~ Januar y 2012

…Mmoths photographed by Philip White

Mmoths+Simon BirdCfitCome On Live LongDaithi

The DebutantesFutures ApartHush War CryLecs LutherLemonada

Lethal DialectElaine Mai Tara Masterson HallyNightboxThe Notas

Sert OneTenakaThis ClubToby KaarThe Wonder Villians

Faces 2012of

state.ie

ireland’s music payload

Intro

State has been choosing its favourite new Irish acts for three years now, delving into every corner of the land - both geographical and musical - to bring you what we consider the most exciting artists for the coming twelve months. Ever since we put Villagers on the cover of the first digital Faces magazine, we have never been less than astonished at the amount and range of talent in this country. Our fourth installment is no exception and over the coming pages you’ll find 20 of the best, many shot exclusively for State by our wonderful team of photographers, plus a look back at the hits (and odd miss) of the past three years. So dive in and discover the best that Ireland has to offer in 2012, we hope you enjoy discovering it as much as we have.

Listen to State’s compilation featuring all 20 Faces here or find links to individual artists’ tracks on each of the following pages.

Web links are underlined.

Faces oF two thousand & twelve

Simon Bird

Faces oF two thousand & twelve

What are your plans for the next six months?In January I’m going to be putting out a limited run of my most recent V EP on vinyl, which is going to be my first physical release so I’m really excited for that. I have plans then over the next few months to work on putting together my first full length album.

What was the strangest thing that happened to you in 2011?I did a gig with SertOne (who I had not met before) at the start of November in Whelans. We were talking before the gig and, over the course of the conversation, he realised that he knew my sister as they both used to work in the same shop in my hometown in England a few years ago. It’s not exactly the strangest thing that happened to be but was easily the strangest coincidence I encountered in 2011.

Anyone you’d like to collaborate with?Bono and/or The Edge

“Full of raw power and emotion.” – Sert One

“I really like noise and post-rock-sorta-vibe electronics so his stuff definitely appeals.“ – Lemonada

Hear more: ‘Xerox Waveform Godless Ocean’

Learn more: facebook.com/SimonBirdMusic

Originally from West Somerset, England but now Dublin-based, Simon Bird produced five EPs in total last year hitting off hip-hop, noise, post-rock and electronica along the way. His amazing V EP captured all these beneath a sheen of ambient drone, while his live show is as engaging as it is experimental. It’s impossible to predict where he’ll go next.

Photography by Luis Faustino Words by Alan Reilly

The Notas

Where does your band name come from?We had a lot of Spanish people and guys from South America around our area during the summer months and they use Notas as a slang term for being crazy! They called our guitarist Paul a “Notas” all the time and we thought it sounded pretty cool so when the awkward talk about what to name ourselves popped up we decided on that. It was better then Chess Club Virgins, which was one of the names put forward first.

Photography by Ian KeeganWords by Alan Reilly

Faces oF two thousand & twelve

A six member band from North Co. Dublin, The Notas play expansive indie rock in the key of Wu Lyf with a dash of Foals. Cranking up the reverb on guitar and deploying electronics, the band keep the subtleties in the rhythm section on songs informed by their varying cultural backgrounds – French, Indian, Nigerian, Zimbabwean – a truly modern Irish band.

What was the strangest thing that happened to you in 2011?When we first started as a band we never expected on getting this kind of attention. Most of us couldn’t even play an instrument when we first started so to come from that to being part of State Faces and getting your music played on Phantom is very strange.

What are your plans for the next six months?Start writing more songs and playing lots more gigs. Hopefully even tour a bit around the country as we have yet to leave Dublin. We have a pact in the band that we must play a festival by the time we’re 20 and most of us are 19 and going on 20 now so we’re hoping we can trick someone into letting us play one or two. After that probably like to record another EP or even an album.

Hear more:‘Lights Fade Away’

Learn more: facebook.com/TheNotas

Elaine Mai

How did you get started making music?I’ve loved music since I was a little kid, and have always been involved one way or another, in choirs, bands so on... but I’d always wanted to try and do something solo so about a year and a half ago, I bought my first little loop pedal, a pretty simple guy. I just bought it to play around with really. The more I messed with it, the more I liked the sounds I could make and how I could elaborate on the stuff I’d been working on.

Who or what inspires you?To be honest right now the Irish music scene itself inspires me most. There are so many amazing acts in this country right now and a thriving music scene. It pushes you to work extra hard because you know the level of talent that is out there. It’s exciting to see.

“Elaine just make it seem effortless.” – Tenaka

“One of the most amazing singers in the country, can’t wait to see her blow up next year.” – Daithi

Hear more: ‘IOU’

Learn more: elainemai.bandcamp.com

From behind a looping station and an acoustic guitar, Elaine Mai sings with a voice that is striking with a nu-anced accent and ringing clarity. Delivered with certainty, Mai’s songs have layers of vocal harmony and direct lyrics. She played a series of support slots in 2011, including a stunning set in Dublin’s Unitarian Church with Julianna Barwick. 2012 will surely see Elaine Mai climb the bill right to the top.

Photography by Sean Conroy Words by Alan Reilly

Faces oF two thousand & twelve

Lethal Dialect

Describe yourself and your music?Realism and everything it brings with it. Sometimes raw gutter, sometimes laid back, and everything in-between.

What are your plans for the next six months?Just to keep making music and push it out to as many people as possible

What are you looking forward to this year?The release of LD50 Part II!

Who or what inspires you?Ed Sheeran. Nah all joking aside, life in general. Never Ed Sheeran. What was the strangest thing that happened to you in 2011?Probably The Rubberbandits comparing me to Nas. Or the packet of Meanies I got that had a Hot Lip in them...

Hear more‘Keep It Real’

Learn more:lethaldialect.bandcamp.com

Painting home truths and realistic skies from the suburbs of Dublin, Lethal Dialect represents the more traditional line of colloquial rap music in Ireland. There’s no bravado

here, just great rap tunes relatable to anybody living in a post Celtic Tiger era. That’d be all of us then. Last year, Lethal Dialect released the best Irish rap debut album in

a long time. 2012 brings Part II.

Photography by Joe DooneyWords by Niall Byrne

Faces oF two thousand & twelve

Lecs Luther

Describe yourself and your music?I’m an ex stick up kid now turned poet. My music could be said to be weird and diverse, I grew up listening to jazz so I try to incorporate that rhythmically in my tracks and match it with some naughty flows.

How did you get started?I’ve always wanted to spit but have always been shy with what the lads would think or people and that has always been the case up until recently. I kinda just hit an epiphany and it turned out to be a good one and haven’t looked back since.

What are you looking forward to this year?Being around my friends, lots of fistfights and banging out some music for people to listen to on the way to school and have the owlones going mad.

Who or what inspires you?Growing up in Dublin and Quentin Tarantino movies

“One of the best rappers we’ve heard. Can’t wait for Fish and Chips EP to drop later this year.” –The Notas

Hear more‘Shrine of Jehova’

Learn morelecsluther.tumblr.com

Lecs Luther is a contentious addition to the Irish rap scene for those engaged in it. Arguments against him boil down to the fact that there’s not much of an Irish identity to him. His debut music video was shot in Brighton and he doesn’t rap in a discernible Irish accent, favouring the voices of those across the Atlantic like MF Doom and Tyler, The Creator while borrowing tropes from Tyler’s Odd Future’s collective. That said, the song that got him noticed is called ‘Dia Dhuit’, he lives in Dublin when not studying and he represents a new breed of artists who are looking beyond the local scene, working with internationally-based producers and getting people excited about rap, “Irish” or not in the process.

Words by Niall Byrne

Faces oF two thousand & twelve

This Club

Faces oF two thousand & twelve

This Club

Describe yourselves and your music?We are a fast moving, energetic bunch who like to dance and sing. Think ADHD for grown ups. Playing live is our favourite part of being in a band. We like to describe our music as dance pop speed calypso.

Where does your band name come from?The name ‘This Club’ is actually the name of the first song we ever wrote together about five years ago. We used to be called Hoarsebox but we changed that cause no one ever knew how to spell it or say it or eat it or smell it. However, what we did find out is that if you say Hoarsebox five times in the mirror, you’ll see the band naked.

What’s your best song and why?‘This Club’ by This Club. Its an old song but we recently gave it a facelift and a boob job. It’s gone from being a polished ’60s style guitar pop tune into a very complex dance marathon. It’s cool though because it hasn’t lost its original charm while still being very much a new beast.

What are your plans for the next six months?The next six months will be spent promoting our current single, the next single and then our debut album. That means touring in Ireland, the UK, and the US. I’m excited cause, like I said, gigs are my favourite part of the whole music deal. I get to to be hyperactive on a stage and somebody somewhere pays me!

Who or what inspires you?Nigerian musician extraordinaire and political activist Fela Kuti is a very inspirational character. He and his various bands recorded 72 albums in all, and somehow he still made time to fight against corruption in his home country. Most importantly though, he did it all with a smile and found humour and fun in all things. You see other musicians who end up using their influence in politics or whatever but they end up so far up their own holes that they forget the importance of having a fuckin’ laugh.

Hear more: ‘I Won’t Worry’

Learn more: thisclubmusic.com

A case of a band returning in a different guise, with This Club the four Dubliners have hit their stride. Named after the first song they wrote together, their brand of pop is sure to find a home on the radio, and even the odd club, throughout 2012.

Photography by James Goulden (previous page)Words by Phil Udell

Faces oF two thousand & twelve

How did you get started making music?I’ve been messing around with music in one way or another since I was much younger. But I wandered down this laptop route a little more than a year and a half ago. I got into it very gradually after I got asked to write some music for a theatre production a friend of mine was in. Only fully started getting into the swing of things a couple of months ago when I started listening to bass music and hip-hop and all that.

Hear more‘Legit Believe Bounce’

Learn morelemonada.bandcamp.com

Lemonada makes instrumental beat tapes when not studying music production in a Dublin college. His first collection entitled Kelly Green Volume 1, released in August of 2011, was an impressive introduction to his Cassette Boy meets cut and paste sample-heavy style and remixes for The Cyclist, Nouveaunoise and Gorgeous Colours along with a couple of well-received live shows, have set Lemonada up for 2012.

Faces oF two thousand & twelve

Lemonada

Words by Niall Byrne

Mmoths

Faces oF two thousand & twelve

An interview.

§

It all started one snowy December night at the end of 2010. The snow outside forced the then 17 year-old to stay indoors. He had acquired a copy of Ableton to mess around with making music on his laptop. Inspired by Bon Iver and a young Maine musician by the name of Nathan Broaddus aka Evenings, the result of one night’s work was his first track as MMOTHS entitled ‘Blisters’. That percussive head-nodding ambient soundscape was followed by ‘Slow/down’. The two tracks were uploaded to Soundcloud a week later and, from Dublin to LA, it didn’t take long for the blogs to catch on. MMOTHS went worldwide within the first month.

This wasn’t simply a case of a young lad messing about with computer music. Colleran had form, and technology freed his musical creativity. “I’ve played piano since I was five but I always got stuck in the same chords and progressions,” Jack says. “When I got Ableton, I played on the keyboard of the laptop but I didn’t know which keys I was playing. I wasn’t stuck any more. The possibilities are open. I just sat inside for ages writing that week.”

Despite his self-effacing comment that he “just throws loads of reverb” on his tracks, it’s clear that Colleran, also a keen photographer, has thought about the craft. “I like to make it sound textural. There are certain notes and chords that evoke something. Finding those right chords is the thing.” The reaction to those initial two tracks meant that MMOTHS (the name was recently changed from Moths due to external issues) was now Jack’s main focus. “I was doing my Leaving Cert. I should have been studying!”

While many of the choices on the Faces of 2012 list are in their early phases of their creative careers, Jack Colleran

has already had an unexpected year that has seen him become one of the most promising new electronic artists,

not just in Ireland, but worldwide. In little over a year, Newbridge, Kildare-born Colleran has gone from experimenting with music in his bedroom to attending

meetings in LA regarding his nascent career.

Mmoths

Photography by Philip White Interview by Niall Byrne

Faces oF two thousand & twelve

§

Skiving off from study to make music meant that Jack put his other plan on hold – becoming an architect. “I knew I wasn’t going to get the [Leaving Cert] points to do that. I think architecture’s so cool because it’s art but it’s permanent, people live in it and see it every day,” Colleran explains.

Before the Leaving Cert exams, Colleran had been asked officially to turn in a remix for an Interpol EP that was released in June. He remixed Passion Pit’s ‘Little Secrets’ and Bon Iver’s ‘Babys’ in an unofficial capacity too, the latter being one of his best tracks thus far and the former being his personal favourite. Serendipitous sharing amongst Irish brothers in Kildare and LA led to Jack receiving the kind of correspondence that every aspiring musician dreams of.

“I need to ring you right now.”

The email was from Seb Webber, a then A&R man for XL Recordings based out of Los Angeles was looking to get in touch. Webber rang him a couple of hours later and subsequently signed him to SQE, a new label based in the Californian city. Before 2011 was done, Jack travelled to LA for a week of meetings and gigs. He was put up in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, though he insists he would have been happier on a mate’s couch. Jack is still in awe of the whole trip when we chat. “I thought I’d never go. Getting flown over because of some tracks I made in my room… It’s like, when am I going to wake up?” If that wasn’t definition enough of “living the dream”, the following week he played The Warehouse Project in Manchester amongst some of the vanguards of modern electronica: Aphex Twin, Hudson Mohawke and Zomby. To top it all off, one of Jack’s idols, Flying Lotus, sent him a direct message on Twitter to tell him he loves the MMOTHS tracks.

Colleran’s inspirational story demonstrates how easily music can spread across the globe in this modern era and how a young 18 year-old from Kildare with just nine tracks to his name can arrive on the cusp of 2012 with such a weight of expectation. But he’s not the type to get easily fazed. The coming months will see Colleran debut a new live show featuring visuals. A 12” vinyl release in February featuring new versions of the tracks ‘<3’ and ‘Summer’ with vocals from Sara from Greece’s Keep Shelly In Athens and LA band Superhumanoids will be released. There’s also a remix coming for one of the biggest bands on the planet as well as some American dates at SXSW in March plus visits to New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. From his bedroom to the world, Jack Colleran is very much a global concern.

“We remember hearing ‘Hearts’ for the first time and just been blown away by it. The quality of production and everything about it is just amazing.” –The Notas

“Perfect headphone music.” –Daithí

“I can only imagine what 2012 will bring for him.” –Sert One

Hear more: soundcloud.com/mmoths

Faces oF two thousand & twelve

Hush War Cry

Where does your band name come from? Hopefully it describes our sound. It actually came from a Rimbaud poem called ‘Parisian War Cry’ and we never really liked Paris.

What was the strangest thing that happened to you in 2011?Finding chickens in our kitchen.

“Totally creating a sound of their own”. –Daithi

“Beautiful stuff, their track ‘Apparitions’ has made it into a lot of my DJ sets since i got it”. –Sert One

Hear more: ‘Lily’

Learn more: breakingtunes.com/hushwarcry

This young four-piece band all met while studying Archi-tecture in college together in Cork. Their delicate, nuanced sound is already frightfully well developed. Rich arrange-ments of guitar, piano and subtleties recall the ornate histrionics of Wild Beasts. The Apparitions EP out this month will be the world ’s first taste of these promising young learned things.

Photography by Brendan CantyWords by Niall Byrne

Faces oF two thousand & twelve

The Debutantes

Describe yourselves and your music?Our music changes a lot from song to song or whim to whim at the moment so I wouldn’t say we have nailed down a particular style. As a rule I suppose it’s guitars soaked in reverb, overdriven bass, simple melodies and driving beats.

Where does your band name come from?Do you want the cool story or the real story. The cool one is we were listening to ‘Dreaming’ by Blondie and has the line ‘I could tell you were no debutante’ and that’s where we plucked it from. The real story is Paula has all the Gossip Girl box sets and we’d watch that a lot. I thought of the name while having a pint in Grogan’s after spending the morning watching Gossip Girl with her.

Who or what inspires you?Poster of cats hanging from clothes lines and music, art and friends

What was the strangest thing that happened to you in 2011?Getting asked to play Hard Working Class Heroes without having played any gigs. To be fair we did lie on our application and say we had played some.

Hear more: ‘Kids’

Learn more:thedebutantes.net

Chiming beneath a veil of reverb, the music of The Debutantes is structurally straight-forward indie but shimmers in its own simplicity. Sounding more sun-soaked than their home turf of Galway, the band’s wash of layered noise, hazy vocals and strummed guitars ring out in heart-melting dream pop.

Faces oF two thousand & twelve

Photography by Ian Keegan (previous three pages)Words by Alan Reilly

Toby Kaar

Describe yourselves and your music?It’s just beats and stuff, like.

Who or what inspires you?Staying up until 6 in the morning.

What was the strangest thing that happened to you in 2011?A bird flew into my kitchen window and died.

“An immense live performer.” –Tenaka

“One of my favourite live acts, hypnotizing, and every gig is different, it never gets old.” –Daithí

Hear more‘Bayleaf ’

Learn more:Facebook pages

More than just a button-pressing beatsmith, Cork lad Toby Kaar makes groove-laden electronica so danceable that he just can’t help himself. His live show is one of infectious enthusiasm, with Toby throwing shapes to a melting pot of hip-hop, house and IDM. He also knows how to cut a remix, having reworked music by Funeral Suits, Nouveaunoise and Sacred Animals.

Photography by Roger WoolmanWords by Alan Reilly

Faces oF two thousand & twelve

Tenaka

How did you get started making music?I was always passionate about music but never considered writing my own until I bought a guitar a few years back. What first started out as chord based tracks pretty quickly diverged towards more melodic elements which led me towards the music I make today.

Anyone you’d like to collaborate with?I’ve been lucky enough to collaborate with some amazing Irish artists including Sacred Animals and Nina Hynes and each one has brought something big to the table. I hope to continue that trend with future releases so I’m always open to collaborative ideas.

What’s your best song and why?Every new track I work on becomes my favourite track at that time, whether it be an original piece or a remix. I think it’s important to view creative projects in this way as you always have to be looking forward, confident that your best work is ahead of you.

What are you looking forward to this year?I’m really excited about the ‘Lightbox’ Irish/UK tour which will take place at the end of February where I’ll get to share the stage with some of my favourite Irish artists including Bantum, Feel Good Lost, Monto, Reid, Sert One and Simon Bird. It’s going to be great! I’ll release my debut album this year as well which will be a big achievement for me.

Hear more:‘Ephemeral’

Learn more:tenaka.bandcamp.com

Limerick producer Ronan Carroll makes brooding electronica under the moniker of Tenaka. Collaborating with Sacred Animals, Holy Roman Army, Sorcha Brennan, Daithi and Elaine Mai, his Ephemeral EP is an introspective collection of metronomic arrangements and live instrumentation with casting scope and ambition, whetting our appetites for Tenaka’s debut full length album in 2012.

Photography by Kieran FrostWords by Alan Reilly

Faces oF two thousand & twelve

Tara Masterson Hally

Faces oF two thousand & twelve

Tara Masterson Hally

Describe yourself and your music?Everything’s written and recorded in my bedroom. When it comes to my music, I tend to become a bit of a hermit, until a song’s finished and up on Soundcloud.

Who or what inspires you?When I started out, I really only ever listened to folk, Sufjan Stevens, Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit, Fionn Regan and stuff, I guess they all influenced me when I was starting out. A lot of the bands I listen to now though don’t necessarily influence my songwriting, but influence the way I produce my songs. At the moment, that would be bands like Warpaint, Lykke Li, Beach House, basically any band that satisfies my unhealthy addiction to reverb.

Hear more: ‘In The Silence’

Learn more:facebook page

A gleaming new talent from Dublin, Tara Masterson Hally is a fresh voice in timeless folk. Her airy vocals and cooing harmonies are wrapped by the woozy acoustics of harp and guitar creating a resonating ambience. For a girl so young – she still boasts a teen in her age – Hally conveys a weighty sadness. Singing out with “And you’re slipping your way from the crack that I made / and we watch it flicker and we watch it faint / but you were never mine and I was never yours / so we’ll close our eyes and let the silence run its course” on her latest song, ‘In The Silence’, the lushness of her music is cut by bitter truths.

Photography by Andrew Nuding (previous page)Words by Alan Reilly

Faces oF two thousand & twelve

Describe yourselves and your music?We’re a five-piece who believe the invention of the drum kit has improved humanity’s standard of living more dramatically than penicillin, sliced bread, and the wheel combined. We dedicate our lives to the primal bliss that rhythm brings.

How did you all meet?We all ended up at St. Gerard’s School in Bray, via Greystones, Newtown, Canada and the U.S. We all became best friends and started playing music together, recording home demos, entering music competitions, etc. The present Nightbox has been together since we relocated to Toronto in January 2010.

Hear more:‘Fumes’

Learn more:facebook.com/nightboxband

Produced by members of MSTRKRFT and Death From Above 1979, the music of this Wicklow-raised Montreal-based five-piece couldn’t be better suited for their stable at French label Kitsuné. The debut eponymous EP by Nightbox is electronic-flavoured indie dance-pop, with taut guitar lines, synth-key flourishes and instantly catchy choruses.

Faces oF two thousand & twelve

NightboxWords by Alan Reilly

Come On Live Long

Describe yourselves and your music?It’s hard to describe the music we make because we all listen to a lot of music… everything from Mount Kimbie to John Martyn. Everyone in the band brings their own influences to the table.

Where does your band name come from?It’s an optimistic take on Mogwai’s Come On Die Young album.

Who or what inspires you?Crosswords, improvised table-tennis and Guinness.

What was the strangest thing that happened to you in 2011?Witnessing a bird of prey pillage a nest as we were recording Mender in Glenroe. We’re still divided over the exact breed of bird but it was pretty amazing to watch. Eoin from Enemies reckons it was a kestrel… the jury is still out.

Hear more: ‘Someone’s Home’

Learn more: comeonlivelong.bandcamp.com

Catching the ear and eye in 2011 with two EPs and a stunning HWCH show, Come On Live Long combine electronic influences with a range of familiar (and not so familiar) instruments. Their eponymous debut EP was recorded in the West of Ireland just two weeks after the band formed, since then the five-piece have composed themselves as purposeful musicians with a strong identity.

Faces oF two thousand & twelve

Words by Alan Reilly

Daithí

Describe yourself and your music?Electronic, with pieces of math rock and traditional Irish music thrown in. Anyone you’d like to collaborate with?Plenty of people, I’m very interested in putting vocals on my tracks (I can’t sing a note). I’m currently working on an album that will feature many guest artists, I’m really enjoying getting different inputs. Who or what inspires you?I’m learning how to write lyrics a the moment, and have taken to writing essays about different memories and times over the last couple of years, so I guess college life is a big inspiration. I’m also listening to more music now than I have ever done, I’m loving the Irish music scene at the moment, it’s an exciting place to be right now.

“I’ve been really lucky to have already collaborated with Daithi, and loved every minute of it.” –Elaine Mai

Hear more: ‘Carraroe’

Learn more:breakingtunes.com/daithimusic

It’s a long way from a TV talent show to becoming one of the most talked about new artists of the year, but for the Galwegian it seems to be nothing but a small step. Using his fiddle as a starting point, Daithí pushes things forward with a bank of Kaoss pads, loopstations and electronics to fuse tradition with the modern in a way that no-one else is really doing right now.

Photography by Sean ConroyWords by Phil Udell

Faces oF two thousand & twelve

SertOne

Faces oF two thousand & twelve

SertOne

Who or what inspires you?I just spend a lot of my time listening to a vast amount of music so when I get down to making some music I always have a thousand ideas in my head from what I’ve been listening to. This past year, two big acts that inspired me, and continue to, have been Solar Bears just due to the power within their music and having played a few shows with them now, seeing the reaction it evokes from people is amazing. One of my favourite albums last year was Shlohmo’s Bad Vibes, after listening to a lot of folk and lo-fi, hearing how he incorporated those into beat music is fantastic.

What was the strangest thing that happened to you in 2011?It’s been a extremely busy and fast moving year but the most surreal moment was sitting on a train to Liverpool from Milton Keynes and receiving a message from Boy George via Twitter that he was enjoying my EP and then we went on to recommend it to his 50,000 something followers.

Hear more: ‘Off The Burn’

Learn more: sertone.bandcamp.com

Another of Ireland’s bright new stars in electronic music. Drawing inspiration from the intricate bumpin’ hip-hop instrumental style of J Dilla, SertOne is a Portadown native who, at the age of 21, has already been DJing for ten years and making his own music for five.

Photography by Laura Wilson (previous page)Words by Niall Byrne

Faces oF two thousand & twelve

Describe yourselves and your music?We are Wonder Villains. Eimear, Cheylene, Ryan & Kieran. We write songs about the things we love - fun stuff.

Where does your band name come from?I’ve been in Wonder Villains on my own since I was 11. I don’t know where it came from but I always wanted Wonder Villains to be the name of my band.

Hear more:‘Running In Circles’

Learn more: wondervillains.bandcamp.com

Derry pop punks propelled by the exuberance of youth, State fell in love with Wonder Villains the moment we saw them dancing to their own record with glee in a Belfast club.

Faces oF two thousand & twelve

Wonder VillainsWords by Phil Udell

Cfit

Cfit

How did you all meet?As a lifelong lover of doing things backwards, I recorded a weird complicated multi-instrumental album without any thought of how to play it live. Then when the time came to play it live I was incredibly lucky in managing to know a bunch of talented musicians who I promptly chloroformed.

Where does your band name come from?It’s an aeronautical term which describes when a plane crashes through pilot error, which was pretty descriptive of how I felt setting out to record an album on my own. And I also love the idea of it being a term that uses carefully chosen language to disguise the horror of something: controlled flight into terrain.

What’s your best song and why?‘Plausible Deniability’ – on the one hand I still really love it as a song and a lyric, but more than that, despite being the longest song on the album, when it started changing from a cute little tune into a huge beast of a thing in the recording process, it strangely came together faster than anything else on the album and ended up being a little beacon of hope that pushed everything else through.

“Lovely stuff, nice marriage between acoustic and electronic.” –Futures Apart

Hear more: ‘Plausible Deniability’

Learn more: breakingtunes.com/cfit

Initially a solo project for Noel Duplaa, Cfit have developed from a one man band to a trio and now a five piece, with all three incarnations delivering a lush collection of woozy, melancholy anthems.

Words by Phil Udell

Faces oF two thousand & twelve

Where does your band name come from?The name came from us sitting down in our practice space with the idea in our heads that we wanted to say something different, to be set “apart” from the rest. At the time Aaron was looking at using Futurist architectural drawings as a cover for our demo, so I suppose the two words came together that way to say “hey check us out we’re Futures Apart’.

Who or what inspires you?Every musician out there doing it for the love of it.

What was the strangest thing that happened to you in 2011?I wished you had asked us what the strangest thing we did in 2010 was because we we’re invited over to an Irish pub in Russia to basically entertain a millionaire who spotted us busking one day in Dublin. He owned a vinegar factory or something, It was a bizarre and at times scary holiday.

Hear more:‘Night Flight’

Learn more: facebook.com/futuresapart

Drawn together from the rock ‘n’ roll hotspots of Wexford, Ballina and Northamptonshire, the now Dublin-based band make the kind of music they like to listen to and take it from there. That music, thus far, comes across like a new romantic take on 21st century indie-pop.

Faces oF two thousand & twelve

Photography by Philip White Words by Phil Udell

Futures Apart

Our first year of looking to the future in Irish music and, even if we do say it ourselves, we got it pretty spot on. Our cover star (in one of his first major interviews) was with Conor O’Brien, then a month away from launching his first musical project since the breakup of The Immediate. The rest, as you will know, is pretty much the major Irish success story of recent years and as he prepares to start work on his second Villagers record, we look forward to maintaining our strong association.

Elsewhere, Adebesi Shank and Heathers have both gone on to greater things, developing an audience far beyond these shores and - in the case of the former - have developed one of the great independent labels for a long time. We also gave an early nod to The Ambience Affair, Bats and Grand Pocket Orchestra but somehow managed to lose Bats along the way.

It was a second appearance in the State pages for Two Door Cinema Club at the beginning of 2010 and, although they had already come a fair way since their engaging early singles, no-one involved could have predicted just how this unassuming trio were going to take their debut album around the world. O Emperor have also made remarkable progress and enter 2012 about to start their UK campaign, as well as starting work on their second record.

Since we introduced them, We Cut Corners, Sleep Thieves, Halves, Funeral Suits, Catscars, Patrick Kelleher and Jogging have all released impressive debuts, while Carol Keogh has finally got her solo career underway and we wait to see what Bitches With Wolves come up next with keen interest. There were three casualties though, with Nakatomi Towers, John Shelly & The Creatures and 8Ball all biting the dust.

Class of 2009

Class of 2010

Photography by Richard Gilligan

A mammoth 25 acts featured in our 2011 list, taking in the usual eclectic range of musical styles. Cover star Retarded Cop kept up his frantic work rate throughout the past twelve months, resulting in one of the year’s most entertaining debuts. Other calling cards came in the shape of LPs from Squarehead, The Minutes, Yeh Deadlies, Owensie and fine EPs from Bear Bones, and Jennifer Evans. Given the slow burning effect of many of our featured artists over the years, however, don’t be surprised if many of them blossom over the course of 2012.

Class of 2011

Photography by Sean Conroy

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