Every month we take a look back at the best new releases from Northern Ireland in our featured playlist. A showcase for the sheer amount of talent coming out of the North, and a playlist worthy of repeat listening. This month’s cover artist is Bicep.
Featured Tracks
Joshua Burnside – The Only Thing I Fear (uladh. remix)
“The Only Thing I Fear is such a great track. I don’t know what it was about it that made me want to have a go at remixing it. The music video has a lovely nostalgic feeling, shout out to the Mr Frosty drink maker, mad what you remember. But yeah I just thought it was a great track and thought it would be enjoyable to try and make a boombap style hip hop beat from it and it was enjoyable, so that’s what ended up happening!
One thing that was really different about remixing this track was that I did a lot of live processing with my sp404, which I hadn’t really done before. I had used it before as an FX processor for vinyl sim and things like that but I did a lot of on the fly filtering and beat repeats with this track which was really really new for me as in the past I had relied solely on automation. I’m quickly learning it is the imperfections that make these types of track unique.”
Joel Harkin, uladh.
Leisure Theory – Do Without
The latest hazy electro indie effort from former Derry resident Jake Smith. This collaboration with labelmate kid blue is full of hopeful notes via its distorted vocoder vocals & across its heavily textured synths. An artist who continues to grow in stature with each release.
Robert Brown
Gaze is Ghost – Feather and Bone
Gaze is Ghost is Northern Irish composer Laura McGarrigle. Her double A side record was released at the end of January to whet appetites for her second album which will be released in the Spring. ‘Feather and Bone’, drawn to life from observing the Scottish coastline is a haunting track apt for this icy end of winter. The pressing bassline and keys which rise and fall highlight the drama of settings so often praised for their easy solace. Drawing poetic imagery from the landscape and skyline McGarrigle fits into the musical legacy of the likes of Kate Bush.
H R Gibs
Bicep – Sundial
Throughout Quarantine, Bicep continued making dance music for a club-less world. The latest offering from Isles, their long-awaited follow-up album, ‘Sundial’ samples ‘Jab Andhera Hota Hai’, a nod to the birth of acid house through Indian music and the duo’s fondness for Bollywood film scores. Feeling an affinity between the genre, prevalent in their current East london surroundings, and the folk music they grew up on, Bicep infuse the track with a universal quality borne from the evocative power of the soundscapes they weave together.
Addison Paterson
