• Slaves w/ The Murder Capital @ The Academy, Dublin

    November 14, 2018 - By 

    As Royal Turnbridge Wells punk duo Slaves take to the stage of the Academy, the sheer visceral energy in the air becomes palpable. The venue’s pit is overflowing with young adults dressed like their parents (with few pulling the look off), whilst the area surrounding the pit is packed to the brim, with what appears to be the aforementioned parents. An interesting demographic to say the very least. From the get-go, the pit is transformed into a vicious sea, with waves of people being thrown back and forth. Occasionally someone scrambles to the surface and crowdsurfs for a few seconds,…

  • A million vivid details: Max Cooper interviewed

    November 15, 2018 - By 

    Merging ambient textures and modern classical elements with the banging clamour of accessible dance beats, Belfast born Electronic composer Max Cooper has been studiously perfecting his brand of music for over 10 years now. Drawing on his deep rooted interests in science and technology, the artist has created a uniquely cerebral body of work, built upon cavernous soundscapes that alternatively surge and flutter with elemental energy. Conceived in relative isolation and primarily concerned with the infinitesimal intricacies of the unknowable human mind, Max Cooper’s latest offering, One Hundred Billion Sparks is, suitably, both epic in scale and minutely detailed;  a tour…

  • Album Stream: Ai Messiah – Sentience & Sapience

    November 14, 2018 - By 

    From Black Bones’ remix of ‘Pursuit by Group Zero and David Holmes’ Mosaic OST to Documenta’s stellar Lady With The Ring EP, Belfast imprint Touch Sensitive have delivered another all killer year in releases. Their fourth and final release of the year, Sentience & Sapience by Belfast producer Ai Messiah offers up something yet more compelling. A self-proclaimed “soundtrack for gutted metropolises, virtual sanctuaries and utopian enclaves”, the album – which was inspired by the outlandish prophecies of tech guru Ray Kurzwell – confidently veers between fourth world-leaning tapestries, balmy kosmische and panoramic new-age across seventeen tracks. Officially out on Friday, the album will be launched…

  • Sun Kil Moon – This Is My Dinner

    November 13, 2018 - By 

    Mark Kozelek plays music, eats, and watches boxing matches. This is all that he does. This we learn towards the end of This Is My Dinner. This, we already knew. Let Sun Kil Moon’s ninth album, then, illuminate a few more of the obscure corners of Kozelek’s mind. His favourite Lou Reed album? Berlin. Favourite Jonathan Richman song? ‘Hospital’. Does he hate Steely Dan and The Eagles? Yes. Does he love AC/DC’s ‘A Touch Too Much’? Also yes. Will he ever eat reindeer? Definitely not. These are just a few mundane insights from the myriad details that are densely strewn…

  • Preview: Manchester Collective – Pierrot Lunaire

    November 13, 2018 - By 

    And now for something completely different. On Tuesday, November 20, we’re once again teaming up with Belfast’s premiere promoters of forward-thinking sonic events, Moving On Music, for a very special performance. Doubling up as the latest event in the consistently rewarding Tempered contemporary music series, Manchester Collective will present a brand new English interpretation of Arnold Schoenberg’s free atonal melodrama, Pierrot Lunaire, at the Sonic Arts Research Centre. Having formed in 2016 order to, in their words, “create radical human experience through live music for everyone”, this is an unmissable opportunity to experience Manchester Collective’s vision and thrilling approach first-hand. Featuring a…

  • Peterloo

    November 13, 2018 - By 

    The true story of the Peterloo Massacre is a shocking chapter in England’s history that needs to be told. In theory, writer/director Mike Leigh (Life Is Sweet, Mr Turner) should be the man for the job, given his track record of making classic films that delve into the everyday lives of the English working class. But while Leigh does manage to capture the look and feel of the time period in a very realistic and credible manner, the viewer may feel that he is a bit heavy-handed in getting his message across, creating a tone that off-sets the seriousness of…

  • Kamasi Washington Set For Dublin Return

    November 13, 2018 - By 

    L.A. jazz giant Kamasi Washington will return to play Dublin next year. Off the back of playing this year’s Beatyard – as well as the National Concert Hall last June – the trailblazing saxophonist, composer, producer, and bandleader will play Olympia Theatre on March 3, 2019. Tickets for the show are priced at €40 and go on sale this Friday at 9am.

  • Robyn – Honey

    November 12, 2018 - By 

    The strobes hit with unforgiving regularity. Across the humid room you see a couple kissing vigorously, their hands dancing over one another. You’re dancing too, twisting and moving your body simultaneously with guttural thumps of bass. A flash reveals the glistening face of the man to your left, he beams over and moves his jaw up and down inaudibly, his words pummelled by the entrancing waves. A tear suddenly sprouts from the outer corner of his eye, but rather than wipe it away he allows it to slide jerkily down his face. You turn to see someone else whose mascara is running,…

  • “Like a funeral.” – Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged in New York Turns 25

    November 12, 2018 - By 

    On November 18th 1993, the three members of Nirvana sat down on the stage of the Sony Music Studios in New York, and recorded their own epitaph. Of course, they couldn’t have known that at the time, nor could the TV show producers, the gathered audience, or the guest musicians accompanying the band for this stripped back performance. But through the murky fog of hindsight, the resulting performance and live album seem infused with death, a haunted, haggard journey through one man’s misery, a journey that would end with his own death a few months later. As the world struggled…