Author: Breffni Banks

Dublin soul rockers The Hot Sprockets have released the video for the new single ‘Cold Cold Sweat’ available for download on March 9th. The single is first release from the band’s third album, ‘Dream Mover’ which is set for official release on April 6th.

Inspired by the Afrobeat rhythms of Fela Kuti and band, ‘Cold Cold Sweat’ has a more percussive groove to what we’re used to hearing from the Sprockets, yet no less Rock N Roll. The video for ‘Cold Cold Sweat’ is shot and directed by their long time friend and collaborator Joseph Ingersoll, and is inspired by the 90’s turtleneck and chain wearing Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

After a really successful year in 2017, with the release of his debut single, working with Irish Band ASLAN and opening up for them on their Made In Dublin Tour at Vicar Street, and Their Feel No Shame Tour at the Start of 2018,  Ciarán Moran now releases his second single ‘Mother’ in which has been already rated as “The This Is of 2018” from Billy McGuiness (Member of Irish Band ASLAN).

With the release of his debut single in August 2018 in which had been aired on John Barkers “Totally Irish” on 98FM, and a live interview along with performances on the FM104’s Open Mic and played by Dermot Lambert on RTE 2XM along with much more.

Ciarán had taken a separate route for this single in which is more real lyrically & composition wise, this single is stringing along the lines of Damien Dempsey/Damien Rice.

The single was recorded in Beardfire Music Studio/Label in Dublin City by Producer/Artist Rohan Kealy, The studio/label itself has had releases and performances on shows such as TG4’s Busker ABU, The Voice UK, RTE Radio, RTE Television, TV3, TG4 and much more.

The lyrics and composition were written by Ciarán Moran who had previously worked alongside the likes of Christy Moore for song writing, so the lyrics to ‘Mother’ are honest and real and tell a true story of what happens in the world we live in today.

The Song ‘Mother’ was written about a young boy growing up in a home where the boy had no other choice but to become immune to the noise of his father beating or abusing his mother on an everyday basis. Domestic violence was a huge thing in his home. There are lyrics as strong and as honest as “He would say go get your father or your brother’s, but by the time they came he was nowhere to be found” and “He would make you hide your scars with your make-pp, but as the tears would fall we would see you start to bruise”

Although Moran had previously explained that the songs he writes don’t affect him personally or are not what he may have gone through in life, and the reason for that was “Who wants to listen to my problems? People want to listen to things that relates to them and not what goes on in my life,” on an interview with FM104 in Dublin, He believes that the song and lyrics will relate to a lot of people not only in Ireland but also around the world.

As the days come closer to the release of his single on Mother’s Day, 11th March, Moran hopes to keep recording for his debut EP in which he hopes to release during the summer of 2018. With several more shows lined up with Irish band ASLAN in 2018 and some showcases around Dublin/Ireland, he hopes to get this single to as many people as possible, for those to share to their friends who may relate or enjoy the concept of this single.

Ambient-Pop female artist Roisin El Cherif has just released her new single ‘Half A Life’, available to download from all digital media platforms

Over the last two years since the release of her debut single ‘Kerosene’, coincidentally on the same date, Roisin has graced the stages as support act to Ham Sandwich and in her own right as a headliner at many reputable Irish venues and festivals.  Some of these include Body & Soul, Electric Picnic, Sunflowerfest and Canalaphonic.  She was selected from a significant number of applicants to perform on the Unsigned Act Stage at the northwest’s favourite music festival Sea Sessions.

In 2017, Roisin was approached by Ken Callait, producer of one of the most significant albums ever released, Fleetwood Mac: Rumours to attend ArtistMax.  This is an LA based three day mentoring and songwriting workshop.  A steady background in TV and Film production has in turn been extremely beneficial to Roisin as she is producer and director of her own music videos to her very distinct credit.  She constructs her melodies and lyrics to such a high standard just like her influences Florence and the Machine, Stevie Nicks, Fever Ray and Tracy Chapman would do.  As a live performer she makes her presence felt and delivers a solid, magnetic performance that has not gone unnoticed by many industry insiders.

Following this new release and her video to accompany the single, Roisin will be releasing her debut EP this summer with tour dates to be announced in the coming weeks.

Says Roisin of the track:  “Half a life came from feeling very low about loving but not living. Sometimes you can give so much into a place, a person, a job, a feeling or whatever floats your boat; to realise you are only living half of what you could be. Then doubts of who you are and what you want take over. It’s something I’m learning. What you want and what is meant for you, don’t always align.”

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New radio series An Seisiún, starting on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta on 9 March, puts groups of musicians in a recording studio overnight tasked with writing and recording three new songs in Irish over a twelve hour period.

The series is presented and produced by Cian Mac Cárthaigh and Lisa McGeough, and musicians taking part include Colm Mac Con Iomaire, Rónán and Colm Ó Snodaigh from Kíla, Louise Gaffney and David O’Connor from Come On Live Long, Ríona Sally Hartman, Inni-K, Stiofán Ó Fearail from Seo Linn, Rosa Nutty and Daithí.

For each episode, music producer Karl Odlum (The Frames, Ham Sandwich) worked through the night with the musicians, who were deliberately grouped together with those from very different musical backgrounds, a mix which helped to create something new and special in the studio.

The programmes in the six-part series follow the groups throughout the night, and give listeners a glimpse into the creative process, and the collaborative energy that resulted in the composition of eighteen brand new songs in Irish in the small hours of the night in Dublin.

Speaking of her experience of An Seisiún, Louise Gaffney of Come On Live Long, said:
“Taking part in An Seisiún was a wonderful reminder of what creativity is all about.  The time constraints force you to work in a much more open and reactionary way, and what you end up with is this lovely, natural-feeling composition that comes from four people trying to follow and react to each other.  It’s a sound that couldn’t be recaptured or replicated.”

Musician Colm Ó Snodaigh from Kíla said:  “Good fun.  Good craic.  Great music.  Great musicians.  Great people.  Great idea.  Compose, create, sing and play.”

The concept for An Seisiún originated with the Sesiwn Unnos series from BBC Cymru in Wales, created by renowned record producer Dyl Mei.  It emulates the centuries-old tradition of the ‘Ty Unnos’ where, it was believed,  that if a person could build a house on common land in one night, the land then belonged to them.   Using this tradition as inspiration, the innovative radio series was created.

The series goes out as part of RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta’s Seachtain na Gaeilge programming, starting on Friday 9 March at 9 pm.

The series was funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland with the Television Licence Fee with extra support from Foras na Gaeilge and IMRO.

Late last year Peco released his debut EP ‘And So I Arrived At The Start’, and his lead single ‘Self Help – A Beginners Guide’ has been growing among the international songwriting circuit. In the past few weeks its succeeded in tapping into two major songwriting competitions. The UK songwriting competition where he placed as a semi finalist in the indie category and also the International Acoustic Music Awards (IMA’S) where he placed as a finalist in the solo male category.

This being the first official release by Peco he has his sight set on releasing his debut album early next year and has already began recording. Peco has also announced he will be going on tour in Ireland in July this year so check out www.pecomusic.com for upcoming show announcements.

Bayonets is a solo project created by Kerry musician and songwriter Vinnie Flynn. His distinctive style is a mix of alternative rock, indie, blues and folk.

In addition to writing and performing live, Vinnie also works with several publishing companies based in the US who pitch his compositions to prime time TV shows and movies. His body of work conjures haunting intrigue, each melody luring the listener into a dark and beguiling tale. Bayonet’s sound is undeniably his own and unclassifiable in any one genre.

Vinnie has a string of gigs and festivals in the pipeline for 2018, including some overseas appearances. His debut single ‘Slow Burning Fire’ was premiered in June 2017 by Hot Press Magazine and has received wide media acclaim. The track has received regular radio play on RTE’s 2fm and it’s made Joe.ie’s song of the day, it’s even hit airwaves as far as Brooklyn, United States. Vinnie is releasing a second single and video on the 16th of March 2018 titled ‘This Old Coast’. Definitely one to watch for 2018 – a breath of fresh, mysterious originality.

‘This Old Coast’ is a brooding, gothic tale of a man haunted and pursued by a mysterious female figure.  The backdrop is a breath-taking view of the Irish sea and Georgian Dublin’s Henrietta Street. The spectral imagery complement the atmospheric feel that Bayonet’s unique compositions create and leaves the viewer thirsty for the story to continue.

You can catch Vinnie playing at The Window Seat Sessions ‘The Crow Bar’ on the 8th of March, Siné on the March 31st and will be playing K-Fest in Killorglin Co,Kerry on June 3rd.

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22-year-old Dublin native, DAY_S, has released his second single, ‘Elbows’, via Diffusion.

The track is the follow up to his widely acclaimed debut single, ‘Last Night’, which has had over 1.5 million online streams, since it was released late last year.

DAY_S, aka Dave Costello, has been included in the prestigious 2FM Rising 2018 list, alongside management company mates Search Party Animal, among others. He is also one of GoldenPlec’s Plec Picks for 2018.

DAY_S is the special guest on All Tvvins’ European Tour in March, kicking off in Cologne Germany on March 2^nd, hitting Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, and the UK, before returning to Ireland an March 23^rd for a date at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre, and subsequent Irish tour dates. Full dates are…

Friday March 2^nd – MTC, Cologne, Germany
Saturday March 3^rd – EKKO, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Sunday March 4^th – Rotown, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Monday March 5^th – Molotow, Hamburg, Germany
Tuesday March 6^th – Ideal Bar VEGA, Copenhagen, Denmark
Wednesday March 7^th – Privatclub, Berlin, Germany
Friday March 9^th – Strom, Munich, Germany
Saturday March 10^th, La Parenthese, Nyon, Switzerland
Tuesday March 13^th – Electrowerk, London, UK
Thursday March 15^th – Jimmy’s NQ, Manchester UK
Friday March 16^th – King Tuts Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, UK
Wednesday March 21^st – Limelight 2, Belfast, UK
Friday March 23^rd – The Olympia Theatre, Dublin, Ireland
Saturday March 24^th – Roisin Dubh, Galway, Ireland
Sunday March 25^th – Roisin Dubh, Galway, Ireland
Thursday March 29^th – Dolan’s, Limerick, Ireland
Friday March 30^th – Cyprus Avenue, Cork, Ireland.
Saturday March 31^st – INEC, Killarney, Kerry, Ireland

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One of the most promising voices in electro-pop, Galway-based newcomer Cat Turner brings us her haunting new track ‘Waster’. Since debuting last year, the electro-synth artist has steadily gained fans with her seductive beats and distinctive, raw vocals. She is crafting her own niche of ‘Goth pop’, which has signaled the young producer-singer as one to watch; and looks set to continues her rise with this brooding new gem. There is an uneasy balance on ‘Waster’ that feels at any moment about to be disturbed; the shadowy synths and deep bass making for an unnerving mood of menace.

Having started producing a year ago, Cat has honed the nurtured sound that we hear now and shows immense technical maturity. She takes her cues from acts like Grimes and Tove Lo, and incorporates elements of electro and alt-pop that evoke her own keen sense of her own identity. Cat builds a visual style around her sound, choosing to make bold and artistic statements while defying convention. “The reason I started producing and doing everything myself first came from a place of necessity… now it comes from a place of total passion. It scared me to do it myself, which was the exact reason I had to.”

‘Waster’ serves as a taste to the forthcoming debut EP, and marks an ever-growing confidence and emotional rawness for the young artist. There is a real sense of honesty with her lyricism. Emotions simmer under the surface as Cat dissects her own experiences – “‘Waster’ is about an internal battle with myself where the stronger, more driven side of my personality wants to kill the weaker side.” ‘Waster’s angsty vibes manage to integrate a darker and more cynical side of the artist, underpinned by a sense of danger always lurking in the shadows. If this track is anything to go by, her debut EP is likely to prove unmissable.

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Thanks Brother, the new project from artists Róisín O and John Broe, release their debut single ‘We Are Different’ on March 9th 2018. This first single is a strong statement of intent; produced at Beech Park Studios, Dublin, by Broe and Ciaran Bradshaw, with mixing by Grammy Award winner Ruadhri Cushnan (Mumford And Sons, Shawn Mendes, Ed Sheeran).

‘We Are Different’ is an anthem for the underdog. It celebrates the marginalised without judgement of those around us who would exclude them.

Both successful artists in their own right (Broe originally writer and performer with Miracle Bell and O with her own solo career) the duo have separately worked with Gavin James, CC Brez, Paddy Casey, as well as co-writing with The Coronas including the hits ‘Get Loose’ and ‘Real Feel’  from The Coronas 2017 No.1 album, ‘Trust the Wire’.

Whilst writing together in mid-2017, O and Broe found they were coming up with music that didn’t fit their respective musical outputs, and decided to embark on a completely new project together. Their past careers certainly laid the groundwork for Thanks Brother (a name given to them by Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage), however the music could be seen as the combination of historic influences, rather than a continuation.

Inspired by the epic soundscapes of Kate Bush, Francis and The Lights, Phoenix, and HAIM, Thanks Brother take the primal, almost tribal quality of O’s roots folk background, and fuse it with Broe’s bent for the hard-bitten edge of contemporary pop. Maximising the potential of this newly forged chemistry, Thanks Brother revel in a dynamic and confrontational musical statement.

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Dublin four-piece Cloud Castle Lake have announced the release of their long-anticipated debut album ‘Malingerer’ on April 20th via Bright Antenna Records. The eight-track album was produced by Rob Kirwan (Hozier, PJ Harvey) and is a glorious statement of intent from an incredibly ambitious and extraordinary band. To mark the announce, the band are streaming the dynamic and cinematic album title track, listen HERE.

Speaking of the track, Daniel McAuley says, “’Malingerer’ started out as a recording of Brendan J just messing around on a piano through a cool echo effect. There was a mood to it that was instantly very inspiring. As we fleshed it out into a song we constantly referred back to the early recordings to make sure we maintained that feeling. One of the reasons it has such a bonkers structure is that we wanted each section to flow into the next and progress without losing that initial spark. A big goal of the album was to get closer to our most honest and original sound together. We consider it the one that best articulates that. I did that textbook thing and went off to a remote cabin to try write. It was in the middle of nowhere in Donegal, no running water or electricity and at the tail end of a January storm so I went a little bit crazy there and the lyrics absorbed a lot of that.”

The release of ‘Malingerer’ follows a recent 5-city North American tour and two singles from the album, the rousing ‘Twins’ described by Stereogum as featuring “their signature brand of art-rock high drama, with post-Radiohead falsetto stylings buoyed by grand orchestral instrumentation toward a sort of heavy-hearted euphoria,” and ‘Bonfire’, which was described by Clash as “remarkable”.

As well as preparing their new album, the band also recently composed an original score for Ballet Átha Cliath, a beautiful short film produced and directed by Howard Jones and choreographed by Irish ballerina, Zoë Ashe-Browne. The film, shot over the course of one day in August of last year, uses site-specific dance performance to create a visual love letter to the city of Dublin. Watch it HERE.

Having burst onto the scenes back in 2014 with their self-released debut ‘Dandelion EP’, the young band has since been championed by critics across the globe. Pitchfork welcomed them for being an “extremely rare case where a band incorporates not just the vocals and the rhythmic vibrancy, but also the pioneering spirit.” Stereogum hailed them as “one of the best” to come out of CMJ Music Festival in 2015 and NME called it when they appointed them as the “future trail-blazers” that they are.

Equal parts pastoral folk and soaring post-rock crescendos, Cloud Castle Lake comprises of Daniel McAuley, Brendan William Jenkinson, Rory O’Connor and Brendan Doherty and often features additional collaborative musicians. Hailing from Dublin, the band has supported touring acts such as Glasser, Lisa Hannigan and Nigel Godrich’s Ultraísta

Malingerer – Tracklist
1. Twins
2. Bonfire
3. Malingerer
4. Genuflect
5. Fern
6. A Monument
7. Two Birds
8. Koi Pond

Pre-order the album HERE

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Photo: Matt Reamer