• Way Out West Festival

    July 30, 2013 - By 

    Head in the heart of Gothenburg, Sweden, Way Out West Festival is easily the best go-to festival in the country for music-loving, culturally orientated young minds. From a more general perspective, though, it boasts one of the most downright incredible line-ups in a summer festival anywhere in the world this year. Set to take place from 8-10 August, the festival – now in its seventh years – will be headlined by Neil Young and Crazy Horse and will feature a whole host of some of the best artists out there, everyone from Grimes, Kendrick Lamar and Azealia Banks to Godspeed You!…

  • Tanglewood Music and Arts Festival

    July 29, 2013 - By 

    Taking place at the incomparably scenic surroundings of Narrow Water Castle in Warrenpoint, Tanglewood Music and Arts festival returns for its third outing on the weekend of August 3 and 4. Headlined by globetrotting North Coast post-rock quartet And So I Watch You From Afar, the showcase also boasts a line-up including the likes of Thin Lizzy guitarist/singer-songwriter Eric Bell, electronic duo The Japanese Popstars and Belfast singer-songwriter Peter Wilson AKA Duke Special. Several up-and-coming and increasingly established homegrown acts included More Than Conquerors,Pocket Billiards and Hurdles also feature in the line-up, set to take place across four stages. Tickets – available for £35.00 for the weekend – are available to buy here.

  • Festival Mixtape: Tanglewood Music and Arts Festival 2013

    July 29, 2013 - By 

    Taking place at the incomparably scenic surroundings of Narrow Water Castle in Warrenpoint, Tanglewood Music and Arts festival returns for its third outing on the weekend of August 3 and 4. Headlined by globetrotting North Coast post-rock quartet And So I Watch You From Afar, the showcase also boasts a line-up including the likes of Thin Lizzy guitarist/singer-songwriter Eric Bell, electronic duo The Japanese Popstars and Belfast singer-songwriter Peter Wilson AKA Duke Special. Several up-and-coming and increasingly established homegrown acts included More Than Conquerors, Pocket Billiards and Hurdles also feature in the line-up, set to take place across four stages. With…

  • The Wood Burning Savages – Long Good Friday

    July 29, 2013 - By 

    Derry alt-rock quartet The Wood Burning Savages have unveiled their new single, the excellent ‘Long Good Friday’. Recorded and mixed by the band’s bassist Dan Acheson, the five-minute track follows on from the band’s previous single, ‘All I Want To Know’. The Wood Burning Savages – fronted by Paul Connolly – recently performed at the last ever Glasgowbury festival at Eagle’s Rock, Draperstown. Stream the track or buy (name your price) via Bandcamp below. Anyone else hearing Patti Smith?

  • Turn It Up: An alternative Blur playlist

    July 29, 2013 - By 

    ‘Girls and Boys’, ‘Parklife’, ‘Songs 2’ – the vast majority of us could hum the choruses to each of these Blur singles in our sleep, night after night, until time itself consumes us and the final under-the-breath muttered “woohoo” for eternity. Which is not necessary a bad thing, of course. In their heyday, Alex James, Damon Albarn, Dave Rowntree and Graham Coxon were collectively responsible for concocting some of the most ridiculously infectious singles of a generation. Lingering beneath that exterior, however, was a considerably more experimental knack spearheaded by the wonderfully wayward playing of Coxon and Albarn’s own brand of…

  • Inbound: Affleck (Exclusive EP stream)

    July 29, 2013 - By 

    Seventy-five percent of sadly-departed experimental pop foursome Eatenbybears, Affleck are a Belfast-based three-piece that have covered quite a bit of ground in the four months since the former outfit’s untimely dissolution back in March. Comprised of Aidan Kelly, Clark Phillips and James Pollock, the electronic pop outfit – dusting themselves down and arguably finding their sound – have been occupied writing and recording their all-too-brief self-titled debut EP, a sublime five-track slab of phantasmal harmonies, shuffling somnambulist rhythms and subtly cascading, wonderfully woven electronic noise. As it so happens, for this week’s special installment of Inbound, we have an exclusive stream…

  • Walton – Beyond

    July 29, 2013 - By 

    On his debut LP young Hyperdub affiliate Walton has produced 13 disparate and genre-spanning tracks that comfortably sit seemingly incongruous sounds alongside one another while liberally peppering a range of R’n’B samples throughout. By adeptly ensuring that this blend never seems forced – and, crucially, always keeping the dancefloor in mind – Walton displays a maturity beyond his years; with Beyond never losing focus or meandering off on aimless tangents. The opening title track sets out the record’s modus operandi both literally and figuratively with the use of a sample from Mary J. Blige‘s ‘Forever No More’. The refrain which states “a…

  • International Beckett Festival 2013

    July 27, 2013 - By 

    The world’s largest annual multi-arts celebration of Nobel Prize winning writer Samuel Beckett, the Happy Days International Beckett Festival returns to Enniskillen this August from Thursday 22 to Monday 26. Encompassing a number of events in not only theatre but also dance, comedy, visual arts and several special one-off performances. The first annual festival to celebrate Beckett’s work and influence, last year’s festival coincided with the 400th anniversary of the founding of Enniskillen. Beckett himself spent his formative years attending the town’s Portora Royal School, previously attended by Oscar Wilde and latterly by Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy. To buy tickets…

  • Grant Hart – The Argument

    July 26, 2013 - By 

    In some ways, it must sort of suck being a person like Grant Hart. Amongst a subset of people you had reached a level of respect and adoration reserved only for deities. Your work was critically acclaimed and sold impressively for underground scene. The music you wrote not only inspired a generation but brought about a sea change within the mainstream. And yet you never quite cracked it. You teetered close within the 90s with Nova Mob’s Last Days of Pompeii album – buy it – and your own solo work, but ultimately never got the fame you so rightfully…

  • Cuttooth – Cuttooth LP

    July 26, 2013 - By 

    Considering the gruesome state of current urban music trends, evocative and engaging Hip Hop can be pretty tough to come by these days, and with the likes of J Dilla and Flying Lotus having set the standard for dreamy, lush and stripped back Hip Hop compositions (Strip Hop?) Cuttooth – aka Nick Cooke – manages to hold his own in this milieu with his second, self-titled LP.  It doesn’t feel like there is a direct regurgitating of the late Dilla or of the very much still rocking FlyLo, but, there is more than just a tip of the hat to…