• In Photos: Record Store Day 2014

    April 23, 2014 - By 

    Almost certainly the busiest Record Store Day to date, Saturday past (April 19) saw queues of varying lengths form at the crack dawn outside record stores across the world, thus kickstarting a whole day of celebrating independent music, one-off releases and – perhaps most importantly – record stores themselves. Whilst Paul Weller has since said he won’t be participating again due to seeing his RSD release selling for extortionate prices online, other musicians such as Jack White got right on board, recording, cutting and selling a seven-inch single, ‘Lazaretto’, in just under four hours – something he claims is a world…

  • Mac DeMarco – Salad Days

    April 23, 2014 - By 

    “What Mom doesn’t know/ has taken its toll on me” sings Mac DeMarco on album number three’s lead single, ‘Passing Out the Pieces’. It’s a line that immediately anchors the listener in with what to expect from the rest of his critically praised, self-produced 2014 release, Salad Days. Remarkably the title of the album itself would be far more in line with the Mac (real name: Vernor Winfield McBriare Smith IV) of 2012; the Mac who gained a semi-cult following with some hilarious post-watershed Youtube clips and an anthemic ode to his favourite cigarettes, Viceroy. However in true Mac style…

  • Track Record: BeeMickSee

    April 23, 2014 - By 

    In the latest installment of Track Record – a photo feature looking at the record collections of Irish musicians – Liam Kielt popped by the abode of Oregon-born, Belfast-based rapper Brendan Seamus AKA BeeMickSee. This is the usually point where we mention a few of the acts that are featured but we would prefer to leave it as a surprise on this occasion… Everclear – Sparkle & Fade This one here is my favourite album of all time – ever! A babysitter of mine gave it to me on tape cassette when I was eight or night and I listened to…

  • Trans-Europe Express #3: Lithuania

    April 22, 2014 - By 

    Nestled between Russia’s Kaliningrad Oblast, Poland, Latvia, Belarus and the Baltic Sea, Lithuania’s geographic location in Europe’s northeastern corner has had a significant effect on the evolution of the country’s music scene. Under Soviet rule for fifty years from 1940 to 1990 – save for a brief period under German occupation during World War II – the growth of an alternative music scene in Lithuania was stunted somewhat due to Western influences, especially rock, being surpressed by a communist regimé which viewed such styles as products of decadence and a source of social corruption. But nonetheless, Western music still managed…

  • Watch: We Cut Corners – Hunger

    April 22, 2014 - By 

    It’s not long now until our next No Tomorrow show at Belfast’s Voodoo Bar on Saturday, May 3. Performing on the night is Jason Deadman (DJ set), Liza Flume and Dublin indie rock duo We Cut Corners, who have just unveiled the video for their new single, ‘Hunger’ Taken from the band’s hugely impressive second album, Think Nothing – set for release on April 25 in Ireland) and May 12 in the UK – the video for the track is the latest in a series of visual accompaniments by the fast-rising duo. Produced by We Destroy You/Dang and directed, filmed, edited by Kendy Ty the…

  • Stream: GO WOLF – One More Night

    April 22, 2014 - By 

    Having recently (and very deservedly) secured the support slot for Wild Beasts at Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival on May 8, Belfast indie-pop band GO WOLF have released a slick new track, ‘One More Night’. Set for release on June 2, the song – recorded by Rocky O’Reilly at Start Together Studios and mastered by Robin Schmidt of 24-96 Mastering – charges forth confidently, gleaming synth-lines and bobbing rhythms meshing to form a strong three and half minutes, its main earworming melody lingering in the mind well after a first spin (which is no bad thing, of course). Check out the…

  • Croupier to call it a day

    April 22, 2014 - By 

    Having played a stellar show at We Play Here’s Record Store Day Weekender show on Sunday, Wicklow indie rock band Croupier have announced that they are parting ways at the end of May. After six years together, the band released the following statement regarding their disbandment: “As some people may already know, as of June 2014, Croupier will be coming to an end. It has been a difficult decision to make, however, we feel it is the right moment for us to finish. It’s been an amazing experience in which we have had the opportunity to not only play music as five close…

  • Watch: Cave Ghosts – Come Into My World

    April 22, 2014 - By 

    Released as part of this year’s Record Store Day (and, indeed, Gay) Dublin alt-pop band Cave Ghosts‘ sublime rendering of Kylie Minogue’s ‘Come Into My World’ has more than a touch of Devotion-era Beach House about it. Helping raise funds for Dublin’s Outhouse LGBT Community Centre, the woozy cover was released in the name of Record Store Gay on Saturday. Speaking about the track, the band said, “We wanted to completely reimagine the original song and create a visual accompaniment in the form of a music video. We desired a more lush sound to our previous recordings and achieved this…

  • Gig(s) of the week: Wallis Bird, Hornets EP Launch & Come On Live Long

    April 23, 2014 - By 

    Having wisely branched out to more than one must-see gig in our weekly preview of shows happening across Ireland each week, this week there was no shortage of gigs to choose from. Alas, we must still be in some ways selective, otherwise we’d be saying, “Go to everything”. And who has the money or time for that? So, looking towards the next few days, we figured the following three shows are more than worth checking out: Having released her debut album, Architect, back in 2012, Wexford folk-pop musician Wallis Bird returns to Dublin on Friday night (April 25) for a show at…