• John Grant – Grey Tickles, Black Pressure

    October 9, 2015 - By 

    A record whose title essentially means Middle-Aged Nightmares doesn’t sound like a particularly fun prospect. That said, Grey Tickles, Black Pressure is such a wonderful, euphemistic description of its subject, layering the deeply troubling topic in a layer of abstraction and disassociation. This idea is mirrored in its eerie, yet cheerful, album cover; a man dressed in WASPy attire, his eyes replaced with inhuman, piercing white beams of light. This balancing act between sinister and serene is to be expected from the likes of John Grant, the former Czars frontman, whose previous two records stand as some of the finest…

  • Hard Working Class Heroes 2015 – Saturday

    October 8, 2015 - By 

    ‘It’s better to burn out than to fade away,’ said the now sixty-nine year old Neil Young. So maybe it’s not such a bad thing that the HWCH schedule, on paper at least, looks like it wants to wind down rather than go out with a bang. But though it may not have the head whipping allure of the first two nights there’s still certainly enough to justify hitting those streets. Take Sinead White for example, surely a rising star, but even her to the point, uncluttered song writing cannot conjure a crowd out of thin air. It’s a problem…

  • Gulliver @ The Mac, Belfast

    October 7, 2015 - By 

    What would happen if the legendary Lemuel Gulliver was taken out of his context and setting, fathered a dysfunctional family, and acted as the voices of both sanity and insanity? One knows not what Jonathan Swift would make of this baffling concept, but it is right at home with the ideals of Northern Ireland’s Big Telly Theatre Company, who have become renowned among their fanbase for plucking, bending and breaking every thread in the traditionally theatrical narrative in a uniquely intelligent and idiosyncratic manner. Gulliver is no different, mixing straight pantomime, historical literature, pop culture references, light satire and even…

  • Irish Tour: Weird Al Yankovic

    October 8, 2015 - By 

    Vicar Street, Dublin Weird ‘Al’ Yankovic doesn’t really make sense. A parody artist, whose satirical swipes at popular culture have mostly revolved around food, who has somehow not only managed to survive over 30 years in the business and score a number 1 album on the billboard charts, but has also been a constant presence in a plethora of cultural touchstones. Although he is mostly a fringe player or is the butt of a joke. How has someone like Al managed to survived longer than probably 80% of the groups he has pastiched? If last night’s performance in Vicar Street…

  • Hard Working Class Heroes 2015 – Friday

    October 6, 2015 - By 

    Fast forward through your own boring life and the cycle starts again. Another night of wall to wall quality music with the criminal schedule clashes an unfortunate reminder of the standard for the night. By 8pm the Mercantile is host to its first few shuffling visitors and Lie Ins fuzzy pop-rock. It’s comprehensive, bouncy stuff but maybe a little unexciting. However the room slowly fills and by the time Staring at Lakes overcome what seems to be a host of technical difficulties the place could almost be called busy. Despite the Mercantile venues shit wedding party charm, half a song…

  • The Winter Passing – A Different Space of Mind

    October 6, 2015 - By 

    Irish five-piece The Winter Passing have built up to their debut record for around a year now. Having announced the signing to US label 6131 Records, A Different Space Of Mind was scheduled for release back in May, and although a few delays surfaced, the band dropped the full length mid September to much hype around the genre and DIY scene. With a large fan base around Dublin, having played on some incredible shows supporting the likes of Balance And Composure, Touché Amore and will even be in attendance at Fest this year, momentum is gathering rapidly and with a full…

  • Hard Working Class Heroes 2015 – Thursday

    October 5, 2015 - By 

    This is no normal weekend in the city. Thanks to the hard work of those at First Music Contact and their team and associates Dublin has one to really be proud of. This is Hard Working Class Heroes 2015: when several venues across Town host a proliferation, a bevy, a frothing mass of musical talent. For some the draw of HWCH will be its robust dissemination of the industry; its talks with heavyweight performers, journalists and industry figures. Yet for many more it’s the music that does the talking. Luckily HWCH 2015 may just be the best line up yet.…

  • Girls Names (Album Launch) w/ Documenta @ Empire Music Hall, Belfast

    October 3, 2015 - By 

    Having amassed a veritable smorgasbord of critics singing their praises, it’s no surprise that the launch of Girls Names’ new album Arms Around a Vision tonight has been one of the most highly anticipated gigs of this year so far – a simple run through of the post-punk four-piece’s latest effort can attest to this with ease. It’s arguable too that by drip-feeding us snippets of the album for the past few months, Cathal Cully and company have ran a very lucrative and creative marketing campaign, so much so that by the time that Arms Around a Vision saw the…

  • Girl Band w/ Paddy Hanna @ Roisin Dubh, Galway

    October 3, 2015 - By 

    It’s been almost a year to the day since Girl Band played the Roisín Dubh. At that point the band had just released their seminal single ‘De Bom Bom’ and plans for an album were in a mere germination stage, the only thing that they knew for certain was that they would record it themselves and that it would be out in 2015. This being less than a week after the release of the massively anticipated LP Holding Hands With Jamie then, excitement levels are through the roof to see how the year has impacted the most innovative and exhilarating…

  • The Martian

    October 2, 2015 - By 

    Improperly handled, optimism can be unbearable. One of the (many) problems with Chris Nolan’s Interstellar and Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland, two recent advocates for a return to space-age can-do adventurism in a jaded age, was their wild asymmetry between telling and showing. Both films were too breathlessly busy evangelising about mankind’s untapped potential to actually demonstrate that potential in action: ‘reach for the stars’ bluster can only get you so far. Ridley Scott’s The Martian, a highly polished and entertaining space castaway story based on Andy Weir’s novel, is sort of a fulfillment of these earlier film’s ambitions, selling its golly-gee…