August A&R Department: Really Good Time, Ultras, Sadhbh Keane & more

August 7 was D-Day for Dublin rowdies Really Good Time, as they unleashed their debut album, Affirmations.

Ushered in by an air raid siren, flagship single, ‘The Love Song’, is an electro rocker par excellence which refuses to end.

According to the band, “It says: the world is falling apart in increasingly confusing and horrible ways, but your love fills me with the confidence to face it.”

Following a brief Irish in-store tour which concluded on August 13 in Galway’s Zhivago record emporium, the band return to full live action when they open for Super Furry Animals and Baxter Dury in Collins Barracks (30). There’s also a December tour to look forward to with Cleere’s, Kilkenny (December 4); Button Factory, Dublin (5); Spirit Store, Dundalk (6); Roisin Dubh, Galway (10); and Coughlan’s, Cork (13) blow-outs to look forward to.

Blanchardstown rapper The Kyd G trails his upcoming EP with ‘Trippin’’, which our New Irish Songs To Hear This Week crew describe as “being tethered to a lo-fi beat that features booming 808s and restrained percussive elements. The low-profile arrangement puts Kyd G’s auto-tuned and reverbed vocals centre-stage.”

They’re spot on as usual with the track featuring a variety of hip hop, drill and gospel influences…

Dublin indie rocker Sadhbh Keane and her band Na Realta up the ante with ‘Hate Me Now’, the first track from a new EP which follows in the autumn.

Recorded in The Mill studio with Kodaline and Gavin James man Philip Magee producing, it’s a stomper of a song with the 18-year-old nodding at the likes of Sam Fender, boygenius and Dermot Kennedy in his more rabble-rousing moments.

There are also live dates to look forward to in October…

Hot Press Hot For 2026 picks Ultras live up to the billing – and then some! – with Arctic Monkey-esque new single ‘Irish Sun’.

A celebration of long, languid days on the beach rather than a paean to Rupert Murdoch & Co., it trails debut album I Love Where I’m From, which is out on now.

They’re being looked after by Beardfire, the Dublin studio and label who’ve previously worked with the likes of Florence Road, Fee Gray, Ailsha and Mister Sister…

André Fazaz, a former member of Drogheda’s A92 drill collective, is in loverman mode on new Afro-swing track, ‘Ske Disco’.

Impeccably produced and featuring a guest turn from fellow Drogs spitter Tommy Tomad, it follows on from ‘Bite’, a more abrasive vocodered offering which has amassed over a million Spotify plays…

Hot Press’ Man with The Golden Ears, Terry McNally, is all over The Vibes, a Drumshanbo six-piece who could be following Amble and Kingfishr to the top of the pop folk pile.

Managed by the ex-Head of Sony BMG Ireland, Freddie Middleton, they’ve a new single, ‘Coffee And Maple’, which prompted a mass singalong recently when they packed out Whelan’s.

Their debut Penny For Your Thoughts album got somewhat lost in the Christmas rush, but is choc-full of similar earworms…

Mr. McNally also points us in the direction of Dirty Faces, a Derry rant hop duo who recently opened for The Mary Wallopers in Glasgow where Rare Boy and King Crabbit (possibly not their real names) have gained serious traction.

While we suspect they may have heard the odd Sleaford Mods and Big Special record, they very much have their own thing going on and, courtesy of live favourite ‘80%’ being included on the Kneecap movie soundtrack, also have an international profile which they’ll doubtless be building on in the near future…

Better known to the taxman as Colm Keogh, Wicklow rapper Buckshot has amassed over 15 million YouTube plays with his euphoric ‘Fever’ banger.

Once heard never forgotten, it was followed up a few months ago by ‘No More’, which has a psychedelic feel and hints at a crossover hit to come…

Having caught ‘em a couple of times in Dublin’s Sin É venue, we’re expecting very big things of local threesome Dog Bless whose ‘Nothing’s Going Well’ is redolent of early Ash, except grungier.

Barely a year old, the band have already won over the folk at Radio Nova and opened for American cult heroes Motion City Soundtrack in Opium…

RunTheRed impress with new single ‘Haunted’, which is pop of the close harmony Florence Road-meets-The Corrs variety.

Getting together whilst studying at BIMM, the Meath/Offaly/Dublin quintet were one of 2fm’s 2026 Rising picks, supported Boyzlife in Dublin and Belfast in March, and went on to give a very good account of themselves at Beyond The Pale and Forbidden Fruit.