• Video Premiere: Ferals – Separate

    October 23, 2020 - By 

    As with myriad other bands this year, Northern Irish alt-rock trio Ferals have had to navigate the pangs pitfalls of coronavirus over the last few months. Without question, the sudden reality of severance is right up there with the toughest of all. Today, the self-proclaimed “loudest band in Belfast” have re-emerged to take square aim at what being apart – both in the age of social distancing, but also on a much more personal level – feels like. Accompanied by a video splicing recent news coverage with original footage, new single ‘Separate’ is trouncing and earworming in equal measure. Lyrically,…

  • Monday Mixtape: Ben Harris (The Dreads)

    October 26, 2020 - By 

    Frontman of Belfast’s premier garage-psych proposition The Dreads, and would-be character in an M.R. James story, Ben Harris takes us through some of his Samhain favourites. Timberjack – Come To The Sabbat Sabbats were pretty much an invention by judges and inquisitors during the 14th and 15th centuries that became mythologized before people then started actually practicing their own sabbats themselves. I find this and cans are a great opener to any sabbat. The Electric Prunes – Shadows One of the first songs I learned to play on the guitar was an Electric Prunes song. It wasn’t this one. Grand Theft…

  • Matt Berninger – Serpentine Prison

    October 21, 2020 - By 

    Solo albums, for the most part, present artists with the opportunity to  indulge in experiments their bandmates would reject. Take Thom Yorke going fully electronic on The Eraser, or Sigur Ros’ Jónsi’s journey into  glitch-pop on his new album Shiver: Neither proved to be too much of a deviation from their main projects’ sound, but provided them with a detour that musicians often need to get out of their system between “proper” albums. The lowered expectations that can come with a solo album free up an artist to make whatever they want without restriction, and can sometimes lead to something…

  • Details of NI Music Prize 2020 Revealed

    October 20, 2020 - By 

    This year’s Northern Ireland Music Prize will go ahead with an online broadcast on November 12. Due to covid-19, the annual award ceremony celebrating Northern Irish music will take place at Belfast’s Oh Yeah Music Centre and streamed live via their YouTube channel. As well as performances from shortlisted acts Arborist, Careerist, Joshua Burnside, Kitt Philippa, Phil Kieran and Sasha Samara, it will feature live announcements for four awards: Best Album, Best Single, Best Live Act and the Oh Yeah Contender Award. The event is scheduled to take place during the Sound of Belfast 2020 virtual festival, which runs November…

  • Stream: Foolish Mortal – Ghost Wipe

    October 20, 2020 - By 

    “Ectoplasm sleight/Anchored down in your chasm right/Next he’s binning your bones/On the coast by your parents’ home”. Yes, Samhain is upon us once again and, as you can see by the opening lyrics to their new single ‘Ghost Wipe,’ Cork garage rock trio Foolish Mortal are already in the holiday spirit.  Comprising Mark Waldron-Hyden, Dan O’Sullivan and Laurie Shaw, the Cork band’s howling, amp-blown Halloween single delves into “the behaviour of a love rival who sucks the life essence from his partners”. The result is a spooked-out, all-too-short salvo that will have you reaching for that repeat button.

  • Output Belfast Announces 50 Conversations About Music

    October 19, 2020 - By 

    Having established itself as the island’s largest music conference and showcasing event over the last six years, Output Belfast will return early next year in the form of a unique networking and mentoring scheme. With the physical conference for 2021 set aside as a result of the continuing threat posed to the industry by Covid-19, organisers have announced 50 Conversations about Music, an scheme they say will offer a “new way of communicating, connecting and talking about music created that will serve to create networks and relationships between emerging creative and business talent in Northern Ireland and their national and international counterparts.”…

  • Album Stream: The Zang – The Zang

    October 16, 2020 - By 

    Belfast-based musician Chris Molloy aka the Zang has unveiled his long-awaited self-titled debut album. Having won acclaim from the likes of BBC 6Music for singles including ‘Drugs’, ‘Drinking With You’ and ‘Football Sundays’, Molloy’s first first-length – which was recorded at Oiltape Studios in Belfast – underscores his growing reputation as one of the country’s finest alternative pop propositions. From the slow-burning indie balladry of ‘Sick Fantasy’ to the breezy alt-folk of closer ‘Time’, it’s a carefully-crafted, genre-spanning release from an artist on the rise. Stream the album in full below.

  • Moving On Music Set To Hold Online Concert Event ‘All The Noels’

    October 20, 2020 - By 

    Belfast-based tastemakers par excellence Moving on Music are set to hold unique online live music experience held throughout the Black Box, Belfast, titled All The Noels. The 30-odd-minute single shot, walk-through experience is set to showcase different music taking place across the various spaces of the venue. The video – recorded across one day by a team of audio-visual professionals – attempts to capture the feeling of being in possibly our favourite Belfast venue for live music. Performances come from some of TTA faves, experimental rock quartet Blue Whale, traditional Irish vocal quartet Landless, Irish jazz pianist Scott Flanigan‘s Trio, jazz drummer Steve Davis, folk duo Laytha and traditional flute & whistle player Martha Guiney with Shane McCartan. Speaking of the project, Mick Bonner of Moving on Music said “it was…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – October 16th

    October 16, 2020 - By 

    It’s safe to say it’s been another stacked week for world-beating Irish music. Here’s the very best of the lot, featuring tracks from Rejjie Snow, Caoilian Sherlock, Paddy Hanna, Arborist, Tebi Rex and many more. Photo by Lloyd Pursall Rejjie Snow w/ Snoh Aelagra and Cam O’bi – Mirrors Paddy Hanna – Jog On Shall We The Hill by Paddy Hanna Comrade Hat – Cracking The Code Caoilian Sherlock – Sucker For Love Arborist – The Mountain Will Come To You Tebi Rex & Awkward Z – Aaaagh Ten Past Seven – Turf War IN-IS – Dark Light feat. Tom Adams…

  • Monday Mixtape: Son Zept

    October 19, 2020 - By 

    Recently championed and playlisted by the likes of by ourselves, The Quietus, DJ Mag and leftfield DJ par excellence Avalon Emerson, “Northern Ireland’s resident electronic compositional polymath” Liam McCartan, AKA Son Zept has just released his second mini-album of 2020, B. Today, he gives us an uncharacteristically abridged mixtape of some current favourite tracks. I tried to keep this as just a stream of thought and not cram in stuff that I’d end rambling about daft things like cheeky hauntological anti-memory sound (*ahem*). Excluded tunes from Aphex Twin + Aphex covers, Mal Waldron, Oneohtrix Point Never, Eprom, Lyra Pramuk, Pinch & Mumdance, Holly Herndon, Chassol,…