• CQAF: Yuck & Bouts @ Black Box

    May 3, 2014 - By 

    Just over a year since their founding member – and central songwriting force – Daniel Blumberg jumped ship to focus on his own music, English indie rock darlings Yuck make their highly-anticipated return to Belfast tonight something of a wounded but defiant soldier. Indeed, with a new EP, Southern Skies, getting a mixed reaction from critics and aficionados alike, there is an unspoken feeling in the air that the band have both reputation to uphold and repertoire to deliver. One wonders: whether they care to confront the question or not, are they able and set to confound the likely ill-founded theories of the detractors? With the Black Box…

  • Hope is Noise @ The Pavilion

    May 2, 2014 - By 

    In the process of getting out to this gig, venturing out on a wet Thursday night, your writer wrenches his ankle, and as a result, spends the next 20 minutes hobbling to the Pavilion, just in time to miss most of debuting Cork/Italian lads The Order of the Mess‘ power-duo noise-rock assault. Their stuff on Soundcloud paints a rough but promising picture, that of a multifaceted, but bludgeoningly weighty aural attack. They’re well-received here. Settling in for Hope is Noise getting on with setup, it’s a decent crowd that litters the bar of the Pav, especially right before a Bank…

  • LEGO: The Hobbit (Warner Bros., Multiformat)

    May 2, 2014 - By 

    Another month, another LEGO videogame tie-in. For nearly ten years British development house Traveller’s Tales have been remoulding iconic comics and films in ickle plastic form, and, if internet rumours are to be believed, show no signs of slowing down. While the destination might vary from Gotham to Middle Earth, the premise is always the same: guide a variety of figures through a toy world, taking apart and putting together objects made out of the famous Danish bricks. It is an odd idea, for sure, but one which works – most of the time. Which brings us to LEGO: The Hobbit,…

  • Kelis – Food

    May 1, 2014 - By 

    Kelis Rogers has always been somewhat of an enigmatic figurehead for the fringes of popular music. A sonic siren, her brand of off-centre RnB has historically enjoyed success with club-goers, channel hoppers and with those who just enjoy a bloody good hook and the occasional raucous holler or two. ‘I Hate You So Much Right Now,’ for instance, her 1999 vocal assault on a cheating spouse, provided Rogers with an opportunity to change the way RnB was to be perceived – it could be powerful, visceral even, but retain the soulful and jazz-influenced backdrop that many of Rogers’ contemporaries exploited…

  • Elastic Sleep – Leave You E.P.

    April 29, 2014 - By 

    The first thing that slaps you about the face about the debut E.P. from Elastic Sleep, is not the shimmering, foggy beauty they can conjure, hinted at in their dream-pop debut bijou, ‘Anywhere’, but the weight and conviction behind its execution. Cork shoegazers with a serious pedigree gleaned from their time in popgaze supermachine Agitate the Gravel/Terror Pop and synth-poppers Superblondes, the band’s collective experiences, disappointments, and refined vision have crystallised here in the form of six tracks that quickly embody a wide palate of influences, that not so much form the next stage of an ongoing evolution for the…

  • Fez (Sony, Cross Buy PS3/PS4/PS Vita)

    April 23, 2014 - By 

    If you have watched the fantastic documentary Indie Game: The Movie, and I heartily recommend that you do, then you will already be intimately familiar with the notorious Phil Fish. The Montreal-born designer has gained infamy – deservedly, some would say – for his fits of pique and bilious rants against the games industry and those who work within it. This, one could argue, is largely a product of frustration borne out of the unattainably high standards he imposes upon himself. In Indie Game, we see a man trapped within a prison of his own making, struggling to complete a puzzle-based platform…

  • Mac DeMarco – Salad Days

    April 23, 2014 - By 

    “What Mom doesn’t know/ has taken its toll on me” sings Mac DeMarco on album number three’s lead single, ‘Passing Out the Pieces’. It’s a line that immediately anchors the listener in with what to expect from the rest of his critically praised, self-produced 2014 release, Salad Days. Remarkably the title of the album itself would be far more in line with the Mac (real name: Vernor Winfield McBriare Smith IV) of 2012; the Mac who gained a semi-cult following with some hilarious post-watershed Youtube clips and an anthemic ode to his favourite cigarettes, Viceroy. However in true Mac style…

  • Cavalry

    April 17, 2014 - By 

    Calvary is the second feature film from John Michael McDonagh, following on from the very successful The Guard. Unlike his brother Martin’s second feature, the messy, dated Seven Psychopaths, John Michael has followed his funny (though somewhat flimsy) first film with a darker, much more bold tale of the clash between faith and doubt in modern-day Ireland. Calvary is interesting for its contemporary significance but disappointing for its lack of originality. Father James (Brendan Gleeson) is threatened by an unknown man in his confession box – the man claims that he will kill James in one week, not because he is a bad priest, but…

  • Confab Review: Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks

    April 17, 2014 - By 

    Wait, who?  Avey Tare. He’s out of Animal Collective. Oh right. Has he gone solo? Not really, Animal Collective like to keep themselves busy with side projects. So what’s the Slasher Flicks bit? Is it horror picture music? Well I suppose that might depend on your tastes. But essentially no, there’s no long, suspenseful atmospherics followed by sudden dramatic explosions with added bone-crunching sound effects. Nor is it black metal. Is it just a name then? Good question. It does seem a little bit tacked on, a convenient story providing opportunities for blood-dripping photo shoots, spooky artwork and a comically…

  • Squarepusher / Z-Machines – Music for Robots

    April 11, 2014 - By 

    As one of Warp Records’ longest serving artists, Squarepusher (Tom Jenkinson) has rarely shied away from changing his direction or pushing the boundaries of music production; tropes of the label’s general output. One only need listen through his impressive back catalogue to understand that Jenkinson is an artist who thrives on the new and that stagnation, seemingly, is a very dirty word. Take his experiments with live instrumentation and sequenced beats for example; there is plenty of evidence to suggest that not only is Jenkinson an extremely talented live musician, but an enviably capable savant when it comes to processing…