The arrival of the New Year also welcomes the return of The Empire Music Hall’s ‘Gifted’ series; an enterprise in showcasing the best of Northern Ireland’s ever burgeoning music scene across all styles and genres. As such, tonight’s line-up is comprised of four acts with the predominant commonality of representing the strength of the female presence in local music.
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It’s hard to say whether the unbearable wait for the debut record by Puppy owes more to the instant gratification obsessed climate of the digital age, or the supremely exciting talent on display for the EP ‘Vol. II’, but one thing’s for certain – it’s finally here, and good lord are we happy to have it. One of the premier new talents in British alt rock, Puppy’s appeal largely lies on the fact this is a band that feel just as at home with Weezer or Smashing Pumpkins fans as they would with Metallica or even Turnstile. Sitting confidently at the intersection between so many different subgenres for ‘II’ Puppy have gone and switched things up even more for ‘The Goat’…
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A horror doom album is always an interesting concept for our resident DJ, so throwing some female vocals into the mix will always grab his attention. Considering Virginia Monti, of Psychedelic Witchcraft fame, has previously performed vocals for them, his interest was piqued even further. The main question for the big lad is how it would stack against the debut, with the vocal change. Luckily for him, the answer to that is they have done extremely well!
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When was the last time you heard of a band using a drum kit made up of miscellaneous remnants of three separate washing machines? Unless you’re privy to a secretly unreleased Lou Reed project, we would hazard a guess of never. Enter Cleaning Women. When not scoring silent movies or documentary projects, this Finnish trio spends their time raiding their local scrap yard for instrumental inspiration. As was the case with their previous album, 2009’s ‘U’, every piece of equipment implemented on follow-up ‘Intersubjectivity’ is its own DIY revelation. Thus, along with the laundry paraphernalia we have a bass comprised of three-string clothes hangers, inverted coffee making utensils as well as a plethora of other Frankensteinian creations featured.
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They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Well, if that is indeed the case then the western metal scene should be extremely flattered by that in Japan, where bands have been imitating, even ripping off, their European and American counterparts for several decades now. Of all the metal bands to have emerged from the land of the rising sun, only really Loudness have been able to stand on their own two feet and lay down an identifiable marker for the Asian scene to be taken seriously in its own right.
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