• Bookmark: Una Mullally

    May 6, 2015 - By 

    In this installment of Bookmark we spend some time with Una Mullally, a journalist with The Irish Times and a recently published author, while she discusses her favourite and most influential books. Photos by Abigail Denniston. Tales Of The City – Armistead Maupin I don’t read much fiction, but these books had a big impact on me and on my aspirations to explore writing fiction. They’re so smart and nifty and more-ish. Fun Home – Alison Bechdel This is a work of genius. The ground Bechdel breaks with Fun Home is monumental, both with the form she pioneers and the subject…

  • New Acts Announced for Electric Picnic 2015

    May 5, 2015 - By 

    As we posted about last week, Blur are amongst several new acts set to play this year’s Electric Picnic. Also confirmed to play the annual Co. Laois festival – set to take place from September 4-6 – are Interpol, FKA Twigs, Grace Jones, Mac DeMarco, Sam Smith, Despacio, Yasiin Bey (Mos Def), MK, Gavin James, Printer Clips, Julio Bashmore, Paul Kalkbrenner, The Riptide Movement, The 2 Bears, SOAK, Viet Cong, Fickle Friends, Kwamie Liv, Honne, Fat White Family, Dawes and Benjamin Clementine. Blur and Sam Smith join Florence and the Machine as the festival’s headliners. With many more acts to be announced,…

  • New Acts Announced For Body & Soul 2015

    May 1, 2015 - By 

    Having announced their return back in February, Super Furry Animals are amongst several new acts announced to play this year’s Body & Soul festival. Set to take place at Co. Westmeath’s Ballinlough Castle from June 19-21, the festival has also revealed that Tiga, Kuenta i Tambu, Kiasmos, SOAK, Cu, Vin Gordon and the Real Rock Band, Cloud Castle Lake, Planet Parade and Bleeding Heart will also perform. With many more acts set to be confirmed, check out the current line-up for the festival below and go here to buy tickets.

  • Festival of Fools 2015

    May 1, 2015 - By 

    Nothing short of an annual Belfast Bank Holiday institution, Festival of Fools returns this weekend with 120 free comedy street shows, including clowns from Spain, acrobats from Australia and Tanzania, not to mention a whole array of Northern Irish performers. Running from Friday, May 1 until Monday, May 4, approximately 40 acts per day will speckle the streets with an array of the brilliant and bizarre performances. Go here to check out the full schedule for the festival.

  • Stream: C-Beams – Le Voile

    April 30, 2015 - By 

    Comprised of Richard Butler and Paul Shevlin, C-Beams is, for those of you not in the loop, an electronic audio/visual project based in Belfast. Thirteen months on from the release of the first installment, ‘Tannhauser’, the duo have unveiled the second of the four-part endeavour, titled ‘Le Voile’. A perfectly drifting, three-minute slice of layered, nuanced alt-pop, the track is accompanied by a visuals – featuring Shevlin atop Belfast’s Cavehill – shot by Butler and Dan Brown. Fingers and all else crossed that the installment of the project comes around quicker than part two, as we’re most definitely fans.

  • Stream: DAÄG HUR – Buried My Head

    April 30, 2015 - By 

    Evoking the likes of Bardo Pond, Black Angels and early My Bloody Valentine, Dublin psych rockers DAÄG HUR have really caught our attention with new track, ‘Buried My Head’. Opting for hyper-hyphenation over self-myopia, the band call themselves a “dream-pop-doom-rock band” – a fitting descriptor for a sound that straddles the balance between dread and ecstasy. ‘Buried My Head’ embodies that very nicely indeed, proving an all-too brief, psych-soaked traipse into the nether regions of the psyche, bound by cirrus streams of reverb and release. This is the theme from a soundtrack to emerging from a bad trip in a friend of a friend’s shite…

  • Stream: OneKnown – Jektify

    April 30, 2015 - By 

    The latest in a spate of new material, Belfast electronic producer Chris Hanna AKA OneKnown has unveiled a new track, ‘Jektify’. Speaking of a forthcoming EP, titled Blue Galaxy, Hanna said, “I might just release it on Bandcamp as a Pay What You Want thing. I wanted the EP to be a bit spacey and weirder. Maybe I’m hanging out with Jack (Space Dimension Controller) too much.” Stream the track via Soundcloud below.

  • Track Record: Kieran McGuinness (Delorentos)

    April 29, 2015 - By 

    In this installment of Track Record, we hang out with Kieran McGuinness from Delorentos to discuss some of his favourite records from Arcade Fire to Television. Photos by Derek Kennedy. Paul Simon – Graceland People talking about this album often talk about the politics of it, and the controversy, or the African influences, but I love it because of the melancholy heart that lives below the happy surface. The title track alone never fails to give me goosebumps. This is the second album with African influences on this list, but I dunno why. Beach House – Teen Dream This is…

  • Monday Mixtape: Dara Kiely (Girl Band)

    April 27, 2015 - By 

    Currently in the studio recording for their debut full-length album – excepted to drop at some point in the Autumn – we’re absolutely certain Dublin’s Girl Band are on the cusp of some incredible things. Taking a breather from recording vocal tracks, Dara Kiely from the band has selected some of his all-time favourite tracks for this week’s Monday Mixtape, ranging from the likes of Syd Barrett and the Doors to Kendrick Lamar and Boom Bip/Doseone. Stream that below.

  • Interview: Soup DuJour & Venus Dupree of Tease-O-Rama

    April 24, 2015 - By 

    One of the more expectedly fabulous prospects in the Marquee of this year’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, Belfast Burlesque showcase Tease-O-Rama promises an evening of music, dancing, glamour and fun on Sunday, May 3. Ahead of the event, we speak to Burlesque extraordinaire Soup DuJour and and DJ Venus Dupree about what’s in store. Photos by Sara Marsden. Hi guys. Can you give us some background on Tease-O-Rama; previous appearances and what will set this one apart from the others? Soup DuJour (above, left): I founded Tease-O-Rama nearly two years ago and it’s all about creating really fun nights that make people laugh…