• Robocobra Quartet – Plays Hard To Get

    June 6, 2018 - By 

    Hyperbolic as it is to say, Chris Ryan might well be the most important creative voice in the city of Belfast today. This bespectacled Robocobra Quartet bandleader has been quietly releasing some of the finest broadcasts that this landmass has heard for some years now. Cuts like ’98-01′ from 2014’s Bomber EP and ‘Album of the Year’ from 2016’s groundbreaking Music For All Occasions should be used by the Council as a demonstration of how indispensable and experimental the city’s art scene is. The outfit’s truly idiosyncratic fusion of punk and jazz is the sort of stuff that music fans should be…

  • Watch: Robocobra Quartet – You’ll Wade

    May 1, 2018 - By 

    Very few things excite us more than the prospect of new music from (by far) one of Ireland’s difficult, and genuine, pioneers, Robocobra Quartet. Ahead of second album, Plays Hard To Get, out on May 25th, the band have just released their video for ‘You’ll Wade’. We’ve already covered the song – “Culminating in a cry of “Everything is old news” before petering out in a plume of funereal ambience, its recording and composition distils the band’s ongoing, masterfully unconventional approach” – but the video’s conceit is strong enough to warrant another visit. Shot by Colin Armstrong & edited by Robocobra leader Chris Ryan, it’s…

  • Stream: Robocobra Quartet – You’ll Wade

    April 5, 2018 - By 

    The second single taken from their forthcoming second album, Plays Hard To Get, ‘You’ll Wade’ by Robocobra Quartet finds the Belfast band at the peak of their powers. Culminating in a cry of “Everything is old news” before petering out in a plume of funereal ambience, its recording and composition distils the band’s ongoing, masterfully unconventional approach. Frontman Chris Ryan explains, “During writing it was clear that ‘You’ll Wade’ was meant to have a massive ambience shift half way through the song. To get this we recorded both halves of the song separately with a different sounding drum kit and even a…

  • Robocobra Quartet – Plays Hard To Get

    March 12, 2018 - By 

    Belfast-based jazz-punk ensemble Robocobra Quartet have just announced details of the follow-up to their NI Music Prize-nominated debut album, entitled Plays Hard To Get. Released through Abbreviated Records on May 25 on digital & vinyl formats, it’s going to be one of Ireland’s finest releases of 2018. With drummer, vocalist & producer Chris Ryan once more at the helm, it features a broader palette of sounds, it rocks harder, pushes its avant-garde & contemporary classical flourishes further out there, and is more lyrically daring than ever before – no small statement for arguably the most unique outfit on the island. Never resting on any one idea or preconceived notion, its blackly comic, starkly…

  • Belfast, Don’t Miss This Party on Saturday

    October 2, 2017 - By 

    The third installment of an ongoing series, a downright unmissable party featuring Not Squares, Twitch DJs, Robocobra Quartet, Chris Hanna, Blue Whale and much more will take place in a secret location somewhere in Belfast this Saturday, October 7. Want in? Here’s the lowdown: Location: TBA (Belfast) Doors: 8:30pm Last Entry: 9:30pm Min. Donation: £10 BYOB With live music ‘til late from: Not Squares Blue Whale Robocobra Quartet Hornets CATALAN! Beauty Sleep Plus DJ sets from – Twitch DJs Chris Hanna Marion Hawkes Chill & Nephillim Cardinal & Underdog Gav Williams Mista Meez Crilli DJs Anton K + More Places are…

  • Damo Suzuki w/ Blue Whale & Paul Stapleton and Robocobra Quartet @ Black Box, Belfast

    May 29, 2017 - By 

    When former Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit died in January this year, the tributes that poured in were a potent reminder, if one were needed, of just how influential the krautrock pioneers were. With the German band’s original American vocalist Malcolm Mooney leaving the band at the dawn of the 70s, erstwhile Japanese busker Damo Suzuki was installed in time for 1971’s seminal Tago Mago, remaining with the group for the equally classic Ege Bamyasi and Future Days, albums that within just a few short years were influencing Berlin-era Bowie and the entire post-punk scene, not to mention countless rock bands…

  • Watch: Robocobra Quartet – You’ll Shrug (Live)

    May 4, 2017 - By 

    Ahead of a string of Irish and UK dates over the summer, Belfast’s Robocobra Quartet have unveiled a live video of ‘You’ll Shrug’, a highlight from Chris Ryan-fronted band’s debut album, Music For All Occasions. Filmed at the launch of said release at Belfast’s Reedemer Central Church back in November, the track’s sprawling tangents and sax-laden primal scream is captured in slick multi-shot monochrome courtesy of Belfast artist Stuart Calvin. Have a peek and endeavour to make one of these dates: May 12: Dublin – Whelan’s May 19: Brighton – Great Escape Festival (Hope & Ruin) May 19: Brighton – Great Escape…

  • Admission for One: A Companion Piece to Robocobra Quartet’s Music For All Occasions

    December 16, 2016 - By 

    A conversation The Thin Air’s Stevie Lennox had with Chris Ryan that delves further into Robocobra Quartet’s process, including authorship, membership of the band, the philosophy of creativity or ‘good art’, punk rock, some stories regarding how the lyrical content of the album came about, as well as a little ‘Phil Collins in-the-studio’ self-indulgence. Photos by Ruth Kelly Art is defined by those who have achieved autarky in their process, and if drummer, vocalist, composer and producer Chris Ryan is the brain and beating heart of the idiosyncratic avant-punk collective Robocobra Quartet, he’s fully aware the remaining organs and limbs…

  • The Thin Air and Moving On Music present: Damo Suzuki (CAN) with Blue Whale and Robocobra Quartet

    December 9, 2016 - By 

    Presented by The Thin Air and Moving On Music, the legendary Damo Suzuki, vocalist of pioneering Krautrock group CAN, will return to Belfast for a fully improvised show with experimental rock maestros Blue Whale, and Californian improviser, sound artist, inventor and writer, Paul Stapleton. Support on the night comes from one of the country’s very best bands, Robocobra Quartet. This is set to be an unmissable event for anyone with even a passing interest in experimental and improvised music. Featuring “an assembly of sound carriers to communicate with each other and the audience”, Damo Suzuki has performed as ‘Damo Suzuki’s…