Dublin: Glacial Sound Takeover

Grime and Ireland are two nouns that are rarely uttered in the same breath. For many years, grime was a tale solely narrated by London inner city heads before eventually spreading into the Midlands and beyond. At first glance, it may seem like Dublin doesn't share a lot with those places. Yet dig a little deeper and you'll find the parallels. The geography may not be the same, but the emotional ties and outright feelings couldn't be closer.

It's only natural that our maiden trod on Irish turf is then in celebration of a micro scene - continuing our attempt to provide an entry point into the music we're most excited about.

Glacial Sound are a label from the Irish capital, thought up by Paul Purcell from Mullingar and one of the finest outlets for innovative new eskibeat. Born out of a radio slot on Play FM and a fascination with Channel U, their debut release was a full-blooded grimy affair from Rabit. Now four projects deep - including Logos' white label bonanza and the unforgettable Riko and Rabit special "Black Dragons" respectively - the next step is an EP from Alabama-based Sharp Veins.

Paul will be inviting some of the extended GS family into a suitably dark and intimate bunker on May 28. He'll be joined by fellow Dublin resident, Major Grave, who has cobbled together remixes for the likes of DJ Q and Shriekin on Local Action and featured on Big Dada's Grime 2.0 comp -- all while juggling a weekly Standard radio show on Raidio ó na Life (Dublin's Irish language FM radio station). Gemma Dunleavy's vocals will be familiar if you've wrapped your ears around Murlo's Jasmine EP from January just gone. She'll be bringing the dancehall-tinged delights of the title track and more into a live PA. Carlow's Shriekin will flaunt his glossy, hi-def take on sublow - showcasing the skills that forced Local Action to release Gold & Featherwork EP or regret their loss. Finally, from Belfast comes Bloom, whose "Quartz" track is regularly regarded as one of the most important jams of 2012. Since then there've been stellar drops on Visionist's Lost Codes label and the Hydraulics EP on Crazylegs last November.

Dublin, prepare for the eskibeat.

Big thanks to The Building Society/Hangar for hosting us.

Live visuals provided by Kevin A. Freeney.