Friday is release day and here’s the first things that caught my ear while listening to new songs out.
See the New Music section for individual posts on tracks we deemed worthy enough of their own article this week.
Madlib – ‘My Call’
From the new Madlib album Sound Ancestors, which was edited, produced and arranged by Four Tet, ‘My Call’ is a perfect psychedelic beat track with snatches of vocals that sound a bit like Paul McCartney paired with some trippy low-end rhythm. The album is superb.
Wyvern Lingo – ‘Only Love Only Light’
It won’t be long now until we hear the second album from Wyvern Lingo. Awake You Lie is set to be released on Friday 26th February and this latest advance single is a beaut with the trio leaning into hypnotic and twinkling melodies and crashing drums.
“Only Love Only Light” is about that kind of feedback loop of self-love versus self-loathing. I wrote it when I was going through a particularly dark phase of hating my face, while simultaneously cringing at myself for caring so much about it.’
Caoimhe Barry
Anna B Savage – ‘Two’
London artist Anna B Savage’s debut album A Common Turn is out today and I featured ‘Baby Grand’ from the William Doyle-produced album here last week.
‘II’ is a song originally heard in a different form on a previously released EP. Here the album version keeps the intensity and racks up the dynamics with synthesizer tones interrupting things beautifully.
Kynsy – Elephant In The Room
Promising new Dublin artist Ciara Lindsey dropped her debut EP Things That Don’t Exist today, which arrived with a Donegal-set video for ‘Elephant In The Room’.
“A lot of the songs are based around the idea of how we as people are either being followed or chasing after things that don’t exist. We are followed by the things we see through technology, television, the news – things that derail and confuse our sense of reality. We also chase things that don’t exist. We ignore the fact that things could change in a blink, or chase idealistic dreams of the future based on things we’ve seen on TV or on phone screens.
I found there to be a juxtaposition in the positive and negative aspects of things that don’t exist; how having hope can change peoples lives for the better, how art is made from things that were previously non-existent and how these life fulfilling aspects as well as the things that can derail us are constantly fighting each other in our thought processes.
This EP is a dialogue between those positive and negative thoughts and emotions. I wanted the music to create a world of freedom, hope and playfulness while the lyrics focus on the struggle of fighting, running and coming to terms with all of the good and bad we find in things that don’t exist.”
Squid -‘Narrator’
I am liking this recent trend of UK bands like Squid and Dry Cleaning leaning into post-punk and spoken word weirdness. This is over eight minutes of that with guest vocalist Martha Skye Murphy playing the role of the unreliable narrator.
Bright Green Field was produced by Dan Carey is out on Warp on May 5th.
Tom Trago – ‘You Deserve Better’
An acid squelchy mechanical banger from the Dutch producer’s four-track EP of the same name.
Hot Chip – ‘Straight To The Morning’ (Mighty Mouse remix)
Previously only available via the vinyl record, this remix was released to the wider world today.
AMA – ‘World League’
AMA dropped a new EP today called VS. Everything on Dirty Hit and ‘ World League’ is an uplifting wonky electronic R&B banger.
Royksopp, Robyn – ‘Monument’ (Olof Dreijer remix)
There’s no reason why a remix of a six year-old tune from one half of The Knife has arrived today but it’s most welcome.
Somebody’s Child – ‘The Lover’
Cian Godfrey and band Somebody’s Child are adept at constructing anthemic indie tunes and this latest from their upcoming Hope, Amongst Other Things EP is no exception.
“The Lover’ is probably the heaviest track I’ve ever written. It was written from a place of utter turmoil, which is quite obvious from the way I sing in it. Its message is one of anti-capitalism, anti-consumerism or what have you; a statement against the status quo.
Cian Godfrey
Ye Vagabonds – ‘The River’
The folk duo Ye Vagabonds have a new 7-inch record on River Lea/Rough Trade Records with their versions of ‘I’m A Rover’ and ‘The Bothy Lads’ featured on it.
The brothers learned ‘I’m A Rover’ from their mother when they were young, and believe it travelled from Scotland to her home of Arranmore Island, off the coast of County Donegal, and put their own spin on it.
Alex Gough – ‘Forever Classic’ (Live At The Clinic)
Waterford drummer and vocalist Alex Gough released a live 8-track album today called Bonus Features, all recorded at The Clinic in Dublin.
Laoise – ‘Gravy’
I’m going to be honest here, I like gravy but i’m not sure would like to be compared to it. All the same, Laoise’s Gravy’ is a smart pop song following on from the equally lovely ‘Healthy’ last October.
EHCO – ‘Mosaic IV’
Eoin Whitfield and Jessica Lord quietly released a four track EP this week called Mosaic featuring their hypnotic electronic productions.
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