Johnny Feeney’s Albums of 2015

Johnny Feeney's albums of 2015

The reliable musical sage that is Johnny Feeney, steps up on this soapbox to share his favourite records from 2015.

Johnny’s guest posts are always insightful, interesting and always add an extra flavour the blog and I look forward to reading them – surely I’m not alone? 

A massive thanks to Johnny for taking time out to write this up, and on that note, I’ll leave you with his 25 albums of 2015……

25. Grimes – ‘Art Angels’

24. Floating Points  – ‘Elaenia’

23. Public Service Broadcasting – ‘The Race For Space’

22. EL VY – ‘Return To The Moon’

21. Julia Holter – ‘Have You In My Wilderness’

20. Girl Band – ‘Holding Hands With Jamie’

19. Trembling Bells – ‘The Sovereign Self’

18. Courtney Barnett – ‘Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit’

17. Stealing Sheep – ‘Not Real’

16. Nadine Shah – ‘Fast Food’

15. C Duncan – ‘Architect’

Glaswegian Christopher Duncan’s Mercury-nominated debut album is a beautiful piece of dreamy, baroque chamber pop, heavily layered with more than a hint of Grizzly Bear about it.

14. Unknown Multi Orchestra – ‘Multi-Love’

The Auckland/Portland band’s fantastic third album chronicles a soured polyamorous relationship. A lovely lo-fi record full of psychedelic grooves and some of the sleaziest, funkiest guitar lines you’ll hear this year.

Continue reading

BarryGruff Albums of the Year (2015)

BGs Albums of the year 2015So it is that time of year again, lists, lists and more lists. Well, not be out done, here are my 41 (yes 41, and yes it’s a weird number) albums of 2015.

It has been such a good year for new albums, probably the best since I started the blog back in 2010. So much so that there is very little difference between the top 5, top 10, top 15 and so on. So without further ado, here are my favourite records from 2015:

There is also a Spotify playlist of the Top 20 albums, to save you time and hassle (it’s here).

41. Only Real – Jerk At The End of the Line’

40. Rozi Plain – ‘Friend’

39. Wildling – ‘Molecules To Moon’

38. The School – ‘Wasting Away And Wondering’

37. Sweet Baboo – ‘Boombox Ballads’

36. The Stammer – ‘Days In Between’

35. SexWitch – Sex Witch’

34. Faith Healer – ‘Cosmic Troubles’

33. Girl Band – ‘Holding Hands With Jamie’

32. Joanna Gruesome – ‘Peanut Butter’

31. Fort Romeau – ‘Insides

30. Soft Serve – ‘S/t’

29. Applescal – ‘For’

28. Zefur Wolves – ‘Zefur Wolves’

27. Hot Chip – ‘Why Make Sense?’

26. Drenge – ‘Undertow’

25. The Charlatans – ‘Modern Nature’

24. Gaz Coombes – ‘Matador’

23. Bill Ryder-Jones – ‘West Kirby County Primary’

22. Drinks – ‘Hermits on Holiday’

21. The Expert – Dynamic Drift

20. Boxed In – ‘Boxed In’

Continue reading

Millions Like Us Podcast: Episode #3

Millions Like Us logo (1)

Delighted to share ‘Episode #3′ of ‘Millions Like Us’ – a music podcast hosted by myself & craft beer, pastie and fast-food safari enthusiast, Justin Beats – in conjunction with Vancouver news & culture site 604now.

A bi-weekly digest of music from metro Vancouver and BEYOND. The third installment is a mix of new tunes, musings and general chit-chat, with an eclectic mix of musical styles too. Obviously these are still early days but we’re hoping you’re enjoying them so far and we’re looking forward to developing it further and further, over the coming weeks and months. Not much else to say really, aside from thanks to 604now and we hope you enjoy the show. You can read more on it here and listen to episode #2 below, and the tracklist (with links) is after the jump.

You can follow us on SoundCloud | Mixcloud | Twitter

Episode #3:

Zoo Strategies – ‘An Anthem For Angry Country Kids’

Mesa Luna – ‘Don’t Let Go’

Gwenno – ‘Patriarchaeth’

Mourning Coup – ‘I Will Never Die’

Jade Statues – ‘She Don’t Evn Smoke’

Rozmosis – ‘Rain ft Azrael’

Fold – ‘She’

Turn To Crime – ‘Can’t Love’

The Stammer – ‘Kate & Chris’

Other Jesus – ‘Repetition’

Bloody Knees – Daydream

Girl Band – ‘Paul’

Girl Band – ‘De Bom Bom’

girl-band

Dublin’s Girl Band have already proven themselves masterful in the way of scraping, dissonant noise-punk and clearly not content with releasing one of the best Irish songs produced this year, they’ve gone and done it again.

Girl Band have followed up their sprawling 6-minute plus industrial stomp of gut-wrenching and desolate post-punk rock that was ‘Lawman‘, with an abrasive three minute monster called ‘De Bom Bom’. Do not be deceived by the jovial title, ‘De Bom Bom’ is gruesomely intense. It is an agitated coming together of rattling guitars, fuzzed up bass and frenetic drumming, which are angrily spat over by Kiely’s screeching vocal, basking in the glorious industrial rhythm (one which Nialler9 rightly pointed out, comes across like Daft Punk’s ‘Rollin & Scratchin’). It is yet another stunning example of what Girl Band have in their arsenal -a characteristically loud and breathless mass of angry, brutal and ugly vented anger – in a good way of course.

‘De Bom Bom’ is out September 1st on Any Other City. Listen to it below & pre-order it here.

Girl Band – ‘Lawman’

girl-band1-703x468

It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Girl Band. The Dublin band had a relatively quiet 2013 but they’ve kicked off 2014 with Irish, UK and Eurosonic dates, and most importantly a new single. 

‘Lawman’ is a real beast of a track. Over a sprawling six-minute industrial stomp of gut-wrenching and desolate post-punk rock, the ears a battered into submission with a fuzzed and filthy caustic cacophony of sound. The Dublin four piece have rarely been anything but exhilarating, in the flesh or on record, and ‘Lawman’ is in keeping with tradition. In short; this is a stunning tune and it’s good to have them back. 

‘Lawman’, Girl Band’s first ever 7″, is released on January 10th via Any Other City Records on a limited run of 300 records. Turn up the volume and check it below. 

Girl Band – ‘In My Head’

You forgot a username for the YouTube shortcode

Dublin based four-piece punk rock ensemble Girl Band, are releasing their debut single ‘In My Head’ on April 10th via Any Other City Records.

It feels strange to say ‘debut’ as we’ve already witnessed a smattering of thunderous tracks online. Rest assured, ‘In My Head’ treads a similar path and is a another grunting racket of high octane punk rock.

Girl Band celebrate the release with a launch in The Grand Social on Tuesday, April 10th, with support from Spies.

Introducing: Girl Band

Girl Band are Dublin-based four-piece who make a racket to be reckoned with.

Having joined forces this summer, they embrace a shared love of all things punk rock. ‘Twelves’ is a minute and a half salvo of thunderous aggression while ‘Second One’ metes out a substantial dose of fuzzed up fury. Also lead singer Dara Kiely’s vocals slide between a subdued murmur to the ear-splitting and shrill with an effortless ease. 

Granted, it is obviously early days with a mere two songs and handful of gigs under their belt. Such is the quality however, we should be in for an interesting few months especially as they hope to record a debut EP in the new year.

Catch Girl Band in The Grand Social, Dublin for free on December 7th with Tandem Felix and Peaks.

Download: Girl Band – Twelves

Download: Girl Band – Second One