• Final acts announced for Glasgowbury 2013

    May 3, 2013 - By 

    The final acts confirmed to play this year’s Glasgowbury Festival have been announced. As revealed today in the Daily Mirror, funk and soul seven-piece The Dead Presidents, Derry electronic artist Ryan Vail and shimmering pop artist Silhouette will join an already impressive lineup in Draperstown. As exclusively revealed on BBC Radio Ulster programme Across The Line, the newly invigorated Jetplane Landing, rock quartet The Answer and globe-trotting post-rockers And So I Watch You From Afar will headline the event, now in its thirteenth year. Also amongst the first acts announced to play the annual “small but massive” festival are Axis Of,…

  • Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman dies aged 49

    May 3, 2013 - By 

    Jeff Hanneman, founding guitarist of American thrash metal legends Slayer has died, aged 49. As announced via the band’s official Facebook page last night, Hanneman died of liver failure in California on Thursday. The guitarist had been suffering from a flesh-eating disease since 2011 called necrotising fasciitis, believed to have been contracted from a spider bite. Slayer’s official statement said, “Slayer is devastated to inform that their bandmate and brother, Jeff Hanneman, passed away at about 11am this morning near his Southern California home.” R.I.P. Jeff. Everyone else, get this into your lugs (so to speak).

  • The Japanese Popstars

    May 3, 2013 - By 

    Irish electronic act The Japanese Popstars may not quite be household names yet, but they’re surely not far off. Having supported legendary electronic duo Orbital last year on their UK and European tour, Gary Curran and Gareth Donoghue were but adding to their list of admirers after they had recruited a host of high profile collaborators for 2011’s Controlling Your Allegiance, which included the likes of Jon Spencer and Robert Smith. As Donoghue goes on to explain, one of his biggest inspirations during his formative DJing years would come to be intimately involved with the release of the band’s upcoming…

  • Solar Bears – Supermigration

    May 3, 2013 - By 

    Despite having moved out of their bedrooms and into a professional studio to record the follow up to 2010’s She Was Coloured In, Irish duo Solar Bears are in no mood for reinvention on their second LP. Indeed, with John Kowalski and Rian Trench having spent a considerable amount of time since their debut perfecting their live set, much of Supermigration is focused on refining their psychedelic,  ambient-pop style- and what a style it’s become. The duo’s shared love for science-fiction films and krautrock-inspired electronica is as prevalent as ever and, perhaps most impressively, as seamless. It’s hard to tell…

  • Belfast Photo Festival

    May 3, 2013 - By 

    Taking place over a month from June 6 to June 30, Belfast Photo Festival will celebrate some of the most exquisite national and international photography and visual culture. Undoubtedly Northern Ireland’s premier visual arts festival, this year’s city-wide celebration of the photographic image will have a variety of stunning exhibits featuring the cream of local and global talent. Highlights throughout the festival run include On-Set(Ulster Museum), which presents behind the scenes photography taken during the filming of major features shot in Northern Ireland, including HBO’s highly successful series  Game of Thrones. Or if you visit The Naughton Gallery (Queens University)…

  • Inbound: The Altered Hours

    May 3, 2013 - By 

    Of the many acts to emerge seemingly fully-formed from a currently thriving Cork scene, five-piece The Altered Hours rank right up there as the most downright thrilling. Brandishing a superbly kaleidoscopic, altogether hypnotic brand Krautrock-tinged psych-rock, the band, who recently supported New York psych masters White Hills on their Irish tour, have just released their superb debut 10″ Sweet Jelly Roll on A Records. In the first of our Inbound: series, focusing on new and exciting Irish acts, we catch up with four fifths of the young band to get the lowdown on their sound, mindset and steady rise. Words…

  • The Altered Hours

    May 3, 2013 - By 

    Freelance photographer Bríd O’ Donovan recently caught up with Elaine and Cathal from fast-rising Cork psych/garage band The Altered Hours. Check out our interview with the band right here.