• British Sea Power – Black Box, Belfast

    May 10, 2013 - By 

    The last time that British Sea Power visited Belfast, in February 2011, something felt different. The band, by this point a seasoned touring outfit with several joyously received Belfast gigs to their credit, were playing the Spring & Airbrake for the second time, but attendance was down, the atmosphere was flat and the setlist dragged, stuffed full of songs from the lacklustre album they were promoting at the time, Valhalla Dancehall. Just as their previous record, the Mercury-nominated Do You Like Rock Music?, seemed set to propel them skyward, Elbow-style, it looked like the Brighton band were already on a…

  • Savages – Silence Yourself

    May 9, 2013 - By 

    Someone once said, “hype is a dangerous thing” (which it can be, depending upon who or what is being hyped and, perhaps more importantly, who or what is creating the hype). Just under a year since the release of their debut single ‘Flying To Berlin’, London all-female quartet Savages have been moth-to-bright-light attractive to a very contemporary type of hype – all thanks, that is, to the b-side from the debut single in question. A chromatically descending, shrieking slab of claustrophobic antipathy, ‘Husbands’ felt like a fully-formed masterstroke; a lost post-punk gem propelled by an energy and urgency that came…

  • The Specials – Ulster Hall, Belfast

    May 9, 2013 - By 

    Two years on from their phenomenal performance at Belsonic 2011 – not to mention an astonishing thirty-four years since first performing Queens University way back in 1979 – ska/2-tone pioneers The Specials return to Belfast tonight very much assured of their legendary status. Despite lacking founding member Jerry Dammers since reforming in 2008 and now missing vocalist Neville Staples this year due to health reasons, there is a definite air of celebration and mild hysteria in the air, undoubtedly spurred on by the looming, gratefully-received safety net of a next day Bank Holiday. Diving straight into the hectic ska of…

  • Alana Henderson – Green Room, Black Box (CQAF)

    May 8, 2013 - By 

    One of the things that marks Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival out as a bit different is the inclusion of the Artist In Residence. Every year a locally based musician is chosen for this coveted title, a badge saying this person is a cut above the rest and a badge that is proudly displayed throughout the festival, the artist in question playing several showcases as well as supporting international acts playing during the festival. Joining previous success stories of Rachel Austin, Aaron Shanley and Glastonbury performer Isobel Anderson is this year’s choice, cellist-singer-songwriter Alana Henderson. It’s no surprise then that…

  • Chelsea Wolfe, Robyn G Shiels – Auntie Annie’s, Belfast

    May 7, 2013 - By 

    And so it goes. After many years playing host to thousands of bands from every corner of the earth and providing a hugely important platform for innumerable local bands and artists, Auntie Annie’s, one of Belfast’s most loved music venues, breathes its final breath tonight having announced its imminent closure. As is only to be expected, the scene is a strange contrast of sorts: downstairs in the main bar the atmosphere is one of ecstatic – if not naturally hesitant – celebration; upstairs, a significantly more mournful mood takes hold in advance of one final night of pining, transatlantic folk.…

  • Peals – Walking Field

    May 3, 2013 - By 

    Any time Baltimore crops up in conversation these days, thoughts are likely to turn to The Wire, but the gritty cop saga is far from its only artistic attraction. It’s not the biggest of American cities, but for many years Baltimore has harboured an indie rock underground whose tentacles have spread far and wide. First to make their mark were experimental pop troupe Animal Collective. Then Dan Deacon’s intense and playful compositions began to gain traction elsewhere. Beach House and Future Islands were next to transcend the city’s febrile scene, followed by indie-rock bands Wye Oak and Lower Dens and…

  • Desert Hearts – Enturbulation = No Challenge

    May 3, 2013 - By 

    “The opposite of harmonious, cooperative, respectful, calm, serene, disciplined”. A process of “agitating or disturbing”. As anyone who’s ever seen them can confirm, such words could serve as a neat description of Desert Hearts. They are, in fact, taken from the the Wiktionary definition of ‘Enturbulation’, a word coined by L. Ron Hubbard, used primarily by Scientologists and which, now, finds itself gracing the title of the new Desert Hearts album. One of the fundamental practices of Scientology is ‘auditing’, a procedure through which the individual revisits the traumas of the past as a means of elevating them to a…

  • James Blake – Overgrown

    May 3, 2013 - By 

    Overgrown, James Blake’s second album, is a tender, heart-sore thing. The music itself is soulful, full of yearning and quiet sadness. And that voice. It’s so gentle, soft as a phantom tap on the shoulder and ghost words whispered in the ear. The perfect medium, then, for songs that are as blissful as that sweet, half-light moment when wakefulness is extinguished and you surrender to the Sandman’s embrace. The title track sets the tone. It’s the sort of music that could come with an ‘In Case of Emergency’ sticker – soothing, unhurried, the song as sedative, to be broken out…

  • Hornets – Truth EP

    May 3, 2013 - By 

    With members coming together from multiple bands of varied genre, Hornets’ greatest asset is their three member’s combined experience. Each hailing from very different musical outfits, with that experience they have wisely decided to wait before gigging, to temper and hone their music into something cohesive and mature. The product of this is their debut EP Truth. Was it worth the wait? Opener ‘Truth’ sets the mood for the furious six-song EP and it rarely slows. The first three songs are a blitz of unrelenting noise; ‘No Control’ exhibits some messy guitar dissonance from Andy Shields, and really shows off…

  • The Fall – Re-mit

    May 3, 2013 - By 

    It’s never easy reviewing a new Fall album, mainly because – in the experience of this reviewer at least – Fall albums always sound terrible on first listen. You hear it and think “Boysadear, but this is a lot of ramshackle crap”. Then, insidiously – almost sneakily – some angular guitar hook or muttered guttural utterance embeds itself in your brain; you find yourself inexplicably returning again and again to this record that so baffled and frustrated you; fast forward a few weeks and you’re telling anyone who’ll listen that the new Fall album might just be their best ever…