• Interview: A Fight You Can’t Win

    December 12, 2013 - By 

    Four months on from their most recent breathtaking performance in Belfast, Edinburgh alt-rock four-piece A Fight You Can’t Win return to Voodoo this weekend to plays alongside Hornets and riffmasters general LaFaro. Having just released the brilliantly accomplished video for their latest single ‘Jerusalem Crickets’, we talk to the band about its creation, the obstacles they face performing in their own city and what the next few months hold in store for the band. Hi guys. You’ve just unveiled the ridiculously impressive video for your new single, ‘Jerusalem Crickets’. Firstly, how did the idea for the video come about? Thank you!…

  • Interview: Katie Richardson on HATCH! @ The Mac

    December 11, 2013 - By 

    Not content playing as part of Katie and the Carnival, Salt Flats and in various other collaborative musical endeavours, Belfast-based musician, singer and musical director Katie Richardson is the epitome of a tireless, committed and boundlessly passionate artist. From December 4 right up until January 4 (and many weeks in advance in preparation) her current creative occupation is composer and musical director of HATCH! Adventures of the Ugly Duck at The Mac, Belfast. With the production having already smitten hundreds of attendees and several critics, we speak to Katie about the ins and outs of the biggest production she’s been…

  • The Thin Air’s Top 100 Irish Tracks of 2013 (100-75)

    December 10, 2013 - By 

    It’s that time of year again: End Of Year” lists are steadily rolling in from every conceivable direction, many of us are still debating the BBC Sound of… verdict for next year and we’re all silently pondering our own favourite albums and EPs of the last twelve months. Closer to home, it’s been yet another ridiculously impressive year for Irish music, both North and South. Since January 1, right up until the writing of this article (December 10), a single week hasn’t gone by that wasn’t soundtracked in some way by the very best in new, homegrown music. As such –…

  • The First Time: Steven McCool (Little Bear)

    December 2, 2013 - By 

    In the latest installment of The First Time, we ask Steven McCool from Derry band Little Bear to divulge the “firsts” of his music listening, loving and making life. Thanks, as ever, to the upstanding and excruciatingly talented Joe Laverty for the wonderful accompanying portrait photo of Steven. Nice, isn’t it? Check out more of Joe’s photography right here. First album you bought? Excluding the dodgy rave tapes that I bought from the local market, I think it might have been Radiohead – Pablo Honey, and/or Gomez – Bring It On.   First single you bought? The Hed Boys – ‘Girls…

  • The End of an Era? How a Generation Got Beat Pt. 2

    November 28, 2013 - By 

    Over the years, ATP has become a watchword for a certain kind of classicism, an “accepted history” of what ‘good’ music is over the last 30 years. In this version of events, punk is good, rock is largely bad, unless it doesn’t take itself seriously, although “new” metal is ok. Electronica is generally given a by ball. Bands like Mission of Burma, Yo La Tengo (below), and The Flaming Lips are regarded as in the same way Mojo readers regard The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Eric Clapton, and many of the younger people there are aware they’re seeing something…

  • The End of an Era? How a Generation Got Beat Pt. 1

    November 27, 2013 - By 

    I looked down at my wrist. I held the scissors in my other hand, almost trembling with excitement. Or was it fear? I couldn’t say. Closing my eyes, I felt the pressure in my fingers, and heard the gentle sound of metal slicing through ribbon. After three years of wearing my ATP 2011 wristband, I removed it, like a surgeon operating on a tumour. I still hadn’t slept properly since The End of an Era Part 1, the first half of the festival’s great farewell, but the magic had been broken. If this was the end, then it was a…

  • All Apologises: Translink’s Comedy of Errors

    November 26, 2013 - By 

    We’ve all been there. Underslept and shivering, kicking your heels to keep you occupied because the idea of blankly trawling through your phone yet again could send you into a spiral of technological self-condemnation. The banshee-like Enterprise train from Dublin roars past on the adjacent track, vengeful and creaking, when the immortal words come blaring over the tannoy in an irreducibly grand English accent: “We are sorry that the 8.55 train to Great Victoria Street has been delayed by approximately 8 minutes. Apologises for this late running and the inconvenience it may cause you.” A giddy pocket of school children elaborately…

  • Eleven Must-See Shows in Belfast This Christmas

    December 3, 2013 - By 

    Whilst we haven’t exactly been neglected of great shows of every conceivable kind all throughout 2013, there’s something about the Christmas period that somehow brings together some of the most downright irresistible line-ups of homegrown (and occasional international) musical talent. This year is no different, both across Belfast and much further afield. That said, keeping our eyes (and ears) firmly fixed upon the aforementioned hub of seismic musical happening, we present to you our eleven “must-see” shows in Belfast this festive period.  Radar: Feet for Wings – Speakeasy, Thursday, December 19 Radar at Belfast’s QUBSU Speakeasy has delivered for some…

  • Here we are now, Entertain us

    November 25, 2013 - By 

    ‘Why we Fight’ has always been my favourite episode of HBO’s acclaimed WW2 drama Band of Brothers. It deals with General Eisenhower’s decision to order as many men as possible witness the barbarity of Nazi concentration camps, so as, to help them better understand and rationalise the necessity of their actions during the war. Luckily there are no more wars of that scale and brutality and nothing anyone in my generation does will come close to rivalling what those people endured. We instead live in the most technologically advanced era in human history. We have access to more culture, learning…

  • Track Record: Chris Somers & Ruairi Dale (Elastic Sleep)

    November 21, 2013 - By 

    In the latest installment of Track Record, photographer Brid O’Donovan captures Chris Somers and Ruairi Dale from Cork-based dream-pop band Elastic Sleep choosing and talking about a selection of their favourite records – everything from Kate Bush to Steely Dan. The band launch their new single ‘You Only Live Twice’ at Cork’s The Pavilion on Saturday, 23. Steam the song and watch the video for the track at the bottom of the feature. Chris | O Emperor – Vitreous “I bought this record at the secret listening party they had in Coughlans during the summer. I stayed up all night listening…