Belfast electro pop duo have announced the launch of theirnew EP at Aunt Annies, Belfast on the 19th of October.
The self titled release will be their first official EP, having released a number of home demos and remixes previously.
Support will come from Cork rockers , Tyrone natives and .
Love Music Hate Racism have announced their acts for the Electric Picnic Festival in Co. Laois this weekend.
Axis Of, Ham Sandwich, VerseChorusVerse, The Breaks, Fred and bob, House of Dolls, Absolutely Curtains, Cujo Family, The Viking Project, Niewl Tsumbu, New Secret Weapon, The Hot Sprockets, Peter Pureheart, The 9 Bars, The mighty Stef, Champagne Animal and more to be confirmed.
It will be the first year that the group haveput on their own stage at Electric Picnic. No stage times are available for the stage just yet.
Introducing returned to Reading and Leeds Festival at the weekend, with their stage of upcoming acts. A number of Irish and Northern irish acts were chosen to play the stage andthere is coverage of each acton the Introducing website right now.
General Fiasco(video/photos)
Rainy Boy Sleep(Video/photos)
Ham Sandwich (Video/photos)
Funeral Suits(Photos)
Original Rude Boys (Photos)
It's been long. WAY too long.
practically vanished a couple of years ago - we got a belter of a debut album, some blistering live shows, a co-present, then....nothing.
Thankfully, they're BACK. With a capital B, a bunch of new songs (one of which you heard onthis weeksshow) and a new bass player.
"We're really excited to be playing again - we can't wait to let people hear the new songs and new lineup with Craig Skene on bass" said Stephen, one of the two Robinson brothers who make up the core of the band.
Are they still as noisy, as fiery, as incendiary as we fondly remember? I'd put my house on it....and I'll know for sure come Friday night.
In Case of Fire play Auntie Annies at midnight on Friday.
It's been a great couple of week's for live music in Northern Ireland, with local festival's like Sunflower Fest, Pigeon Field and Stendhal Festival taking place alongside international acts at Belsonic and Tennant's Vital.
It's meant ATL have been rather busy over the last while with videos, reviews and photo's from most of the events:
Vital
Reviews
Videos
Belsonic
Reviews
Sunflower Fest
Roundup Blog
Europe's largest showcase festival, , will focus on Irish acts at next year's Dutch event in January. Acts like And SoI Watch You From Afar, Villagers, The Answer and Delorentos have all played the showcase in the past.
Applications must be through before the September 1st. There is no charge to enter.
Eurosonic takes place across the city of Groningen, The Netherlands from Wednesday 11th to Saturday the 14th of January.
The Specials
supported by Pocket Billiards and Hanni El-Khatib
Saturday the 27th of August
Describe in a tweet: Coventry Two-Tone legends make triumphant Belfast return. Or Shane Meadows begins shooting This Is England 2011. It's hard to say, really ...
What happened: After a hugely successful fortnight of diverse and delectable live music, 2011's Belsonic concludes this evening in typically memorable fashion. Two years since they played St. George's Market on their long-awaited comeback tour, Ska godfathers The Specials emerge to rapturous applause via a lethal one-two dose of 'Do The Dog' and the effortlessly anthemic classic 'Dawning Of A New Era'. Already it's something of a riot: whether it suits their job description or otherwise, virtually everyone is doing "the" Ska dance, vocalists' Terry Hall and Neville Staple's lyrics are passionately rebounded and the atmosphere is truly second-to-none. Trawling through a finely-tuned, practically faultless set of their greatest material, Hall & Co. are at their most commanding on the hectic 'Monkey Man', 'Nite Klub' and the awe-inspiring "moment" that transpires amidst anti-racist singalong, 'Doesn't Make It Alright'.
Not only have these anthems retained their acutely insightful social value for which The Specials are widely recognised for, they somehow seem slightly more prophetic tonight than ever before, i.e. 'Friday Night, Saturday Morning' resonates deeply with today's endemic binge culture, whereas 'Concrete Jungle' calls to mind the recent rioting across the UK. Throw in the thoroughly hectic 'Little Bitch', feel-good highlight 'Enjoy Yourself' and ode to misspent youth par excellence 'Stereotype' and Belsonic may have just witnessed its finest performance to date. In the end, with a hairs-on-the-back-of-the-neck encore of the inimitable 'Ghost Town' and 'You're Wondering Now', it's clear both The Specials and the thousands in their wake are overjoyed by what's just went down.
Enjoy Yourself: Not a single lull, dud or misplaced moment in an unbeatable set of seventeen classic songs. Also, witnessing the innumerable old school fans reuniting for what is surely the Ska equivalent of the Second Coming.
You're Wondering Now: The noted absence of chief songwriter Jerry Dammers remains a mild distraction to the glory. But as I say ... the Ska equivalent of the Second Coming.
Rating: 9/10
Hanni El-Khatib
supportingThe Specials
Sunday the 28th ofAugust 2011
Describe in a tweet: LA-based doowop/blues singer-songwriter lacks substance and songs to sustain Billiards' momentum.
What happened: With anticipation very much in the air for The Specials later, LA bluesman Hanni El-Khatib takes to the stage, meekly declaring "we're going to play some songs". Well, you would kind of hope so, wouldn't you? Sadly, though, wielding a delectable, baby-blue Fender Jagstang and shadowed by a faceless "snare-cymbal" sort of drummer, El-Khatib lethargically works his way through songs from his otherwise impressive 2011 debut album, Will The Guns Come Out - and it would seem the crowd are still very much stung by the Pocket Billiards' uptempo knack to cede to the hooklessness of his sluggish and suddenly formless blues.
That said, it's undeniable El-Khatib possesses some real songwriter prowess. With its consistent, hip-relenting beat, the likes of 'Build. Destroy. Rebuild.' prove just that, whilst his slower, more doowop orientated ventures gain the approval of the crowd much more than his stuttering, start/stop blues. In all, despite his obvious skillz to pay the billz, El-Khatib receives little more than pin-drop applause throughout the entirety of his set, indicating that not only should he have probably performed first, if he did there would have been a priceless opportunity to make a few new fans. Alas, it's a groggy set punctuated with defeatist reminders that the Specials await and a frustrating case of waiting for a riff that never quite comes.
Enjoy Yourself: Some moments suggest The Black Keys on diazepam. But I'm still not sure if that's a good thing.
You're Wondering Now: The transition from the Pocket Billiards' joyous onslaught to El-Khatib's plodding dirges proves more than a little frustrating.
Rating: 5/10
Pocket Billiards
supporting The Specials and Hanni El-Khatib
Sunday 27th of August 2011
Describe in a tweet: Belfast ska-punk legends get final night of Belsonic 2011 off to a blinder.
What happened: The bill they were pretty much born to play, Belfast ska-punk nonet (ahem, nine-piece) Pocket Billiards launch the ninth and final night of Belsonic 2011 in typically riotous fashion. Starting as they well and truly mean to go on, opener 'Drunken Waster' automatically induces a large section of tonight's still-assembling crowd to carefree gyrating and toothy chants of "gonna get drunk! gonna get drunk!" whilst a grizzly new song and the deliriously anthemic 'Dirty Money' only serve to confirm a tingly, thoroughly contagious sense of occasion.
With their horn-led, good-time overtures to proper living, Pocket Billiards are on top form throughout - the sound is first-rate, every last member of the band pour their heart and soul into the performance and - a real testament to their playing venues across the country for many years - the adoring reception they receive before, during and after each song indicates serious respect. Another new song eye-winkingly alludes to a refrain from 'Ghost Town', whilst 'Tetrasaurus Rex' and closer 'Belfast Town', prompt massive cheers from the band's Belfast faithful, standing as highlights in a mostly-jaunty, occasionally-heavy, totally-convincing set.
Enjoy Yourself: An arse-shakingly, finger-waggingly, trilby-tippingly terrific start to the final night of Belsonic 2011.
You're Wondering Now: Practically nothing goes against the band. Sure, it threatened a downpour for a while but let's just leave that end of it to Zeus, shall we?
Rating: 8/10
DJ HIX
Supporting Tiesto, Caspa and Alex Metric
Friday the 26ht of August 2011
Describe in a tweet: Local club and radio DJ does a decent job of warming up the crowd.
What happened: DJ Hix has the unenviable task of playing to a near-empty Custom House Square, to people who couldn't really care less. He still undertakes this with admirable aplomb, playing like he's got a huge crowd in front of him and not dipping for a second. A set full of crowd pleasers just doesn't quite manage to get the everyone going to the level required, although it's still early and people are still slowly drifting into the venue.
Surrounded By Light: A nice mix of instantly recognisable chart and commercial tunes are there for anybody who bothers to listen. In a club scenario the hard-working DJ Hix would be unstoppable.
In The Dark: Sadly, just not enough of a crowd there to appreciate this local DJ.
Rating: 7/10
Alex Metric
Supporting Tiesto
Friday the 26thof August
Describe in a tweet: Londoner DJ/Producer Alex Metric really ramps things up.
What happened: Dusk is now descending on a nearly full Custom House Square and things are really starting to get exciting. Alex Metric gets the crowd going in a way no-one else has managed to do yet this evening, playing great tune after great tune. He doesn't hold up for a second and knows exactly what the crowd want from him. His hour-long set comes two days after a show in Ibiza and shows no weariness after a long summer season, proving why he is one of the most exciting young DJs in England at the minute.
Surrounded By Light: An exciting rollercoaster of great tunes and exciting mixes.
In The Dark: Perhaps an hour was a little too long a set as the crowd seemed to lose interest by the end, no doubt simply too excited about the headliner.
Rating: 7/10
CASPA
supporting Tiesto and Alex Metrik
Friday the 26th of August 2011
Describe in a tweet: West Londoner Caspa tries to enforce dubstep on the crowd.
What happened: Caspa has been making waves in the Dubstep scene for several years, and doesn't do a bad job of dropping bass-heavy beats to a totally underwhelmed crowd. However, his set definitely ebbs in places and he seems to be hell-bent on sticking with what he knows and not reading the crowd's reaction. Dropping a few bars of Swedish House Mafia's "(One) Your Name" is the first clever thing he does, briefly getting a few audience cheers before they largely ignore him again. Not even closing with Underworld's "Born Slippy" can rescue him from the total ennui floating around Custom House Square.
Surrounded By Light: Caspa is largely good at what he does and sticking to his Dubstep guns is admirable.
In The Dark: This crowd are clearly only here for the night's headliner and just don't seem to understand what Caspa is about.
Rating: 6/10
Chocolate Love Factory/LoUiSe/Optimus Rhyme, Thee Higher Beings, Dickie Bow Bathtub.
Menagerie, Belfast
25th August 2011
In promotion of their magnificent Coral Lady EP, Chocolate Love Factory headline a bill tonight encompassing riffs, raw talent, farce, and everything in between. With only three songs to their name, opening act Dickie Bow Bathtub get proceedings under way with a noise-laden cover of the White Stripes’ ‘Black Math’, a gutsy instrumental and a truly impassioned cover of John Frusciante’s ‘Carvel’. Full of spurts of chaotic noise and half-rehearsed grooves, their set is ramshackle to the point of art, and what they lack in concentrated, original material, they more than make up for in charm and intent.
With their highly innovative brand of subtly anthemic rock, Thee Higher Beings are best described as the desert rock equivalent of The Shadows. Their head-turning instrumentals reveal a four-piece with an overabundance of suave presence and a surprising capacity for wielding tight, groove-filled stoner rock à la Screaming Trees and Rated R era QOTSA. And while they may not be the next Cashier No. 9, the likes of ‘Smash The State’ and a cover of Lanegan’s ‘Lexington Slow Down’ make you wonder if that’s actually to their disadvantage.
The is out, and anbody lucky enough to be heading to the festival this weekend will no doubt be formulating their master plan about now. But like any festival, there will be clashes, there will be missed sets and there will be hunger that trumps that one band you'd kinda like to catch. But today we're talking the one band you WILL NOT MISS during the weekend, or if you're not one of lucky bunch going, who are you most annoyed about missing and would recommend? Simple yeah?
Hit us up on / or you can text 81771 after 8pm tonight. Here's team ATL's picks...
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Pulp
Sunday 4th Sept - 10:30pm on the Main Stage
Rigsy - ATL presenter
Pulp Been waiting a fair while for this inevitable reunion and hoping, of all festivals, Pulp would end up at EP. I've managed to miss all coverage of their festival shows so far this summer so what happens this Sunday will be a bit of a surprise. They'll no doubt go easy on the later stuff that I love, but those daft pop gems will make for a perfect festival climax.
Describe in a tweet: A one man crowd overshadows everything in his path. What happened: If you've seen Plan B before, you'll know how his shows start. If not, what a treat - beatboxer Faith SFX is bafflingly good. He'll 'play' The White Stripes, Tineh Tempah and Major Lazer, mashing up beats, bass and brass all at once, frying our head. How is he doing that? If anything, Plan B, or at least his opening half hour, is a slight anticlimax. While '….Strickland Banks' is an impressive and brave album, it's a little one dimensional. The first half of Plan B's set tonight is essentially the lesser known moments from that album and, as a result, he begins to lose us. It takes a blast of 'Charmaine', a dark but welcomed reminder of Plan B mk1 to wake us up. 'She Said' has us right back in the zone, a kind of second album digest and Benjamin Drew at his best. After that, it's glorious chaos. Faith SFX is back to perform one-man live dubstup remixes of the bands take on 'Stand By Me', 'Forgot About Dre' and 'Kiss from a Rose'. Sound weird? It was, in the best possible way. By the time the band do 'Stay Too Long' it's total bedlam, with the entire band, Plan B and Faith SFX bounding about the stage, bumping into and climbing over each other, struggling to stay on their feet. A fantastic end to an occasionally forgettable show. Plan A: Who'd have thought a man waking wobbly bass noises makes everything sound a little better?! Plan B: The soul shtick has officially been over-done - here's to Plan B mk 3. 7/10
Katy B
Supporting Plan B
Thursday 25th August 2011
Describe in a tweet: Play the hits!
What happened: It's both impressive and suspicious that a lady most of us hadn't heard of this time last year has so many instantly recognisable tunes. Has she been playing them to us while we sleep, or what? 'Broken Record' is dismissed two tracks in, the excellent 'Easy Please Me', 'Perfect Stranger' and crowd-baiting 'Katy on a Mission' follow soon after - each of these tunes seem almost too familiar. The full live band (and brass section) is enough to freshen them up, with Katy herself sufficiently endearing to keep us on her side.
Plan A: It's to the band's extreme credit they can move from indie to dustup to Dn'B in a matter of moments. This is all over the place, but in a good way.
Plan B: Hard to explain why, given we're presented with so many hits and a likeable front woman, it just doesn't spark up or kick off, much. Familiarity maybe breeds a tiny dash of contempt.
Rating: 7/10
Rizzle Kicks
Supporting Plan B and Katy B
Thursday the 25th of August 2011
Describe in a tweet: A big old pile of silly.
What happened: Proper festival fun. Rizzle Kicks care not for being overly cool, they are here to get the party started. Two ridiculously likeable MCs are bounding about the stage, talking nonsense, showing off and generally being a little bit crazy. 'Miss Cigarette' sums up what they do nicely - daft lyrics and bouncy beats - it really is as simple as that. Even an entirely pointless run through the James Bond theme seems to make total sense in the middle of this performance.
Plan A: 'Down With the Trumpets' is the inevitable highlight. By the time they play it they're our best friends, which helps.
Plan B: Rizzle manages to slip and fall in a most undignified manner, but his indifferent reaction just makes us like him even more.
Rating: 8/10
Main Stage, 9.20pm
Wednesday the 24th of August 2011
Describe in a Tweet: When you're this excited, you can only end up a little miffed, right?
What happened: One of the few remaining icons - a proper global superstar. Once a cartoon prankster, now a post-rehab pessimist. Three personas, seven albums, one critically acclaimed lead in a film and, for the next 90 minutes or so, he's all ours. Bangor, get ready! Or 'Belfast' we should say - that's where Eminem references throughout the set, deciding to round up to the nearest city rather than, you know, find out where he actually is.
Anyway, after we get over the initial drama that, you know, Eminem is quite literally standing a few metres away from Pickie Pool, it's a slow start. Even 'Cleaning Out My Closet' and 'The Way I Am' don't quite set the place alight - preachy and indulgent doesn't really get the party started. And that's the main problem throughout: the majority of Eminem's music is spiky and aggressive, and thus hardly ideal for a festival crowd.
Next Stage, 8.55pm
Wednesday the 24th of August 2011
What happened: As always with Not Squares, a proper rave up. We're bounding about a park in Bangor town, but close your eyes and this is somewhere a lot sweatier, a lot darker. This lot seem incapable of sitting still - every song sounds a little warped since the last time it was performed. 'Release the Bees' is rammed full of bowel moving FX and squelch, an unhealthy pile of sinister fun. A new track (and apparently a future single) is as close they've ever got to a traditional, structured 'song' - it's also as close to the poppy-electro vibe the likes of The Klaxons attempted (and often failed) to nail. They're perfect to closethestage, winning over a healthy gathering who are (lets face it) more than a little tidily and well up for a dance.
Main Stage, 8pm
Wednesday 24th of August
Describein a Tweet: experienced, reliable festival fun.
What Happened: Following an anticipation-building walk-on, they kick things off with ‘Everyday I Love You…’, slightly darker than the original version, signifying their maturation with the inevitable associated world-weariness attached. As veterans, they’re a good festival band, knowing how to work the crowd, whipping them up into bouncy sing-alongs for the well-known singles such ‘Ruby’ and ‘I Predict a Riot’, but falling slightly flat in-between. Their comfort in their environment extends to front-man Ricky Wilson playing with the on-stage cameraman and leading the crowd in a Mexican wave, whilst managing not to break his neck running side to side. After going to the crowd to meet his public, they leave us happy with ‘Oh My God’ to close.
Next Stage, 7.30pm
Wednesday the 24th of August 2011
Describe in a Tweet: It must be Friday cause we ain’t dead
What Happened: These suspiciously young, yet suspiciously experienced chaps keep us well entertained with their sing-along rock, despite it veering towards rap metal on occasion. Their cover of ‘California Love’ is particularly inspired and especially suitable today. Throwing themselves about, vocalist Adam McKee leaves the stage to meet his crowd, before resorting to old-fashioned bribery, throwing out merchandise and their new single. Bantering away and displaying the savvy of veterans, they’re clearly enjoying themselves as much as the crowd. All this, and they seem to stop the rain! Very handy, although we’re not sure if they can claim that as being entirely down to them.
Main Stage, 6.35pm
Wednesday 24th of August 2011
Describe in a Tweet: Old fashioned rock, old fashioned weather
What Happened: Walking on to a ringing chord and “How you doing”, this is good old rock and roll. Unfortunately they’re hampered by the weather, as the rain comes on, dampening the crowd both metaphorically and literally. These guys are professionals though, musically tight, delivering solid mid-card music. Newbies such as ‘My Best Theory’ sit alongside the emotionally wracked ‘Get Up’, while in a bit of serendipity, the rain eases off in time for the concluding hits, ‘Take Some Time’ providing an opportunity to move about and warm up again.
Next Stage, 6.10pm
Wednesday the 24th of August 2011
Describe in a Tweet: Not too cuddly, not too grizzly, just right
What Happened: Eatenbybears play a type of “scattergun” rock, running the gamut from metal to math to post and everything in-between, whilst not forgetting to just rock out from time to time. The un-typical use of violin with effects, integral to the songs rather than token extraneous strings, adds something different to it. With this being their mainstream festival debut, their enthusiasm is infectious as they seem to be enjoying this rather than it being just another gig. ‘Duschenne Smile’ epitomises their passion and drive, bludgeoning, but intricate, while ‘Spite Houses’ starts off with a teasing bit of Eminem before going off into a math-rock direction, mirroring the change in the weather as it clouds over.
Main Stage, 5.40pm
Wednesdaythe 24th of August 2011
Describe in a Tweet: Don’t believe the hype. Odd yes, future no.
What Happened: This collective based around Tyler (the self-proclaimed “creator”) are much beloved of the hip and chattering classes on the basis of their live shows. This must be the wrong setting entirely, because there’s nothing of note here. The muddy and indistinct raps lack flow, and degenerate into a mess of vocals straining over the top of each other, and what little can be made out is unoriginal and boring, seeming to miss that the misogyny often apparently present in good rap and hip-hop was ironic and making a point. The prancing about on stage involving a stool and a kid’s bike doesn’t make up for it, nor does going into the crowd for the tamest mosh-pit this side of opera. As for repeatedly shouting “Flip the police!” (editor’s note: Not necessarily their choice of words), well, NWA did it a long time ago, a lot better, and with a lot more reason.
Lose Yourself: It passes the time
Guilty Conscience: The songs aren’t good enough to forgive the fiasco of the performance, which isn’t good enough to overcome weakness of the songs. A vicious circle(pit).
Rating: 5/10
Next Stage, 5.10pm
Wednesday the 24th of August 2011
Describe in a Tweet: Intelligent beats from one man & his machines.
What Happened: The origins of hip-hop and dance music come from sampling and loops, and this is where the two collide – that area inhabited by the likes of DJ Shadow, Mr Scruff, DJ Format, The Avalanches and so on. Working off a laptop and a loop station, this set drifts from hip-hop to electronica in a (dare we use the cliché?) soundscape. The music itself takes these samples and twists them into a sense of journey. We’ll take note and watch to see if this hot tip progresses to a dead sert. Unfortunately too little of the crowd do the same.
Lose Yourself: Beautiful sounds, great potential
Guilty Conscience: This needs a dark tent, not daylight in the open air, feeling like a sterile performance, rather than an interaction between artist and crowd.
Rating: 7/10
Main Stage, 4.40pm
Wednesday the 24th of August
Describe in a Tweet: More than a backing band.
What Happened: Its old fashioned hip-hop - DJ on the decks, and a bunch of MCs to entertain. It's not exactly original, but it’s tried and tested party hip-hop from experienced performers. Songs about drink ('40 oz') and drugs ('Purple Pills' - to be reprised later in the evening with their D12 colleague Eminem) go down well, as they quickly acclimatize to our cultural sensibilities with repeated references to "Drunken mutha-flippers" (editor's note: Not necessarily their choice of words). A pleasing touch comes with a remembrance of their fallen member Big Proof, but whilst it doesn't dampen the mood, the set has an unsatisfactory conclusion as they call for applause and cheers before walking off.
Next Stage, 4.30pm
Wednesday the 24th of August 2011
Describe in a Tweet: Failing Rude-imentary Requirements
What Happened: Having rapidly moved up the ranks on the basis of reports from their hometown, these Dubliners are expected to impress. They don’t. Their amalgam of syrupy ballads masquerading as soul samples, and poor rhymes can’t be enlivened by the novelty of Irish accents and acoustic guitar in a hip-hop setting. ‘In Too Deep’ is apt, as they’re in over their heads, in need of a lifeline, and are hit by a tsunami as D12 on the main stage drown them out.
Greetings new music aficionado's. This week behind the magic door lies three very different musical paths for you to choose. You may explore and enjoy each new musical highway and experience the variety of our three choices this week on that new band smell.
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The Genuine Articles - Little Miss Goody Two Shoes
Cheeky, playful indie guitar pop much in the vein of The Fratelli's and The Courteeners.
Sarah P - Movin On
Really encouraging signs from fledgling acoustic starlet's first single.
The Last Days of 1984 are Dublin duo Darren Maloney and Brian Rice. Appeared as if by nowhere with a killer single 'Rivers Edge' and performed live for the first time on the 9th of July, Last Days of 1984 are a twister of excitement. Their synth pop sound is 'so hot right now', it flirts between the playful 'spring-break' sound of Animal Collective and the 80's revivalism of The Horrors material. It's easy to see a swell of interest swallow these guys up, all the finger on the pulse blogs love this sound. It will be interesting to see these guys progression over the next year. Check out their first single River's Edge that we have streaming for you below.
by
If you or anyone you know about is making a clever racket, then get them to upload their music to the Introducing Uploader.
Elbow
supported by Foy Vance and Villagers
Wednesday the 24th of August 2011
Describe in a Tweet: Head, shoulders, knees and toes. ELBOW!!!
What Happened: The collective misery of wet feet has evaporated from Custom House Sq as we have been invited into Guy Garvey's own little private bar, an establishment were he talks one on one with you, delights with delicious banter, and plays you some of his favourite songs (all Elbow tracks, funnily enough).
From the band's initial toast (to the audience) until their final bow, they have a reverent crowd, sinking and swimming, biting the bait and lapping up every individual song.
Elbow are the masters of light and shade. The emotion that they can convey in one single note, most bands couldn't do in ten. 'The Night Will Always Win' proves that if you strip Elbow back to just a vocal and a piano they can still make you well up like a little girl with a skinned knee.
Villagers
supporting Elbow
Wednesday the 24th fo August 2011
Describe in a Tweet: Honey I think we have been here before.
What Happened: I don't think Villagers have actually left Belfast in the last year, having seemingly played here more in the last 365 days than a lot of our higher profile local acts. A problem arises in that it is easy to compare and contrast these performances, as ATL have been to all of these gigs. Tonight's set bares a striking resemblance to the one they performed when supporting the Fleet Foxes during the Open House Festival... actually it's pretty much exactly the same. If we play out their set like a football match it would go like so: Slow start in the first half, a few hiccups but nothing to complain about at half time. Then they get stuck into the game scoring a blinder with 'Pieces' - the crowd goes wild. They see it fit to try out a few untested numbers, and then seal the deal with a whirlwind strike in the form of 'Ship of Promises'.
Foy Vance
supporting Villagers and Elbow
Wednesday the 24th of August 2011
Describe in a Tweet: We dance for joy with the Vance of the Foy.
What Happened: Foy has ditched the loop station and decided to take on Custom House Sq with full band. This isn't exactly Dylan goes electric but it does take a little minute to adjust. The band fleshes out the tracks, adding subtle undertones and textures, but does so without losing the intimacy that Foy is famed for. Close your eyes during 'Indiscriminate Act of Kindness' and you would be forgiven for thinking that big Van Morrison was back in town. He had a band, and sure didn't he do well for himself?
Tinie Tempah
supported by Yasmin and Maverick Sabre
Monday the 22nd of August2011
Decribe In A Tweet: There’s not a sinner who ain’t dancing to Mr Tempah’s hip-pop rave-up.
What Happened: “Tinie! Tempah!” hollers the DJ, whipping the crowd into, well, not so much a frenzy but more of a collective bounce with a high-energy journey through the past couple of years’ club classics. When Tinie does eventually emerge with his backing band, he strikes an imposing silhouette, hopping around the stage bellowing and rapping like a kid who’s been up past his bedtime on too much caffeine. What really impresses is that beyond his performance, snarling with his biting rap and a few asides about writing the album, is the flamboyant musicianship of the backing band which glues the whole thing together to make it interesting. It’s short and fast, but there’s still room for a double encore which leaves people gagging for that lighters (or smartphones) in the air moment with “Written In The Stars” and, of course, the inevitable “Pass Out”.
Yasmin
supporting Tinie Tempah
Monday the 22nd of August 2011
Describe in a tweet: Squeaky toned popstrel puts her own twist on club classics but falls flat.
What happened: Yasmin makes her appearance, seemingly well aware that the crowd are here for the evening's headliner and not her, pluckily giving it her all, despite a faint sense of ennui in the air. There's nothing wrong with her set from a technical sense; her band and DJ perform well and she's certainly a decent singer in that squawky, Ms Dynamite fast-firing MC kind of way. It's a pity, if anything, as perhaps the big sound doesn't quite translate in the vast open air space, despite how competent she is. Where she really picks up is on the songs which seemingly nod to her London roots and have a two-step, UK garage edge, more specifically in her homage to Shy FX covering the salsa inspired 'Shake Your Body'.
Maverick Sabre
Supporting Yasmin and Tinie Tempah
Monday 22nd of August 2011
Describe In a tweet: Slick vibes and smooth beats from the Irish via Hackney singer.
What happened: In a time of the many Brit-schooled, rasping yet heartfelt female vocalists dominating the charts and reminiscing over the loss of Amy Winehouse, it’s interesting to hear a male voice with that raw, smoky edge. Maverick Sabre provides just that, leaping on as the band and backing vocalist warm up with a slick, jazzy overture. He can certainly sing and it’s a laid back performance brought together by Maverick’s competent charm and constant eye for crowd reactions. Unfortunately though, you’re left wondering why Plan B isn’t here instead such is the immediate comparison between vocal style, performance and songwriting. But while it might not be mesmerizing in its charms, his constant efforts to keep everyone interested save it from being dull.
Main Stage, 9.20pm
Tuesday 23rd of August
Describe in a tweet: We, begrudgingly, tip our hat.
What happened: Despite some cruelly (and some may argue, accurately) labelling The Script as "Westlife with guitars", they seem to have sway over a significant proportion of the population. A cursory glance around the crowd tonight reveals people of all ages dancing and singing along from six to sixty years old, with Danny O'Donoghue controlling the crowd from the very first track with wit, grace and a faultless performance. Yes, the music can be a little repetitive. You won't see any crazy guitar solos, any left field influences or songwriting innovation. Yet what they do, they do with aplomb and should be applauded for that.
Tracks like "The Man Who Can't Be Moved" provide the biggest sing along of the day and you can genuinely feel (not just hear) the roar of the crowd in appreciation. "If You Ever Come Back" has one of those annoyingly clean and simple guitar riffs looped throughout the track that forces its way into your consciousness, only spoiled by the cringeworthy middle eight which appears to be a hallmark of this genre. Ah well. They're crowd pleasing and professional. It's just a shame the tracks themselves are just a bit dull.
Next Stage, 8.45pm
Tuesday 23rd August
Describe in a tweet: The AP-Army represent.
What happened: Just what you'd expect from the most reliable band in the country - big songs, endless interaction and a crowd leaping into the palms of their hands. From the opening bars of 'The Colour Blue', anyone within earshot is intrigued as to what may be in store. As a result, we've the biggest second stage crowd of the day and a lot of people watching their new favourite band.
Main Stage, 8pm
Tuesday 23rd of August
Describe In a tweet: Three Bangor lads come back home.
What happened: "So we're Two Door Cinema Club, and, um, we're from here." This is a homecoming in the true sense of the word - we're regaled with some (probably) unprintable tales of Ward Park from the band between tracks from their debut album, but we're barely given a moment's breath otherwise. 'Undercover Martyn', 'Something Good Can Work' and Kids are reeled off effortlessly with the sheen of a band that has been touring for the past 18 months.
Next Stage, 7.30pm
Saturday 23rd of August
Describe In a tweet: Power ballads, gritty guitars and … John Farnham?!
What happened: Rams' Pocket Radio are full of confidence at the minute and it shows. Peter McCauley clearly enjoys having an enraptured crowd at his disposal and shows that even behind a keyboard you can act like a bit of a rockstar, but by jove does he have the talent to back that swagger up.
Opener "Dogs Run In Packs" is a stunner, hammering piano chords and providing an intense bassline before drifting into, um, classic 1980s pop track, "You're The Voice" for a bit. There's no filler in this set and it never really nosedives in terms of quality during the 30 minute performance. With "Love Is A Bitter Thing" slowing things down a little much to our enjoyment: it's a brave move to bring out such a ballad during a festival appearance but it's one of the strongest tracks within the band's arsenal. It's an intense performance and one that will certainly stick in the memory: with festival appearances at Glasgowbury, Glastonbury and Belsonic under their belt Rams' Pocket Radio have the opportunity to bring their music to the masses, and they're doing their darndest to deliver.
Main Stage, 6.45pm
Saturday 23rd of September
Describe in a Tweet: Fun, even if we're not starry eyed.
What happened: It's always interesting to see how well traditional pop acts transfer to the stage, but Ellie Goulding certainly has the talent. Admittedly with just one released album under her belt, it's a tough job to not play one filler track or two, but with huge singles such as "Starry Eyed" and "Guns and Horses" Goulding is guaranteed to invoke some festival dancing. It's fun, it's inoffensive, and while she won't be changing the world any time soon, her second album promises some more of the same if 'Lights' is anything to go by. The crowd interaction is fairly limited - at best - but it's a composed performance.
I'm Yours: Most pop stars suffer live vocally, but this singer has no fears in that department. In a word, she was wonderful. While a ballad like 'Your Song' may be a bit of a bizarre festival standout, it was an immaculate performance backed up by a few thousand strong amateur choir.
We Cry: 'Human' is a definite low point, a real thumb-twiddler for the crowd. They know the singles well, and 'Starry Eyed' sends the crowd into raptures, but beyond that, it can be a little muted at times.
Rating: 6/10
Next Stage, 6.15pm
Tuesday 23rd of September
Describe in a Tweet: Dark horses for one of the best performances at Vital?
What happened: The last time this reviewer clapped eyes on they were a band trying to find their feet: they had the catchy songs, but were somewhat confused in terms of their sound. Nearly two years on, that same band have become a slick, professional outfit. Opener 'Canada' and 'Lies' are the only remnants of those days, and they deserve to be in this set, alt-rock with a little disco thrown in for good measure, they've stood the test of time. However, it's the newer material that quickens the heart. The intriguing rhythms and dirty basslines remain, but the guitars have a My Bloody Valentine air about them, with distortion and delay on offer for today. 'Harrier' reminds us that they can still write the uber-catchy hooks when need be, but they're more than bubblegum indie rock now. A very, very pleasing performance.
Next Stage, 5pm
Tuesday 23rd of August
Describe in a tweet: A confident performance from the sun kissed pop collective.
What happened: The Wonder Villains' reputation is growing, and deservedly so. This performance was a solid, professional job: there's still the dancing and twirling on stage and the crowd interaction is still there, but musically things have been tightened up significantly. Vocals are still occasionally hit and miss but it's becoming less of an issue and the songs are generally brilliant pieces of pop. While the older tracks such as "TV" and "Space Jam" keep us entertained it's clear to see that the songwriting is growing stronger, with upcoming single "Zola" providing a gently lilting piece of singalong disco pop. There aren't any fireworks, but you're sure to come away with a smile on your face and at least one of those melodies in your head by the end.
Main Stage, 4.30pm
Tuesday 23rd of August
Describe in a tweet: Hey! A singer songwriter!
What happened: There's a mounting crowd at the main stage here at Vital but it doesn't seem to faze Ryan Sheridan. Facing a few hundred people with an acoustic guitar and an able percussionist, Sheridan pulls off a professional performance. There's nothing particularly stunning about the singer-songwriter, getting the crowd moving a little but never really sparking things into life. "All And More" shows off Sheridan's skills on guitar and vocally he doesn't miss a note but there's little to differentiate the man fromMonaghan and countless musicians up and down the country.
Next Stage, 4pm
Tuesday 23rd of August
Describe in a tweet: Genuine promise and some gorgeous songwriting.
What happened: It's a shame there's only 5 people knocking around for the start of 's set as the masses miss a graceful beginning to Tennent's Vital. There's shades of Calexico and the Decemberists in the first track, with relatively simplistic but well chosen accompaniment to the gruff vocals of Christopher McConaghy. It's not all doom and gloom, however. One track we're tentatively titling "Memories" has all of the jaunty hallmarks of Elliott Smith at his peak and it's genuinely enthralling at times. The band never really settle on one solid sound, meandering through genres from track to track, but that keeps it fresh. There's a lot more to come from Our Krypton Son: let's hope there's a few more people watching next time round.
General Fiasco will release a new EP called Waves and tour the UK & Ireland in support this October. The release will be on the 30th of Octoberthrough their new label , which is also home to and
Stuart Bell, previously of Panama Kings, has officially joined the band on this release and for their up coming sophomore album.
The band play a host of datesbegininingOctober the22nd at the Academy Dublin, and ending on October the30th atQueens Student Union, Belfast.
Watch the video for the bands latest single, 'The Age That You Start Losing Friends', which is the lead single of the Waves EP.
Phoenix Fire have officially changed their name to , in time for their first official single release 'Aliigator'on the 26th of September. Posting online, the band stated that, "we began to feel that PHOENIX FIRE simply wasn't the right name for us and the music we were making".
The Belfast basedfive piecewill launch the single at Animal Disco in Aunt Annies, Belfast on Friday the 23rd of September.
Shonen Knife
Black Box, Belfast
17th of August 2011
When you find out that an all-female Japanese three-piece that describe themselves as an "Oo-oo -ultra-eccentric-super-cult-punk-pop-band" is coming to town, you'd be a fool to miss it and sure enough there’s a certain smugness in the air amongst the attendees at the Black Box. People seem to know they were in for something special with subtle grins on their faces that grow wider as the night goes on.
Openers Continuous Battle of Order clamber on to the stage to politely pound ears with an assault of incredibly tight drums and intricate, fast-paced guitar melodies. Their audience is attentive and appreciative, even if listening to math-rock wouldn't be their usual preference for a Wednesday night. There are some lovely melodies within the powerful compositions, and you can't fault the energy they exude, but it's probably not the ideal choice of support for a headline band that specialize in snappy garage pop songs.
Spangle and glitz is soon brought to proceedings by the Osaka three-piece, who take to the stage with their blindingly glossy hair and matching pink and white dresses. They don't waste any time in opening their set with a belter of a garage rock song entitled 'Konnichiwa' from their 1998 album 'Happy Hour'. As they thrash their heads in controlled unison, the audience are already completely captivated, and it's not surprising considering that many of these fans have probably been waiting a whole thirty years to attend their debut Belfast performance.
Sons of Encouragement, Popside Lock, No Matter, Everyday Superheroes
Auntie Annies, Belfast
Wednesday 17th August 2011
There may be no major globe-trotting artist scheduled to play in Auntie Annie’s on Wednesday night, but instead the small crowd which gathers there ends up being treated to a series of great performances from four of Northern Ireland’s own up and coming bands. First up is Sons of Encouragement, a three-piece pop-punk group from Greenisland. They list Ash and Green Day as two of their major influences on Myspace, and both bands can clearly be heard in their songs. There is nothing particularly deep about their music, but they play an enjoyable, if rather short set, and show themselves to have a warm, slightly bonkers stage presence.
Representing Magheralin, Popside Lock is up next. A five piece band, they somehow manage to fit onto the small corner stage, with blond lead singer Cathy Briggs standing a couple of feet in front of her gruffer looking male bandmates. Her softer vocals offer something of a contrast to the often heavy backing. However, she manages to make it work and some of the guitar playing which accompanies her is of truly excellent quality. The band blitz their way through a fairly short set without offering the crowd too much interaction, but everyone seems to enjoy it.
Yet another festival in Northern Ireland that's getting bigger and better is Sunflower Festivaloutside Hillsborough.Now in it's second year, the festival had gorgeous weather on it's side and a line up hosting some of the best local talent on offer with the likes of Cashier No. 9, Not Squares, Rupture Dogs, Mojo Fury, Silhouette and many more.
We sent our roving reporter Scott Edgar, tent in hand, to check out the weekend shenanigans on the Saturday and Sunday. Better late than never! Fill us in on Fridays happenings if you were there!
**
It's Monday moring and my face hurts. Partly I suppose it's the sunburn but also it may be the huge grin that's been plastered across my face all weekend. Organisers, bands, volunteers, and everyone else involved in Sunflower Fest, stand up and take a bow. You've just put on one absolute belter of a festival.
Of course, to say any gig was completely perfect would be nonsense and there were times during Saturday evening when the lineup grew a little stale with big chords over 4/4 beats as generic rock band followed generic rock band. The trek up to the campfire stage was a killer in flimsy soled converse and there were a few head melters around oblivious to their surroundings and having a bit of misplaced craic during the quieter sets -but sure it's a festival, and the good by far outweighed the bad.
Henry Rollins
The Empire, Belfast
21st August 2011
Not to sound like dribbling crazy fans in any way, but Henry Rollins is The Man - in fact, he invented the very concept of “The Man” just so he could be it, and judging by the packed out Empire for his spoken word appearance, we’re not the only ones who think so.
In full-on storytelling mode, he starts off as expected with the tale of the recent release of the West Memphis 3, a cause he has devoted a lot of time, effort and money to over the past 17years. It’s clear that as well as being a man of many words he is a man of action and won’t shy away from a struggle, especially if it’s in the name of what he believes is right. As he says himself, “If you stay on something hard enough, you can make some change,” and in this case it’s clearly paid off.
has been announced to take place in L'Derrybetween the 9th and 11th of September. The festival will have music, spoken word, recitals andcomedy across various spots in the city.
The main musical part of the festival will take place at Prehen House on Saturday the 10th of September with sets from Jinx Lennon, John Deery and the Heads, Paddy Nash and the Happy Enchiladas, Connor Kelly & Red Medicine, Technopeasantand many more.
There will be poets, writers and comedians including Kevin McAleer, Owen O'Neill, The Poetry Chicks, Garbhan Downey and Jason Johnson.
For all the information visit .
Festivals are as much about catching something new as they are about going to see your favourite headliner. Tennants Vital begins tomorrow, with plenty of Northern Irish talent peppered throughout the two days, and we're hoping some folk might be pleasantly surprised by some of the musical offeringsthis little corner of the world has to offer.
With that in mind, we'd like to hear about the time you stumbled upon a band you'd previously never heard or cared for, but cemeneted themselves as a favourite after catching them unexpectedly? Hit us up on / or you can text 81771 after 8pm tonight. Here's team ATL's picks...
****
Kraftwerk - Benicassim 2004
(Rigsy - ATL Presenter)
This may sound ridiculous, but I'd never given Kraftwerk much time before seeing them play Benicassim in 2004. Of course I knew who they were and had enjoyed a handful of songs, but I wasn't enough of a fan to have them on my 'must see' list for the festival. I attended their set by default (there was nothing else on), only to be completely blown away, utterly spellbound by every glorious note of music and creepy move they made during an astonishing 90 minute set. I'd downloaded their entire back catalogue within moments of arriving back in Belfast, long before I unpacked.
Beady Eye
supported by General Fiasco and Fight Like Apes
Saturday the 20th of August 2011
Describe in a Tweet: Back so soon? Or is that deja-vu again?
What happened: Not every band could create such yearning for a return performance so soon after an Ulster Hall sell out – but not every band is led by Liam Gallagher who, on evidence of a crowd largely indifferent prior to his arrival, is the sole draw for most. Although this is detrimental to the supports, the expected mania that then greets Beady Eye carries a rather automated, routine show bearing little difference to their recent visit.
As with before, the high-points arrive in a flying first half. 'Four Letter Word', 'Bring The Light' and 'Beatles & Stones' are venomous mod shuffles and 'Kill For A Dream' is a touching sing-along but the playschool psychedelia and insistent dullness that fills the remainder gets seriously tiresome, even for the most religious Liam-alikes. Covering 'Sons of the Stage' is a clever throwback to close on but an all round uneven setlist sets it up to fall flat on drained ears.
Different Gear: Vocally Liam's in top shape and ex-Robbie drummer Chris Sharrock's stick juggling acrobatics behind the kit steals Gallagher's thunder on more than a few occasions.
Still Speeding: Fans anticipating a 'repeat performance' probably didn't mean a word for word duplicate show. Either mix it up a bit or leave it a bit longer next time.
Belsonic Rating: 6
General Fiasco
supporting Beady Eye
Saturday the 20th of August 2011
Describe in a Tweet: Heavy on the new stuff, not that anyone really seems that bothered
What Happened: One might expect General Fiasco's youthful brand of neatly trimmed guitar popto be at odds with a mass of rowdy Gallagher disciples, especially considering the late withdrawal of indie revival darlings The Vaccines. It doesn't help that many remain uninformed of their absence and make their dissatisfaction with the replacements explicitly clear.
It's hardly an essential set from Fiasco though, more a transitional one with the standard fare of hits from their debut now brushing alongside newly written material for an EP expected in October. All four new songs we're treated to sound likely to sit fairly comfortably alongside the familiar Fiasco canon of big indie disco drums and even bigger choruses. Not a departure in any sense then, but perfectly acceptable when they're as sharply written as this. We'd like to hear some recordings though before our minds are totally made up.
Different Gear: Owen's unaccompanied take on 'Sinking Ships' rarely fails to hit the spot and even with the scorn of disapproving Liam-heads bearing down on us we can't resist not singing along.
Still Speeding: Even 'Ever So Shy' fails to ruffle the feathers of all the peacock suits on show. Perhaps a more 'apt' replacement would've fared better overall.
Belsonic Rating: 7
Fight Like Apes
supporting Beady Eye and General Fiasco
Saturday 20th of August 2011
Describe in a Tweet: Not Giving A Monkeys #101
What Happened: Of a support bill contesting with not the most open-minded of crowds, Dublin synth loonies Fight Like Apes in particular seem to be greeted with an alien's welcome. Granted the only similarity they might share with tonight's headliners is their resourceful use of four letter words whenever necessary. Always useful whether for 'urging' people forward or humiliating a heckler, we'll admit MayKay's fluency with the colourful language to be impressive if nothing else. But even more impressive is the fighting form we find her in, thrashing and shuffling about the stage to a wonderful mess of profanity and violent keyboard sounds.
After a particularly hilarious exchange with a critical crowd member, they launch into 'Lend Me Your Face', scathing and invigorated, almost deploying it as weaponry. This is all before 'Jake Summers' too, announcing “You'll probably like this one”, before she reverts “You'll probably not, but you know what I mean!” We think we do. Wait, do we?
Different Gear: There's being in the belly of the beast then there's taking a bite of the beast's burger as we see MayKay joining her hecklers down the front and literally sharing a bap that's shoved her way. Fearless hunger, ladies and gentlemen.
Still Speeding: Newer offerings just don't seem to cut as deeply, with 'Flapes' still at their best in the abrupt, cacophonous stabs dotted throughout.
Belsonic Rating: 8
Primal Scream
supported by Andrew Weatherall and Cashier No. 9
Friday 19th of August 2011
Describe in a Tweet: What’s the right word... joyous or joyful?
What happened: Anticipation was getting feverish until the main act took the stage. Tonight was Belfast’s turn to get the Screamadelica treatment as the band tour the album that made them massive (and the maiden Mercury Music Prize winner),20 years after it was released. Out they strode with Bobby Gillespie, as thin as his own shadow, asking the crowd if they were ready to hear him testify... they were.
Opening with the album’s first track, ‘Movin’ On Up’, the band took no time at all to find their feet. Assured as you’d expect from such veterans they hammered through most of the classic album to a crowd determined to enjoy themselves. There was a bit of a lull in enthusiasm as the trippy ‘I’m Coming Down’ sort of washed over the crowd but it wasn’t long before the sax riff from ‘Higher Than the Sun’ was transporting a few people back to a different place and time.
Not long after, they broke into ‘Loaded’ which had a reaction best described as ‘berserk’. And soon, arms were aloft with ‘Come Together’ ringing out and the band seemed genuinely touched as the Belsonic crowd’s own extended a cappella choruses were sung in a blissful refrain back to them. Rounding the set off with some more Scream singalongs, ‘Country Girl’ and ‘the big riffing ‘Rocks’ were a fitting end to a great gig.
Movin' On Up: Watching a massive age range of people getting their rocks off to tunes which sound as good as they did 20 years ago.
Damaged: No real complaints to take home after this gig... although Bobby Gillespie’s suit was awful!
Belsonic Rating: 8/10
Andrew Weatherall
supporting Primal Scream
Friday 19th of August 2011
Describe in a Tweet: The wonderful DJ of Oz
What happened: With no ceremony, the main brain behind Primal Scream’s Screamadelica came to the stage and gave us 90mins of quality tuneage. The major shame though, was that his low key performance was lost on such a big stage. There was no doubting the quality of the music he played, with each and every song being a blinder with this reviewer’s highlight being the luxuriant choral version of Dr. John’s ‘I Walk On Gilded Splinters’. But he tucked himself away in a barely visible corner of the stage and provided very high quality background music to the people in the queue for the bar whilst the road crew built the stage for tonight’s headliners.
Movin On Up: The sheer range of styles Weatherall played not only sat comfortably with one another
Damaged: A lack of ‘performance’. Sitting almost invisibly and playing in anonymity, there was no reason he couldn’t have swapped with Cashier No.9 who would have entertained the crowd much more.
Belsonic Rating: 6/10
Cashier No.9
supporting Andrew Weatherall and Primal Scream
Friday 19th of August 2011
Describe in a Tweet: Defying the chill and holding off the rain with melodic muscle.
What Happened: On what must have been the wintriest August night in Belfast for a long time, there was a demand for sunny pop tunes to warm up the early-comers at Belsonic and all the young’uns who came out to see the Cashier boys were given well rewarded. Taking to the stage while the crowd are scattered and thinned out can be testing and unrewarding, but there was a noticeable surge towards the stage once the boys arrived on stage and slung the guitars on.
Onstage the band looked a little jaded; possibly from extensive touring and playing to moreand more captive audiences. They were note perfect but lacked a little verve and took until their third song, newest single ‘Lost At Sea’, until they got going. After that it was plain sailing as their lush harmonies and well structured and layered melodies carried them through to the end of a very good set, ending on Goodbye Friend which embodied all that’s good about the band; a skew-whiff guitar riff, unmatched pop sensibilities and a great sense of quirkiness without any annoyingness.
Movin' On Up: An accomplished set from a band who get better and better, and are deserving of the bigger audience to go with tonight’s big stage.
Damaged: They lacked a little bit of verve and dynamism onstage tonight.
Belsonic Rating: 7/10
The will stop at the G Sessions in The Cellar Bar, Draperstown on Saturday the 10th of September. Ram's Pocket Radio, Intermission, Our Krypton Son and Mojo GoGo have all been choosen to play the gig.
As previously reported,thetour kicks of at The Limelight/Kay Dalys, Belfaston Wednesday the 7th of September with Morning Claws, Bomb City 7, Southern, Phoenix Fire, Amidships, Seven Summits and Brightfalls.
For the full details of the tour visit .
Welcome to 'That New Band Smell'. Please make yourself at home, pull up a chair and settle in and please keep your shoes on. The only thing we would like to smell in this blog is boxfresh beats not farm fresh feet, thank you. Here are your three musical entree's, please enjoy and once again, keep your shoes on!
****
Red Light Inferno - I Design This fake life
Flame retardant rock from Letterkenny.
Laid back synthetic beats that are smoother than Cassanova's pick up lines.
- Vanity
Hello Moon are a Dublin four piece signed to the Any Other City Records label. They were brought to the attention of ATL by fellow Dub scallywags and like their capital city counterpoints they know their way around a pop song. It's that class indie pop sound, the sort made famous by Rough Trade and Creation in the 80's and 90's. It's chiming, jangly, reverb on the vocals and choruses to ride into battle. As a self professed indie fop it tickles me in ways that make me feel so, so right.
by
***
If you're in a band get in contact with us and let us hear what your packing. Visit the
Carrickfergus based electronic producer Chris Mc Keown has this week scored a number one hit album on one of the world's leading electronic digital download stores. Under the name 2nd Mouse, his second album in as many years calledExpert Tiger, Mediocre Troll , has charted alongside the likes of Matthew Dear, Surgeon and Mount Kimbie.
Writing on his Chris stated, "I have absolutely NO idea whatsoever how this has happened, or for how long this wave will continue, but I'd be lying through my teeth if I said I wasn't enjoying it. It's not about money, because money is here and gone tomorrow..What concerns me much more is the currency of reputation and recognition."
Check out this weeks ATL Dance Show from midnight on Friday to hear some previews.
The officially launched today with more acts announced including Shlomo, Minotaur Shock, Eliza Carthy, The Salt Flats, Pat Dam Smyth, Billy Braggand Tinariwen.
Concerts previously announced for the October festival include Elvis Costello, KT Tunstall, Patrick Wolf andJan Garbarek. Now in it's 49th year, the festival will take place from the 14th to the 30th of October across Belfast.
Check out the full music programme for the festival at .
Wednesday 17th August
support by Example and Wretch 32
Describe in a Tweet: A tale of two halves.
What happened: In the end a decent performance, but one which opens with instant disappointment. We appreciate it's hard to keep a bunch of session musicians on the road, but the last time ATL saw Dizzee he had a full live band. Tonight it's just him, an MC, the DJ and a couple of guest vocalists. Daft to complain too much, mind - it makes for a grimier, old-skool performance we may have missed otherwise. The likes of 'I Luv U' and the Chase & Status produced 'Dirty' work best in the circumstances, proper filthy. New song 'Bassline Junky' suggests album number five will take him full circle. For the opening twenty minutes Dizzee is a grime superstar once again.
Then it's all about what made him massive. 'Holiday' could be the most cynical piece of music ever written, but there's no arguing with it's reaction tonight. Total bedlam, even before the inevitable 'Bonkers' finale.
Looks Sharp: 'Fix Up Look Sharp' still sounds incredibly fresh, tonight tweaked a little with some snazzy DJ acrobatics.
Needs Fixed Up: 'Dance Wiv Me', much like all of his four number ones, sounds over-played at this point, featuring as it has in every DJ set the world has heard in the last three years (or so it feels). Hardly Dizzee's fault, mind.
Belsonic Rating: 7/10
Photo: Carrie Davenport
Wednesday 17th August
supporting Dizzee Rascal
Describe in a Tweet: Now you're talking. Or rapping. Over big synths.
What happened: Example won us over 24 hours ago, tweeting about Belfast shower heads, cheap cinema tickets in the city centre and how he'd turned down six invites to parties (probably) taking place in the Holy Lands.
He's a good lad and he knows exactly what we want - daft party music to wake us up and help us enjoy the most straight-up 'fun' line up Belsonic has this year. 'See the Sea' is an early hint of what's to come - big electro with built in hands-in-the-air. Festival fodder, sure, but we're more than happy to lap up.
Looks Sharp: The likes of 'Watch The Sun Come Up' and 'Kickstarts' are just belter pop songs. Formulaic, some might say, but why be so cynical? We may not remember these tracks in ten years time but just now we're having truckloads of fun as Custom House Square comes alive.
Needs Fixed Up: Hearing Example exclaim 'that's all the s*** songs out of the way, lets play the good ones now' half way through his set was a little….rare. Why waste our time with "s***"?!
Belsonic Rating: 7/10
Wednesday 17th August
supporting Example and Dizzee Rascal
Describe in a Tweet: Safe. And not in a good way.
What happened: Wretch 32 seemed vaguely edgy, spiking up the type of poppy hip hop that is all too familiar to the listeners of daytime radio. About to top the charts with 'Don't Go', having them open day two of Belsonic was quite a coup. On paper, an absolute belter of a gig. As it turns out, we're presented with watered down lame-hop you could set your bling-less watch to.
Looks Sharp: 'Traktor', were it all started, is a bouncing, surfy little gem and shines brightly tonight. A track that promised so much.
Needs Fixed Up: What was the point of that slight reworking of '99 Problems'? Hip hop karaoke? And sampling a band like The Script wasn't what the beats n' rhyme forefathers had in mind.
Besonic Rating: 5/10
We are very happy to be able to announce the last remaining acts fornext week's .
The Next Stage will showcase a host of Irish talent, and we can reveal that Not Squares, Our Krypton Son, Eatenbybears, SertOne and Dead 'Til Friday will now be on board for the gigs in on August 23 and 24th.
Already announced for the second stage were A Plastic Rose, RAM's Pocket Radio, Yes Cadets, Wonder Villains and the Original Rude Boys. Tickets for day 2 of the festival, to be headlined by Eminem have already sold out. The Script, Two Door Cinema Club, Ellie Goulding, Ryan Sheridan and the Wombats will play the main stage on Day 1.
The line up for the Next Stage, which has been curated by Oh Yeah, Introducing, ATL and Third Baris as follows...
Day 1. Next Stage (August 23rd)
Day 2 . Next Stage (August 24th)
The have announced the details of their Belfast date on Wednesday the 7th of September. The showcase will take over both the Limelight and the adjacent Katy Daly's bar in Belfast.
Katy Daly's
8:30 - 9 - TBC
9:15 - 9:45 - Morning Claws
10 -10:30 - Brightfalls
10:45 - 11:15 - Seven Summits
The Limelight
8:45 - 9:15pm - Phoenix Fire
9:30 - 10.00 - Amiships
10:15- 10:45 - Southern
11 - 11:30 - Bomb City 7
As previously reported, the Irish Music Rights Organisation's Showcase Tour will take in 12 dates around the island before hte 'Best of IMRO Tour 2011' at the Workmans Club, Dublin on Saturday the 22nd of October.
Tuesday 16th August
Describe in a Tweet : Thirty Seconds to Mars, bring their crowd pleasing Stadium rock to Belfast.
supported by You Me At Six and Ram's Pocket Radio
What Happened: The lights come down on a capacity crowd as tonight's headliners Thirty Seconds to Mars take to the stage. The crowd erupts in a wave of adoration and applause for a band that has earned their spot on the world stage and seems thoroughly pleased to be playing in Belfast. The set is technically flawless, however it begins to wane when Jared Leto takes to the stage armed with an acoustic guitar to make his way through a significant chunk of the band's back catalogue on his own.
The rest of the band joins Leto to bring the gig to a conclusion, welcoming a large number of their fans to the stage to sing their final song of the night, ‘Kings and Queens’, whilst simultaneously playing Pantera's ‘Cowboys from Hell’. It becomes quite apparent that Leto is a trained actor, and despite his apparent "passion", may be subscribing to Rockstar 101.
Saviour:The band play a technically very impressive set.
This Is War: The set seemed to be somewhat phoned in.
Tuesday 16th August
supporting Thirty Seconds To Mars
Describe in a Tweet: You Me at Six, take Belsonic in their stride.
What happened: ܰ’s appear on stage radiating confidence, and rightly so: the band are seasoned pro's, and having played to sellout crowds for the past two years, they are in their element in front of the Belfast crowd. The band soars through an effortless set never missing a beat, each song lapped up by an adoring crowd. Hits such as ‘Stay With Me’ and ‘Save it for the Bedroom’ ensure that the crowd sing along and get involved with a band that most definitely appreciate where they are and how hard they have worked to get there. They leave in their wake a thoroughly satisfied crowd, ready for the headlining act of the evening.
Saviour: The band is immense fun and thoroughly appreciates their audience.
This Is War: They didn’t play a long enough set!
Belsonic Rating: 8/10
Tuesday 16th August
supporting Thirty Seconds To Mars and You Me at Six
Describe in a Tweet – grown talent receives a warm reception.
What happened - Rams Pocket Radio take to the stage and launch into a stellar set as a the crowd begins to fill custom house square. The band plays their heart out and are definitely not lacking in passion. Fresh from playing Glastonbury the band are technically spot on, their set does turn a few a heads and I dare say win them a fair few new fans. A stand out song of their set was "Dieter Rams Got The Pocket Radio". The band leaves the stage satisfied that they have played a killer set.
Saviour: The band plays passionately and enjoys every second.
This Is War: Some sound difficulties take away from an otherwise great set.
Belsonic Rating:7/10
Young Kildare native ambient electronic artist, , has signed a deal with Street Quality Entertainment, which ishome to Audrey Napoleon, Data Romance, DJ Fresh, DJ Skeet Skeet, Rusko and Sam Spiegel.
Moths, aka Jack Colleran, posted online that, "
Jumping Orbit have decided to call it a day, with the announcement of their last ever gig at the Cellar Bar, Draperstown on the 3rd of September.
The mid-Ulster lads formed in 2007 aftermeeting at school in Maghera. They released two EPsand their latest single, came out in March.
Visit the bands official wesbite at
has just been added to the NSPCC Fundraver at Queens Student's Union, Belfast on Saturday the 20th of August.
The charitynight will be hosted by some of Belfast's finest house and techno DJ's including:
Psycatron
Timmy Stewart
Danny Simpson
Chris McCormick
Twitch
One Dj's
Nez
Doors open at 10pm with last entry at 12:30am.
As reported yesterday, The Vaccines have indeed pulled out of their Show on Saturday the 20th of August. The London based band were due to support Beady Eye at the Belfast festival.
"Doctors' concerns about Justin's voice", are cited as the reason for cancelling the Belfast date.
However, mid-Ulster indie rockers, , will now replace the Vaccines on the bill this Saturday.
Mark Kozelek
Black Box, Belfast
Saturday 13th of August 2011
When Mark Kozelek last played Belfast in 2007 his performance resulted in the exquisite live album, 7 Songs Belfast. Clearly, such an honour hasn't been lost on his devoted Northern Irish contingent: whether more partial to his music with Red House Painters in the 1990s, or his solo material as Sun Kil Moon, a crammed Black Box eagerly awaits Kozelek's return.
As expected, the stage set-up tonight is understated, a chair, nylon-string guitar and mic punctuating a pitch-black stage from which Kozelek eventually emerges. But while he receives a rapturous reception, sound problems and Kozelek's severe criticism of the sound guy swiftly mar the sentiment. Undoubtedly, the atmosphere is already an uncomfortable one and when 'Up To My Neck' is finally summoned it's tricky determining Kozelek's frame of mind.
Fighting With Wire
Animal Disco at Aunt Annies, Belfast
Friday the 12th fo August
It's been quite a while since headlined a gig in Belfast, and the crowd is clearly rather happy to have them back. Both band and crowd are revved up from the start, and proceedings kick off with a helluva bang as they unleash a cracking, unrelenting rendition of ‘Into The Ground’.
It's increasingly difficult to discuss Fighting With Wire without making some rather obvious references to the likes of Nirvana, the Foo Fighters and even Weezer on certain tracks. And yes, they may not be inventing the wheel, and it may even feel a bit like a throwback to the 90s era of post-grunge rock at times, but - good grief! - they do it rather well.
They're tight, but have just enough messy rawness to keep us on our toes, knowing just how to milk the crowd and just how far to go with it. They take to the stage like they own it, but never lack engagement with the audience. The singles from their debut album Man Vs Monster are bona fide classics of the local music scene and go down a storm. Indeed, at times it’s difficult to hear frontman Cahir O’Doherty over the volume of the crowd singing along with him. And the new album certainly sounds like it’ll serve up more of the same when we finally get to hear it, with Cahir assuring us that it will be soon, it’s just held up by red tape and a few other things that don’t bear repeating.
Relentlessly loud and stupidly catchy rock, endless amounts of energy, and the best of craic from Cahir - a Fighting With Wire show might be familiar territory by now, but they always deliver.
Orla Graham
The Body & Soul mini festival, within , have announced the line up for their weekend of acts. No strangers to the ATL playlist, acts like Halves, Henrietta's Game, Daithi, Gorgeous Colours, Moths, Solar Bears, Tieranniesaur, Si Schroeder, James Vincent McMorrow, Patrick Kelleher and many more will play on various stages.
Main Stage will host:
Black Devil Disco Club
Brandt Brauer Frick
Austra
C.W. Stoneking
The Dublin indie rockers return to the Empire, Belfaston November 27th. The guys last played the Empire back in April.
Damon Albarn, Tony Allen, Flea, Fatoumata Diawara, Phil Cohran, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Theo Parrish, Actress and more feature as part of Honest Jon's Chop Up at the on Friday the 28th of October and at Vicar St , Dublin on Tuesday November the 1st .
Meanwhile, will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of their self titled debut album at The Academy, Dublinon the 10th of November.
Psychedelic indiepoptrio, Foster ThePeople, have pulled out of the first day of Tennants Vital on Tuesday the 23rd of August.
The LA based band announced, ""We are deeply saddened that we have to cancel our appearance at Tennent’s Vital. We have been looking forward to the festival all year long but have been forced to cancel for reasons beyond our control. Please know that we are extremely eager to get back to you guys very soon and are currently working to schedule dates as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience and hope to see each of you very soon". There are no reports that theband have cancelled their commitments to the Electric Picnic Festival in early September.
Monaghan singer-songwriter will now play that day in support of The Script, The Wombats, Ellie Goulding and Two Door Cinema Club at Ward Park, Bangor.
We're all over the festivals this weekend (, and Festivals to be specific), that goes without saying. Our gig of the week, however, is one for those of you who don't fancy standing in a field.
Sunday night at Sandinos, Derry, should be very pleasant indeed. The track 'Catalonian Love Song' from has become one of our faves of the entire year, and an opportunity to see it performed live is not to be missed.
Over to Chris from the band: "Its gonna be a great night. The ridiculously talented will be treating us to new stuff from his forthcoming album with support from alt country bandits The Holy Innocents. It'll be a pleasure to share the bill with them."
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Conor Mason, eh? The Holy Innocents? Great bill. Perfect for a soothing Sunday evening!
Conor Mason, and play Sandinos, Derry on Sunday night.
A number of video's from Northern Irish bands have been posted online in the last while. The most recent being stop motionvideo for their song, 'Lost At Sea', taking in the sights of Belfast and Danny Todd in an old school diving suit.
Meanhwile, Ram's Pocket Radio has finallygot avideo to go along with his much lauded single, . The video was directed by who has previously made video's for Mojo Fury, Clown Parlour, Silhouette and Aaron Shanley.
F***ing Roadtrip, Empty Lungs
Bunatee Bar, Queens Students Union, Belfast
Friday the 12th of August
After a last minute shift of venue, the good folks of, ahem, "Effing" Roadtrip have finally set up camp in the Bunatee Bar at Queen’s Student Union. A temporary PA has been constructed slap-bang in the middle of the floor, and various artsy and affected types float around the room.
Across the Line has turned up unfashionably early, ie. in time to catch the opening act. Empty Lungs, encompassing members from the Lobotomies, Snitch, and Bomb City 7, play ponk rawk, as you’d imagine. Only in this case it’s a refreshing break from the more cartoonish spit and safety pins norm. Empty Lungs owe more to the American post-hardcore bands of the turn of the century, Rival Schools and Glassjaw the first names coming to mind.
There’s a refreshing lack of pretence, the band managing to rise above the sometimes ‘whiney’ nature of this genre by steadfastly refusing to sing in an American accent, the lyrics delivered in a formidable, yet tuneful Ulster gulder. There’s a convincing racket delivered by the three piece, melodic and competently played. Some of the local buzz bands could definitely learn from Empty Lungs’ example – learning your instruments is not selling out, and ‘tune’ is not a dirty word.
have released their festival timetable today, which shows the break down of all the stages. The festival takes place this Saturday, the 20th of August at Ballymully Cottage Farm, Limavady.
The likes of Rainy Boy Sleep, Key of Atlas, The Gorgeous Colours, Lantern For A Gale, Intermission and more will play across the day. Turin Brakes will headline the Main Stage, with Bomb City 7 wrapping up the 'Karma Valley Stage' and Colin Geddis providing the last laughs at the 'Garden Shed Stage'.
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kicks off tomorrow in Belfast with Thirty Seconds To Mars taking centre stage. The Jared Leto (actor in American Pyscho, Requiem for a Dreamand loads more) fronted emo rock band have sold out their Belsonic appearance at Custom House Square.
It got us thinking of that old chestnut; actors who see themselves as budding musicians/ musicians who try to act. Cananybody master both art forms?We'll leave the decision onwhether Jared Leto has managed thatup to you! But here are some of our picks of the best cross over musician/actor or actor/musican!
Hit us up on / or you can text 81771 after 8pm tonight. Here's team ATL's picks...
Sean Combs - Get him To the Greek
(Rigsy - ATL Presenter)
P Diddy has been hit and miss musically since day one and, after one too many name changes, comes across as....well, a wee bit of a tube. However, judging by his (surprisingly substantial) role in 'Get Him to The Greek', in which he steals the show from Russell Brand, he's actually a bit of a legend. Self deprecating, impressively daft and just very funny indeed - who'd have thunk it?!
It's like opening your Christmas presents in front of Santa.
Last Thursday, ATL spent a couple of hours in a room with Gary Lightbody (and a few others!) listening to the new album. Gary, clearly very excited and proud of his band's sixth record, had decided to use a playback as an excuse to get the beers in and chat with friends, a few family members and….well, the likes of us. Good fun, but more than a little intimidating. What if we don't dig what we hear? What happens then?!
Such a relief then - we end up completely floored. I was physically buzzing, a little teary at points. Honestly folks - and I know some of you are thinking I'd have said something similar regardless - it's an astonishing record. I'm not daft enough to say it's my favourite Snow Patrol album after a single listen, but it's definitely the most instant collection of songs I've heard by anyone in a very long time.
My favourite album of all time is 'Let It Come Down' by .
Most laugh and exclaim it's not even the best Spiritualized record, but I love it for two reasons - it's massive and it's simple. At the same time. Not easy. The production is kitchen-sink BIG but the songs are welcoming and lyrically approachable.
I kept thinking about that album on Thursday evening.
So, 'Fallen Empires'. There's a belter of an opener, during which they out-U2 U2 (the only real comparison you could draw to that band on the entire album I hasten to add). There's unashamed love songs, orchestral majesty and a pretty track called 'All I wanted from Life' (or something similar) that contains the line 'Ireland in the World Cup, either North or South'.
There's at least three proper sing-alongs, loads of female vocals and a weird psychedelic outro. Just a load of incredible songs, really. And I disagreed with people at the playbackwho said it's a mad departure and doesn't really sound like what we'd expect from a Snow Patrol album. It's a step up in quality once again, sure, but it's still the same band. Clearly.
'Final Straw' was Gary stumbling upon hit singles, shifting Snow Patrol out of obscurity. 'Eyes Open' was Final Straw x10 and, as a result, the band became one of the biggest in the world. 'A Hundred Million Suns' was comparatively experimental, perhaps made by folk keen to deviate a little.
But 'Fallen Empires'….Snow Patrol have arguably made the record they wanted to make all along. Freeing themselves from everything that comes from sudden stardom, ignoring the daft, but inevitable criticism that rears its head when a band start selling outarenas, it's the sound of a band locking themselves away and creating a record to make themselves, ahead of everyone else, feel proud. We'll follow, naturally enough.
Such exciting times, then. Turns out they're only getting started.
Molten Magazine Launch gig with Red Enemy, Mental Deficiency and Dead Til Friday
The Limelight, Belfast
Thursday the 11th of August 2011
A rather sweaty Limelight is home to the launch of new metal magazine Molten tonight. It’s like a metal fashion show, with an array of band t-shirts making up the uniform for the crowd, many of them sporting tees in honour of tonight’s headliners.
First on are ATL favourites. Their bouncy tunes seem infused with a little more growl than usual, rising to the event and the metal loving crowd. Their EP track ‘Water’ goes down best this evening, a tune that is just impossible not to sing along to. Frontman Adam McKee rather dramatically leaps from the stage during a rocking cover of ‘California Love’, which we have to admit we like much more than the original. Unfortunately he loses points on the landing, with a little more of him hitting the floor than we’re guessing he intended. Epic fall aside, he doesn’t miss a note and bounces back up to finish the tune. For such a young band these guys have the stage presence of seasoned pros.
Havana House Party, Ginxed, Kami Kids, Heavy Set Bayonet
Aunt Annies, Belfast
Tuesday the 9th of August 2011
As they bound on stage in the seemingly cavernous Auntie Annie’s, it’s clear that Derry lads Heavy Set Bayonet are a little nervous and appear to have some timing issues. Despite this they have some great tracks on show to impress the handful of punters lingering round the venue. Throughout the set the band seem to relax a little, and it pays off. “This Again” is a great showcase for their song writing talents, combining frantic electro riffs, (certainly reminiscent of local giants Two Door Cinema Club) and hooky Alex Turner-esque vocals. With more sure-footed live performances in the future I’m sure they can go a long way.
Kami Kids commence their performance tonight with a new song that begins with some simple percussion, but then builds into a crescendo of electro pop goodness featuring two vocalists, lead guitar, drums, keys and synths. Despite some intermittent sound difficulties with the keys that leave some songs sounding a little bare, it’s a solid set. “Candide” is probably their most reputable tune of the night, and right from the opening notes it demands your attention, delicately showering us with refreshingly thought-provoking lyrics. There is plenty more to look forward to with a new E.P on the cards for later this year.
Music industy group, Fast Forward NI (FFWD NI), will host a free talk on International Music Markets at the Black Box, Belfast on Monday the 5thof September.
One of the focuses of the event will beon Northern Irish acts hoping to play at international showcases and trade fairs like and , with information on the application process, selection, planning & preparation, budgeting, the visa process etc.There will also beadvice for bands who want to secure deals with international labels, management companies, agents and media.
Speakers include:
Una Johnston - UK & Ireland Representative, SXSW
Javier Lopez - UK Representative, Reed MIDEM
Phil Patterson - UKTI Music Specialist Representatives of PPL and PRS will also attend the event.
The event takes place at the Black Box from 2pm to 5pm. Admission is free but places are limited to please resever your place be emailing info@ffwdni.comwith the subject title 'International Music Events'.
The Bonnevilles will 'support' Henry Rollins at the Crane Lane Theatre, Cork on Tuesday 23rd of August. However the Lurgan basedblues rockers will play after Rollin's spoken word set.
will also perform at the Empire, Belfast on Sunday 21st of August as part of his spoken word tour.
will release their second album,Depths,on the 5th of September. The post punk/hardcore three piece recorded the 8 track album at Einstein Studios.
They will launch the album on Thursday the 8th of September at the Menagerie, Belfast. The free gig will have the and in support.
Sunflower Festival, which takes place in Hillsborough from the 19th to the 21st of August, has announced it's full line up and day break down on the official site, . The Friday night will be headlined by , Saturday night by and Sunday night by and
Recent changes to the line up include Clown Parlour pulling out, but Pat Dam Smyth being added to Fridays line up and LevityBreaks now opening the main stage on Saturday.
This is the second year of thefestival. Therewillbe three stages with a variety ofdifferent actsand a Reggae Corner.
The line up for this year's has been announced with four Northern Irish Acts in the fold including , , and. One hundred acts will play across 6 venues in Dublin on the 6th, 7th and 8th of October.
The schedule is yet to be released, but the gigs will take place in the Button Factory, The Workmans Club, Grand Social, The Mercantile, Shebeen Chic and Twisted Pepper.
The Answer have announced the details of their new album, Revival, which is set to be released on the 3rd of Octoberthrough Spinefarm/Universal Records. The third album from the Downpatrickrockers will have an initiallimited edition run"with a 24-page booklet and band sleeve-notes, plus an 11-track second disc containing previously unreleased studio, acoustic, demo and cover material", according to .
The first single from the album called Vida (I Want You) will be out on September 5th.
The tracklisting for the release goes as follows:
And So I Watch You From Afar have confirmed they will play this year's Electric Picnic festival on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of September. The lads played the festival to a packed tent last year (read the 9/10 ATL review).
Also added to the bill at Stradbally, Co. Laois are The Vaccines, Jape, Cry before Dawn, Oh Land, Gordon Gano & the Ryans, The Jezebals, Esben & the Witch, James Chance & les Cortortions, The Minutes, Somadrone, Dakota 66 and Bitches With Wolves.
Lots of Northern Irish acts have been added to this year's on the 26th, 27th and 28th of August. The event will take place at the brewery in Lisburn with two stages hosting 20 acts.
Friday
Doghouse / Nasa Assassin / Last Known Addiction
Saturday
Lee Hedley Band / Phoenix Fire / Silhouette / Dead Presidents / The Hard Chargers / Clown Parlour / Paul Shevlin / Naoimh O'Hagan / Chris Campbell / Dan Bardon
Sunday
The Farriers / Sons of Caliber / Master and Dog / 1930's / Inishowen Gospel Choir / Ben Glover / Anthony Toner / Aaron Shanley / Allie Bradley / Junior Johnson
The odour is so bad in this week’s New Band Smell that you can actually taste the stink. Fear not though, for it isn’t a repulsive smell but more one of potent freshness. This week we shake down the dance floor with two dance artists and then pause in reflection with a beautiful acoustic track. Enjoy!
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Deadmau5 meets Daft Punk in Donegal. Really promising new dance artist.
Twisted ambient dance from The Lambing Season drummer. Check out his live show It's awesome!
Alice Porter is a 16 year old singer-songwriter from just outside Holywood. She began playing and writing music at the very tender age of 13. Her track ‘Can You Tell’(that you can listen to below) is extremely well written. The lyrical content is dark and emotive and more mature than what you would expect of a 16 year old, while the intelligent song structure showcases a fledgling song writer with a very bright future ahead of her.
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If you're in a band and you would like your music featured in 'That New Band Smell' ten upload your music to the Introducing Uploader.
Always good to give props to an all ages show, especially one hosted by the ever reliable Volume Control crew, who've put on all ages gigs from the likes of Ash to Cashier #9 at the Oh Yeah Centre in Belfast.
This week they've a belter quadruple bill, with the ever reliable theatrical wonderment that is headlining. Also on the bill - , and the constantly fizzing .
Here's what Eimear from The Wonder Villains had to say about it all....
'We're super pumped to be playing this Friday! We haven't played an underage show in Belfast in ages and they're always great fun cause we can just go MAD! Watch out for some crazy dance-pop moves!! We were hanging with the Volume Control team and Katie & the Carnival last weekend at , so it's gonna be some craic!! Can't waitttt!!'
While Katie from (you guessed it!) said, "I love Volume Control - they organise their gigs so well and the audiences are always really lovely! We are bringing the very talented Rachel Sofley in who is 14 to sing one of her own songs with us aswell! Expect glitter, dance moves (with some guest dancers!!) and a lot of musical tom foolery!"
So yeah, we get the feeling Eimear and Katie are both up for this one....
Check out videos of Wonder Villains on bbc.co.uk/music.
Katie & The Carnival, The Wonder Villains, Uber Glitterati and The Dead Presidents play The Oh Yeah Centre this Saturday. Doors open 7.30pm!
Some major gigs have been announced for Belfast, including pop punk troupe All Time Low and influential instrumentalpost rockers Explosions in the Sky.
will play the Ulster Hall on Thurday the 12th of January.
have confirmed a date at Mandela Hall on Sunday the 22nd of January.
Tickets go on sale this Friday for both shows.
Other gigs announced in the last few days:
The Holy Inncocents, War Hole, The Stepney Sundays - Pavilion, Belfast - 17th Augst
VerseChorusVerse, Jonny Black & Chris Campbell - Aunt Annies, Belfast - 31st August
Nightbox - Stiff Kitten, Belfast - 31st August
Zombified, By Any Means, Stand With Heretics - Aunt Annies, Belfast - 1st September
The second stage at Tennants Vital has also been announced with the likes of Yes Cadets, Wonder Villains, A Plastic Rose, Original Rude Boysand more to be confirmed over the two day festival on August the 23rd and 24th in Bangor.
Feldberg @ Animal Disco
Aunt Annies, Belfast
Friday the 5th of August
It’s not unusual for people from Belfast to complain about international bands coming to Ireland for a Dublin-only date; there are venues here which are just as good, and music lovers aplenty. It's possible that the band's reasoning is that they've played here before to a half empty room, which is exactly what experience on their recent trip to Animal Disco at Auntie Annie’s. But it doesn’t phase them one little bit!
Drummer Thomas Camblin, formerly of local act Mojo Fury, joins Einar Tönsberg and Rósa Birgitta Ísfeld onstage. Scheduled to start at midnight it is twenty past before the Icelandic duo begin to play, a good decision on their part, as in that short space of time the room seemed to fill slightly. (It’s always a little uncomfortable when watching a band play to an empty room.)
Charlotte Hatherley will reunite with her former bandmates in Ash for the forthcoming anniversary tour. Charlotte will take to the stage with the three Downpatrick lads for gigs in Birmingham, Manchester and London this October.It will be ten years since the release of their seminal album which spwaned singles such as , 'and There are no plans for Charlotte to return to the band fulltime.
HMV Institute Birmingham, October 20th
O2 Academy, Bristol, October 21st
O2 ABC, Glasgow, October 22nd
HMV Ritz, Manchester, October 23rd
HMV Forum, London, October 25th
ATL canreveal tonight that there will be a second stage at in Ward Park, Bangor on August 23 and 24th.
ATL, Introducing along with and will be programming the second stage with a host of great Irish bands. We're working on confirming who will be playing but we can tell you that , , , and Dublin's will be performing live while you get a break from the main stage action.
The wellies have barely been put away after Glasgowbury, but it’s time to dig them out once more as it’s festival time again, this time in the shape of Forfey. Located on a family farm near Lisnaskea in Co. Fermanagh, it’s the perfect location for a weekend of great music in a relaxing, intimate setting. There are black clouds to be seen for miles and the rain has decided to make an appearance, but it doesn’t seem to dampen the mood too much. It does make putting the tents up slightly trickier, but with festival volunteers happy to help, setting up a home runs smoothly.
The clock strikes 6.30pm and More Than Conquerors kick off the weekend in the Hayshed. They go down a treat, getting people excited for the weekend ahead. Claiming to have the first ever mosh pit at Forfey, it’s a great, vigorous start to the festival!
Grand Forever, Lowly Knights, The Unprotected,Captain Cameron
Sunday 7th of August 2011
The Unprotected seem to be a vehicle for professional show-off and social butterfly David Rooney. He spends the gig on the floor, dancing with/at punters, singing on their lap and being gloriously theatrical. It's great fun, if a little terrifying for those close to the stage. Duke Special makes an unexpected cameo, throwing himself around during a raucous take on '20th Century Boy'. Surreal.
Whether they'll bother polishing their own tracks (and decent songs are in their somewhere) remains to be seen, but for now we don't care, as some of us are waiting for the gig to end so we can safely negotiate our way to the toilet.
SuggestiON-AIR is back with a bang! It's had a little break through the festival madness, but we return with a nicely tied in topic. Most of Team ATL witnessed Coldplay's full on firework spectical at Oxegen festival this year, but Geoff Barrow from Portishead has been a little less enthused with the over the top display on Coldplays tour, suggesting it ruins festivals.
With that in mind, we had a wee think about those all out shows that work- the fireworks, the lights, the costumes, the puppets that actually add to the experience. What's been your favourite? Hit us up on / or you can text 81771 after 8pm tonight. Here's team ATL's picks...
Rigsy - ATL Presenter
There's an argument I've had a few times on daft message boards about the merit of The Chemical Brothers (and Daft Punk for that matter) 'live'. I say they're my favourite live act on the planet, but some folk find this ludicrous, claiming 'they're doing nothing up there but hitting play'.
These people are missing the point. The hard work is done - putting together a set that works and, more's the point, those incredible, brain frazzling visuals. Glorious to spectacular, terrifying to spangl, soothing to chaos - it's a show in the most literal sense and like nothing else you'll ever see.
Nathaniel Rateliff, Southern, Sons of Caliber
Stiff Kitten, Belfast
Wednesday 3rd of August 2011
face an unenviable task opening tonight’s Communion show in the Stiff Kitten. The venue is alive with chatter that only quietens momentarily during their set, making their job all the more difficult. The band may not necessarily grab your attention, but when the crowd does focus upon the music, they’re richly rewarded. The harmonies are lush, and Andrew Farmer tries his best to tell stories of the Irish wilderness, wolves and simple tales of love. This simplicity is the beauty of the band tonight: percussion is limited to a single kick drum, used sparingly to give full attention to the gently lilting mandolin or the voices on stage. A few duff notes aside, the crowd are captivated and rightly so by ‘My Way of Thinking’, a simple song that builds up layer by layer into something truly gorgeous. Their performance does seem to drag a little, as one or two tracks could be shortened or even removed from the set list as unnecessary padding, but Sons of Caliber have certainly justified their growing reputation as a live act.
Dillinger Escape Plan
We Are Knuckle Dragger
Spring and Airbrake
Thursday 4th August 2011
The drummer from Def Leppard’s only got one arm!” So sang the Bloodhound Gang back in 1997, but tonight the song could also apply to the crushing racket of We Are Knuckle Dragger, the Newcastle based three piece featuring ex-members of Contraband, Yourcodenameis:milo, and Scrabo. Playing with one arm in a cast, their drummer pounds out stop-start rhythms whilst distorted guitar and bass lock in with military precision, it’s a sonic evisceration, relentless in its pursuit of heaviness. And – once again – proving that you don’t need to be angry to make angry music, the band come across as amiable and happy to be here, playing to a (technically) hometown crowd.
Lisa Hannigan announced yesterday that her second album, Passenger will be released on the 21st of October in Ireland, 24th of October in the UK and the 20th of September in the USA.
She also announced a 15-city tour across the USA and Canada to mark the release and you can see the tour schedule on . No information on a UK and Ireland tour just yet.
'Arthur's Day - Play on the Day' isa competition to find a fresh new Irish or Northern Irish act to play themain stage at the Guinness Hop Store in Dublinon Arthur's Day (22nd of September).Other acts playing that stageon the daywill be the and .
The competition, whichis run in association with and , will also award the over allwinner a recording session with RTE,be featured on a flip cover of a special Hot Press edition, a single release and lots of musical equipment.
For all the details of how the competition works and how to enter, visit .
Entrants must be over 18 years of age and the closing date for submissions is August 12th.
Pic: Stuart Mostyn/Redferns
Twitch, the techno and house trio which is currently resident at Queens Student Union, is soon to be five year's old. To celebrate they are bringing one of the most forward thinkingelectronic acts to have emerged over the past few years,Joy Orbison, to Belfast for his debut Northern Irish show on October the 8th.
DJing since he was 12, Joy Orbison (aka Peter O'Grady) first came to attention with his single 'Hype Mango' back in 2009, and also festure in the 's 'Sound of 2010'.
Lining up alongside the London based DJ and producer will be previous ATL guest Function from Sandwell District.
Watch Radio 1's feature on Joy Orbison at Sonar back in 2010.
Iron Maiden
Odyssey Arena, Belfast
Wednesday 3rd of August
However, it is exactly this notion that the band are still alive and kicking that proves to be one of the most difficult aspects of witnessing them live. Founder and principle songwriter Steve Harris has worked long and hard to prevent his band from fading into irrelevancy, and damn sure he's going to let us know about it.
The two day music, camping and arts festival which was due to take place at Ravensdale, County Louth on the 12th and 13th of August has been canceled.
The festival had planned to focus on the border regions, hosting thirty acts from both north and south of the border including Lafaro, The Flaws, Event Horses, The Curtain Thieves and many more.
Phily Taggart returns, despite hispoor wee sore throat, and gives us a guide to the best new acts emerging from this musically obsessed corner of the world. We figure music isthe cure, so keep uploading your tracks to the Introducing Uploaderor snail mail to:
Across The Line
Broadcasting House,
Ormeau Avenue,
Belfast
BT2 8HQ
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Belfast’s jack of all trades turns his attention to quirky acoustic pop to devilishly sexy results.
Empty Lungs – Identity Lost
Tweek your nipples, in your face punk rock splattered with melodic hooks.
Chris Campbell – Impressions
Chris began crafting his 'heart on sleeve' acoustic troubadour career three years ago in Canada as a means of passing the cold Winter nights. Three years later and the playful ambivalence is gone and a focused young musician begins his ascent into the music industry. He has recruited an array of exciting young Northern Irish musicians to flesh out his backing band Paper Boats. ‘Impressions’ is not so much, ‘this is Chris Campbell’, but a demo introduction of what’s to come from this very talented young artist.
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The Bonnevilles, Jonny Black, Tony McHugh,Cedric Has A Name, Paul Corrigan, Jamie Neish, Gowaine McKenna
Auntie Annie's, Belfast
Thursday 28th July
So, the great Northern Irish summer is almost over for another year, and with exception to Belsonic and Electric Picnic, many of the more established music events have already came and went. Still, not to worry, eh? If ever there was a way to shake off the old Post-Glasgowbury Depression, blues-rock two-piece The Bonnevilles heading a diverse bill featuring six support artists should certainly do the trick.
That said, considering the line-up tonight it's only natural to expect a broad range of talents; some accomplished, others less so. falls comfortably into the latter. Whether due to inexperience or otherwise, his middle-of-the-road set makes for a lacklustre start, and while there's no mistaking his good intentions, awkward covers including 'Ticket To Ride' and 'Dancing In The Dark' serve only to emphasise the austerity of his own material.
Friday Night, The Menagerie
GOTW 2 - Boomstock: Girls Names, Not Squares, Kicks Blue, The Kreb Cycle, Third Man Theme
What's better than one GOTW, eh? Clearly it's two!
Given not everyone will fancy a trek to Forfey (especially as camping tickets are now sold out), we thought it a good idea to point people in the direction of an indoor show in Belfast that boasts a festival-esque, stellar line up.
frontman Cathal Cully explains: 'Boomstock is a night in celebration of Conor Shaw, a close personal friend and champion of a lot of local bands who unfortunately passed away in April from Cancer. 'Not Squares, Kicks Blue, The Kreb Cycle (James, Phil and Davey from Yakuza), Third Man Theme and us (Girls Names) will play short abridged sets with dedicated covers of some of Conor's favourite artists and songs. 'All proceeds will go to Conor's favourite charity, Médecins Sans Frontières.'
Ricki O:Rawe from the always awesome adds: 'It'll be a celebration in the truest sense - all of the bands Conor (who features at the beginning of our ) loved, and each will be playing songs they associate with him. Expect much awkward dancing and revelry. 'For those who didnt know him, it's a one off chance to see each bands interpreting songs they will probably never attempt again. I can't wait!'
The venue is The Menagerie (University St, Belfast), this Friday night from 9pm.
More additions have been made to the Electric Picnic festival from 2nd to the 4th of September. The latest additions are for the Little Big Tent and include:
Jacques Lu Cont, Tensnake, Crazy P, ZINC, The 2 Bears, Star Slinger, Andrew Weatherall, Rainbow Arabia, ONRA, Kormac, AV Set, S*** ROBOT, Factory Floor, David De Valera, LRB &, Matador, Laser Tom and The Blast Crew, Gretta Gunn, Toby Kaar, TRIANWRECK DJS.
The Teenage Kicks Music Festival will take place at the Guildhall Square, L'Derry on Wednesday the 10th of August, as part of the The Gasyard Féile.
The 'Practice Make's Perfect' under 18's event will be headlined by Derry's own, along with , , , , , and Dee Quigley.
Gates open at 1pm and admission is free.
For a taste of what to expect, check out the Wonder Villains performing in the Radio 1's acoustic Yurt at Glasgowbury 2011.
The IMRO Showcase(Irish Music Rights Organisation) are no longer accepting submissions for their annual tour.
The line up will be released soon, but in the meantime they have released the tour schedule which begins in Belfast:
Wed Sept 07th - Limelight_ Belfast (Small Town America)
Thu Sept 08th - Venue TBC
Fri Sept 09th - Crawdaddy, Dublin
Sat Sept 10th - The Cellar Bar, Draperstown (The G Sessions)
Thu Sept 15th - Athlone IT, Athlone
Fri Sept 16th - Cyprus Ave, Cork
SDC's new label Basic Rhythm is about to launch soon with an EP from an Italian producer AD Bourke who he met while attending the Red Bull Music Academy last year. The label promises to deliver everything "from house to hip-hop, IDM to weird tapey lo-fi stuff... " He also says apart from one collaboaration with AD Bourke he has no plans to release any original SDC material on the label itself. You can check out some samples from the forthcoming Tidal Motion EP on his Soundcloud
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Cuture Night returns to Belfast forits third year on Friday the 23rd of September. The day will be filled with free events across the city including gigs, choirs, dance, poetry, exhibitions, theatre, street performers, taster tours, workshops and a carnival parade.
The is now live and will have events added in the coming weeks.
As part of the celebrations on the 22nd of September, will headline a show at the Ulster Hall, Belfast.Joining the Coventry band on the bill will be DJ Fresh andNorthern Ireland's own and .
Arthur's Day celebrations will take place across the island with a number of shows in Dublin, Cork and Limerick, which willfeature artists such as the Scissor Sisters, Calvin Harris, Seasick Steve, Stereophonics and many more.
Tickets go on sale Thursday morning at 9am.
After the success of their first festival outing back in June, Jika Jika return to host their end of Summer festival at Tooban, in Burnfoot on the Derry/Donegal border.
This the round the line-up features three areans andincludes aDJ set from Bent, Bedrock's Guy J, Ashley Casselle and Innervisions' stars Ame alongside Justin Robertson for the one day electronic bash on Saturday September 13th. A host of local club nights including Isodisco and Boredaudio will also feature.
So:NI (Sound Of NI) return with their annual 'best of' gig on Thursday the 11th of August at the Empire Music Hall, Belfast. The gig whichhosts the "finest bands to have played SO:NI shows over the past year", includes , , Shake! and on the bill.
For a taste of what to expect, watch Phoenix Fire's recent performance in the Radio 1 Acoustic Yurt at Glasgowbury.
have announced an Irish tour this winter which will take in a date at the Stiff Kitten, Belfast on Friday the 2nd of December. The English band released theirthird album, Smoother, on Domino Recordsearlier this year.
They last played Belfast in November 2009 after the release of their critically acclaimed second album, 'Two Dancers'.
Check out videos and reviews of Wild Beastson the bbc.co.uk/music website.
Rubberbandits with support from Mental Deficiency
Stiff Kitten, Belfast
Friday, July 29th
We check our coats and all sense of reason at the door on the way into the Stiff Kitten tonight as we look forward to a night of sheer insanity. Judging by the look of sections of the crowd, more than a few pre-gig drinks have been enjoyed, and there’s even a guy dancing on his own when the music’s not even playing. It’s going to be a messy one.
Support tonight comes from local lads , who are as close to being the illegitimate lovechild of Spinal Tap and Electric Six as it is possible to be. Desperate for attention, with ridiculous hand made props and insane lyrics, they very thoughtfully provide us with glasses so we can watch the gig in 3D. In all the madness it would be easy to overlook the fact that these guys are actually good musicians, managing to leap around the stage in their morphsuits and pyjamas, and run through the crowd without missing a note. 'I, living dead' sees the audience dancing like zombies, and one dedicated fan carries on his own one-man ‘Thriller’ dance for the entire song, much to our amusement. Our funny bones have been thoroughly tickled in anticipation of the main event.
Chase and Status will bring their full live show to the Mandela Hall on Saturday the 19th of November. The duo's debut show in Belfast is part of an Irish and UK tour which also includes a date at The Academy, Dubling the following night.Tickets go on sale this Friday.
Chase and Status recently played Oxegen festival and you can read the ATL reviewof their set now. Also check out the video footage from Radio 1's One Big Weekend and T in the Park.
's new single, 'Outdoors' is set to be released on on the 22nd of August, but to mark the release both Two Door Cinema Club and Ecker resident De-Twist have remixed the summer pop tune (listen below).
Also, you can watch the Bangor lads perform the single in Radio 1 Introducing Acoustic Yurt at Glasgowbury 2011 on the ATL Festival Page.
Kowalski will play this weekend.
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