• Track-by-Track: Villagers – The Art of Pretending To Swim

    October 4, 2018 - By 

    Ahead of recording a session for Radio Ulster’s Across The Line at Belfast’s Start Together Studio, Villagers’ Conor O’Brien sits down with Brian Coney to talk through the writing and recording of his stellar, self-produced new album, The Art of Pretending to Swim. Listen back to the ATL Live Session here. 1. Again The underlying beat on ‘Again’ gives a real subtle, nocturnal club vibe. Did you intend that or was it accidental? It was probably a bit of both. I wrote the riff and realised that it was basically 120 BPM, and I was like, “Cool, that will work…

  • The Thin Air Podcast: Malojian

    September 21, 2018 - By 

    The Thin Air podcast returns with another delightful in-depth song dissection. This week Danny Carroll meets Antrim singer-songwriter Stevie Scullion AKA Malojian. Having recorded his last album with Steve Albini (this documentary is worth a watch when you have a spare hour), Stevie wound up home-recording his most recent LP ‘Let Your Weirdness Carry You Home’. Featuring contributions from Joey Waronker (Beck, REM), and Gerry Love (Teenage Fanclub), the album has recently been nominated for the Northern Irish Music Prize. From his home studio, Stevie talks about the album’s title track ‘Let Your Weirdness Carry You Home’.  Clocking in at nearly six…

  • A Series of Unexpected Surprises: An Interview With Julien Baker

    September 20, 2018 - By 

    Speaking to Julien Baker feels like talking to your friend in a bar. Her unassuming nature and down to earth discussion can almost make you forget what a successful, accomplished person you’re dealing with. Despite being only 22 years old, Baker has managed to forge an illustrious career with her emotive, gentle indie rock. Having shared stages with the likes of Death Cab For Cutie and Paramore, with two critically-acclaimed albums already under her belt, she is humble about her success. “I try to be personally aware that any response to the record at all has exceeded what I expected,”…

  • Something Positive, Something Sincere: An Interview with Wooden Shjips

    September 6, 2018 - By 

    Ahead of shows at Belfast Empire Music Hall (Sept 17th) and Dublin’s Whelan’s (Sept 18th) Ripley Johnson of San Francisco psych alchemists Wooden Shjips talks to Cathal McBride about songwriting process, positivity and playing to “up for it” Irish audiences. It’s been a full five years since the last Wooden Shjips record. What made 2018 the right time for a return? Well, it was 2017 that we reconvened to make the record. Hard to say why, really. For me, I just got the urge to work with the guys again so proposed a simple plan for making it. The plan was…

  • The Thin Air Podcast: Lankum and Yoni Wolf (Why?)

    September 5, 2018 - By 

    Having kicked off with music and chat from Frankie Cosmos and Paddy Hanna, The Thin Air podcast continues with another brace of brilliant interviews. Danny Carroll meets Dublin folk miscreants Lankum to discuss their mournfully epic song ‘The Granite Gaze’.  Along with producer Spud, the group talk through the lyrical origins of the song, listen back to an early demo, and highlight individual elements of the track’s swelling arrangement. Yoni Wolf Our other installment features Yoni Wolf, singer and songwriter with the Cincinnati group Why? Ahead of returning to Ireland, to play the Button Factory (September 17th) and Roisin Dubh (September…

  • Monday Mixtape: Glass Wings

    September 2, 2018 - By 

    Ahead of its release in October Belfast-based singer-songwriter Stephen Jones AKA Glass Wings reveals the artists and tracks that made an imprint on his forthcoming debut album, Everything and Nothing. I’m under no obligation to be cool in these choices right? Sit back and relax as I take you on a tour of some of the greatest melodicists who inspired me in the making of this album. Hiatus Kaiyote – By Fire I’m always a little suspect of people who say they have a favourite band. But if pressed, Hiatus Kaiyote might have it for me. I’ve been lucky enough…

  • Transpositional Vibration Analyst: An Interview With Will Carruthers

    August 23, 2018 - By 

    Best known as bassist in Spacemen 3, Spectrum, Spiritualized, the Brian Jonestown Masssacre and Dead Skeletons, amongst many others, Will Carruthers is also a memoirist, poet, book-binder and artist. Ahead of the launch of a new exhibition of his art at Belfast’s Framewerk, he talks to us about the challenges and victories of creation, how living in Belfast has influenced his art, identifying as a transpositional vibration analyst and more. Hi Will. What are your earliest memories – foggy, clear-cut or otherwise – of creating visual art? When I was five my Mum put a big piece of paper on the…

  • The Thin Air Podcast: Paddy Hanna + Daniel Fox and Frankie Cosmos

    August 22, 2018 - By 

    Hosted by Danny Carroll, the newly revamped Thin Air podcast will feature insightful interviews with Irish and international songwriters. For Irish artists there’s a focus on the recording process, going in-depth on the arrangement and mixing process for specific tracks. Future interviewees include Lankum, Malojian and Squarehead to name but a few. Meanwhile international artists speak candidly about their careers to date, including Yoni Wolf (Why?), David Gedge (The Wedding Present) and Zola Jesus among others. Our opening double bill features the effervescent Paddy Hanna joined by his producer Daniel Fox in discussing the baroque pop delight ‘Bad Boys’. The…

  • Inbound: ABQ

    August 21, 2018 - By 

    Off the back of their debut single ‘Takes So Long’, Paul Shevlin of London-based Belfast quartet ABQ (AKA Albuquerque) talks process, pressure, the power of the right producer and keeping up with the scene back home. Hello ABQ. You have been playing together in different guises over the last few years, but the band still feels very new. For those of us not in the know, what’s the backstory to ABQ and what’s changed? It was a fairly natural transition from previous projects to ABQ. We’ve all played in and around the NI music scene for years and when an…

  • Q+A: Sea Pinks’ Neil Brogan Interviews TERRY

    August 17, 2018 - By 

    Sea Pinks’ Neil Brogan is a big fan of the Australian band TERRY. So much so that he has turned promoter to ensure the band stop off in Belfast on their upcoming UK tour to promote new album I’m Terry. You can catch them September 7th at Voodoo with a reformed (for one night only!) CRUISING supporting. Neil caught up with Al Montfort from the band for a Q&A that touches on Home & Away, the band’s love of Van Morrison and Melbourne’s place in the global liveability index. Meanwhile you can catch Sea Pinks launching their new record, Rockpool Blue, over…