• Stream: Deafheaven – From The Kettle Onto The Coil

    August 25, 2014 - By 

    San Francisco’s leading black metal outfit Deafheaven have released a studio version of their new song ‘From The Kettle Onto The Coil’. The five piece, having just played a well received show at Belfast’s Mandela Hall (review here) have been playing this new song at most of their recent shows. While it sounds familiar to their 2013 breakthrough album Sunbather, it has a few notable deviations, including some chugging guitars and vocals from George Clarke that are less concealed in the mix. ‘From The Kettle Onto The Coil’ can be heard below via SoundCloud. It can be downloaded for free starting…

  • 100 Years of Irish Women Artists 1870-1970

    August 21, 2014 - By 

    Irish Women Artists 1870–1970 at The Ava Gallery is one of the most significant exhibitions of its kind for many years. The seventy five paintings, drawings, engravings and sculptures represent some of the most important artists in the history of modern Irish art and have been gathered from privately owned collections  throughout Ireland. This doesn’t happen every day. In fact, the last time historical Irish women artists were accorded such an honor was back in the 1980s. “I do think it’s very significant,” says Claire Dalton, co-manager of the exhibition. “So much happened in that time period that still resonates…

  • His New Atlas – Torn Out Lungs EP

    August 21, 2014 - By 

    The brainchild of young singer-songwriter Eoghan O’Hagan, aka His New Atlas, releases his new EP, Torn Out Lungs on September 5. The EP – his third since His New Atlas’ early 2013 inception – will be launched with a full band show at the Platform 1 Bar in Armagh on September 12, with further details yet to be announced. He has so far released the video for single ‘His Young’ – although a second single, ‘Pillars’ will be released along with a video in the not-too-distant future – which you can check out below:

  • 30 Years of Serious Mucking About – Gerry Anderson (1944-2014)

    August 21, 2014 - By 

    In Northern Ireland, we like to think of ourselves as an open, friendly, earthy people, bereft of the pretensions and airs that our ‘betters’ frequently display. Not for us the ‘hoity toity’ high life, instead preferring that natural warmth and good folk humour that touches the parts of the heart few other things can approach. Frankly, the truth is somewhat different (to put it mildly), but if one were able to hold up an avatar of what we consider to be the embodiment of that warmth and humour, you’d have been hard pressed to find anyone better than broadcaster and…

  • Bear In Heaven – Time Is Over One Day Old

    August 21, 2014 - By 

    Time Is Over One Day Old is the fourth studio album by Bear in Heaven. It is also their finest album to date, more relaxed than Beast Rest Forth Mouth or I Love You, It’s Cool, though certainly not a million miles away from these earlier outings. There are more of the rippling synths, the running basslines and coy vocal progressions which mark out Bear in Heaven’s sound. The formula has always worked and they have recognised this – it now works even better. There are many comparisons to be made with this album, yet it manages to be unique…

  • The Expendables 3

    August 20, 2014 - By 

    The Expendables 3, the latest in Hollywood’s action-star pension plan, confirms the series’ status as the modern action genre’s biggest missed opportunity. Star and story producer Sylvester Stallone has mined his rolodex for a beefed-up (emphasis on the beef) punch-a-thon for him and his bulging buddies and while there are some welcome roster additions, Stallone and new director Patrick Hughes remain unable to dream up material worthy of the star wattage on show. We’re three films deep, and the franchise has yet to deliver a single memorable set-piece. And that’s kind of a problem. At least the films have finally…

  • Jeremy Thomas: The Auteur Producer @ QFT

    August 20, 2014 - By 

    Belfast’s Queens Film Theatre will host a special, one-off talk with groundbreaking English film producer Jeremy Thomas on Thursday, August 21. For four decades, Thomas (pictured, right, with Bernardo Bertolucci on the set of the Oscar-winning The Last Emperor) has been behind some of British cinema’s most ambitious and exciting films, working with a host of legendary directors including Nicolas Roeg, David Cronenberg and the aforementioned Italian auteur. The QFT talk is set to be a look back at highlights from a career packed with films of artistic merit, ambition and originality. Things kick off at 7.30pm and you can buy…

  • Watch: UNKNWN – BBY

    August 20, 2014 - By 

    Bound for Electric Picnic at the end of the month, Champion Sound-signed electronic duo UNKNWN have unveiled their debut music video, for the track ‘BBY’. Directed by Daniel Holmes, it is a nicely edited, suitably phantasmal affair, wonderfully accompanying the track’s hazy, drifting air. ‘BBY’ is taken from the duo’s DEVIL/BBY EP, which you purchase right here. UNKNWN – comprised of producer Chris Hanna and vocalist Gemma Dunleavy – have steadily grown in stature and acclaim over the last few months, something that will come into sharp focus when they play alongside labelmates Ryan Vail, Contour, Ghosts, Talkboy and Replete at the Body & Soul tent at…