Redbeard’s latest showcase took place at Belfast’s The Bar With No Name (AKA Auntie Annie’s – RIP, etc.) at the weekend. Headlined by fast-rising Derry band Making Monsters, the show also featured blinding sets from Molar Bear, Axecatcher and MAW. A connoisseur of all things heavy and local, our photographer Liam Kielt was down to capture the action.
Ahead of the release of the highly anticipated third album, Darling Arithmetic, Villagers have announced a run of dates across Ireland this May. Starting in Rotterdam on Saturday, April 11, the tour will conclude at Belfast’s Mandela Hall on Monday, May 25. Check out the full dates below. Sat 11 Apr ROTTERDAM Motel Mozaique Tue 14 Apr BRISTOL St Georges Wed 15 Apr FALMOUTH Pavilions Thu 16 Apr EXETER Phoenix Fri 17 Apr BRIGHTON The Old Market Sun 19 Apr LIVERPOOL Epstein Theatre Mon 20 Apr MANCHESTER Concert Hall Tue 21 Apr LEEDS City Varieties Thu 23 Apr PORTSMOUTH Wedgewood…
And So I Watch You From Afar guitarist Niall Kennedy’s A Bad Cavalier will play our first free live show as part of our weekly stint at Belfast’s Laverys Back Bar on Tuesday, February 24. Also featuring tunes from yours truly until late, the intimate performance will be followed be a draw for two tickets to Slane 2015. Just turn up on the night to be entered. Go here for the show’s Facebook event page and check out A Bad Cavalier in action below.
In an AAA shoot, photographer Dee MvEvoy popped along to our show with Girl Band and Robocobra Quartet at Belfast’s Bar Sub at the weekend.
Few Irish bands command seemingly effortless originality as convincingly as Meltybrains? The lead single from their debut vinyl release ‘Donegal/IV’, ‘Donegal’ is a spirited, expansive ode to escapism, reverb-laced lingering vocal lines and shuffling rhythms marrying in a mighty mesh of fist-clenched, impassioned abandon. ‘Donegal/IV’ is released on February 16. Pre-order it from Rough Trade right here.
A colloboration between the Lyric, the Abbey Theatre and the Soho Theatre, the dark and potent Death of a Comedian will run from February 7 to March 8 at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre. Starring Brian Doherty as small-time stand-up Steve Johnson its tagline “What if I’m not funny? What if I go out there and I’m not funny?” aptly distils the essence of the production. Self-belief, ambition, romance and the pursuit for glory entwine in a heady tale of fame, fortune and failure. Go here to buy tickets to Death of a Comedian and watch the trailer for the show below.
Running from February 19 to March 1, the first ever NI Science Festival will pique curiousity and imagine in everything from music venues and coffee shops to cinemas and museums. During the day the festival will present a whole host of workshops, talks and interactive activities for young people, parents and schools. In the evening the festival will come alive with an eclectic mix of scientific debates, talks, theatre, comedy, music and film for adults. Go here to check out the full festival programme,
Firmly commanding our attention with their debut EP, Dandelion, last year, Dublin trio Cloud Castle Lake have returned with ‘Glacier’, a tracking evoking Radiohead, Sigur Rós, Cinematic Orchestra and Do Make Say Think. A wonderfully-layered effort, beautifully disentangling over five-and-a-half minutes, the track sees Daniel McAuley’s high falsetto vocals take centre-stage yet again – and how. Recorded and mixed by Solar Bears’ Rian Trench, the track will be released via Happy Valley Records on March 16. With shows also taking place in England, the band will play Galway’s Roisin Dubh on March 26, Dublin’s Workman’s Club on March 27 and Limerick’s Kasbah…
Every once and a while you stumble across a voice that just stops you in your tracks. A self-proclaimed “devotional” artist, Dublin’s David Blaney AKA Cat Palace falls firmly within that bracket. Placed somewhere between The Blue Nile, Talk Talk, REM and Bonnie Prince Billy, his unaffected, ache-laced vocals and stripped-back acoustic liturgies forge to concoct something bordering on the mystical. Featuring singles ‘Cage’ and ‘Hear Me Lord’, as well as three other tracks, his debut EP commands, broods and sates in fine fashion, capturing an Irish singer-songwriter doing something very singular indeed. Cat Palace is released at Dublin’s Bello Bar on Saturday…
Having been described as “simple, beautiful and moving” by Rock Sound (where it premiered, no less), Belfast-based quartet A Plastic Rose have unveiled the video for the latest single, ‘Garavogue’. Directed by vocalist/guitarist Gerry Norman, it’s a wonderfully understated accompaniment to the track. According to the band, the song is “an ode to Sligo where Gerry and Ian grew up and the Garavogue is the river that runs through the town.” A Plastic Rose launch their album, Flickering Light of an Inner War, at Belfast’s Mandela Hall on Thursday, February 26. Watch the video for ‘Garavogue’ below.