TeamRKT - Cat Island

Portstewart based chiptune-pop duo TeamRKT continue to extend their reach to the stars above with the release of their new single, "Cat Island". Presumably taking its name from Tashirojima, an island in Japan with an usually large stray cat population, the song continues the band's pechant for mixing guitars with beats and electronics sourced from Gameboys to create something that is fun, easygoing, and somewhat euphoric.

To coincide with the single's release, the band have released a neko-tastic music video to accompany "Cat Island". The rather bonkers promo features the band's cat quitting its job to go on a globe trotting adventure, and is well worth checking out.

The "Cat Island" E.P will be released in August, with the single available to download now.

TeamRKT - Rare Candy

Over the past month, everyone's favourite Portstewart based chiptune-rock duo with a Pokémon derived moniker, TeamRKT, have been releasing a brand new track weekly as part of their "Free Track Friday" project. The fifth such track, "Rare Candy" (which takes its name from an item from the Pokémon games which allows the creatures to advance in power quickly), has been released, and like previous TeamRKT songs that have come before it, it is a joyous little piece of video-game pop with a great big chorus.

Even more excitingly, the band have released a music video to coincide with the song's release. It's a fun home-made video which takes inspiration from old-school video games and that Blackberry ad that Tame Impala did the soundtrack for.

"Rare Candy" can be downloaded for free from TeamRKT's Bandcamp page.

Team RKT - Living The Dream E.P

I absolutely, positively love to hear local music that is imbued with glorious, youthful, pop orientated fun. This is why it's great to hear new material from Team RKT, a duo hailing from Portstewart. Having touched upon them last month when they were longlisted for Chordblossom's Kickstart competition (and have subsequently made the shortlist for), the band have now released their first official E.P, "Living The Dream", which is a jolly fun ride indeed.

The band describe their sound as "chiptune rock", generating music through Gameboys and adding guitars. Although truth be told, only two of the tracks on the E.P really match up to this description - "LTD", with its heavy drums and 'Sonic rings' percussion, and "Homerun", a track which sounds like a version of 3OH!3 that you don't want to repeatedly punch in the face*.

Perhaps the best descriptor of the E.P is the simplest one - this is a pop record, through and through. The opening track, "Break Out", is a gorgeous slice of escapist pop in the Owl City mould, albeit one which does veer towards lo-fi electronics (listen to the perfectly pitched synth-solo from 1:43). The final track, "Above The Clouds" is the most guitar orientated song, yet still stays firmly in the pop landscape, coming off like a fizzier Darwin Deez.

"Living The Dream" probably won't be seen as the best E.P released in Northern Ireland this year, but it surely is going to be the most fun. Team RKT feel like a breath of fresh air on the local scene. Finally, we have a male-fronted equivalent to The Wonder Villains.

The "Living The Dream" E.P is available to download for free.





*Disclaimer - The Metaphorical Boat does not endorse violence again any American electro duos, regardless of their artistic merit.

Northern Ireland Tunes - Round-up #13

It's very rare that the blog does two local round-ups within the space of a month, but there's a competition that is running on Northern Irish music website Chordblossom which has given the blog a chance to discover some rather nice new artists.

For the past month, Chordblossom has invited unsigned Northern Irish artists to submit their best song for consideration in their Kickstart competition, which is designed to give several local artists the push they need to have a career in the music industry. There's a smorgasbord of prizes on offer to the overall winner, which includes time in a recording studio, getting a single professionally printed and distributed, a slot at the annual Glasgowbury Festival, as well as getting the single played on Radio Foyle.

Given the overall value of the prize, as well as the fact that last year's winner SOAK was given a massive boost through it, there were over 130 entries to the competition, which has now been whittled down by the website to 20. There will be a public vote over a two week period to whittle those artists down to 10, after which a panel of music experts will decide the overall winner and runners up.

It's encouraging to see so many local names that have featured on this blog have made the final list. Favourites such as The Jepettos, Kept Under Glass, Pretty Child Backfire, Hologram, Those Ghosts & The Clameens are among the artists up for contention. However, it is even more encouraging  to see several artists that I hadn't come across before have made the longlist. Therefore, The Metaphorical Boat has picked out five of the most interesting artists that made the list that haven't appeared on the blog to date. I do however encourage you to listen to all the finalists before deciding on who will get your vote when the public vote opens on Monday 25th March:
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August - Counting Hearts

August is a Derry based musical trio fronted by Jonny Everett, who also fronts local alt-rockers Furlo (the same band that spun off another blog favourite - Ruairi & The Owls). Their debut single, "Counting Hearts", is a wonderful piece of otherworldly folk, which has already been picked up for use in an upcoming local film.

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Sara Crockett - Hide & Seek

Many moons ago, Sara Crockett was the lead singer of the Paramore-esque Goodbye Pluto, who sadly split up before they had the chance to make a mark. Sara is now recording under her own name, and having provided guest vocals on a trance track last year, she has now re-established herself as a country-pop singer . The first song to come out of this is "Hide & Seek", a charming, well polished tune, one which sounds as if it's been ripped straight from the soundtrack of an Ally McBeal compilation album.

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Team RKT - Good Morning

To protect the world from devastation,
To unite all peoples within our nation.

To think there's a generation of kids who won't know Jesse & James' epic poem off by heart, given that they didn't watch Pokémon every afternoon at 4pm on ITV1. They don't know what they're missing. Sigh.

But anyway, one duo keeping their legacy alive is Portstewart based Team RKT (letters presumably removed for legal reasons). Self-describing themselves as "chiptune rock", the band sound like a mix between the most tolerable aspects of Owl City and 3OH!3. A new E.P is forthcoming, but for now enjoy the self-produced "Good Morning", which was released last summer.

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Andrew Martin - Outside These Harbour Walls

Now on to the other 'Port', with Portrush based Andrew Martin. "Outside These Harbour Walls" is taken from his nautical themed debut E.P "The Lighthouse Sessions", and is a great modern interpretation of 'classic' folk, underpinned by his great vocals, which showcase such depth and maturity that it seems hard to believe that the person providing them is only eighteen.

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Novo Rapids - Curiosity

Finally, some straight-up rock from Belfast's Novo Rapids. "Curiosity" is a great track because it strips rock music right down to its core. There's no 3 minute guitar solos, no gimmicky guitar effects and no vocal aerobics. It's just an honest-to-goodness riff-led rock track which should be savoured for its simplicity.

Axis Of - Lifehammer

Portstewart based power trio Axis Of are one of those Northern Ireland groups that I have been aware of for many years, yet have never really engaged with them or taken much time to check out their material. When I heard that the group had released their latest single, I treated the news with a certain degree of apathy. Thankfully, that feeling changed when I finally got around to checking out the track.

Because "Lifehammer" is a rather fine track indeed. Produced by Rocky O'Reilly (a surefire sign of a well produced track), the song mixes the band's guitar-centric riffage with a rather accessible, playground chant vocal style. It's perhaps the closest that heavy rock is going to get to feeling like a nursery rhyme. Having supported The Bronx and The Joy Formidable recently, and with a few more live dates forthcoming, 2013 could be the year that Axis Of begin to make a break for the wide world.

"Lifehammer" is out to download now, and is taken from their debut album "Finding St Kilda", which will be released later this year.