A lot music from Ireland and Northern Ireland comes Nialler9’s way and every week, we listen through it all and select the tracks from emerging artists and some established acts that deserve to be heard by you.
For more extensive Irish and new music coverage, follow our Spotify playlist or hit up the Irish section for individual track features.
1.
Sprints
Delia Smith
From Dublin rockers Sprints latest EP A Modern Job, ‘Delia Smith’ uses the titular character as a jumping off point for some generational frustration, with the band’s fizzy energy augmented by that Dan Fox-production.
“Who wants to be special anyway? Me, fucking me, I’m not ashamed”
2.
Problem Patterns
YAW
‘YAW’ stands for “Yes All Women” and stands up for equality and respect for all women in the wake of the killings of Sarah Everard and Ashling Murphy.
3.
Kubb
From Zero Distance
The producer Kubb_ comes through with a dance track that started life as an Italo-inspired cut but has since morphed into a sheenful night-time modern house track, and a nod to Crystal Castles says the artist.
4.
The Scratch
Another Round
The Scratch are finally getting to do their big headline show this Saturday at the Olympia and they have marked the time with a new drinking song that typifies the band’s high-energy acoustic buzz, featuring “the world’s worst patron saint of stout.”
5.
Dee Fitz
Lucky Lover
Dublin-based Galway singer-songwriter Dee Fitz started writing music during lockdown and is now on her third single, ‘Lucky Lover’ is a fine slice of heart-on-sleeve alt-pop.
Fitz worked on the music with producer Tully Gun, and previously, represented Ireland in mixed martial arts at the IMMAF European championships in Romania.
6.
ZOiD
Looking In The Rain
Dorota also has a track worthy of a listen, called ‘Gold Goes Out’.
The song taken from the album ZONGS, which is getting a launch gig on Sunday April 3rd at The Grand Social, with four vocalists from the album – Aoife Doyle, Jenna Harris, Suzanne Savage and Miriam Ingram.
7.
Daire Patel
Blue
Daire Patel has a relaxed R&B vibe on his latest track since track features in TV shows Kin and Smother last year. ‘Blue’ is a bedroom indie lofi R&B song from a forthcoming EP made with producers Silent Ghost and Gavin Yendole.
8.
Thumper
Fear Of Art
The Dublin alt-rock six-piece with two drummers are about to release their debut album Delusions of Grandeur this Friday, and they’ve teased a fourth single from the release this week. ‘Fear of Art’ is “about self-image, and your capacity to change.”
“…To reach beyond your comfort zone, and become a ‘better’ person. The two verses represent the two sides of your brain, one pragmatic and one a dreamer. The chorus is a third entity laughing at the prospect of the whole thing, that the struggle will never mean as much to anyone else as it does to you.”
Oisín Leahy Furlong
The band play Whelan’s on Saturday and support Damien Dempsey on Friday as part of the St. Patrick’s Festival celebrations in Collin’s Barracks.
9.
A Smyth
Long Night
A. Smyth follows up his recent 2021 album Last Animals with a new song recorded with Darragh Nolan before the world reopened with ‘Long Night’, a song that is about “how the world is being increasingly rigged to disconnect us,”Smyth says. “The way we’re being exhausted and herded more and more into conflict and survival mode – and the hope we can find our way back to what’s real.”
Smyth is playing some gigs at The Grand Social with support from Jackie Beverly and Will Troy, next week on March 23rd, before teaming up with Robert John Ardiff for a short regional tour.
Limerick, Record Rooms – April 8th
West Cork, Connolly’s of Leap – April 9th
Cork, Coughlans Live – April 10th
10.
Frendan
Content
“After spending the best part of two years in a constant state of content consumption, I figured that the frustration I felt probably wasn’t unique to me, and so I wanted to express that in as creative a way as possible. I feel like we are headed in a direction where technology will only become more and more absorbing, it is important to take a step back every now and again to observe how quickly things are changing and developing”.
11.
Melts
Waltzer
Melts are marking their SXSW shows this week with another track from their forthcoming album Maelstrom (May 15th), built on a carnival-esque synth line which is fitting as the song is set on a fairground.
“The influence for the lyrics came from Rob’s organ line on the track, it has the same mechanical rhythm of a fairground waltzer. The song is set in a fairground with people and machines moving, a couple dancing, giving ground and winning ground and a tight rope walker diving and returning to the rope. All throwing themselves into something unknown but knowing they’ll return to the same place, like a waltzer spinning.”
Frontman Eoin Kenny.
For more extensive Irish and new music coverage, follow our Spotify playlist or hit up the Irish section for individual track features.
