• Kurt Vile – Bottle It In

    November 17, 2018 - By 

    The sixth track on Kurt Vile’s latest opus is titled ‘Rollin’ With the Flow’ helpfully encapsulating the ambling, shambling rhythms and can kicking nonchalance the Philadelphia songwriter has long been celebrated for.  As always with Vile’s work though, clouds are never too far from spoiling his sunny skies and Bottle It In sees the darker depths of his artistry grow ever murkier. Typically preoccupied with Vile’s dazed yet disarmingly astute ponderings and observations, Bottle It In succeeds in creating an intensely personal connection with the listener, often lending the impression that we have a direct link to Vile’s inner monologue.…

  • A million vivid details: Max Cooper interviewed

    November 15, 2018 - By 

    Merging ambient textures and modern classical elements with the banging clamour of accessible dance beats, Belfast born Electronic composer Max Cooper has been studiously perfecting his brand of music for over 10 years now. Drawing on his deep rooted interests in science and technology, the artist has created a uniquely cerebral body of work, built upon cavernous soundscapes that alternatively surge and flutter with elemental energy. Conceived in relative isolation and primarily concerned with the infinitesimal intricacies of the unknowable human mind, Max Cooper’s latest offering, One Hundred Billion Sparks is, suitably, both epic in scale and minutely detailed;  a tour…

  • Sleaford Mods – Sleaford Mods EP

    October 8, 2018 - By 

    When it comes to Sleaford Mods, there are two very distinct types of people in the world. Those of us who find ourselves instinctively drawn to the visceral fury and elusive musicality of the band’s butt ugly beats and those who struggle to separate the band’s sound from that of a Dragon Soup fuelled brawl out the back of an east Midlands lock-in. The duo’s excellent new EP is unlikely to challenge either camp’s perception… But this seething carnival of misplaced rage, artful profanity and darkly comic tales of divey bars and twitter feuds combines to create a vibrant rebuttal…

  • Anna Calvi @ Empire Music Hall, Belfast

    October 3, 2018 - By 

    Anna Calvi is a musician who seems deeply invested in the art of the crescendo. Blessed with a gargantuan set of pipes, she can veer from a hushed mumble to clarion operatic tone in an instant, archly imbuing her music with shade and suspense and conjuring up bombastic, room shaking coups de grace that punctuate her grand musical statements. Tonight Calvi’s darkly theatrical persona will dominate The Empire’s striking Victorian music hall, an ideal setting for her apocalyptic brand of cabaret which promises to bombard the audience with head spinning guitar pyrotechnics, dramatic key changes and thrilling, shrieked finales. Stepping…

  • Low – Double Negative

    September 29, 2018 - By 

    In a world that loves labels, being unclassifiable can be a heavy cross to bear… Long lumbered with reductive and largely meaningless tags like “Slowcore” (or worse still “Sadcore”), Low’s elegant sound has all too frequently been banished to the realms of what Jack Black’s character in High Fidelity might have dubbed “Old, sad bastard music”.   Such curt dismissal though, does a great disservice to Low’s intricate and deceptively chameleonic songs which, over the course of 15 albums, have run the gamut from chilly post-rock and spectral folk to buoyant indie pop, throwing in the odd The Smiths cover…

  • Elaine Malone – Land

    September 12, 2018 - By 

    On first listen, Elaine Malone’s debut EP Land seems to have arrived in timely fashion. Built upon a homespun foundation of spartan guitar picking and Malone’s darkly burnished vocals, the release seems to encapsulate the end of summer with its rain storms, dimming evenings and the creaking resurgence of central heating systems country wide. This autumnal cosiness proves to be something of a red herring though, acting as sumptuous camouflage for a release at least partially strewn with dark themes and blood chilling turns of phrase. On ‘Vonnegut’ Malone wastes little time grabbing the listener’s attention, intoning the arresting opening…

  • Frankie Cosmos w/ Squarehead @ Voodoo Belfast

    August 27, 2018 - By 

    Frankie Cosmos’s Greta Kline is an artist who oozes cool credibility. A startlingly talented songwriter with a steadfastly DIY ethos, the native New Yorker began garnering acclaim for her music when she was still just a teenager, using Bandcamp to release a veritable avalanche of bedroom pop gems in just a few short years. Now signed with Sub Pop records and touring off the back of Frankie Cosmos’ third full length album,  this evening’s show in Voodoo promises to showcase Kline’s wry poeticism and Lo-Fi yet sophisticated take on the indie pop genre. First sightings of Kline in Voodoo’s bar…

  • Snail Mail – Lush

    July 4, 2018 - By 

    Snail Mail’s Lyndsey Jordan has spoken about her frustration at the media’s lingering focus on her age and it’s easy to understand her consternation. Barely 19, the poison chalice of being a young female musician irritatingly ensures that her music is often viewed through a very particular lens and often described in qualified terms: “Full of potential rather than fully realised”, “Precocious rather than simply gifted” etc.  Bearing this in mind it’s important to break that pattern and clearly state plainly that Snail Mail has made one of the brightest, most insightful and coolly understated albums of the year – No ifs,…

  • Melting Songs: Seán Mac Erlaine interviewed

    July 3, 2018 - By 

    Woodwind specialist and experimental composer Seán Mac Erlaine creates deeply cerebral and alluringly unclassifiable music. Long celebrated for his own swirling, phantasmal compositions as well as his work with Swedish/Irish folk group , This is How We Fly, May saw the release of his latest solo album, the divine Music for Empty Ears. The album was recorded in collaboration with Norwegian luminaries, innovative live sampler Jan Bang and guitarist Eivind Aarset and also features the sumptuous wraith like vocals of Galway singer Sadhbh Ní Dhálaighhe. The dizzying array of talents on record combines to create one of the most seductive releases in Mac…

  • Dott – Heart Swell

    June 19, 2018 - By 

    Mere happenstance it may be, but in the context of a certain momentous referendum victory and one of the longest stretches of good weather in Irish history, the timing of Dott’s balmy and conspicuously political release feels oddly significant. Heart Swell  bulges at the seams with driving garage rock riffs and rumbling basslines while sundrenched melodies and buoyant harmonies sugar the album’s impassioned politics without sacrificing an ounce of the band’s defiant verve. The surf pop inflected opener ‘Bleached Blonde’, announces itself with Laura Finnegan’s throbbing bass and frontwoman Anna McCarthy’s vocals echoing the ebb and flow of the tide,…