• Happy Days Festival: Catastrophe

    August 12, 2014 - By 

    It seemed certain that somebody would let the cat out of the bag. A tongue would slip and the secret would surely be out. The mystery surrounding the location of the Ceithleann Island Theatre Company’s performances of Samuel Beckett’s Catastrophe was an imaginative programming touch of the Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett Festival and a great publicity generator. Despite two performances every day bar one throughout the marathon eleven-day festival, nobody spilled the beans. On this day, the bus routinely picks up about fifty people from Enniskillen Castle and heads out into the wilds of the Fermanagh countryside – destination…

  • Album stream: SlowPlaceLikeHome – Romola

    August 12, 2014 - By 

    Ahead of headlining the next installment of our gig/club night No Tomorrow, self-proclaimed “cosmic forest-dweller”/Donegal electronic artist Keith Mannion AKA SlowPlaceLikeHome has released his new album, Romola. And it’s very, very good. With our full-length verdict to come later in the week, the ten-track album was written, performed, recorded, mixed and produced by Mannion in Donegal’s Knather Woods. Go here to read our recent interview with Mannion, here for the Facebook event page for the No Tomorrow show (at Belfast’s Voodoo on Saturday, November 6 – also featuring Somadrone and Documenta DJS) and stream Romola via Bandcamp below. Romola by SlowPlaceLikeHome

  • In Photos: Wacken Open Air – Saturday

    August 12, 2014 - By 

    Isabel Thomas shoots the final day of this year’s Wacken Open Air Festival in Germany, featuring the likes of Arch Enemy, Kreator, Hatebreed, Megadeth, the Devin Townsend Project and more. Go here to check out Wednesday/Thursday and here for photos from Friday.

  • Parquet Courts – Sunbathing Animal

    August 12, 2014 - By 

    There must be a sense of relative trepidation whenever an underground band are thrown into the media spotlight from the depths of relative obscurity, and viewed by many a rock critic as the latest bearers of the indie rock torch. That sort of instant exposure was something that befell Brooklyn via Texas natives Parquet Courts, in the early part of last year, following the release of their second record Light Up Gold, especially after the success of the utterly infectious ‘Stoned and Starving’. Light Up Gold was considered a little rough around the edges, which resulted in the group being…

  • Jabberwocky Festival cancelled

    August 12, 2014 - By 

    All Tomorrow’s Parties have announced that Jabberwocky festival, set to take place this weekend, has been cancelled. Neutral Milk Hotel (above) James Blake, Darkside, Caribou and more were set to perform at the two-day London event. In a post on their Facebook page, ATP founder Barry Hogan wrote “It is with deep sadness we regret to inform everyone that as of today Tuesday 12th August 2014, ATP is being forced into cancelling this weekend’s Jabberwocky festival. Refunds will be available to all customers at the point of purchase. We have put everything into promoting Jabberwocky, and despite healthy ticket sales;…

  • Gigs of the week: Slint, Blue Whale, The Charlatans, DJ Food, Squarehead, Deafheaven

    August 12, 2014 - By 

    It’s somewhat of a dow-time for gigs these days, with Electric Picnic looming in just a few weeks, it seems that the smaller shows have dried up just a little bit. That’s not to say that there are not numerous shows taking place right across around the country this week, and we’ve picked out a few that are most definitely worth checking out. Slint, Girl Band – Limelight 2, Belfast; Monday, August 18 Louisville post-rock pioneers Slint make their Belfast debut on Monday, August 18 at Limelight 2. Hands down one of the most influential bands of all time, they will…