• Looking at the Stars: Slum Cinema

    May 25, 2017 - By 

    After several years of transience and venue shifting, Dublin B-movie night Slum Cinema has found a new home at MVP on Clanbrassil Street, and kick starts its residency at the start of next month with the greatest martial arts movie of them all, Bruce Lee’s final performance, 1973’s Enter The Dragon. Started in 2012, Slum Cinema is the passion project of Canadian Anna Davies, but it’s ripe to be elevated to cult classic status if its new stint at MVP goes as well as it deserves. As described by its founder, Slum Cinema is an exploitation/vintage/trash/cult cinema club. Its previous…

  • Stream a 50 Track Thin Air Tuesday Throwdown Sampler

    May 23, 2017 - By 

    You know, we often get people asking us, “Hey, what kind of stuff do you play at your free, weekly Tuesday Throwdown in the Back Bar of Lavery’s in Belfast – a night that runs from 9.30pm until late and spans every conceivable genre under the sun, minus perhaps polka and classical music?” And to those people, we say: here’s a 50 track sampler – featuring everyone from Slint, Broadcast and Thundercat to Can, Julia Holter and Yo La Tengo – that you can expect to hear, week in, week out. We’re back there tonight, 9.30pm to late as usual.…

  • Preview: Metropolis Live @ The MAC

    May 19, 2017 - By 

    Ahead of live-soundtracking Fritz Lang’s German expressionist masterpiece Metropolis at Belfast’s the MAC on Thursday, May 25, we talk to acclaimed composer and pianist Dmytro Morykit about the dramatic theatre of his score. Go here to buy tickets to the event. Hi Dmytro. Take us back: when did you first watched Metropolis and how did it affect you? I suppose the first time I saw it was 1983, around about the same time I saw Nosferatu. I had been reading about the Directors of the silent classics but F W Murnau made more of an impact, perhaps that was just…

  • Box Office Blues: When The Storm Comes, Take Shelter

    May 18, 2017 - By 

    Take Shelter, from writer/director Jeff Nichols, is a movie that examines the difficult issue of mental health with tender hands and great care. Nichols is quickly becoming, if not already considered to be, one of the great American story tellers. His partnership with Michael Shannon has spanned over several films and has reaped great rewards. Take Shelter is for me his finest piece of his work to date. Shannon play Curtis who is, frankly, just a normal man, a blue collar worker with a young family and a dog in the back yard behind the white picket fence. There is…

  • Box Office Blues: Cinema as a Kind of Therapy

    May 17, 2017 - By 

    When I got depressed I would go to the movies. No doubt for many people the idea of sitting in the dark, on their own, in the middle of day, is itself depressing. ‘All by himself — how sad’. I’m also sure, though, that fellow pilgrims can relate to its pleasures, a solitary indulgence that is utterly pleasant at the best of times, and potentially restorative at the worst. There are, first, a bunch of very basic, practical mental health benefits to going to the movies, not all of them replicable with a Netflix subscription. You have to put on jeans and…

  • Preview: Recreating The Velvet Underground & Nico @ The MAC

    May 16, 2017 - By 

    This Saturday (May 20) Belfast’s the MAC will host a special event celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Velvet Underground’s seminal debut, The Velvet Underground and Nico. We speak to bandleader Donal Scullion about its legacy and what to expect on the night. Go here to buy tickets, priced £12.50-£25.00. Hi, Donal. How did the idea for this show first come about? Had been chatting to Stu Campbell (The MAC), he said they were thinking of doing the 50th anniversary of that album and would I be interested in playing or organizing it. It was always a big album for me…

  • Festival Mixtape: Longitude 2017

    May 15, 2017 - By 

    Set to return to Dublin’s Marlay Park across July 14-16, the bill for this year’s Longitude is yet another mix of hip-hop, pop and indie. Headlined by Stormzy, The Weeknd (pictured) and Mumford and Sons, the focus is on some big names, divvied by some more under-the-radar acts and some homegrown sounds. Ahead of this year’s outing, here’s our annual festival mixtape, featuring Tom Misch, JP Cooper, Milky Chance and more. Go here to buy tickets to Longitude 2017.

  • Preview: Heliopause on The Passion of Joan of Arc Film Live Score @ The MAC

    May 12, 2017 - By 

    Ahead of teaming up with This Ship Argo to live score Carl Theodor Dreyer’s classic 1928 silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc at Belfast’s the MAC on Thursday, May 18, Belfast musician Richard Davis AKA Heliopause talks to Brian Coney about the process, impetus and collaborative drive underlying the project. Go here to buy tickets Hi Richard, first off – how did the project come about? What drew you guys to The Passion of Joan of Arc? I first watched the film a few years ago when working at The Duke of Yorks cinema in Brighton with my friend & co-worker Sophie,…

  • Black Is The Colour Of My True Love’s… Amp? Or How Not To Tour Ireland

    May 8, 2017 - By 

    “C’mere, where’s my amp?” “What amp?” Eric replies. “My black amp.” I continue. “How the fuck should I know where your “black amp” is? And aren’t most amps black?” “You had it last. After that gig we did with HAWK in the Róisín, you, me and Burke were loading the gear into your car on Munster Avenue. That’s the last I saw it.” “That was like 2 or 3 years ago. Even if I had it then, which I doubt, fuck knows where it is now?” “Hmm… fair enough.” “Are you sure it was after the gig with HAWK?” “Honestly…

  • The Divine Comedy w/ Lisa O’Neill @ CQAF, Belfast

    May 8, 2017 - By 

    It’s a while since Neil Hannon has toured with a full band version of The Divine Comedy, having toured last album Bang Goes The Knighthood solo back in 2010 (including a date in this same faux-starlit CQAF marquee) and having made most appearances since – such as his Mandela Hall performance upon winning 2015’s Oh Yeah Legend Award – with a stripped back trio of acoustic guitar, piano and accordion. The days of endless major label money having long since dried up, a return to the era of bringing along a full orchestra seems unlikely, but the promise of a…