• The Complete Guide to Therapy?: Part 3

    March 26, 2014 - By 

    PREVIOUSLY: Signing with A&M (now part of Universal’s maze of industry-quashing acquisitions), Therapy? begin setting about making debut full-length Nurse, a mongrel of industrial production, noise turbulence and well-honed pop that immediately makes an impact, from charting to making a cameo in Seinfeld. ‘Teethgrinder’ charts in Ireland, and touring continues apace. The grunge bandwagon comes calling, however, and Therapy? do the right and appropriate thing: fuck off and write a punk album for themselves. Troublegum and the slew of singles that precede it transform the boys in black into chart-bothering, festival-headlining titans, with ‘Screamager’ leading the Shortsharpshock E.P. into the…

  • Track Record: Ships

    March 26, 2014 - By 

    Dublin band Ships released their single ‘Space Inside’ as a 7″/digital release on Berlin’s Stratosfear Recordings label this week. Sorca McGrath and Simon Cullen took time out to chat to Ian Pearce about their own favourite records in their collections. You can purchase their latest track on Bandcamp: First up is Sorca. Arthur Russell – Another Thought This record is like probably his most private record. It sounds like something that he dreamt up. It feels private when I listen to it as well. I listen to it in moments when I need a little time-out. It’s my time-out record.…

  • First Tennents Vital Show Announced

    March 26, 2014 - By 

    The Killers will be coming to Belfast to perform as part of the Tennents Vital series of gigs. The show will take place at the Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast on the 21st of August. And if the prospect of the American band doesn’t have you excited enough already, Bastille will also be playing on the night. Tickets for the show will cost €49.50 and will go on sale next Monday, March 31 at 9am.  

  • The Complete Guide to Therapy?: Part 2

    March 25, 2014 - By 

    PREVIOUSLY: Guitarist Andy Cairns and drummer Fyfe Ewing meet at a Battle of the Bands and start jamming after talking about bands they like in common. First demo tape 30 Seconds of Silence showcases a wide variety of ideas, and soon they’re joined by Ewing’s classmate Michael McKeegan, for the recording of second demo tape Meat Abstract. The intrepid trio set off on tour around Ireland, and with the release of their debut single, also entitled Meat Abstract, the UK. While in London, the band gets airplay from John Peel, and begins to garner label interest. Signing with Wiiija, Therapy?…

  • Video exclusive: Sullivan & Gold – Nobody Loves You

    March 26, 2014 - By 

    Our second video exclusive from a Northern Irish duo this week comes courtesy of Derry singer-songwriter two-piece Ben Robinson and Adam Montgomery AKA Sullivan & Gold and their heartfelt cover of Reuben’s ‘Nobody Loves You’. Filmed by PIGMINTFILM, the video features Ben and Adam – previously of The Good Fight – performing their rendition of the song in Coleraine’s The Stables Flower Co. Sullivan & Gold will play the following dates over the next few of weeks: April 4 – Flowerfield Arts Centre, Portstewart April 12 – Whelan’s, Dublin April 24 – Cafe Nero (Lombard St, Fountain St, Botanic Av), Belfast April 25 – Cafe…

  • Stream: Benihana – Machines

    March 25, 2014 - By 

    Featuring a sample of Charlie Chaplin’s famous speech from The Great Dictator, Kildare electronic duo Will Molloy and Billy Archbold AKA Benihana have released a new track titled ‘Machines’. Speaking of current plans, the pair said, “We actually havent played any gigs yet so at the moment we’re  working on a few tracks with the hope of building up enough material for a decent set. We’re also starting to look at how exactly we’re going to play our stuff live – still a bit unsure! Once the new tracks are finished, hopefully we’ll be able to start piecing together our next…

  • Future Islands – Singles

    March 25, 2014 - By 

    The hardest working band in electronic pop have moved to 4AD for their fourth album of delicately skewed and melodically-crushing heartbreak. Superficially, Singles carries on the Baltimore trio’s business of creating crafted, if slightly unsettling vignettes of loves lost, unrequited or simply illusory. The likes of ‘Tinman’ (from breakthrough second album In Evening Air) frantically pulsed with a combination of galloping bass and simmering synth washes and –most importantly – the astonishing voice of one Sam Herring. Herring’s half strangled, affected and utterly effecting throaty laments leant those songs a kind of raw, unnerving authenticity that made you believe he…

  • Causeway @ Ulster Hall

    March 24, 2014 - By 

    On Wednesday, March 26, Belfast’s historical Ulster Hall will play host to the premiere of Causeway, a special orchestra-electronic tribute to the Northern Irish coastline. The third commission undertaken by Ulster Orchestra and Associate Composer Ian Wilson, the production is “firmly rooted in the mythos and history of Northern Ireland, in this instance taking its inspiration from the formation of the Giant’s Causeway.” Speaking of the event, the Ulster Orchestra said, “In order to depict the three geological processes which helped form the Causeway – shifting tectonic plates, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes – Ian, for the first time in his work, has combined…

  • The Complete Guide To Therapy?: Part 1

    March 24, 2014 - By 

    Your writer would have been six years old when, at the end of The Den, the video for Nowhere came on. It was unlike anything. From the kaleidoscopic visual onslaught, to the menace of frontman Andy Cairns and his bob ‘n’ goatee combo behind his black Gibson SG, to the wailing police-siren lead that overlays its rollicking chorus. There are times when you can’t explain what makes sense, but it just does, especially at that age. And it stayed with me, lying dormant through childish flights of fancy through Britpop, nu-metal, assorted electronic pop and whatever else was handy to…