• Festival Mixtape: Stendhal Festival

    August 14, 2013 - By 

    Taking in place in Limavady’s Ballymully Cottage Farm this summer, Stendhal Festival of Art celebrates its third birthday on the weekend of Friday 16th and Saturday 17th of August. Headlined by Duke Special and Neil Hannon of Divine Comedy, the incomparably scenic showcase is all but set up to succeed the departing Glasgowbury as the go-to Northern Irish festival of the summer. With the tagline “experience the syndrome” Stendhal is much more than a festival of homegrown musical talent. Comedy, theatre, visual art and poetry also play a huge role in ensuring a comprehensively enjoyable experience for people of all ages. Speaking of…

  • Interview: Swans

    August 14, 2013 - By 

    “I used to hate people, generally,” says Michael Gira, fifty-nine year old commander-in-chief of seminal New York post-punk band Swans. In the final stages of touring their critically-acclaimed, monumentally accomplished twelfth studio album The Seer, the outfit are currently undergoing perhaps their best period in thirty years both as a creative unit and in achieving widespread acclaim for their stunningly severe craft. Not altogether unexpected, something evidently running parallel with this is Gira’s own disposition nowadays: a thoroughly agreeable and self-effacing personality that unravels in conversation with Brian Coney ahead of the band’s hugely-anticipated Belfast show. Having just concluded a…

  • Getting Re-acquainted: The Cult – Electric

    August 13, 2013 - By 

    With the release of Electric Peace, we take a look at one of British rock’s true underdogs – The Cult. Unfairly maligned in the 21st century, but still possessing a devoted hardcore following, they blazed a trail through the 80s, winning back the soul of rock from the ashes of punk. With the re-release of Electric, the group’s 1987 masterpiece, now is the perfect time to look at the making of this incredible album, and the long lost unreleased album that should have preceded it, Peace. 1985 had been a very good year for The Cult. Having originally evolved out of the London based ‘positive punk’ band, Southern Death Cult, they then became Death Cult, before dropping the ‘Death’, and adopting the definitive article. 1984’s Dreamtime had been a promising debut, a…

  • Track Record: Tree (Kasper Rosa)

    August 13, 2013 - By 

    In the first installment of Track Record, Belfast musician, photographer and filmmaker Colm Laverty captures James Bruce AKA Tree, drummer with Belfast-based prog quartet Kasper Rosa choosing a section of his favourite and most treasured records from his collection – everyone one from Barbara Streisand to obscure big beat duos hailing from Birmingham. Nice. ___ Rush – A Farewell To Kings A proper Rush record of over the top pro rock greatness. Tough to pick a Rush record out the discog but I decided on this one simply for the triumphant cry of “XANADU”. Barbara Streisand – Classical   This holds…

  • Revisited: Seven Summits – Fossils

    August 11, 2013 - By 

    In the first of a new weekly feature revisiting various relatively recently-released records (everyone loves alliteration, right?) from local acts we take a look at the effortlessly enchanting Fossils, the second album by Belfast-based indie pop band Seven Summits. Released last August, the album’s wonderfully inimitable, masterfully melancholic sound is underpinned by deeply woven introspective intelligence of frontman Rory Nellis. Currently recording new material for a new release, the band – now a quartet featuring Joe McGurgan (Malojian) on bass – recorded Fossils with Phil D’Alton of Master & Dog and was mastered by Fergal Davis. Propelled by Dominic Coyle’s synth lines,…

  • Farewell, Cellar Bar

    August 8, 2013 - By 

    Featuring the thoughts of different people associated with local music or indebted to the establishment in various ways, our reviews editor and PigsAsPeople axeman Stevie Lennox gives his thoughts on and pays tribute to legendary hub of Mid-Ulster/Northern Irish music culture, Draperstown’s Cellar Bar. ___ Well, it’s been a rough few months. With Auntie Annie’s having closed house with no sign of a return, Glasgowbury announcing that this year’s was the final one and now Draperstown’s Cellar Bar – the only decent refuge for anyone seeking original music anywhere near Mid-Ulster. Having dealt with Ryan Lagan and the staff in the…

  • Getting Re-Acquainted: …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of The Dead – Mistakes and Regrets

    August 8, 2013 - By 

    By the end of the 90s, it had all gotten very…safe. Things had settled down after a rollercoaster ride lasting ten years, a journey that had taken in baggy, grunge, shoegaze, Britpop, trip-hop, and a host of other stuff (grebo, anyone?). But in the dying embers of the second millennium, popular music had sunk into a quagmire of worthiness, a sludgy mess of genre hopping experimentalism without form, and of box ticking, perhaps best exemplified by Blur’s bloated misstep, 13. It was all very worthy, it was all perfectly well executed, and it was all very dull. And to top…

  • In Conversation: Kasper Rosa, Lantern For A Gale, Vanilla Gloom

    August 6, 2013 - By 

    Ahead of their show at Belfast’s Limelight 2 on Wednesday, August 7, Ryan McCormick (guitarist/vocalist, Kasper Rosa – pictured above), Danny McConaghie (guitarist, Lantern For A Gale) and Grace Leacock (drummer, Vanilla Gloom) participate in the first ever In Conversation, a feature in which we get members of three local bands to discuss different aspects of writing, performing and touring both at home and abroad – as well what ever conversational tangents take their fancy… ___ The Death Knell of Local Music? Danny: So is the Northern Irish music scene on its knees? Praying for forgiveness? Grace: “Aww, I feel sad when I hear that!Good music comes in…

  • Everything Sucks #004: Ten Years of Out On A Limb

    August 2, 2013 - By 

    Out on a Limb Records is ten years old this year. A testament to the staying power and DIY spirit of the Limerick indie, its roster reads like a who’s who of independent music in Ireland since its foundation, with survivors like Rest and Elk sharing room with staples like Jogging, Windings (above) etc. and a heritage with names like Giveamanakick, Waiting Room and other bands important to the development and proliferation of Irish DIY culture. Without OOAL, who knows what the scene would be like south of the border? It doesn’t bear thinking about. It was ten years ago, on a…

  • Dan Hegarty: Time Travel

    August 2, 2013 - By 

    I’m still trying to figure out where the past couple of weeks have gone. The much anticipated Longitude festival has been and gone. Some of the highlights included Mark Lanegan Band, Foals, MØ, Half Moon Run, and excellent performances by our very own Young Wonder, MMOTHS, and The Cast Of Cheers. Bring on Castlepalooza, Indiependence, Oxegen, and Electric Picnic! Proving that geography is no obstacle, Cork/Sydney duo In Valour have been working on new material. They’ve also made a video for new track ‘Slow Crunch’. The visuals are stunning, as is the track.   Speaking of Cork, The Vincent(s) are…