• Lavery’s Set For Tall Ships Event

    June 23, 2015 - By 

    With Belfast set for the return of the Tall Ships at the Belfast Maritime Festival from July 2-5, Lavery’s have announced that they will host some of the North’s best live acts on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday at their Continental Market-style beer tent on the Odyssey Arena’s front lawn. With the full timetable to be announced, Runaway Go will play on Thursday, indie pop quartet Go Wolf (pictured )will play on Friday and Wonder Villains will play on Saturday. Elsewhere, Stevie Scullion & co. AKA Malojian, Stephen Macartney and Rachel Coulter, New Ancestors and Chris Wilson, The Salt Flats, Loris, Michael Mormecha and…

  • Sounds Alive @ Odessa Club, Dublin

    June 22, 2015 - By 

    Combining documentaries, an array of found sound and features, Sounds Alive at Dublin’s Odessa on Tuesday, June 23 is set to be an intriguing insight into a world of found, lost, anonymous, weird and wonderful sound. The team be talking to LA based producer David Weinberg (99% Invisible, Marketplace), the creator of RandomTape who are running a competition at this year’s inaugural Tape Fest that’s all about celebrating the audio oddities that can be found in forgotten and abandoned tape. They’ll also be introducing radio series, Zoo Diaries, produced by Colette Kinsella for ABC’s amazing Radiotonic series. The four part series introduces…

  • Stendhal Festival Announces Second Wave of Acts

    June 22, 2015 - By 

    With the likes of Kerbdog and Donovan included in their first announcement early last month, Stendhal Festival of Art have revealed that reggae/dancehall pioneer Macka B (pictured), Dublin singer-songwriter Declan O’Rourke and fast-rising musician Rainy Boy Sleep are amongst the acts included in their second line-up announcement. Also set to play the festival – which takes place at Limavady’s Ballymully Cottage Farm on August 7 and 8 – are Scottish alt-rock band Fatherson, harpist Ursula Burns, Derry’s Making Monsters, Dylan Walshe, Zimbabwean folk band Afresh, Co. Down soprano Maria McGrann, The Hardchargers, The Whereabouts, Exit Pursued by Bear, The Eunan McLaughlin Quartet, Axecatcher, Apartment…

  • Monday Mixtape: Marty Harvey (War Iron/Slomatics)

    June 22, 2015 - By 

    Ahead of supporting sludge-doom overlords Eyehategod at Belfast’s Limelight 2 on Wednesday night, Marty Harvey, drummer/vocalist with Belfast very own behemothic heavyweights War Iron (not to mention the similarly Cyclopean Slomatics) selects and talks about some of his all time favourite tracks. Photo by John Gallardo All these songs for me blend heaviness and melody. I love heavy music with big riffs, noise and walls of sound, but this has to be counteracted with space, room for the music to breath or the chords, vocal harmonies to be heard. The music I prefer to listen to has to have light…

  • Stream: Terriers – Believing The Crystal

    June 22, 2015 - By 

    Taken from their Octagon EP – released via Dutch imprint Rhythm Nation – Dublin duo Peter Ward and Ronan Downing AKA Terriers have mustered some real magic on their unravelling, seven-minute techno chugger ‘Believing The Crystal’. Evoking tripped-out, somnambulist forays in some non-descript, sweaty-walled club of yore,  the track bears the sonic fruits of the pair recently being under the learned guide of Levon Vincent for three months in Berlin. A sound move, we say. Photo by Sarah Doyle

  • ASIWYFA Irish Tour

    June 22, 2015 - By 

    North Coast quartet And So I Watch You From Afar played two extraordinary Irish shows at the weekend, at Dublin’s Olympia and Belfast’s Mandela Hall respectively. Our photographers Isabel Thomas and Colm Laverty, and writers Eoghain Meakin and Cathal McBride were there to cover it all. Olympia Theatre, Dublin Photos by Isabel Thomas There’s something special about the Olympia. It’s not the most high profile venue in the city, nor does it always host the best acts from under or over the ground. But the traditional stage, elaborate plaster work and balconies add a sense of occasion to proceedings hard to…

  • Fusion @ The Black Box, Belfast

    June 19, 2015 - By 

    On Monday, June 22, Love Music Hate Racism NI’s Fusion Project will culminate at Belfast’s Black Box with the internationally Akrowa Drum and Dance Ensemble from Ghana. Also showcasing the outcomes of previous nights hosted as part of the Fusion Project, the evening will also mark the launch of a CD produced by the group. Charlotte Dryden Chair of LMHR NI said “We are very happy to be hosting this special event in Belfast. The internationally acclaimed Akrowa Drum and Dance Ensemble will be showcasing their high energy drum and dance routines, rooted in Ghana’s musical tradition but highly recognisable…

  • Mortal Kombat X (Warner Bros., Multiformat)

    June 19, 2015 - By 

    And so, we return once again to the age-old question: just how far is “too far”? Most scholars agree that one of the central tenets of art in all its forms is to be transgressive, to challenge tightly held mores and prejudices in order to push society, willing or not, in a healthier, freer direction. However, this drive towards progressiveness should always be counterbalanced by the caveat that upsetting the apple cart often leads to a lot of bruised apples. In less oblique terms, at what point does a piece of art stop being thought provoking and instead become merely…

  • The Best of Belfast Illustration Exhibition

    June 18, 2015 - By 

    Featuring work from the likes of Oliver Jeffers, Mark Reihill, Martina Scott, Jacky Sheridan and many more, Mashmob will present The Best of Belfast Illustration at their new gallery at Belfast’s 37-39 Queen St. on Thursday, June 25. The first exhibition in the new space, it will feature various illustrations by establish and new local talent. The night will double up with Mashmob hosting Loft Belfast’s monthly Drink and Draw (BYOB but they’ll provide some too) event, with prizes for the best drawings, as kindly sponsored by InkMonkey. See below for the full list of illustrators on display and go…

  • Smalltown America All Dayer #6

    June 18, 2015 - By 

    Held in association with yours truly, Derry’s Smalltown America Records will host and stream live its sixth All Dayer on Friday, July 31. Three years on from the label’s last All Dayer – featuring the likes of More Than Conquerors, General Fiasco and Fighting With Wire – this year’s outing will feature Northern Irish acts Rosseau, Freak’s, Small Hawk Orchestral, PigsAsPeople, Humanshield, Clanns, Lost Avenue and Paisley rock three-piece Carnivores. Capacity for the streamed/filmed, all-ages event – which takes place at STA’s HQ at 6 Bay Road, Industrial Estate from 5pm on the day – is limited. Tickets – which cost £1o – can be purchased here.…