Your writer isn’t sure if it’s quite time to break out the rose-tinted shades about the first decade of the millennium just yet. Still relatively fresh in the mind of Irish DIY thirtysomethings, the joyful slog of noisy, mathy, ‘angular’ (there’s a trope!) bands, led in great part by members of Dublin/Wexford label The Richter Collective, was among the pillar happenings that arguably helped lead to the current golden age of Irish independent tunes.
The past few days, then, have been great for genre enthusiasts in Ireland: the return singles of one-time Richter bands Jogging and BATS have landed, each marking the impending release of long-overdue new albums.
Making a long-term label home for themselves on Limerick’s Out On A Limb Records, Jogging’s third long-player, ‘Whole Heart’, has been confirmed for release on vinyl and digital formats in November, following a long hiatus. Leadoff single ‘Loggerheads’ is a listen to a pared-back take on the band’s alt-rock smorgasbord, focusing on the band’s familiar themes of nature and urgency.
Meanwhile, the BATS lads crowd-funded their own third platter earlier this year, with ‘Alter Nature’ releasing in October via the band themselves, the latest addition to a forward-thinking discography that’s propelled them to comprehensive gigging and touring over the years, the latest run of which was kicked off with a comeback gig at Knockanstockan a few weeks back. And though the emphasis is on keeping the head down and creating challenging music for the now, there’s more than one Richter-era cameo to be seen and heard on first single ‘Old Hitler’, released yesterday with an accompanying lyric vid.
Nostalgia is anathema to progress for sure, and it’s certainly too soon to even call it that just yet, but it certainly is good to see some of the bands that helped open doors for the current wave of noisier outfits enjoy a little bit of their well-earned grá.
Jogging’s new single ‘Loggerheads’ is streaming above, with ‘Whole Heart’ available on November 8th via Out on a Limb. Pre-orders available here, Dublin launch gig the following night, happening at Bello Bar.
BATS’ new single ‘Old Hitler’ is out now, a pre-order bonus with new album ‘ALTER NATURE’ available here.
