‘Holy Show’ is the first affirmative moment of the night and it’s the best. Pillow Queens putting a voice to difficult times, watching the replays and then walking out of the ruins.
We project our own feelings into songs of course and ‘Holy Show’ may have other readings. But for some of us, it became a soundtrack to lockdown and all of the self-examination we put on ourselves. It was about fading horizons and bad decisions but importantly, it also sang of escape and a life outside. ‘Holy Show’ was like ‘Born To Run’ or ‘Land’ or ‘Running Scared’. Every time you listened back, you could hear the glimmer of deliverance. Continue Reading…
In Issue 6 of Dig With It magazine, we profiled the shortlisted albums for the NI Music Prize. The list arrived shortly before the press deadline and with a further, dramatic stroke, the two additional public choices for album of the year came in at the very last moment.
Gender Chores play a version of ‘Brand New House’ by Mob Wife. Later in the night, Mob Wife play the song again, but somehow make it sound like Gender Chores. A tribute to a tribute. Everybody cheers. Good work, Bangers ‘N’ Mash (Ups).
Remember when Joshua Burnside put out a momentous album last year and we wondered how cool it would be if we ever witnessed it live? Well, here’s the time. It’s the first of three sold-out nights at the Sports Club, as Belfast gets weirdly to terms with unchecked, unmasked gigs in tight proximity to mates and musicians.
The cover is a painting of prog-rock era Peter Gabriel, imagined by Britpop misanthropist Luke Haines. The record is made in Derry by an established, Anglo blow-in. The songs are furious in parts but mostly peeved and petulant. They seem to be sited in some wind-lashed, provincial sinkhole, frequented by ruffians, poseurs and bald adolescents. Welcome back, 
We meet in a park on the south side of Dublin Bay. The clouds are up and we talk loosely about band rehearsals, bicycle maintenance and the joy that a teenage Conor J. O’Brien once found in a new Radiohead release, saving up his first listen of Kid A for the morning before school.
Three festival events in three months – Stendhal have kept the nerves steady and made a momentous case for music, camping and people getting delighted, outdoors. From a trial gig in June and then a couple of roaring days in July, the ultimate was always a showdown in August with multiple live stages, 5,000 visitors and a tenth birthday party of jubilant proportions.
Parkside Grooming is an animal-primping business near Wanstead Flats in East London. If you pet can fit in the big bath, then it it’s good to groom. Alternately, ‘Parkside Grooming’ is an EP by Lou Price. He’s still a feature with the band Swimming Tapes and he had previous form with a fine act from Bangor called Kowalski. He’s just made this lovely collection of tunes that tends towards melancholia. It features sweet, chiming guitar to please Johnny Marr fans plus surprise chord moves.
Ryan McMahon has the best lockdown hair in Inhaler. Lank yet a bit elegant. Ryan doesn’t speak that often but when he does, it’s cool and declarative. No confidence issues with the guy. He’s not like the drummers you often meet. And now he’s about to lean forward on the sofa, centre-left of the band formation and he’s going to say stuff about the new record that will cause his colleagues to laugh, at the loose audacity of it all.
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