Songwriters have been adopted alternate identities for decades now but few have gone so deeply into ‘character’ as Martin Corrigan, or, as he would prefer to be called, John Edgar Voe
With 2009 entering its final months, it’s time to take stock of the quality of northern releases thus far. If this year’s batch of stand-out records have anything in common, it is their determination to break boundaries and confound expectations
He’s been the artist to watch for years in Belfast, with a critically acclaimed David Holmes collaboration one of his many achievements. Now Phil Kieran is finally getting around to releasing an album. He talks to Colin Carberry about the long journey from drawing board to completion.
Get ready for a whole new kind of weird as avant-gardists THE SUMMER EXPERIMENT prepare to hit the live circuit, touting a unique mix of folk, indie and classical.
We’ve been banging on for months about the utter fabulousness of CAT MALOJIAN - now, with the release of their latest album, the rest of the world is set to get a taste of their genius too.
Their music may incorporate snatches of jazz, folk and classical music. But whatever you do, make sure you don’t call Albrecht's Pencil a ‘fusion’ act.
For most bands, a gritty rehearsal room or their parents’ garage must suffice. But Belfast indie popsters Heliopause have opted for a rather more individualistic practice space – their drummer’s kitchen.
He’s one of the most modest figures on the Northern Ireland music scene. But with David Holmes and Duke Special among his cheerleaders, it’s clear that Robyn G. Shiels is a special talent indeed.
They’re the hottest thing to have come out of Belfast in years. Ahead of the release of their hugely anticipated long-play debut, guitar-abusing noiseniks and so I watched you from afar, give us a track-by-track lowdown on the album.
We all think we know what Belfast stands for, but beneath the headlines is a city with a very specific industrial sensibility – something constantly reflected in the bands it produces.
Bounding between genres, Derry rocker Andrew Ferris would seem to suffer from the best sort of attention-deficit disorder. And he also has his own label.
One of Belfast’s best-loved indie clubs has undergone a radical reinvention – but is still going strong after more than ten years at the front line of alternative culture in the city.
Get ready for the first great Northern Irish record of 2009 – PANDA KOPANDA’s fantastic This Hope Will Kill Us. The band give us a blow-by-blow account.
In her new collection award-winning Northern poet Leontia Flynn invites the reader on a metaphorical journey by car, plane and modes of conveyance more obscure.
Ex-Desert Hearts drummer Chris Heaney has taken the front seat in his new buzz-saw noise-pop trio Escape Act. Parenthood, he says makes you work at double-speed.
There's another Belfast, an alternate dimension populated by C.S. Lewis, Van and your host and spirit guide, Duke Special, who's just released his latest album.
Mike Mormecha, frontman of Mojo Fury, is now making a stab at singer-songwriter glory with his debut solo EP as Clown Parlour, wherein he references his Eastern European roots.
I Never Thought This Day Would Come is a confident, big-hearted and ebullient record, which sees Peter Wilson tell his truths from behind the mask of Duke Special.
They were one of the great hopes of the early '90s Northern scene. Now The Minnows have patched up their differences and started making music together again.
Seven years after his last solo LP, David Holmes lost his father. That trauma, and working on the Bobby Sands-era drama Hunger, seem to have brought a new humanity to his work.
The big time looms for Ed Zealous, but they're not fazed by the prospect of playing one of the world's most prestigious rock festivals. In fact, they can't wait to crash the mainstream.
Cat Malojian may be one of the most promising acts to have emerged from the north in recent times, but why are they obsessed with food? It is, they say, a metaphor for loneliness. Wow.
Belfast boys General Fiasco may be one of the standout acts on the Oh Yeah showcase CD, but when HP catches up with the band, they're feeling a little, um, overexposed.
He's long been one of the North's most singular songwriting talents. Now ANDY WHITE is returning to Belfast to perform a show that sees him bringing together some of his earliest and most current compositions.
He's got a young family and a demanding day job, but that hasn't prevented Davy Matchett, supremo of Only Gone Records, from fighting the good fight on behalf of the Belfast music scene.
It’s not as nebulous as their last album – and it doesn’t deliver the melodic thrills of Last Splash – but Mountain Battles has personality, spirit, warmth and tenderness in abundance.
One of the leading figures in Belfast's electronic scene has just embraced an intriguing new identity. Step forward A.J. SUZUKI a.k.a beatmaster Jupiter Ace.
Driving By Night have been on the go since the early '90s, but they've yet to get around to that tricky first album. But with an appearance at SXSW confirmed, things might finally be happening for the Belfast outfit.
From the sophisticated noise rock of Fighting With Wire to the joyous indie pop of Clone Quartet, the 12 months ahead are shaping to be a bumper year for music north of the border.
It’s a record that provides more ballast for those who claim that the top end of the pops have dished out a creative pummelling to the murky underground.
Those lucky sods who happened across Leslie Feist’s second record, Let It Die, will no doubt be lighting bonfires just now to welcome the advent of its eagerly-awaited follow-up.
Ryan Adams is impossible really: wilfully slip-shod, prone to cliché, desperately unfashionable. But against all better judgement, you get the feeling that he’s worthy of some indulgence.
No expense has been spared here. Stages lift and fall, lasers cut through plumes of dry ice, diaphanous movie screens give the impression of 20ft tall gospel singers towering over the crowd.
Performing their first concerts in a decade, Clannad opened tonight’s celebratory Patrick’s Eve show with the majestic ‘Newgrange’ from the album of the same name.
It’s too early to write Maxïmo Park off, or to turf them into the ever-growing pile of indie also-rans. But they’ll need to pull out all the stops to recover their poise after this worrying misstep.
Snow Patrol and Ash are just some of the North’s rock ambassadors who have given their backing to the Oh Yeah Music Centre, a state-of-the-art multi-media development which will put Belfast on the international musical map.
There’s a strange din echoing around Belfast these days. It can only be sometime satanists, occasional folkies and day-tripper pagans The Factotum Choir.
Funeral was by no means a fluke. The Arcade Fire are unquestionably the real deal. And to prove it they’ve now thrown in another contender for ‘best record of the decade’.
Grappling with weighty political themes is grist to the mill for Colin Meloy of Oregon art-rockers The Decemberists. He’s even written a song about the Shankill Butchers.
They’re loud, they’re proud and they “endorse” really heavy amplifiers. Also Lafaro are partial to a spot of inter-band shagging. That’s what their website claims anyway. You are right to be intrigued.
The Hours' mainmen may not have the names or, indeed, the faces needed these days to launch a thousand fansites, but they have something much rarer in their lockers – a history.
Kicking off our 2007 coverage of the northern music scene, Hit the North answers all of those questions that have been keeping you awake at night. And a few that haven’t.
Confronted as we are these days by hordes of fame-hunger, toxic, teen princesses – Stefani’s odd-ball, retro-futurist bubblegum pop can be seen as a heartening example of individuality in a field that’s more often creepily exploitative and conformist.
Annual article: 12 months ago Colin Carberry was reaching for the Prozac, now he’s more bullish about the Norn Iron music scene than he has been since he started shaving.
Having survived classical and punk obsessions, not to mention an Adam Ant gig when she was 14, Joan Wasser may have finally found her true self in the role of Joan As Policewoman.
it goes without saying that the 78 mins 53 secs you will spend in the company of Love will contain more instances of genius than the combined efforts of the class of ‘06 put together.
While Mr Rice is a notoriously camera-shy chap, we shouldn’t mistake this reticence for a meekness of character. Far from it – because from beginning to end, 9 is a serious statement of authorial intent.
It’s so confident, accomplished and comfortable in its own skin that you feel like you’ve happened across a long-running serial that’s bubbling along mid-season.
Never Said Goodbye is impossible to dislike. If Matthews has decided to pull back from a full-on roots/folk detour, there are still enough quixotic diversions to justify your love.
Believers view Hansard & Co’s brew of emotive folk-tinged rock as a shining example of durability and authenticity in image-obsessed days. Atheists see it as the grim apotheosis of the strain of phoney singer-songwriting that was especially virulent in Dublin at the latter part of the last decade. Agnostics remain largely unmoved. The Cost, it has to be said, is not a record that will inspire many cross-camp defections.
As it’s back-to-school time, Hit The North thought it would be fun to ask one of our class swots to write a ‘what we did with our summer’ report. So, find below how Rocky from electro-pop duo Oppenheimer spent the last month wooing New York suits, Hells Angels and Jersey cops. If they keep doing their homework, we predict great things this year.
With the Belfast scene dominated by predictable indie males, it’s refreshing to hear from an ambitious young woman with talent to burn. Pixie Saytar may have a diminutive frame but her voice could blow your house down.
Devendra Banhart tells Colin Carberry that wearing a turban and having a beard can get you into all sorts of trouble these days. Lucky for us, he's still looking forward to the Electric Picnic.
The absolute refusal of The Young Knives to push themselves beyond a rigid musical four-four-two (unlike their near-contemporaries British Sea Power who you’ll often find with three up-front), would suggest that they’re destined never to prove themselves on the world stage.
Having struggled in the early days to balance the books, Alternative Ulster magazine is approaching its third birthday with optimism, and a big wad of Arts Council cash.
Tom McShane's not sure if he wants you to hear his music, but a recent cover of one of his songs might prove just the thing to coax him out of his bedroom.
Jenny Lewis may have disavowed her past as a child actress (she played Lucille Ball’s grand-daughter in some toxic early 80s US sit-com), but, judging by her entrance tonight, she has no intention whatsoever of giving up on the life theatric.
The word ‘luck’ turns up in the Snow Patrol story with set-your-watch regularity, and it’s commonly accepted that the period when the band cashed in theirs was around the release of their biggest selling single. I’m not sure I agree. The care and detail lavished on Eyes Open seems symptomatic of people who, finally rewarded with a budget to match their ambition, are determined to enjoy this opportunity for all it’s worth.
The Decline Of The Country & Western Civilization serves as a heady reminder that, while Lambchop have been letting us cry on their shoulder over recent years, their history shows that they’re also more than capable of matching us beer for beer. And then some.
She's worked with Keane, Razorlight and Bloc Party. But young video-maker Aoife McArdle's true inspiration are the elegantly gloomy movies of '40s Hollywood.
In truth, Cave, vocally anyway, is more of an absence than a presence here. With little verse, chorus, verse action going on, he seems to float through the tracks – a whisper here, a murmur there – leaving Warren Ellis’s wonderful violin playing to carry most of the record’s narrative weight.
In fact, The Proposition is probably best approached as a powerful, brooding Ellis score with an atmospheric Cave cameo.
When an established musician first branches into the world of the soundtrack, in most cases the review pretty much writes itself. First off: comment on how the relevant artist’s back catalogue has always had a ‘cinematic’ feel to it; then note how the film’s subject matter ties in with their particular world view; and, finally, conclude that, while the new record is an interesting curio, it merely whets the appetite for the next album proper.
For those who thought that treading water was no way to dismantle an atomic bomb, and that when added together X and Y amounted to nothing much at all, over the horizon some long-awaited ballast is about to arrive.
Wayne Coyne prefers a white suit to a white hat, but make no mistake; At War With The Mystics is one hell of a heroic and defiant album.
The much-mocked recorder solos and wispy female vocals of days gone by are entirely absent now. This is a lean and mean Belle and Sebastian (or as mean as any band who call a song ‘For The Price Of A Cup of Tea’ can ever be), and also a surprisingly groovy one.
Former Belle And Sebastian mainstay Isobel Campbell has recorded a country-rock masterpiece worthy of Johnny Cash. But what’s a gravel-throated Mark Lanegan doing on it?
The old actor in Mr Oldham has never forgotten the importance of making a strong visual impression – and with his mixture of Chaplin tramp, chimney corner minstrel and death row pen-pal, you’ll certainly never confuse him with anyone else.
Neither a ‘best of’ nor a collection of new material (the 14 tracks on the first CD are re-recordings of old songs); it’s a record that forces you to recontextualise the band’s work – asking questions about how their critiques of Thatcher’s Britain retain relevance in Blair-weary days.
A record that is simultaneously more expansive and microscopically intimate, and in places (‘Paper Machete’, ‘In Rivers’) even makes you think of Talk Talk – so sophisticated is the music on offer.
Nailed is a heist movie with a difference. It’s been written, produced and shot in Belfast. Director Adrian O’Connell believes it could revitalise the north’s film industry.
If last year’s Carbon Glacier announced Laura Veirs as a slowburn talent we’d all do well to keep a close eye on, her follow up, Year of Meteors, suggests she’s almost worth upping sticks for and following around the country.
For years now, so his cheerleaders (eg Chris Martin) would have us believe, Ron Sexsmith has been teetering on the precipice of gigantic, head-spinning, success.
Unreconstructed Downpatrick rockers The Answer are brewing up a whirlwind of hype. But frontman Cormac Neeson admits their good humoured hair-metal may never be cool
Barry Dobbin and Luke Smith first began writing music together after the punters had all been sent home from their Bad Bunny club nights in Soho. Judging by the influences draped and smeared all over this, their first album, the club’s play-list must have been pretty special.
There are quite a few things that the world needs at the minute: love, of course, empathy, tolerance, and maybe even a new album from Lauren Hill. However, I’m not sure how far down the wish-list one has to travel before the prospect of a Scandinavian Ocean Colour Scene is mentioned.
They’re all here tonight – the freaks, the weirdoes, the confused, the lost, the trapped and the marginal. And that’s just the characters in the songs. You really want to see the crowd.
Certain UK publications at the start of the year stacked a lot of chips on Rilo Kiley’s More Adventurous being the breakthrough album of 2005. This faith, it turned out, was based more on the U.S four piece’s previous rap sheet than the dubious quality of the new L.P.
Laura Cantrell – investment banker by day, respected nu-country DJ by. night – gained a dizzying reputation with her two previous albums. A degree in economics and, by country standards, suspiciously comfortable upbringing (no rags-to-riches back story here) proved little hindrance as she made the Americana a-list. Her debut, Not The Tremblin’ Kind, was judged an instant classic by the alt.country cognoscenti. John Peel declared it his favourite album of the last ten years.
Here’s the deal: Snow Patrol have worked with Iain Archer, Iain Archer tours with The Amazing Pilots, The Amazing Pilots produce Duke Special. Which, I hasten to add, is not a spurious attempt on my part to link Peter Wilson to the current head boys in Ulster rock, but merely my way of showing that there’s a loose and creative network currently at play in the North, whose members are, at various levels, producing music of a staggeringly high quality.
While the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival offered a typically eclectic and dynamic programme once again this year, the organisers behind the event nonetheless weren’t afraid to deliver a few uncomfortable home truths about Northern Irish society.
These are strange times for Noel and Liam. Displaced by Pete Doherty in the stony hearts of tabloid editors; overtaken in the quotably-lippy stakes by Jose Mourinho; and more likely to find themselves gracing the pages of Heat than the NME, the terrible twosome have never skirted as close to the boundaries of cultural obsolescence as they do just now. After all, post-Shameless, they may not even be the most famous Gallaghers in Manchester.
Colin Carberry meets Darren Smyth and Pete O’Neill, the men behind Fortune Cookie Music, the leftfield promotional company who continue to bring a range of America’s foremost alternative artists to perform in Belfast. And in Meg White’s case, to crash in their gaff!
“It’s the toughest thing we’ve ever had to do, it’s broken our fucking hearts.” While the recent sacking of founder member Mark McClelland has taken its toll on Gary Lightbody, the Snow Patrol mainman remains upbeat about their not-at-all-difficult fourth album, supporting U2 and their own stadium headliner in Killarney. Interview by Colin Carberry. Photography by Bradley Quinn
About five years ago I grew mildly obsessive over an album of icily beautiful electronica that went by the entirely appropriate title, Closer Colder. It was the debut release from a brilliant and, judging by interviews conducted at the time, emotionally fragile young producer called David Kosten. If you believe Walt Disney’s head is being cryogenically stored in a lab somewhere, this record will be playing in the background.
…Unless, that is, you live in Belfast. Colin Carberry talks to Sean Kelly, director of the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, about the exciting and diverse range of events lined up for this year’s programme.
The debut LP from Cherry Falls is a prime example of the brand of emotionally balanced, nice-guy rock that is currently smeared across the schedule of E4. And, as such, encourages as much joyfulness as a party political broadcast by the DUP.
“I’d like to treat you better…I like you and what you have to say” they sing on the implausibly titled ‘My Drug’ – a patently insincere song that, judging by the level of enthusiasm on display, is obviously inspired by Night Nurse - and although every note and mannered vocal whisper is impeccably positioned, the overall effect is entirely underwhelming.
They may have recorded the guitars on their new EP down the barrel of a shotgun in a bid to achieve the perfect metallic sound, but Belfast rockers Panda Kopanda are really all about melodic ingenuity and songwriting nous.
Their recent appearance in the top ten with a cover of ‘Hounds Of Love’ has provided The Futureheads with the perfect excuse to tart up and re-release last year’s fine but neglected debut L.P. Of course, this is a shameless example of commercial opportunism (the world really could go on spinning without seeing the ropey videos, mumbled interviews and shaky gig footage contained on the bonus DVD), but such is the energy and likeability of said record, only a churl or Stereophonics fan would deny it a further opportunity to invade as many extra collections as it can.
Word around the campfire (well, okay, judging by the press release) suggests that this, the fourth album from Garbage, is a record that’s lucky to have gotten this far. Bleed Like Me, it seems, has had a troubled gestation...
Quantum mechanics is just one of the many subjects occupying the acute mind of Martin Corrigan, the Northern indie guru whose eponymous band is currently earning admiring notices from such luminaries as Zane Lowe, Fergie, Pete Tong and Annie Mac.
Tonight, Stipe looks like The Riddler – pipe-cleaner thin, all legs and hips and frozen Ka-Pow poses; while around the eyes, a thick smudge of face paint completes the effect. For a forty-something, he sheds years like his lyric sheets.
Quantum mechanics is just one of the many subjects occupying the acute mind of Martin Corrigan, the Northern indie guru whose eponymous band is currently earning admiring notices from such luminaries as Zane Lowe, Fergie, Pete Tong and Annie Mac.
This is depressing stuff – stagnant lyrical miserablism, copping optimistic nods at Morrissey and Curtis but entirely lacking in any poetry, mystery or romance. Timid, by the numbers rock that, while affecting to shake up a transatlantic rumble, falls resoundingly flat.
Days Run Away sees House Of Love adopt a productively low-key approach to their comeback. It’s been over 10 years since Terry Bickers and Guy Chadwick’s famously nasty break up, but if you’re expecting a hurried scramble to make up for lost time then you’ll be in for a disappointment.
For the Chinese community in Northern Ireland, life can at times be difficult in the face of racism and violent attacks. But they can also spare a little time to party, as our very own Chinese checker Colin Carberry discovered on a visit to the hectic offices of the Chinese Welfare Association. Photos: Amberlea Trainor.
Colin Carberry talks to Jimmy Devlin, co-founder of the No Dancing label, which continues to provide an invaluable outlet for young Northern Irish bands seeking wider exposure.
Foul-mouthed rebels with their fingers on the trigger and a take-no-prisoners attitude - no, it’s not the latest from Stormont, it’s Colin Carberry’s guide to the Northern Irish bands to look out for this year.
Colin Carberry looks back at twelve months in which Bill Drummond’s Soup Line tour of Ulster was one of the Northern arts scene’s undoubted highlights.
They may have hit a few bumps earlier in the year, but Northern indie-rock whippersnappers The Embers have regrouped and are now back on the agenda with an excellent new EP, Vice And Virtue.
With State Of Play and Shameless, Paul Abbott has taken more risks than any other writer of TV drama – with spectacularly successful results. Now, Channel 4 have asked the BAFTA award winner to write a pantomime, that’s destined to be one of the highlights of the festive season.
Arms outstretched, swanky lighting awarding him a most pleasing rock star silhouette, it’s safe to say that right now, in a venue where he witnessed some of his own favourite gigs, Gary Lightbody is having a pretty good day at the office.
The lure of regular nine-to-five work is exerting a powerful gravitational pull – but Portrush four piece Patio Sounds are determined to stick it out and spread the word about their intriguing brand of idiosyncratic pop.
One of the biggest teen rock sensations of the early noughties, Avril Lavigne continues to draw the black-clad adolescent hordes in record numbers. But can Canada’s most famous skater girl make the transition to adulthood without losing the affection of her notoriously capricious audience?
Belfast-based novelist Jo Baker has once again become the subject of much attention in literary circles with the publication of her powerful and compelling second novel The Mermaid’s Child.
Unable to convince as a purveyor of Norah Jones-like smoky jazz (when it’s obvious that Katie Melua doesn’t smoke) or indeed as a jigging teen idol (when it’s obvious she doesn’t dance), tonight the temptation is to dismiss the weird collision of mood-changes on offer here (from anti-war ballads to skat versions of ‘The Love Cats’ to Georgian folk ballads sung in the mother tongue) as a case of talent being spread way, way too thin.
From Neil Hannon’s orchestral manoeuvres to Brian Kennedy’s literary debut, the Belfast Festival at Queen’s looks set to provide some of the cultural highlights of the season.
Of all the mooted heirs to the U.S Garage throne of The Strokes, it would have taken a scarily prescient punter (or a fundamentalist goth) to have put money on the accession of Interpol.
Seeing as Ridgeway St. is one of the two entrances into Botanic Gardens, it’s a fair bet that a sizeable percentage of this crowd strolled past The Lyric to get here this evening.
Which is entirely apt.
Let’s try to imagine for a moment that this was a collection of duets that, somehow, managed to hook Brother Ray up with the guys and gals who benefited most from his example.
Chewie Productions’ Richard Davis and Anna Fitzsimons are among those to benefit from the “trickle-down effect” induced by ATL TV’s promo-video showcase for Ulster.
Controversial underground magazine The Vacuum has been drawing severe criticism from the more conservative elements of Belfast City Council, including threats of an outright ban. words Colin Carberry
What would the old bishop of Down have made of the avowed feminist who made her name singing about blow-jobs in public places? The answer is open to debate, but as Colin Carberry discovers, maybe the bishop and Alanis Morissette have more in common than you might think.
Six years ago, when a group of Belfast artists invited Bill Drummond to play host at a gathering at College Green House on Botanic Avenue, something like a seed seems to have been planted.
Fresh from his successful involvement with Snow Patrol and the Amazing Pilots, Bangor’s Iain Archer steps to the fore with a beguiling solo album Flood the Tanks.
While from the outset, it’s obvious that this lacks the consistency of tone and startling sense of poetry that imbued the previous LP, there are enough moments of sublime beauty, stretched across the 24 tracks, to earn it an esteemed space in your collection.
Jason Pierce doesn’t do Dogme. For all the talk of a stripped-down, back-to-basics approach on Amazing Grace, his most recent record is as comparable to something like Slanted And Enchanted, as Solaris is to Festen.
So what happens when an indie band goes major league? how can you stay cool when your date’s a Charlie’s Angel? how important is the boy/girl song in a flag-waving time? and like Alexander The Great, do you weep when you have no more worlds to conquer? in addressing these and other pressing questions of the day, The Strokes salute John Lennon, Bob Dylan and their own undying band of brotherliness.
John O’Neill of legendary northern rockers The Undertones talks to Colin Carberry about the creation of their most famous hits, becoming godfathers to a new generation of garage rock heroes, and why the band won’t be happy until they’ve written a multi-million selling album.
You can bet that Santa is glad that The Strokes are playing Belfast before Christmas. Tickets for this surprise show (announced Tuesday, takes place Sunday) sold – according to promoters – at a quicker rate that even Oasis managed in their Morning Glory prime. The big guy would have some indie kid hearts to break on Christmas morning.
[Photographs: Amberlea Trainor]
You can bet that Santa is glad that The Strokes are playing Belfast before Christmas. Tickets for this surprise show (announced Tuesday, takes place Sunday) sold – according to promoters – at a quicker rate that even Oasis managed in their Morning Glory prime. The big guy would have some indie kid hearts to break on Christmas morning.
[Photographs: Amberlea Trainor]
You can bet that Santa is glad that The Strokes are playing Belfast before Christmas. Tickets for this surprise show (announced Tuesday, takes place Sunday) sold – according to promoters – at a quicker rate that even Oasis managed in their Morning Glory prime. The big guy would have some indie kid hearts to break on Christmas morning.
[Photographs: Amberlea Trainor]
If you’re looking for modesty, you’ve come to the wrong place. Colin Carberry meets Dirty Stevie, the balls to the wall rockers who are determined to become Belfast’s biggest band ever!
Ror those of you convinced that Belle And Sebastian are nothing but fey indie miserabilists, well the defiantly sunlit results may well come as a surprise.
After the spiking of their last album led to the demise of co.dot, Joe Brush decided he couldn’t jump around on a stage anymore. The result is a new sound and a new band, Vapor Lounge.
Dom Joly hasn’t heard them but says they’re his favourite band. Noel Gallagher hasn’t heard them but thinks they’re probably shite. And what has country troubadour Crawford Bell got to do with all this? The Embers explain all to Colin Carberry
Geoff Topley just can’t help writing songs and releasing records. And going entirely solo hasn’t stemmed the flow. “it’s an addiction,” he tells Colin Carberry
Lift music written by William Burroughs, is how their cheerleaders will try to sell it. But anyone unconvinced by Becker and Fagen’s seditious intent may well find the atmosphere anodyne, airless and cloying.
Martin Corrigan, who once read The Trial backwards on-stage, has given birth to an eponymous band and debut album. And, as you might expect, it’s a little bit different.
And while the quality dips in places, thanks to a restrained and niftily back-referencing production job from Flood, it’s never anything less than an interesting listen.
Us (and it must be said, what a hackneyed, brilliant title) is a poignant little gem of a record, powered by enough gorgeous hooks and melodic tricks to, partially, confirm MacIntyre’s reputation as a Pro Tools Brian Wilson.
Now pushing forty, he may well be one of the great mercurial guitarists, but, as tonight proves, he is also one of the most discomforting vocalists I’ve ever heard – a strangled, nasally mixture of Robert Wyatt and Ashley from Coronation Street.
Belfast musician Colin Reid likes to surprise his audiences, something he’s sure to accomplsh with an instrumental suite inspired by Flann O’Brien’s The Third Policeman
The Imagine Belfast committee may have missed the mark in more ways than one in their unsuccessful bid for the European City Of Culture according to BelFest organiser Gerard Sheppard
From Belfast’s coolest record emporium Good Vibrations to the city’s coolest venue, the Odyssey Arena’s ice-rink, Pay*ola are now coming south to a venue near you. And they won’t be supporting Slipknot…
The best bands have a gift for making connections even when they’re tearing things apart and – on tonight’s evidence – the Primals have a desire to join things up that verges on the evangelical
As the Northern Irish nights draw in, the gigs get better. Coldplay, Ryan Adams, Beverly Knight and Teenage Fanclub are just some of the acts who are flying North in the coming months
When art student Roger Herbert set up fastfude.com as part of a term project, little did he know that five years later it would be one of Northern Ireland’s most popular and controversial music sites
Some of the tracks on Red Cities are so vividly redolent of a sense of place, it could almost be the soundtrack for a series of imaginary J.G Ballard travelogues
More than Leftfield, more than Underworld, it was Orbital that managed to translate dance music into a form acceptable to studious (ale drinking) big brothers all over the land
The Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival offers a take on modern Belfast that rings true, as well as an eclectic musical line-up and some controversial readings from modern UK writers says Colin Carberry
The biggest obstacle to Belfast becoming the European City Of Culture may be the reluctance of its own people to accept that it deserves the title. Colin Carberry reports
After more than 15 years BBC Radio Ulster's Across The Line is undergoing something of a re-vamp. Colin Carberry reports on why this is good news for fans, and bands, on both sides of the border
Having been dogged for years by sectarianism, Northern Irish sport has finally found a team that everyone can support. Colin Carberry reports on the phenomenal rise of the ice hockeying Belfast Giants
Setting its cap firmly in the camp of mid-’80s widescreen indie it has a self-assurance, and gentle surety of tone that, really, should only appear a few more records down the line.
A hit album, critical acclaim, sell-out shows… everything was going swimmingly for DAVID KITT until a sunday paper made serious allegations about him and his Government Minister Dad. In a gloves-off interview with COLIN CARBERRY, Kittser responds to his detractors and explains why, despite the journalistic flak, 2001 has been a great year
Close your eyes and you could be having a last waltz in the sawdust of some off-track saloon.
Open them, though, and you’re very much in Belfast, surrounded by not very many people, some of whom are audibly unimpressed.
COLIN CARBERRY meets KIDD DYNAMo, the Northern outfit fronted by singer/songwriter colin campbell who numberS Joan Armatrading and the Webb Brothers among his fans
There s no sign of Derry s finest turning into the Rolling Tones but neither is there much sign of any new contenders ready to challenge the supremacy of THE UNDERTONES
Twenty-four-year-old ANDY VOTEL is the man behind Badly Drawn Boy s Twisted Nerve label, and he s just released a self-penned new album. COLIN CARBERRY gets jealous RICKY ADAMS gets pics
A few hours after Bono hoisted up Trimble and Hume s arms at the Yes show, I found myself trying to buy drinks at a city centre bar and having a strange conversation with a well known local politician. A prominent face during the pro-Agreement campaign, I d assumed that he d be delighted with the way that the gig had panned out. But no, he shrugged off the entire occasion as a bubbly inconsequence and said that the Yes camp would be lucky to get 68% of the vote. For someone convinced that his cause was on the cusp of a massive historical defeat, he didn t appear to be overly upset. In fact, he seemed happy enough showing off his Larry Mullan Jr autograph and blaming the Unionists.
It s taken ten years, but AGNELLI & NELSON have finally made it to the top of the DJ pile with their Hudson St. album. COLIN CARBERRY meets the Ulster dance merchants whose superstar fans include U2
He s the man behind Reservoir Prods , a load of Premiership goals and a woozy Robbie Williams. But most he s behind pop songs with big fuck-off choruses , a passion PHIL WOOLSEY extends with his new band NINEBAR
PHIL KIERAN is a man of many talents producer, promoter, DJ, collaborator. Here, he talks about why the idea of a new Belfast scene is bollocks , teenage kicks and Drumcree!
While lots of Northerners have moved on to fresh pastures over the past few years, new Hit The North columnist COLIN CARBERRY believes that it s a good time to stick around
