• Classic Album: Can – Future Days

    August 13, 2015 - By 

    This may seem a pretentious review. It probably is.  I may well be using words like “oneiric”*, a word that spell-check tells me doesn’t exist. This is to be expected: this is a Can record I’m talking about, the band I‘m most likely to wax lyrical about, especially when they’re at their least lyrical. This is Future Days, Can at their most impressionistic, most painterly, least literal. Moving on from the pop certainties of Ege Bamyasi, (‘Spoon’, adopted as the theme tune for a detective series, had been an actual chart hit in Germany!) the band decided to break free…

  • Midweek Mixtape: Short Songs

    August 12, 2015 - By 

    Despite being the accepted standard for radio play etc., sometimes there’s something unsatisfactory about the three-to-four minute pop song. It can, on occasion, feel like one idea has been dragged out a bit longer than it should have been, with superfluous guitar solos, incongruous bridges and unnecessary third verses, simply because it’s deemed that anything below this length is unacceptable. The best musicians, though, have the confidence and self awareness to keep things brief if they can say all they need to say in one or two minutes (or even less). Such tracks can easily be mistaken for throwaways, but…

  • Visual Arts Outlook (11/8)

    August 11, 2015 - By 

    This August is proving to be a busy one with events continuing throughout the summer months and some great shows to get out and see. After the rather hectic Late Night Art in Belfast last Thursday, it’s good to call round and see the new exhibitions at a more relaxed pace when things are a bit quieter. Definately check out ‘Because these Reds’ by  Ciarán Wood at PS2 on Donegal Street which continues until the 15th August. I would also recommend dropping into the Mac today or tomorrow to witness the screening of the ‘Creative Time Summit’. The Mac is…

  • Premiere: Linebacker Dirge – Livia/Motion Parallax

    August 11, 2015 - By 

    Co. Down singer-songwriter Jason Gibson is an artist who thrives on collaboration. Formed back in 2005, his project Linebacker Dirge has seen him write and record with the likes of A Plastic Rose’s Ian McHugh, A Northern Light’s Colm Laverty and James Bruce of Kasper Rosa/Matua Trap. Ten years on from the release of his debut, Postcards, Distance and Sleep (written and recorded with Harry Ffitch of Hello Newman over MSN Messenger, no less), Gibson’s new EP, The Worried Well, is a real re-affirmation of those early stirrings, going that bit further in driving the point (the unspoken and profound…

  • Classic Album: Gene Clark – No Other (1974)

    August 10, 2015 - By 

    Gene Clark was the Byrd who couldn’t fly. If that sounds trite (and let’s face it, it is) consider the facts. Clark was one of the original members of America’s answer to The Beatles, and whilst Roger McGuinn was the frontman of The Byrds on hit singles like ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ and ‘Turn! Turn! Turn!’, it was Clark who provided the majority of their self-penned material during his tenure with the band. But, in an irony that would be delicious if it wasn’t something that happened to a living, breathing person, Gene Clark was afraid of flying. In 1965, with…

  • Rave New World (7/8)

    August 7, 2015 - By 

    Antoin Lindsay takes a look at some of the best electronic gigs, mixes, tracks and releases of the week, including Florist, Klaus and KABLAM. GIGS Beat BBQ – To The Bone EP 48 at The Treehouse [am:pm], Belfast Friday 7 August Timmy Stewart is a familiar face around Belfast, and he’ll be celebrating 20 years of DJing with parties around Belfast. Tonight, he’ll be joined by Feel My Bicep’s Hammer, Twitch and other local DJs for a free night in The Treehouse with no shortage of techno, I imagine. Tw!tch – Livity Sound Night with Peverelist & Kowton at Queens Student…

  • EP Premiere: Feather Beds – Ah Stop

    August 6, 2015 - By 

    Having just returned to Dublin following two years living in Quebec, Dublin producer Michael Orange AKA Feather Beds has hit the ground of his homeland running with Ah Stop, a stellar new EP was recorded “in the middle of a particularly gruelling and sub-zero winter in Montreal” back in February. An appendix of sorts to his debut album, The Skeletal System, which was released at the start of the year, the EP shows a self-described “marked shift in direction towards a more electronic feel and brings an introduction to the second full-length album, which is scheduled for release in 2016.” As just under…

  • Festival Mixtape: Stendhal Festival of Art

    August 6, 2015 - By 

    Hands down the best annual music and arts festival in the North of Ireland – and officially Ireland’s Best Small Festival – Stendhal Festival of Art returns to Limavady this weekend with yet another genre-spanning festival for revellers young and old. Headlined by the equally legendary Donovan and Kerbdog, this year’s outing once again features a wide-ranging slew of homegrown talent, including Ciaran Lavery, The Bonnevilles, Robyn G Shiels, GO WOLF, Rainy Boy Sleep, Hot Cops, Tucan, Katharine Philippa, Sister Ghost, Oh Volcano and more. Go here to buy tickets and stream our fifteen-track Festival Mixtape for this year’s festival below.

  • Visual Arts Outlook (4/8)

    August 4, 2015 - By 

    So after a longer than intended yet still brief hiatus (when I say hiatus I mean holidays in the rain!), I’m back with all your Visual Arts events, wants and needs. As usual July was a quiet month, with many shows continuing on, or galleries preparing for the busy Autumn period (don’t worry – I know we’re not there yet). The beginning of August sees lots of new events on the Irish art scene, including a three day exhibition at Pollen, The Lime Walk Project featuring work by Aiden Deery, Gail Mahon, Heather Dornan Wilson, Stuart Cairns, Alice Clarke and…

  • The Hefty Fog: A Flag Worth Flying?

    August 4, 2015 - By 

    It’s hardly worth reiterating the connection between Heavy Metal and dark, often upsetting imagery. The artwork used to push records and merchandise has always been the first talking point in any critique of extreme music and this has both served and damaged its legitimacy in the larger public eye. While the moral outrage has all but fizzled out since the Satanic Panic of the 1980s and contemporary bands now enjoy the kind of immunity not afforded to their peacockish forebears, the recent controversy in the USA regarding the Confederate flag has forced a previously unchallenged theme in Metal to surface,…