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.
Khakikid
Woodstock
Rising Crumlin artist Khakikid brings some sunny vibes to his music on new song ‘Woodstock’, a playful Mac Miller-esque tune with stanking bass celebrating an unexpected night out.
22 year old Abdu Huss says:
“I wrote Woodstock reminiscing of those nights where you hadn’t any plans but by the end of it you’re missing 50 percent of the clothes you left the house with. Even with the memories of your mams mortified face in the morning, you can’t help but look back on those nights with a tinge of nostalgia. I wanted the song to feel like you’re walking home at sunrise, hearing birds chirping and are desperately trying to avoid shameful eye contact with early morning joggers.”
Catch him at Forbidden Fruit, Longitude & Otherside Festivals this summer.
2.
ROE
A Temporary Thing
A new vibe here for Derry artist ROE. ‘A Temporary Thing’ is a piano ballad, the recording of which was one-take at Attica Audio in Donegal with by Tommy McLaughlin. The version above was performed at St. Columb’s Hall in Derry.
“I don’t think you ever really know what to say to console someone who’s grieving. I don’t think there are any magic words out there that can take that kind of pain away.
I wrote A Temporary Thing for my mum when my granny passed on, when I realised that the most helpful way to comfort someone is to just let them feel how they need to and be there for when they need you.”
3.
Jimbo Jones
The Dharma Will Come
This latest release is one of four songs released on Hotseat Recordings, that feels like a tune in search of some solace, as buzzing synths and clattering beats collide over resonance and disharmony, along with field recording of bats at Lough Dan in Wicklow. Ultimately, a release is achieved.
4.
No Photos
Every Single Day
No Photos are a relatively young six-piece who formed last November in Dublin. ‘Every Single Day’ is the band’s debut single, a song with swaggering vocals and an electro-pop rock feel to it. Ones to watch.
5.
Ye Vagabonds
An Island
Ahead of their new album on Rough Trade’s folk imprint River Lea this Friday, Ye Vagabonds release another fine resonate folk song from the brothers Brían and Diarmuid MacGloinn.
An Island was written in a time of isolation. I sat in the same chair day after day with a guitar, looking out the same window. It was one of the first songs I showed to Brían in March 2021 when we got together to write at his place in Wicklow. I was actually kind of nervous. I didn’t know if it would work. He got me to play it a few times then he took the lyric sheet and played the song back to me with his guitar in a big open tuning. It was wild, hearing it in his voice for the first time. It made sense. It’s funny that, even though we were more cut off from each other than ever, our process was the most collaborative it’s ever been.”
Diarmuid MacGloinn
6.
Burlie Mac
Sick In Da Head
Galway DJ and producer Evan McSweeney dropped into my inbox with this fine house music roller under his aka Burlie Mac moniker.
McSweeney also has a collaborative project with Osunlade called po-lar-i-ty, and runs a festival called Éalú Le Grá, which is on in September.
7.
Aoife Bridget
Never Everest
Our second debut track this week is from a 19-year-old Dublin singer-songwriter with a big Irish name – Aoife Bridget.
‘Never Everest’ is a confident alt-pop song co-produced with Aoife’s cousin James Lonergan (who if it’s the same Lonergan has featured here on his own).
Follow Aoife on Insta and Tik Tok.
8.
Blimp
Tonight
After February’s feature, producer Shane Smyth aka Blimp is back with fine dance tune as that reaches for those euphoric spots between the cracks.
9.
Aoife Wolf
The Woman Who Shot Andy Warhol
Offaly-born Belfast-based Aoife Wolf is a psych-folk artist with a couple of singles under her belt so far, including this intriguing lo-fi tune ‘The Woman Who Shot Andy Warhol’, drawing on Valerie Solanas, who shot the artist, , Andy Warhol, non-fatally, in 1968.
“I was fascinated by the details of the story. Namely Solanas’ belief that the government was spying on her via a microchip in her womb and through her bed sheets, as well as her outrage at being named an actor, rather than a writer, in the headlines that followed. But it was the hold that paranoia had on her psyche, in particular, that resonated with me the most. It compelled me to write the lyrics of the song in the back pages of Olivia Laing’s The Lonely City.”
Wolf’s upcoming debut EP, Wetlands, is set for release on Analogue Catalogue/Tiny Comet. This song was recorded by Julie McLarnon at Analogue Catalogue Studio.
10.
Seacht Líne, Joshua Burnside, Connor Burnside
Gull
A lovely instrumental trad tune from the EP Hawk On A Cliff released last week, from Seacht Líne, who are brothers Joshua Burnside and his brother Connor Burnside, who made the eight-track collection of music during lockdown as a way to keep connected between Belfast and London.
“Like previous pieces, this tune harks back to childhood holidays, scampering around rocky beaches on Achill Island, with a lonesome gull cawing above us. The cry of the Gull can be heard as sad and shrill, or joyous like laughter, reflecting our mood back at us. There is both sorrow and joy in nostalgia, pining for those long summer days, clutching at fading memories.”
Joshua Burnside
11.
Silent Vices
Ego
Silent Vices are a band formed in 2014 whose members were formed with Limerick, Liverpool, Loja (Granada) and London in the member’s bones, before geographically separating for work reasons.
6 years later the band kicked back into gear as a duo, and there’s a number of singles being released at the moment, and i quite like ‘Ego’, a pick of their atmospheric indie pop tunes.
12.
Zeinab, George Mandizh
Summertime
Summer’s absolutely in the air with this new Zeinab tune, a soulful seasonal jam with bright tones reminscent of a Kaytranada beat, courtesy of London-based producer George Mandizha who provides a verse also.
“’Summertime’ is about summer love and the excitement that comes with it. It’s the beginning of an adventure in love when the future is bright.”
“Beyond summer it’s also the feeling you get at the beginning of a relationship. The giddiness, the butterflies, the excitement and possibility of what could be.”
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.
