• Watch: Autre Monde ‘On The Record’

    October 7, 2019 - By 

    Autre Monde have returned with their second new single of the year, ‘On The Record’. Following summer’s ‘Fever In May’, the Dublin supergroup of sorts comprising Padraig Cooney, Paddy Hanna, Eoghan O’Brien and Mark Chester are joined by saxophonist Félim Gormley and guest vocalist Naoise Roo on the typically bockety indie-pop number. Set to appear on the band’s forthcoming LP debut, The Imaginary Museum, the lyrics to ‘On The Record’ confront “the addiction to making pop songs and irresponsibly chasing the perma-receding horizon of professional musicianship”. The Imaginary Museum is slated for release via Strange Brew – also home to…

  • Mixtape Preview: Donnie Darko

    September 24, 2019 - By 

    Mentally divorce, for a moment, music from Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko. You’re still left with a genre-defining film. A contemporary indie classic. A movie blurring the lines between horror, black comedy, teen drama and cult sci-fi mind-bender. Put it back – Michael Andrews’ motifs brimming with vintages Moogs and electric vibraphone, alongside era-defining jams from Tears For Fears, Oingo Boingo, Echo & The Bunnymen and more – and you have a near perfect big-screen encapsulation of a particular breed of ’80s suburban ennui.   Despite its lacklustre performance at the box office, Donnie Darko was, of course, a runaway critical…

  • The Story Of An Artist: In Memory Of Daniel Johnson

    September 13, 2019 - By 

    On Tuesday, 10th September, 2019, cult singer songwriter and outsider art iconoclast Daniel Johnston passed away at the age of 58 due to a heart attack at his home in Waller, Texas. The singer was best known for his 1983 album Hi, How Are You?, which he recorded alone, on a cassette recorder. The album has gained cult status since it’s release and has been cited by many important musicians (perhaps most notably Kurt Cobain) as being of major influence. In fact, Daniel Johnston has been a major influence on many different people. To some he was something of a…

  • Stream: Doubt – HD Tool

    September 3, 2019 - By 

    Flood co-founder Doubt will release his new EP, Steam Cycle, via the label on 4th October.  The Cork hard drum collective, run alongside fellow DJ/producers Syn and Tension, has become somewhat of a bastion for the niche genre since launching in 2017. With a sound defined by heavy, syncopated percussion and minimal (but very effective) electronic flourishes, the Flood crew have played alongside scene originators such as NKC. They have also become key reference points for the genre’s development thanks to a slew of digital releases on the label, their tracks becoming a trademark in many a DJ set and…

  • No Deal Gross Net: An Interview with Philip Quinn

    August 30, 2019 - By 

    If we truly are living the end of days, at least there are those who can observe and comment on the doom, with a bit of dark humour and use of rhythmic beats to remind us there is a glimmer of hope in humanity. One such person is the man behind Belfast’s avant-garde electronic outfit Gross Net. Philip Quinn started the project back in the, comparatively tranquil, year 2014. His first release was the Cassette EP, when Christian Donaghey of Autumns was part of the Gross Net set up. Next came the second mini-record of Outstanding Debt, followed by the…

  • Rock For Choice: NI Musicians on Why We Should All Support Rally For Choice 2019

    August 30, 2019 - By 

    On Saturday, September 7th, the fourth annual Rally For Choice will take place in Belfast. Now, more than ever before, the movement – which demands free, safe and legal access to abortion services in Northern Ireland – is propelled by unstoppable momentum. With the country on the cusp of finally achieving women’s rights in line with the rest of the UK and Ireland, there’s a very real sense that the time is now. From 4pm that day, Belfast’s Ulster Sports Club will host its unmissable sister event, Rock For Choice. Hosted by Girls Rock School NI – a non-profit organisation…

  • Mixtape Preview: Hit So Hard

    August 28, 2019 - By 

    Not least considering the sheer amount of high-profile figures who dominated grunge’s heyday in the early 1990s, it may seem curious – that is on the surface – that P. David Ebersole opted to delve into the backstory of Hole’s relatively shy-and-retiring Patty Schemel in his 2011 documentary Hit So Hard. But it’s a thought that, sans facts, neglects not only the drummer’s vital involvement in one of the generation’s biggest bands, but the heady, tragic lives of those whose personal lives often eclipsed the music. In focusing on one of the scene’s more unassuming characters, Ebersole traces hugely engrossing narrative. Chronicling…

  • Mixtape Preview: Teenage Superstars

    August 19, 2019 - By 

    Running (independently) parallel with equally generation-shaping scenes in cities like Washington and Minnesota, Scotland was a singularly fertile ganglion of DIY and indie music throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s. From Teenage Fanclub and The Vaselines to The Jesus and Mary Chain and Primal Scream, towns like Bellshill and East Kilbride – as well much bigger scenes in Glasgow – gave rise to some of the most influential artists of a generation. Such a mottled and many-chaptered narrative can’t exactly be reeled off or pared down into a précis, which is perhaps why few books – and much fewer films…

  • Quare Groove: Q&A with Colm K

    August 19, 2019 - By 

    This Saturday (Aug 24th) the soulful fellas from Belfast’s Neighbourhood club host Cork DJ/producer Colm K at the left-of-centre Ulster Sports Club. Friend of Neighbourhood and Bullitt resident, Jonny Carberry, fired some questions Colm’s way… JC: Colm! Cheers for doing this. I really enjoyed your Boiler Room Residents Hour mix from a couple of years back – they described you as someone who was ‘pushing the boundaries, orbiting in dance music territories outside of the usual house/techno worlds’. Are you still a resident at Sunday Times? How is the Cork scene at the moment – do you still have sense…

  • Countersunk share video for 101 Beats Per Minute track, ‘Retkiluistelu’

    August 15, 2019 - By 

    Following the success of last year’s immense compilation, Dublin experimental label, Countersunk, has been sharing a new track every week since April as part of 101 Beats Per Minute II. Featuring contributions from a wide range of Irish musicians and producers, each track in the collection, as with the first edition, is as distinct as the next, with the only brief given being that it has to be recorded at 101 bpm. The tracks themselves continue to be released anonymously, with the likes of Blusher, Kobina, Eomac, David Kitt, ROMY and Linda Buckley among the new compilation’s contributors. “We’re hoping to create a dialogue between…