarantee of coming true. I’m talking about the sacrifices I was making just to achieve this thing, keeping up some hope that when that day comes it was worth it.”
Upbeat, energetic, vibrant and full of the joys of hot summer days spent laughing with friends, the song is propelled by a driving synth line accompanied by buoyant percussion; as Rushes’s vocals soar high above the instrumentation. Lyrically, Rushes examines the difficulties of artistic endeavours, wondering whether hard work is enough to succeed in such a creative field.
“I was on a good run of creating so there was optimism around, and I think that comes across through the sound,” Rushes recalls of the track’s creation, “I remember it was a miserable day during summer, which is a very typical scene in Ireland. I had the song written so it was just about capturing that carefreeness when recording.”
While the instrumentation comes off as bright and carefree, the track’s lyrics evoke memories of a far more difficult period in Rushes’s life. He sings in the track ‘Staying out in London where my cards get declined / I won’t need to hide when my fruits are ripe, right? / Eating barely nothing but it’s easy to survive’, which harkens back to a story of Rushes finding it difficult to afford to eat while attending songwriting and recording sessions in London.
“I was spending all the money I had on travelling to London, Berlin, anywhere that I could work on my music and I was in sessions all day, forgetting to eat,” Rushes recalls, “then going somewhere starving and my card gets declined, so I was saying to myself, f*** it, you’re going to be experiencing this now, but hopefully that won’t be the case once things start going right.”
‘Funds’ follows on from the huge success of Rushes’s first single ‘Wide Eyed’ which has received amazing media acclaim from publications such as EARMILK, Dansende Beren and Enfnts Terribles, District, Hotpress, Nialler9, GoldenPlec, The Last Mixtape and Entertainment.ie. The track was also added to Spotify’s New Music Friday UK and A Breath of Fresh Éire playlists. On Irish radio ‘Wide Eyed’ is continuing to build having been playlisted on RTÉ2FM, international support from NRJ Belgium and reached no.14 on the Irish Radio Breakers Chart.
‘Funds’ is the second single from Rushes’s upcoming project ‘Glowchild’, which is set for release this September. A track immersed in self-doubt yet sprinkled with a deep sense of optimism and opportunity, ‘Funds’ shows Rushes once more taking the highs with the lows on his journey to his creative mountaintop.
