• Arctic Tern – Leaves EP

    October 9, 2013 - By 

    Having released the extremely promising Paperboats EP last march and a double single at the tail-end of last year, Holywood-based folk singer-songwriter Chris Campbell has returned at an apt juncture in the year under a new music-making moniker: Arctic Tern. Having pertinently conjured darkest and coldest season in his nom de plume, the title of his new six-track EP directly references the decidedly Autumnal air and ponderous undercurrents woven throughout the release.  Beginning via lone and languidly strummed chords, opener ‘Love Is Not A Game’ gradually blossoms into as a wonderfully produced full-band effort with Campbell’s voice taking centre stage. Whilst contemplative and considered…

  • Sky Larkin – Motto

    October 1, 2013 - By 

    So, let’s talk about Sky Larkin‘s new album, Motto. Fans of the band have been waiting three years for this album and with such a long gestation period between albums, you’d hope that the songs would be the most finely crafted in the band’s repertoire. I’m sure that anyone who is a fan of the band who is reading this is probably praying that the release is worth the wait. I wish I could say it was, but I just can’t. I’m not going to say that I didn’t like this album. I did. It’s a collection of enjoyable, fuzzy pop songs that fit…

  • Love Inks – Generation Club

    September 30, 2013 - By 

    For newcomers, Love Inks are a lo-fi dream-pop trio named after an ancient voodoo practice. For the initiated, their highly-anticipated second album could be the one to have them wrestle the spotlight off The xx, Beach House and every other band on next year’s Electric Picnic bill. The music revolves around the husband and wife team of Kevin Dehan (bass) and Sherry LeBlanc, the provider of an original sultry voice found somewhere between Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star and Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac. In Generation Club the trio is completed by recent addition, guitarist Derek Brown. The minimalism on…

  • Ciaran Lavery – Other People Wrote These

    September 25, 2013 - By 

    Having released one of the finest Irish albums of last year – his mesmerising debut full-length release Not Nearly Dark – Aghagallon-based singer-songwriter Ciaran Lavery is an artist who clearly lives and breathes his craft. When he’s not honing and delivering his own uniquely longing brand of alt-folk he refers to the tales of others and revisits the sweeping imprint of influence that has helped shape his own wonderfully distinctive sound. A four-track manifestation of this, Lavery’s aptly-titled new covers EP, Other People Wrote This, offers a ideal opportunity to re-assess his talents from a totally new and interesting perspective. Starting…

  • Harrison – When It Rains

    September 25, 2013 - By 

    Hip-hop, for me, is music to be enjoyed and considered. It’s unfortunate though that what most would currently call hip-hop is dominated by the kind of backslapping lyricists that appear to only pander to audiences willing to accept alienating stereotypes, or utter musical tripe. Either that or it’s about swag, whatever the hell that is.  On a brighter note, all is not lost. J Dilla is still being released and re-released posthumously; Madlib is still going strong and Peanut Butter Wolf and his Stones Throw label are the gifts that keep on giving. These guys are the true music makers. They are the architects of the…

  • Cordials – Cordials EP

    September 24, 2013 - By 

    With the north coat really having carved a niche in recent years – to the extent that punk, post-hardcore and post-rock practically soundtrack the area – it’s refreshing to hear a band from the area who don’t feel obliged to be boxed in with the usual names. A trio from Coleraine & Portrush, Cordials in their self-titled EP tread paths not a million miles away from heartfelt classic power-pop/college rock bands in the vein of Teenage Fanclub and The Replacements. From the onset of opener ‘Metal Man’, the classic lo-fi overdriven chiming wall-of-sound has been implemented appropriately, allowing the EP…

  • PINS – Girls Like Us

    September 22, 2013 - By 

    Prepare to embrace PINS, because everyone else will. Before you lies something quite special. The four-piece, all-female line up has struck a gold many bands can only dream of. The gold in question is finding the perfect fit in each other and just the right musical formula: the 14 tracks on their debut LP Girls Like Us is a striking mix of pop perfection and obvious musical talent. Lead by vocalist and guitarist Faith Holgate, the Manchester-native designed to have a four-piece girls only band, in part, because of the closeness four girls can achieve when it’s just girls. And…

  • Manic Street Preachers – Rewind The Film

    September 20, 2013 - By 

    This must be said as a precursor to this whole review. I love the Manic Street Preachers. I love almost everything that they have done; I’m the type of fan who thinks that Lifeblood isn’t a catastrophic  failure and who has literally spent 11 straight hours listening to their entire discography. Needless to say that I am somewhat bias toward the Welsh trio. But even with this level bias in favour of the band, I say with the utmost integrity and honest that their eleventh and latest release, Rewind The Film, is undeniably one of the best albums the band has ever produced and ranks as…

  • Blue Whale – Blue Whale EP

    September 20, 2013 - By 

    Having released three wonderfully wayward “in the studio” live tracks last year Belfast-based four-piece Blue Whale are steadily earning their stripes as one of the country’s most thoroughly forward-thinking bands of a generation. Almost exclusively instrumental in nature, their wonderfully unorthodox brand of hook-filled jazz-punk betrays a collective mentality to stretch the confines of standard deviation, with fun (and having it) unmistakably at that mentality’s root. The question remains, however: how accurately does their four-track self-titled debut EP capture the sheer energy and ingenuity of their live shows? Opening on teasing lead single ‘Was’, there is an immediate sense of transition…

  • The Last Generation – Torann EP

    September 20, 2013 - By 

    The first thing that pops into your writer’s head when hearing Torann’s opening gambit, ‘Chromosome’, is how properly likeable it all is. Sabbath-esque riffing married to a short and sharp alternative package that, while obviously verging on nostalgia for some, such is its proximity in places to the nineties alt-rock influences it proudly wears on its sleeve, its rawness and sheer drive and verve lift it above the usual yarling and wordplay. Post-hardcore and math influences subtly make themselves known, and go surprisingly well with the double-bass assault that peppers the song’s undercarriage, before the whole thing goes into a…