• Stream: New Jackson – Anya’s Piano

    In the lead up to the release of his debut LP under the New Jackson monicker, David Kitt has released a 12″ led by album track ‘Anya’s Piano’. From Night To Night is set for release on May 19th through the terrific All City label. ‘Anya’s Piano’ is an expansive and atmospheric cut, chock with groove, hypnotic double bass and a lavish saxophone part from Terry Edwards [PJ Harvey/Gallon Drunk]. The other two tracks on the 12″, which will not appear on From Night To Night, are equally rich. ‘In My Room’ boasts a deep, basement energy and mechanism while ‘Leave Me Making’ incites a swaying, breezy feeling amid its…

  • Cléa van der Grijn – Reconstructing Memory

    Cléa van der Grijn – Reconstructing Memory (Image Courtesy of Heike Thiele) Cléa van der Grijn’s exhibition Reconstructing Memory has just finished in The Model in Sligo. The show is due to travel to Limerick and Dublin before heading stateside to Minnesota’s Rochester Arts Centre. If you didn’t get the chance to see van der Grijn’s exhibit before it’s closure you can view it below, and if you did you can relive it once more via a walkthrough an commentary by the artist. You can also read a response to the show written by Rebecca Kennedy here which discuss the main…

  • Elle

    It’s not very often that a film has me strangely anticipating which social taboo is going to be launched out of the window with amazing indifference next. Yet Elle manages to achieve this with an astoundingly entertaining edge that verges on the absurd when it’s not shocking you with its core theme of sexual assault. But all of this is unsurprising when you know that Elle is made by notorious Dutch director Paul Verhoeven (Robocop), who is at his controversial and stylistically provocative best, and stars the great Isabelle Huppert, a fearless, steely and ridiculously talented actress at the top…

  • BFF17: Mad To Be Normal

    There is a scene in Robert Mullan’s Mad To Be Normal, a biopic of the Scottish psychiatrist R. D. Laing (played by David Tennant), in which the controversial figure is being interviewed on American radio during one of his promotional cross-Atlantic trips. While the room’s young, rapt audience look on, the broadcaster introduces Laing with a string of hyperbolic accolades, calling him an “acid Marxist” and, outrageously, a “white Martin Luther King”, whose revolutionary approach to treatment has enamoured the 60s counter-cultural spirit, and guaranteed him a spot on every dorm room bookcase in the United States. Eager for a…

  • Watch: Neil Flynn – J.E.N (feat. Katie Kim)

    Kilkenny native, Berlin based producer Neil Flynn, has released a visual accompaniment for ‘J.E.N.’ The track, which appeared on his EP for Berlin based label Lossless last October, is a driving, club ready cut from an artist whose penchant for deep, melodic house music has seen his releases getting played out by the likes of Dixon and Âme. The track also features a typically haunting guest vocal from Katie Kim.  The video, a stark black and white accompaniment was shot in various forests from Berlin to Norway, Sweden and Iceland. Flynn, who we interviewed back in 2015, has also just released a remix of VIMES’ ‘Rudal’ which can be heard here.

  • Wire – Silver/Lead

    Wire have always been a band more interested in looking forward than back. On returning from their first hiatus in 1985 they famously hired a Wire covers band, The Ex Lion Tamers, as their support act so they could be freed up to focus exclusively on new material. So it seems entirely appropriate that they would celebrate the 40th anniversary of their debut performance with another new album, their fifteenth. Although still most celebrated for their initial trio of envelope-pushing albums between 1977 and 1979 – the frantic art-punk of Pink Flag, the more effects-laden post-punk of Chairs Missing and…

  • Irish Tour: Run The Jewels w/ Gaslamp Killer

    The mighty Run The Jewels kicked off their current European tour with shows at Belfast’s Limelight 1 and Dublin’s Olympia Theatre. Photos by Colm Laverty and Mark Earley. Limelight 1, Belfast Few acts can get away with kickstarting a sold-out show by strutting on-stage to the equivalent of a homecoming welcome soundtracked by Queen’s self-congratulatory anthem par-excellence ‘We Are The Champions’. The mighty Run The Jewels are one of those acts. Doubling up as the first leg of their current European tour, to call their appearance at Belfast’s Limelight 1 tonight a masterclass would be a towering understatement. Backed by DJ Trackstar, the globetrotting, genre-defining…

  • Track Record: Josh Guyett (Ilenkus)

    Josh Guyett of Galway metal/hardcore band Ilenkus and tireless promoters FEAST Presents reveals and waxes lyrical about some of his all-time favourite records, including Dillinger Escape Plan, Girl Band and giveamanakick. Photos by Sean McCormack Ilenkus play the following dates to mark the release of their new Hunger 7″. April 7: The Poor Relation, Cork (w/ Bailer/Horse/Partholon/Destriers) April 8: Roisin Dubh, Galway (w/ Rest/Destriers) April 13: Live Video Recording, Dublin (limited spaces available) April 14: Voodoo, Belfast (w/ Unyielding Love/Molarbear) April 16: Dolans, Limerick (Siege Of Limerick) Miss Machine – Dillinger Escape Plan I first heard this record back in ’05 and I literally couldn’t…