• The First Time: Johno Leader (The Radioactive Grandma)

    Not for the last time, it’s the The First Time time. Belfast-based photographer Joe Laverty delivers yet another wonderful portrait shot, this time of Johno Leader from Co. Cavan acoustic indie-rock band The Radioactive Grandma, and gets the musician’s music-buying, making and loving firsts, traversing everyone from Moby, Val Normal, R Kelly and the Prodigy. First album you bought? The very first album I ever bought was purchased with vouchers that I got for my birthday. I was about 15 or 16 years old and that album was 1977 by Ash. It got played about five times before I was introduced to…

  • Interview: The Altered Hours

    Ahead of their highly-anticipated return to Belfast on Friday night (May 2, the Menagerie), Brian Coney talks to Cathal Mac Gabhann, frontman of Cork psych-rock trailblazers The Altered Hours about momentum, new material and pushing the boundaries of their sound. Photo by Izabela Szczutkowska. Hi Cathal. It’s been a great twelve months or so for you guys. You’re busier than you’ve ever been and a lot of new fans are getting behind you. How’s it been getting your music out to new ears? Hi Brian. I enjoy making and releasing music and doing shows. I like the whole process so it’s been fine. You recently set…

  • Elastic Sleep – Leave You E.P.

    The first thing that slaps you about the face about the debut E.P. from Elastic Sleep, is not the shimmering, foggy beauty they can conjure, hinted at in their dream-pop debut bijou, ‘Anywhere’, but the weight and conviction behind its execution. Cork shoegazers with a serious pedigree gleaned from their time in popgaze supermachine Agitate the Gravel/Terror Pop and synth-poppers Superblondes, the band’s collective experiences, disappointments, and refined vision have crystallised here in the form of six tracks that quickly embody a wide palate of influences, that not so much form the next stage of an ongoing evolution for the…

  • Watch: Little Rivers feat. Jess Brien – All I Want

    Ahead of their official launch at Belfast’s Menagerie on Thursday, May 15, new Northern Irish label OLD FANG have unveiled their first live session, featuring a performance of Kodaline’s breakthrough single ‘All I Want’ by singer-songwriter Callum Cairns AKA Little Rivers and guest vocalist Jess Brien. The two-track session was filmed by Brian O’Kane of SixteenPixels and recorded/mixed by Mike Mormecha at Millbank Studios. Richard Elder mastered the recording. Read our interview with OLD FANG’s founder, Thomas Camblin, here. Watch the video for the pair’s cover below.  

  • In Photos: Breadcrumb Trail Screening @ The Garrick

    Recently we had the absolute pleasure of screening Lance Bangs’ Slint documentary Breadcrumb Trail at Belfast’s Garrick Bar. Bangs was there on the night for a Q+A, as was a nice intimate grouping of Slint aficionados, including Belfast-based photographer Joe Laverty. Check out his photos from the night below!

  • The Thin Air 1st Birthday/No Tomorrow #2: We Cut Corners, Liza Flume & Deadman’s Ghost @ Voodoo Belfast

    Twelve most excellent months in, we celebrate our very first birthday – to the day, no less – on Saturday, May 3 at Belfast’s Voodoo at the second ever outing of our gig/club night, No Tomorrow. Headlining on the night are We Cut Corners (pictured), the Dublin indie-rock duo whose new second album, Think Nothing, is set to see them elevated to the highest echelons of worship-worthy fanboyery (and, indeed, -girlery). Brilliantly urgent and idiosyncratic in equal proportion, recent singles ‘YKK’, ‘Best Friend’ and ‘Every Thief’ are go-to tracks to heed their mastery. Main support on the night comes from Australian…