• Electric Picnic 2014: Must-See Acts

    June 25, 2014 - By 

    Electric Picnic is possibly one of the most eclectic festivals in the country. Each year the line up strives to provide something for every palate. In the picturesque surroundings of Stradbally, Co. Laois it began as a daylong event with Groove Armada in 2004 and has grown each year since. So what has this summer’s weekend event got in store? Headlining are Portishead, Outkast and Beck with each artist representing different aspects of the musical spectrum. In recent years, Portishead have almost leant toward noise music with their most recent album Third. The aforementioned Third is a far cry from…

  • More acts announced for Electric Picnic 2014

    May 13, 2014 - By 

    Twenty-one new acts including Blondie and Scottish post-rock band Mogwai (pictured) have been announced to played this year’s Electric Picnic festival. Amongst the other new additions set to play at the annual Stradbally Estate festival from Friday, July 29 to August 31 are Sinead O’Connor, James Murphy, Kelis, Neneh Cherry, The Horrors, Duke Dumont, Twin Shadow, Ham Sandwich, Clean Bandit, Drenge, The Orwells, Glass Animals, Wolf Alice, The Districts, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Vancouver Sleep Clinic, Vaults, Benjamin Booker and Moko. With more acts still to be announced, check out the current Electric Picnic 2014 poster below and buy tickets here.

  • Choice Cuts: The Best Tracks of… January

    January 31, 2014 - By 

    In the first of an new series-based feature, Belfast-based writer Aaron Hamilton trawls through the very best music released in the month of January, distilling his favourites to a mere eight tracks.  Whereas the first five are in no particular order, the final three are, as you might well guess, in order of consecutive greatness. Will we be humming their choruses this time next month? Check yourself then and read on now. St. Vincent – Digital Witness [Loma Vista] A second teaser to her upcoming album, ‘Digital Witness’ shows a decidedly weirder side to Annie Clark’s music. The big horns are…

  • Mogwai – Rave Tapes

    January 28, 2014 - By 

    “Blur are shite.” A simple, to the point, and even iconoclastic statement that Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite once saw fit to wear emblazoned upon his torso. While Damon Albarn & Co. may not be everyone’s cup of tea, what seems to have really stuck in the throat of the Glaswegian post-rocker was their laissez-faire irreverence that became a quintessential hallmark of the Brit-pop era. A bugbear that provides proof, if any is still required, that those in Mogwai view their craft as a fairly serious business. So, given that they could never be described as a particularly light-hearted collection of individuals,…

  • All Tomorrow’s Parties: End of an Era Part 2

    December 5, 2013 - By 

    All Tomorrow’s Parties is a festival that’s had a place close to my heart across the past four years of my life, since my first foray, lured by a reformation gig by underground heroes Sleep. So perhaps I should have had a sense of sorrow looming over me as I sat on a minibus toiling along a motorway in the south of England, for I was on my way to the final ATP festival, at least in its classic form in an English holiday camp. Truth be told, the mixture of familiarity (not limited to buying three times as much…

  • Mogwai – Les Revenants EP

    August 19, 2013 - By 

    Zombies. Fucking zombies. There are few things that have assimilated as many cultural touchstones as the zombie phenomenon. They’ve taken movies, classic novels, video games, music and now they’ve taken beloved Scottish instrumentalists Mogwai with the group’s Les Revenants EP (As an aside, if anyone wishes to create a Gremlins zombie mash-up, I won’t complain). The EP, the group’s first release since 2009’s fantastic Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will, probably won’t win any new fans for the group but is a neat little treat for longtime fans. For a bit of context,  Les Revenants is a collection of…