• Premiere: Anto and the Echoes – Hollywood Baby

    December 13, 2018 - By 

    Belfast-based Fermanagh six-piece Anto and the Echoes are a band that have long prided themselves on their live show. It’s something that shines through and then some in the video for their new single, ‘Hollywood Baby’. Running parallel with the track’s rock-pop bombast (good luck finding a catchier chorus this side of Christmas) Declan Ó Grianna’s video – which features the band and some of their fans in the thick of it at the National Club on Queen Street in Belfast – puts cutting loose firmly centre-stage. Have a first look below. Photo by Rebecca Dougan

  • Stream: Gnarkats – Take Me Away

    December 10, 2018 - By 

    Gnarkats’ knack for blending burrowing, star-shaped melodies with low-end riffs saw them emerge as one of Ireland’s best alt-indie bands this year. Citing the likes of Fidlar, St. Vincent and fellow Belfast-based band, And So I Watch You From Afar, as key influences, Jordan Evans, Stuart Robinson and Louis Nelson are back with their final song of the year, ‘Take Me Away’. A re-recording of an old fan favourite, the single – which comes accompanied with a wonderfully DIY video, which you can watch below – was recorded and mixed by Stuart Robinson from the band.

  • Output Belfast To Return in February

    December 6, 2018 - By 

    The country’s largest annual music conference, Output Belfast will return to the city for its fifth outing on Thursday, February 21st 2019. Organised by Belfast City Council, as ever, the conference will include various panel discussions, music sessions, workshops and speed networkinge events from various artists, managers and industry figures. In the evening, there will once more be various free, collaboratively-curated showcases in venues right across the heart of the city. The line-ups for each – including a bill co-promoted by yours truly – will be revealed in the coming weeks. Go here to sign up and be the first to hear about…

  • Premiere: A Bad Cavalier – On My Side

    December 6, 2018 - By 

    It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Belfast’s A Bad Cavalier. The side-project of the Niall Kennedy – who has been busy once again this year zig-zagging across the world in And So I Watch You From Afar – went off the radar in mid 2016. Now, Kennedy is back with one beast of a  new single – the irresistible, pop-leaning, Weezer-conjuring alt-indie anthem, ‘On My Side’. Have an exclusive first listen to the single, and keep up to speed with ABC’s second wind via a quick Q+A with Kennedy, below. Tell us more about the writing of ‘On…

  • Watch: Rory Nellis – The Fear

    December 4, 2018 - By 

    By all accounts one of the highlights at Other Voices in Dingle at the weekend, Belfast-based singer-songwriter Rory Nellis is riding a real wave of momentum at the moment. It’s something that’s just been underscored with his new single, ‘The Fear’ – a track that doubles up as arguably the songsmith’s most assured – and inspired – single effort to date. Now, the song comes pair with a sublime and wonderfully stripped-back video, courtesy of Belfast photographer and videographer Joe Laverty. Also featuring songwriter and Nellis’ fellow sonic conspirator Philip Watts d’Alton, you can watch it below. On Thursday night, Rory…

  • Watch: Robyn G Shiels – An Offering as Such

    November 29, 2018 - By 

    Tonight, Robyn G Shiels launches his exceptional new five-track EP, Death of the Shadows, at Belfast’s Strand Arts Centre. Originally from Kilrea, the Belfast-based singer-songwriter has, with the help of some friends including Ben McAuley, who recorded it at Belfast’s Start Together Studios, crafted a release of exquisite doom-folk depth and lyrical incision. A perfect case in point is lead single, ‘An Offering as Such’, which comes accompanied with a wonderfully minimalist, yet visually potent video courtesy of Tristan Crowe. Death of the Shadows is self-released on 10″ vinyl via Black Tragick records tomorrow.

  • Album Stream: Blue Whale – Process

    November 9, 2018 - By 

    Belfast’s Blue Whale have long been something of a sonic law unto themselves. Big words and no mistake, but if you’ve managed to catch them wield what their very own brand of what the Quietus have called the band’s ilk of “chaotic, yet controlled experimental rock”, you’ll know that the high praise is justified. Six years on from their debut three-track release – and countless awe-inspiring live shows later – the quartet launch their exceptional debut album, Process, at Belfast’s Menagerie tonight (Friday, November 9). Over ten tracks, it’s a release that contorts the confines of instrumentalism, all while distilling the band’s singular brand of…

  • Album Stream: Conor Mason – On The Surface

    November 3, 2018 - By 

    As October gives way to the dark, nippy evenings of November and beyond, most of us will find ourselves turning to music – old favourites and new discoveries both – that double up as soundtracks to the seasonal transition. For some, this will(and, as we see it, absolutely should) include the extraordinary new album from Derry’s Conor Mason. Six years on from his second album, Standstill, On The Surface finds the songwriter and multi-instrumentalist at the peak of his powers in the realm of carefully-crafted, and beautifully wistful alt-pop.  From the sublime harmonic arc and flow singles ‘Follow’ and ‘On The Surface’,…

  • Watch: Glass Wings – Believe

    October 10, 2018 - By 

    Belfast artist Stephen Jones AKA Glass Wings has unveiled the video for his new single, ‘Believe’. The latest track to be taken from his forthcoming debut album, Everything and Nothing, it’s a slick and urgent blast of the fast-rising songwriter’s alt-pop craft. Hosted by Bird & Bramble, Glass Wings’ debut is officially launched at Belfast’s Black Box on October 19. You can buy and stream the single here. Have a first look at the visuals below.

  • Robyn G Shiels Announces Death of the Shadows EP

    October 4, 2018 - By 

    Belfast-based doom-folk master Robyn G Shiels has announced details of a new EP, Death of the Shadows. The highly-anticipated follow-up to Shiels’ NI Music Prize-winning album, The Blood of the Innocents, the release features five tracks produced by long-time R.G. collaborator Ben McAuley. Released via his own Black Tragick imprint on November 30, each track on the EP has also received an exclusive remix courtesy of some of the North’s finest acts: Therapy?, Robocobra Quartet, Documenta, Arvo Party and exmagician. Pre-order the album below here (those that do so get a free copy of Shiels’ debut album, A Lifetime of Midnights, and a…