• Salome @ Grand Opera House, Belfast

    February 11, 2015 - By 

    Macabre, provocative, sexually-charged, unrelentingly intense; Northern Ireland Opera’s visceral interpretation of Richard Strauss’s opera Salomewas all these things and more. And few who were present are ever likely to forget the sight of soprano Giselle Allen’s Salome, drenched in John the Baptist’s blood and pleasuring herself, in paroxysms of ecstasy, with his decapitated head. This matinee performance was undoubtedly a stimulating alternative to church and Sunday lunch. As one well-heeled septuagenarian lady commented at the end of this very rock ‘n’ roll show: “I’ve never spent a Sunday afternoon quite like that before.” Nor Allen, as like as not. In…

  • Stream: All Tvvins – Thank You

    February 11, 2015 - By 

    Having received its premiere on Zane Lowe’s Radio 1 programme last night, All Tvvins are streaming their debut single, the totally triumphant ‘Thank You’. Last month we summed up the track – namely a live version released last year – as “A charming and bewitching math-pop track released as a live video from the post-Adebisi supergroup. Whip-smart in the composition, and beautifully restrained in the delivery, it is a wonderful dichotomy of heart-warming melodies and existential uncertainty, sealed with searing, aching swell guitar.” The recorded version is just that and more – truly sublime.

  • Watch: M Sord – Talk It Over With Your Manager

    February 11, 2015 - By 

    Michigan based one man act M.Sord (introduced to these shores by none other than Bobby Ahearne from No Monster Club) has just released a video for his almost-instrumental ‘Talk About It With Your Manager’ from the album Rick McMann. Watch an incredibly boring day for employees at ‘Clownmeat Inc.’ where they create the mystery luncheon delicacy (or Billy Roll to most) and how they hilariously incorporate the recent water charges protest to full effect. The video was recorded and produced in Dublin by Caoimhe Lavelle and Daniel Martin.

  • Watch: More Than Conquerors – Red

    February 11, 2015 - By 

    Both in terms of songwriting and sheer work ethic, Northern Irish alt-rock quartet More Than Conquerors have always stood out from many of their music-making peers. Have entered a new phase of their journey to date, the band seem more intent and enthused than ever, something the earworming ‘Red’ goes some distance in confirming. The Belfast-based band’s first single of 2015, the track is a self-proclaimed “strange elegy and a strange right to understanding. It’s our reason to continue what we’ve started and to play harder than we ever have. When death comes it brings a strange atmosphere to life and music. It…

  • Inbound: Hare Squead

    February 11, 2015 - By 

    In this installment of Inbound we chat to Jessy and Tony from Dublin based hip-hop trio Hare Squead about the foundation of their sound, sidetracking profanity, their forthcoming debut album and more. Photos by Alessio Michelini. So tell us about Hare Squead. Who are you, and what’s your deal? We are just three polite boys from Dublin who like to sing and perform, and make people happy. We want to be joyful and energetic and we want to spread that to other people. Discuss each members individual strengths and traits and what you bring collectively. We decided to write these about each other, just…

  • Quarter Block Party 2015

    February 11, 2015 - By 

    FRIDAY The excitement is palpable throughout the city’s creative communities in the run-up to the Block Party, and even before your writer gets to his relatively late start on proceedings, word filters through that the Structures and Strategies meeting will lead to more events in its vein, a forum for local creatives to air ideas and exchange thoughts. People’s gears are grinding already, it seems. We’re waiting outside the Gate Cinema for a few minutes and the small group outside is already conjecturing about what they’ll see out of charismatic American performer Kate McGrew (below), as well as plotting and…

  • AAA Tour Edition: Bear’s Den

    February 11, 2015 - By 

    In this special installment of AAA (Access All Areas) we hop on tour with London alt-folk trio Bear’s Den as they took in the Workman’s Club in Dublin and Voodoo in Belfast with support from Rukhsana Merrise last weekend. View both full galleries of their tour below,  filled to the brim with photos by Shaun Neary and Sara Marsden. The Workman’s Club in Dublin by Shaun Neary Voodoo in Belfast by Sara Marsden