• Gigs of the Week: The High Dials, Sea Pinks LP Launch, Slow Skies, Skymas etc.

    October 8, 2014 - By 

    Slow Skies @ The Sugar Club, Dublin – Wednesday, October 8 Having released their slick, elegiac Keepsake EP at the tail-end of last month, fast-rising Dublin dream-pop duo Slow Skies will surely spellbind Dublin’s Sugar Club on Wednesday, October 8. Catch them before they go positively stratospheric.   Fox Jaw, Gascan Ruckus, Th Greased Palm @ Voodoo, Belfast – Thursday, October 9 Limerick band Fox Jaw (recently abbreviated from Fox Jaw Bounty Hunters) bring their gloomy alt-rock up North for the Belfast launch of their new album, Ghost’s Parades, at Voodoo on Thursday night. Belfast-based acts Gascan Ruckus and The Greased Palm make…

  • Talking Tatts @ The Mac

    October 6, 2014 - By 

    On Monday, October 6, Belfast’s the MAC will host a unique exhibition looking at the story behind the tattoos of some of Northern Ireland’s best-known musical artists and industry professionals. An intriguing project by artist and musician Paul Kane and one of the country’s leading music photographers, Carrie Davenport, the first installment of Talking Tatts “concentrate on how musicians and members of music industry, choose to be permanently creative with their own bodies, the designs they choose, the sentimental or memory based reasons behind ‘inked’ and ultimately, why they are such an addictive art form.” The exhibition will combine portraits and a video installation “where intimate…

  • Gigs of the Week: The Thin Air Magazine Launch, Hidden Agenda, Joshua Burnside, Hard Working Class Heroes, Madball, Red Rock

    September 30, 2014 - By 

    With the new semester back in full swing, the old gig calender has suddenly become a lot busier than usual. This, of course, can only be a thing. Whilst some of us are still lamenting the unexpected loss of two much-loved Irish acts in UNKNWN and Adebisi Shank, the future remains very bright indeed – something we feel is perfectly illustrated in our Gigs of the Week for the next few days. Dig. The Thin Air Magazine Launch Party: Not Squares, Kab Driver, Hot Cops @ Bar Sub, QUBSU – Saturday, October 4 Biased, us? Seriously, though, Not Squares (pictured) remain one…

  • Bruiser presents: Cabaret @ The Mac

    September 22, 2014 - By 

    From September 16 to October 4, Bruiser Theatre Company present an all-new co-production of the Broadway smash hit musical Cabaret at Belfast’s The MAC. A unique theatrical adaptation that delves into decadent but decaying world of 1930’s Berlin, the production will see the MAC transformed into the infamous Kit Kat Klub for an unforgettable evening of music, dancing and the riotously risqué. Go here to buy tickets, starting at £19.50.

  • Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me @ QFT

    September 22, 2014 - By 

    On Thursday, September 25, Queens Film Theatre, Belfast will host a one-off screening of Nothing Can Hurt Me, Drew Denicola and Olivia Mori’s 2012 feature-length documentary tracing the origins and history of legendary Memphis band Big Star. While mainstream success eluded them, Big Star’s three albums have become critically lauded touchstones of the rock music canon. A seminal band in the history of alternative music, Big Star has been cited as an influence by artists including R.E.M., The Replacements, Belle & Sebastian, Elliott Smith and The Flaming Lips, to name just a few. With never-before-seen footage and photos of the…

  • Red Bull Music Academy Weekender

    September 22, 2014 - By 

    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) Friday, September 26 – 9.00pm SKREAM, Chez Damier (Balance) & Special Request…

  • A Guide to Culture Night Belfast 2014

    September 19, 2014 - By 

    The annual cornucopia of happening that is Culture Night Belfast is upon us once more and we are positively agog – nay, foaming at the proverbial – with sheer sweaty-palmed anticipation. As with every other year, the schedule is a suitably spectacular and brilliantly eclectic proposition; a kaleidoscopic patchwork of pop-up performance, exhibition and all-embracing artistic expression. Having sifted through everything happening throughout this year’s dizzyingly impressive schedule, here’s our top must-see/attend/observe/enjoy events happening throughout the evening. Go forth! Culture Night Radio – IMPRINT Sort Design (46 Hill Street) 15.00 – 22.00 The boundlessly tasteful guys behind the ImprintThisOnYourMind podcast will be delivering a live…

  • Getting To Know: Oh Volcano @ Oh Yeah Centre

    September 10, 2014 - By 

    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

    September 9, 2014 - By 

    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

    September 9, 2014 - By 

    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…