New Amusement - Jamboree

One of my favourite Irish tracks of the past couple years, this is a super-high-octane one with chiming, blistering guitars (that's always a good combination) and the type of anthemic melody that you rarely get in a song at this pace. It was all over the radio a while ago, so I'm surprised there doesn't seem to be a video for it.

It's from their 2010 full-length debut My Captain, on Any Other City records.

New Amusement - Lights Go Down

Dublin band on the wonderful Any Other City label. This one comes from their debut EP, 2008's Any Port in a Storm, and it is pure pop bliss which I don't think I will ever grow tired of. Nice video too.

Hello Moon - Sievehead

I've been raving about this band since their early days, and now that their debut album Only Count the Sunny Hours is finally out (on Dublin's coolest label, Any Other City) I have twelve more reasons to rave about them. In all honesty, they're the most utterly charming twee pop band I've come across since around the mid-1990s - and while at least part of that is due to a bashful stage presence that makes you want to pat them on the head and reassure them that yes, you really are enjoying their music and not just clapping to be polite, I'm pretty sure I'd love this record just as much if I'd never had the distinct pleasure of seeing them live. It's simply delightful.

Sievehead by Hello Moon

Hello Moon - Vanity

I've raved about this band a couple times before but they're long overdue for a proper post. Hello Moon are from Dublin, used to be called The Tender Trap and are absolutely one of my favourites at the moment, playing lovely twee jangly indiepop that wouldn't be out of place on Postcard, early Creation, Sarah ... you get the picture. As a live act, they're shy, engaging and impossible to watch without breaking a smile at least once every three minutes. Really, I counted.

Their only release so far is a track under their old name on the Any Other City compilation EP, which you should buy (it also features New Amusement, who are pretty fabulous too). But they have a couple nice videos up on their Myspace page - including this one, which shows that they have as good taste in literature as in music.