• Peace, Superfood – Limelight 2, Belfast

    July 11, 2013 - By 

    With the era of Pagers and Kenan & Kel back in fashion of late, tonight is a night that plays host to two tight bands with their fingers very much in the 90s pie. Up first is Birmingham quartet Superfood (below), whose brand of alternative rock is filled with catchy and rigid melodies, combined with lovely sharp percussion, strongly reminiscent of Cake (these food references aren’t intentional). Sporadic, unconventional harmonies are provided seemingly on a whim by the guitarist which are slightly unusual but spice things up nonetheless. Superfood round off their intriguing warm up set with a self titled…

  • A Fight You Can’t Win – A Fight You Can’t Win EP

    July 10, 2013 - By 

    Having been earning their stripes on the Edinburgh live circuit over the last few years, alt-rock quartet A Fight You Can’t Win have been threatening to unleash their barraging, uniquely wrathful craft for some time now. Off the back of last year’s altogether promising Every Last Breath EP – itself worth a cursory listen, at the very least – the foursome have returned with a brief but vehement self-titled effort that could well see break new ground beyond the would-be confines of their whereabouts and serve as inspired springboard of sorts for a potential full-length release. Fronted by Ballycastle native Matthew…

  • Guided By Voices – English Little League

    July 9, 2013 - By 

    At this stage, fourth album in, may we at least pretend that we all know Guided By Voices are back? Is it ok for The Thin Air to skip the history lesson and pass over the obligatory “Robert Pollard is prolific” spiel? OK, good! We will try not to look back. And so onwards to the future and for now the present and another GBV album. English Little League reveals that the reformed “classic line-up” may not have quite hit the ground running with 2012’s three albums, but instead it seems they were paying their dues all over again. These…

  • Maya Jane Coles – Comfort

    July 9, 2013 - By 

    Maya Jane Coles has steered a steady and prolific career as a DJ and remixer since teaching herself the rudiments of her trade at the age of fifteen through the wonders of computer based DJ packages.  Having filed Essential Selection mixes for Radio 1 and remixed for top dogs such as Gorillaz and Massive Attack, Maya Jane was named fourteenth most influential DJ in the world by Rolling Stone, a prestigious feather in anyone’s musical cap and headphones.  The perpetual challenge for a DJ when creating an album is the choice of vocalist for the tracks; it can either lift…

  • Before Midnight

    July 9, 2013 - By 

    Love is hard. These three simple words form the basis for many a Meg Ryan, Kathrine Heigl and Jennifer Aniston film. The process of meeting the one you will eventually spend your life with should be arduous and rife with high-larious circumstance. One of you will overreact to a character revelation before the great big “John Cusack with a boombox and some sweet ass Peter Gabriel” moment arrives and makes everything right. Never forget, love is hard. Except it’s really not. Love is finding joy with being with someone almost entirely without care. Love is actually quite simple, it’s the…

  • Lemuria – The Distance Is So Big

    July 8, 2013 - By 

    Given the mercurial nature of Lemuria’s sound, the fact that the group take their name from a mythical lost island continent seems somewhat apt. This third full-length sees the trio as difficult to pin down as their eponymous land mass, kicking off with a brief choral swell before opener proper ‘Brilliant Dancer’ shuffles into view. The twanging first few bars are pure slacker indie, but the track suddenly takes off on an unexpectedly raucous tangent, its skewed rhythm at first appearing utterly at odds with the effervescent pop melodies being played out on the surface. No sooner have you sussed…

  • Surfer Blood – Pythons

    July 8, 2013 - By 

    It’s fair to say that amongst most people of a certain age you’d struggle to find anyone who doesn’t, or didn’t at one time love Teenage Fanclub, Pavement or Weezer. That combination of Ric Ocasek guitar, sweeter than sweet melodies and chunky fuzzy distortion is the perfect mixture for the music fan who loves the power and energy of punk but needs that wonderful hook to drag them in. When done right, you end up with Bandwagonesque, Slanted and Enchanted or The Blue Album, albums so good that cries of heresy instantly follow any sort of critical dissent.  But when…

  • This Is The End

    July 6, 2013 - By 

    From the outset, This Is The End sets its stall out for all to see. It’s crass, self referential, and controversial. All to be expected “from the guys who brought you Pineapple Express and Superbad“. The real question is – is it funny? The answer, unequivocally, is yes. Presented with just enough of a wink and a nod to how obviously self-indulgent it is (“Dear God, it’s me, Jonah Hill… from Moneyball“), This Is The End manages to contort its few staple jokes (swearing, and booze/drug/sex references) into 107 minutes of laugh out loud absurdity. This Is The End breaks…

  • These New Puritans – Field Of Reeds

    July 3, 2013 - By 

    Distant, stand-offish, awkward in the extreme and too serious by half. With the music press expressing such sentiments to describe These New Puritans, you get the impression that, despite the praise heaped upon 2010’s Hidden, the Southend trio would be afforded little leniency or understanding if they were to make a misstep with its follow-up. Thankfully however, Fields of Reeds once again sees the brothers Barnett unequivocally delivering a record worthy of bountiful acclaim that will surely feature in many critic’s reckoning for album of the year come December. Recorded over the course of twelve months, throughout the LP’s conception Jack…

  • Alabama 3 – Mandela Hall, Belfast

    July 2, 2013 - By 

    It has been an interesting time for Belfast in terms of some of the gigs hosted here in the last couple of weeks. The Breeders entertained Limelight recently, with Kim Deal announcing her departure from the Pixies the day before. Now it is the turn of Alabama 3, who are playing at the Mandela Hall just a few days after the death of James Gandolfini, star of the Sopranos, which helped introduce the band to millions by using their song in the credits. But before we experience the diverse palette of Alabama 3, it is up to the last minute…