The light have just announced the release date of their New single ‘Wild Atlantic Way’, out March 21st 2019
The Light features the powerful and passionate vocals of Irish singer Alec Noonan, while writer Clive Williams paints real life pictures of love, hope, compassion and truth that reveal the plight of everyday folk in the modern world through his songwriting.
In new Radio Single ‘Wild Atlantic Way’, not only does Clive capture the emotion of falling in love but one of the beautiful natural trails of the Wild Atlantic Way in Irelands West coast woven like a tapestry into the lyrics of the song.
..anyone who has been to the stunning West of Ireland, will vouch for its beauty and splendour, its charm and capacity to make you fall in love with its scenic advances.
This debut single from Clive and Alec, is Clive’s journey of an enticing story of how love drew him across the sea from England to Ireland to be with his beautiful partner on the romantic wild west coast of Ireland. An instant folk/pop classic it will soon be part of many a wedding and celebration.
5-Piece Pop band Lavengro hailing from Derry City, Northern Ireland, announce the release of their -hotly tipped ‘best songs of 2019’- brand new single ‘Live For The Weekend’. With instant hooks that call for the repeat button, their new single is the follow up to commercially successful track ‘Think’ which was one of the most played Irish songs on Radio in 2018. 2FM hailed it as one of their most played Irish songs of 2018, iRadio & Today FM also made the boys their Homegrown Heroes & PlayIrish Artist of the week. It also stayed in the top 100 Irish Airplay Charts for 11 weeks, peaking at #25 and also made it onto the Irish iTunes Top 100 Charts, Spotify Viral 50 Ireland, Ireland Shazam Charts top 50 – to name a few! Their new single is punchier, catchier and will have the same effect: Press Repeat>>>> PLAY.
The childhood friends formed the group in 2015 all at the age of 18 with one ultimate goal in mind; to be one of the top bands to ever come out of Ireland. The boys make songs that are punchy, catchy and powerful. Songs that really hit you in the feels but also make you want to dance. After just 2 years, the band were slowly making their dream a reality with the success of their single, “Think”. 2019 marks an enterprising next step with the release of ‘Live For The Weekend’ penned for March 22nd.
Lavengro had a busy summer in 2018, selling out their own headline shows at Whelan’s, Dublin, Ireland and The Nerve Centre, Derry while being invited to Irish radio stations across the country for interviews and to perform live at RTE2FMs famous Studio 8 Sessions. The lads are no strangers to big festival stages, performing on Main Stage at SunflowerFest, Electric Picnic & Sea Sessions as well as playing support to Hudson Taylor in their hometown in yet another sold out event.
Critically acclaimed singer songwriter from Northern Ireland, Sonja Sleator, announces brand new Single : ‘GOODBYE’ March 1st and EP: ‘VIOLENT STRAWBERRY’ April 5th
+ Upcoming gigs:
6 Feb – McHugh’s Belfast – supporting Another Sky – info
15 March – Sin É Dublin – supporting Daniel John Paxton
Sonja Sleator has established herself as one of Northern Ireland’s most recognisable singer/songwriters. Her story driven songs are making her one to watch in the Irish music scene and have led to appearances on local radio, television and at festivals including Hard Working Class Heroes. Sonja has performed across the UK and Ireland, most notably in London’s On’t Sofa Sessions. Outside the UK, she has performed in Nashville, New Orleans and San Francisco, including an appearance on the famous Norm’s Rare Guitars YouTube channel.
Her EP, ADAMS, released in 2017, was described as “one of the best releases of the year” by Dublin 98FM’s John Barker. Lead single, Calla, received radio play on Dublin 98FM, Near FM Sessions, Downtown Radio and Q Radio.
In 2018, Sonja released Ghost, the first single off a new EP titled Violent Strawberry. It achieved airplay across three continents, and was used by festival organisers to promote her performance at Hard Working Class Heroes.
In 2019, Sonja will release her third EP, ‘Violent Strawberry’. The four track EP was recorded with multi-instrumentalist and producer Michael Mormecha at Milbank Studios in Lisburn.
If Van Morrison and Paul Buchanan had a love child, it would be Jimmy’s Cousin.Irish born and schooled in New York with a detour into multiple careers across Europe, Jimmy’s Cousin has been 30 years in the making. His first demo was recorded in 1991 and yet his first album, ‘Waxwings’, sees the light of day next Spring! Why the long delay? He wanted to wait till he had something to say…
The album is produced by Dave Keary whose guitar playing and musical direction appears on records by acts such as Van Morrison, Gregory Porter, Taj Mahal, Roger Daltrey and Bobby Womack. Adding a deep vein of musical pedigree to the arrangement and realisation of the songs.‘Waxwings’ is an ambitious, melodic, close to the bone and very personal, blend of Vocal Jazz which tells the genesis of a mans journey to find his personal identity and creative spirit spanning 30 years and numerous countries, loves lost and gained, careers and experiences all compacted into this stunning debut. Also playing on the album is Paul Moore (Bass) James Delaney (Piano), Des Lacey (Drums) Micheal Buckley (Brass) plus a host of others.
‘Waxwings’ is an album about acceptance of the risks associated with truly loving someone. It’s an album about the inevitability of loss, about flying into the darkness and touching the face of grief yet finding a new part of yourself on the other side. The second single to be released from the record is titled ‘Astor & 8th’ which is released Feb 22nd 2019.
About the song Astor & 8th: “Like a lot of Irish people in the 80s and 90s I ended up jumping on my first plane and landing in JFK to be met by my cousin who lived in Astoria in Queens. The following day he threw me a subway token and said hey where are you going to go your first day? I got on the N train to Manhattan, got off at Astor and 8th Street and walked up along Broadway. I was 22, full of ambition and arrogance with my long hair and literally thought I was God’s gift to humanity. So this is a song about a 22-year-old full of vim and vigour arriving in the big city for the first time and the excitement and optimism that went with that”.
Notes to editors: How did Jimmys Cousin come to fruition? He was raised in a small provincial town in Limerick, Ireland and had an older brother named Paul. Everywhere he went he was Paul’s brother. He was always following in his footsteps and had no identity of his own. Striking out for New York in the early 90’s, following the thousands within the Irish diaspora that came before him, he relished the thought of being his own person, with his own identity and moved initially, in with his American cousin Jimmy. He introduced him to all of his friends and of course everywhere he went in New York for the following few years he was known as…. Jimmy’s Cousin!
Award Winning Singer/SongwriterAoife Scottreleases a very special seasonal single,The December Letter Out Dec 14th, featuring Grammy-winning banjo playerRon Blockof Alison Krauss & Union Station.
It is Scott’s first release since she collaborated with her cousinsDanny O’ Reilly (The Coronas)andRóisín Oon the famous Irish ballad ‘Grace’, which went straight to #1 on the iTunes charts in March 2017.
A member of the legendary Irish folk music family,The Black Family,Aoife Scott is an award-winning folk singer and songwriter who has steadily made a name for herself in traditional and folk music scenes around the world. Last year, her single“All Along the Wild Atlantic Way”hit the #1 spot on iTunes, knocking Ed Sheeran off the top. It was also named“Song of the Year”at the Irish Folk Music Awards in 2017.
The recording features the superb banjo playing of fourteen-time Grammy award-winning American bluegrass star,Ron Block.He is a member of the bluegrass bandAlison Krauss & Union Station, and he was featured on the multi-platinum soundtrack of the Coen Brothers’ ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou’, and can be seen playing the banjo in the 2000 film. A trailblazer in the American folk scene – His extraordinary career has seen him record with artists such as Dolly Parton and Brad Paisley while winning numerous Grammy and International Bluegrass awards.
Aoife Scott’s music has a broad creative scope that is mostly influenced by her roots in folk and traditional Irish music. Fragile and ethereal one minute and strong and vibrant the next, her dynamic and profound vocals explore the emotional depths of her lyrics, leaving the audience entranced. Scott’s most recent accolades in 2018 have seen her namedBest Folk Actat the Irish Post Music Awards (IRE), as well asEmerging Artist of the Yearat the Live Ireland Awards (US).
Following the success of her debut album, “Carry the Day”, wherein the Irish Times quoted it as “richly layered impressive debut album”she has toured nearly non stop overseas over the span of 3 years, wherein she headlined folk and Irish festivals all over the world including; Milwaukee Irish Festival (US), Port Fairy Folk Festival (AU), and The National Folk Festival (AU).
The December Letteris a beautiful song written for a loved one who cannot be home for Christmas. It was penned by Scott’s partner and band member Andrew Meaney, who was inspired by his own experience of his sister being away for the Christmas period. The song is a heart-lifting sentiment sent out to all who have emigrated from Ireland, delivering memories with the binding warmth of a real Irish Christmas.
Christmas & Debut single “LUCKY STARS” Available now across all digital platforms.
Slane, Co Meath native Cas has been involved in the Irish Music Industry for 25 years. The last decade has been taken up by owning and running Hot Press Award winning venue Boyles of Slane in Co Meath. One of the Counties most celebrated go to places for live music and the craic. Cas is also involved in running The Salty Dog Stage and Trailer Park at The Electric Picnic.
This New Year’s Eve, Cas is hanging up his publican’s apron to pursue his first love of writing and singing songs and what better to start on the new journey than with a festive cheer. This Christmas at the ripe age of forty two, Cas releases his debut single “Lucky Stars” fittingly a Christmas song.
Watch out for Cas and his band of merrymen this festive season.
Press play below, share and sing along this festive season!
Maria Doyle Kennedy announces the release date of self titled new album ‘Maria Doyle Kennedy’ out Nov 10th 2017.
Maria Doyle Kennedy has spent the past 5 years wandering the globe with her family preparing songs for the new album gigging constantly and filming cult TV show Orphan Black. The new album has just dropped over on spotify and gets it official release date across all digital platforms on Nov 10th 2017, on her own label Mermaid Records.
Maria has just collaborated with Feist & Jarvis Cocker on a video for the song *Century* from Feist’s new album. The project was a crazy mashup of Westside story and Thriller and featured Maria & Feist as dance-off gang leaders….
Maria writes and performs with husband Kieran Kennedy and along with the new album they have also completed their first short film *A Different Kind Of Day* written and directed by Maria, produced and scored by Kieran . They also raise 4 children together, although occasionally, when things are particularly frantic, they just throw packets of crisps at them.
The new album in Maria’s words:
Mostly the songs come from my efforts to explain the world to myself, a thing I sometimes find difficult or confusing . I don’t worry when I’m singing, more than that , I don’t think when I’m singing, I just sing. I trust the songs. They make things clearer for me.
Check out ‘Pride‘, released over the Summer from the album, which beckoned high acclaim from the likes of BBC radio and Rte:
The Single ‘Daddy I Got U’ ft. ChicagoJonesTheGod has it’s official Irish Release date 24.11.17 officially via Superheroes & Gangsters through Good Seed PR.
From Venice Beach, to Las Vegas back to Dublin. Time to play the game. Hard work about to start paying off.
Entrepreneurial spirit is the backbone of every great hip-hop story. The Hip-Hop hall of fame is filled with names who started from nothing, tuned out the haters, aimed high and stepped outside their comfort zone. Vision and self belief are essential to making it in the rap game and Dublin’s own Ni Russells certainly has those attributes in spades.
A musician from a young age – Ni honed his innate melodic understanding over the course of an adolescence playing guitar and piano. As Ni entered into his twenties he became enamoured with the electronic music scene, got himself a copy of Ableton and never looked back. Following stints producing house music and playing DJ sets all over the city, Ni rekindled his fascination with the genre that dominated his teenage years – hip-hop.
It didn’t take long making beats for Ni to realise he had landed on something special. His tracks fuse the unique audio landscapes of 90s hip-hop with the stylistic hallmarks of modern chart hits. Ni, knowing the limitations of the domestic rap scene, set his sights on the bigtime. He collected his best tracks, packed a boombox, and hopped a flight straight to LA in search of collaborators.
Ni posted up on Los Angeles’ Venice beach, pressed play and cranked up the volume. It didn’t take long for Russell to find himself surrounded by up and coming local MCs, each one blown away by the accomplished, radio-ready tracks emanating from the Dubliner’s soundsystem. Ever the entrepreneur, Ni knew he had to keep moving. Boasting an address book stuffed with new industry and underground contacts – Russell upped sticks again and headed for Las Vegas. Ni knew he needed a special talent to do his work justice and it was only when he set up shop on the Vegas strip, once again inviting passers by to freestyle over his beats, that he encountered a talent to match his own – Las Vegas based rapper ChicagoJonesTheGod.
Ni and Jones both knew they had lightning in a bottle. Following a few impromptu recording sessions in Ni’s hotel room, the pair moved into the famous Palms Hotel recording studio. The results of these sessions included the infectious Daddy I Got U – the duo’s first single.
Ni’s time in American not only yielded a brace of brilliant tracks, but also hours of video footage detailing his travels. A documentary exploring Ni’s time in America is currently being edited and nearing completion, samples of this remarkable footage is currently available via Superheroes and Gangsters’ (Ni’s record label) Youtube profile.
Ni’s sounds have approachability and universality. The future holds bright things for Ni Russell and his cavalcade of collaborators.
Single: “Going South” Out July 2017- From the critically acclaimed album “Sugar Island”
The 4 Of Us have been a steadfast part of Irish music history for over a quarter of a century. Formed and fronted by Newry-born brothers Brendan and Declan Murphy, they have developed a unique musical identity, which has produced original and award- winning recordings, as well as a large and loyal fan base. To date, they have notched up an enviable catalogue of timeless songs, including six top 20 Irish charting albums. Their music has also been featured extensively on American, UK, and Irish TV soundtracks.
The 4 Of Us shot to early fame towards the end of 1989 with their debut Songs for the Tempted, which featured the massive hits Mary and Drag My Bad Name Down. The follow up Man Alive made Q magazine’s prestigious Top 50 Albums of 1992 and included the UK Top 30 song She Hits Me.
‘Sugar Island’, their latest album, was released to critical acclaim in November 2016. Lyrically, the album explores the brothers’ early years growing up in Northern Ireland; musically, it focuses on the trademark interplay of their acoustic guitars. As singer Brendan recalls: ’It was a dark time for sure, but as kids we still managed to have a lot of fun. Everyone who lived through that time has their own stories to tell; we thought we’d share some of ours.’
Sugar Island features 12 new songs. It is arguably their most biographical album, including tracks reflecting on the brothers’ childhood, growing up in a border town during the height of the troubles in Northern Ireland. The latest single ‘Going South’ plays homage to that sentiment.
ELEPHANT announces brand new single: “WAITING GAME” OUT MAY 12TH
Official Video :
Having made a folk album the first time round, ‘HyperGiant’, Elephant sheds his skin and moves on towards a new prowess of sound on his new album (Title TBC) set to be released in the Summer of 2017. Heavily influenced by two of his favourite artists who have recently passed, David Bowie and Prince, it is his personal dedication to them, synth bells and saxophones in toll. If HyperGiant was a coming of age folk album then this new album is his “breakup record”. A departure from the quiet vistas of the acoustic and entering a busier, sweatier suburb full of wannabe actors and sweatband solos.
‘Waiting Game’ is a song about that very thing; moving on, and in its case, making a mountain out of it. Have you ever been stuck? You know exactly where you want to go and what you’re going to do when you get there but you just can’t figure out your first step…if you could only make that first step, momentum would get you the rest of the way. “I decided to step outside my comfort zone and make the album I really want to make. Waiting Game is my first step”. – Shane Clarke, aka Elephant.
Elephant, the musical vehicle of Dundalk based multi-instrumentalist Shane Clarke has three variations; playing the same set but with different musical and vocal arrangements, making for intriguing live shows. Elephant may be a soloist looping effected guitars and vocals to create lush, layered music. A duo, offering intimate acoustic guitar, piano and synthesizer, tied with colourful melody and harmonies. Or the newest venture, Elephant as a full band. The full band line-up includes Paul Finn, Paul Mallon and Paul Carolan of The Flaws and Shane O Hanrahan of Norabelle. Songs wander from an instantaneous summery folk pop reminiscent of Badly Drawn Boy and Elliot Smith, to more mature meandering pieces with a deliberate deconstructed nature, akin to say…Broken Social Scene, Justin Vernon or Joanna Newsom.
Elephant has rightly garnered much praise on the live front with his earnest vocal delivery and unique lyrical style capturing audiences and securing him performances with Martha Wainwright, Alexis Taylor, Lisa Hannigan, most of the country’s top festivals including Electric Picnic, Independence and Body & Soul and return trips to the Other Voices Music Trail in Dingle.
On the back of his critically lauded debut album “HyperGiant”, Shane is working on the follow-up, expected summer 2017. ‘Waiting Game’ is the first track from the new album and is released May 12th.
