• Gig of the week: Documenta @ Titantic Slipway

    Our first ever gig of the week (initially “wig of the geek” but we daren’t get too backward, eh?)  is Belfast-based drone pop outfit Documenta at the Titanic Slipway on Friday, August 23. Organised in association with Belfast Film Festival, the Joe Greene-fronted band – set to release their third full-length effort in the coming months – will perform a singularly scenic set before  Stanley Kubrick’s iconic 1968 sci-fi film 2001: A Space Odyssey is screened, 40 feet below sea level. Not yourself gig-going jaunt down to Voodoo, is it? Tickets for the show – available here – are priced at £10. Doors are…

  • REM: The First Cut is The Deepest – True Love Never Dies

    I have always had the theory that one doesn’t always just ‘discover’ bands. Often it can be a two-way street, that a band can come along and ‘get’ you at the right time and place and it is such a seismic event, that one will never recover or forget about it. The Smiths came to me shortly after my father died. A family friend took me to see them in concert and that was ‘IT’. I dedicated my teen years to them and in return, their musical output was, in a weird way, a comfort. Some of the subtleties of…

  • Household Festival

    Taking place on and around the Ormeau Park area of South Belfast across the weekend of August 23-25 Household festival returns after last year’s hugely successful outing for the annual event. A festival that “encourages audiences to re-negotiate the way in which they view and interact with art in the city” it offers a wonderfully unrestrictive platform for live music, screenings, dinners, talks, discussions, contemporary dance in artists’ homes and non-art spaces. Over 100 artists and creative professionals from across the city will be involved in over 40 hours in the area. Events at this year’s festival include letter writing…

  • Album stream: Linebacker Dirge – Take Shelter

    Belfast-based alt-rock four-piece Linebacker Dirge have released their thirteen-track debut album, Take Shelter. Comprised of members of bands such as Kasper Rosa, A Northern Light and Affleck, the album –  the long-awaited full-length follow-up to the band’s 2011 EP, There Are No Clean Getaways – was recorded by Jason Gibson (guitars/vocals), James Bruce (drums) and Ian McHugh (guitar, additional vocals). Artwork comes from John Quinn. Stream (or purchase) the album via Bandcamp below. Take Shelter by Linebacker Dirge