• Watch: Not Squares – Oops Said Hi

    Featuring a sweetly simple and – for fans of their earlier material – compositionally familiar video by their drummer/vocalist Keith Winter, Belfast electro-pop dons Not Squares have resurfaced with a new track, ‘Oops Said Hi’. Taken from their forthcoming second, Strange Brew-released Bolts, it is the sound of a band simultaneously staying true to their (instantly recognisable, Vocoder and beat-driven) sound whilst breaking some new territory. Not Squares will play an all-ages show at Belfast’s Oh Yeah Centre on December 18 and the next installment of Seven Quarters at Dublin’s Whelans on December 19. Watch the video for ‘Oops Said Hi’…

  • Stream: OAKS – SG REX

    Having unveiled his debut release – the eight-track Safe Haven – back in June, Belfast-based musicians James Bruce AKA OAKS has returned with ‘SG REX’. Clocking in over nine minutes, the track traverses all kinds of sonic territory, driven forward with a thoughtful restlessness, finally culminating in a wonderful, twisted throb. Stream the track via Bandcamp below. SG REX by Oaks

  • Festivals: Quarter Block Party

    Cork’s varied and vital cultural communities have always been a pillar of life in the city, but the past year or so has seen exponential growth, despite setbacks. Next year looks set to be a cracker, with a bumper crop of albums and EPs in the pipeline for release, and the announcement of  the Quarter Block Party festival, taking over the venues and businesses of North and South Main Street for a weekend, from February 6th to the 8th. Run as a collaboration between The Makeshift Ensemble (the force of nature behind the Quarter arts all-dayers at the Triskel) and…

  • No Spill Blood – Heavy Electricity

    Dublin dystopia-soundtracking bass/synth/drums trio No Spill Blood have put forward ‘White Out’, the first track to be unveiled from their upcoming debut LP, the Brass Eye-referencing Heavy Electricity, which follows up on their excellent 2012 debut, the Sargent House-released Street Meat EP. The trio is comprised of Hands Up Who Wants To Die bassist Matt Hedigan, drummer Ror Conaty – who recently replaced Adebisi Shank’s Lar Kaye – and synthscaper Ruadhan O’Meara. Their forthcoming 9-track album – featuring vocals on one song from D.I.Y. punk icon Mike Watt -it sounds like more of what you’d come to expect, with the retro-futuristic synth lines that…

  • Stream: No Spill Blood – White Out

    Dublin dystopia-soundtracking bass/synth/drums trio No Spill Blood have put forward ‘White Out’, the first track on their upcoming debut LP, the Brass Eye-referencing Heavy Electricity, which follows up on their excellent 2012 debut, the Sargent House-released Street Meat EP. Taken from their forthcoming 9-track album – featuring vocals on one song from D.I.Y. punk icon Mike Watt – the song is more of what you’d come to expect, with the retro-futuristic synth lines that characterise their sound, along with pulsating, doomy fuzz bass and pounding rhythmic repetition. The album is available to pre-order now on Bandcamp, and is released through Sargent House on January 27. Heavy Electricity by No Spill…

  • Rave New World (12/12)

    In the first weekly installment of Rave New World (Huxley would’ve approved, right?) Antoin Lindsay and Aidan Hanratty delve into very best new electronic tracks and mixes of the week, as well as unmissable upcoming nights and releases. Get diggin’. Gigs Twitch Present: Levon Vincent at Mandela Hall, Saturday, December 13 In Belfast all roads lead to Twitch on Saturday where, in a slight change to their usual venue in The Bunatee, they have house maestro Levon Vincent playing in the Mandela Hall. Anyone who was lucky enough to catch Belfast boys Bicep there earlier in the year will attest…

  • Track Record: Chris Couzens (Slomatics)

    In the latest installment of Track Record, Chris Couzens from Belfast-based doom overlords Slomatics gives us an insight in his wonderfully wide-ranging record collection. Photos by May Chan. Iron Maiden – The Number Of The Beast My grandmother bought me Powerslave by Iron Maiden for Christmas in 1984. It made a big impression on me as an eight year old and I’ve been hooked on music since. I could have easily picked any or all of the first eight Maiden records in this list. I went with Number Of The Beast because of the iconic Derek Riggs cover. It’d be impossible…

  • Peter Gabriel @ 3Arena, Dublin

    Let’s face it: Peter Gabriel still has it. For a man who was in his prime both musically and physically thirty years ago, he seriously puts this (almost) thirty-year old to shame, leaping and bounding across the 3Arena stage and exercising vocals that sound as fresh as they did back then. Unassumingly strolling onto the stage, with the full house lights still, Gabriel announces that the show will be divided into three parts: a “supper” if you will, and he as our waiter. The first course will be the acoustic appetiser, the second, the ‘savoury’ course of a full electric set complete…