• R51 – No Chill

    September 16, 2016 - By 

    That steamrolling wall of sound which smashes through the mix and opens R51’s No Chill EP is a pretty undeniable statement of intent: the Belfast five-piece is bringing their already exceptionally high game to a new tier. Expanding on the palette set out on last year’s  the group delve deeper into shoegaze territory, as the emphasis on this outing is focused on the swirls of textured guitars and soaring vocals. It’s noisy and chaotic, yet intricate and finely honed. ‘Elephant’, the EP’s first song, is a clear testament to this as the seismic opening contrasts with Melyssa Shannon’s delicate, yet…

  • The Smoke Clears – The Smoke Clears

    September 15, 2016 - By 

    It’s a shame this album didn’t come out sooner. The Smoke Clears, the self-titled album under the alias of Galway resident and Berghain/Panorama Bar regular John Daly, is laden with the same feeling encouraged by Netflix hit Stranger Things. In the wake of its success, a flurry of mixes, covers and think-pieces have explored the show’s music, with the soundtrack already being released on vinyl, and Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein of S U R V I V E set to perform the score at Unsound in Poland next month. With the speed of passing interest, it seems too late to…

  • Beat Root: Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh & Metá Metá

    September 14, 2016 - By 

    Back for its second year, Beat Root, Moving On Music’s festival of roots music, offered a program as diverse as imaginable, from harps, fiddles and thundering rock to singer-songwriter mastery and psychedelic folk.  Traditions, and the bending of them, were the constant dualities at play across four evenings of uplifting music, that taken together, amounted to one of Belfast’s best music festivals of the year to date. Though often associated with formal recitals, the harp can be one of the most expressive and one of the most thrilling of instruments – just think of Colombian Edmar Castaneda or Shetland islander Catriona…

  • Clipping – Splendor & Misery

    September 13, 2016 - By 

    For those who don’t know Clipping, they are an LA based trio who single-handedly make up the most prominent hip-hop and avant-garde contingent of legendary label Sub Pop. Since their critically received label debut CLPPNG the group have become a reckonable leftfield force, creating music that is challenging, beguiling and academic all at once. While their last EP Wriggle may have been little more than loose tracks after the release of their LP it continued, musically and verbally, to chronicle humanity’s burnt suburban landscape where society is little more than its bodily functions and lust for cheap thrills and short term gains. On the surface Splendor…

  • Preoccupations – Preoccupations

    September 13, 2016 - By 

    What’s in a name? For Toronto’s Preoccupations, their previous moniker ended up presenting more trouble than they could have anticipated. Releasing an EP and self-titled album as Viet Cong in 2015, their name seemed only to compliment the dark, unsparing and even brutal music that they played, with few reviews drawing any attention to the group’s political insensitivity (it had done little harm to their post punk forbearers Joy Division and Gang Of Four). However, as the band grew in stature so too did internet protests, questioning how four white westerners found it fit they should name themselves after violent Asian paramilitaries in search of some…

  • Sestina @ Clonard Monastery, Belfast

    September 5, 2016 - By 

    The men of Sestina, Northern Ireland’s unique early ensemble are striding out on their own tonight, leaving the women, for now, in the wings. For this gender imbalance you can point an accusing finger, into the distant past, at various Papal decrees that forbade women singers in the church.Not good news for aspiring female singers of the time, though we should perhaps spare a thought for the promising young male altos, who were castrated in order to preserve their angelic voices. Today, happily enough, Sestina relies on natural talent as opposed to radical surgical manipulation for results. This concert, in the magnificent…

  • August Wells – Madness is the Mercy

    September 9, 2016 - By 

    Over 20 years since his emergence with shoegaze band Rollerskate Skinny (with none other than Jimi Shields, brother of My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin) and a CV that includes stints fronting New York alt-rock band Favourite Sons and his own solo project Kid Silver, Dublin native Kenneth Griffin shows no sign of letting up from his multifaceted musical pursuits, with his latest venture August Wells – formed in 2012 with New York pianist John Rauchenberger – recently signing to Cork’s FIFA Records (Forever In Financial Arrears) for this second LP. Griffin’s impressive croon is the first thing you hear at the start of opener ‘Here in the…

  • Altan w/ Kern @ Feile An Droichead

    September 9, 2016 - By 

    It’s undoubtedly something of a coup for Feile An Droichead to have persuaded Altan to play at An Droichead, a much smaller venue than is customary for the legendary group. Few trad outfits can boast the sustained activity and international appeal of Altan, who have been thrilling audiences around the world for three decades. The band will be celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2017, but in truth, an Altan concert at any time is a celebratory event and tonight is no different. First up, however, is Kern. The Louth trio has been together for nearly three years and its dashing…

  • Electric Picnic 2016

    September 7, 2016 - By 

    The Holy Grail of Irish music and the summer season is back again with the fastest selling ever Electric Picnic gracing Stradbally in its typically flamboyant style. Despite the speed with which tickets sold out, murmurs of disappointment have been rife all summer due to Picnic’s decision to pull the lineup back slightly from the massive names of the last few years in favour of a roll call of bands that would have been standard in the earlier years of the festival. This change is evident immediately due to the slightly older crowd strolling around on Friday afternoon pitching up…

  • Josie Nugent @ The Belfast Barge

    September 7, 2016 - By 

    Now in its eighth year, Feile An Droichead has worked its way quietly, and with little fanfare, to a point where this annual celebration of Irish music and language arguably ranks as one of the signature events in Northern Ireland’s burgeoning cultural calendar. Beyond the confines of its An Droichead home, the 2016 edition has seen the festival extend its reach into the wider community, with performances in the Ulster Museum, Black Box and the Belfast Barge creating, at the very least, the possibility of bringing traditional music to a more general audience. The honour of closing An Droichead 2016,…