• Irish Tour: Battles

    August 18, 2016 - By 

    Roisin Dubh, Galway The last time Battles played in the Roisin Dubh was in 2007, just after the release of their first LP Mirrored and just preceding the colossal cult acclaim of tracks ‘Atlas’ and ‘Tonto’. In the years since then that cult following has expanded and expanded, giving the band a listenership that extends to younger Math-Rock devotees, fans of experimental contemporary composers like Steve Reich, blow-ins from the band member’s old groups (Don Caballero, Helmet, Lynx) and, well, people that just like the way they sound. On a Monday evening in August the curious universal appeal of such…

  • Metropolis Announce Day-To-Day Breakdown

    August 17, 2016 - By 

    With less than three months to its return to Dublin’s RDS, Metropolis have announced the Day-to-Day breakdown of this year’s festival. Boasting some big-hitters in the form of DJ Shadow, Grace Jones and Solomun, Crystal Shadows, BADBADNOTGOOD, Crystal Castles and Girl Band are also amongst some of the highlights from the bill thus far. With more acts are yet to be announced, here’s the current Day-to-Day breakdown. Thursday (Opening Night) DJ Shadow Plus very special guests Friday Solomun Moderat SBTRKT (DJ Set) BADBADNOTGOOD Girl Band Saturday Grace Jones Booka Shade (Movements 10) Crystal Castles The Sugarhill Gang Fatima Yamaha Fakear With Weekend 2…

  • Watch: September Girls – Catholic Guilt

    August 16, 2016 - By 

    Imagine, just for one second, hopping in a time machine, zapping back to 1970s Ireland and telling someone there would one day be a 360-degree video on a thing called the internet for a song called ‘Catholic Guilt’. The distance we’ve come, man. The distance we’ve come. Made using a special 12-camera GoPro rig, the video for September Girls‘ new single was shot by the band’s director and guitarist Jessie Ward O’Sullivan in just one take. Pretty impressive. According to the band, “The video symbolises this force as over the course of the song, the band lose their autonomy as they are subjected…

  • Kate Tempest Set For Dublin Show

    August 16, 2016 - By 

    Few artists come in the mould of Kate Tempest. Having started out when she was 16, the London poet, spoken word artist, rapper and playwright’s career to date has a traversed a critically-acclaimed series of plays, being awarded the Ted Hughes Prize for her theatrical spoken word piece Brand New Ancients, a Mercury-nominated debut album in Everybody Down and more. A restless, trailblazing creator, the self-proclaimed poet-rapper-playwright will play Dublin’s Whelan’s on November 26 off the back of the release of her forthcoming new album, Let Them Eat Chaos, which is released on October 7 via Fiction Records. Tickets for her Whelan’s show are on sale…

  • Stendhal Festival of Art 2016 (Day One)

    August 15, 2016 - By 

    Growing stronger each year, there’s a pretence-dodging spirit about Stendhal Festival of Art that always puts creating experiences worth remembering firmly centre-stage. Tucked away in the beautiful, barley-bordered Ballymully Cottage Farm – a heart-skippingly scenic hideaway on the outskirts of Limavady – organisers have lovingly honed the many magical elements that collide to make it Northern Ireland’s most unmissable summer festival. Priding itself as much on its intimate rural setting as it does its family-friendly atmosphere – which is unparalleled – the many hidden corners of enchantment that hem the festival’s two large areas of stages, stalls and curious spaces ensures no creative stone feels left unturned. “We’re a punk band.…

  • C.K. And You Shall Find

    August 15, 2016 - By 

    ‘Everything that I did was counter-intuitive…’ confessed Louis C.K. recently while describing the creation and financing of this year’s ten part tragedy series, Horace & Pete. Nothing looked like this minimal television show before and somehow it’s audacious ambition inspired incredible contributions by an immense cast. In the era of massive budget, world-beating, broad-ranging golden age of television, along comes Louis C.K. with a low-budget drama set in a bar and condensed to dialogue, family and isolation. To be so ‘counter-intuitive’ and unorthodox and yet so brilliant is exactly what makes Louis C.K. compelling. He is a comedian comfortable writing…

  • Biophilia Live @ Light House Cinema, Dublin

    August 15, 2016 - By 

    For one night only, Dublin’s Light House Cinema will screen Peter Strickland and Nick Fenton’s Björk: Biophilia Live on Saturday, August 20. A 97-minute, multidimensional concert doc filmed at London’s Alexandra Palace in September 2013, it coincided with the Icelandic icon’s critically-acclaimed eighth studio album. Justly described as “an infinitely creative journey that presents a culmination of work that represents one of the most original musical endeavours of a generation”, it’s a spirited snapshot of an icon that is most definitely best experienced on the big screen. Tickets are available to buy here, priced €10.00.

  • The First Time: Stevie Martin (Rainy Boy Sleep)

    August 14, 2016 - By 

    As anyone who has ever had the pleasure of chatting with him – no matter how briefly – will know, Stevie Martin AKA Rainy Boy Sleep was a truly endearing and incredibly humble individual. For a musician so respected – for an artist with a head always bustling full of ideas – Stevie never neglected that wry smile and extraordinarily sound demeanour that he effortlessly carried around the country and beyond, guitar case & towering dreams in tow. Late last night word started to circulate around Stendhal Festival of Art in Limavady that, having been reported missing for three weeks just a few days ago,…