• Boiler Room set for Belfast’s AVA Festival

    March 24, 2015 - By 

    Set to take place as part of the inaugural AVA Festival, legendary underground music showcase Boiler Room will make its Belfast debut in the very capable company of Bicep, Space Dimension Controller, John Daly (who performs live), Timmy Stewart and Schmutz. A fine line-up of homegrown electronic talent for a highly-anticipated event, we’re sure you’ll agree. Go here for more information about AVA Festival, including where to buy tickets and all the usual.

  • Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly

    March 24, 2015 - By 

    Precursor: the hype was justified. The long awaited “good kid, m.A.A.d city 2.0” is here, and well, it’s not that. It’s something else. It’s somehow bigger, darker, catchier and more socially significant all at once. Kendrick Lamar’s third studio release To Pimp a Butterfly is all of those things, and nothing like what we expected. Opener ‘Wesley’s Theory’ – featuring George Clinton, produced by Flying Lotus, sampling Boris Gardiner and a voice clip of Dr Dre – is an eye-opening funk monster to end all preconceptions. Aside from the immediately clear difference in instrumentals – good kid’s slick trap beats…

  • Track Record: David A. Tapley (Tandem Felix)

    March 24, 2015 - By 

    In this installment of Track Record we hang out with David A. Tapley from Tandem Felix who after a slight line-up shuffle are on the cusp of releasing their new EP Comma and currently listed as The Guardian’s new band of the week . From the sprawling sounds of Yo La Tengo to his own idol Beck, David’s choices are a huge reflection and  influence on the music he puts out. Photos by Aidan Kelly Murphy. Talk Talk – Laughing Stock My friend Felipe introduced me to Talk Talk at a party many moons ago. I immediately picked up their two final albums,…

  • Visual Arts Outlook (23/3)

    March 23, 2015 - By 

    In the first of a new weekly feature, Mary Stevens delivers a weekly Visual Arts Outlook, featuring an Stuart Brisley’s Headwinds, an exhibition by Niall de Buitléar and Get In Lane at Belfast’s Catalyst Arts, which refers to “the stifling necessity for graduates to decide on their future direction.” The Mac Belfast Stuart Brisley – Headwinds. Panel Discussion: The Cenotaph Project & The Public Sphere. Thursday March 26 – 7.30 – Booking Required. It’s refreshing to see the Mac opening an academic discussion around the current show Headwinds by Stuart Brisley. This event invites Stuart Brisley, Maya Balcioglu, Dr Sanja Perovic,…

  • Track Record: Lisa Lemur

    March 31, 2015 - By 

    Lisa O’Grady aka Lisa Lemur is a Cork based event promoter, sacred harp singer and musician. She recently organised the International Women’s Day event in Gulpd cafe. Lisa’s eclectic taste ranges from the minimalism of Arthur Russell to the ostentatious Os Mutantes. Photos by Melanie Mullan. Pavement – Slanted and Enchanted Credit goes to my friend Bernadette’s big sister Margaret for introducing us to Pavement when we were sixteen and Slanted and Enchanted had just come out. Blown away beyond belief! A love affair had begun! I remember buying the real tape (after the taped one was wrecked) in Comet records in Cork…

  • Idlewild @ Limelight 2, Belfast

    March 23, 2015 - By 

    It was shortly after delivering a memorable, thrashy show in Stiff Kitten back in 2010 that Idlewild quietly disappeared from music. It is fair to say that we missed them. Now, with the itches for solo projects having been successfully scratched and the time taken to patiently develop new material, the band returned to Belfast touring on the back of their first album in five years. The Limelight 2 was packed to absolute capacity. ‘Everything Ever Written’, despite being a good album, is unlikely to have brought such a crowd. This was clearly a loyal audience collected many years before…