• Stream: Isobel Anderson – Feed Me/Effortless Pain Relief

    May 19, 2017 - By 

    Having recently released the wistful ‘Flint Shingle’ – a track we called a “delicately textured, perfectly phantasmal ambient effort” – Belfast-based artist Isobel Anderson has return with its follow-up, ‘Feed Me’. A track that once more sees Anderson’s command of harmony and counterpoint blend with textures and rhythms that weave in wonderful patterns, it makes for an exquisite four minutes from the Sussex-born musician. Better still, the spectral, reverberating meditation that is ‘Effortless Pain Relief’ proves an equally enchanting b-side. Two of her strongest tracks to date, we reckon.

  • Boris Announce Irish Dates

    May 19, 2017 - By 

    To coincide with their grand twenty-third studio album – and 25th anniversary – experimental trio Boris have announced that they’ll play Dublin, Belfast and Cork in August. Noted for their genre-spanning output, the threesome will play Dublin’s Whelan’s on August 20, Cork’s Cyprus Avenue on August 21 and Belfast’s Limelight on August 23. Tickets are on sale now for the Dublin and Cork shows; tickets for the Belfast date go on sale on Monday, May 22. Dear is released worldwide on July 14.

  • Preview: Metropolis Live @ The MAC

    May 19, 2017 - By 

    Ahead of live-soundtracking Fritz Lang’s German expressionist masterpiece Metropolis at Belfast’s the MAC on Thursday, May 25, we talk to acclaimed composer and pianist Dmytro Morykit about the dramatic theatre of his score. Go here to buy tickets to the event. Hi Dmytro. Take us back: when did you first watched Metropolis and how did it affect you? I suppose the first time I saw it was 1983, around about the same time I saw Nosferatu. I had been reading about the Directors of the silent classics but F W Murnau made more of an impact, perhaps that was just…

  • EP Stream: Silverbacks – Sink The Fat Moon

    May 19, 2017 - By 

    Set for a midnight launch at Whelan’s next Saturday night (May 27), Sink The Fat Moon by Dublin indie rock five-piece Silverbacks will sure rank up there with our favourite Irish releases of the year come December. A plinking, squalling five-track sweep of scuzzed-out tangents and lo-fi passages, it marries the patent – yet very impressively wrought – imprint of the likes of Parquet Courts, Sonic Youth and Pavement in fine fashion, revealing a band whose knack for forging something new from the aforementioned influence is really a delight to behold. For a sub-genre oversaturated with clumsily disaffected amour-propre, Silverbacks wield a far more natural…

  • Watch: Count Vaseline – Russia

    May 18, 2017 - By 

    Currently based in Atlanta, GA Dublin’s Stefan Murphy has set off on a compelling, genre-spanning and decidedly DIY solo journey as Count Vaseline following the disbanding of The Mighty Stef in May last year. A highlight from his second solo album, Cascade – a release Murphy has astutely called a self-contained “micro-universe” – ‘Russia’ is a timely release that, via a stripped back but layered sound that conjures the likes of Darklands-era Jesus and Mary Chain, meditates on and tussles with the the mystery of the past the precariousness of the future. Better still, Murphy vocals – emphatic as ever – veer into perfectly melodic, ear-worming…

  • The Sad and Beautiful World of Sparklehorse Irish Premiere @ Whelan’s

    May 17, 2017 - By 

    We will host the Irish premiere of Alex Crowton and Bobby Dass’ The Sad and Beautiful World of Sparklehorse at Whelan’s on Sunday, July 2. Following the screening of the documentary, which looks at the life and music of the sadly-missed Mark Linkous, a band of musicians – including Tom McShane, The Mad Dalton, Pixie Saytar, Heliopause and Jake Lennox – will play an hour-long set of material from the Sparklehorse songbook. Doors are at 7pm and tickets – priced €13.00 – are available to buy via Whelan’s, a venue which Sparklehorse performed at on a handful of occasions.  

  • Video Premiere: R51 – Heavy Friends

    May 17, 2017 - By 

    Having recently been in the studio recording new material, Belfast five-piece R51 will release a blitzing new single, ‘Heavy Friends’ and a b-side titled ‘Vitamin C’ on May 23. A song “about the realisation that all your friends are depressed weirdos”, it’s another starry-eyed – almost celebratory – blast of gaze-drenched alt-pop from the band. Accompanied by a DIY video (which has become something of a forte for the band), check out our premiere of the single and its artwork below.

  • Stream: Loah – This Heart

    May 17, 2017 - By 

    Having snuck a little preview, we are very excited about the release of This Heart, the debut EP from Irish/Sierra Leonean artist Loah. A release of extraordinary finesse and inimitable pop sway, it was recorded a 6 month period with a fine array of some of Ireland’s most eminent jazz, African, and classical musicians, including Brazilian drummer Andre Antunes, saxophonist Michael Buckley, Congolese guitarist Niwel Tsumbu, percussionist Eamonn Cagney, a string quartet of musicians from the Crash Ensemble, and Loah’s sister Fehdah on backing vocals. Talking about the release, Loah said: “This is a collection of tunes that all deal with similar…

  • Swans To Play Final Irish Show In Current Guise

    May 17, 2017 - By 

    As part of a lengthy tour, U.S. noise rock masters Swans will play their final Irish show with the current line-up at Dublin’s Button Factory on Tuesday, May 30. A last-minute show, support on the night comes from Little Annie (Crass Records/On-U Sound). Tickets will go on sale today here.

  • Video Premiere: Aaron Shanley & The Horrortongues – My Mind Ain’t Pretty (At The Minute)

    May 17, 2017 - By 

    Primed to release his debut album, Metal Alligator, at Belfast’s Voodoo on May 24, Northern Irish artist Aaron Shanley now has a full band in tow in the form of the excellently named Horrortongues. Ahead of that, we’re pleased to present a suitably tripped-out live video for ‘My Mind Ain’t Pretty (At The Minute)’, a track we said was “a really tidy, very promising taste of things to come from the wanderlust-smitten artist” upon its original release back in 2015. Filmed at Millbank Studios in Lisburn, the well-honed, scuzzed-out lo-fi aesthetic of Shanley and the Horrortongues is laid bare in fine fashion Pre-order the stellar…