• Frame by Frame #007: We Cut Corners – Best Friend

    April 9, 2014 - By 

    In the latest installment of Frame by Frame, Belfast-based filmmaker and photographer Colm Laverty talks to Dublin indie-rock duo We Cut Corners and creative duo Kijek and Adamski about the former’s recent, altogether spellbinding video for their single ‘Best Friend’, touching upon the creative process, the inspiration behind the animation, as well as music videos in general. We Cut Corners headline our next No Tomorrow night at Voodoo Belfast on Saturday, May 3. Go here for the show’s Facebook event page. First off, tell us a little bit about each of your roles on this music video. We Cut Corners: We…

  • Inbound: Arborist

    April 7, 2014 - By 

    Ahead of the release of their debut album, we talk to Mark McCambridge, frontman and songwriting core of Belfast-based band Arborist about the evolution of the project, the thematic foundations of the release and the many benefits derived from the freedom to experiment in the studio. Photos by Dave Timlin. Hi Mark. Arborist has just finished recording your debut album, Home Burial. Before talking about that, how has the journey been getting to this stage? Arborist began in Christmas 2012 and the goal was always to get to this point. A lot of the songs were already there – they…

  • Choice Cuts: The Best Tracks of… March

    April 1, 2014 - By 

    This month has been remarkable in terms of the quantity of excellent music releases on all fronts, and summarizing it into a playlist of 10 tracks has proven a tad difficult. As such, there are many notable absentees from this list, but at the same time I can assure you the reader that these ten new releases are not just good, or even great, but downright essential listens if one is to keep ahead of the crowd. I wouldn’t lie about things of such importance. As per usual, the first list of songs is in no particular order, with the…

  • Track Record: Dan Walsh

    April 1, 2014 - By 

    In the latest installment of Track Record, our photographer Brid O’Donovan meets with Cork musician Dan Walsh – primarily a drummer, who performs with Cork-based bands including Grave Lanterns, Elastic Sleep, The Great Balloon Race and STINK! – to have a look at some of his favourite records. Some fantastic music awaits. Billy Joel – The Stranger This is a record I got off my Dad. I’ve been listening to this since I was tiny but it took me years to come back to it and realise that it wasn’t just background noise. I knew all the songs from having them…

  • The Complete Guide to Therapy?: Part 6

    April 1, 2014 - By 

    And so we’ve arrived at the final part of our trawl through the Therapy? discography (which has gone over the allotted week owing to time/work commitments, apologies to all reading/following!). As with any band worth its salt, in delivering fourteen albums, there’s bound to be tunes that have slipped through the cracks, been deemed “not right for the album”, or been tried out in various embryonic forms throughout the years only to be recorded by someone in the crowd, as well as supplementary live releases, bonus bits, DVDs, radio-taped bootlegs and much more, all kept in trading circles and generally…

  • Interview: Therapy?

    March 31, 2014 - By 

    Following on from Mike McGrath Bryan’s dotingly extensive Complete Guide To Therapy? over the last seven days, we’re happy to present our feature-length Q+A with the band’s boundlessly inimitable frontman, Andy Cairns. Featuring some superb photos by Liam Kielt, Brian Coney talked to Cairns about the brand new reissues of their albums Troublegum and Infernal Love, plans to tour the reissued material later in the year, how things are going with album number fifteen and much more besides. Hi Andy. First things first: it is, of course, two decades since the release of Troublegum. One suspects it doesn’t quite feel like…

  • The Complete Guide to Therapy?: Part 5

    March 29, 2014 - By 

    PREVIOUSLY: After getting it all out of their systems with Suicide Pact-You First, the band pack up and head to Seattle for two months, and hit the studio with Jack Endino. The result is the oft-derided Shameless, which, in retrospect, is the sound of the band cutting loose and having fun after a long uncertain spell. The promise and hope that emerge after the sessions, however, are tested by record label faux-pas and difficult touring. By the end of 2001, drummer Graham Hopkins quits, and early 2002 sees them without a label again. Moving quickly, the band contacts Keith Baxter…

  • Stephen Millar: The Jazz of Shapes to Come

    March 28, 2014 - By 

    All but coinciding coinciding with this year’s Brilliant Corners jazz festival, Belfast-based visual artist Stephen Millar chose an opportune time to hold his latest exhibition, ‘The Jazz of Shapes To Come’, at Belfast’s Waterfront Hall. With its wonderfully-contorted nod to Ornette Coleman’s groundbreaking 1959 album, The Shape of Jazz to Come, the exhibition features twenty-six A-Z paintings, each based around a particular jazz piece. An ambitious project and no mistake – but one that very palpably paid off for the painter and illustrator. With Joe Laverty having stopped by to take some photos of the artist and his exhibition, we spoke to Millar about…

  • The Complete Guide to Therapy?: Part 4

    March 28, 2014 - By 

    PREVIOUSLY: Having almost burned themselves out after six years of constant activity, drummer Fyfe Ewing leaves Therapy? in January 1996, almost halting touring for the rest of the Infernal Love album-cycle (eugh). Moving quickly, the band auditions for a new sticksman, and decides on Graham Hopkins, formerly of My Little Funhouse. Filling out the line-up is new addition and longtime collaborator Martin McCarrick, on cellos and guitars. After jaunts to the U.S. in 1996, including supports for Ozzy Osbourne, things get quiet, as the second line-up gets used to a new dynamic while demoing and writing. Pursuing a broad new…

  • Frame by Frame #006: Mojo Fury – Iris Influential

    March 26, 2014 - By 

    In the sixth installment of Frame By Frame, Belfast-based photographer and filmmaker Colm Laverty takes a look at the making of the rather spectral video for ‘Iris Influential’ by Lisburn alt-rock band Mojo Fury. Speaking to its creator, Daniel Holmes, Colm looks into the influences and inspiration behind the video, the production methods that were utilised in its making and Holmes’ thoughts on video-making in general. Hi Daniel. First off, tell us a little bit about your role on this music video. I directed and edited the video. In a sentence, what sets ‘Iris Influential’ apart from other Northern Irish music…