• Watch: TVVINS – Book (Live)

    April 23, 2014 - By 

    Four months on from the propulsive electro-pop of their second single, ‘You Better’, Dublin duo Lar Kaye and Conor Adams AKA TVVINS have released a video of them performing a new track, ‘Book’, at Dublin’s Storm Studio. Featuring live drummer Lewis Hedigan, the track – evocative of the likes of PVT and early Battles – opens with the wonderful opening line,”So what? You read a book. I took it from you and you took a second look”, unravelling quickly to reveal an intoxicating blend of polyrhythms melding with throbbing bass lines, jagged guitar shapes and a general air of self-assured, summery…

  • In Photos: BarnDance VII

    April 23, 2014 - By 

    Taking place in a secret location forty-five minutes outside of Dublin, Rory Coomey captures the seventh installment of BarnDance on Easter Friday, featuring the likes of Mojo Gogo, the Minutes, King Kong Company and Fritz Kalkbrenner. [gallery type=’flickr’ user_id=’95205686@N06′ photoset_id=’7215764423291744

  • Fez (Sony, Cross Buy PS3/PS4/PS Vita)

    April 23, 2014 - By 

    If you have watched the fantastic documentary Indie Game: The Movie, and I heartily recommend that you do, then you will already be intimately familiar with the notorious Phil Fish. The Montreal-born designer has gained infamy – deservedly, some would say – for his fits of pique and bilious rants against the games industry and those who work within it. This, one could argue, is largely a product of frustration borne out of the unattainably high standards he imposes upon himself. In Indie Game, we see a man trapped within a prison of his own making, struggling to complete a puzzle-based platform…

  • In Photos: Record Store Day 2014

    April 23, 2014 - By 

    Almost certainly the busiest Record Store Day to date, Saturday past (April 19) saw queues of varying lengths form at the crack dawn outside record stores across the world, thus kickstarting a whole day of celebrating independent music, one-off releases and – perhaps most importantly – record stores themselves. Whilst Paul Weller has since said he won’t be participating again due to seeing his RSD release selling for extortionate prices online, other musicians such as Jack White got right on board, recording, cutting and selling a seven-inch single, ‘Lazaretto’, in just under four hours – something he claims is a world…

  • Mac DeMarco – Salad Days

    April 23, 2014 - By 

    “What Mom doesn’t know/ has taken its toll on me” sings Mac DeMarco on album number three’s lead single, ‘Passing Out the Pieces’. It’s a line that immediately anchors the listener in with what to expect from the rest of his critically praised, self-produced 2014 release, Salad Days. Remarkably the title of the album itself would be far more in line with the Mac (real name: Vernor Winfield McBriare Smith IV) of 2012; the Mac who gained a semi-cult following with some hilarious post-watershed Youtube clips and an anthemic ode to his favourite cigarettes, Viceroy. However in true Mac style…

  • Track Record: BeeMickSee

    April 23, 2014 - By 

    In the latest installment of Track Record – a photo feature looking at the record collections of Irish musicians – Liam Kielt popped by the abode of Oregon-born, Belfast-based rapper Brendan Seamus AKA BeeMickSee. This is the usually point where we mention a few of the acts that are featured but we would prefer to leave it as a surprise on this occasion… Everclear – Sparkle & Fade This one here is my favourite album of all time – ever! A babysitter of mine gave it to me on tape cassette when I was eight or night and I listened to…

  • Gig(s) of the week: Wallis Bird, Hornets EP Launch & Come On Live Long

    April 23, 2014 - By 

    Having wisely branched out to more than one must-see gig in our weekly preview of shows happening across Ireland each week, this week there was no shortage of gigs to choose from. Alas, we must still be in some ways selective, otherwise we’d be saying, “Go to everything”. And who has the money or time for that? So, looking towards the next few days, we figured the following three shows are more than worth checking out: Having released her debut album, Architect, back in 2012, Wexford folk-pop musician Wallis Bird returns to Dublin on Friday night (April 25) for a show at…