• A Litany Of Failures Vol. II Announced

    July 3, 2018 - By 

    Following the limited release of cross-Ireland Little L Records compilation, 2016’s A Litany of Failures – featuring Oh Boland, Shrug Life, That Snaake and Junk Drawer – an expanded second edition has been confirmed for release on July 13. Set to be released on 180g gatefold double vinyl, as well as through Bandcamp, Spotify and the usual outlets, it features 18 acts from Belfast, Cork, Derry, Donegal, Dublin, Galway & Limerick. The DIY, co-op endeavour aims to provide an opportunity to perform outside each of their hometowns, shortening the mental distances between bands, and encouraging a cross-pollination of musical communities. Splitting costs between artists and the organisers, a sense of…

  • Final Mandela Hall Show Announced

    June 18, 2018 - By 

    You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t forged a key memory in Mandela Hall since its 1986 naming, so the announcement of its closure – due to the development of the Student’s Union – came as a blow to many. Fortunately, the good people of the SU have invited And So I Watch You From Afar to headline and curate its final ever bill – a genre-spanning tapestry of some of the finest and fast-rising artists from here – taking place on Friday, July 27. On the bill are Mojo Fury, playing their first show in years, Robocobra Quartet – who’ve just put out one of the albums of…

  • Curfew Festival Announced For Twelfth of July

    May 11, 2018 - By 

    Making its return for the first time in many years, Belfast’s alternative, inclusive Twelfth of July proceeding Curfew, takes place across two of Belfast’s finest small venues – The Black Box & Voodoo. The whole day is kindly run by original runner Pete Jez’ Solid Choice Industries. In direct opposition of ‘the other one’, we don’t have to pretend to enjoy the rad tunes. The only cultural division to be seen is in the cross-genre venue booking -Voodoo is set to host the riff-centric acts, headed by Dublin’s synth-driven space-metal trio No Spill Blood, sludgy heavy rock trio Slomatics, Dublin hardcore act Destriers, space punks Wild Rocket, sludge-doom act Nomadic…

  • Premiere: Via: Barvikha – Willie Woods

    May 17, 2017 - By 

    Today, we’re delighted to be able to premiere ‘Willie Woods’, the second single from Via: Barvikha‘s new EP, Chengdu.  The song sees songwriter Chris Leckey make some concessions about himself directly to an unknown listener (‘I moved away, or so I thought’), which take on a deeper profundity within the frame of the EP, written around a period of significant life change, namely songwriter Chris Leckey’s uprooting to a new home 5329 miles away – the titular Chengdu – and then coming back five months later. Channelling a brooding intensity never articulated as dynamically with his past hardcore outfit PigsAsPeople, Leckey has found a waypoint via common denominator Brand New to the…

  • So Cow w/ Hot Cops, Junk Drawer & Shrug Life @ Voodoo, Belfast

    July 11, 2016 - By 

    Irish independent music is going through something of a renaissance at the moment with a burgeoning collective of bands attempting to show that music from Ireland is more than trad and U2. This evening at Voodoo we are treated to a selection of bands from various parts of the island who all bring something different to the scene. Dublin’s Shrug Life open affairs although this evening frontman Danny Carroll (below) goes it alone. Everything takes on a slower pace without the urgency of the drums or bass but Carroll strums through the set with enough assuredness and control that the…

  • Irish Tour: Jeffrey Lewis & Los Bolts

    May 4, 2016 - By 

    With his most excellent band Los Bolts in tow, New York cult anti-folk singer-songwriter and (amazing) comic book artist Jeffrey Lewis zipped across the country last week for a string of dates with support from the likes of Shrug Life and Junk Drawer. Our photographers Sara Marsden and Aidan Kelly Murphy weren’t far away. McHugh’s, Belfast by Sara Marsden Whelans, Dublin by Aidan Kelly Murphy