• Video exclusive: Arborist – Border Blood

    July 28, 2014 - By 

    Officially launched on Friday, July 18 at Belfast’s Flow Yoga Studio, we’re very pleased to present an exclusive first-look at the video for ‘Border Blood’, the new single by Belfast-based band Arborist. The lead single from the Mark McCambridge-fronted band’s debut album, Home Burial, the track was recorded by Ben McAuley – also a member of the band – at Belfast’s Start Together Studios. Several local musicians – including core members McAuley, Richard Hill and James Heaney, as well as the likes of violinist Luke Bannon and trumpeter Linley Hamilton – perform on the song. The video was shot and edited by…

  • Gigs of the Week: The Jesus and Mary Chain, Indiependence, Oh Volcano, Forfey, Castlepalooza

    July 28, 2014 - By 

    As much a blessing as it it is a curse (priorities, man), not one, not two but three of the country’s finest summer festivals take place this weekend. Speckled across the country, in some of the most scenic surroundings imaginable, Forfey, Indiependence and Castlepalooza all have something unique to offer, their respective aural and visual showcases, bolstered by goodwill and a light ale or two, certain to make the most of the abnormally glorious weather we’ve been enjoying right across Ireland lately. Here’s a brief rundown of the festivals in question, as well as a couple of unmissable standalone gigs for good measure. The…

  • Choice Cuts: The Best Tracks of… July

    July 31, 2014 - By 

    Death From Above 1979 – Trainwreck 1979 (Last Gang Records) The stonking great bass thump on Death From Above 1979‘s 2004 record You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine was an undeniable part of the duo’s past successes. Ten years later and we are finally getting another taste. Their sound hasn’t evolved drastically, but with the new track ‘Trainwreck 1979’, its obvious that the band is out to make a statement, a reaffirmation of what they can do with a bass and a roaring vocal hook. NehruvianDoom – OM (Lex Records) The second track to be unveiled from NehruvianDoom‘s debut album, ‘OM’ is a…

  • Castlepalooza 2014

    July 27, 2014 - By 

    A highly-anticipated annual fixture at the breathtaking Charleville Castle in Tullamore, Castlepalooza 2014 will take place across the weekend of August 1-3. Super Furry Animals’ main man Gruff Rhys, indie-pop duo Summer Camp and Franco-Swiss DJ Gilles Peterson top the bill this year, with several Irish acts including TVVINS, Hurdles, We Cut Corners, The Clameens, Affleck and Ships also featuring in this year’s line-up. Buy tickets and check out full line-up for the festival – taking place across August 1, 2 and 3 – over at Castlepalooza’s official website and check out a live version of ‘Book’ by TVVINS below.

  • Not I/Footfalls/Rockaby by Samuel Beckett @ The MAC

    July 28, 2014 - By 

    From September 2 to September 6, The Mac, Belfast, will present three classic plays by Samuel Beckett, executed in just one-hour long, rarely performed, piece. Not I is an intense monologue, set in a pitch-black space lit by a single beam of light. A disembodied female mouth floats eight feet above the stage and delivers a stream of consciousness, spoken, as Beckett directed, at the speed of thought. Footfalls tells the moving story of May, a ghostly figure who paces back and forth like a metronome outside her dying mother’s room. Completing the trilogy is Rockaby – probably the most famous…

  • I am Divine

    July 28, 2014 - By 

    Prolific filmmaker Jeffrey Schwarz turns his attention to the life and career of drag artist Divine, the cinematic muse of John Waters’ signature films. Divine didn’t invent the idea of being a drag queen, but she did reinvent it, challenging expectations, boundaries, society’s idea of ‘beauty’ and just plain decency and taste, and she did it like nobody else before. As Waters quips in the film, “Divine took it to another level, a level of anarchy”. The film begins with perhaps the crowning moment of Divine and John Waters’ long professional partnership – the premiere of Hairspray in 1988 –…

  • Stream: Girl Band – De Bom Bom

    July 27, 2014 - By 

    Having inveigled with their seven-minute debut single, ‘Lawman’, back in January, Dublin noise rock quartet Girl Band have unveiled its equally inexorable successor, ‘De Bom Bom’. A potent and propulsive effort – positively not created with the airwaves in mind – it is wonderfully severe, spleen-stretching throwdown, clouded in fuzz and driven by a rabid, demented rhythm. Accompanied by a cover of Beat Happening’s ‘I Love You’, the track will see a limited edition 500-run 7-inch, released via Any Other City. With a string of dates with Metz and Slint on the horizon, Girl Band will support the latter pioneers at Belfast’s…

  • 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…