• Emmy The Great – Second Love

    March 9, 2016 - By 

    Second Love, the new LP by Emmy The Great and her first in five years, is secure enough to know exactly what it wants to be. The title, which by design immediately evokes her 2009 debut First Love, implies this continuation and growth that runs deep at the core of the album. Musically, ETG begins moving away from the acoustic folk styling which characterised her earlier releases in exchange for a more minimalist electronica. While the record as a whole is a very mixed bag, what shines throughout are the lyrics, which still retain the incisive power of her debut…

  • Daithi – Tribes EP

    February 25, 2016 - By 

    With each passing release in the past couple of years, Galway based electronic producer Daithi has showcased a gradual but very definite increase in competency, confidence and determination in the music he is making; overtly melodic and bubbly electronica that has never failed at being colourful. The fault with his releases up to this point however always seemed to lie in his reliance on letting the equipment claim almost total ownership of the music. While the tracks were always evidently loaded with talent and careful construction, there was often too much of a feeling that the artist was clamouring for…

  • Baio @ The Workman’s Club, Dublin

    February 23, 2016 - By 

    Following last summer’s release of debut LP The Names, electronic artist Chris Baio now sits comfortably in the saddle of his subsequent world tour. “This is our 34th show,” he announced to the Dublin crowd in Workmans. In the preceding hype for this leg of the run, Baio held a Twitter-based giveaway of three sets of tickets to the first of his eager followers to tweet and greet him with ‘hi’. Three pairs were promised, but in the rush of responses, Baio shelled out five or six in his generosity. Given his time spent as bassist for the wildly successful indie-pop…

  • Tease-o-Rama Valentine’s @ Black Box, Belfast

    February 20, 2016 - By 

    Couples and lovers gather in their masses outside the Black Box tonight for a very special Tease-O-Rama, Valentine’s Edition.  I myself sit n front of the stage and I can’t help but feel happy; everyone is buzzing with excitement. As the lights dim we are serenaded by lothario Tom Bones, Soup du Jour’s male friend – it is not, I repeat, not, Soup du Jour in a wig and suit. Our first act is introduced, Bugsy Devine (below). Bugsy bounces on to stage, a dream in red polka dots and Minnie Mouse ears. She is so expressive and every pose…

  • Belfast Burlesque Festival Crown Night @ Black Box, Belfast

    December 6, 2015 - By 

    Another year of the Belfast Burlesque Festival and another absolutely knock-out Crown Award Show. As I settle down in my seat for the evening the crowd starts to pour in and the room is filled with excited chatter. Our MC for the evening, Tom Riddle, hits the stage and we begin with the usual Burlesque vocal warm-ups (ooooooh, aaaaaaaaah and wooooooooooo!) Tom is absolutely charming; the audience feeds off his cheeky rapport, giggling back in response to his witty lines. The first half kicks off with Mimi Dubois (below), and her I Dream of Mimi routine. An absolutely charming act…

  • TUSKS – Embers

    December 4, 2015 - By 

    2015 has almost reached its midnight, and filthy, down-tuned rock n’ roll bands are sold in packs of six.  The last five years have been particularly fertile for all things loud, heavy, and based firmly in the blues, and the excitement that would once volleyball around a new act has started to wane and sag. The summer of sludge is over. It is heartening, then, when a group self-identifying as heavy fuzz rock come around to remind you that earth-shuddering grooves are not seasonal, but all-year round. TUSKS from Belfast are one such group. Robbing the swampy casket of the late…

  • Stonemasons – Lost Letters EP

    September 28, 2015 - By 

    There is a strange significance to this idea of an artist belonging to somewhere; Joyce belongs to Ireland, Martin Scorsese belongs to New York and NWA belong to Compton. Is it that there is this collective longing to, in someway, be involved in something bigger than ourselves? That, by virtue of having been in Dublin in the early 20th Century, 1970s New York or 1980s Compton, we can somehow feel as though part of something great? Maybe it’s the idea of being heard; that by having a voice that belongs to our home, we can all band together and feel…

  • Culture Night Belfast 2015

    September 22, 2015 - By 

    How does one even begin to contemplate an itinerary for this most varied and enormous of occasions? Not being one to shy away from a well-rounded plan of attack and in desperate need of some form of structure, The John Hewitt beckons and who are we to abstain?  After all, it seems to be an ideal location for some planning and imbibing. Planbibing, we’ll call it. Considering too that the Guinness is good, the bar is stacked tall with the official guidebooks to this evening’s proceedings, and the mellow harp-plucks are soothing our party from the stage, we’re set up…

  • Modest Mouse @ The Helix, Dublin

    July 14, 2015 - By 

    The grand, university setting of the Helix is not the most obvious choice for a band with a legacy built on working class indie rock but as with everything else in Modest Mouse’s tumultuous career, they try their best to build something out of nothing. Armed with a setlist of crowd-pleasers, the band work their way through a career worth of tracks. Opening with the slow building ‘Of Course We Know’, closer of their most recent album, Strangers To Ourselves, they set the pace for a set filled with their characteristically cynical but sad, fucked up but victorious output. Despite claims…

  • Sleaford Mods – Key Markets

    July 7, 2015 - By 

    Fresh from well received performances on the festival circuit, particularly the BBC-broadcast Glastonbury, Sleaford Mods have been exposed to a wider audience and remain masters of polarisation. They have become poster boys for the disenfranchised: they’re proud of their roots but they don’t want the music to be undermined or people to misconstrue their working-class stance as validation of lout culture. They are quick to disassociate themselves from the hooligan element, or as vocalist Jason Williamson put it: “If you’re expecting some kind of cross between This Is England and Twycross Zoo mixed in with The Firm then please do…