• Glen Hansard @ Grand Opera House, Belfast

    October 25, 2019 - By 

    Those familiar with Glen Hansard’s long-rambling career – three decades and counting – will no doubt be fascinated by the various left turns and changes in musical direction the songwriter has taken during his years of service. The Frames, his alma mater may be on indefinite hiatus, and The Swell Season, his previous artistic partnership with pianist Markéta Irglová, released two albums of hushed folk rock before going their separate ways. Along the road there have been excursions with Eddie Vedder, Robbie Robertson, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen… an illustrious who’s who of musical royalty that epitomises Hansard’s modus operandi of…

  • The Peanut Butter Falcon

    October 25, 2019 - By 

    “Yeah you’re gonna die, it’s a matter of time. That ain’t the question; question is if they have good stories to tell about you when you’re gone,” opines Tyler (Shia LaBeouf). The hot-headed, low-rung outlaw on the run (he torched a rival crab trawler’s gear), is giving life lessons to his accidental travelling companion, Zak (Zack Gottsagen), a 22 year-old with Down’s Syndrome making his own escape. The Peanut Butter Falcon, the first feature from American writers and directors Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz, is an open-hearted yarn about good stories and good times, a rough-it-out best-pals adventure that moves with leisurely charm. Tyler is Zak’s guide, road buddy and…

  • Elbow – Giants of All Sizes

    October 24, 2019 - By 

    Bleary-eyed and broken, Britain is bumbling from one disaster to the next. Social and demographic fractions, impending irreparable gulfs, rogue leaders contorting the political landscape, unthinkable shapes… Dead ends. Anxiety levels are at tipping point. Right on cue, an Elbow record – the audio equivalent of popping the kettle on, right? Wait for it all to blow over. Buoyancy. Optimism. Warm northern accents. Community. 40 minutes of escapism from the shitshow going on outside. Sink in. Press play. There’s a crunching bassline. Stomping drums. Despair. Hang on. “And I don’t know Jesus anymore”. Uh-oh. Pause. Check for scratches. No scratches.…

  • Big Thief – Two Hands

    October 21, 2019 - By 

    Two hands is the second album from Big Thief this year, following the sublime U.F.O.F. back in May. Despite such a brief interval between both albums, these “twins” reside in polar geographies; the former fixating on voyeuristic distance and disconnection, while the latter roots itself in a close and uncomplicated familial structure. There’s a desire for domesticity in Two Hands, which manifests in multiple ways, but is accentuated in the way the album was recorded almost entirely live, save a few overdubs. Bringing this raw, marked sound together with multi-faceted lyrics to explore internal uncertainties and societal grievances, Big Thief harness intimate…

  • Danny Brown – uknowhatimsayin¿

    October 17, 2019 - By 

    Danny Brown has always been somewhat of an outlier in hip-hop. Gifted with the ability to present his many exploits with astounding shades of colour, humour and vocal inflections verging on the maniacal, his unorthodox style has garnered support across the globe, far beyond his home city of Detroit. Brown’s skill in synthesising his wide-ranging influences – he has confessed to being a fan of everything from Cee-Lo Green to Bowie and Joy Division – culminated in 2016’s Atrocity Exhibition on Warp. A remarkable collection depicting the highs and lows of mental health and the ugly underbelly of the hip hop world, its outstandingly…

  • Angel Olsen – All Mirrors

    October 16, 2019 - By 

    Angel Olsen rarely shies away from making demands of those to whom her songs are addressed, seemingly with the aim of forging a sense of connection or wholeness through sheer will – not only with the addressee in question, however, but also with (or within) herself, and the world she inhabits. At her most confident, she issues imperatives that appear to be concerned less with whatever romantic situation is at hand, and more with a desire to give herself a voice when she feels most vulnerable, to be heard clearly just as emotional tumult threatens to drown out sincere efforts to…

  • Gross Net – Gross Net Means Gross Net

    October 9, 2019 - By 

      Gross Net started life back in 2014 as a collaboration between Girls Names guitarist Philip Quinn and Autumns’ Christian Donaghey, crafting krautrock jams out of primitive drum machines and industrial guitars. However, Donaghey’s early departure has left Quinn to captain the ship alone, steering it in a more fully electronic direction. After two EPs, 2016 saw the release of debut full length, Quantitative Easing, on Belfast’s ever reliable Touch Sensitive Records. Now, as if to ease the pain of Girls Names dissolution earlier this year, album number two has landed on LA based label, Felte. While Quantitative Easing’s cold electronic pulse…

  • Dermot Kennedy – Without Fear

    October 9, 2019 - By 

    As Dublin’s Dermot Kennedy releases his debut album, Without Fear, it’s odd to think he’s already been performing to packed-out audiences for two years. For an artist who recently sold out the 5,000-capacity Brixton Academy in London without even having a UK single, and who has collaborated with regular Kanye West producer Mike Dean, you’d almost be forgiven for thinking of an album as an unnecessary afterthought. Nevertheless, Without Fear, released on UK major Island, puts Kennedy’s towering voice on full display with a collection of deeply personal, hip hop-infused pop songs ruminating on heartbreak, hope and healing. While it may be tempting to…

  • 65daysofstatic – replicr, 2019

    October 7, 2019 - By 

    65daysofstatic make music that speaks to our most elemental, human concerns. Anxious, urgent and vital, their sound narrows on a space between post-rock, cinematic and electronic worlds. replicr, 2019 arrives as a focused expedition into a dark and uneasy present. On this, their sixth album proper, the band collate their experimental interests – they soundtracked the 2016 videogame No Man’s Sky through algorithmic composition – with the feverish immediacy of their early records. Ultimately, the world of replicr, 2019 is unsettling in its realism. From the opening bars, we’re prepared for a bleak, industrial landscape – one which is built…

  • Joker

    October 7, 2019 - By 

    Joker lands in cinemas this week – as heavy with hype as Batman’s toolbelt with gadgets. Not that gadgets and superheroism play a big part in this origin story, which shows the backstory of Batman’s arch-nemesis. Instead, following in the footsteps of the violent adaptations Logan and Deadpool, Joker is a bracingly bleak, gorgeously shot departure from the conventions of the comic book spin-off movie, anchored (if not dominated) by a magnetic central performance from Joaquin Phoenix. The film unfolds in a 1970s-feel Gotham City that’s politically and socially tearing itself apart. (The first evidence of unrest is mounds of uncollected…