Gorilla Warfare Tactics – ‘Zoology’

Earlier this month Gorilla Warfare Tactics returned with the excellent ‘drugDILLA’, after a nearly two-year gap from releasing music. 

The NYC duo are back once again with ’Zoology’, the title track from their forthcoming album which will be released on April 30th. There’s no major surprise to find they continue to tread the same path as those who have gone before them. GWT’s particular brand of revivalism, which appropriates the styles of past masters with their own added twist, has always worked ever so well. Anyway, ’Zoology’ captures this perfectly and is so, so smooth, it might also be Dilla’s finest vocal performance to date. It’s not like their forthcoming album needed upped in the anticipation stakes but ‘Zoology’ has done just that, a fantastic cut with a real groove of it’s own. 

There’ not long to go till Zoology is released in full (April 3oth) until then you can stream/download the title track below. 

Drenge – ‘Necromance Is Dead’

Sheffield based duo Drenge have supplied us with another boneshaker of a tune today, in the shape of the ‘delightfully’ titled ‘Necromance Is Dead’. 

It is the first slice of new music from the Loveless brothers since their superb debut single, ‘Bloodsports’. Constructed along the same punk-blues-rock formula that made their debut single so good, ‘Necromance Is Dead’ is a visceral, snarling, thrilling and menacing squall of noise. In other Drenge related news, the duo have been announced as support for Miles Kane on his upcoming UK tour but you can catch them closer to home when they play Longitude Festival, Dublin on July 21st.

‘Necromance Is Dead’ is available as a free download below.

Swall – Bright//Moon//Light (CL Moons Remix)

If you’re a regular on this blog, you will probably already know SertOne is held in rather high esteem around this neck of the woods.

Well, not just content with knocking our sock off with his hip-hop influenced electronics, the ever prolific Liverpool based Irish producer has an equally impressive body of work under his other pseudonym CL Moons. CL Moons is his a footwork/juke sideline and as an introduction to this alter-alter ego, is his reworking of Swall’s ‘Bright//Moon//Light’. It sees Swall’s soft wandering pop recast in a different light, with Moons kicking in with sharp, snappy beats at a BPM up there with the national debt (that’s high in case you were wondering). 

This tune has been on constant rotation along with CL Moons’ edit of DJ Fresh ‘Gatekeeper’ for the past month. You can listen to them both below. See also, Sweekers Vol. 1 & Vol. 2, where by Mr. Moons has teamed up with fellow Irish producer Lemonada. 

Attaque – ‘Warble’

Attaque has been making waves over the past two years, impressing at every given opportunity with his heads-down, brain-crumpling kinetic electro.  

Attaque has proven himself quite prolific too, with a string of singles, EPs and an album in relatively short space of time. Ahead of some new EPs, he has returned with a new track, ‘Warble’. While this name is slightly misleading, as the track does anything but warble, it is yet another great track from the Colchester boy. ‘Warble is in fact a pretty brutal assault of thumping  electro / techno, pitted with some ragga style vocals. 

No dates as of yet for the release of the aforementioned EPs but for now you can download ‘Warble’ for free below. 

Candice Gordon – ‘Before The Sunset Ends’

Having featured many times on the blog in the past, it’s great to hear Candice Gordon news that she has an EP due for release soon. 

‘Before The Sunset Ends’ is the title track from the aforementioned forthcoming EP. It sees her unflappably sultry voice underpinned by a swelling horn section giving it a Gothic feel, or equally sounding like, as she says herself “straight out of an Ennio Morricone score.” Before The Sunset Ends is a six-track collection recorded with Shane MacGowan and will be released on May 6th. The title track suggests, as with previous singles, that she’s improving with each step – I’m looking forward to getting my hands on the EP in the near future.  

Gordon has a host of live dates in the UK, Germany & Ireland including The Workman’s Club, Dublin on May 1st, Bourke’s Bar in Limerick on May 2nd and Monroe’s in Galway on May 5th.

The Expert & Danny Diggs – ‘Expert Diggs’

The Expert (one half of Messiah J & The Expert) has teamed up with Canadian counterpart Danny Diggs for a collaborative EP, aptly titled, Expert Diggs. 

The EP came from a simple idea whereby The Expert & Danny Diggs decided to digg in the crates and find songs to give each other to sample and flip and put their own unique spin on them. The result as you’ve probably guessed is Expert Diggs, which sounds like a real labour of love. So who flipped it better? Who cares? The really winner is us, the listeners, who are treated to two persons takes on a short but sweet selection tracks, spliced and diced into infectious, head nodding and beat filled jams. It more or less picks up where The Expert left off with the Neckbreakers beat tape, which in case you missed it, was excellent also.

You can download Expert Diggs in it’s entirety for free from bandcamp, you can’t say fairer than that, now can you?

SOnance HOtel – ‘Sub-Dude’

We could all do with some good news to kick off the week, right? Well, SOnance HOtel has returned with his first new material since the release of his criminally underrated 2011 debut, Don’t Look Behind You. 

With new single ‘Sub-Dude’, we once again find the music performed entirely by Brian Gallagher (Humanzi/The Mighty Stef) and picking up where he left off last time, with his take on a classic indie sound. ‘Sub-Dude has somber feel too it, aided by Gallagher’s voice it conveys a certain sense of melancholy and knowing. Offset by a winding melody and some wonderfully lush instrumentation, there is hopeful beneath the sullen exterior. There is no ‘definite’ information on whether a new album is forthcoming but hopefully there is, and with it, Gallagher receives the recognition for his undoubted talent.

‘Sub-Dude’ is out now & available free for a limited time from bandcamp. 

China Rats – ‘Nip It In The Bud’

China Rats spent the best part of 2012 feeding us a series of top notch indie-rock gems to indulge in, and the good news is, the lads from Leeds have begun their assault on 2013 in a similar fashion.

China Rats’ new single ‘Nip It In The Bud’, is a two and a half minute blast of rough ‘n’ ready rock ‘n’ roll. Delivered with more than whiff of swagger, it is a little bit ’60s, just a tad garage & punk, and a certain Arctic Monkeys influence continues to loom large. As one of the few recent ‘indie’ bands to emerge and create some cause for excitement, it’s good too see China Rats have picked up where they left off. Hopefully 2013 results in a more than just singles. 

‘Nip It In The Bud’ is officially released on April 15th but you can listen to it below now.

Colleen Green – ‘Heavy Shit’ & ‘Time In The World’

Following on from some excellent singles and EP releases over the past few years, Colleen Green will release her full-length LP, Sock it to Me, through US indie label Hardly Art on March 19th.

The one-woman pop-punk machine has taken her time readying the album. With ’Heavy Shit’ & ‘Time In The World’ as an introduction, Colleen Green is once again exhibiting her expert talent for quality and  thoroughly catchy songs. She is  keeping the lo-fi candle burning bright. Ably assisted by her trusty drum machine, the fuzzed up ‘Time In the World’ is tempered by her breathy vocals and a meandering lasse faire vibe. ’Heavy Shit’ on the other hand, is much more direct. Green’s ever ever smooth vocal floats over a driving buzzsaw guitar and synthesized drum beat. Simply put; this is lo-fi garage punk with a catchy pop core. 

Two quite different yet utterly intoxicating and addictive introductions to the album which are bound to brighten up at least part of your day.

Kid Karate – ‘This City’

2013 looks like it could be a big year for Dublin duo Kid Karate. The release of their debut album Night Terrors, is only around the corner and closer on the horizon is their trip to SXSW.

With SXSW in mind Kid Karate have released a brand new track, ‘This City’. Offering a slightly different side to their usual snarl, Kevin Breen’s recognizable vocal screams and Steven Gannon’s pounding rhythms are met and matched by a bassline of Gang of Four proportions from Squarehead/Tieranniesaur bassist Ian McFarlane. Easily one of the most, if the most, written about artist on the blog over the past two years, it’s hardly a surprise that Kid Karate’s forthcoming album is one of my Irish albums to watch out for this year. 

You can download ‘This City’ for free below & if you’re going to SXSW, Kid Karate have two shows. On Wednesday the 13th of March they’re in the Gibson Room of Maggie Mae’s at 8pm and on Friday the 15th of March they’ll be playing the Full Irish Breakfast in BD Reilly’s at 1:20pm. Go and say hi, tell them uncle Barry sent you.

Introducing: Decade In Exile

Not too many will remember Duncan Lloyd’s solo LP Seeing Double from 2008, which is a great shame as it happens because it was a really great and enjoyable record. 

Lloyd, better known as the guitarist in Maximo Park, is back with a new side-project, Decade In Exile. Like his previous solo effort, his new project is once again noticeably different from the high energy bowler hat hijinx of the day job. While the warm fuzzy lo-fi guitar pop of ’Patti’s Town’ could have easily slotted into his solo album, the new self-titled EP sees his natural flare for a catchy tune pushed into more experimental areas. The results of which, ’Way Beyond the Logic’ and ‘You Might Find’, are particularly fruitful. 

It’s always worthwhile when Lloyd decides to venture off to pastures new, this new project seems to have plenty of legs to it. There’s a few choice cuts below but you can pick up the Decade In Exile EP, along with some other stuff from bandcamp.  

Applescal – ‘Spring and Life’

Dutch producer Applescal released his brand new album Dreaming in Key a few weeks back. Comprised of 11 tracks, the album finds itself in an ambiguous hinterland between electronica & techno. More on the album itself later, suffice to say it’s very, very good.

For now feast your ears on ‘Spring and Life’, one of Dreaming in Key‘s sneak previews. It is a dark and bubbling slow-burner, building from these murky origins it transforms toward an illuminating but spacey climax with exuberance and punch. One can imagine it, like the rest of the record, working ever so well in a club as it does on headphones.

Dreaming in Key is out now via Atomnation and you could do a lot worse things than spending your weekend listen in its company.