July A&R Department: Florence Road, Ahmed, With Love, Makeshift Art Bar & more

Healthier than it has been for many years, the Norn Iron rock underground now brings us Makeshift Art Bar, a Belfast four-piece whose debut Lackluster Writing Makes Fundamental Reading EP is decidedly uneasy listening – and all the better for it!

Equal parts IDLES and Killing Joke (ask your grandparents), they’ve already bagged themselves an agency deal with ATC Live who look after the heavyweight likes of Nick Cave, Julia Jacklin, Fontaines D.C., The Lumineers and English Teacher.

They’re part of the Other Voices Cardigan lineup, which runs from October 30-November 1 and will also see the likes of Curtisy, Daithi, Dave Murphy, Ellie O’Neill, God Knows, Róis and Qbana crossing the Irish Sea…

Ahmed, With Love trades perfect verses with Kibo and Lil Skag on ‘Bedroom Bullies’, a taster from his Ahmed, With Friends! Vol 2 EP which follows on from last year’s Comma, FullStop mixtape.

Along with some extremely dextrous wordplay – Mo Salah, ball sacks, Capri Sun, ‘Careless Whispers’, Cher Lloyd and ‘shrooms all get a mention – the Sandyford rapper serves up lots of sunkissed beats and jazz-inflected rhythms…

Starting off all slo-mo and sultry and ending with guitars set to stun, we are loving ‘Swallow’, the new single from Dublin trio For Nina whose none too secret weapon is singer Holly Owens.

Written when she was at secondary school, forgotten about for several years and now a live favourite, it “spins around ideas of self-sabotage and biting your tongue. In some ways, it’s about lots of different things all at once and different people have attached their own meaning to it - which we find really lovely to hear”…

Our man Terry McNally, AKA The Finest Ears In Dublin, points us in the direction of ‘Grace’s Passport', the latest from Kildare four-piece thanks mom whose Wake Me! EP is also incoming.

“When writing ‘Grace’s Passport’ we found ourselves trying to capture the warm yet confusing emotions that arise when you’re simply trying to be yourself, only to become an exaggerated and awkward version of who you are,” the Hot Press Hot For 2024 picks tell us. “The chaotic, talkative verses reflect the moments when your mind races with a whirlwind of thoughts often fixating on just one person.”

Packing a powerful Pixies-esque punch, it’ll doubtless get an airing on July 13 when they play a 14+ matinee in the Grand Social with Martina And The Moons and Llama Cult whose Live From The Sound House September 25 seven-tracker awaits your SoundCloud listening pleasure and is full of acoustic alt. rock goodness…

Playing a blinder recently in Sin É were Joe Maxi, Dublin experimentalists who veer into thrilling Black Midi territory.

“The frontman is a star-in-the-making,” says that man Terry McNally again.

Featuring some deliciously dirty guitarwork, last year’s The Game EP won them the support of Gemma Bradley and the BBC Introducing NI team, RTÉ 2xm, FM104, Today FM, KCLR 96FM and Queens Radio Belfast which is alright for starters…

As previously raved about in the A&R Dept., Florence Road have released their debut Fall Back mixtape, which includes new single ‘Goodnight’ and its predecessors ‘Heavy’, ‘Caterpillar’ and ‘Figure It Out.’

Signed to Warners, the Wicklow four-piece cite The Cranberries, Wolf Alice and Phoebe Bridgers as key influences, received rave reviews for their SXSW and Great Escape showcase appearances and looked perfectly at home on the big stage last month when they opened for Olivia Rodrigo in Malahide…

Way Of Seeing trail September 26’s The Inheritance Of Fear Album with ‘USA ‘94’, which according to our New Irish Songs This Week team has “a raw energy reminiscent of early Fontaines D.C.”

There’s also something very Jarvis Cocker-ish about the whip-smart lyrics and English Teacher-y about the angular rock textures and indie-prog sensibilities.

The Cork band, who show off their football juggling skills in the accompanying video, recorded it with Gilla Band man Daniel Fox…

First fawned over by Hot Press in 2023, Trim outfit Spearside have dialled down the Arctic Monkeyisms and bought themselves a job lot of distortion pedals which are used to very good effect on their Hatchet Man EP.

Along with three thunderous new tracks – the guitars sound filthy! – Oisin and Cian Walsh also treat us to a genius cover of Tubeway Army’s ‘Are Friends Electric’, which has a psychedelic Stone Roses feel.

“While you wait for the axe to drop, he bides his time,” reads a band communiqué. “He does not live by our codes, does not abide by our ways. He is a liminal figure. Nameless, faceless, he goes about his work mercilessly and efficiently. He does not enjoy it. He has never felt joy. He gets dirty so they stay clean. He is the Hatchet Man. Spearside are all things punk. energy, volume, passion, abandon. Perhaps they are the true hatchet men, perhaps you are too?”…