• Inbound: Franklyn

    July 30, 2016 - By 

    It seems like a case of twice bitten, thrice wise for Frankyln’s Owen Strathern. After initially finding some success with Magherafelt mods The Tides, Strathern’s growing indifference to the lad rock pedalled by his school friends lead to the bassist joining forces with his brother Enda and Tides newbie Stephen Leacock to explore poppier territories. General Fiasco, including Enda on guitar and Leacock on drums, seemed destined for big things: the band’s pop punk melodies, paired with Owen’s deceptively vulnerable lyrics, drew the attention of the British indie press, and the success of early singles ‘Sometime Sometime’ and ‘Ever So…

  • 10 Years of CF Records

    July 29, 2016 - By 

    Sea Pinks‘ main man and CF Records founder Neil Brogan reflects upon 10  years of the Belfast-based independent record label. Ten years ago I was living in London and at something of a loose end. In my boredom I thought it might be fun to start up a label. This was in the distant era of Myspace supremacy. It seems quaint to think of it now but it was the first time DIY bands and labels from all over the place started to connect online and for a brief moment it felt kind of liberating. I was excessively shy about my…

  • Picture This – Your National Visual Arts Guide: August Bank Holiday

    July 29, 2016 - By 

    August is upon us this weekend. The business end of the summer has arrived, and with it the penultimate Bank Holiday Weekend of the year. We’ve squeezed an extra day off from the boss (hopefully) and Ireland’s galleries have a host of great shows on offer. In Cork we see an exploration of the artist as a wanderer and recorder, with a host of international artist on display in the Lewis Glucksman Gallery. In Drogheda the Marmite Prize for Painting arrives on these shores for the first time with Highlanes Gallery playing host. The West provides refuge for a trio…

  • Rave New World: Equiknoxx, Phuong-Dan, Jake Hodgkinson

    July 29, 2016 - By 

    As the weekend beckons, Antoin Lindsay and Aidan Hanratty bring you the best electronic gigs, tracks and releases of the week. Gigs Dialogue Present Jake Hodgkinson at White’s Tavern, Belfast Friday 29 July Dialogue is making its name for itself as one of Belfast’s best underground techno nights. For their fourth party they’ll be bringing in Bristolian Jake Hodgkinson to the intimate White’s Tavern in Belfast’s city centre.  AL  Flipside: Dynamo Dreesen at Bar Tengu, Dublin Friday 29 July Acido Records boss Dynamo Dreesen comes to Tengu for an extended set, promising the solid house you’d expect from this Sex Tags…

  • Festival Mixtape: Stendhal 2016

    July 26, 2016 - By 

    Voted Ireland’s Best Small Festival for the last three years in a row, Stendhal Festival of Art returns to Ballymully Cottage Farm in Limavady on the weekend of August 12-13 with their strongest and most varied bill to date. Featuring the likes of alt-rock titans Therapy?, Lynched, Badly Drawn Boy, Derry’s Ryan Vail, Jealous of the Birds, PORTS and alt-folk five-piece Emerald Armada, the team have once more struck an impressive balance between weight and restraint over the line-up’s two days and nights. With tickets still available to buy for a mere £40 here, check out the full line-up and stream our fifteen-track track playlist, featuring our must-see…

  • Róisín Dubh: A Love Story

    July 25, 2016 - By 

    My first gig in the Róisín Dubh was late November 2005. Back when the Róisín Dubh was still a ground floor only musical abode, not the imposing three and half storey stacked westend behemoth that Eoghan MacNamara AKA Gugai, Kevin Healy, Simon Heaslip & co. present it as today. That gig was Giveamanakick with Redneck Manifesto. I had seen Redneck Manifesto in The Chapel at IADT a few weeks earlier and was blown away by what I’d witnessed. So when my quirky friend Shaw mentioned their upcoming gig in Galway, I jumped at the chance to catch the show again. It’s…

  • Rave New World: Inside Moves, Willow, XOSAR

    July 22, 2016 - By 

    With his handsome and esteemed Rave New World partner Antoin Lindsay AWOL, Aidan Hanratty delivers a look at the very best electronic gigs, tracks and mixes of the week. Gigs Inside Moves – Dan Shake at T13, Belfast Friday 22 July  Inside Moves bring Dan Shake over for his Belfast debut. Hi brand of house is warm, full of samples and soul, and he’s known as being the first European artist signed to Moodymann’s Mahogani Music. Bastardo Electrico presents DJ Bone at Cyprus Avenue, Cork Friday 22 July Detroit don and deck wizard DJ Bone comes to Cork for a…

  • Picture This – Your National Visual Arts Guide: PhotoIreland Special

    July 22, 2016 - By 

    July is a strange month in Ireland, an interim of sorts. It’s the summer month without a bank holiday. Most sports have taken a hiatus. The Euros are done and dusted. Even the GAA Championship, that bastion of Irish summer months, doesn’t really start until August. The Leaving & Junior Certs are over, as Alice Cooper once said – school’s out for the summer. You could be half tempted to either count down or whittle away the days until that glorious long weekend at the start of August – and with the weather we’ve had this week who’d blame you.…

  • Inbound: Lauren Bird

    July 21, 2016 - By 

    Hailing from Strabane in County Tyrone, Lauren Bird is is an artist steadily making a name for herself within the Irish singer-songwriter scene. In May 2014 Bird – or McGeogh to the family postman – uploaded her self-titled debut EP onto Bandcamp, and within two days it had hit the number one spot on the site’s acoustic chart. Bird’s affiliation with the world of music began after she took up the viola aged 7, and from there she gravitated toward the guitar, piano, drums, bass and finally the ukulele. It’s the latter instrument that is the main focus of her…

  • Preview: The Night Institute Turns One

    July 21, 2016 - By 

    This Saturday marks the first anniversary for The Night Institute, one of Belfast’s newest and most popular dance music fixtures (and very likely its best weekly electronic music event) at Aether & Echo. The night was set up in 2015 by the city’s very own Timmy Stewart and Jordan (the latter of which used to run the Nocturne parties at the same venue). Their fifty-second shindig, which is on this Saturday from 11PM-3AM, will take place at their regular haunt and cap off a journey through a rip-roaring past year which has earned The Night Institute a devoted local following. To help…