• Electric Picnic 2014: Seven Must-See Acts

    August 28, 2014 - By 

    Sold out for the second year in a row with good reason, there’s obviously a veritable plethora of talent at Electric Picnic. As a result, it’s never easy to sift through all the bands you may or may not want to catch, so here’s our two cents on some of the acts you should choose to give a few of your minutes to. Slowdive Having reunited in January to play Primavera earlier in the year, Slowdive’s Electric Picnic appearance marks one of a limited number of reunited dates on these isles from the shoegaze masters. They released three albums in their…

  • ‘Est-ce que c’est Chic?’ How NI’s love for Nile Rodgers squares with one Belfast disco oddball

    August 25, 2014 - By 

    I love disco music but I didn’t dance to Chic last Tuesday night. Instead, I watched a YouTube video of (early 80s Belgo-Portugese popstar) Lio’s ‘Sage Comme une Image’ on a disco loop. The music is exotic but fun: a tipsy groove Nile and Bernard would surely dig; Europe via downtown New York and all that. In the vid, Lio applies red lipstick, shimmies, then coyly boozes it up… as some weird dude just kind of hovers.   ‘J’adore cette chanson et le clip est genial.’ ‘Timeless musique!’ ‘Oh those French girls…’ offer some comments. ‘Nice titties’ suggests another, less…

  • 100 Years of Irish Women Artists 1870-1970

    August 21, 2014 - By 

    Irish Women Artists 1870–1970 at The Ava Gallery is one of the most significant exhibitions of its kind for many years. The seventy five paintings, drawings, engravings and sculptures represent some of the most important artists in the history of modern Irish art and have been gathered from privately owned collections  throughout Ireland. This doesn’t happen every day. In fact, the last time historical Irish women artists were accorded such an honor was back in the 1980s. “I do think it’s very significant,” says Claire Dalton, co-manager of the exhibition. “So much happened in that time period that still resonates…

  • 30 Years of Serious Mucking About – Gerry Anderson (1944-2014)

    August 21, 2014 - By 

    In Northern Ireland, we like to think of ourselves as an open, friendly, earthy people, bereft of the pretensions and airs that our ‘betters’ frequently display. Not for us the ‘hoity toity’ high life, instead preferring that natural warmth and good folk humour that touches the parts of the heart few other things can approach. Frankly, the truth is somewhat different (to put it mildly), but if one were able to hold up an avatar of what we consider to be the embodiment of that warmth and humour, you’d have been hard pressed to find anyone better than broadcaster and…

  • A Brief History of Post-Rock

    August 14, 2014 - By 

    Of the countless genre names that describe modern music, post-rock is probably the vaguest of those widely used. Open to generalisation, uncertainty and blind exaggeration, it has no commonly accepted definition and many acts including Tortoise and Mogwai have distanced themselves from the term. That said, much like postmodernism or the avant-garde, there remains a general consensus about the development and essential traits central to this most ambiguous of labels, currently used to describe the likes of This Will Destroy You, Mono and our very own Adebisi Shank, And So I Watch You From Afar, etc. Brian Coney attempts to trace…

  • Festival Mixtape: Hard Working Class Heroes 2014

    August 14, 2014 - By 

    Yesterday, 100+ acts were announced to playing Hard Working Class Heroes, hands down the country’s finest annual showcase of emerging, independent, homegrown talent. Spanning dozens of genres, the festival – taking place across Dublin from October 2-4 – is set to be a downright unmissable three-day event. Check out our twenty-track, decidedly eclectic Festival Mixtape for HWCH below via Spotify.

  • Festival Mixtape: Belsonic 2014

    August 13, 2014 - By 

    An annual fixture at Belfast’s Custom House Square, this year’s Belsonic – running from Friday, August 15 to Friday, August 22 this year – boasts some extremely big hitters. Whether you look to the likes of Nile Rodger’s Chic, Biffy Clyro or Queens of the Stone Age, globetrotting, genre-defining stadium-fillers are very much the order – with some select up-and-coming support acts thrown in for good measure. Check out the full line-up and buy tickets here. Stream our Festival Mixtape for Belsonic 2014 – featuring all fourteen confirmed acts – below.

  • Frame by Frame #11: Tucan – As It Was

    August 8, 2014 - By 

    Back in June, Sligo instrumental band Tucan released easily one of the more interesting music videos from an Irish act that we’ve seen in quite some time. We called it “gloriously messed up”, concluding with “charmed or abhorred, you can’t look away.” Two months on, Colm Laverty delves further, talking to co-director Bryan Quinn about the inspiration behind and the production of the video. Hi Bryan. First off, tell us a little bit about your role on this music video. Bobby (McGlynn, co-director) started the sentence “We should just film someone performing the song, like…” “Jonathan Gunning?” I said. We made the rest of it…

  • Festival Mixtape: Stendhal Festival of Art

    August 4, 2014 - By 

    Headlined by Derry punk pioneers The Undertones and Scottish indie-rock quartet Frightened Rabbit (above), Stendhal Festival of Art returns to the wonderfully scenic Roe Valley this weekend for two days of music, art, theatre, comedy and poetry. With tickets still available to purchase via the official website here, we’ve compiled a ten-track playlist featuring some our must-see acts to catch at the festival – everyone from Malojian and Go Wolf to Making Monsters and Ciaran Lavery.

  • A Guide to the Cathedral Quarter – Part III

    August 1, 2014 - By 

    Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter has become a hub for culture in Northern Ireland in recent years. Once considered a dark and dodgy area of town, the Cathedral Quarter has been completely rejuvenated in recent years alongside the inauguration of the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival fifteen years ago. One of the best things about the Cathedral Quarter is that there are so many venues in such a small area of land – perfect for boosting tourism and the local economy. Taking a quick dander around the quarter you’re sure to pass several stunning landmarks whether it be theatres, bars and pubs, or…