• Robin Williams: R.I.P.

    We watch off as it happens again. Another familiar name that stared out from the telly or from the posters is gone. We’ve trained ourselves to observe these passings like a spectator sport, another body of work coming to end without a second thought for the families and friends left behind. We tell ourselves that people die around the world everyday in war and famine, accuse others of bandwagoneering, and in some sort of perverse way, these people are almost rationalised away as casualties of a full life, rewarded with infinite adulation. A name and a face on a wall.…

  • Martha Wainwright announces Dublin shows

    Canadian singer-songwriter Martha Wainwright has announced that she will be performing in Dublin later on this year. The American singer has confirmed that she play two intimate shows on November 3 and 4 at Whelan’s. Tickets go on sale this Wednesday August 13 at 9am, and these will cost €25. Wainwright, sister of acclaimed singer Rufus Wainwright, released her latest album Come Home To Mama in 2012. Check out ‘Proserpina’ below.

  • Stream: Mons Olympus – Critical Mass

    ‘Critical Mass’ is the debut single from Belfast’s latest riff-pedalling prog behemoths Mons Olympus and was produced by Mojo Fury’s Mike Mormecha. The track comes from their upcoming debut album Vampyroteuthis, which has a tentative release date of Spring 2015. Having been in the works for the last year, progressive trio Mons Olympus comprises Rory Dee, Luke Burns and John Quinn, the core members of Chocolate Love Factory, who officially disbanded earlier in 2014. ‘Critical Mass’ is available to download for a mere 88p from Bandcamp, but you can stream it below: Critical Mass by Mons Olympus    

  • Jungle – Jungle

    If the early years of the second decade of the 21st Century are looked back on by culture historians and future mars-dwelling anthropologists, then the most striking thing that hopefully hits them isn’t just our society’s over-reliance on dance bangers and international rappers but also the grey period that alternative music went through. Alt-J, Metronomy and to a lesser extent Future Islands are helping build up a series of strong copyright cases by releasing each other’s songs; weak bladdered knock-offs of LCD Soundsystem which although not terrible, aren’t anything special. Into the fray step Jungle. Jungle starts off promisingly enough.…