Rory Sweeney, Curtisy, Lonely Chap, Owin
Rap Song 1
There were many highlights from Rory Sweeney’s (aka Carlos Danger) Irish Hash Mafia mixtape this year which celebrated Irish rap.
Once again, Curtisy is slicing off memorable lines with Lonely Chap and Owin (“I don’t want your company baby can we dissolve it?”) over a superb Bollywood beat.
Kneecap
Drug Dealin Pagans
Manchán Magan and a rap beat constructed from an Irish trad tune? Parful.
Still Blue
Brush Strokes
Dublin indie-pop band Still Blue take it down a notch on a song written by frontwoman Nicole Lyons about seeing a relationship for what it is, not what you want it to be.
“It was one of those songs that just flowed. I wasn’t really sure what I was writing about until I let the song rest and came back to it a few months later. I wasn’t ready to accept what I was writing. I think a lot of times in relationships we want to ignore that ugly side and only choose to see the good. But that’s not love.”
Annie-Dog
The Pressures Of The Heart
Named after a Smashing Pumpkins B-side, the Dublin artist Annie-Dog displays an commanding indie bedroom sound meets garage pop vibe on her debut single, released on Leeds indie label Dance To The Radio.
“‘The Pressures of the Heart’ is an ode to that rock and a hard-place feeling you get when you’re deeply, emphatically in love, but aren’t sure if it’s the right time. But maybe it never is”.
Junior Brother
Take Guilt
The Kerryman Junior Brother continues to push the corners of Irish folk music boundaries on ‘Take Guilt’, a reckoning with a relative position of privilege in the face of horrible things and conflict occurring in the world, and the actions taken by those who look like, and identify with you.
Ronan Kealy says:
Things in the world are hard to ignore. Some things are almost impossible to forget. Privilege is reaching the end of the article and closing the paper – guts wrenched, heartbroken and everything forgotten by dinner time. Modernity unburdens itself, desperately trying to progress past history’s horrors – but horrors that used faces as currency will forever look back at us in the mirror’s reflection.
Small disgraces face minorities closer to home every day. I’m white and male and I have done nothing, but the crimes and horrors done in my face’s name requires me to take guilt. I’ll bring this guilt with me to escape hate, as the news of morning clears into the long dead day.”
The PVP
Track 94
The Limerick band The PVP feature former members of Bleeding Heart Pigeons, Cruiser and His Father’s Voice.
The project was kicked off when Chris Quigley started making music inspired by the fabled Kevin Shields’ Drum and Bass record.
Of course, the end result is nothing of the sort but there is some frenetic drums and shoegaze, alongside Suicide, Stereolab and Sonic Youth references on the resulting album.
‘Track 94’ is one that stood out to me – drawing on psychedelic rock, ’80s rock sounds and atmospheric guitar band jams.
Henry Earnest
Marie
Somnambulist ambient pop from Henry Earnest, which features harp from Róisín Berkeley and pedal steel by more eaze, from recent album Big Blue.
shiv
truth be truthin’
There are a lot of hard truths arrived at during shiv’s debut album the defiance of a sadgirl, which recounts how the Irish-Zimbabwean producer and singer-songwriter blew up the bones of her life – relationship, moving home and country, leaving her label and manager and more (As she told us on the podcast this summer )
‘truth be truthin’ is a song about doing the brave and hard thing and leaving that person when plans are coagulating to spend your lives together.
Kynsy
Money
Dublin indie artist Kynsy put out the song ‘Money’ on the UK indie label Nice Swan (Sprints, Chalk and English Teacher.)
‘Money’ is the first tune from Kynsy since the 2022 EP Something To Do With Love, which featured ‘Love of Your Life’, ‘Point Of You’ and ‘New Year’.
I love the song’s indie throwback brightness.
“‘Money’ is a song about the depths of love, nostalgia, and longing, painting a vivid picture of emotional complexity. Through references to past memories, desires for something more, and a mix of conflicting emotions like love, tears, and uncertainty, I explore the intricate journey of the heart. The repeated mantra of “I’ll be okay” and the juxtaposition of swimming and drowning in money hint at a quest for stability and reassurance amidst the emotional whirlwind. Ultimately, my words reflect a personal narrative of love, longing, and the unwavering belief that clarity will come in due time.”
Maverick Sabre
Roses Ether
Maverick Sabre’s Burn The Right Things Down is a high peak in the London-Irish singer’s discography, with the Sault-esque ‘Roses Ether’ my singular highlight from the record.
Biig Piig
Decimal
We now know Biig Piig’s debut album 11:11 arrives in February and 2024 single ‘Decimal’ features. The song has the artist switching between Spanish and English on a full-bodied song about an inescapable attraction. The club-leaning bassline is partly inspired by the studio where it was made – Paris’ Motorbass studios, founded by recently deceased French producer Philippe Zdar of Cassius. A lot of great dance music, and French touch was made there.
Adore
Supermum!
A cool blast of melodic garage punk pop from Adore, a band who are from Galway, Donegal and Dublin. I loved their debut grungey single ‘Postcards’, these guys weren’t hiding behind a wall of noise, and a catchy chorus.
‘Supermum!’ is no different, and tackles the trigger warning topic of sexual assault with satire, a deft touch and depth.
I grew up in a time
Where I can’t decline
Yeah it was rude to refuse
He said honey
You’re looking alright
I’ve got some spare time
I’ve got something to show you
Fynch
Main Road Woes
Burner Records’ Fynch is a man rocking the D12 references from the Bricker to Crumlin Road on his long player Youngfella.
“I’ve been up and down the Crumlin Road, truth be told, it’s a cold world / Is it because I’m rocking shorts in December?”
The local references are a way of encapsulating the static experiences of young working class men in such areas.
“No two people experience their environment in the same manner, there are always other factors at play. ‘Main Road Woes’ was written as an exploration of that, knowing how people feel about where I’m from [Drimnagh], I’ve always had to explain that the narrative around my hometown is a false one. There’s a rough edge and that’s grand, but there’s a soul there, it’s a community which was constantly scrutinised when I was growing up. It was, and still is, a place full of hardworking people that were looked on skeptically because of what was in the papers. Some people played up to a perception, but most just kept going up and down that main road everyday, working away and making a living.”
Fynch has an album Youngfella out in February.
EFÉ
Truth☆Truth
Anita Ikharo aka EFÉ returned after a year off releasing with a shift from a bedroom pop style to a more guitar-based rock sound, and signed to Fader’s label.
His Father’s Voice
Forgot To Feed
The Limerick new wave four-piece His Father’s Voice shined with this Beach House-esque track with the standout vocals of Ash O’Connor. The band’s best work yet, and follows on from ‘Arm’s Length’ in April.
You may be familiar with the band from Féile na Gréine’s award-nominated documentary Out of Place.
| “This song came about around the time that I was listening to a lot of Bessie Smith and Ella Fitzgerald. I’d like to think there’s glimpses of that showing through across certain vocal lines, I don’t think I would have made those creative decisions had I been in my usual shoegaze listening rut. Forgot to Feed originally began with quite dark shoegaze guitars, but as the crooning vocals began to achieve the dejected delivery I was looking for, the instrumental brightened and provided a well needed dream-like contrast.” |
Soda Blonde
Bully
This Soda Blonde song is written from singer Faye O’Rourke’s self-description of “brain rot”, and musically it’s got a bright Talking Heads / Cut Copy ’80s vibe to it in the best way.
“‘Bully’ is a stubborn knot of internal dialogue, unrequited love and my own longing for acceptance.”
Elaine Malone, Roy Montgomery
Electric Turbulence
Cork artist Elaine Malone collaborates with New Zealand experimental guitarist Roy Montgomery on a wall of a drifting ambient noise reverberations, complete with space rock drums.
It was recorded in 2021 during lockdown times remotely.
The Cliffords
If The Shoe Fits
Super fine and catchy melodic indie-rock from Cork band The Cliffords here on ‘If The Shoe Fits’, who have really blown up properly this year.
The band are guitarist and singer Iona Lynch, bass and trumpet player Gavin Dawkins, lead guitarist Harry Menton, drummer Daniel Ryan and Locon O’Toole on keys.
Travy, Elzzz
Blockbuster
‘Blockbuster’ felt like the Gliders drill rap duo of Travis & Elzzz circling the ring for a big year to come, and they subsequently landed the first ever Irish rap album at #1 in the Irish album charts for their Doghouse album.
Sarah Crean
Compliment Strike
Irish singer-songwriter Sarah Crean continues to push her music in larger directions, with ‘Compliment Strike’ displaying earworm pop melodies.
“’Compliment Strike’ is a song revolving around how at one point I felt like a ‘’product’’ and not a person. I was losing sleep over it and being eaten alive by this urge to be perfect for the enjoyment of those around me. The day I wrote it I was in LA and had a session pencilled in, but I got quite a vile and graphic hate comment about my physical appearance the morning of. It really threw me for a loop, mainly because of how much it sat with me and how I couldn’t shake it. I went to the session and the only way I could actually shake it was by writing about it and this song came to be. It’s about me taking the power back. The song was spurred on by a hate comment but it goes so much deeper than that. I had spent the year before that allowing people in my life to ridicule the way I carry myself, the way I dress, the choices I make. And I think that day I just said enough is enough.”
Thee U.F.O
Surveyor
The Dublin garage-psych duo of Darragh Hansard and Beth Doyle aka THEE U.F.O released a fine debut album Ponderous Fug in 2022, that went a bit under the radar and was an honourable mention in my best Irish albums list that year.
The band released an even better album called Beaming A Moments Reflection this year and ‘Surveyor’ is an almost instrumental that sounds like drums and bass are fighting each other falling down the stairs, which is a lot of fun. The song is on 7″ record.
Sprints
Shaking Their Hands
One of the more introspective songs on the debut album from the Dublin garage punk band’s debut album Letter To Self, which was released on City Slang, ‘Shaking Their Hands’ is a song waiting to clock off, and shows a band working their sound in subtle ways that still rises to a roar.
Gurriers
Top Of The Bill
‘Top Of The Bill’ features on Dublin noise-rockers Gurriers’ debut album Come And See which has strong earworm repetition cinematics, “a distorted love story, a warning to myself of a person I could have been,” says singer Dan Hoff.
