Northern Ireland is known for rolling hills, coastlines, and some of the hottest indie acts. Snow Patrol anyone? Amidst of its coolness and beauty, comes the dream pop act Beauty Sleep.

Having been compared to Phoenix and Beach House, The Belfast trio trace their beginnings from a local house party where the three musicians met. Shortly after, the band entered the studio and self produced the first single The Dark, and they’ve made an impact. The catchy synth track found its way on tastemaker blogs and grabbed some headlines from The Sun and The Irish Times, with SoundCloud streams inching to 50k in just two months.

If you’re in or around Belfast catch the band at Gigantic on May 20th.
beautysleeptalk@gmail.com

The 4 piece indie act Transviolet has occupied The Satellite in LA for a residency every Monday night. Before you catch the performance at the tastemaker venue for indie rock, here is what you need to know:

The California female fronted act are creating an impressive resume. Katy Perry made their song, “Girls Your Age,” her song of the day while the band has frequented Hype Machine’s top 5 and the Spotify’s Global Viral Charts.

The band who got their start on a musician networking site will give New Yorkers a taste of their live performance at the Governors Ball Music Festival in June. Check out the New Bohemia” video which has nearly clocked 700k views.
Shannon@bbgunpr.com

It’ been a good start of the year for Cub Sport, the 4 piece indie act from Brisbane. The band broke out on the scene in 2012 & grabbed Channel V’s Australian video of the year.

Two years later the band returned with the album “This Is Our Vice” via Nettwerk Music which dropped in March and heated up the Australian Independent Charts. The kick off track ‘Only Friend ’ hit many year-end playlists including BBC1 tastemaker Huw Stephens. All the album tracks stand alone, but my personal favorite is the upbeat alternative rocker “I’m on Fire“. College radio is on board and has pushed the album to #53 on the CMJ top 200.

Frontman Tim Nelson notes meeting Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig backstage at Falls was a defining moment in his career.
stephen@sgcmedia.com, briese@umbrellamusics.com

Singer-songwriter Ben Hobbs, a Kings favorite and who I’ve continue to cover just dropped another track ‘Cold Sweat‘ with an exclusive Billboard premiere. Hobbs notes, “It’s a song about realization, about a moment when you can admit to yourself that something has been ruling you. You can see all your strengths and finally start using them.”

Since the last time I featured his brilliant track ‘Wishful Thinking‘, he performed the BBC Introducing Night in Reading and the prestigious Gold Dust night in London which have presented the greats Lana Del Rey, Jessie J, & Ellie Goulding in their formative years.

His song “Sweet Enough” has just clocked 500k+ Spotify streams. Check out my last feature of this Bradley Cooper look-alike.
jeremy@laissezfaireclub.com, cduncan@theorchard.com

Luna Shadows arises out of the ashes of Los Angeles with her unique sound of dark indie pop separating herself from the sun-soaked ‘Katy Perry’ type pop singers. The latest track ‘Hallelujah California‘ which comes off her debut is brilliant, and mesmerizes with a couple listens.

The singer-songwriter tells us the backstory behind the love letter to Los Angeles: “My father used to say that “Hallelujah” (Wainwright/Buckley rendition) was the saddest song ever written, mostly because it’s darkness was disguised in a major key; conversely, the sole uplifting praise word “Hallelujah” was paired with the most melancholy of melodies. Playing on this juxtaposition, “Hallelujah California” is my eye-roll love letter to Los Angeles. The song explores how disorienting it can feel at times to live in a paradise, to have an endless summer, but still experience such sadness and doubt.”

Luna Shadows brings forth a lil’ Lana del Rey with endless summers and sadness but she is establishing her own voice. The blog love is mounting too. The track was featured on Spotify’s New Music Friday Playlist, blurbed by gossip blogger Just Jared, and clocked 30k+ SoundCloud streams in one month.

*Luna just released the new track “Cherry” exclusively on Beats 1 via Noisey.
brittanysabra@gmail.com, lovealwayslxs@gmail.com