New releases out today: Maribou State, Pebbledash, MIKE and more
Here’s a rundown of new Albums & EPs on DSPs and physical releases in record shops this week.
Nialler9 keeps a rolling list of Irish album releases for 2025.
It’s the first big release week of the year.
Let’s dive in.
Releases Index
New Albums
Maribou State – Hallucinating Love
Third third album from the duo who make soft glow worldly organic electronica.
It comes six years since the Nialler9-recommended album Kingdoms in Colour album.
Long-standing collaborator Holly Walker returns on vocals as does serial collaborator Andreya Triana along with Gaidaa and North Downs.
Maribou State’s follows a throughline from the likes of Nightmares On Wax, it’s easy listening tasteful electronica, informed by jazz and world music, but that doesn’t mean it’s bland, it just means it preoccupations are to gently stir the soul rather than the feet.
MIKE – Showbiz!
Known for his collaborative album Faith Is A Rock with Wiki and The Alchemist and solo albums Burning Desire and Pinball with Tony Selzter, Brooklyn rapper MIKE is in the Earl Sweatshirt category of rappers (he also appeared on Earl’s 20243 album Voir Dire).
His latest long player Showbiz!, is another drop of kaleidoscopic production and texture anchored by MIKE”s streaming rhyme flow.
MIKE is a unique rap talent, already a bit of a cult hero.
He plays Dublin late February.
Pebbledash – Four Portraits of the Same Ugly House EP
The Cork alternative rock six-piece’s new EP Four Portraits of the Same Ugly House EP establishes the relatively new band as one of Ireland’s more eclectic bands.
The four songs on the EP move between atmospheric eeriness, dark guitar passages, shoegaze crescendos, emo-slowcore and trad-influenced vocal style, and do so without rushing -with a total run time of 22 minutes, there’s plenty of time to languish in the song’s different shades.
“The EP is an exploration of my time in Cork city or the ‘Ugly House’ as it is referred to in the title. The Ugly House Is a term of endearment from us to refer to the charm of Cork taking in its beauty but also the imperfections. A house is where we all feel most safe and able to express ourselves and I think this ‘ugly’ imperfection is what gives Cork the allure and allows the freedom of expression we get when writing and recording.
Somehow they appear as love songs but once heard they reveal a depth of my emotions captured over an entire year of change and growth condensed into songs that we have made lyrically and musically rich and now release with a cleanse to anyone who wants to listen.”
Upcoming tour dates:
Feb 9th – The Hope & Ruin, Brighton
Feb 10th – The Elephants Head, London
Mar 28th – Dolans, Limerick (Howlers Support)
Mar 29th – Whelan’s, Dublin (Howlers Support)
Mar 30th – Ulster Sport’s Club, Belfast (Howlers Support)
Tayne – LOVE
Bringing a sludgy metal feel to proceedings, London-based Dublin noise-rock industrialists Tayne are the closest Ireland has to the band HEALTH.
Love is the band’s debut album released today on MNRK / Inside Job expanding its sound to take in metal, industrial, shoegaze and pop.
Rolo Tomassi’s James Spence features on the song ‘Fear’.
LIVE DATES
Wed 5th February: Album Release Party at The Black Heart, London
29 – 30th May 2025: Supersonic Bloc Party, Paris, FR
9 – 12th July: 2000 Trees, Cheltneham
13 – 16th August 2025: ArcTanGent Festival, Bristol
Caroline Rose – Year of The Slug
Los Angeles-based American singer-songwriter releases a lo-fi collection of homespun songs that serve as a sort of diaristic demos update of where the artist is at.
in lieu of A.I. perfection, slug contains the sounds of my life – cupboards slamming, birds chirping, the garbage trucks that plague me every thursday. it started as a series of pared down songs tracked on my phone in garageband. the intention was to recut these with a band, and i’ll probably do that with some of them, but i think there’s something special about these songs just the way that they are. i hope you enjoy it as much as i do.
You can hear it here and buy via Bandcamp, as it won’t be on streaming.
Beano – Trap 7 EP
Dublin-based rapper Beano’s new 7-track EP on Out-Straight Records is produced by No Venom, and features contributions from Verb T, Panda Drey and Donkobz.
Trap 7 draws from ’90s hip-hop as an influence, with songs inspired by a trip to Morocco and childhood memories of going to see a film about greyhounds with his dad.
Also released today
- Adrian Younge – Jazz Is Dead 022
- Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – The Purple Bird
- Eddie Chacon – Lay Low
- Frànçois & the Atlas Mountains – Âge Fleuve
- Jamie xx – In Waves (Deluxe)
- Pink Siifu – BLACK’!ANTIQUE
- The Weeknd – Hurry Up Tomorrow
