• Inbound: Contour

    July 29, 2014 - By 

    Having signed to Belfast-based imprint Champion Sound just last week, Dublin electronic duo Conan Wynne and Anna Doran AKA Contour have hit the ground running since forming in November last year. With the release of their glitchy debut EP, Chaos Theories, we talks to Conan about the formation of Contour, the direction of the project and the current state of Irish electronic music. Hey Conan. Can you give us some background on Contour and how yourself and Anna met? I met Anna while teaching a production course with Realsound Dublin. She was looking to put a mix together using Ableton and…

  • A Guide to The Cathedral Quarter – Part II

    July 29, 2014 - By 

    Photo by Nicholas McCloskey Ask anyone in Belfast: the Cathedral Quarter is the artistic home of Belfast where culture parties and never rests. The energy of the area is contagious judging by the thousands that walk the cobbled streets every week, viewing the murals featuring iconic figures of Northern Ireland or just sampling the buzz. Its approach to art is diverse, giving a platform for various art forms as well as music that maybe aren’t as accessible to the masses including spoken word, dance and visual art forms. This acceptance of the arts is so influential that it even has…

  • A Guide to The Cathedral Quarter – Part I

    July 25, 2014 - By 

    Boasting over 200 free events to over 30,000 attendees, the sixth year of Culture Night Belfast is drawing near with much of the focus being directed towards the city’s stunning Cathedral Quarter, an area which prides itself on being at the heart of cultural locality in the city. Set to take place on Friday, September 19, the annual showcase – which calls itself “the city’s biggest, most colourful and inclusive cultural celebration” – will bring the quarter and it’s many established and makeshift venues to life. The annual Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, which celebrated its fifteenth year in early May, brought the very…

  • Inbound/exclusive remix stream: SlowPlaceLikeHome

    July 23, 2014 - By 

    A self-proclaimed “cosmic forest-dweller”, fast-rising South Donegal musician Keith Mannion AKA SlowPlaceLikeHome has spent the last two years increasingly beguiling us with his sublimely somnambulant craft. Following on from a string of wonderful EPs last year – collectively bookending his extremely promising debut album, There Go The Lights Again – Mannion is set to release the ten-track Romola next month, an albums that us all but seduced already, thanks to singles, ‘She Comes In Colour Stereo’ and ‘Luna’. Accompanied with an exclusive remix stream of John Daly’s take on the former track (below), Brian Coney chats to Mannion about the inspirational value of isolation, the…

  • The Pavilion

    July 22, 2014 - By 

    Yesterday morning we woke up to the news of the closure of another Cork venue. The Pavilion, after eight years under current management, suddenly shut its doors, flourishing with a magnanimous thank-you over its social media channels to its regulars and social media followers. It’s sad. A wonderful venue, that supported Cork artists so wholeheartedly over the years, and brought in its share of legendary names over the years, from Stiff Little Fingers to Lee Scratch Perry, has come to an end. A place where magic was made, a swathe of musicians cut their chops, and a regular crew of DJs,…

  • Classic Movie: Planet of the Apes (1968)

    July 18, 2014 - By 

    It was the beginning of the comedown after the Summer of Love. 1967 had been a remarkable year, where pop culture had truly broken down the barriers, becoming perhaps the most important part of most young people’s lives. Inevitably, the year that followed took on a darker hue, and it was only a matter of time before someone would capture the fear and paranoia that had slowly crept into youth culture. And unbelievably, this dread was perfectly encapsulated in the unforgettable image of a bare-chested man on his knees, pounding his fists into a sandy beach, whilst the waves indifferently…

  • Deep Elm Records & How The Mainstream Ate Our Collective Souls Before Selling Them In A Bargain Bin In A Two For One Deal

    July 17, 2014 - By 

    It’s hard to be an independent record label in 2014. Between the slow, fluctuating, apparent demise of the CD, the hyper-commercialisation of alternative cultures and the fact that the average modern music consumer has the attention span of a five year old after a can of Monster, it’s a struggle for even the most robust, stubborn indie label to stay indie and stay functional. Today, the decision of a young person deciding to focus their career on working with and financing small bands is seen as admirable – it’s a sweet idea, but they’ll eventually give up and get a…

  • Longitude 2014 Must-Sees

    July 16, 2014 - By 

    Off to Marlay Park we go again. After a string of big-name acts performing at the venue these past few weeks, it’s time for Longitude to cap it all off. This is the second year of the festival, and though the line-up mightn’t be as strong as it was last year, there are most certainly a whole host of top acts to catch at this year’s festival. Here are a few of our favourites and a Spotify playlist for your pre-festival persual. Friday Bombay Bicycle Club They might be an obvious choice, but Bombay Bicycle Club are really one of…

  • Beyond Berghain: The Authentic Berlin Experience

    July 17, 2014 - By 

    If you have recently thought of visiting, moving to, or simply losing a weekend in Berlin, let me first of all congratulate you. Your sense of judgement is sound. In the words of Metronomy – if you’ve got to go to Berlin… GO. Everyone knows Berlin is quite actually the Laney Boggs of the world. Even when it wasn’t “hot” (thanks Cold War), David Bowie was living here, for Christ’s sake. And, again, like She’s All That, no one was particularly surprised that the moment Berlin took off her glasses (bye bye Wall), she became a shit-hot babe. But, sadly…

  • Meb Jon Sol: Bound For Glory

    July 14, 2014 - By 

    I pulled my cap further down my brow and buried my face deeper in my scarf to shelter from the biting cold. It had been threatening to snow all day but so far only delivered misty rain that cascaded down in brilliant sheets through the winter night. First came a pair of headlights, piercing the rain grey. Soon the entire shape of the lorry tore around the McKenzie roundabout I was standing on, shuttling at a speed which I feared would cause it to topple over on top of me. The driver maneuvered the roundabout with ease, circling and parking…