So, I arrived into entertainment towers this morning to find several upcoming new Irish albums in my post and a couple of interesting press releases in my inbox, inspiring me to write this lengthy piece informing you of some of the best new Irish albums due over the next month or so.
The first newsworthy piece of information comes from Ham Sandwich, who announced on Friday that they will be releasing the follow up to 2008's not so critically acclaimed debut 'Carry The Meek'. Entitled 'White Fox' the Kells band's second album will feature the singles 'The Naturist' and 'OH-OH'. It will be released on October 1st and celebrated with an instore performance at Tower Records on Wicklow St that day as well as an official launch party at The Button Factory on Saturday October 30th.
Ham Sandwich - The Naturist by statemagazine
Next up, Dublin ambient trio Halves have finally finished their debut album. It will be called 'It Goes, It Goes (Forever & Ever)' and will be released on October 29th on Hate Is The Enemy. The band went all the way to Montreal to record the album, recording in the legendary Hotel2Tango studios with an array of instruments, amps, organs and effects, most of which dated from 1930's-1980's. Listen to and download the genuinely wonderful song 'Darling, You'll Meet Your Maker' below.
Darling, You'll Meet Your Maker by halves
Meanwhile, Hoarsebox have announced that their long awaited debut is due in early 2011. The band have been off recording in Missisippi but will return home to Ireland to showcase their new tunes in Whelan's on November 11th. The band have also uploaded a new track called 'Add It Up' onto YouTube.
And so to my post; this morning arrived Volume 2 of Ash's A-Z series. It's due on October 8th and the track list looks like this:
N. Dare To Dream
O. Mind Control
P. Insects
Q. Binary
R. Physical World
S. Spheres
T. Instinct
U. Summer Snow
V. Carnal Love
W. Embers
X. Change Your Name
Y. Sky Burial
Z. There Is Hope Again
+
Teenage Wildlife
Spellbound
Nightfall
I also received new albums from Dublin band Noise Control and Cork singer songwriter Bill Coleman. Noise Control will release their debut album 'Our Life' on Friday October 1st. They will be playing at The Academy as part of Phantom's First Friday that night, and the whole album will be available as a free download from all the usual digital retailers.
Bill Coleman's new one is called 'You Can't Buy Back Your Life' and will be released on October 15th. Bill's released three pretty decent EPs over the last year, and the album's lead single 'I Want You To Know' featured on the last one 'Black and Blue' (listen below). He's also announced a full Irish tour, details of which can be found at www.bcoleman.com.
In the meantime, several more experimental Irish albums hit shelves this week. Sarah Carroll Kelly AKA Babybeef released her self-titled debut on Friday, the same day as Sh1t Robot dropped his, 'From The Cradle To The Rave' (still lovin' that pun). And this Friday 24th we're expecting 'New Thoughts', the new album from Thread Pulls, who'll be launching the album at The Workman's Club with Logikparty that night.
Babybeef "Thunderstruck" by OnTheRecord
And finally, just 'cause they're both really good, I'd like to reiterate that the debut album from SkiBunny, 'Hugs', is due next Monday September 27th, and also celebrate the fact that I finally got around to reviewing debut album 'The Sum of Sounds' by Clown Parlour, which I've been meaning to do since it was first released back in June. It's by far one of my favourite Irish albums of this year, read the review here.
