Bayview Sounds

Yesterday afternoon a group of local musicians from the Dundalk area banded together to busk on Earl Street for the Dundalk Simon Community charity which aims to help end homelessness. The event was the brainchild of Joseph Edwards from We, The Oceanographers. The buskathon featured musicians such as Nix Moon, TPM, Jinx Lennon, The Periods, Third Smoke, L-arry, We, The Oceanographers, David Bellew, Just Mustard, Sophie Lennon, The Mary wallopers, Elephant, Finnian, The Dandelion Few, Take The Money And Run, Danny Meegan and Tommy McGovern. From the musicians, the volunteers and the people watching, it was clear that everybody was having a great time and hopefully raised a lot of money for such a fantastic charity. Here are a few photos from the day and you can find more over on Facebook  Bayview Sounds Photos

Milk Straight From The Udders "Milk Straight From The Udders" is the new EP from Lisburn rapper Arcane Soakes. The first track "Be Right Here" features a very cool piano beat which is accompanied perfectly by Arcane Soakes' quick yet clear delivery style. This is quite the opener and and makes hearing the rest intriguing. "Swill From The Fountain Of Youth" has a wonderfully mellow feel to it with a heady beat again the Northern accent of Soakes is evident but not overpowering as has been the case with some artists form North of the border. His flow seems effortless which makes for a resplendent song. The EP is broken up by a short interlude "Just Escape". Interludes are integral to hip hop albums and EP's it would seem. "And The Atrocities Continue" is again a fine track. It would be easy to listen to Arcane Soakes over and over as each time, you discover another lyric that you didn't notice the first time.

Vestigial Vestigial is the debut album from Castlebar native Laura Ryder. The album follows on the heels of Laura's self recorded debut EP "Haiku" which was released to high praise early in 2016. Laura has now recruited a full band for this album hence the Ampersand addition. The album opener "Changed" has a poptastic quirky melody which both delights and enthrals you from the outset. The full band sound is evident on "Kerbs" with some beautiful piano and thunderous drums. The backing vocals really shine through also. Laura's unique voice is a joy to listen to and no more so than on the track "No Romantics". This is probably the best song on the album with it's alluring characteristics. "Chalk" is another brilliant song from the album. It's not often you will hear top quality clicking on an album but Laura Ryder delivers here. The violin is the star of the show on the album's longest track "Soda Pr

"The Basement EP" is the second EP from a relatively new band from Portadown, Armagh called Feedb+ck. The three piece outfit are made up of Alex Close on guitar and vocals, John Morgan on bass and Peter McCabe on drums. "The Basement EP" which was recorded at the Amma Centre with producer Niall Totten is the band's second EP to be released this year, combined with several festival slots marks a highly productive year for the band formed late in 2016. The intro to "D.I.D" is raucous and frankly quite brilliant. The drums really hook you in and combine brilliantly with the incandescent bass guitar. "Late Night Walks" again kicks you right in the face from the opening note. It's loud, it's ballsy, it's gutsy and it's awesome. "Somebody Else" is bass guitar heavy with a somewhat funky vibe to accompany the grungy lyrical delivery, a match you wouldn't normally think of pairing together but somehow works. &qu

How did you first get into music? I've always loved music from an early age and rap music in particular. Early on , I knew I liked rap the most simply cos of the rhythm created out of rhyming words; the very essence of it. I knew Tupac and a handful of others but I was too young really to know the artists/song names and playing football was more important to me at the time. But then things changed in my early teens when I learned about real hip hop music and it's difference to "rap" and in turn about hip hop as a wider culture and a movement and that's when it developed into a passion... I was about 14 or 15 and was listening to anything I could get my hands on.   HMV had my pockets empty haha. In terms of writing my own lyrics, it wasn't until a few years down the road. On the back of Eminem 8 Mile buzz, with guys rap battling each other after a few cans for the craic, two guys from school decided to record some rough vocals on cassette. Knowing that

Live At The Sky is the brand new EP from Irish American artist Kerry Hart. The EP was recorded in the Joshua Tree Desert using only analog recording equipment and acoustic instruments. This gives the EP a very special back to basics feel. The EP begins with "If Only" which features a beautiful string arrangement and the delightful sound of chord changes which I just can't get enough of. It's actually very reminiscent of Elliott Smith's style of playing. Kerry delivers her vocals with a healthy dose of raw emotion and really creates an engaging story. "Aaron" is somewhat haunting thanks to the backing vocals and the cascading strings. If you close your eyes while listening it's easy to imagine seeing Kerry recording this in the desert under the cover of darkness. Kerry Hart's sublime vocals are on show on the third track "Everlasting Light" which is very stripped back to allow the vocals to really shine. "Lay Me Down"

Homelessness is probably the single biggest social issue in Ireland right now and it is even more prevalent at Christmas time as temperatures drop and conditions get worse. Just this week 3 homeless people have died on the streets of Ireland. That is why the new single from Red Empire is incredibly important. The new single "A Dublin Christmas" is available on all streaming sites now. The band have teamed up with the charity Inner City Helping Homeless. Red Empire were inspired to team up with the charity after discovering some startling figures, "8,374 people are classified as homeless in Ireland whilst there are currently 183,312 unoccupied dwellings in the state." (Figures supplied by Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government). Anybody who would like to make a donation to the charity can do so by visiting  Inner City Helping Homeless iDonate.ie  or by calling 01-8881804 The official video for the song was directed by Daragh Murph

99.9% of Christmas songs are ones that have been around for years and years  so it's very rare that one comes along that's both new, fresh and very likely to become an Irish Christmas classic. The wonderful Ryan Sheridan brings us just that with his brand new single "Frozen In Time". This is a very emotive Christmas song and features the brilliant Pretty Little Choirs to add a dramatic grandeur. Here's the official video.

Aoife Carton is a young and very talented country singer songwriter from Dublin. In the last year Aoife has released her debut single "Jack & Jill", played as part of the Mic Christopher Tribute Night in Vicar Street and also played at the legendary Bluebird Cafe in Nashville. Now Aoife Carton has released her very first EP "Wicked Words". The 3 track EP features "Never Again", "Jack & Jill" and "Wicked Words". The first thing that strikes you when you listen to the EP is that Aoife has a stunning voice which lays down a very strong foundation to build on and build on she does. "Never Again" has a beautiful string arrangement and blends perfectly with Aoife's soothing vocals. The next track is a playful adaptation of the children's classic nursery rhyme "Jack & Jill".  The final song on the EP "Wicked Words" is a slightly more country pop song but once again the vocals are top notc