Wilfie – Miners Gold
Wilfie Gilbert has been known on the local music scene from quite some time. However, it is only recently that he has been catapulted to the forefront. Taking the plunge and becoming a full-time musician at 53 shows to have…
Category : Music Reviews
The Divine Comedy – Office Politics
Just when we thought we’d heard it all from Neil Hannon, he surprises us with another curveball. The king of quirk is back. And he’s at his creative and colourful best. Office Politics is a unique offering. The twelfth album…
Start At The End – Contrast
Adam Miles of experimental death metal band Disconnect works quietly in the background under the name Start at the End to make retro-sounding dream pop. His recently released Contrast EP provides just that, a stark juxtaposition to Miles’ other musical…
Swimming Tapes – Morningside
Swimming Tapes debut album, ‘Morningside’, opens with the dreamy ‘Passing Ships’. The track envelopes the spirit of lazy summer love, filled with warm tones and a solid beat that allows room to catch the drift of the poetic lyrics. Catchy…
No Matter – Excess Baggage
Pop punk is a funny old genre. It’s been bastardised by so many awful bands that it’s easy to forget just how invigorating it was first time around. The best bands of the genre write (or wrote) songs that were…
Axecatcher – Second Hand Grief
Limavady hardcore merchants Axecatcher make a bold, defiant musical statement with their fourth EP release ‘Second Hand Grief’. Appearances at high-profile festivals such as Stendhal and Monsters of Rot are small reminders of how hard this band works to make…
Beauty Sleep – Be Kind
In 2015 Ryan McGroarty and Cheylene Murphy formed Beauty Sleep, joining up with Aimee Williamson and releasing first single ‘The Dark’ the following year. A reworked version of that very first single opens up their own debut album Be Kind….
Dandelion Tea – Thank the Rocks for Catching Me
Dandelion Tea return on their newest EP, remaining as elusive as ever. A band known for actively avoiding genre specifications like the plague, their newest releases can go from artsy pop to indie rock to gritty and dark in the…
The Crossfire Hurricanes – Break Through The Sky
In his infamous speech at the 2014 Brit Awards, Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner took it upon himself to fight the corner for rock n’ roll, dropping the mic as he proclaimed that although “it seems like it’s faded away…
Pascalwillnotsurvivethis – Lost At Sea
I’ve always naturally drifted towards people with drive. The guys, girls and everything in between who “want it.” Whatever “it” is doesn’t particularly matter, but the “want” is paramount. The people who have a restless drive to get up and…
Joshua Burnside – Live At The Elmwood Hall
I remember sitting with some friends in the summer of 2013 talking about the music that was amazing us at the time. I started talking about Joshua Burnside’s newly released Single “Black Dog Sin”. I thought it was lyrically compelling…
Valium – This Feeling’s A Wave
Belfast quartet Valium’s long-awaited debut EP, This Feeling’s a Wave, is a euphonic fusion of rock and funk, that bleeds with psychedelia and a bit of blues. Sounds like a lot to fit into six songs, but they manage it,…
James Joys – A Constellation Of Bargained Parts
There are a couple of words you can’t use to describe yourself for fear of looking like a spanner. ‘Gorgeous’ is the most mainstream one. ‘Leader’ is also probably in the top three along with ‘stylish.’ Luckily for one third…
Son Of The Hound – Cheers, Sound, Good Luck
‘Start a band, when everyone’s starting a family’ This is perhaps the most important lyric across ‘Cheers, Sound, Good Luck’s ten tales of hope, self-belief and honesty. It comes from a songwriter who even if he hasn’t quite seen it all yet,…
Jealous Of The Birds – Wisdom Teeth
When I watch documentaries about a band or read an article about their beginning, I always get a bit jealous. What an experience, to have been around as Blur started their ascent, or to have been in the crowd when…