• You Can’t Be What You Can’t See: Films About Real Women

    March 6, 2018 - By 

    When it comes to women in film, lasting progress has been slow. While it is positive that the two highest grossing films internationally in 2017 had female protagonists, more work remains to be done both in front of and behind the camera. Promoting the visibility of women onscreen ultimately means telling stories that recognise the complicated and messy lives that actual women lead. Here, there is still some distance to go. Research by the Center for Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University identified that film audiences in 2017 were twice as likely to see a male…

  • Never Judge a Book by its Cover: A Conversation with Maura McHugh

    March 6, 2018 - By 

    Maura McHugh is a writer based in the West of Ireland, predominantly working in comic books, prose (fiction and non-fiction) and works for the stage and screen. She recently made history by signing on as one of the first official writers of the upcoming all female special of 2000AD, the renowned British comic book series and dwelling of the indomitable Judge Dredd. She talks to Loreana Rushe about her work, female heroes and diversity in the comic book industry. What do you enjoy most about writing comics and how did you get into the industry? I love working with artists. That collaborative process, when…

  • Tracy Bruen – Finding a Voice

    March 6, 2018 - By 

    It’s 1994 and I am 12. From a very early age I learn that it is not a good thing to raise one’s head above the parapet. I ask the right questions when the priest visits the school. I give the right-rote-learned answers. I conform. I wear a uniform. I go to mass. I dress in white to receive the body of Christ. I confess my sins and say three hail Marys and one Glory Be. I watch the abortion videos in home ec class. I strongly debate on the anti choice side of a debate on abortion in school.…

  • Wading in Shallow Waters – Louise Cunnane of Lilac Glass

    March 8, 2018 - By 

    I’m in a small town in County Mayo and I’m pregnant. Now let’s not get too excited. I’m 28. I just left Dublin and I am briefly staying at my parents house before I move to London. I’m a musician and the last few months have been a bit of a whirlwind. There’s managers and labels and producers getting in touch. My EP is out. I have just put a band together and we are getting ready to play our first show. I can’t have a baby. It’s not the right time for me. I refuse to buy a test…

  • Exclusive Track-by-Track: Paddy Hanna – Frankly, I Mutate

    March 2, 2018 - By 

    As we see it, the release of Frankly, I Mutate by Dublin’s Paddy Hanna today is something every single person with the slightest interest in Irish music should stop and pay attention to. Hanna is no flash-in-the-pan sycophant. He hasn’t came up the Liffey in a dingy sponsored by Smirnoff. He hasn’t got by on the coat-tails of more talented music-making peers. He is the coat-tails. Paddy Hanna understands the craft, and the hidden trials that later manifest as a single turn of phrase in a single song. His brand of confessionalism has never opted for the easy way out, either. It takes the scenic…

  • Phil Kieran on Soundtracking EdgeFest: East Belfast Boy

    March 1, 2018 - By 

    We grab a few words with Belfast DJ, producer and jack of all trades Phil Kieran about his experience soundtracking East Belfast Boy – an EdgeFest production currently on at Belfast’s the MAC – his forthcoming EP, Polyrhythmic, and more. Hi Phil. You’ve written the music for East Belfast Boy as part of this year’s EdgeFest. How did the collaboration come about and what attracted you to the project? I was approached by Emma Jordan who is the director of the play, we have been friends for years. I mentioned to her last year I would love to have a go at…

  • Premiere: Damo Suzuki with Blue Whale and Paul Stapleton

    February 26, 2018 - By 

    Last May, we teamed up with Moving On Music to host a fully-improvised show with legendary CAN frontman Damo Suzuki, alongside experimental rock maestros Blue Whale and Californian improviser, sound artist, inventor and writer, Paul Stapleton, at Belfast’s Black box. Ahead of Blue Whale launching this year’s (sure to be brilliant) Brilliant Corners alongside A.R.C. in the same Cathedral Quarter venue this Saturday, we’re pleased to present a first look of Xray Films’ document of last May’s performance in full.

  • Monday Mixtape: Rian Trench

    February 26, 2018 - By 

    In the latest installment of Monday Mixtape, Dublin-based musician and producer Rian Trench reveals some of his favourite tracks. These are songs which, in his words, reflects his tendency to listen to music either on the aggressive or the subdued side of the fence. Photo by SCAN Current Value – Running German D&B legend. The first track from his 2008 EP – “Revealing the Concealed”. All four tracks on this play out like variations on the same idea, but this is somehow the most distilled. “Fear” is a close second. Scratches an itch I didn’t know I had. Brutal genius. Kyle…

  • Interview: All The Luck In The World

    February 26, 2018 - By 

    Following the release of their second album, A Blind Arcade, on 23rd February, Ben Connolly of Berlin-based alt-folk trio All The Luck In The World chats to Nicole Glennon about contrasting studio spaces, sonic experimentation and the importance of originality. TTA: A Blind Arcade has just been released. How are you feeling about it? BC: Overall we’re really excited about it. We put a lot into this record and then had to sit on it for almost two years, so there’s a sense of relief in knowing that the songs are finally going to make their way to people. I would say that…

  • Explorations in É: An Interview with Dowry

    February 21, 2018 - By 

    There is an ambient apposition at work through the debut single from Dowry, the solo moniker of multi-instrumentalist and composer Éna Brennan. In É unfolds with measured purpose, the instrumental track building gently in tension as it moves from a drone base through subtle orchestral counterpoints towards its dramatic, understated conclusion. Éna creates her sounds with violin and a loop pedal, inviting the listener to become entangled in the earthier low tones, and the ghostly high register notes that pull away from their mire like will-o’-the-wisps. It’s that same emotional evocation that we’ve encountered on Éna’s earlier compositions, and in…