‘Weight’ is the first single from The Line’s upcoming debut album ‘Matter’.
Written and produced by multi-instrumentalist Brian Dillon and releasing tomorrow via Bad Soup Records, ‘Weight’ is a dramatic and expressive piece creating vast electronic landscapes with synthetic sounds, digital noise and compressed vocals.
Starting off with an alluring and almost nursery rhyme like simplicity, the track quickly veers to the weirder side, creating a bed of electronic string sounds that draws the listener in. This one is definitely a headphones must, there’s a whole lot going on you could easily miss.
Already a well known artist in Ireland (Meltybrains?, Loah, Lilla Vargen, Slow Skies), The Line is Dillon’s new solo project. Written over the course of a year, the album explores dichotomous themes of human emotion through experimentation with soundscapes and noise.
Dillion describes The Line is a modern take on the Irish singer-songwriter tradition, consisting of sparse, emotionally bare songs, layered with ambience, noise and mind-bending soundscapes.
We can’t wait to hear what The Line comes out with next!
This Friday night, two of Dublin’s most promising live electronic artists take to the stage for a double header that’s sure to kick your Paddy’s Day Weekend off in style.
Royal Yellow is the moniker of Dublin-based producer Mark O’Brien. Mark is the ex-bassist of one of Ireland’s greatest math-rock bands, Enemies. He launched his debut single ‘Hazeldene’ last year and dropped second single Aruba in February. Seamlessly blending lo-fi hip-hop with jazz, country, soul and the sounds of old film scores, the genre-defying tracks have since racked up over half a million streams on Spotify. Performing on the night with a full live band, we’re super excited to check them out!
Last year saw Dublin-based producer and multi-instrumentalist Sam Killeen launch SENU, a home for his unique blend of electronic jazz and the darker corners of hip-hop. His debut single “Suffocating” (featuring Loah) was strong enough to lead to bookings at Body&Soul, Electric Picnic & a ripper of a set at KnockanStockan, allowing Killeen to morph SENU into an intense and hypnotic live band. His most recent release is a unique remix of Japanese City Pop legend Tatsuro Yamashita’s “Love Talkin”, which has quickly become a dancefloor staple in clubs all over Dublin.
Tickets are available now priced €15. Additional support on the night comes from Cidot & JEAG.
Sallay Matu Garnett, better known as Loah, is a spellbinding singer who grew up between Maynooth and Sierra Leone. She made her recorded debut with last years ‘This Heart’ EP and this year she is releasing new remixes for each song on the record, working with a variety of different producers and artists.
For ‘Keep Your Heart’, Limerick MC God Knows (of Choice Music Prize winners Rusangano Family) pens his most personal song to date over a loop of the Bantum produced instrumental ‘This Heart Interlude’. The lyrics tell of an emotional reunion with an old friend who’s fallen on hard times, a theme that’s sadly quite relatable to many young adults in Ireland.
God Knows threads the story through nostalgic childhood memories and the track is paired perfectly with a video filmed in Maynooth and Shannon (where Loah and God Knows grew up), produced by Irish studio Geppetto. Additional production on the track comes from Ben Bix & Dunny (Meltybrains?)
It’s fantastic to see so many brilliant artists collaborating regularly and strengthening the Irish music community.
The annual Irish Music Christmas Party is back in it’s original Dingle setting this weekend and they’ve just released the full festival schedule for this year’s entry!
The timetable is chock full of incredible acts from every corner of the country and beyond. The performances in the intimate St. James’s Church will be live streamed to a number of venues in the town for those not lucky enough to get in & the music trail will provide plenty of live music throughout the weekend from some of Irelands most promising young acts including Kojaque, Sorcha Richardson, Pine The Pilcrow, I Have a Tribe, Dowry, Junior Brother,Wastefellow, Thumper and many many more.
Check out the full schedule and music trail playlist below, we’ll see you there!
Dublin Acoustic Folk-Rockers The Scratchhave released a breathtaking new video for their instrumental track ‘The Road to Ballyshannon’. The video would put Tourism Ireland to shame, it’s chock full of gorgeous vistas and sprawling coastlines. There’s a bit of craic thrown in at the end as well for good measure. The track features on their recently released Old Songs EP.
If you haven’t heard of The Scratch yet, you’re in for a treat. They describe themselves as ‘acoustic rock music that sounds like a pint of guinness to the ears’. Couldn’t have said it better myself. Recent singles have included ‘The Punisher’, a cautionary tale to pub-talkers everywhere, and Shadow, a collaboration with Loah. Both are absolute earworms that demand repeat listens. I can’t wait to hear what the lads come out with next.
Thundercat, real name Stephen Bruner, has only recently started to surface as a mainstream artist in his own right. The 32 year old bassist has had a long and illustrious career as a session player and producer though, with a long list of collaborators including Flying Lotus, Kendrick Lamar, Kamasi Washington, Taylor McFerrin, Childish Gambino & Suicidal Tendencies. Lamar even described Thundercat as being the creative epicentre of his 2015 Grammy award winning album ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’.
His third album ‘Drunk’ was released earlier this month to critical acclaim and featured many high profile collaborations from the likes of Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, Kendrick Lamar, Wiz Khalifa, and Pharrell. The sold out crowd here tonight seem like a mix of die hard fans and curious friends brought along for the ride.
Supporting tonight are Fehdah featuring Loah who provide a beautiful start to the evening with their unique brand of Afro-Caribbean Neo-Soul. Single ‘Like No Other’ is a particular highlight, illuminating the the full creative range of their collective talents.
The band have so much groove together and the music is really interesting. Elements of Funk, Soul, Hip-Hop, R & B & Afrobeat are all mixed in with a healthy dose of clapping rhythms, tribal chants and carefully considered pop melodies. Be sure to check them out soon.
Next up is the main event and Thundercat strides on to the stage flanked by keyboardist Dennis Hamm and drummer Justin Brown to an erruption of screams and applause. The trio waste no time at all, kicking straight into ‘Rabbit Ho’. Brown’s energy seems unlimited, the rapid spitfire of his beats leaning in to Drum & Bass territory, he continues this trend throughout the set without even breaking a sweat. A wild, chaotic middle section falls effortlessly back in to the groove of the final verse.
It’s a small setup for a world tour but if you closed you eyes you wouldn’t believe there were only 3 musicians on stage. The group fills up every corner of the sonic spectrum. Thundercat’s high soulful voice juxtaposes perfectly with the beefy low end of his 6 string Ibanez bass.
In ‘Where The Giants Roam / Field of the Nephilim’, Thundercat adds in the type of mental fret dancing solos normally reserved for a song’s crescendo right in the middle, making you wonder how they can up the intensity later in the piece. The answer is, with ease. It’s a wonder to behold!
The onstage communication is subtle but effective, with seemingly unstoppable waves of music breaking at what would seem like random points save for a couple of winks and nods. As they blast into standout track ‘Them Changes’ the crowd go crazy and the show really hits it’s stride. Thundercat’s voice has an insane range and effectively emotes pain, joy, love & fear with equal perfection. In ‘Is It Love?’ he tells us ‘Everyday is like a dream to me’. Well thank you for sharing that feeling with us!
At the end of the show the impossible happened. AN ACTUAL SURPRISE ENCORE! The lights came on, background music too, people even left. The super fans old an new still shouting for ‘ONE MORE TUNE’ were rewarded with ‘The Turn Down’. Thundercat sings the opening verse asking ‘Is this where we belong?’. One thing’s for sure, Dublin certainly thinks so…
Supporting tonight are