• A4 Sounds Presents: Hands Up Who Wants to Die & Fixity

    August 22, 2019 - By 

    Having brought together some of the country’s very best acts (Silverbacks & Extravision, The Altered Hours & Jogging) in its previous two outings, A4 Sounds returns on Saturday, August 24th with another stellar two-act bill. Kicking off in the St Joseph’s Parade community art hub from 8-11pm, the BYOB show brings together the boundlessly forward-pushing Dan Walsh aka FIXITY and Dublin noise rock leviathans Hands Up Who Wants To Die. Best bring earplugs. Central to A4 Sounds’ ethos as a not-for-profit organisation is “to shift the cultural norm of undervaluing the work of musicians by providing a fair wage.” As such, tickets for…

  • Mixtape Preview: Teenage Superstars

    August 19, 2019 - By 

    Running (independently) parallel with equally generation-shaping scenes in cities like Washington and Minnesota, Scotland was a singularly fertile ganglion of DIY and indie music throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s. From Teenage Fanclub and The Vaselines to The Jesus and Mary Chain and Primal Scream, towns like Bellshill and East Kilbride – as well much bigger scenes in Glasgow – gave rise to some of the most influential artists of a generation. Such a mottled and many-chaptered narrative can’t exactly be reeled off or pared down into a précis, which is perhaps why few books – and much fewer films…

  • Marika Hackman – Any Human Friend

    August 20, 2019 - By 

    A decade on from Katy Perry’s ‘I Kissed A Girl’,  pop seems to have arrived at a place where girls kissing girls is no longer being treated as provocative or performative, or being fetishised for clout. Queer stars like Haley Kiyoko, Princess Nokia, Janelle Monáe, Christine and the Queens and St. Vincent are dominating the mainstream landscape, going beyond heteronormative boundaries and exploring what it means to be queer in 2019.  Marika Hackman’s latest release is a bold and brazen addition to the zeitgeist. Written in the wake of the English singer-songwriters break-up with fellow musician Amber Bain (The Japanese House),…

  • Quare Groove: Q&A with Colm K

    August 19, 2019 - By 

    This Saturday (Aug 24th) the soulful fellas from Belfast’s Neighbourhood club host Cork DJ/producer Colm K at the left-of-centre Ulster Sports Club. Friend of Neighbourhood and Bullitt resident, Jonny Carberry, fired some questions Colm’s way… JC: Colm! Cheers for doing this. I really enjoyed your Boiler Room Residents Hour mix from a couple of years back – they described you as someone who was ‘pushing the boundaries, orbiting in dance music territories outside of the usual house/techno worlds’. Are you still a resident at Sunday Times? How is the Cork scene at the moment – do you still have sense…

  • Monday Mixtape: Andy Ortmann

    August 19, 2019 - By 

    In the latest installment of Monday Mixtape, Chicago based sound/visual/conceptual artist and founder of Nihilist Records Andy Ortmann selects some of the tracks that have inspired him recently. “As of late, I’ve been in the studio, chipping away at the new Panicsville double LP. It will have a slew of guests including Rudolf Eb.er, Diana Rogerson, Christoph Heemann, Matthew Waldron & Daniel Menche. My newest solo album Eye of the Beholder is to be reissued on cassette September 2019 (pro-dubbed Chrome tape) in an edition of 100 copies with artwork by Paul Nudd. Myself and VIKI (Detroit) will be touring Europe October…

  • EP Stream: Alpha Chrome Yayo – Komorebi

    August 16, 2019 - By 

    Over the last few months, Belfast-based artist and multi-instrumentalist Alpha Chrome Yayo has made a steady, increasingly prolific rise via his interstellar brand of genre-warping synthwave. Today he offers up another – considerably more ruminative – side with his new EP, Komorebi. Titled after the Japanese word referring to the phenomenon of sunbeams filtering through trees, the release – which was influenced by the likes of Terje Rypdal, Vangelis, David Shire and Ryo Fukui – is a masterfully meditative and largely ambient affair from one of the country’s most chameleonic artists. From the balmy twists and turns of its title…

  • Stream: THVS – Palisades

    August 16, 2019 - By 

    Ahead of the release of its video next week, Belfast trio THVS have just released their latest and greatest track to date, ‘Palisades’. Following on from last year’s promising three-tracker Plague Widows, it makes for a suitably emphatic three-minute blast of breakneck, riff-fuelled abandon from the self-proclaimed “heavy pop” trio. Read our recent interview with the band here and check out the single (along with a live version of ‘Neon Demons’) below. ‘Palisades’ is launched at Belfast’s Limelight 2 tomorrow (August 17th) alongside Conjecture 42 and Gas Hands. Doors are at 5pm.

  • UK Post-Punk Duo JOHN Set For Irish Tour

    August 15, 2019 - By 

    Raw UK garage-punk duo JOHN are set to make their first appearance in Ireland later this year, accompanying the release of their second album, Out Here On The Fringes, set for release on October 4. This run of shows comes at the end of a lengthy spell in France & the UK, following an eleven-country spell in 2018 with Idles. Taking place in conjunction with some of our favourite venues, artists & promoters (Why. Gigs & Drone Mansions) – their three-date run is as follows: Friday, November 29 // Bennigans Bar, Derry w/His Father’s Voice & SHŌTO Saturday, November 30 // The 343, Belfast w/Problem Patterns and Wake House Sunday, December 1 // The Sound…