• St. Vincent @ The Opera House, Cork

    July 15, 2015 - By 

    It’s a quiet, damp Monday evening in Cork City when St Vincent aka Annie Clark and her merry crew roll into town with their highly stylised, bombastic stage show, however the Texan act very quickly brighten up the hearts and imaginations of their crowd. First off, Cork natives Young Wonder warm up the audience with their indie-electronica hybrid. Despite the band’s best efforts to engage their audience – the phrase ‘make some noise!’ is thrown about far too often for such a short set – the crowd is very much there for St Vincent and St Vincent alone. Closing with…

  • Anon #002

    July 16, 2015 - By 

    Happening as part of the Open House festival in association with PLACE NI, the second installment of Phil Kieran’s Anon series will take place at an undisclosed location in Belfast on Saturday, July 18. According to the poster (above), the ethos behind the electronic events are to “shift the excitement back to the location and music, rather than hype.” Whilst we’re certainly sensing a profound sense of hype around the occasion, we highly approve of the sentiment. Given some nice leverage and interest from the public at large (which most increasingly seems to be the case so far) this could very easily turn into one…

  • St. Vincent w/ Little Green Cars @ The Big Top, Galway

    July 16, 2015 - By 

    Tonight saw the Galway International Arts Festival Big Top host its first event of the season with the sheer spectacle of Texan powerhouse St. Vincent and support from the always-charming Little Green Cars. The tent by the river has already filled suitably by the time Little Green Cars take to the stage and there’s an immediate sense that the audience is more than willing to be drawn further in by the brutally honest and heartfelt tracks from the band’s 2013 debut LP Absolute Zero and a healthy sprinkling of equally emotive new ones, one of which wouldn’t sound out of…

  • EP Premiere + Interview: THVS – Everyday Hexes

    July 15, 2015 - By 

    Forming from the embers of Belfast riff-wielding institution Comply or Die, heavy rock three-piece THVS are on the precipice of completing the first stage of their instantly ear-grabbing metamorphosis. Officially released on Friday (July 17), we’re pleased to present a first listen of their expectedly visceral four-track EP, Everyday Hexes, also chatting to frontman Michael Smyth about the writing and recording of the EP, the formation of the band and their plans for the future. Hi Michael. First thing’s first, how did THVS come about? The band came about after a band practice got cancelled so Matt and I decided to go up and play anyway.…

  • Watch: Pocket Promise – Music For The Twelfth

    July 14, 2015 - By 

    Having been on extended hiatus for a few years, Co. Tyrone band Pocket Promise remain of Ireland’s all-time truly great alt-pop bands. With some expectation suggestive of a reunion of sorts in the pipeline at some point in the future, the band have re-emerged, in some form, with the up until-now unreleased ‘Music For The Twelfth’. With its backdrop of the Northern Irish marching season, the song – over a decade old at this point – should be familiar to anyone caught the band (compised of members that went on to form Seven Summits) during their initial, country-spanning tenure of the mid-noughties. Speaking of…

  • Track Record: Michelle Considine (little xs for eyes)

    July 14, 2015 - By 

    In the latest installment of Track Record, Michelle Considine from little xs for eyes selects and talks about some of her all-time favourite records, including Björk, Future Islands, The Books and Patrick Kelleher and his Cold Dead Hands. Take it away, Michelle… Photos by Abi Dennison I was raised in a vinyl fanatic’s household.  My dad had a huge collection of classic albums from the 1960s/70s and my brother had a massive 80s/90s album collection (I don’t think he’s ever bought a tape or cd in his life if it was available on vinyl!) so I was lucky to have a…

  • The Song (Struggles) To Remain The Same: Led Zeppelin at Live Aid, 13th July 1985

    July 14, 2015 - By 

    In no uncertain terms, Live Aid was a turning point in the history of popular music. Never before on this scale had pop and rock musicians striven to present themselves as a community, a socially conscious bunch of friends who were just trying to, y’know, save the world, man. But rather than a collective of friends, this was more like a club, and the membership was pretty damn exclusive. As the cream of the pop scene clamoured to be involved, one of the most exclusive bands in rock history was waiting in the wings, ready to play it low key.…