Author: Breffni Banks

Wicklow singer songwriter, Kim Hayden, follows up her recent single, The Other Woman, with a stunning duet featuring the vocal talents of Ben Cully.

Kim Hayden discovered singer/songwriter Ben Cully when she was judging ‘Teenstars’ back in 2015. Ben was runner-up that year. Kildare native Ben started singing when he was 7 years old and first picked up the guitar two years later. Now at only 18 he is well on the path to a promising career in music. Ben went on to be one of the youngest acts to play at Electric Picnic and has his very own headline show in the Academy Dublin in November. When Kim heard Ben’s voice and his distinctive way of delivering a vocal she knew one day she wanted to collaborate with him. And so she did. And the results speak for themselves.

Kim and her producer/co writer Blujacker had just written something special and knew it needed a unique male vocal to convey the mood of the song. Kim showed Blujacker Ben’s vocals and after just three lines of vocals, was convinced it was the voice they needed. Kim and Blujacker contacted Ben immediately and after two days recording and a further two days of production and mixing, one of the most haunting and memorable songs to come out of Ireland in 2017 was born. ‘Trouble’.​

Trouble is taken from Kim Hayden’s debut album, The Other Woman, which is available now.

Violet is the new release from Irish born musician Joey Ryan. Violet is a soulful track taken from his 2016 release Fall Through the Night, which saw Ryan refine his sound with he help of Cork based producer Christian Best in Monique Studios.

Having relocated to Berlin Germany in mid 2016, Violet sees a collaboration with the Berlin based Kopperkollectiv who have previously worked with many successful German acts through their Berlin Open Stage music video series.

Shot in Berlin city and surrounding area during summer 2017, Swedish dancer and choreographer Siri Elmqvist created a modern interpretive dance sequence to interpret the character of Violet, bringing an edgy and dark element to the video, in contrast to sonic color of the music.

Currently in the studio recording the first tracks of what will become his next album, Ryan has spent the last year touring in mainland Europe in promote of the German release of Fall Through the Night, including a 28 date tour in Germany, Belgium and Holland in February.

In celebration of the release of Violet, Joey Ryan Trio will be undertaking a quick tour through Germany’s main cities, before returning to Ireland and Denmark in early 2018.

www.joeyryansite.com

VJ Jackson has announced that his long-awaited new single and video for ‘FAMOUS’ will be released on October 5th. To celebrate the launch VJ has also just confirmed his first headline show in The Workman’s Club on October 19th with support from Rueben James, Sean X and Yomi.

Recorded in ‘Diffusion Labs’ with Marcin Ciszczon (Jafaris, Soulé, Hare Squaed), ‘FAMOUS’ follows on from VJ’s previous releases ‘Slow Down’, ‘I’ll Come Down’, and his feature on Reuben James’ song ‘Everything You Need’.

Following high energy performances in Wigwam, in Tengu for ‘Soul Etiquette’s 3rd Birthday‘ show with RTE Pulse, at The National Basketball Arena in Tallaght, and most recently in The Sugar Club – fans can expect a high production show with full live band on the night.

VJ Jackson is an Irish artist specialising in Souful / R’n’B / Pop songs. Waving the flag for Tallght in Dublin, VJ is ready to make his mark on the scene and become a household name in the process.

Singing lead in choir from a young age and playing guitar, keys and drums, VJ began busking in Dublin city centre while attending BIMM College, developing his song and stage presence – something that needs to be experienced in person to be fully appreciated.

VJ Jackson will perform at The Workman’s Club, Dublin on Thursday the 19th of October 2017.
Tickets are available online from: www.vjjackson.eventbrite.ie priced at just €6 inc. booking fee or €8 on the door.

Doors at 8pm. With support from Rueben James, Sean X and Yomi.

www.vjjackson.com

On the 29^th September acclaimed Dublin quintet The Eskies return with ‘All Good Men’– the first single from their upcoming second album, ‘And Don’t Spare The Horses’ out 1^st December via Absolute.

Returning to the foot stomping gypsy folk that has already won them an army of fans, ‘All Good Men’ is a full on, big band, swing sounding romp, snarling and growling its way through three and a half minutes of roaring brass and crowd harmonies.

This is the first single from the band’s anticipated new album, ‘And Don’t Spare The Horses.’ Recorded at Orphan Studios in Dublin earlier this year, the new album leaps from genres as vast and varied as folk, klezmar and yiddish to rock, swing and blues. And it’s content? As eclectic as their sound according to the band – “Melodramatic tales of woe, betrayal, conflict, upheaval, rebellion, love, loss, fear and anger,” says the band. “All wrapped in tongue-in-cheek irreverence and self-deprecation, occasionally giving way to a flurry of triumphalism or whisper of introspection.”

Renowned for their raucous live shows and fiercely passionate support, the band have been busy touring the far and wide since their 2015 debut ‘After The Sherry Went Round.’ They’ve played mainstage slots at both Glastonbury (Field Of Avalon) and Cambridge Folk Festival, as well as an outing at Dutch centrepiece Eurosonic Noordeslaag and Glasgow’s Celtic Connections. They’ve also appeared on RTE’s Saturday Night Show, BBC Radio 4’s ‘Loose Ends’ with Clive Anderson and BBC Radio 3’s ‘Essential Classics’.

The Eskies UK & Ireland tour kicks off on 4^th October in Manchester. For full dates please visit www.theeskies.com

Twitter – @theeskies

Dublin-based vocalist/producer/multi-instrumentalist EDEN releases a new track — “start//end” — today via all digital partners.

Created through a collage-like method that found EDEN, aka 21-year-old Jonathon Ng, assembling song fragments he’d begun collecting on tour, “start//end” fuses its seemingly disparate elements — cinematic strings, hard-hitting beats, falsetto vocals, spacey synth tones — into a sprawling meditation on desperation and hope.

Ng directed, filmed and edited the video for “start//end,” which also premieres today. The video was shot in London, Tokyo, Seoul, Los Angeles, New York, Belgium and around his home in Dublin.

“I had this idea of a really densely packed visual for this song almost instantly, says Ng. “I really love cinema and visual art so I wanted to try my hand at creating something that was expressive but also had a similar latent energy to the music. After collating a ton of footage that I’ve accumulated over the past months, with the help of some friends, I set out to shoot the remaining set-pieces I had in mind.”

“start//end” is the first new music from EDEN since the release of his breakthrough 2016 EP ‘i think you think too much of me’, which found him channeling his passion for innovation into a guitar-heavy take on electronic pop. The lead single “sex” won praise from the likes of Lorde and was hailed by Consequence of Sound as a “vulnerable synth-tinted pop track that’s about so much more than what’s happening between the sheets,” while Pigeons & Planes called “drugs” “another strong showing from this emerging talent.” The four main tracks on ‘i think you think too much of me’ have racked up over 50 million streams on Spotify while the EP hit #1 on iTunes Alternative Charts, and #2 on Billboard’s Heatseeker chart. From the bedroom of his childhood home, Ng initially began to cultivate a large online following and in August 2015, made his EP debut with ‘End Credits’. Despite making zero effort to promote it, he soon found the EP gaining major attention — ultimately amassing more than 120 million streams as well as selling out his first U.S. headline tour. EDEN spent the summer performing at major U.S. music festivals including Governors Ball, Bonnaroo, and Firefly as well as the Reading and Leeds festivals in the UK and Fuji Rock in Japan.

“…there’s a secret depth to his sound that’s belied by the simplistic titles.” Billboard

“With massive pop electronic production and emotive vocals, “drugs” is another strong showing from this emerging talent, and the cinematic video does it justice.” Pigeons and Planes

“[sex] is a vulnerable synth-tinted pop track that’s about so much more than what’s happening between the sheets.” Consequence of Sound

“EDEN’s big, triumphant, Lorde-approved “sex” is a song you need in your life.” Buzzfeed

http://iameden.eu/

Peco has announce the release of his debut EP ‘And So I Arrived At The Start’ for release on Friday 20^th October 2017

Having previously toured all over Ireland, the UK, the US and Canada as the front man of Valentine Black and as a solo artist in his own right, indie folk musician Peco has become quite the veteran on the Irish music scene.

His current single release from the EP ‘Self Help – A Beginner’s Guide’, has been described as an art/folk rock fusion, tipping its hat to 80’s Talking Heads new wave era and folk stalwart Bob Dylan, to whom Peco has been likened to by many industry insiders.

The EP title is derived from a line in a poem by T.S. Eliot (called Little Gidding)

‘We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.’

Says Peco of the EP:

‘It refers to every end being a new beginning and vice versa. This solo EP came about after my previous outfit Valentine Black came to an end.  And it refers to all my previous bands and how they ended and new ones began.  This is echoed in the EP artwork which contains references to a number of previous releases. That theme of ends and beginnings runs throughout the EP.  It’s about new stages in life; getting older; moving on; letting things go; having children – the joy and the self-doubt and then finding your feet in these new stages’.

The Kildare man released his debut single ‘Safe Haven’ in 2016 under Offaly based label Live Loud Music.

He was a finalist in both the ‘USA Songwriting’ competition and ‘The International Acoustic Music Awards’ that same year.

He has twice reached the semi-finals of the ‘UK Songwriting’ contest with his songs ‘Retrospect’ and ‘Love Oceans’.

‘Retrospect’ also featured on the US TV show Roadtrip Nation.

Following on from two successful Irish and UK tours in 2016, including a performance at the reputable Edinburgh Folk Club, Peco is also announcing solo and label tour dates this Autumn:

Friday 27^th Oct – Club 38, Edenderry, Offaly
Sunday 29^th Oct – The Village Pump, Rathangan, Kildare (with special guests Bunoscionn)
Thursday 2^nd Nov – Upstairs at Whelans, Wexford St. Dublin
Friday 3^rd Nov – Upstairs at Cunninghams, Main St. Kildare
Saturday 4^th Nov – Acoustic Set, Kavanaghs, Naas, Kildare
Sunday 5^th Nov – Spirit Store, Dundalk

Track listing:   

1. Self Help – A Beginner’s Guide
2. Grace Isn’t Easy
3. After The Wake
4. Harbour Master
5. Safe Haven

www.facebook.com/pecomusic
www.twitter.com/pecomusic
www.youtube.com/pecomusic
www.pecomusic.com

Ape Rising are an Experimental progressive synth rock  5 piece from Cavan, Trim and Maynooth. Specializing in melodic Spacey Synth rock with a slightly videogamesy feel and a few musical twists and turns, Ape Rising have spent the last 18 months writing and recording their debut album in-house which was launched at The Bowery in Rathmines, Dublin on the 22nd of September.

Ape Rising’s self-titled album is now available to buy online at all the usual online music sites including: iTunes, Spotify, Bandcamp and Amazon Music. 12 tracks of full-on melodic chaos. – Tour dates to be announced!

Peter Donohue: vocals/ Guitar
Johno Leader: Lead vocals/Guitarist
Peter Denton: Vocals/ Keys
Jimmy Deface: Vocals/ Bass
Fran McDonnell: Drums

iTunes – https://goo.gl/Suqqaf
Spotify – https://goo.gl/Ygj1Y1
Deezer – http://www.deezer.com/en/album/47966402
AmazonMusic – https://goo.gl/6q748k
Bandcamp – https://aperising.bandcamp.com/

‘Charlie & Deirdre’ is the new Live Video from Donegal folk singer Joel Harkin.

The song focuses on the departure of Harkin’s father to Spain in search of a better life and the emotional impact on the artist. The song also touches on love as an idea and the difference between a real emotional connection and fleeting obsession.

Harkin has years of gigging experience, solo and with Donegal band For Foresters. He has played all over the island of Ireland and across the water in Liverpool, as well as opening for acts such as SOAK, Bry, Rainy Boy Sleep and Mojo Fury. The combination of his unique brand of ambient folk music and performance style make every performance special.

Keep an eye out for him!

http://www.facebook.com/joelharkinmusic
http://www.instagram.com/joelharkin
http://www.twitter.com/joelharkin