Irish Artists That Are Better Than U2: Part 1
Butterfly Explosion
Butterfly Explosion Formed in Dublin in 2005 and by 2006 already had two EPs
Vision (2005) and
Turn The Sky (2006) to their name. Vision had a sound that was closer to indie rock with some post-rock influences but they developed a more shoegaze and dream-pop orientated sound on their second EP
Turn The Sky. In 2010 they released their full-length debut, the hugely enjoyable
Lost Trails which further built on the sound of Turn The Sky and is one of my favourite albums of that year. Butterfly Explosion have managed to build up a reasonable fanbase around the world yet seem to get snubbed by music fans and the media here for some strange reason. Their huge, warm, swirling sound deserves to be heard by more ears.
Sweet Jane
Keeping with things dreamy and awash with sound Sweet Jane are another band from Dublin which take influences from dream-pop and shoegaze. They formed as recently as 2008 and released the rather excellent EP
Blackboots & Blackhearts the same year. They then followed this up with their full-length debut
Sugar For My Soul in 2010, which admittingly I have yet to hear all of due to it being impossible to track down, but the handful of songs I have heard from it melted my soul. Mazzy Star and The Jesus and Mary Chain are some of the influences that come to mind when I listen to them, but their wonderful psychedelic rock stands up very well on its own.
Halves
Halves are a post-rock band from Dublin that formed in 2006 and released their debut album
It Goes, It Goes (Forever and Ever) in 2010. This album was recorded in Godspeed You! Black Emperor's studio in Montreal onto reel-to-reel tape and also using a vast array of antique instruments, lending a very warm and organic sound to the album. The band also have two EPs to their name,
Halves (2007) and
Haunt Me When I'm Drowsy (2008).