• Watch: Shrug Life – You’re Such a Good Looking Woman

    October 29, 2019 - By 

    It’s true. Indeed, it’s positively ironclad: there is no show like a Joe show, but Shrug Life, we reckon, give him a run for his money. Yes, Dublin’s most incisive and impossibly earworming indie-leaning trio are back with a cover of ‘You’re Such a Good Looking Woman’, the Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood-penned song that the one, the only Joseph Francis Robert “Joe” Dolan made his own back in 1970. Now, I know what you’re thinking: on paper, this probably shouldn’t work. But we’re not talking about paper here, are we? No – we are referring, in fact, to the medium of song.…

  • Wanda: Feminism and Moving Image

    October 29, 2019 - By 

    Belfast’s feminist film festival, WANDA: Feminism & Moving Image, returns for its second outing later this week. Opening on Thursday, October 31st and running until Sunday, November 3, the festival have pulled out the stops to present a wonderfully diverse programme, spanning new and retrospective films and features directed by women. Launching at Queen’s Film Theatre with The Juniper Tree, this year’s programme features, among many other screenings, discussions and panels across the city, the NI premiere of Kim Longinotto’s critically-acclaimed Irish-produced documentary Shooting the Mafia. Co-director Rose Baker said, “As the festival’s key aim is to revisit ‘lost’ films by…

  • Premiere: Laurie Shaw – Had To Swerve

    October 29, 2019 - By 

    This Thursday, endlessly prolific, Cork-based songwriter Laurie Shaw will release his latest album, Helvetica. The follow-up to the exquisite Weird Weekends (which we premiered last January) the redord, we’re told, “delves deep into the British psyche, taking a poignant and timely look at its history and current society, moving between both fond and satirical tones.” New single ‘Had To Swerve’ edges into more darkly territory. Conjuring a midpoint between Sparklehorse, Department of Eagles and Amnesiac-era Radiohead, it makes for a brilliantly oppressive four-minute burst of scorched vocals and layered, spectral sounds. Have a first look at the Laurie Shaw-directed video for the single, as…

  • Pixies Set For Galway and Dublin Next Summer

    October 29, 2019 - By 

    Boston alt-rock legends Pixies are set to make their Irish return. Having recently played shows in Dublin and Belfast, the seminal, Black Francis-fronted quartet will return next summer to play the Big Top at Galway Arts Festival on July 17th and Dublin’s Iveagh Gardens on July 18th. Tickets, which go on sale at 9am this Friday, are priced €52.50 and €59.50 respectively.

  • Glen Hansard @ Grand Opera House, Belfast

    October 25, 2019 - By 

    Those familiar with Glen Hansard’s long-rambling career – three decades and counting – will no doubt be fascinated by the various left turns and changes in musical direction the songwriter has taken during his years of service. The Frames, his alma mater may be on indefinite hiatus, and The Swell Season, his previous artistic partnership with pianist Markéta Irglová, released two albums of hushed folk rock before going their separate ways. Along the road there have been excursions with Eddie Vedder, Robbie Robertson, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen… an illustrious who’s who of musical royalty that epitomises Hansard’s modus operandi of…

  • Premiere: Eoin Dolan – Sheena

    October 25, 2019 - By 

    Last August, Galway alt-pop maestro Eoin Dolan released easily one of the Irish releases of the year in the form of the sublime Superior Fiction. Over a year on from hailing it a four-track distillation of his yearning, sci-fi-tinged surf pop craft”, we’re very pleased to present a first listen to Dolan’s latest single, ‘Sheena’. Taking from his forthcoming third album, Commander of Sapiens, it’s a trademark carefully-crafted gem from Dolan, woozily blurring the contours of romance, reality and full-blown, spaced-out reverie. Commander of Sapiens is released in association with Citóg Records on Friday, November 22nd and will, we’re told, covers themes such as environmental destruction, mass consumerism and…

  • The Peanut Butter Falcon

    October 25, 2019 - By 

    “Yeah you’re gonna die, it’s a matter of time. That ain’t the question; question is if they have good stories to tell about you when you’re gone,” opines Tyler (Shia LaBeouf). The hot-headed, low-rung outlaw on the run (he torched a rival crab trawler’s gear), is giving life lessons to his accidental travelling companion, Zak (Zack Gottsagen), a 22 year-old with Down’s Syndrome making his own escape. The Peanut Butter Falcon, the first feature from American writers and directors Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz, is an open-hearted yarn about good stories and good times, a rough-it-out best-pals adventure that moves with leisurely charm. Tyler is Zak’s guide, road buddy and…

  • Elbow – Giants of All Sizes

    October 24, 2019 - By 

    Bleary-eyed and broken, Britain is bumbling from one disaster to the next. Social and demographic fractions, impending irreparable gulfs, rogue leaders contorting the political landscape, unthinkable shapes… Dead ends. Anxiety levels are at tipping point. Right on cue, an Elbow record – the audio equivalent of popping the kettle on, right? Wait for it all to blow over. Buoyancy. Optimism. Warm northern accents. Community. 40 minutes of escapism from the shitshow going on outside. Sink in. Press play. There’s a crunching bassline. Stomping drums. Despair. Hang on. “And I don’t know Jesus anymore”. Uh-oh. Pause. Check for scratches. No scratches.…