• Infinitesimal Hinge: In The Fold

    February 17, 2020 - By 

    In a 2016 interview the composer and saxophonist Matana Roberts asks, “Where is the new language for how we talk about difference?” Sceptical about current protest movements’ uncritical resurrections of previous vocabularies of struggle – which, in their reliance upon dualisms of black and white, us and them, reinforce the structural underpinnings of three decades of culture warring that led, quite logically, to brexit, Trump, Bolsonaro, and other demagogues around the world whose only overtures are ones of blame and resentment – Roberts’ suggestion is that only replicating older articulations of opposition dulls our ability to construct a language fit…

  • Monday Mixtape: Strange New Places

    February 17, 2020 - By 

    Including almost certainly the greatest pop song ever written, fast-rising Belfast five-piece Strange New Places reveal some of their all-time favourite songs. Ash Loyalty Festers – Onsind A haunting exploration of a society abandoned by a racist upper class and a life framed by the failures of nationalism, this song builds its message with beauty and power. Topped off with an overdub of political analysis by Akala, this track is everything folk-punk should be. Your New Old Apartment- Signals Midwest, Sincere Engineer This track is so affecting, so sad, hopeful and sincere, that for many days straight I listened to…

  • Green Day – Father Of All…

    February 13, 2020 - By 

    In 2004, Green Day irrevocably altered how the public perceived them. After their 1994 platinum smash, Dookie, the general consensus was that this was a band of juvenile so-cal boys who liked smoking weed, shamelessly ripping off the Clash and had very little to say. Basically, punk music for mallrats and frat boys. After a decade of not reaching the same commercial highs as their early career, they had to go big or close up shop. They opted for the former and essentially blew up their playbook and legacy.  With the release of American Idiot, gone were the group whose…

  • ShitKid – Duo Limbo/”Mellan Himmel å Helvete”

    February 13, 2020 - By 

    With a name as unashamedly playful and juvenile as ShitKid, Åsa Söderqvist knows exactly what her audience wants. Under this moniker, she offers up some delightful stoner pop nuggets with more than a dash of irony and ire. The strings are fuzzy, the drums are heavy and the melodies are sweet treats shoved through the grime of old school punk. There’s a decidedly scrappy, almost DIY, nature to everything she’s doing here. Her sound is lo-fi and has the atmosphere of being recorded quickly at a friend’s house using Garageband. Even in the visuals, this mindset is present as the…

  • Premiere: Zizou – Living On A Plateau

    February 14, 2020 - By 

    Zizou is the brand new solo project of Mathieu Doogan – also singer & multi-instrumentalist with Dublin slack post-punks Angular Hank. Today marks the grand unveiling of his debut single, ‘Living On A Plateau’. Recorded and produced by Mark Belsky, and written in Montreál before Doogan relocated to Dublin, the project’s name comes from Mathieu’s French granny (“born before Zidane”). Striking that perfect combination of the emotional nuance and songwriting mastery of Sparklehorse and Wilco, it’s a wistful series of vivid, scattershot, kitchen sink portraits of those 20s wilderness years. The blurb reads: “It’s partly about nudity, partly about urban planning, mainly about the…

  • Video Premiere: Problem Patterns – Gal Pals

    February 14, 2020 - By 

    A silver lining to the three year cloud of political deadlock in Northern Ireland, today marks the first Valentine’s Day with equal marriage laws, with the first same-sex marriages having taken place earlier this week. Belfast punk quartet Problem Patterns have chosen to celebrate that fact with a video for catchiest single to date, ‘Gal Pals’ whose bubblegum exterior belies an incisive social satire – or in their own words: “Part social commentary, part potential theme tune for a cult queer romcom”. Each member of the band – which comprises Alanah Smith, Ciara King, Beverley Boal & Bethany Crooks – leads a verse, each of which deals with various stages in the…

  • Video Premiere: Son Zept – 1D2D RISE

    February 11, 2020 - By 

    Though it’s nigh on impossible to select a highlight from his new, seven-track album, A, ‘1D2D RISE’ by Belfast-based electronic alchemist and all-round polymath Liam McCartan aka Son Zept is very hard to beat. Somnambulant and wistful in equal measure, it’s a slowly unravelling three-minute burst of warped-out ambient, melding broad washes of synth with heart-tugging, Plantastia-leaning synth arps. Speaking about the track and accompanying video – which you can have an exclusive first look at it below – McCartan said: “It came from those dimly lit 3am sessions that happen again and again with the headphones on really tight. Trying to…

  • Beck Set For Dublin’s Trinity Summer Series

    February 11, 2020 - By 

    Beck is set for Dublin this summer. Marking his first Irish date since 2017, the multi-Grammy award winning artist will play an outdoor show as part of the Summer Series at Dublin’s Trinity College on July 5th. With support yet to be announced, tickets going on sale at 10am on Friday, February 14th, priced €49.90.