• Dublin Gay Theatre Festival Preview: Blind Date

    April 29, 2015 - By 

    Less than a month away from staging their company’s second full-length production at the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, producer Madeleine Roche and writer/director Colette Cullen of Home You Go Productions sit down to chat about their latest installment, Blind Date. Covering both past success and future aspirations, the pair discuss using theatre to break social boundaries by helping audiences find commonalities.  As gay issues move further into the limelight and touch more lives every day, they find the timing of their piece and the festival as poignant as could be. So tell me about the creative process behind Blind…

  • Q+A: Mylets

    April 29, 2015 - By 

    At just 20 years of age, Henry Kohen AKA Mylets’ debut album has just been released via Sargent House. Having received exceptionally warm reviews from the likes of NPR and the New York Times, he’s just left California to tour Europe with And So I Watch You From Afar. Koken talks to Niamh Hegarty about some of his time at Sargent House to date and the evolution of his new album, Arizona. Your standard of musicianship is particularly high. When did you first pick up a guitar? I found my dad’s old 3/4 scale off-brand acoustic in a closet when I was…

  • Interview: Charlie Caplowe (Xtra Mile Recordings)

    April 29, 2015 - By 

    In a revealing conversation, Will Murphy talks to Charlie Caplowe, founder of one of the finest independent record labels around, Xtra Mile Recordings. Based in London, the imprint is responsible for putting out some stellar records from Reuben, Frank Turner/Million Dead, Future of the Left, Against Me! and many more. Hi Charlie. What’s the early history of Xtra Mile? What led to the creation? Who were the key players? I was working as a PR for many years handling the press for many acts including Million Dead, Frank Turner’s old band. No labels were signing them, so I said, “Well, sod that.…

  • Track Record: Kieran McGuinness (Delorentos)

    April 29, 2015 - By 

    In this installment of Track Record, we hang out with Kieran McGuinness from Delorentos to discuss some of his favourite records from Arcade Fire to Television. Photos by Derek Kennedy. Paul Simon – Graceland People talking about this album often talk about the politics of it, and the controversy, or the African influences, but I love it because of the melancholy heart that lives below the happy surface. The title track alone never fails to give me goosebumps. This is the second album with African influences on this list, but I dunno why. Beach House – Teen Dream This is…

  • Monday Mixtape: Dara Kiely (Girl Band)

    April 27, 2015 - By 

    Currently in the studio recording for their debut full-length album – excepted to drop at some point in the Autumn – we’re absolutely certain Dublin’s Girl Band are on the cusp of some incredible things. Taking a breather from recording vocal tracks, Dara Kiely from the band has selected some of his all-time favourite tracks for this week’s Monday Mixtape, ranging from the likes of Syd Barrett and the Doors to Kendrick Lamar and Boom Bip/Doseone. Stream that below.

  • Deep Down South: 100/1, Missing Foundations & Bank Holiday Goings-On

    April 27, 2015 - By 

    This week’s column emerges just days after the announcement of what could be yet another landmark in an already resurgent Cork music community in 2015. Following February’s Block Party and Noisefest, as well as a clutch of fantastic weekends of gigging, this past week saw the announcement of 100/1, a night that sees one-hundred bands play in over twenty venues around Cork, with the aim to have the oversight of all the promoters in town working together. It’s a hugely ambitious project to say the least, but proof positive of the resurgence of Cork’s music scene that such an idea…

  • Interview: Soup DuJour & Venus Dupree of Tease-O-Rama

    April 24, 2015 - By 

    One of the more expectedly fabulous prospects in the Marquee of this year’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, Belfast Burlesque showcase Tease-O-Rama promises an evening of music, dancing, glamour and fun on Sunday, May 3. Ahead of the event, we speak to Burlesque extraordinaire Soup DuJour and and DJ Venus Dupree about what’s in store. Photos by Sara Marsden. Hi guys. Can you give us some background on Tease-O-Rama; previous appearances and what will set this one apart from the others? Soup DuJour (above, left): I founded Tease-O-Rama nearly two years ago and it’s all about creating really fun nights that make people laugh…

  • Rave New World (24/4)

    April 23, 2015 - By 

    Hallelujah! Perambulations over with, we’ve reconvened Aidan Hanratty and Antoin Lindsay once more for this week’s Rave New World, your indispensable, Friday-afternoon guide to all the very best electronic gigs, tracks, releases and mixes. Jim Wells and Iris Robinson on a bonfire. GIGS No Disco presents… Aeroplane @ Aether & Echo, Belfast Saturday, April 25 Aeroplane has been floating around for a while, plying his take on disco and Balearic across the globe since the Halcyon days of electro house when Justice were undeniably the kings of the dancefloor. While they’ve faded away Aeroplane’s rather more tasteful sound means he’s still kicking about…

  • Visual Arts Outlook (22/4)

    April 22, 2015 - By 

    The week ahead is looking full already, writes Mary Stevens. Various events are happening outside of the gallery walls including a performance by Stuart Brisley as part of his exhibition Headwinds at The MAC Belfast on Thursday night. A Breath Crystal (Exhibition) Project Arts Centre, Dublin April 24 – May 30 This group show at Project Arts Centre curated by Mihnea Mircan from Extra City Kunsthal opens on Thursday night at 6pm. Artists Jean-Luc Moulène, Lonnie van Brummelen, Siebren de Haan, Katerina Undo, Miklos Onucsan, Tom Nicholson, Phillip Warnell, Jonas Staal, Fabio Mauri, Jacqueline Mesmaeker and Lawrence Abu Hamdan represent the…

  • All Genres Weird & Wonderful: Vaporwave

    April 22, 2015 - By 

    In the first installment of a new feature, All Genres Weird & Wonderful, Kelly Doherty scours the world’s sub-genres so that you can sound informed at hipster dinner parties with minimal effort. Name: Vaporwave Origins: Unsurprisingly, the internet. Stemming a little bit from the Seapunk movement but very much with its own identity. How to use it in a sentence: “My kid brother asked mom to get the old Windows 95 computer out of the garage because it’s on point with his aesthetic. I think he’s turning vaporwave…” Sounds like: Oneohtrix Point Never, Washed Out, Animal Collective Vaporwave is many…