• Arctic Monkeys – Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino

    May 11, 2018 - By 

    Of all the shade that can be thrown against the Arctic Monkeys, you couldn’t say they’ve rested on their laurels. At the peak of their popularity, they pivoted from the comfortable rut of their indie roots into the muddier, murky world of Josh Homme-inspired desert rock. With 2013’s AM, they wholehearted embraced sounds from 1990s R&B and throwback blues. The thing with these genre excursions though is that they’ve always retained a thread of being just four Northern boys chancing their arms. With their latest LP, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, there’s not a shred of any previous incarnation of…

  • Curfew Festival Announced For Twelfth of July

    May 11, 2018 - By 

    Making its return for the first time in many years, Belfast’s alternative, inclusive Twelfth of July proceeding Curfew, takes place across two of Belfast’s finest small venues – The Black Box & Voodoo. The whole day is kindly run by original runner Pete Jez’ Solid Choice Industries. In direct opposition of ‘the other one’, we don’t have to pretend to enjoy the rad tunes. The only cultural division to be seen is in the cross-genre venue booking -Voodoo is set to host the riff-centric acts, headed by Dublin’s synth-driven space-metal trio No Spill Blood, sludgy heavy rock trio Slomatics, Dublin hardcore act Destriers, space punks Wild Rocket, sludge-doom act Nomadic…

  • Gruff Rhys Announces Irish Dates

    May 10, 2018 - By 

    With his fifth solo album, Babelsberg, set for release via Rough Trade on June 8, Super Furry Animals main man Gruff Rhys has announced three Irish dates for December. Rhys will play Cork’s Live at St Luke’s on December 1, Galway’s Roisin Dubh on December 2 and Dublin’s Button Factory on December 2. Tickets – which go on sale on Friday May 11 at 9am – are priced €23, €20 and €23.50 respectively. His first record for Rough Trade since 2007’s Candylion, the tracks for Babelsberg were recorded in early 2016 across three days, alongside Kliph Scurlock (ex-Flaming Lips) and…

  • Stream: Shrug Life – Your Body (Acoustic)

    May 10, 2018 - By 

    Of all the songs written in the lead-up to this month’s Irish abortion referendum, ‘Your Body’ by Shrug Life strikes a particularly emphatic chord.  Originally released in September 2016, the song – with its refrain of “Your body is not your body/It’s the property of church and state” – has taken on a whole new sense of import with a new stripped-back version recently filmed in an abandoned Magdalene laundry by David Knox. Though the original has no dearth of impact, this version, featuring Shrug Life frontman Danny Carroll and vocalist Máire Carr delivering a sobering and masterfully poignant rendition of the…

  • Frank Turner – Be More Kind

    May 9, 2018 - By 

    With an uninterrupted streak of 20 years in the game, Frank Turner is undeniably an institution. Over that time, he’s tried on a number of different guises and styles with the most explosive being the proselytising political polemics of his earlier work. While over the last five years, the focus has been more on the introspective and personal, there was always a hope that the man would turn his acid tongue back to the multi-headed hydra of contemporary society.  With his latest effort, Be More Kind, those hopes seemed to have been fulfilled. This is a socially conscious and politicised…

  • Monday Mixtape: Arvo Party

    May 8, 2018 - By 

    Belfast musician and producer Herb Magee AKA Arvo Party selects and talks about some of his favourite tracks, including Jon Hopkins, Metronomy, Nine Inch Nails, Rival Consoles and more. Photo by Michael McKeegan Nine Inch Nails – Copy Of A I don’t think I would be a producer at all without having heard NIN. When I hear Downward Spiral it took me somewhere I had never been before. It is depression and anger distilled into a single format. That said, this track is from their Hesitation Marks album, which was just ok. ‘Copy Of A’ is the stand out track for me and it…

  • Nick Cave Set For Dublin Q+A Event

    May 8, 2018 - By 

    Ahead of his show with Patti Smith at Royal Hospital Kilmainham the following day, Nick Cave will take part in a special Q+A at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre on June 5. Speaking about the event – “So, What Do You Want To Know?” Conversations with Nick Cave – the musician said, “The more frank and intimate the questions, the more interesting the evening will be… ask me anything and I’ll do my best to answer.” Priced €25-€55, tickets go on sale tomorrow, May 9 at 12pm here.