• Stream: Evvol (Kool Thing) – Your Love

    Having renamed themselves as the (assumingly) similarly Sonic Youth-inspired Evvol, the Berlin-based trio once known as Kool Thing have re-emerged with the bold, blippy and rather quite brilliant ‘Your Love’. The track is taken from their forthcoming album, Eternalism, which is released on May 18. We’re very much looking forward to getting our eager mitts on that.

  • TTA TV: Moving On Music

    Currently based in the MAC, Belfast, Moving on Music have spent the last twenty years boldly showcasing some of the most exciting and curious jazz, blues, traditional, world and electronic artists. Celebrating that twentieth anniversary this year, the promoters – founded by Brian Carson – will also present the latest installment of their annual Belfast-based jazz festival, Brilliant Corners from March 25-28. In an illuminating and anecdote-riddled conversation with Brian Carson, the latest installment of TTA TV traces the history and development of one of Ireland’s most uncompromisingly exciting promoters, with two eyes firmly focused on the future and expanding further. Interview by James Magill; filmed and edited…

  • Stream: Alarmist – Morning, Kepler

    Recorded and engineered by Solar Bears‘ Rian Trench at Meadow Studios, Co. Wicklow last year, Dublin quartet Alarmist have unveiled ‘Morning, Kepler’, the lead single from their forthcoming debut album. A vibrant, suitably sun-kissed instrumental effort for the first day of Spring, the track weaves a sublime patterns over almost five minutes, leaving one with an even stronger impression that Alarmist remain one of the country’s most forward-thinking and distinctive outfits. The follow up to 2013’s Pal Magnet EP, the band’s forthcoming album is expected to drop in the Autumn. With a Belfast date on the cards, check out Alarmist’s forthcoming tour dates…

  • Monday Mixtape: September Girls

    Following on the heels of Pavement’s Bob Nastanovich, ASIWYFA’s Niall Kennedy, Quasi’s Sam Coomes, Ciaran Lavery and Girls Names’ Claire Miskimmin, Dublin noise-pop five-piece September Girls are the next act up for Monday Mixtape. A mix of old and new favourites currently inspiring the writing and recording of their second album, stream their handpicked ten-track playlist below. Photo by Joe Laverty. And one not on Spotify…

  • AVA Festival Announces Conference Details

    Set to take place at T13 in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter on Saturday, May 30, the first wave of details for the conference end of the inaugural AVA Festival has been revealed. With talks, panel discussions and workshops set to feature throughout the day, Keynote speakers will feature DJ Nu-Mark of Jurassic 5 and Adam Smith, long-term AV collaborator with The Chemical Brothers. Industry leaders and key partners including Ashley Howard of Hospital Records, the Vice President of Beatport, Terry Weerasinghe, Paul Hamil AKA Psycatron and more will make an appearance. Go here to read details of the acts performing at…

  • Watch: No Spill Blood – El Duurto (Live)

    Hands down Dublin’s most intriguing and enthralling dystopia-evoking trio, No Spill Blood have released a live video of their performing the aptly-titled ‘El Duurto’. In typical NSB fashion, it’s furious and frantic, where doom and space-rock merge in a heady battle of the wills. The video – full of claustrophobic close-shots – was shot and edited by Neil Hoare in Dublin. ‘El Duurto’ will feature on the band’s forthcoming Sargent House-released debut album, Heavy Electricity.

  • Tour Diary: Ciaran Lavery in Kansas

    Head of Belfast-based imprints Champion Sound and Quiet Arch, Lyndon Stephens reports back from Northern Irish singer-songwriter Ciaran Lavery’s recent industry festival jaunt in Kansas Thursday Accompanied by yours truly, Ciaran Lavery flew to Folk Alliance festival in Kansas City, Missouri last week four days of intense industry showcase gigs. Famous for Dorothy, Toto, Union Station, The Liberty Memorial, BBQ and as the State where the Civil War started, Kansas hosts this industry event with a difference. Everything takes place over four days in two interconnected hotels. Labels, management companies, agents, magazines and government agencies rent rooms or suites (depending…

  • Death From Above 1979 @ Limelight 1, Belfast

    When Toronto dance punks par excellence Death From Above 1979 announced they were calling it a day back in the good old days of yore (2006), every second twenty-something rued through tear-soaked eyes somehow managing to miss arguably one of the finest duos of a generation live. And so, as has happened innumerable times before, in precisely the same fashion, the seeds of legacy were well and truly sown, reaped, a whole decade on, by an expectedly agog congregation of newcomers and “I was there, man” thirty-somethings at Belfast’s Limelight 1. Will the well-documented tension between Sebastien Grainger (drums/vocals) and Jesse Keeler (bass) – apparently resigned…

  • A Celebration of Slint @ Pavilion, Belfast

    On Wednesday, February 25, we will host a celebration of iconic U.S. post-rock pioneers Slint at Belfast’s Pavilion. As well as screening Breadcrumb Trail, Lance Bangs’ wonderful, downright unmissable documentary on the band, we will also be playing the band’s landmark 1991 album Spiderland in full, as well as encouraging local musicians to talk about the impact of Slint on their lives and music. Admission is only £3, doors are at 8pm.

  • Monday Mixtape: Bob Nastanovich (Pavement/Silver Jews)

    Ok, we admit it: our predisposition to mid-Nineties American indie rock is pretty marked. Now that we’ve combined forces and shoved the elephant out of the room, let’s get down to business. Following in the ridiculously tasteful footsteps of Quasi’s Sam Coomes, as well as our very own Ciaran Lavery, Niall Kennedy from And So I Watch You From Afar, Ciarán Smith from Crayonmith and Girls Names‘ Claire Miskimmin, U.S musician and all-round good guy Bob Nastanovich is next up for this week’s Monday Mixtape. A glaringly charimastic member of Pavement and Silver Jews, Nastanovich selects some of his all-time favourite songs from the…