In their second take over of our blog, Andy from Little Gem dips into the shop’s fresh record boxes and recommends some prime cuts.

You can find Little Gem squirreled away in Basement 18 Kildare St in Dublin 2 Dublin. Drop in and say hello.

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1. Woven Skull – Lair Of The Glowing Bantling (Penske)

There have not been many bands like Woven Skull. Three soft spoken and unassuming artists that craft and build massive pieces of powerful and moving music from almost nothing.

A guitar, a drum and a mandola somehow create these gorgeous frailties that climb and build in gathering swirling counterpoint into dense and etheral music.

As a record it is both epic and understated at the same time which makes for endless enjoyment in playing it over and over again.

2. Islas Marshall – Basura Blanca (Delia Records)

I recently had the good fortune of visiting the wonderful Delia Records in Madrid where I got to hear some of their releases which include Islas Marshall.

This record is a lot of fun. It begins and ends with the progressive jam ‘Ensename la Pasta’, which sounds like a badass prog band from the 70’s redifining ELO’s greatest hits by talking over the verses and combining songs of differing dynamics into one big banger. In between it kicks up with super fast psychobilly and punk jams and at one point even breaks into an interesting version of the Ray Charles classic ‘What’d I Say’.

3. Sea Pinks – Soft Days (CF Records)

Belfast trio Sea Pinks new album is yet another shining example of great songwriting, garage pop arrangement and attitude.

It is a combination that has been consistently successful for founding member Neil Brogan, a man who possesses the rare gift of writing songs that are so catchy and instantly familiar upon first listen that they make you feel as though they have soundtracked your whole life as you start to sing along to that first ‘oh oh oh’ or ‘ay ay ay’ part for the first time. Impeccable stuff.

Pop over to their website to check out the rest of the stock.