• Inbound: Screendeath

    March 18, 2014 - By 

    Screendeath, aka Ryan Thompson is a twenty-year-old Northern Irish electronic dance music producer and DJ hovering just beneath the radar, waiting for his moment. Signed by Norman Cook AKA Fat Boy Slim at Southern Fried Records, his debut EP Packback, released in October 2010, gave him the Radio 1 label ‘one to watch in 2011’. Since then he’s played the ‘Chibuku’ Stage at Manchester’s Parklife, shared stages with Annie Mac, Julio Bashmore and Fake Blood, as well as having his track ‘Packback’ spinned by Erol Alkan. Emily Thornhill talks to the DJ and producer. Tell us a bit about yourself and…

  • Inbound: The Wood Burning Savages

    March 13, 2014 - By 

    In the latest installment of Inbound, we chat to Paul Connolly and Dan Acheson from hotly-tipped Derry alt-rock quartet The Wood Burning Savages. Having just released their debut video for their wonderful new single ‘America’ following a hugely impressive headline performance at Belfast’s Radar, the pair talk about the band’s stance on being “old school” in the modern age, their stance on the imprint of last year’s City of Culture and having two albums worth of material waiting in the wings. Hi guys, you have just released the video for your new single, ‘America’. Can you tell us more about…

  • Classic Album: The World of Twist – Quality Street

    March 12, 2014 - By 

    The World of Twist were, and are, an enigma, wrapped in a conundrum, cocooned in carpet off-cuts and bundled out of a burning warehouse window onto a waiting barge. I knew nothing about them when I first fell in love with them twenty years ago and I know less than that now, the intervening decades having been something of a blur and, let’s face it, I’m not getting any younger. The Twist’s singer Tony Ogden isn’t getting any older either, as he died several years ago. Drummer Nick Sanderson has also passed on. But this is no “curse of the…

  • Interview: Dave Lombardo

    March 12, 2014 - By 

    Ahead of an unforgettable drum workshop at Belfast’s Crescent Arts Centre, Brian Coney and photographer Liam Kielt met up with boundlessly influential metal drummer Dave Lombardo for a career-spanning interview, touching upon everything from his legendary work with and acrimonious departure from Slayer, his latest string of musical projects and keeping grounded and being at one with his fans. You’re hear from the drum workshop in Belfast. What encouraged you to go off and do these things? It’s a good way for me to get out there and talk to the fans and get in touch – get at ground level.…

  • Frame by Frame #005: Oh Volcano – Oceans

    March 7, 2014 - By 

    In the fifth installment of Frame By Frame – a regular feature looking at the production, concepts behind and creators of local music videos – Belfast-based filmmaker and musician Colm Laverty talks to fellow jack-of-all-trades Edward F Butler about his recent video for ‘Oceans’ by Owen and Enda Strathern AKA Oh Volcano. First off, tell us a little bit about your role on this music video. I mainly work in post production, but for this, it was a collage of all sorts. I worked on this short film with a team in Lithuania, no one really wanted the film, so…

  • Interview: Plane Crasher

    March 6, 2014 - By 

    A Herefordshire sludgy garage punk quartet who know how to meld the rawest of genres – once accurately described as “a wild fusion of The Jesus Lizard, The Ramones and Shellac” – Plane Crasher play Belfast’s Warzone Centre on Saturday March 8. To date, they’ve released a triple single, a live session and an eponymous 12” EP, all available independently on Bandcamp. Stevie Lennox caught up with them ahead of their Irish tour to catch a few of their thoughts. When did you actually form, and why? Sometime early 2010. It started a few years before that, Edd asked Matt to join his…

  • Getting re-acquainted: ZZ Top – Sharp Dressed Man (1983)

    March 4, 2014 - By 

    Like a punch in the face, ‘Sharp Dressed Man’ explodes out of the speakers, a sleek, streamlined beast of a song, riding a pulsating electric beat into the horizon. Never mind the suits, the beards, and the cool cars, ZZ Top’s legacy to popular music is making hard rock that you can dance to. Trying to sound ‘modern’ is the kiss of death, but when you do it as good as this, you’re onto a winner. Eliminator, ‘Sharp Dressed Man’s parent album, kinda came out of nowhere. ZZ Top had been a very successful boogie-rock band, churning out blues riffs,…

  • Everything Sucks #008: Radio

    March 4, 2014 - By 

    Over the course of doing a rant column in the hopes of entertaining others, you realise very quickly that while your first draft is often the most satisfying to get off your rotten little chest, it’s also the most stupid thing you could possibly put into the atmosphere. I was supposed to have a column in for Friday that would set the recent debate on radio right. It would accomplish this by dismissing radio as an artform entirely, citing podcasts, streaming, and many more external factors, combined with radio’s own greed and narrowing remit, as it block-programmes itself even further…

  • Choice Cuts: The Best Tracks of… February

    March 3, 2014 - By 

    In his latest review of the very best music released in the month just passed, the altogether audibly-attuned Aaron Hamilton bestows up our very ears some exceptional tracks from the likes of Sun Kil Moon, Lydia Loveless (pictured) and the behemothic pairing of Sunn O))) & Ulver. Banks – Brain (Harvest) Since her breakthrough last year, Banks has been one of the more promising acts in the annual flurry of year-end nominations and awards. Brain is a sardonic, down tempo collaboration with producer Schlomo, and the pairing works to the benefit of both of them – Banks sounds years more mature…

  • Frame by Frame #004: VerseChorusVerse – No More Years

    February 27, 2014 - By 

    In the fourth installment of Frame by Frame – a feature looking at the production of Irish music videos from the perspective of their creators – Colm Laverty catches up with Adrian Rowe and Emma Louise Dodds from Industrious Dark about their recent video for ‘No More Years’ by singer-songwriter Tony Wright AKA VerseChorusVerse. First off, tell us a little bit about each of your roles on this music video. We are Industrious Dark – Adrian Rowe and Emma Louise Dodds. We were the creators/directors of the video. In a sentence, what sets ‘No More Years’ apart from other Northern Irish…