Every Friday, four new music picks from music blogs worldwide are published as part of my Day & Night pages. Follow Day & Night on Twitter or Facebook. The magazine is out in in print free with every copy of the Irish Independent so pick it up!
Kendrick Lamar
Compton rapper Lamar steps up with Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, a superior second album filled with a engaging narrative colouring in the lines between gangsta rap conventions and socially-conscious storytelling. Likely to be top of many rap album of the year polls.
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California Wives
Curveball! This rabble of indie-rockers come from Chicago but their debut album Art History won’t blindside you with its melodic anthemic rock with undercurrents of new wave and synth pop.
School Of Seven Bells
Taken from the Put Your Sad Down EP, Secret Days is a sparkling return to form for the New York dream-pop duo thanks to an insistent rumbling freight train beat and Alejandra Deheza’s spectral harmonies.
Cave Ghosts
Fans of Best Coast’s sunny indie-rock will fall for this Dublin four-piece whose members have previously played in Grand Pocket Orchestra, Hooray For Humans and Yeah Deadlies. The three-track demo has plenty of ’60s girl group vocal vibes and ’70s-sounding bright organ.
Free download at Bandcamp.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.
Loving that Kendrick record
Sticks with you from the first listen