Features
Incoming: Django Django
Based in East London but, as we shall see, with an Irish connection, Django Django have just released their self-titled debut album and play Crawdaddy in Dublin on Feb 23rd. We already know that they make an intriguing electronic rock ‘n’ roll sound, but what else makes them tick?
Who are you and where are …
The Score: contemporary and classical news
Concerts of contemporary music are notoriously poorly advertised. The reasons why remain a mystery, though it seems that contemporary composers and musicians continually underestimate Irish music fans. Yet this country has wide-open ears, and an audience that’s open to discovering anything that’s new or exciting, regardless of the tag that comes with it. Modern music …
READ »
Incoming: The Jon Cohen Experimental
Once a member of The Dears and The Social Register, Montreal native Jon Cohen is now stepping out on his own. Having recently released his debut album Behold…, featuring guest spots from the likes of Murray Lightburn (The Dears) and Evan Cranley (Stars, Broken Social Scene), The Jon Cohen Experimental plays The Grand Social
READ »
Faces of 2012: Digital Magazine and Compilation
All this week we’ve been bringing you our annual pick of new Irish musical talent, featuring the twenty acts that State feels will come to define 2012. From hip-hop and electronica to quiet acoustic sounds and loud guitars, we think it’s our best list yet. Now you can enjoy the Faces of 2012 in sound…
READ »
Faces of 2012: Tenaka
Limerick producer Ronan Carroll makes brooding electronica under the moniker of Tenaka. Collaborating with Sacred Animals, Holy Roman Army, Sorcha Brennan, Daithi and Elaine Mai, his Ephemeral EP is an introspective collection of metronomic arrangements and live instrumentation with casting scope and ambition whetting our appetites for Tenaka’s debut full length album in 2012.
How …
Faces of 2012: The Debutantes
Chiming beneath a veil of reverb, the music of The Debutantes is structurally straight-forward indie but shimmers in its own simplicity. Sounding more sun-soaked than their home turf of Galway, the band’s wash of layered noise, hazy vocals and strummed guitars ring out in heart-melting dream pop.
Describe yourselves and your music.…
Our music changes
Faces of 2012: Tara Masterson Hally
A gleaming new talent from Dublin, Tara Masterson Hally is a fresh voice in timeless folk. Her airy vocals and cooing harmonies are wrapped by the woozy acoustics of harp and guitar creating a resonating ambience. For a girl so young – she still boasts a teen in her age – Hally conveys a weighty…
READ »
Faces of 2012: SertOne
Another of Ireland’s bright new stars in electronic music. Drawing inspiration from the intricate bumpin’ hip-hop instrumental style of J Dilla, SertOne is a Portadown native who, at the age of 21, has already been DJing for ten years and making his own music for five.
Who or what inspires you?
I just spend a…
Faces of 2012: Hush War Cry
Young four-piece Hush War Cry all met while studying Architecture in college together in Cork. Their delicate, nuanced sound is already frightfully well developed. Rich arrangements of guitar, piano and subtleties recall the ornate histrionics of Wild Beasts. The Apparitions EP out this month will be the world’s first taste of these promising young learned…
READ »
Faces of 2012: This Club
A case of a band returning in a different guise, with This Club the four Dubliners have hit their stride. Named after the first song they wrote together, their brand of pop is sure to find a home on the radio, and even the odd club, throughout 2012.
Describe yourselves and your music.…
We are
Faces of 2012: Toby Kaar
More than just a button pressing beatsmith, Cork lad Toby Kaar makes groove-laden electronica so danceable that he just can’t help himself. His live show is one of infectious enthusiasm, with Toby throwing shapes to a melting pot of hip-hop, house and IDM. He also knows how to cut a remix, having reworked music by…
READ »
Faces of 2012: Nightbox
Produced by members of MSTRKRFT and Death From Above 1979, the music of Wicklow-raised Montreal-based five-piece Nightbox couldn’t be better suited for their stable at French label Kitsuné. Their debut eponymous EP is electronic flavoured indie dance-pop, with taut guitar lines, synth-key flourishes and instantly catchy choruses.
Describe yourselves and your music.…
We’re a five-piece
Faces of 2012: Lethal Dialect
Painting home truths and realistic skies from the suburbs of Dublin, Lethal Dialect represents the more traditional line of colloquial rap music in Ireland. There’s no bravado here, just great rap tunes relatable to anybody living in a post Celtic Tiger era. That’d be all of us then. Last year, Lethal Dialect released the best…
READ »
Faces of 2012: Futures Apart
Drawn together from the rock ‘n’ roll hotspots of Wexford, Ballina and Northamptonshire, the now Dublin-based Futures Apart make the kind of music they like to listen to and take it from there. That music, thus far, comes across like a new romantic take on 21st century indie-pop.
Where does your band name come from?…
