• Enablers, Blue Whale, Selaah @ Voodoo, Belfast

    November 16, 2013 - By 

    Five years on from wowing a close-knit assembly at Lavery’s Bunker, one of the most distinctive post-rock bands of a generation return to the Belfast tonight dogged and purposeful despite founding guitarist Joe Goldring having his guitar stolen in Dublin the night before. Founded in 2004 and fronted by poet and spoken word artist Pete Simonelli, San Francisco’s Enablers are all but an act unto themselves, their thoroughly immersive brand of abrasive yet introspective instrumentalism propelled by a masterful confrontational voice that just about guarantees special things on the stage time and time again. Kicking off proceedings in typically inimitable fashion…

  • Darkside – Psychic

    November 14, 2013 - By 

    With a sound residing somewhere between Tangerine Dream circa Thief and Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, the debut full length from Darkside (Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington) makes for a compelling mission statement that should have the hippest of Brooklynites dribbling with pleasure. The New York natives have created something special in Psychic; unique even by contemporary standards and perhaps best measured by the spirit of independence that Jaar brings to the mixing desk and, just as importantly, by the melodic, bluesy sensibilities that Harrington offers.  This isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. The sheer beauty of the soundscapes on this…

  • Gravity

    November 11, 2013 - By 

    It’s been over six years since Alfonso Cuarón, director of Children Of Men and Y Tu Mamá Tambien, stepped behind the camera and this is truly a shame for contemporary. The man is inarguably one of the great visual filmmakers working today. His long, handheld shots with their ambition and scope genuinely inspire awe; this is a man who managed to take us through a concentration camp with gunfights, explosions and stairs without cutting. Cuarón’s friend, collaborator and equal, Guillermo Del Toro, observed a similar albeit shorter absence. Both came back in 2013. Del Toro’s Pacific Rim was a solid,…

  • Four Tet – Beautiful Rewind

    November 5, 2013 - By 

    Having remixed and collaborated with some of the most influential artists of his generation (Aphex Twin, Thom Yorke and the xx to name a few), it’s a relatively safe assumption to say that Four Tet, aka Kieran Hebden, is a man who gets around.  That’s not to say he’s some sort of musical village bicycle, but he’s certainly not short of admirers or musicians willing to take the proverbial ride (ahem).  It’s with good reason though. Should you find yourself flicking through Hebden’s back catalogue, there is more than enough evidence to suggest that the man has both a swell…

  • Future of the Left – How to Stop Your Brain in an Accident

    October 31, 2013 - By 

    I think it’s fair to say that every now and then a person like Future of the Left frontman Andy Falkous is needed. He’s a man whose piss and vinegar vitriolic diatribes would fit comfortably with the George Carlins, Lenny Bruces, Charlie Brookers and Bill Hickses of the world. These are people who can stare into the unending abyss that we know as culture, see the gunk that halts the gears of progression and report back to us with details of the horrors from the underbelly that are steadily herding us toward the trappings of insanity, idiocy and incompetence. Plus…

  • PigsAsPeople, El Ten Eleven, Droids @ Radar

    October 29, 2013 - By 

    Since resuming service in September Radar has hosted numerous strong acts, and tonight proves to top them all, should you have a taste for a bit of noise and jumping around. Droids open the night up with a guitar-led onslaught of enormous chords and hooks, alongside big vocal anthems. They play 30 minutes to a relatively quiet Speakeasy, but the slowly growing numbers in front of them doesn’t put them off. There are more than a few nods given to post-hardcore band Thrice throughout, with distorted walls of sound topped by piercing melodic riffs being a common factor in most of…

  • Drenge – The Limelight 2

    October 30, 2013 - By 

    Sheffield rockers Drenge may have received a sharp spike in interest recently thanks to Labour MP Tom Watson’s parting assertion that they are “an awesome new band”, but it’s visceral and absorbing live performances like tonight’s in the Limelight 2 that will surely see their popularity continue to increase. Brothers Eoin and Rory Loveless make up a guitar and drums duo, but their live setup is anything but lacking – one only need take note of the array of amp stacks and microphones which flank the pair on stage. The modest gathering of hipster-cum-metalheads that have assembled tonight are treated…

  • Primal Scream – Limelight 1, Belfast

    October 28, 2013 - By 

    Tonight, Belfast’s Limelight 1 plays host to the first of two intimate Primal Scream shows in our fair city, and by 8.15pm the fact that it’s a Wednesday evening hasn’t seemed to deter too many fans. Entering the venue, a decent sized crowd are pocketed along the bar and the sides of the room as the equipment is tinkered with for tonight’s supporting act, a DJ set from David Holmes; an appropriate opening act for the band, having both the coveted title of Bel-Funks first son and producer of Primal Screams latest ear bender More Light. As he begins to…

  • The Dismemberment Plan – Uncanney Valley

    October 24, 2013 - By 

    It’s strange meeting an old friend after an extended absence. Will they be the same person that you remember?  I first listened to the Dismemberment Plan during a hospital stay and it was during this time that Emergency & I and the band who created that album became very close to my heart. So when the band announced their new album – their first in 12 years –  I was genuinely afraid to hear it. I didn’t know if I could stand listening to this band and knowing that what mattered so much to me was just a passing thing.…

  • Pelican – Forever Becoming

    October 22, 2013 - By 

    Woah. It’s apparent from the gargantuan opening thuds of ‘Terminal’ that Chicago riffmongers Pelican have undergone some major surgery in the four years since the lacklustre What We All Come to Need limped into earshot. Indeed, it transpires that founding guitarist Laurent Schroeder-Lebec has flown the nest, to be replaced by The Swan King’s Dallas Thomas. Gone, too, are the grungy guitars, spacier textures and vocal dabblings of the previous record; Pelican 2013 is an angrier beast, pounding the listener with monolithic slabs of guitar abuse, pummelling rhythms and huge bottom end. If all this sounds strangely familiar, it’s because…