It's A Family Affair

There’s something to be said for keeping it in the family… The Jackson Five, The Bee Gees, The Carpenters, er, The Corrs? An immediate, naturally close working relationship and innate team spirit is a great basis for any group. Add to that the fact that the siblings have already played together and the potential for superstardom doubles!
Step forward Bres and Orla, aka Cars Love Girls formerly of Republic Of Loose fame.
After departing the Loose camp, a shared love of retro R&B and pop drove them (pardon the pun) to pen some top-notch tunes. The project quickly developed into a long-player and the good news is Skip School will get its official release soon.
The 10-track collection is influenced by Prince, Prefab Sprout, Hall & Oates, The Time and Steely Dan. It was recorded and mixed in Dublin with Phil Hayes (Bell X1, Delorentos) and mastered by Bernie Grundman (Carole King, Steely Dan, Michael Jackson, Prince).
Experimental/psychedelic noiseniks ESTEL have just released their first album of original material in five years. The collection, neatly titled A Massive, Glorious, Uphill, Shit – Fight was launched at a roof-raising gig in Sweeney Mongrel’s recently with support from Wizards Of Firetop Mountain and Melodica Deathship…
The band have also secured a monthly residence at The Boogaloo in London from August 25, and play more UK dates this month including a pitstop at The Edinburgh Festival….
The new line-up of Wicklow rockers Glyder have completed work on their fourth album entitled Backroads To Byzantium due for release on SPV/Steamhammer in October. Will keep you posted…
Large Mound had so much fun in 2002 with their 12-month download project The Year Of Rock (they released an mp3 every month on largemound.com) that they’ve decided to repeat the process this year, with very impressive results.
Another Year Of Rock, their new album, is available one song at a time each month this year. (Don’t fret: the ones you’ve missed are available on the site too). So mark the 25th of each month on your calendar as Large Mound Day…
Congratulations to We Are Losers who’ve just signed to UK label Dance To The Radio.
In other signing news, Alarmist have inked a deal with Irish label Eleven Eleven and release their highly-anticipated debut EP at the end of August!