• Irish Tour: Beach House

    October 27, 2015 - By 

    Having released two fantastic albums in the space of three months – Depression Cherry and Thank Your Lucky Stars – Baltimore dream-pop band Beach House played Belfast’s Mandela Hall and Dublin’s Vicar street at the weekend. Words by Cathal McBride and Joe Madsen. Photos by Colm Laverty and Aaron Corr. Mandela Hall, Belfast Photos by Colm Laverty Kicking off their lengthy European tour tonight, Baltimore dream pop duo Beach House unusually have not one but two new albums to promote, having released Depression Cherry and last week’s surprise follow up Thank Your Lucky Stars (written later but recorded in the…

  • Watch: Therapy? – Deathstimate

    October 22, 2015 - By 

    From the halcyon days of ‘Perversonality’, ‘Screamager’, ‘Femtex’ and ‘Brainsaw’, Therapy? have always been good for a lurid titular portmanteau. The latest in that hallowed tradition is their new single, ‘Deathstimate’, which serves as a triumphant, seven-minute closer to their fourteenth studio album, Disquiet. Set for official release on October 30, an abridged version of the single has been released with a suitably heavy video by Sitcom Soldiers. Therapy? play Infernal Love anniversary shows at Dublin’s The Button Factory on December 10/11 and Belfast’s Limelight on December 12. Watch the video for the ‘Deathstimate’ below (and go here to stream the full, seven-minute, Sabbath…

  • Speedy Ortiz w/ Oh Boland & Trust Fund @ Whelan’s, Dublin

    October 20, 2015 - By 

    It is a mild enough night for October and the already-sweltering Whelan’s is slow to fill as garage-maestros Oh Boland take the stage but this doesn’t stop the three Tuam lads from throwing everything at the gathered few. This is never clearer than in the sweat dripping from the floppy hair of bassist Eanna MacDonnacha or the spit clinging to the mic from Niall Murphy’s rapid-fire vocals. Oh Boland own the stage with their diminutive frontman clattering about the stage as though he is about to collapse but always keeps it together – nearly a metaphor for their entire set.…

  • Irish Tour: Johnny Marr

    October 20, 2015 - By 

    Johnny Marr is a man in a rush right now. This past March’s sophomoric effort Playland arrived a little more than a year after his solo debut The Messenger and he’s already trying out new material live. “This is a new song, but don’t be afraid,” he says with a smile before launching into ‘Spiral Cites’ to the approval of the crowd. It seems architect of some of the indie pop’s best loved songs seems to be working at a pace we haven’t seen since the mid 80’s when classic songs were falling out of Rickenbacker back in his bedroom…

  • Playlist: Mercury Music Prize 2015

    October 16, 2015 - By 

    From Wolf Alice, Slaves and Jamie XX to Ghostpoet, Aphex Twin and our very own SOAK, the 2015 Mercury prize shortlist is a typically diverse affair once more this year. With this year’s prize held in association with BBC Music, the winner will be announced on Friday, November 20. Our money’s on Jamie XX but, of course, we’d be delighted to see SOAK take it. In the meantime, check out our Mercury Music Prize 2015 playlist below.

  • Irish Tour: 100 Onces & Stonemasons

    October 12, 2015 - By 

    “It feels like an attic in here.” This is the first thing a friend says to me when we walk into the upstairs room of the Roisín Dubh on a Saturday to catch one of the last shows of Los Angeles duo 100 Onces’ extensive tour which saw them travelling around the UK, Eastern Europe, Russia and back to Ireland. The feeling that we’re in an attic is largely owing to the lack of much light of any sort and the cluttering of three band’s worth of equipment in the corner. It’s not a bad feeling at all, and it…

  • Culture of Controversy: James Cussen

    October 2, 2015 - By 

    James Cussen is a historian studying toward a PhD in UCC, who is an acerbic controversial and political presence on Twitter. Seanán Kerr travelled to Cork to speak to him in the wake of recent victories for rights in Ireland and defeats for democracy in Greece and to ask how these times fit into the grand historical story and how pop culture mediates our understanding of it. When in 2013, teenage cancer victim Dónal Walsh was given the national airwaves to express his thoughts on suicide (life is precious, don’t kill yourself), few challenged him on the matter, many of Ireland’s…

  • Best Boy Grip – Best Boy Grip

    September 23, 2015 - By 

    “You’ve been getting it on with the boys in the neighbourhood, and now it seems you’re all alone, living in shame…” As he sings those words on signature tune ‘Barbara’, a crafty, catchy ditty about a promiscuous woman, Derry-based singer, songwriter, guitarist and piano man Eoin O’Callaghan AKA Best Boy Grip, is making a powerful statement, not just in the song itself, but for the gist and wit of his written word in his self-titled debut album. His lyrics come across as a mixture of the mildly satirical and the genuinely sorrowful. Along with numerous memorable melodies, sometimes merry, sometimes miserable, they…

  • Sleaford Mods @ Black Box, Belfast

    September 21, 2015 - By 

    Culture Night has been washed away.  The Cathedral Quarter’s cobbled streets that welcomed all ages two nights ago are now a soaking slip hazard on a subdued Sunday evening. You’ve no chance of taking shelter from the rain in the Black Box without a ticket either as tonight’s Sleaford Mods gig is a sell-out. In the words of ‘Bronx in a Six’ – “What culture? Fuck culture.” The mood in the venue is chilled but expectant. One half of the duo Andrew Fearn can be found casually chatting to people in the crowd before setting up on stage. This venue…

  • Withnail & I @ Strand Arts Centre, Belfast

    September 17, 2015 - By 

    Only a fool or a visionary would stage a live version of the finest portfolio of filmed quotes known to man. What fucker said that? This fucker. Just there. I was at the Strand Arts Centre last weekend for Kandu Theatre Company’s notionally foolhardy attempt to wrestle Withnail and I into submission for the stage. Free cake and a wine was promised as a sweetener. But for most in the sold out audience, it was the “bring your own” aspect that had us suitably primped in anticipation for the antics ahead. First things first – Bruce Robinson’s script is a…