• Blue Whale – Blue Whale EP

    September 20, 2013 - By 

    Having released three wonderfully wayward “in the studio” live tracks last year Belfast-based four-piece Blue Whale are steadily earning their stripes as one of the country’s most thoroughly forward-thinking bands of a generation. Almost exclusively instrumental in nature, their wonderfully unorthodox brand of hook-filled jazz-punk betrays a collective mentality to stretch the confines of standard deviation, with fun (and having it) unmistakably at that mentality’s root. The question remains, however: how accurately does their four-track self-titled debut EP capture the sheer energy and ingenuity of their live shows? Opening on teasing lead single ‘Was’, there is an immediate sense of transition…

  • The Last Generation – Torann EP

    September 20, 2013 - By 

    The first thing that pops into your writer’s head when hearing Torann’s opening gambit, ‘Chromosome’, is how properly likeable it all is. Sabbath-esque riffing married to a short and sharp alternative package that, while obviously verging on nostalgia for some, such is its proximity in places to the nineties alt-rock influences it proudly wears on its sleeve, its rawness and sheer drive and verve lift it above the usual yarling and wordplay. Post-hardcore and math influences subtly make themselves known, and go surprisingly well with the double-bass assault that peppers the song’s undercarriage, before the whole thing goes into a…

  • The Way Way Back

    September 8, 2013 - By 

    I shouldn’t like The Way Way Back as much as I do. On the surface, it seems like such a typical Sundance movie. It’s a coming of age story based around an awkward adolescent male who goes on a slightly quirky trip with his dysfunctional family. Along the way, the family will undergo stress that might break them up, the boy will meet a “too cool for school” mentor figure who brings this young boy out of his shell and eventually the boy shall become a man and the film will end on an optimistic, if somewhat bittersweet, note. Wash,…

  • Rush

    September 6, 2013 - By 

    Everyone needs a nemesis. It’s undeniable; a nemesis inspires, keeps one’s internal momentum constant and forces a person to think of new and interesting ways to screw over their rival. The importance of nemeses and the depths to which we sink to spoil our adversaries is the central conflict that exists at the heart of Ron Howard’s latest film, Rush. The film focuses on the rivalry between two Formula 1 drivers during the 1976 season: the English James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Austrian Nikki Lauda (Daniel Brühl). Beginning in the Formula 3 division in 1970, the film follows their rise…

  • The Fall – 5 Albums

    September 4, 2013 - By 

    A story less visited than the personnel changes of The Fall is that of the myriad labels they have called home over the years. Despite Mark E Smith’s aversion to nostalgia, many fans would no doubt look back at the 5 years they spent in the care of Beggars Banquet with fond regard. Coinciding with (Smith’s first wife) Brix’s tenure in the group, 1984-89 marked (amongst other things) their unlikely flirtation with mainstream success – with a few proper singles actually making the actual proper charts. This 5 CD box set is perhaps optimum illustration of why that success was…

  • Festival Diary: Way Out West 2013

    August 29, 2013 - By 

    In its seventh year, Way Out West has grown to one of the biggest music events in the Swedish calendar. Held every year in the city of Gothenburg since 2007, it is only the second time it has been run over three days. The festival is divided into two parts Way Out West (WOW) and Stay Out West. The former is held in the west side of the city in Slottskogen the city’s biggest park, the latter at selected venues around the city throughout the day and night. Being Swedish it is also environmentally friendly. Serving only vegetarian food to…

  • Belsonic: Nine Inch Nails

    August 23, 2013 - By 

    With their eagerly anticipated eighth studio album, Hesitation Marks, primed for release at the beginning of next month, Trent Reznor’s genre-defining, decade-spanning Nine Inch Nails stop off in Belfast for Day Three of Belsonic 2013 experiencing quite possibly their most marked period of acclaim to date. Twenty-five years since Reznor formed the band as an effective solo project, there is an almost touchable urgency about the band and the music following a four-year incubation period. As fans rove in their thousands, everything, it would seem, is pointed in the general direction of a monumental first visit for the five-piece. Having endured the…

  • Blondes – Swisher

    July 19, 2013 - By 

    Blondes are Sam Haar and Zach Steinman, a Brooklyn-based electronic duo that met while studying composition at Oberlin Music College. Blondes have quite a following, and this reviewer’s reason for delving into their back catalogue followed a conversation with a rather prolific Irish electronic producer who claims he “only listens to Blondes” – sold. Prior releases include the seriously awe – inspiring Touched EP and a series of 12” singles, as well as their 2012 self-titled debut. The duo have been classed as “hipster-house”; perhaps a little debasing considering the brilliance behind their discography to date. Swisher is their latest…

  • A Fight You Can’t Win – A Fight You Can’t Win EP

    July 10, 2013 - By 

    Having been earning their stripes on the Edinburgh live circuit over the last few years, alt-rock quartet A Fight You Can’t Win have been threatening to unleash their barraging, uniquely wrathful craft for some time now. Off the back of last year’s altogether promising Every Last Breath EP – itself worth a cursory listen, at the very least – the foursome have returned with a brief but vehement self-titled effort that could well see break new ground beyond the would-be confines of their whereabouts and serve as inspired springboard of sorts for a potential full-length release. Fronted by Ballycastle native Matthew…

  • Post-Glastonbury Blues: A Diary

    July 8, 2013 - By 

    I’m writing this from my bitter pit of despair. Post-Glastonbury Blues will one day be a recognised as a legitimate illness and I know that there are 180,000 people feeling as horrific as I am today. Our beautiful festival has ended and the reality of the 9-5 has sunk in. Strangers don’t high five you on the way to the loo, there’s no warm cider on the canteen menu and I’m pretty sure my boss will frown upon me standing on my desk and screaming “I LOVE YOU GLASTONBURY” every so often. 2013 was to be different from other years…