Single That Mingle 

 

With Captain Stavros

Sir Chloe

 

‘Salivate’

 

I Am The Dog out May 19 via Atlantic Records

 

Another mouthwatering tune.

 

 

 

 

Caesar Spencer

 

‘Get Out Into The Pigs’

 

Get Out Into Yourself out April 28 via New Radio Records

 

Feels cathartic.

 

 

 

 

Memorials

 

‘Tramps’

 

Against The Bomb out May 12 via State51 Records

 

Somewhere between Post-Punk and New-Wave, we like it.

 

 

 

 

Cable Ties

 

‘Time For You’

 

All Her Plans Out June 23 via Merge Records

 

Make time for this single.

 

 

 

 

Will Butler + Sister

 

‘Willows’

 

Well, here’s a familiar voice we haven’t heard in a while, not too shabby.

 

 

 

 

Alex Lahey

 

‘They Wouldn’t Let Me In’

 

The Answer Is Always Yes Out May 19 Via Liberation Records

 

We’ll let you in, you little weirdo!

 

 

 

 

Barrie

 

‘Empty’

 

5K Out Now Via Winspear Records

 

After 4+ weeks of forever rain we feel empty but cautiously optimistic after this snazzy new track.

 

 

 

 

Holy Wave

 

‘Cowprint’

 

Out Now Via Suicide Squeeze

 

A welcoming easy breezy tune to whittle the day away to.

 

 

 

 

MADMADMAD

 

‘Do You’ ft Shambles

 

Out Now Via Bad Vibrations

 

A great tune that keeps you guessing, what’ll you hear next? As the samples that make the whole keep stacking.

 

 

 

 

Pip Bloom

 

‘Tiger’

 

If you’re running a fashionable boutique in Shoreditch, you might want this on your playlist.

 

 

 

 

Media Giant

 

‘Son of a Son’

 

Market Research Out Now Via Brace Yourself Records

 

A catchy tune with no weakness that won’t have you crying on the weekends.

 

 

 

 

Maya Ongaku

 

‘Nuska’

 

Approach to Anima Out May 26 Via GuruGuru Brain

 

As elegant as it is soothing.

 

 

 

 

Angelica Rockne

 

‘The Rose Society’

 

The Rose Society Out May 5 Via Loose Records

 

A great tune to enjoy a damn fine cup of coffee to.

 

 

 

 

Blondshell

 

‘Salad’

 

Out now via Partisan Records

 

A bit dark with a lighter hook.

 

 

 

 

Sam Burton

 

‘The Long Way Around’

 

Dear Departed Out July 14 Via Partisan Records

 

A voice, and song, from yesteryear and we’re absolutely enthralled.

 

 

 

 

The Paper Kites

 

‘Till the Flame Turns Blue’

 

Slide guitar is like liquid gold.

 

 

 

 

The Early Purple

 

‘Summer Hide’

 

EP Out May 12

 

The soft finger picking really sets the bass up.

 

 

 

 

Nice Biscuit

 

‘I Feel Love’

 

Who doesn’t like a cover done right?

 

 

 

Witch

‘Avalanche of Love’

 

Zango Out June 2 Via Desert Daze Sound

 

Walk around with this tune pumping and blammo; you’ve got your very own theme music.

 

 

 

 

Crumb

 

‘Crushxd’

 

New genre defiant tunes, we’re intrigued and certain you’ll be too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slow Readers Club

Academy, Dublin

 

The last time our paths crossed with Slow Readers Club, they were an independent band peddling their second album.  One major label deal and three charting LPs later, they are headlining Dublin’s Academy and have developed their sound to suit the larger venues they are accustomed to these days.

We arrive early for Amy Montgomery.  People were raving about her after her headline set at Vantastival in September.  It’s a different gig opening for an established act when you don’t have your normal stage set up and lighting.  We’re pleasantly surprised to see Nolan Donnelly, guitar player/producer from Mosmo Strange, take the stage to kick off Montgomery's introduction.  The Northern Irish singer emerges in front of the sparse crowd but sings as if the room were full, dropping onto her back after the first chorus.  It's a classic rock sound that manages to avoid the cliché-ridden pitfalls that can overcome such bands.  Montgomery and Co continue to kick out the jams for 35 minutes of hard rock screamer mayhem.  We make a note to follow up with their next headline gig.

The crowd swells ahead of Slow Readers Club.  Tonight isn’t sold out but you’d be hard pressed to tell from the size of the crowd.  They’re that indie band that becomes a dance groove band when they start playing bigger venues, and you won’t hear any complaints from this corner.  Aaron Starkie’s voice fills the venue from the front row to the back of the bar.  The band have had commercial success in the UK but have yet to make a mainstream impact in Ireland. Nonetheless there are hundreds of people here singing back the lyrics. It’s a noticeably older crowd here, suggesting a love of Manchester indie bands rather than a commercial influence.  It's indicative of our globalised world but also of Ireland’s close links with the UK.  Slow Readers Club have the crowd enraptured from the opening bars of their first tune and manage to maintain it throughout the set.

Pairing SRC with Amy Montgomery is a bit of a mismatch.  Montgomery’s set is all flashing lights, eye catching makeup, flailing dreads, and vocal acrobatics while SRC let the music do the heavy lifting.  The stage is relatively undecorated, the lighting plain, and the band barely move.  It’s the audience’s engagement with the songs that pumps energy into the room.  It’s an approach one can respect but we’d rather the balls-to-the-wall, last night on earth performance that the support act gave.

The headliners break out the big tunes late in the set and the audience's response sakes the jelly in our eyes.  The Dublin following is fervent as becomes obvious after ‘On The TV’.  After the songs finishes, the audience sings back the refrain with such resolve that the band join in and improvise a new reprise for the tune.  It’s a wonderful moment and the smiles spread through the room, on stage and off, culminating in a mass of applause and cheers.

It's refreshing after covid to hear the terrace style chant ringing out.  It’s no surprise when the band have a decade of live experience and bring it all to bear on a foreign audience that has been starved of their presence for at least three years.  It's probably only covid that has restricted this band to a venue the size of the Academy.  It would be no surprise to see them opening arena tours very soon.  Check out their tunes and catch them while they’re affordable and hungry.