• Digging Deep with Chelsea Wolfe

    November 9, 2015 - By 

    Having released Abyss – her heaviest (and finest) album to date – back in August, Chelsea Wolfe is well and truly an artist who has come good on a sense of extraordinary promise. Ahead of her show at Dublin’s Button Factory on Wednesday, November 25, Mike McGrath Bryan chats to the L.A. artist about touring, digging deep creatively and the sonic imprint of sleep paralysis.  Abyss is drawn from the nightmares and situations created by sleep paralysis and other ailments. How was it to confront them creatively? It happened without overthinking it. I’ve had sleep and dream issues my whole life, and over time…

  • Rave New World (6/11)

    November 6, 2015 - By 

    Antoin Lindsay and Aidan Hanratty return for their latest look at the very best electronic gigs, tracks, mixes and releases of the week. GIGS TNI and Aether Present: Kornel Kovacs and Denis Sulta at Aether & Echo, Belfast Saturday 7 October Two names that seem to be cropping up a lot lately are Kornel Kovacs and Denis Sulta, who The Night Institute have managed to bring in this Saturday. Kovacs is fresh off a very well-received release on Numbers and Sulta is fast becoming one of the most in-demand DJs in Glasgow. Will no doubt be a night of relentless…

  • EP Premiere: David C Clements – My Dear Mother

    November 6, 2015 - By 

    David C Clements has always had an air of the mythical about him. An artist of pace and a craftsman of all but peerless repute in these parts, he has never dabbled in the kneejerk or haphazard, not least in his recorded output. With his highly-anticipated debut album, The Longest Day in History, set for release in early 2016, Clements has released a sampler of sorts in the form of My Dear Mother, a four-track EP that captures him at his most resolute. Speaking of the release, Clements said, “The idea with the My Dear Mother EP is to start introducing the new material…

  • Festival Mixtape: Metropolis

    November 5, 2015 - By 

    Set to make its grand inaugural appearance at RDS in Dublin this weekend, Metropolis boasts one of the most exciting line-ups for an Irish festival that we’ve seen in quite some time. With full information about times and acts available at their official website here, we have compiled a twenty track playlist featuring our must-see acts at the festival, including Giorgio Moroder (pictured), The Roots, Jamie xx, Le Galaxie and more.

  • Primer: Alexander Reilly

    November 4, 2015 - By 

    In this installment of Primer, Alexander Reilly invites us over to his studio to give us some insight into how his colourful character laden work comes to life through his applications of paint. Photos and interview by Mark Earley. Hi Alex! When did you first realise were an artist and in turn, that your career would be in art? I remember in my first year of school when I was four or five, all the kids in my class wanting me to draw them dinosaurs. I was never very academic or good at sports, so being the best at drawing became…

  • Label Mixtape: Rough Trade

    November 5, 2015 - By 

    Having founded the first Rough Trade shop in London two years earlier, Geoff Travis first launched the independent label of the same name in 1978, at a time when an abundance of new underground acts inspired by the DIY ethic of punk were just dying to be heard. The shop and its distribution network were already providing a valuable retail outlet for these artists to get their records on sale, so starting a label seemed like the logical next step. Despite being at the heart of the post-punk and alternative scenes throughout the 1980s, by the dawn of the 90s…

  • Interview: Samantha Crain

    November 5, 2015 - By 

    Ahead of her show at Dublin’s Workman’s Club on Sunday, Oklahoma singer-songwriter Samantha Crain chats to Brian Coney about her stellar new album, Under Brand & Thorn & Tree, reclaiming music/art from upper class white men and the imprint of the likes of Jason Molina and David Bazan on her new material. Hi Samantha, Under Branch & Thorn & Tree is, for my money, one of strongest records of the year. There’s such a deep conviction to your words and how you wield them. Looking back, how did you go about writing lyrics what triggered inspiration? Thank you! The first song I wrote…

  • Bookmark: Caitriona Lally

    November 4, 2015 - By 

    In this installment of Bookmark, we head over to the cosy home of Irish writer Caitriona Lally, author of Eggshells which was chosen by The Irish Times Book Club as their book of the month for October. She has just been shortlisted by the Irish Book Awards 2015 for the Newcomer of the Year award. Photos by Melanie Mullan. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller For his fearlessness and honesty and rawness and laugh-out-loud sentences. The kind of book that changes the way you think about fiction, that makes you think a more powerful, more real kind of writing is possible. Oranges Are…

  • Visual Arts Outlook (3/11)

    November 3, 2015 - By 

    Well, it’s now November. I can’t believe it! The beginning of the month can only mean one thing: Late Night Art, or ‘First Thursday’. That is, on the first Thursday of the month many  galleries in Belfast open their doors late, to entice you lovely viewers in to see what’s new. So, with that being said, there is plenty to keep you going for the next week. Also, not forgetting that this is ‘Belfast Design Week’ there are lots of events happening across the town, check out their schedule here. To coincide with Belfast Design Week, the Arts and Disability Forum…

  • Album Premiere: Owensie – Dramamine

    November 3, 2015 - By 

    It’s not every day – or indeed week or month – an album like Dramamine is released into the world.  Set for release via stellar Limerick imprint Out On A Limb Records on Friday, November 13, the third studio album from Dublin songsmith Michael Owens AKA Owensie is a masterfully accomplished nine-track release of meditative, decidedly Autumnal folk-pop summing everyone from Department of Eagles, Sun Kil Moon circa Admiral Fell Promises and Kill Rock Stars-era Elliott Smith. Recorded in various indoor and outdoor locations across the country, using natural acoustics to create an instantly resonant sonic sojourn, there is a cunningly considered glory to the…