• Video exclusive: Sullivan & Gold – Please Repeat

    April 14, 2014 - By 

    Following our two previous video exclusives with the pair, we’re happy to present a first look at the video for ‘Please Repeat’ by Derry singer-songwriter duo Sullivan & Gold. Continuing in their series of live cuts from their debut album For Foes, the video for the track – shot and edited by PIGMINTFILM – features Ben Robinson and Adam Montgomery delving underground in song – a visual stark contrast to their two previous visual accompaniments for both ‘Nobody Loves You‘ and ‘Glory‘. Sullivan & Gold have a few dates on the horizon. Check them and the video for ‘Please Repeat’ out below. Thursday,…

  • Watch: The Clameens – Don’t Judge

    April 14, 2014 - By 

    From ‘Windowlicker‘ and ‘Schism‘ to ‘Closer‘ and ‘Black Hole Sun‘, there is no shortage of music videos out there that are all but universally considered to be nightmare-inducing. Of course, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing – in every single one of the aforementioned instances, the innate “weirdness” of each is ultimately tantamount to a parallel brilliance and ingenuity. Whilst taking a more minimalist approach, the video for ‘Don’t Judge’ by young Derry pop-rock quartet The Clameens falls comfortably under the nightmare-inducing banner. In other words, drop acid and watch this thing in a darkened room at your peril. The…

  • Scratch My Progress 2014 Applicants Wanted

    April 10, 2014 - By 

    After two successful annual campaigns to date, Belfast’s Oh Yeah Centre are once more on the look-out for young musical talent to apply for their ‘Scratch My Progress’ programme. A talent development programme offering four musical acts the opportunity to “hothouse their talent, learn about the business of music, plus the trades of performing and writing”, it will involve various meetings and workshops with music industry professionals including lawyers and accounts, vocal coaches, PR experts and more. Charlotte Dryden, Project Manager of Scratch my Progress said, “[It] is opening the doors again to new music potential. It’s the third recruitment…

  • Stream: Ryan Vail – Grow

    April 9, 2014 - By 

    Derry electronic duo Ryan Vail (Vail and his other half in Katie Cosgrove) have long been one of our favourite acts for summoning a very particular sense of nocturnalism in their music. With a string of quietly brooding tracks under their belt, their latest offering, ‘Grow’, delves even further into the night. The lead track for the forthcoming EP of the same – set for release via the excellent Champion Sound in early May – the track is imbued with Vail’s ever-impressive analog renderings of self-doubt and enlightenment; a dual subject that he and Cosgrove have been revealing over the…

  • Stream: PØRTS – Ancient Wave

    April 9, 2014 - By 

    In a rather unexpected nominal curveball, fast-rising Derry quartet Little Bear have changed their name to PØRTS (monosyllabism, capitalisation and obscurism is in, after all) as well as releasing a new track,  ‘Ancient Wave’. Bearing a distinctly more fleshed-out sound than previously heard, the song retain the band’s building, anthemic shtick whilst hinting at treading new ground in terms of ambience and soundscaping in new material. Stream the track via YouTube below.

  • Master & Dog – Things You Should Know

    April 8, 2014 - By 

    Opening on a languidly strummed major chord in the vein of Sparklehorse and Low, pronounced gently like a first breath awakening from sleep, the lead track from Things You Should Know by Master & Dog is a brief but exquisitely restrained tale delicately marrying terse admissions of self-doubt with a pervasive ghost of hope. From the off, repose and self-contemplation feels directly conducive to the effect, the opening prologue-like tale very much setting the tone for the quartet’s latest EP. “I’m scared of what you’re capable of,” parts the alt-folk band’s vocalist and guitarist Walter Thee Goon, the release’s rather refreshingly unambiguous…

  • EP Stream: ABandcalledboy – Abandcalledboy

    April 8, 2014 - By 

    The follow-up to last year’s promising Dead Academics EP, Northern Irish schizo-punk trio Abandcalledboy have released their seven-track self-titled EP. Including the release’s lead single ‘Cliff Richard‘, the EP features the brims with the Ryan Burrowes-fronted trio’s now fully-formed grasp of fusing earworming melodies with pummeling weight. Over the course of seven tracks, and most impressively on ‘Serotonin’ and ‘Mirrorlover’, drop-tuned riffs meld with deceptively contagious vocal hooks and an unrelentingly impassioned delivery that confirms the arrival of one of the country’s most promising alt-rock bands of a generation. Abandcalledboy kickstart a string of UK dates in Glasgow this evening…

  • Inbound: Arborist

    April 7, 2014 - By 

    Ahead of the release of their debut album, we talk to Mark McCambridge, frontman and songwriting core of Belfast-based band Arborist about the evolution of the project, the thematic foundations of the release and the many benefits derived from the freedom to experiment in the studio. Photos by Dave Timlin. Hi Mark. Arborist has just finished recording your debut album, Home Burial. Before talking about that, how has the journey been getting to this stage? Arborist began in Christmas 2012 and the goal was always to get to this point. A lot of the songs were already there – they…

  • Gig of the week: Farriers, Anthony Toner & more @ Empire Music Hall

    April 7, 2014 - By 

    Headlined by alt-rock band The Farriers, our Gig of the Week for this is a special fundraising show for disaster relief in Syria at Belfast’s Empire Music Hall on Friday, April 11. Not merely totally laudable for the great cause – aiding the afflicted caught up on the Syrian crisis – the line-up has all the makings of one of those all-too-rare “I was there” shows, with Anthony Toner, Master & Dog and Seven Summits (pictured) also amongst the acts set to perform. Tickets are £5 and it’s £6 at the door. Go here for the show’s Facebook event page.

  • Watch: The Altered Hours – Dig Early

    April 7, 2014 - By 

    Ahead a string of Irish dates starting at the end of April, Cork psych-rock maestros The Altered Hours have unveiled their debut video, for the single ‘Dig Early’. Created by Mary Kelleher, Izabella Szczutkowska and Elaine Howley, the video is an entrancing collage of warped black-and-white footage of the band performing in Cork’s Triskel Arts Centre majestically intercut with a hyper-speed, decidedly dream-like coastal trawl in Co. Clare. The track itself – brilliantly bearing the hallmarks of the band’s intent-drenched live shows – was recorded and produced in Cork with Chris Somers and will be released as a 7″ on Art for…