With his highly-anticipated second album, Love & Hate, set for release via Polydor on May 27, Michael Kiwanuka has announced that he will return to Ireland this Autumn to play shows at Belfast’s Limelight 2 on Friday, October 14 and Dublin’s Academy on Saturday, October 15. Tickets for both shows on sale this Friday, April 8 at 9am priced £15 + BF and €22.00+ respectively. Check out new Kiwanuka single, Black Man In A White World, below.
Nothing pleases us more than seeing homegrown, independent festivals get it just right. With their altogether (inter)stellar celebration of modern experimental psych music, art and film slotting very comfortably under that bracket, Distorted Perspectives will return to Letterkenny’s Regional Culture Centre from Friday, April 29 to Monday, May 1. Following on from the likes of Ulrich Schnauss and Moon Duo at last year’s festival, this year’s outing will feature psych pop king BC Camplight, Jeffrey Lewis & LOS BOLTS and Captain A & The Commercial Monsters on Friday night, Leeds maestros Hookworms and Dublin’s Twinkranes, who will pair up on the Saturday night, as well as live experimental film scores…
Proudly calling itself Europe’s only photography festival for young people, Belfast Photo Festival’s Youth Edition will take place across the city from April 3 to May 30. With exhibitions focusing on the likes of skate and BMX culture, boxing and the physical and emotional experiences of elite gymnasts, tours and screenings looking at the likes of the Titanic and workshops focusing on gig photography, freestyle and how sports can promote social cohesion and acceptance, this year’s programme bounds with diversity from start to finish. Go here to check out the full programme and to buy tickets.
Set to headline the second installment of Psykick Dancehall – our new Dublin night with Medium Presents at Bello Bar – tonight, Laura Sheeran has unveiled the video for her first single in four years, ‘Light a Fire’. Very aptly accompanied by its DIY, decidedly spectral video, the track wields space and texture in extraordinary fashion, with sparse beats and cloistered, portentous vocals dancing subtle shamanistic patterns across four minutes confronting fervid recollection and the workings of memory in the death and dying of love. Sheeran plays alongside BAD BONES and Katharine Philippa tonight. Event page here.
Joe Laverty captures the launch of this year’s Cathedral Quarters Arts Festival at Belfast’s Sunflower, featuring performances from Jealous of the Birds and Hannah McPhillimy. Go here to check out the full programme for this year’s festival.
A theatrical journey through an ever-changing landscape, confronting some hugely pressing issues regarding climate change and, in particular, fracking, Siân Owen’s This Land is a play being hailed for striking a keen balance between engrossing fictional narrative and the much bigger – more important – picture. Ahead of performances at Coleraine’s Riverside Theatre (Apr 6), Omagh’s Strule Arts Centre (Apr 7), Derry’s Waterside Theatre (Apr 8) and Belfast’s The MAC (Apr 9), Brian Coney chats to Owen about the production and its portrayal of the issues. Go here to buy tickets. Hi Siân, before touching on This Land, can you give us some background on Pentabus and…
Having had an exceptional inaugural outing last year (check out our review right here) Belfast electronic festival AVA will return to T13 on Saturday, June 4 with the very solid aim of celebrating and nurturing talent from across the length and breadth of the country. With more yet to be revealed, Detroit techno pioneer Juan Atkins, DJ and writer Dave Haslam, Belfast’s Bicep, Association of Electronic Music director Mark Lawrence, Shanti Celeste (pictured), Lizzy Bowman, Halina Wielogorska, Sarah McBriar, Ableton, Pioneer, Native Instruments, Belfast Underground Records are amongst the first names confirmed to take part in panels, talks, workshops and sessions throughout the day.…
With the likes of Floating Points, Mercury Rev and Sun Kil Moon already announced, the second wave of acts have been revealed for this year’s Body & Soul Festival. Set to return to Ballinlough Castle in Co. Westmeath during the Summer Solstice Weekend of June 17-19, The Gloaming, Hudson Mohawke, Neon Indian (pictured above), Optimo, Gold Panda, Bleeding Heart Pigeons, David August, Brian Deady and Holly Macve are the latest acts to join the bill. Check out the current line-up below and go here to buy tickets.
As you might well know by now, Dublin instrumental six-piece Overhead, The Albatross don’t exactly to things by halves. A visual epic (we never use that word, so you know we mean it) traversing countless locations and individuals, the video for their new single ‘Indie Rose’ is a slow-burning, wonderfully shot accompaniment- directed by Luke Daly and produced by Bold Puppy that masterfully mirrors the impassioned, increasingly purposeful drive of their music. ‘Indie Rose’ is the opening track from Overhead The Albatross’ forthcoming debut album, Learning to Growl, which is released on May 13.
There are few more inimitable and instantly engaging songsmiths than London-based, Northern Irish troubadour Pat Dam Smyth. Five years on from the release of his stellar debut album, The Great Divide, Smyth is currently crowdfunding for its forthcoming follow-up via Pledge Music, a release that will surely doubly confirm his standing as one of the country’s most distinctive and vital voices. Ahead of shows at Belfast’s The MAC on Friday, April 1 and Rathfriland’s Bronte Church on April 2, Smyth chats to Brian Coney about his pledge campaign, touring across Europe and finally feeling he belongs to the current era.…