• Festival Mixtape: Stendhal Festival

    August 14, 2013 - By 

    Taking in place in Limavady’s Ballymully Cottage Farm this summer, Stendhal Festival of Art celebrates its third birthday on the weekend of Friday 16th and Saturday 17th of August. Headlined by Duke Special and Neil Hannon of Divine Comedy, the incomparably scenic showcase is all but set up to succeed the departing Glasgowbury as the go-to Northern Irish festival of the summer. With the tagline “experience the syndrome” Stendhal is much more than a festival of homegrown musical talent. Comedy, theatre, visual art and poetry also play a huge role in ensuring a comprehensively enjoyable experience for people of all ages. Speaking of…

  • Interview: Swans

    August 14, 2013 - By 

    “I used to hate people, generally,” says Michael Gira, fifty-nine year old commander-in-chief of seminal New York post-punk band Swans. In the final stages of touring their critically-acclaimed, monumentally accomplished twelfth studio album The Seer, the outfit are currently undergoing perhaps their best period in thirty years both as a creative unit and in achieving widespread acclaim for their stunningly severe craft. Not altogether unexpected, something evidently running parallel with this is Gira’s own disposition nowadays: a thoroughly agreeable and self-effacing personality that unravels in conversation with Brian Coney ahead of the band’s hugely-anticipated Belfast show. Having just concluded a…

  • In Utero Reissue Tracklisting Unveiled

    August 13, 2013 - By 

    Twenty years on from its original release, the tracklisting for the four-disc reissue of Nirvana’s seminal third studio album In Utero has been unveiled. Set for release via Universal on September 24 the 3 CD and 1 DVD release will contain 70 tracks of demos, rarities, live recordings and a remastered version of the original album, almost exclusively mixed by Steve Albini. Perhaps most exciting of all is the track ‘Forgotten Tune’, an unreleased, recently discovered instrumental rehearsal track that features on disco two. View the full tracklisting below. Disc 1: remastered album with b-sides and bonus tracks 1. Serve the…

  • Download: Nine Inch Nails – Copy Of A

    August 12, 2013 - By 

    Taken from the band’s forthcoming new album Hesitation Marks, Nine Inch Nails are giving away a new track – ‘Copy Of A’ – via Amazon. Something of a recent live staple, the track comes off the back of the release of ‘Came Back Haunted’ in June, the band’s first single since signing with Columbia Records. Nine Inch Nails play Belfast’s Belsonic on August 21. Go here to buy tickets. Hesitation Marks – the band’s eighth studio album to date – will be released on September 3. Stream the track via YouTube below and download the track here.

  • Revisited: Seven Summits – Fossils

    August 11, 2013 - By 

    In the first of a new weekly feature revisiting various relatively recently-released records (everyone loves alliteration, right?) from local acts we take a look at the effortlessly enchanting Fossils, the second album by Belfast-based indie pop band Seven Summits. Released last August, the album’s wonderfully inimitable, masterfully melancholic sound is underpinned by deeply woven introspective intelligence of frontman Rory Nellis. Currently recording new material for a new release, the band – now a quartet featuring Joe McGurgan (Malojian) on bass – recorded Fossils with Phil D’Alton of Master & Dog and was mastered by Fergal Davis. Propelled by Dominic Coyle’s synth lines,…

  • In Conversation: Kasper Rosa, Lantern For A Gale, Vanilla Gloom

    August 6, 2013 - By 

    Ahead of their show at Belfast’s Limelight 2 on Wednesday, August 7, Ryan McCormick (guitarist/vocalist, Kasper Rosa – pictured above), Danny McConaghie (guitarist, Lantern For A Gale) and Grace Leacock (drummer, Vanilla Gloom) participate in the first ever In Conversation, a feature in which we get members of three local bands to discuss different aspects of writing, performing and touring both at home and abroad – as well what ever conversational tangents take their fancy… ___ The Death Knell of Local Music? Danny: So is the Northern Irish music scene on its knees? Praying for forgiveness? Grace: “Aww, I feel sad when I hear that!Good music comes in…

  • Download: Psychojet – Flights EP

    August 6, 2013 - By 

    Belfast-based instrumental quartet Psychojet have released a two-track EP titled Flights, a parting gift of sorts following their farewell on Sunday night. Comrpised of the aptly-titled ‘Swansong’ and ‘Epic Succeed’ the tracks – which reveal a marked compositional progression from the band – was recorded and mixed by Clark Philips at Great Northern Productions. Artwork came from Ryan Taylor. The band released their superb debut album – The Sea Is Never Full – last December. You can check that out here. Stream/download Flights via Bandcamp below. Flights by Psychojet

  • Go Wolf – Limelight 1, Belfast

    August 5, 2013 - By 

    Having been on the upward turn over the last months, fast-rising Belfast-based band Go Wolf supported Brazilian’s finest indie rockers CSS at their Belfast show at Limelight 1 on Friday, August 2. As it so happens, our photographer Alan Maguire was there to capture the foursome in action. Check out our recent interview with the band here.