A lot of music from Ireland and Northern Ireland comes our way and every week, we listen through it all, sift the list down to a manageable list and share the best new tracks from emerging artists and some more established acts that deserve to be heard by you.
For more extensive Irish and new music coverage, follow our Spotify playlist or hit up the Irish section for individual track features.
Featuring Cooks But We’re Chefs, Offica, Elkin, Uly, Jock, Seamus Fogarty, Midnight Wayne, Fortune Igiebor, Saoirse Miller, Lowkick, Danzi, Penji.
1.
Uly
33s
Uly is a songwriter reborn and the mellow vibes of ’33s’ features on his upcoming sometimes sad/sometimes groovy EP out on November 24th.
The man has gigs in Limerick, Galway this week with Dublin a week before release.
2.
Jock
Moving
I’m loving the spikey garage-punk vibe of ‘Moving’ on VETA Records, the latest number from the Belfast trio Jock, about the housing crisis.
“You go to a house viewing in Belfast, there’s a queue of people out the door and atleast four of them are your friends. You get to the front of the queue and a man in a suit tells you the rental price has just went up by £300 per month. You try to fill in an application form anyway and before you’ve even done that, they want you to pay £200 just to apply”. These are things that Jock have experienced first-hand and they want to make sure their voices – and others – are heard through the noise. Music isn’t going to solve the housing crisis, but with this song, Jock hope to make the people living in this reality feel heard.”
3.
Seamus Fogarty
Tomás Bán Mac Aogáin
A traditional song about a Mayo man sentenced to be hanged for eloping with the daughter of an Anglo-Irishman, as performed by a Mayo man.
I recently shared ‘They Recognised Him’ from an EP called Hee-Haw, which dropped last week.
Fogarty is supporting Lisa O’Neill on upcoming Irish dates, and is doing a headliner in Kilkenny in December. See seamusfogarty.com
4.
Elkin
Alright Darling
Ellen O’Mahony and Carla Ryan aka Elkin first wrote this song over six years ago, and this new version with production by Lullahush, takes the band into Sylvan Esso territory.
“This song was first written 6 years ago when we were 20. It was about a guy who broke Carla’s heart. We recorded it on Ellen’s laptop one evening. We didn’t really know how to use Garageband and we left the metronome on by accident. It ran the whole way through the recording like a heartbeat*. A couple of years later we turned it into a moody 90’s ballad and played it live with a full band. Nowadays, it’s light and bubbly with birdsong. Alright Darling has gone through lots of different versions but it is a song that stays very special to us as we get older and as ELKIN’s sound changes and develops. Alright Darling is a song for our past and future selves, to remind us that no matter what happens, you will always find the reason to persevere and keep doing what brings you joy.’
5.
Midnight Wayne
Intuition
Tame Impala-esque psych rock pop from Wayne Francis Elliott Soper aka Midnight Wayne from a new EP called Ouroboros.
The song is informed by the Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti quote “intuition is the whisper of the soul.“
6.
Cooks But We’re Chefs
Funeka
Cosmic soul and funk rap from the seven piece fusion band Cooks But We’re Chefs from Dublin drawing on the spirit of Fela with a Zulu word that “loosely translates to ‘we are searching with optimism.’
The raps by Methembe are in both Zulu and English and touches on inspiration from Zimbabwe and African art and the West Of Ireland.
7.
Fortune Igiebor, Danzi
Dublin Reign
A highlight from the Second EP Handle With Care, from the Dublin rapper Fortune Igiebor goes hard with industrial, electro and drill styles colliding in a beautiful heap.
See also: ‘Leechers‘
The EP from the Dublin rapper features Jafaris, Kid Kuba, Danzi and Eluna.
8.
Offica
Arms Of Another
Nigerian/Irish rapper Offica released the first of his two-part album, the first – Hokage in Drogheda (Part 1). Part One leans on anime-infused party drill and introspective raps.
‘Have Fun’ is a drill chest-rattler from Part One. Oof.
Part 2 titled Hokage in Lagos (November 10th) features Afrobeats-infused drill, based on tunes sampling the likes of Wizkid, D’banj and Psquare.
9.
Penji
WORLWIDEWEB
Jazz guitarist turned electronic producer Aengus Hackett released the album Future Nostalgia last week under the Penji name.
‘Worldwideweb’ reminds me of Squarepusher at his jazz wonkiest.
Get the album on Bandcamp.
10.
Saoirse Miller, Lowkick
Electricity
Introspective downbeat electronic production and vocals from Saoirse Miller with a rap verse from lowkick.
It was made with producer Sean Brooder all in their respective bedrooms.
“Electricity is a song about chemistry and sexual tension. I wrote it about that feeling you get when the attraction/infatuation you have for someone feels bigger than yourself; it feels almost spiritual and out of your control. There’s a lot of religious imagery in the lyrics because I wanted to portray this connection like it’s something holy, divinely timed and all-consuming.”
“I just have one vocal track by itself at the start, which is not my usual style at all; I kinda wanted it to sound like I am just singing to myself in my bedroom, like I’m praying. We had hoped to collaborate with Lowkick for a while, so Sean produced the beat with them in mind.”
More from Saoirse.
For more extensive Irish and new music coverage, hit up the Irish section for individual track features
For this and more Irish songs, follow the Nialler9 New Irish Spotify playlist.
This week’s playlist updates includes the songs above along with new additions:
- NewDad – Let Go
- Rachael Lavelle – Travel Size
- ØXN – Farmer In The City
- Kojaque – LARRY BIRD
- Fish Go Deep – What I Mean By Beautiful
- Evan Miles – Did It Once
- YourCuzMarcus – Look Around U
- Pat Lagoon – FourFour
- Problem Patterns – TERFs Out
- DATQIDEXCEL – Time Will Tell
- SOPHIE DOYLE RYDER – Falling From Hell
- ESSIRAY – Hold Me Closer
- Lucy Gaffney – Next Year
- chxmist – Feel Me
- James J. Clarke; Ailbhe Reddy – White Roses
- NODEN – Leave Nobody Out
- Pagan – Take You Back
- Jordan Nocturne; Ready In LED – Over & Over feat. Ready In LED
- Elaine Mai; soft centre – The Moment
- Rory Sweeney; Ahmed, With Love.; EMBY; Curtisy – Loose Lips
- The Scratch – Cheeky Bastard
- Jock – Moving
- CONALL; COUCOU CHLOE – UP
- yunè pinku – Killing Bee
