With the all-important EU Referendum vote taking place tomorrow, we’ve sidestepped the unyielding electioneering to compile a genre-spanning Spotify playlist featuring fifty tracks – from The Fall, Amon Düül II and Galaxie 500 to Neutral Milk Hotel, Minutemen and The Velvet Underground – that we reckon some up the great continent in song.
Ahead of The Brian Jonestown Massacre dates at Belfast’s Limelight on Wednesday, June 15 and Dublin’s Academy on Thursday, June 16, Anton Newcombe selects and talks about not five, not ten but twenty-three of his all-time favourite songs, featuring 13th Floor Elevators, Joni Mitchell, Dungen, Marvin Gaye, Nina Simone and more. The Doors – The Crystal Ship There’s something about this beautiful love song that touched me when I was very young. Still love it. Dungen – Panda God, when this came out I was taken back – so powerful in any language. Love these guys, love Sweden. John’s Children –…
I’ll never forget my first time in a gay club. I was eighteen years old and in my first year of college. I’d been clubbing before but had never felt comfortable. The hyper-heteronormativity made me nervous – I could never picture myself dancing as carelessly as the other college kids, all flirting and grinding and at ease with themselves. I could never identify with the people around me and most nights consisted of me standing in a corner, feeling intimidated, looking out of place and humouring the drunken flirting of men who could barely even see me rather than actively…
The Smiths recorded their 3rd album ill at ease with their position in the music world. They were unsure of their record label, frustrated at how the media represented them, and perplexed with the public’s perception of the band. Nevertheless, when The Queen Is Dead was released, it presented The Smiths at their zenith, aware of their astonishing abilities and revelling in utilising them to full effect. The confidence bursts forth from the get-go with a 6 minute plus, unbridled thrash of a title track and is sustained throughout the 9 diverse songs that follow it. The musical landscape displays a knowing maturity;…
Emma Garnett AKA Feather has morphed again. While many may know her from the punchy, artistic collaborations with Ben Bix this itineration is something of a departure. Now fully backed by an eight-piece band, she and the group are emerging as a blooded, blended new horizon in Irish music so it’s no surprise that they’re signed up with emerging world conscious independent label Hipdrop Records whose slant towards global sounds, funk, soul and jazz distinguish them from the pack. Take their new single ‘Like No Other’ which works its way through three distinct movements without sounding piecemeal. The comparisons to…
Paul O’Connor excavates the impetus and art of Dublin producer and visual artist Sal Stapleton AKA BAD BONES. Photos by Joe Laverty. Under the moniker of BAD BONES, Dublin based producer and visual artist Sal Stapelton, has spent 2016 eking out a series of stunning singles and videos on a monthly basis. With dark but infectious beats that combine rich textural layers of synths and choral vocals with her own heavily processed vocal melodies each single has taken themes of sexuality and power exploring them in different ways. Next month sees the release of the fifth of these video singles,…
Presenter of Ireland’s best radio show, An Taobh Tuathail on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, Cian Ó Cíobháin reveals some of his all-time favourite records. Photos by Sean McCormack. Sonic Youth – EVOL Looking back, it now seems to me that this was the album that ‘trained’ my ears to appreciate more experimental sounds. Picture it. Prior to discovering this, one of Sonic Youth’s strangest records, originally released in 1986, I had been mostly listening to what was on the radio and perhaps just been eased into ‘indie’ music by The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays. I can’t recall how or…
Aidan Hanratty and Antoin Lindsay return with the best electronic gigs, tracks and mixes of the week. Gigs Shit Robot Album Launch at Bar Tengu, Dublin Saturday 28 May Dubliner Shit Robot has a new album on DFA, and to celebrate its release there’s a party in Tengu (which is host to all the best parties in Dublin right now, funny that). Previous collaborators Alexis Taylor and Nancy Whang both feature on What Follows, as does local lad New Jackson, who’s going to be DJing tomorrow night. Sure to be a partyyyyy. AH Julia Kent + David Donohoe, Freemasons’ Hall,…
Although initially intended as a mere short term project, over the past ten years, the Black Box has established itself as Belfast’s cultural hub, right at the centre of the thriving Cathedral Quarter. No other venue here dedicates itself to such a wide remit of music, comedy, theatre, film, art, literature and spoken word, both international and homegrown. As it celebrates its tenth birthday, it would seem fitting to recollect its most memorable events, but there are really too many to recall – though the staggering list of names who’ve passed through the venue’s doors include the likes of Tim…
Aidan Hanratty looks at the week’s best gigs, tracks, mixes and releases. Gigs Shivers with Leon Vynehall (3 hr set) at Electric Garden & Theatre, Galway Friday 20 May Fresh from the release of his album Rojus on Running Back, joyous house guru Leon Vynehall comes to Galway for a lengthy set at Shivers. These guys are getting some seriously good bookings, so we’re glad to see this party taking off. AVA/TNI/BMC Pres Dekmantel Soundsystem at Aether & Echo, Belfast Saturday 21 May AVA is just around the corner, and The Night Institute and Belfast Music Club are coming together to host the Dekmantel…