• Mojo Fury – The Difference Between

    October 23, 2013 - By 

    Having successfully completed a pledge campaign to ensure its release, the ever singular Mojo Fury unveil the sprawling mastery of The Difference Between having reignited the fire in the hearts of their fanbase. Considering the almost necessary participation of the latter, not to mention the band’s own open-handed generosity in return, there is a very real sense of both camps being in it together. That said, with the grandiose silhouette of their groundbreaking 2011 debut album Visiting Hours of a Travelling Circus looming large in the background, the question remains: will the Mike Mormecha-fronted band falter in the wake of huge expectation or…

  • Grey Reverend – A Hero’s Lie

    October 17, 2013 - By 

    Getting tied up in a cycle of habitual listening is all too easy. Weeks can go by where Hip Hop turns to House, House turns to Techno, and Techno to IDM and so on until the breadth of music discovered becomes a cross to bear, outweighing the pleasure sought from the outset. Trapped, for lack of a better word, in one’s own rituals. With that in mind, breaking the habit with a chance discovery of an old favourite can be a useful exercise in re-calibrating one’s approach to musical tastes, if not a relief from the norm. As much as…

  • Gambles – Trust

    October 15, 2013 - By 

    New York-based singer-songwriter Matthew Daniel Siskin knows full well the traditions that he carries on his shoulders when he sings on his debut album, Trust. Siskin’s musical idols – the likes of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Elliott Smith – have all obtained legendary status in an overcrowded genre where vocals and an acoustic guitar are all that are needed to convey the most powerful of emotions.  But it’s true that for every Dylan or Tallest Man On Earth there are ten if not fifty unnecessary and unoriginal fanboy acts, which only serve to dilute the enjoyment that there is…

  • The Weeknd – Kiss Land

    October 14, 2013 - By 

    When Abel Tesfaye mysteriously emerged two years ago with a dazzling set of ice cold mixtapes that vividly depicted post-breakup anxiety, lurid sexual encounters and drug-enhanced paranoia, the impact of his music was only heightened by the ambiguity surrounding the artist. Preferring to lurk in the shadows of promotional imagery (or not appear at all) and presenting himself under the peculiar misspelled guise of The Weeknd, the faceless Ontario native leaned on his piercing falsetto to lure listeners into his desperate and debauched world. While Tesfaye may have crept to the spotlight over time by breaking his anonymity, performing live,…

  • Everything Everything, Thumpers, Outfit @ Limelight 1, Belfast

    October 14, 2013 - By 

    Having released their breakthrough, critically devoured second album Arc back in January, Manchester quartet Everything Everything stop off at Belfast’s recently expanded Limelight 1 comfortable in their status as 2013’s most comprehensively doted-upon darlings of English indie pop. But, as is invariably the case, having come to prominence so rapidly over the last few months, it remains to be seen how well the Jonathan Higgs-fronted four-piece fare in satisfying older fans whilst accommodating for the whims of the very newly inducted. The first of Everything Everything’s two touring support bands tonight, Liverpool psychedelic pop five-piece Outfit deliver a commanding performance to…

  • Blue Jasmine

    October 10, 2013 - By 

    “This song was playing when we first met, do you know it?” On the surface Blue Jasmine is a portrait of a woman trying to climb back up the social and economic ladder into a life that she had the express elevator to beforehand. But beneath this and beneath the surface of every character in the film there is so much more to find. Woody Allen provides a view into a world that, for most us, is alien in almost every way. Yet through the strength of the writing and brilliant structure of the film, we immediately feel comfortable there,…

  • Chequerboard – The Unfolding

    October 10, 2013 - By 

    Back in 1993, Damon Albarn coined the phrase Modern Life Is Rubbish for the title of his band’s second album. Damon, mate, you didn’t know the half of it. 20 years later and modern life is rubbisher than ever. There’s just so much noise: constantly connected to our ubiquitous bleeping smartphones, we’re hit with a non-stop barrage of tweets, texts and emails, while social media sites urge us to ‘like’ and ‘follow’ every two-bit product and adverts blare at us from every conceivable space. Honestly, it’s enough to make you wish they’d just drop the bomb and bring an end…

  • Jesu – Everyday I Get Closer to the Light From Which I Came

    October 8, 2013 - By 

    Justin Broadrick has long been a progressive influence in heavy music, from his pioneering work in industrial legends Godflesh to the stunning ambient/drone soundscapes of Final or any one of his other countless side projects. His output under the Jesu moniker has seen him marry shoegaze blur with metallic heft to remarkable effect. Like its predecessors, Every Day I Get Closer To The Light From Which I Came  features pretty melodies nestling snugly inside woolly swathes of distortion, guitars chiming and chorusing around languid drum patterns and gargantuan low-tuned bass, while distant vocals float airily over glacial tempos. It’s a…

  • Haim – Days Are Gone

    October 4, 2013 - By 

    It’s genuinely difficult to find information about the trio of sisters that make up Haim which doesn’t draw attention to their likeness to 70’s soft-rockers Fleetwood Mac. Such affiliation is certainly warranted, and it would be easy to assume Haim is no more than an impersonation of those rock icons they aspire to – but underneath the obvious influences lies a stark, almost outrageous character all their own. It would be impossible to say Haim are presenting a completely fresh sound, but what they have managed to do on their debut album Days Are Gone is take an amalgam of…

  • 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…