Features
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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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?…
Faces of 2012: The Notas
A six member band from North Co. Dublin, The Notas play expansive indie rock in the key of Wu Lyf with dash of Foals. Cranking up the reverb on guitar and deploying electronics the band keep the subtleties in the rhythm section on songs informed by their varying cultural backgrounds – French, Indian, Nigerian, Zimbabwean…
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Faces of 2012: Simon Bird
Originally from West Somerset, England but now Dublin-based, Simon Bird produced five EPs in total last year hitting off hip-hop, noise, post-rock and electronica along the way. His amazing V… EP captured all these beneath a sheen of ambient drone, while is live show is as engaging as it is experimental. It’s impossible to predict
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Faces of 2012: Cfit
Initially a solo project for Noel Duplaa, Cfit have developed from a one man band to a trio and now a five piece, with all three incarnations delivering a lush collection of woozy, melancholic anthems.
How did you all meet?…
As a lifelong lover of doing things backwards, I recorded a weird complicated multi-instrumental album
Faces of 2012: Elaine Mai
From behind a looping station and an acoustic guitar, Elaine Mai sings with a voice that is striking with a nuanced accent and ringing clarity. Delivered with certainty, Mai’s songs have layers of vocal harmony and direct lyrics. She played a series of support slots in 2011, including a stunning set in Dublin’s Unitarian Church…
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The Score: Contemporary and classical news
2012 looks set to be a busy year for contemporary music in Ireland, and January to be a busy month for Dublin, and the National Concert Hall in particular. The month sees four events in the National Symphony Orchestra’s Horizons Contemporary Music Series, each featuring a different Irish composer. Each is a free afternoon concert,…
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