• Getting To Know: Oh Volcano @ Oh Yeah Centre

    The next installment of Getting To Know… at Belfast’s Oh Yeah Centre on Thursday, September 11 will see new-fangled electro-pop duo Oh Volcano perform and discuss their craft in front of an intimate audience. The pair, comprised of ex-General Fiasco members Owen and Enda Strathern, played their debut headline show in Belfast just last month. To date they have released two singles, ‘Oceans’ and ‘See No Evil’. Doors for the Getting To Know… session at the Oh Yeah Centre are at 8pm and admission is free. Watch the video for ‘See No Evil’ below.  

  • Red Bull Music Academy Weekender

    From September 25 to 28, Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter will host its first ever Red Bull Music Academy weekender. Set to see four days of concerts, club nights, talks and film screenings with some first-rate genre-defining, forward-thinking artists and musicians, German electro-classical musician Nils Frahm (supported by Derry’s Ryan Vail) at City Hall on Sunday, September 28 stands out as highlight. Check out the full line-up below and buy tickets here. Thursday, September 25 – 10pm The Juan MacLean, Timmy Stewart and Twitch The Bunatee, Queen’s University Student Union (Tickets £6) Friday, September 26 Workshop featuring BICEP Oh Yeah Music Centre (Free Admission)…

  • Gigs of the Week: TWINKRANES, Freebase, Duke Special, Jun Tzu Album Launch

    With the new semester upon us, more and more new shows are sprouting up in the gig calender over the next few months. Focusing on the absolute immediate future, however, here’s our comprehensively genre-spanning pick of must-see gigs taking place throughout the country over the next seven days. Seven Quarters: Twinkranes, Halves – Whelan’s, Dublin; Saturday, September 13 The third installment of Dublin gig night Seven Quarters at Whelan’s on Saturday night will see boundlessly intriguing Dublin trio Halves play their last Irish show of the year alongside critically acclaimed experimentalists TWINKRANES. If you are in any way inclined towards exceptional, forward-driven homegrown music, this is not a show…

  • Gigs of the week: No Tomorrow, Marissa Nadler, David C Clements, Elastic Sleep

    With Electric Picnic been and gone in a flash, the habitual final chapter of the (occasionally) great Irish summer begins. Things are still a bit quiet on the gig front but, as ever, here’s our pick of shows well worth checking out over the next days. No Tomorrow: SlowPlaceLikeHome, Somadrone, Documenta DJs – Voodoo, Belfast; Saturday, September 6 The next installment of our monthly gig/club night at Belfast’s Voodoo, No Tomorrow returns on Saturday night with a tremendous triad of cosmically-inclined acts from across the country. Just back from playing the Body & Soul stage at Electric Picnic at the…

  • Jim Jarmusch: The Essential Independent @ QFT

    From September 19-25, Belfast’s Queen’s Film Theatre will showcase a slice of the nigh on incomparable oeuvre of a truly singular and independent figure in cinema, Jim Jarmusch. Marking the 30th anniversary of his cult breakthrough film, Stranger Than Paradise, the mini-season will see six of Jarmusch’s finest films screening across six days. They are: Dead Man, a majestic revisionist Western featuring Johnny Depp, considered by many as Jarmusch’s masterpiece. Down By Law, an exceptional and eccentric prison movie featuring Tom Waits, John Lurie and Roberto Benigni. Mystery Train, a film “following a small group of strangers in a strange land…

  • Northern Ireland Music Prize 2014 – Therapy? to perform Troublegum

    Following last year’s successful Northern Irish Music Prize ceremony, it has been announced that the second annual event will take place in the Mandela Hall in the Queen’s University Students’ Union on November 15. The ceremony awards a prize to the best Northern Irish album of the last year as voted for by a number of local media and industry professionals. Last year, Foy Vance won the album of the year prize with his excellent Joy Of Nothing, a strong album among many worthy contenders. Alt. metal trio Therapy? play their million-selling, Mercury Prize-shortlisted 1994 classic Troublegum LP in its entirety at the awards show on…

  • Gigs of the Week: Electric Picnic, Twitch, Sargent House Label Show, Bonnie Prince Billy & Shizz The Fest

    With the now-sold-out largest music & arts festival in Ireland very much looming before us, it’s a relatively quiet week ahead in terms of gigs, but there are a few of doozies in the coming days scattered across the island. First and foremost: Electric Picnic – Stradbally Estate, Co. Laois; August 29-31 Unfortunately for most, it’s now too late to snap up tickets for Electric Picnic, but for those who wish to see out the Irish summer in style, there’s always one of the most eclectic bills on the circuit. For those who are heading, the Picnic contains some acts of…

  • Jeremy Thomas: The Auteur Producer @ QFT

    Belfast’s Queens Film Theatre will host a special, one-off talk with groundbreaking English film producer Jeremy Thomas on Thursday, August 21. For four decades, Thomas (pictured, right, with Bernardo Bertolucci on the set of the Oscar-winning The Last Emperor) has been behind some of British cinema’s most ambitious and exciting films, working with a host of legendary directors including Nicolas Roeg, David Cronenberg and the aforementioned Italian auteur. The QFT talk is set to be a look back at highlights from a career packed with films of artistic merit, ambition and originality. Things kick off at 7.30pm and you can buy…

  • Robin Williams Tribute & Suicide Awareness Fundraiser @ The Pavilion

    Out of nowhere, we’ve lost one of the finest comedians of our generation. Gone at a sickeningly young age, Robin Williams has moved plains – instantly elsewhere, tragic, unfortunate but “what would he have wanted?” A party/gathering of aficionados raising funds for charity, that’s what.The night – which takes place at the Pavilion Bar on Friday, September 5 – will feature film, music, stand-up and everything in between. Let’s raise awareness/money for suicide awareness charities, and revel in the sheer comedic majesty of Robin McLaurin Williams, one of the greatest people to have ever existed.Entrance will be free but donations are welcome. Doors…

  • Gigs of the week: Slint, Blue Whale, The Charlatans, DJ Food, Squarehead, Deafheaven

    It’s somewhat of a dow-time for gigs these days, with Electric Picnic looming in just a few weeks, it seems that the smaller shows have dried up just a little bit. That’s not to say that there are not numerous shows taking place right across around the country this week, and we’ve picked out a few that are most definitely worth checking out. Slint, Girl Band – Limelight 2, Belfast; Monday, August 18 Louisville post-rock pioneers Slint make their Belfast debut on Monday, August 18 at Limelight 2. Hands down one of the most influential bands of all time, they will…