Featuring Lucy Blue, Cbakl, Lil Skag, Alicia Raye, Keanu The Pilot, Bambie Thug, Tandem Felix,D*mp, Curtisy, Niallish, Jordan Adetunji , The Fae, Lydia Ford, Viscose, Faoi Bhláth.
A lot of music from Ireland and Northern Ireland comes our way and every week, we listen through it all, sift the list down to a manageable list and share the best new tracks from emerging artists and some more 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.
Lucy Blue
Love Hate
Lucy Blue is making the kind of big pop music that sounds like it could easily catch a big audience. ‘Love Hate’ melds singer-songwriter style with eletronic pop atmospherics.
2.
D*mp, Curtisy
I’M DONE
A Curtisy feature is generally a guarantee of a good tune, as last week’s collab with Walshy also showed. ‘I’m Done’ is another fine linkup with producer Ryan Dwyer aka D*mp providing the soulful beat for Curtisy to go off.
The track is the first in a series of singles released through new collective and multimedia platform lips2ears.
The pair recently teamed up on the short EP OF SORTS, last year.
3.
Tandem Felix
Message Of The Afternoon
David A. Tapley returned with news of a second Tandem Felix album this October along with the excellent title song ‘There’s a New Sheriff in Town’.
‘Message Of The Afternoon’ is the second single from the record then, that leans on the interplay of drums, banjo and piano. Neil Dexter plays drums while Tapley plays all the other instruments.
“This is probably the closest example of a personal song on this album. It’s a break up story, and the lyrics exist in text message format. It reminds me of the Olivier Assayas film Personal Shopper, in so much that a life or a relationship can be in a space of non-existence as it is just a combination of letters and symbols on a screen. The closing lyric came to me when I was cycling home from the studio one day, and even the thought of singing it produced a cold bead of sweat on my brow. The song title is a reference to a film from the 1940s called Meshes of the Afternoon that I watched during the pandemic and it made me hoot and holler with joy, when I was struggling to find any joy in the medium of music.”
David A. Tapley
Tandem Felix Tour Dates
Moth Club, London – Mon 25 Sept (** supporting Brigid Mae Power)
Cleere’s, Kilkenny – Fri 27 Oct
Coughlan’s, Cork – Fri 17 Nov
Whelan’s, Limerick – Thurs 23 Nov
The Record Room, Limerick – Sat 25 Nov
4.
Faoi Bhláth
Lamb
Cork artist Faoi Bhláth released a fine debut EP last week called Hymnus. The opening track ‘Lamb’ showcases Étáin Collins’ bright singer-songwriting style.
Bhlath is fresh from playing Cork city festival River Runs Round this past weekend.
The EP was recorded and produced by Brian Casey (Wavefield Recordings), with drums played by Brendan Fennessy (Raja Baal, O Emperor).
5.
Bambie Thug, Jinka
Last Summer (I Know What You Did)
London-based Irish artist Bambie Thug crosses the streams of hardstyle, hyperpop and experimental pop on Last Summer (I Know What You Did), which came as a double A-side with ‘Careless’. The former features German hyperpop artist Jinka.
The tracks came out on their independent label HAUS OF THUG, and a new EP called CATHEXIS is out out October 13th.
“Careless maps the regret I felt for trusting someone with my heart who wasn’t brave enough to hold it. While Last Summer is about those gut feelings you have when you think your partner is cheating on you, and how you’re usually right. Finding other people’s underwear in your bedroom and hearing them say another person’s name during sex only solidified my suspicions. I know what he did.”
7.
Lil Skag
No Printer
Lil Skag is rapper Sean Roche whose relaxed whispered style could easily be mistaken for a pisstake but these rhymes are too cold to be merely a jape.
“I might freestyle it no bloopers / put me between a MILF and a cougar / that’s an Aul Triangle / hitting them both like jingle, jangle.”
That’s fax, no printer.
Check out more on his Soundcloud.
He’s a ‘Cunning Linguist’.
8.
Jordan Adetunji
Things You Do
Belfast-based rapper Jordan Adetunji has expanded his repertoire into hyperpop, punk, and jersey club on recent tracks. ‘Things You Do’ is a recent highlight, all bass-thumping and wavy production, with a high-grade video to boot.
“This song is about the way I see a similarity between love and addiction. How it can blind us. How It can take over our mind & emotions. And make us do things out of character. For me this was about past addiction and how love felt similar to that feeling.”
Adetunji
Adetunji recently signed to RCA Records on the suggestion of Bring Me The Horizon’s Oli Sykes.
9.
The Fae
2004
The Dublin alt-rock trio The Fae released this power-pop indie track last week, which along with previously-featured singles will make up the band’s debut EP Bloodrush, out next month, September 2023.
The band’s quote about the song makes me, and you all, feel old though.
2004 was one of the first songs written for this EP, we went through so many versions and arrangements to get it to its current state. I read that the distance of time between when Billy Corgan wrote “1979” and the year 1979 was the same as if someone had wrote a song called “2004”, so I gave it a shot. It’s just a total nostalgia trip really, showing off more of our Alt-rock / Shoegaze influences.
Emma from the band shared an update on Insta a sharing the news that she has Cystic Fibrosis and CF-related Liver Disease, and she is currently on the waiting list for a Liver transplant. This means all live shows will be paused for now. We wish Emma well, and hope she gets the transplant soon.
10.
Lydia Ford
Leave The Country
Indie pop artist Lydia Ford has released a single ‘Leave The Country’ ahead of the release of her debut album Faking It on September 8th. The song is inspired by Ford’s emigration to Berlin during lockdown, and the realisation that you can’t run away from your problems, they catch up with you before long.
“I wanted the song to be fun and upbeat despite the slightly melancholic lyrics – almost teasing myself for being so naive and repeatedly running away.”
11.
Cbakl, Alicia Raye, Keanu The Pilot
Oh My Days
Belfast producer cbakl enlists fellow Belfast artist Alicia Raye and Gliders’ Keanu The Pilot for a moody alt-hip-hop beat production. It serves as the lead song from forthcoming EP.
“I kind of disappeared for a couple years with regards to serious music releases and I felt I had a lot of growth to do, both personally and as an artist. I think that really resonates in this new music. As an artist it’s quite easy to get pigeon-holed into one particular sound, especially with the success I had when I was younger with the lo-fi stuff. I didn’t want to just be known as ‘that lofi guy’ or that hip-hop producer. This new single especially is kind of a hybrid between garage, house, rap and drill; if there’s one main thing I want to achieve with the project it’s showing people that I’m not a one trick producer”.
Cbakl on Insta.
For more extensive Irish and new music coverage, hit up the Irish section for individual track features
For this and more Irish songs, follow the Nialler9 New Irish Spotify playlist.
