• Rave New World (7/8)

    August 7, 2015 - By 

    Antoin Lindsay takes a look at some of the best electronic gigs, mixes, tracks and releases of the week, including Florist, Klaus and KABLAM. GIGS Beat BBQ – To The Bone EP 48 at The Treehouse [am:pm], Belfast Friday 7 August Timmy Stewart is a familiar face around Belfast, and he’ll be celebrating 20 years of DJing with parties around Belfast. Tonight, he’ll be joined by Feel My Bicep’s Hammer, Twitch and other local DJs for a free night in The Treehouse with no shortage of techno, I imagine. Tw!tch – Livity Sound Night with Peverelist & Kowton at Queens Student…

  • EP Premiere: Feather Beds – Ah Stop

    August 6, 2015 - By 

    Having just returned to Dublin following two years living in Quebec, Dublin producer Michael Orange AKA Feather Beds has hit the ground of his homeland running with Ah Stop, a stellar new EP was recorded “in the middle of a particularly gruelling and sub-zero winter in Montreal” back in February. An appendix of sorts to his debut album, The Skeletal System, which was released at the start of the year, the EP shows a self-described “marked shift in direction towards a more electronic feel and brings an introduction to the second full-length album, which is scheduled for release in 2016.” As just under…

  • Festival Mixtape: Stendhal Festival of Art

    August 6, 2015 - By 

    Hands down the best annual music and arts festival in the North of Ireland – and officially Ireland’s Best Small Festival – Stendhal Festival of Art returns to Limavady this weekend with yet another genre-spanning festival for revellers young and old. Headlined by the equally legendary Donovan and Kerbdog, this year’s outing once again features a wide-ranging slew of homegrown talent, including Ciaran Lavery, The Bonnevilles, Robyn G Shiels, GO WOLF, Rainy Boy Sleep, Hot Cops, Tucan, Katharine Philippa, Sister Ghost, Oh Volcano and more. Go here to buy tickets and stream our fifteen-track Festival Mixtape for this year’s festival below.

  • Visual Arts Outlook (4/8)

    August 4, 2015 - By 

    So after a longer than intended yet still brief hiatus (when I say hiatus I mean holidays in the rain!), I’m back with all your Visual Arts events, wants and needs. As usual July was a quiet month, with many shows continuing on, or galleries preparing for the busy Autumn period (don’t worry – I know we’re not there yet). The beginning of August sees lots of new events on the Irish art scene, including a three day exhibition at Pollen, The Lime Walk Project featuring work by Aiden Deery, Gail Mahon, Heather Dornan Wilson, Stuart Cairns, Alice Clarke and…

  • The Hefty Fog: A Flag Worth Flying?

    August 4, 2015 - By 

    It’s hardly worth reiterating the connection between Heavy Metal and dark, often upsetting imagery. The artwork used to push records and merchandise has always been the first talking point in any critique of extreme music and this has both served and damaged its legitimacy in the larger public eye. While the moral outrage has all but fizzled out since the Satanic Panic of the 1980s and contemporary bands now enjoy the kind of immunity not afforded to their peacockish forebears, the recent controversy in the USA regarding the Confederate flag has forced a previously unchallenged theme in Metal to surface,…

  • Monday Mixtape: The Watchmakers

    August 3, 2015 - By 

    Ahead of their show at Reverbnation Psych Weekender in Dublin on August 14, self-proclaimed “fusion of shimmering, mind expanding aural surrealism and neo-psych grooves” The Watchmakers give us an insight into their current listening habits and key influences. The Babe Rainbow – Secret Enchanted Broccoli Forest Australia is currently producing some of our favourite new music. Everyone know’s all about the likes of Tame Impala, Pond and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard to name but three, but The Babe Rainbow are definitely my tip to be the next ‘Ozzy’ band to get people excited. Hinds – Trippy Gum The best act we…

  • Rave New World (31/07)

    July 31, 2015 - By 

    It’s the weekend. A Bank Holiday weekend no less. So Aidan Hanratty and Antoin Lindsay deliver their weekly look at all the very best electronic gigs, tracks, mixes and releases. GIGS Belfast Music Club Present: JG Wilkes and Eamon Harkin at The Hudson Bar, Belfast Friday 31 July An absolute scorcher of a night happening at The Hudson tonight. JG Wilkes and Eamon Harkin have established themselves in two of the greatest resident DJ collectives in the world, namely Optimo and Mister Saturday Night respectively. The common ground is they’re both from Ireland, and while they’ve made their names elsewhere, they’re joining forces…

  • Live Stream: Smalltown America All-Dayer #6

    July 31, 2015 - By 

    Co-hosted with yours truly, Smalltown America records will host their grand sixth All-Dayer this evening at STA HQ in Derry this evening from 5pm. Featuring American Clay, Carnivores, Clanns, Freak’s, Lost Avenue, PigsAsPeople, Rosseau and Small Hawk Orchestral, it is set to be yet another unforgettable, riff-fuelled happening from one of the country’s finest labels. Not able to make it? Never worry. Stream the entire thing below from 5pm! Better still, we will have videos from the All-Dayer coming on the site over the next few weeks. Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream

  • DIY Dublin: Nine Crows

    July 28, 2015 - By 

    In the latest installment of DIY Dublin, Benni Johnston catches up with Emma and Dean from Nine Crows, a boutique on Ormond Quay Lower specialising in hand-picked vintage clothing. Photos by Abi Denniston. Hi guys. Nine Crows is now well established as a go to place for great vintage finds and progressive fashion both the store and online but I’ve been aware of it in it’s many guises for some time. Fill us in on the background of the shop to present day. Emma: My grandmother left me tonnes and tonnes of vintage pieces that she had collected throughout the years,…

  • Monday Mixtape: Bobby Aherne (No Monster Club)

    July 27, 2015 - By 

    “What kind of music are you into?” The dreaded question that, for many years, sent shivers down my spine, stopped me in my tracks and put a blank Fr. Dougal McGuire stare into my eyes. You might think that somebody who actually makes music has both the perfect response and riposte to this, assuming that one’s personal tuneage is both a distillation of their essence as well as a full-length mirror of their own tastes (incidentally reflecting back the sheer amount of plagiarism at work). Sadly, unless you decide to sit down the quizmaster and force them to endure one’s…