• BARE in the Woods

    April 17, 2015 - By 

    June is traditionally a stacked month in terms of live excursions around the country, but following its acclaimed debut last year, one-day festival B.A.R.E. in the Woods looks set to stake its place in the Irish festival calendar with an-already impressive line-out of music, and a brand-new comedy stage in the woods of Garrynahinch, Co. Laois. The music line-up is an exciting one to say the least, headlined by returning UK hip-hop legend Roots Manuva. The brutally-honest South Londoner is renowned for his multi-layered lyrics and rich vein of cultural references throughout his music, delivered in his inimitable style, a…

  • Exclusive: Stream Three Record Store Gay Tracks

    April 17, 2015 - By 

    Fast becoming an Irish music institution Dublin’s Record Store Gay has some obvious added import this year ahead of the forthcoming Marriage Referendum. Now in its fourth year, the self-proclaimed celebration of music and diversity will host a mini-music festival, poster exhibition and pop-up music shop for international Record Store Day tomorrow at Dublin’s Outhouse LGBT Community Resource Centre. Hosted in association with Little Gem Records, the annual Record Store Gay CD covers compilation will also be released on the day, featuring some excellent tracks from the likes of Hi Fashion, Kate’s Party, I Heart The Monster Hero, Florence Olivier, Katherine Lynch…

  • Rave New World (17/4)

    April 17, 2015 - By 

    It’s Friday, the sun is shining (kind of) and Antoin Lindsay, befitting his custom, is here to deliver Rave New World, his weekly dose of all things electronic. Get stuck in. GIGS Twitch & Nocturne present – Move D at The Bunatee, Belfast Saturday, April 18 Move D’s been in the game for over two decades so you can be assured you’re in safe hands if you make the wise decision to head to Twitch on Saturday. Expect the finest and funnest selection of house, techno and disco from Mr. Moufang who gets as into it as the crowd does.…

  • Primer: Burn After Inking

    April 17, 2015 - By 

      In the latest installment of Primer, Eoghain Meakin takes a look at Burn After Inking, an exhibition of illustrations and paintings from Gavin Fullerton, Christina O’Donovan, Melissa Malone, Patrick Semple, Fiona Meade and Daniel Spencer at Dublin’s The Mart. Photos by Aine O’Hara MART continues to shine as one of the city’s premier, not-for-profit creative spaces. Spread out over the venues two main rooms this eclectic mix of styles and ambitions are linked by the fact that they could all find a home in story books from Beatrix Potter to the positively post-modern. Reading the room like a text,…

  • Track Record: Paddy Hanna

    April 23, 2015 - By 

    In this installment of Track Record, we poke around the house of Paddy Hanna in search of his favourite records. Photos by Brian Mulligan. Kevin Devine and The Goddam Band – Bubblegum I played a show with this dude at the Roisin Dubh in Galway, following the performance he and I went back to the apartment which is provided for the bands. We spoke for about three or so hours, I drank ice cold Zaconey left in the freezer by the previous nights band while he enjoyed herbal tea and a packet of cheese and onion hunky dory. after another ill…

  • 12 Points festival

    April 16, 2015 - By 

    Running from April 15-18 at Dublin’s Project Arts Centre, 12 Points Festival will showcase 12 young European jazz ensembles, creating a unique networking opportunity for its participants. The schedule for this year’s outing – featuring the likes of Black Dough, Virta, Auditive Connection and Moskus –  is both impressively varied and extremely inviting for first-time attendees. Hit up the 12 Points Festival page here to check out the full line-up and to buy tickets.

  • ‘Traditional’ Discrimination Is Still Discrimination

    April 16, 2015 - By 

      I’m not sure if I’ll ever get married; never-say-never and no-one knows what the future holds of course. I’m not against marriage. I’m not anything-for-it really in terms of my own life right now. It’s just not something that’s on my agenda at this point in time. However the notion that I have the luxury of the option while some of my closest friends do not simply because of the gender of their partner makes me feel really really sad. In fact I wouldn’t want to get married in a country where it is a privilege of mine over…

  • Robocobra Quartet – Bomber EP

    April 16, 2015 - By 

    In the quest for the new sound, the path is one paved with ambitious intentions and fraught with admirable failed experiments and laughable attempts at the avant garde. Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music is a terrible album that forces the listener to reconsider what they might constitute as real music, while Lulu is an album where James Hetfield feels it appropriate to yell “I am the table”, while Lou Reed’s withered husk struggles to sing some Burrowsian tripe. Both of these releases are burying their fingers in the earth, digging for something and coming up with dirty fingers. There are…

  • 10 Picks for Belfast Film Festival

    April 16, 2015 - By 

    Kicking off this evening with Mark Cousins’ I Am Belfast, and running from April 16 to April 25, this year’s Belfast Film Festival boasts a programme traversing ever genre and sub-genre of modern and classic cinema. With screenings and one-off events taking place in venues large, small and altogether curious across the city, there is (as their full programme attests) quite literally something for everyone on offer. In fact, so dense is the schedule that we’ve enlisted the immeasurably tasteful Conor Smyth to whittle it down to ten of their most unmissable screenings and events. Delve in. I Am Belfast  The question…

  • Track Record: Tape Waves

    April 17, 2015 - By 

    In this installment of Track Record, we hang out with Kim and Jarod from South Carolina based dream pop band Tape Waves as they select their favourite records from Beach House to Brian Wilson. Photos by Jen Stevens. Kim Mary Timony – Mountains This is one of the first LPs I ever bought. I bought it my first year of college. I had been listening to Helium all through High School and when I got this album I felt like it was such a transition for Mary Timony. There are more simple songs with pianos and keyboards, and less guitars. Helium always sounded magical…