• Playlist: Ten Must-See Acts at Forbidden Fruit 2014

    With the final acts being announced at the start of the month, the stage-times and running order for this year’s Forbidden Fruit festival have just been announced. Featuring the likes of The Flaming Lips, Flying Lotus and Public Enemy, this year’s festival will also include sets from Irish acts including Girls Names and And So I Watch You From Afar. Set to take place on the grounds of Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin on the June bank holiday weekend of Saturday, May 31 and Sunday, June 1. Check out the final poster and stage-times for the festival, as well as our…

  • Cirque De Soleil – Dralion @ The 02

    Dralion, the groundbreaking show from legendary production company Cique De Soleil, celebrates its fifteenth anniversary and will stop off at Dublin’s 02 from Wednesday, May 28 to Sunday, June 1 Fusing the 3000 year-old tradition of Chinese acrobatic arts with the multidisciplinary approach of Cirque du Soleil, Dralion (pronounced “Dra-lee-on”) draws its inspiration from Eastern philosophy and its never-ending quest for harmony between humans and nature. The show’s name is derived from its two emblematic creatures: the dragon, symbolizing the East, and the lion, symbolizing the West. Dralion tickets for the general public are on sale now via Ticketmaster priced from…

  • Wacken Open Air Festival 2014

    Wacken Open Air 2014 will take place in Wacken, Germany on Thursday 31 July to Saturday, August 2 2014. Emperor, King Diamond and Amon Amarth (above) are amongst the bands that will perform at the annual German festival. Check out the full line-up below: A Pale Horse Named Death, Amon Amarth, Apocalyptica, Arch Enemy, August Burns Red, Avantasia, Behemoth, Bembers, Blechblosn, Bring Me The Horizon, Bülent Ceylan, C.O.P. UK, Carcass, Children Of Bodom, Chthonic, Crematory, Decapitated, Degradead, Der W.,Devin Townsend Project, Dunkelschön, Emperor, Endstille, Excrementory Grindfuckers,Firkin, Five Finger Death Punch, Fleshgod Apocalypse, For The Imperium, Godsized,HammerFall, Hatebreed, Heaven Shall Burn, Hellyeah, Iced Earth, Ics Vortex,…

  • With Full Force Festival 2014

    It’s only a few days left until With Full Force festival, celebrating its 21st year, will take place at the Roitschjora airfield in Löbnitz near Leipzig, Germany. After a massive twentieth birthday bash last year, one of the loudest and hardest music festivals in Germany brings the very best of metal, punk and hardcore to your ears once more. From June 4 to June 6 2014 you can mosh to your favorite bands on two stages, get wasted on the camping site, spend your hard earned cash on t-shirts, posters, memorabilia and great food, or just kick back and soak up the…

  • Stendhal Festival Line-up Announced

    Scottish indie rockers Frightened Rabbit (pictured) and Derry punk legends The Undertones are amongst the many acts announced to play this year’s Stendhal Festival. Taking place at Ballymully Cottage on August 8 and 9, the festival will also see appearances from Paddy Casey, Bronagh Gallagher, Duke Special (Gramophone Club special), Tucan, The Emerald Armada, Making Monsters, Pørts (formerly Little Bear), Go Wolf, The Clameens, Paddy Nash and The Happy Enchiladas, Malojian, Ciaran Lavery, In An Instant, Bakken, Exit Pursued By Bear, Ryan McMullan, The Bobbie Harvey Band, Pitcher of the Moon, Glenn Rosborough, The Wood Burning Savages, August, Dramatic Tiger Club, Limavady Big Band,…

  • Watch: The Late David Turpin – Hotel

    Dublin-based singer-songwriter The Late David Turpin has unveiled the rather cryptic and impenetrable video for his new single, ‘Hotel’. Made in collaboration with photographer/editor Killian Broderick and starring siblings Julie Shanley and Jack Shanley (as well as Turpin and his own brother),  the video was shot on location in the Wicklow mountains and in the atmospheric Bray Head Hotel, which wasrecently used as a location for Neil Jordan’s Byzantium. Partially inspired by esoteric fantasies of the mid-1970s including John Boorman’s Zardoz (1974) and Louis Malle’s Black Moon (1975), the video features multiple fragmented strands suggesting human sacrifice and transformation.  Pivoting around a movement piece choreographed by Jack Shanley, the video is…

  • Watch: Rhinos – Rhino

    Formed in Belfast in September last year, garage rock duo Paul Currie and Laura Totten AKA Rhinos have really made a name for themselves following a handful of live shows these last couple of months. Counting the likes of Minor Threat, The Melvins and Andy Kaufman as influences, the pair have both played in a variety of local bands down the years, including T.A.R.T., Sinch, Hammer Bat, Buzzkill and others. Stripped back and launching straight for the jugular, Rhinos’ jagged garage-rock blitzkrieg is impressively captured on their debut single, ‘Rhino’. A call-and-response call to arms, the track was recorded by Clark Philips at the Joe…

  • Electric Picnic 2014

    Hands down the country’s premier boutique music, culture and arts festival, Electric Picnic, will return this summer, headlined by trip-hop legends Portishead, rejuvenated U.S. hip-hop duo Outkast and Beck. Taking place at Stradbally Estate, Co. Laois from Friday, August 29 to Sunday, August 31, the likes of Chic, Mogwai, Slowdive, St. Vincent and Blondie have also been confirmed to play the annual festival, which celebrates its eleventh anniversary this year. Beginning as a one-day event in 2004, Electric Picnic expanded to a weekend-long festival within a year. Tickets for the festival are now available – starting from 90.00 for a Sunday day ticket – are available via the…

  • Watch: A Plastic Rose – Autumn Eases You Into The Dark

    The follow-up to ‘Someone’s Daughter’, Nottingham-based alt-rock quartet A Plastic Rosehave revealed the video to their new single, ‘Autumn Eases You Into The Dark’. Directed by David Louis Lankester, the video was shot at the Irish band’s practice space at J.T. Soar, Nottingham. The single itself – recorded with Chris Coulter (who plays guitar in Jamie Lenman’s band and works with Arcane Roots) at Stakeout Studios in London – will be released via DiDimau and Third Bar on Friday, June 30. It will also feature on the band’s forthcoming new album, Flickering Light of an Inner War. A Plastic Rose will…

  • Watch: Tied To Machines – Tampa Bay Mutiny

    In what might well prove to be their curtain call, Belfast-based hardcore punk band Tied To Machines have unleashed the bloodthirsty ‘Tampa Bay Mutiny’. Accompanying by a wonderfully hypnotic video by Andrew Wilson, featuring spliced archive footage, the two-minute track bursts rabid from the traps, culminating in a skull-crushing second half that instantly necessitates a second or third listen. Recorded by Rocky O’Reilly at Belfast’s Start Together Studios, the track can be streamed/purchased here. Watch the video for ‘Tampa Bay Mutiny’ below.