• Premiere: Survival Bag – The Vivid Past

    September 21, 2016 - By 

    Johnny Muir AKA Belfast’s Survival Bag, has self-released several tracks recently, most recently the evocative ‘The Vivid Past’, an sonic experience akin to the feeling of emerging from Madchester’s ecstatic haze into the grim reality of Cool Britannia. Like much of Survival Bag’s music, each instrument was played and recorded by Muir, with his own spoken and sung vocals, programmed sounds and discovered samples. Conceptually, the song is about memory loss and confusion, as Muir explains: “When I was growing up, my grandma suffered from severe dementia – always described as ‘hardening of the arteries’ whatever that is – and she came to live with us. But sometimes she…

  • R51 – No Chill EP Premiere & Interview

    September 9, 2016 - By 

    R51 are amongst the hardest working bands on the island right now; they’re taking this seriously. Falling broadly into a nu-gaze sound without ever losing sight of their carefully crafted & thoughtful pop sensibility, they’re a five piece with all the right components. In the studio, they’re all about pop perfection and live, it’s a padded mallet of sound. They’re led by the power coupling of frontwoman Mel Shannon’s soaring vocals – also band photographer & craftsperson – and lyricist & guitar wizard Jonny Woods – who records & produces everything in their studio – with the punk edge coming from…

  • Godspeed You! Black Emperor @ Vicar Street, Dublin

    August 24, 2016 - By 

    It’s about sixteen months since instrumental Montreal collective Godspeed You! Black Emperor last played Ireland, and with the venue, stage backdrop, equipment, lighting, and setlists almost identical to the last, there’s a familiar sense of n different sort of ritual on this particular Sunday at Vicar Street. The ongoing sub-50Hz rumble of the venue gives way to the entry of the seemingly accidental wandering onstage of a percussionist, double bassist and violinist, kept just visible by warm amber light. As they ease into some droning, exploratory notes, more musicians appear onstage, before the mass organically transforms into the band’s now…

  • Classic British Horror Screenings @ The Ulster Folk Museum

    August 19, 2016 - By 

    Northern Ireland Screen Digital Film Archive, National Museums Northern Ireland, the British Film Institute and FilmHubNI, classic British horror movies come to rural Northern Ireland for a pair of unique events at Cultra, Holywood’s Ulster Folk & Transport Museum. In the atmospheric setting of the Folk Museum, the audience will have an opportunity to wander through the parkland on which the museum is situated and discover the charming period cottages, farms, schools and shops to set the scene. Before the feature, there will be a screening of footage from Northern Ireland Screen’s Digital Film Archive. Focusing on the theme of folk…

  • Inbound: Slouch

    August 2, 2016 - By 

    Perhaps it’s just us, but we’re noticing a serious – and welcome – islandwide resurgence on the scuzzy alternative rock front as of late, with Dublin way ahead of the pack. This month, it’s young trio Slouch, who come from Knocklyon, on the outskirts of the city, just before the mountains – and they sound like it. They released their debut EP, Feminine Elbows, last year, which boasts the sound of a desert contained within a garage in the ‘burbs. They’re carried with the just-loose-enough, gut-led rhythmic swagger of Physical Graffiti-era Zeppelin with the influences of a subsequent three decades…

  • Cian Nugent, Nap Eyes & Cryboys @ Whelan’s, Dublin

    May 16, 2016 - By 

    It’s a diverse crowd of music heads both old and young here at Whelan’s for a night of straight-up good music, untethered to current trends for what’s a homecoming show for Cian Nugent who has been gallivanting across America with main support Nap Eyes recently; this night kick starts the European leg. Opening the show are one of Nugent’s numerous side-projects, alt. country-meets-power-pop of Cryboys. Their 3-4 minute nuggets evoke early Wilco in what appears to be their first outing in some time with the group. It’s a strong set, scattered with the kinds of nostalgic hooks one would expect…

  • Stream: El Grey – My Names A, Your Names Zed

    April 20, 2016 - By 

    Well this is pretty mind blowing – Bray-based singer-songwriter project El Grey has released an 18-minute stream-of-consciousness odyssey. Despite being known to be one for creating atmospheric pop soundscapes, cinematic in scope, her ambition had never reached heights of magnitude until ‘My Names A, Your Names Zed’ – available to purchase on Bandcamp. The recording was completed with no pre-production or strict composition in place beforehand, and was recorded live in one take. Much like El Grey’s process in writing – alternatively: channelling – the song, it’s one to sit back and let happen to you, as it accomplishes that feat of tapping into something deeper entirely. It’s…

  • TV Eye: Horace and Pete

    April 5, 2016 - By 

    The tenth and final episode of Louis CK’s experimental online-self-distributed series, Horace and Pete, arrived in subscribers’ inboxes on Saturday to no fanfare or announcement of the series’ conclusion – simply an email from CK saying he had nothing clever to say about it. It was written, filmed and directed by Louie in the week prior to each release, evidenced by the highly topical barroom discussion, with even Hulk Hogan’s Gawker sex tape discussed. In its finest moments, Horace & Pete feels like zeitgeist-capturing cult television event, and for anyone into it, the personal email from Louis was the highlight…

  • Monday Mixtape: Steven Agnew

    February 29, 2016 - By 

    Following on from his two-part TTA interview, Green Party of Northern Ireland leader Steven Agnew selects and talks about some of his all-time favourite songs, featuring Yo La Tengo, Hot Snakes, Neutral Milk Hotel and Slint. Go here and here for Stevie Lennox’s interview with Agnew. “I’m one of those people who laments technology. I miss making mixtapes. I wouldn’t even have the equipment to make or play it on anymore, but I was a big fan. High Fidelity was always one of my favourite books – the rules of making mixtapes. I’ve never sat down to think about it,…

  • Reverberation Psych Fest Announces Lineup

    February 10, 2016 - By 

    The full line-up for the second annual (and comprehensively unmissable) Reverberation Weekend at Dublin’s Grand Social has been announced. The psych fest takes place over April 8 and 9 in association with Heineken Ireland Music, and features some of the best acts in the genre, from home and abroad. The lineup is as follows: The Cosmic Dead The Cult Of Dom Keller The Black Tambourines Twinkranes Woven Skull Beach Wild Rocket Fabric I Heart The Monster Hero Sun Mahshene Tickets go on sale from Monday, February 15, available at Tickets.ie.