Now on his sixth solo album, Dave Hause has a catalogue that fans, new and old, can get properly sunk into. Drive It Like It’s Stolen moves life on from 2021’s Blood Harmony. On that album, […]
After a decade of releasing their own music, Black Star Riders have shown themselves to be much more than the spin-off band some feared they would be. Starting life as Scott Gorham’s reincarnation Thin Lizzy, […]
The quality of his first two albums more than earned David Keenan the right to be a little more experimental on his third LP, Crude. Keenan came fast out of the blocks in early 2020 with […]
“Chris Farren will perform soon,” read the enormous letters projected on to the side wall of Belfast’s Telegraph Building. Soon after, as he warned us he would, Chris Farren bounded out on to the stage, […]
One day in the late summer of 2019 I pulled into the car park of an old mill building in Belfast. As well as several gyms for muscles, an upholstery business and a tyre fitting […]
The term “long-awaited debut album” takes on a new significance when it comes to Wynona Bleach’s Moonsoake. It’s well over two years now since the band packed their entire studio into a van (weighing everything to the […]
“Streaming is broken for 99% of artists.” So says the striking introduction on the landing page of Minm, a new streaming platform created by two tech graduates based in Dublin and Belfast. Minim’s guiding principle is […]
There’s something infinitely satisfying about following an artist as they develop and grow, bringing you along with them through huge moments in their lives. It can’t be done with every artist, but with Dave Hause […]
David Keenan’s debut album, A Beginner’s Guide To Bravery landed in January of 2020. It is a phenomenal record (check our review here). Keenan’s second album, What Then?, comes on the trail of that excellent debut, a concert […]
Blood Harmony is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Dave Hause – in case you’re wondering, that’s “pronounced like pause, or cause, dammit,” according to his Twitter bio. The album is an accomplished collection […]
“Calling all guitarists…It’s the Jimmy Reed move,” proclaims the blurb on the rear sleeve. “It’s all about those visceral chords that send a shiver down your spine.” The passage finishes with, “It’s the flavour of […]
Wolf Alice suffered from a very rare form of second album syndrome… They won the Mercury Prize with 2017’s Visions of a Life. That success understandably heightened expectations around the band, but rather than follow […]
Greta Van Fleet is a band that divides opinion. Loved and lambasted equally by critics and classic rock fans, picking up Grammy awards while being shunned as little more than a Led Zeppelin tribute. It […]
When an artist who is best known as a member of a band releases a solo album, that album is often held up to a standard of having to justify its existence as something separate […]
There’s a familiarity in A. Smyth’s debut album Last Animals that would have you thinking you’re listening to an artist who has been around you your whole life. Its ten tracks are delivered with confidence and sure […]
If imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery The Struts must be trying to please a lot of people. The band’s third album Strange Days does little to build on the promise of their previous […]
As far as debut albums go, Pillow Queens can stand over In Waiting with a huge sense of achievement. It’s an accomplished and impactful release which has refined all the best aspects of the band’s […]
“What a weird time to be alive,” says Frank Turner, flanked by his bandmates but separated from them by huge sheets of perspex. With all touring cancelled. Turner has used his considerable platform over the […]
“It’s nice to know when enough is enough, especially when you have something in the pipeline,” says Stephen Jones of his Glass Wings project. The How The Light Gets In EP will be the last music released […]
More than fifty Northern Irish musicians have collaborated to create an album of acoustic tracks which will raise funds for Help Musicians NI. Organised by Caitlin Palmer of No Matter, the 51 track album is […]