First listen: The Jimmy Cake’s massive new album ‘Tough Love’

Mike McGrath-Bryan

Dublin experimental veterans The Jimmy Cake today unveil their new album, Tough Love, in full, ahead of its release and launch gigs this weekend.

Tough Love is the band’s sixth studio long-player. Written in 2015 as a single longform piece for a once-off performance in Dublin’s now-defunct Joinery venue, Tough Love is, in the words of Penske’s Albert Twomey, “part kosmische post-punk dystopia, part time-lapsed motorik stoner rock. Both sides menace and swell, playing with time and space before building to two distinct strains of glorious sonic pay-off.”

Produced and recorded at Dublin’s Guerrilla Sounds studio by Percolator man John “Spud” Murphy, Tough Love was mastered by veteran engineer Harvey Birrell, with layout by former band member Paul G. Smyth.

The Jimmy Cake have been an ongoing concern in Dubland since 2000, after the disbanding of noise-rock outfit Das Madman. In that time, they’ve shared stages with the likes of Damo Suzuki, Iva Bittova & Charles Hayward, while becoming an ever-more dense psych-rock proposition over the course of six full-lengths, with previous album ‘Master’ arriving after a seven-year hiatus and hitting #12 on the Irish album charts.

The entire, 40+ minute piece is streaming below, uninterrupted and in its dense, slab-heavy glory.

Tough Love releases on the 14th of July on vinyl via Penske Recordings. A number of gigs are scheduled for this weekend:

Friday 7th July – St Patrick’s Gateway Centre, Patrick’s Street, Waterford (with Percolator)
Saturday 8th July- The Grand Social, Liffey Street Lower, Dublin


Hey, before you go...

Nialler9 has been covering new music, new artists and gigs for the last 19 years. If you like the article you just read, and want us to publish more just like it, please consider supporting us on Patreon.

What you get as thanks in return...

  • A weekly Spotify playlist only for patrons.
  • Access to our private Nialler9 Discord community.
  • Ad-free and bonus podcast episodes.
  • Guestlist & discounts to Nialler9 & Lumo Club events.
  • Themed playlists only for subscribers.

Your support enables us to continue to publish articles like this one, make podcasts and provide recommendations and news to our readers, and be a key part of the music community in Ireland and abroad.

Become a patron at Patreon!

The Nialler9 Newsletter

Get music news, features and new music into your inbox twice a week.

Please wait...

Thank you for sign up!