First up Archie And The Bunkers serve up ‘Roaring Twenties’ where a promising drum intro (reminiscent of The Shop Assistants’ ‘Safety Net’) leads to frantically jabbed organ hammering, sneeringly indecipherable vocals (“cover your head or you will die” is about all that can be discerned) and, er that’s about it. With no interplay with other instruments, and a lack of dynamics, the sole focus on the (at times) floridly virtuosic organ playing, saps patience and ultimately grates.

More conventional in their guitar and drums set up, PowerSolo offer ‘Fuzzface’; which musically at least, is tamely trashy r‘n’b with an assortment of tremolo, fuzz and overdrive effects. Unfortunately any enjoyment of the music is negated somewhat by distracting and detracting vocals delivered in the style of a free associating, ranting drill sergeant/preacher with a food obsession“hot panini”, “waffles” “Wal-Mart”etc...

The split single is available from Dirty Water Records and iTunes now.

Girl Crush is the debut EP from Riot Grrrls, Tongue Trap. The power trio are graduates of Edinburgh’s Girls Rock School. They have recently signed to Edinburgh indie label Morningside Young Team and are as raw as a hipster’s lunch. They’re reminiscent of Tacocat, Lunachicks and L7, with the rousing, unpolished style of Black Flag.

According to Urban Dictionary, a tongue trap is “A vagina particularly suited for cunnilingus” and, in keeping with that theme, the opening track ‘Taco Tuesday’ is an ode to oral sex.

Humorously tongue-in-cheek and sexually frank, it’s a wonderfully shambolic and joyous celebration.

The shouty, singalong tunes continue with ‘Period Pants’. It starts with a gentle swaying guitar line and ramps up into a punk romp. Originally written as a protest song about the Tampon Tax, the chorus of “Our wombs are free/from bureaucratic misogyny” and gang chant of “I’ve got my period pants” address everyday feminist issues and patriarchal disdain with a neatly balanced combination of anger and humour.

‘Celery’ is a quiet/loud tune in the tradition of Nirvana. The infectious melodies of the verses and the momentum of the “Don’t give up” chorus overcome it’s loose and unrefined execution. The EP loses some of that momentum with ‘Breath’ but the track does point in other musical directions proving that Tongue Trap are more than one-trick-ponies. Girl Crush is messy, forthright and fun; everything you would want a debut EP to be.

The Girl Crush EP is available from the band's bandcamp page here.

Dundalk’s Nix Moon are a hugely impressive live band. They bowled me over on the main stage of Vantastival last month, so much so that I had to go see them again later that day. They are the quintessential festival band; baggy trousers, flowing hair and beards, and a barefoot, world-travelling, bongo player. Trying to capture the sound and feeling of Nix Moon in a studio setting is like trying to catch lightning in a bottle, but they have given it a good go here.

There’s a loose, all-encompassing music scene in Dundalk built around The Spirit Store, where they launched the EP last week. Soul Traffic is their first studio outing since the band came together a year and a half ago. They describe their sound as “Eastern-psychedelic-folk-jazz with a hint of prog, and a bit of reggae, ambient, and fusion.” Not so easy to pin down, but easy to shake your hips to.

Opening track ‘Hitchcock’s Eyes’ starts gently with Joycey singing sweetly, but with an undercurrent of menace, much like the late director’s films. The many changes of time signature and musical style within the song are typical of the band, who boast a wide range of influences from eastern music to heavy metal.

The song is radio friendly and the tune has a habit of staying in your head all day. After many deviations and derivations, the whole band weigh in towards the end of the song to great effect. It’s in this section and on the ska/reggae-tinged ‘Bad Seed’, with its psychedelic wig-out, that Nix Moon really get across the power they possess as a unit.

Have they managed to translate the energy and joie de vivre of their live performance on to record? Not entirely, but for a first record they have made a decent fist of it and, in ‘Hitchcock’s Eyes’, they have also written a cracker of a tune.

Soul Traffic is an excellent start to their recording career. Further experimentation with the recording process could yield real benefits, particularly if they can capture the feel of their live shows. Until then, make sure to add Nix Moon to your must-see list at one of the many, many festivals they’re playing around Ireland this summer.

The Soul Traffic EP is out now and currently only available in physical form, which is unfortunately sold out for now.

'Getaway' is the new single from Dublin trio The Stoles, and it’s the first single from the forthcoming album, Age of Deception.

It's been impossible to predict what The Stoles will do next as each single they have released has altered expectations and offered something unexpected. Last year's 'I Don't Get Along With You' was an impressive heavy rock number in the vein of Queens of the Stone Age and El Camino era The Black Keys.

'Getaway' further evolves their sound. It starts out with some heavy bass and drums, and when the guitars come in they seem to set up a clichéd 12-bar riff but they sidestep the obviousness deftly before the main riff comes in sounding like Johnny Marr or John Squire.

The rhythm section provides some real heavyweight rock while the lighter guitar melodies and Antonio Derosas' vocals lift 'Getaway' clear of the stereotypical hard rock mire. Derosas' lyrics and vocal lines again toy with mainstream rock tropes but he employs melodic tricks more typical of folk, country or musical theatre to avoid the pitfalls of predictability.

The Stoles may toy with expectations in their songwriting but with this taster of the forthcoming album those expectations have been further raised.

'Getaway' is relased on Friday (8th July) and is available from Amazon.