• Premiere: Autumns – Honey It’s Winter

    February 28, 2014 - By 

    Having stepped in to headline our No Tomorrow launch at Belfast’s Voodoo tomorrow night (Saturday, March 1st), we have an exclusive first listen to ‘Honey It’s Winter’ by Derry lo-fi garage/noise act Autumns. Set for release via CF Records in the Spring, the track is a snappy burst of monochromatic jangle-doom from Christian Donaghey and co., veering between descending Duane Eddy-esque guitar lines, patches of feedback and cavernous vocal exorcisms. Stream the track below via Soundcloud and go here for the (updated) event page for the launch of No Tomorrow.

  • In Photos: Choice Music Prize 2014

    February 28, 2014 - By 

    Never one to miss out on the action, our photographer Shaun Neary was in attendance at this year’s Choice Music Prize at Dublin’s Vicar Street last night, February 27. Featuring shots of all the six performances, acceptance speeches, introductions and everything in between, check out his wonderful photo set from throughout the night below.

  • Villagers scoop Choice Music Prize

    February 28, 2014 - By 

    Four years on from just missing out to the prize to Two Door Cinema Club, Dublin indie-folk act Villagers have walked away with the 2014 Choice Music Prize for their second studio album, {Awayland}. Thanking the judges for liking his “weird little songs”, the band’s frontman Conor O’Brien accepted the award and a cheque for €10,000 having performed earlier in the night alongside six of the nominated ten acts. Check out Shaun Neary’s photos from the ceremony – including all the performances – here.

  • Wild Beasts – Present Tense

    February 28, 2014 - By 

    When Kendal quartet Wild Beasts emerged in 2008 with debut album Limbo, Panto, it seemed that, at last, here was a band ready to rally to Neil Hannon’s battle-cry, “Elegance against ignorance. Difference against indifference. Wit against shit”. It’s an impression that subsequent albums have only served to strengthen. Fourth album Present Tense finds them venturing further out into the electronic wasteland first colonised on Smother. The sounds are scrubbed clean, in places glacially cool, a perfect contrast to emotions that bubble lava-hot beneath the surface. In most respects, it’s their most straightforward work – the vocal histrionics scaled back, sounds streamlined, ideas…

  • Belfast Film Festival programme launched

    February 27, 2014 - By 

    Featuring a nigh on kaleidoscopic plethora of cinematically-inclined happenings, the programme for this year’s Belfast’s Film Festival has been announced. Traversing categories including Altered States, TV Eye, Shorts and Opening & Closing, A Steve Zissou night, Ray Charles Live 1961, Documenta – The Happening, Here Be Dragons, Busby Furball and The Human Scale are amongst the many eclectic screenings and events taking place from from March 27 to April 5 across Belfast. Go here to check out the full schedule for this year’s festival, now in its fourteenth year. Tickets are available to purchase via here.

  • Frame by Frame #004: VerseChorusVerse – No More Years

    February 27, 2014 - By 

    In the fourth installment of Frame by Frame – a feature looking at the production of Irish music videos from the perspective of their creators – Colm Laverty catches up with Adrian Rowe and Emma Louise Dodds from Industrious Dark about their recent video for ‘No More Years’ by singer-songwriter Tony Wright AKA VerseChorusVerse. First off, tell us a little bit about each of your roles on this music video. We are Industrious Dark – Adrian Rowe and Emma Louise Dodds. We were the creators/directors of the video. In a sentence, what sets ‘No More Years’ apart from other Northern Irish…

  • First acts announced for Body & Soul 2014

    February 27, 2014 - By 

    Canadian musician Caribou, American singer-songwriter John Grant and London-based electronic producer Jon Hopkins (pictured) are amongst the first acts announced for this year’s Body & Soul Festival. Taking place at Ballinlough Castle, Co. Westmeath during the summer solstice weekend of June 20-22, the first wave of acts to the play the festival also include Goldfrapp, Darkside, Mount Kimbie and Buraka Som Sistema. See below for the current poster for Body & Soul 2014. Varying in price and description, go here to buy tickets for the festival.

  • Young Fathers – Dead

    February 27, 2014 - By 

    Calling your album Dead doesn’t exactly promise a party, and to that end Young Fathers deliver few surprises. Take them at face value as hip-hop however and your expectations are much likelier to be challenged (unless perhaps your hip-hop collection is already coming down with acts boasting lineage from Liberia, Nigeria and Scotland). It might be difficult to imagine cold what such a combination might sound like, but once you’ve heard it, generally it adds up. The beats are the most obvious link to Africa – ironic though that may be since chief producer ‘G’ Hastings is the Scottish element…

  • Stream: Solar Bears – Interzone

    February 26, 2014 - By 

    Ahead of headlining our forthcoming night at Voodoo Belfast on Saturday March 22, Dublin electronic duo Solar Bears have a new track titled ‘Interzone’. Taken from the pair’s forthcoming third studio album – the follow-up to last year’s Supermigration – the track is an homage to American actor and director Dennis Hopper Go here for the event page for our Solar bears show next month. Stream ‘Interzone’ via Soundcloud below. Photo by Dorje De Burgh.

  • Watch: Oh Volcano – Oceans

    February 26, 2014 - By 

    General Fiasco brothers Owen and Enda Strathern have unveiled their debut track as Oh Volcano, titled ‘Oceans’. Marking a decidedly more progressive and electronic direction, the track is accompanied by a video directed by local musician and filmmaker Edward Butler. General Fiasco announced a hiatus in early 2013 but have played a few gigs with Duke Special and a one-off small gig in Belfast. Check out the video for the ‘Oceans’ below.