In folklore, the Hour of the Wolf is the time between dusk and dawn when sleep comes hardest, and the demons of your past come knocking at your door. Judging by the songs on Robyn G Shiels’ new EP, Underneath the Night of Stars, the Hour of the Wolf may also be the time when the seeds of his songs are sown.

It’s been a while since Shiels’ previous EP, The Great Depression, was released, garnering praise from all quarters, leading to him winning Best Solo Artist at the inaugural Northern Ireland Music Awards at the end of 2011. Since then it’s been a familiar tale of playing the live circuit and trying to earn enough money to get back into the studio to put down more of the 30 or so songs he’s written in the interim.

Some of the tunes on Underneath the Night of Stars are, in fact, more than four years old. Although produced and recorded over a period of time by Ben McAuley at Start Together Studios in Belfast, the five songs that make up the EP have a unified sound, with Shiels’ bruise of a voice carried along on swathes of acoustic guitar, accordion and funereal beats.

The EP begins with the title track. The gentle strum of a guitar underpins Shiels' voice as he tells a tale about the death throes of a relationship, the only witnesses to the denouement being the stars in the sky. 'We break all ties just to break our hearts.'

Ellen Turley’s harmony vocal adds a salve to the sore, before McAuley’s drums and Claire Hutchinson’s accordion lift the heaviness, and carry the song off into the night sky, where 'loneliness is our constant friend'.

‘Upon Such Things’ follows. At just under two and a half minutes, its brevity is still time enough for the tune to burrow itself into your head and heart. Shiels even manages to throw in a rare guitar solo. A promo video for the song (directed by Tristan Crowe) features Shiels sitting in a darkened room, sadly replaying film footage of a beautiful young woman dressed in black wandering through a graveyard and smiling beguilingly into the camera.

‘If Now is an Echo’ comes from Shiels’ long delayed second album, Blood of the Innocents (now due towards the end of summer 2013) and features ex-Therapy? drummer, Fyfe Ewing, as well as Cashier No. 9 members, Danny Todd and James Smith, on accordion and bass respectively. The music – powerful, exciting – explodes in the spaces between the verses, giving vent to the anger buried within the forlorn rags of a song about another love gone wrong.

The weary waltz of ‘Damn That Ruthless Hour’ continues the EP’s theme of loss and regret, before the closing song, ‘A Man to Your Wife’, takes the mood even deeper into blue.

Backed only by guitar, skeletal piano notes and the soft moan of a musical saw, the song could best be described as a (possible) murder ballad. In a barren landscape, a man asks for the hand of a lady. 'And if you say no, heaven will fall,' he tells her. What follows is ambiguous, but quietly disturbing. It is also magnificent.

With Underneath the Night of Stars, Shiels has given us five more songs to cherish. They may not bring us solace, but they’ll certainly help drown out the sound of the wolf at the door.

Robyn G Shiels and full band officially launch the Underneath the Night of Stars, with support from Aborist at the Belfast Barge, Lanyon Quay at 8pm on Friday, May 2013. Pre-order Underneath the Night of Stars now.

How did you get into busking, and was it nerve-racking at first?

Honestly, I was unemployed at the time and had just moved to Belfast. I was looking for work and playing guitar a lot in my flat, and I thought I'd try heading out to busk. I figured I was playing guitar for a few hours in my room everyday, so why not head out and try it on the street?

I was very nervous to begin with and I felt like I was imposing on people. But after the first day, the general public had been very supportive and had said some very nice things. It was a really nice feeling, so I decided to head out the next couple of days to see how it would go.

How do you decide what songs to play, and does it depend on the time and place?

When I started I didn't have that many songs. Most of the stuff I played when I first began were pieces I wrote to practice different techniques. I didn't want to be playing any one song for too long, so I'd try and play as many different pieces as I could.

I was playing one day and a man came up and asked me what song I was playing. I told him it was one of my own and he told me he thought it was great. So since then I decided to play more of my own material and songs that I enjoyed playing. I love playing the Last of the Mohicans theme, which most people seem to like. (See video below.)

Do you have to perform crowd pleasers that you'd rather not?

I play the Game of Thrones theme, and 'Drifting' by Andy McKee, which are kind of crowd pleasers. But those are amongst my favourite songs to play anyway, so it's a win-win situation.

What is the longest period of time you've busked for in one sitting?

The longest sitting was maybe about six or seven hours.

Is it worth it, financially?

I'll just say that every penny that goes into my case makes a difference to the quality of my life. I guess it's the old cliché of the struggling musician, but it's the truth. Some days, busking gives you a bit of extra spending money. Some days, it buys you food and electricity. It all makes a difference, and sometimes that difference can be significant. It also allows me to continue to play.

Do you see strange things happening on the streets, or do you switch off to the world around you?

Honestly, most of the time I just stick my head down and keep playing. I still get a little nervous if people stop to listen, which probably sounds stupid. So I find keeping my head down and playing does me fine.

I've looked up before and there was a big group of tourists that had stopped to film me. Your brain goes into panic mode and you think, 'Don't mess up, don't mess up.' Then your head goes blank and you forget how to play the guitar. Although it's happened a few times now and if I make a mistake, I just laugh it off. I figure if I'm taking it that seriously, I'm doing something wrong.

Have you experienced any negativity from passers-by when performing?

I'm lucky in that I haven't had any serious issues when playing. You'll get the occasional drunk, which can sometimes go either way. Sometimes they're friendly enough. They'll stop for a dance before they move on. Sometimes they want to play the guitar or have a nice long chat, or sometimes you can get a bit of aggression. But it's never gotten out of control.

I am lucky, though, that the response I've got when busking has been mainly positive. My favourite one was when I was blattering away and drumming on the guitar and there was a father watching me intently. Sitting next him was his son, maybe about three or four years of age. He had his face scrunched up and both hands clasped tightly over his ears. It made me laugh. I thought that would be a great album cover.

Is there a community feeling amongst buskers in Belfast, or is it every man and woman for themselves?

It can be everyone for themselves, but I think everyone that plays out in the street can relate to each other. We're all musicians, and most of us need money. Sometimes it's great and other times it really can be hard work.

I empathise with other buskers, particularly over the winter. Winter's tough. Overall, though, I'd hope that the feeling is supportive from buskers and the public. I'm sure that there are people that think I'm making an awful racket, and they might be right. But other people seem to like it, so that's one of the reasons I keep doing it.

Was it easy to make the transition from busking on the streets to performing on stage?

I always get nervous playing live on a stage. It feels so formal, or like you're being put on a pedestal or something. Busking can be a bit more laid-back. You're trying to win people's attention for a couple of minutes, whereas on stage it feels like you're presenting yourself to be judged.

When playing the Black Box, I was so nervous that my hands were shaking for about an hour after I'd played. It all went well, though. I was relieved and happy. It was a really good day. The best piece of advice I got was from Biggy Bigmore. He told me, 'It's just busking, but on a stage. Pretend you're busking and enjoy it.' That helped me a good bit. Playing was fine, but anytime I talked into the mic, I was a gibbering heap.

What are the major differences between performing on the street and performing on stage?

I think there's less pressure playing out on the street. I'm totally aware of the irony of someone who wants make a career out of music being terrified of play gigs. But that's where the busking really helps build confidence.

If your recording career took off, would you give up busking completely?

I think that would depend on availability, but I owe a lot to busking and it's been a great experience that's created opportunities for me and has been a great way to advertise my music. I would hope that people would still want to listen to me play as well, and as long as that's the case, I think I would. Being out on the street on a nice sunny day is the thing that makes me happiest. I really do feel lucky that that's the case.

Battologisms, spoonerisms and shibboleths. They’re all types of word-game, hard enough to twist your tongue around at the best of times. But have you ever tried singing them? In two dozen different languages and dialects? While occasionally stamping your feet in accompaniment?

That’s the daunting challenge set by the Dublin composer, Siobhán Cleary, in Theophilus Thistle & The Myth of Miss Muffet, a commission written for the Cork International Choral Festival in 2011. It’s given a dazzlingly virtuosic performance by the National Chamber Choir of Ireland as part of their Moving on Music concert in St Thomas’s Parish Church, Belfast, entitled Love and Other Nonsense.

The choir has 16 members, each one of whom needs to be sharply on cue for the complicated parts included in Cleary's work. They never falter, catching the bubbling musical and intellectual energies of the piece with verve and aplomb, and etching in its frequent shafts of humour with wry assurance.

There’s sibilant sighing in Theophilus, tongues clacking, and at one point the sopranos sound as though they’ve inhaled significant quantities of voice-squeaking helium. It’s a tour de force of 21st century vocal chicanery, a clever and richly entertaining composition.

Cleary’s isn’t the only piece on the programme to use sounds and disconnected syllables as building blocks, rather than words with definite linguistic meanings. Enda Bates, another Dublin composer, does so to entirely different effect in Euphony, mimicking aspects of the Sardinian ‘cantu a tenore’ style of folk singing.

The result is a glowing arc of mellifluously shifting harmonies, spiritual mood music expanding soothingly into the warm St Thomas’s acoustic. The piece highlights the choir’s superbly well balanced and integrated tutti singing, and the ripe, rounded quality of tone it possesses – as pure vocalism, it’s a beautiful sound to listen to.

Much of the credit for this goes to Paul Hillier, the National Chamber Choir of Ireland’s artistic director and principal conductor, and one of the leading choral practitioners in the world at present. One of Hillier’s own arrangements, of Orlando Gibbons’s The Cries of London (listen a version performed by Luciano Berio below), opens the concert, recreating the calls of 17th century street vendors in a swirl of contending voices.

The technical skill of the singers here in so nimbly negotiating the huge amount of text set by Gibbons – lampreys, peascods, samphire, frumenty and poking sticks are among the items you’d find difficult to locate in your local supermarket nowadays – is again hugely impressive.

It’s all done with such poise and confidence, with no sense of straining for individual lines and interjections to register. Fortunately full texts and explanations are printed in the excellent programme.

Encounter, by Peteris Vasks, shows off the choir’s ability to build a gradual crescendo, and the surprising amount of raw volume it can summon from its 16 voices. The upward glissando in the sopranos at the work’s conclusion is done with pleasing unanimity, and the whistling called for by the composer is managed un-self-consciously and convincingly – not an easy combination.

Love & Other Nonsense is, all told, a wonderfully stimulating and imaginative programme, and the performances are of world-class quality. Singing of this standard is a rarity, and the National Chamber Choir of Ireland’s visits to Belfast are currently major highlights of the city’s musical calendar. Let’s hope that they continue.

It is the first night of the 2013 Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, and a large crowd of jazz fans have packed into the Black Box on Hill Street to see UK City of Culture musician-in-residence, jazz pianist Neil Cowley, perform with his famous trio, which is made up of Rex Horan on bass and Evan Jenkins on drums.

The trio have long attracted the attention of the jazz world with their own unique brand of crunching, rock-drenched jazz, and tonight they draw liberally from their acclaimed 2012 album, The Face of Mount Molehill. As one might expect, this concert is a real rollercoaster ride, characterised by exhilarating bass lines, faultless beats, and Cowley’s endlessly inventive piano playing.

The gig begins in reflective mood with the song ‘Clumsy Couple’, which opens with slow, yearning piano from Cowley, with bass and drums joining in to produce a beautiful soundscape. This reverie is quickly broken, however, as a driving beat brings the song home with an explosion of sound. The second song, ‘Rooster was a Witness’, is one of the catchiest from the band’s most recent album.

Cowley is a charming presence throughout, and jokes that he has been warned not to mention his work in ‘Stroke City’ while playing in Belfast. Over the next two hours or so, as the focal point of a gig that is full of warmth, intensity and humour, he tells how he has been touched by the lives of people in the Maiden City, including a YMCA choir of children, some of whom are very ill.

Cowley explains that his fellow band members have just arrived in Northern Ireland. He drafted them in to help with one of his music workshops. 'The children were aged six to 13 and were really sweet,' he says. 'All they wanted to do was sing Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believing’, which we don’t really do, but we ended up learning it. They sang it and it was really gorgeous. There was so much heart and passion.'

Heart and passion is something that the Neil Cowley Trio have in abundance. Cowley, a trained classical pianist who also works as a session musician for the likes of Adele, clearly enjoys playing with his two Antipodean colleagues. Their type of performance can be operatic in its grandeur, spiked with staccato rhythms. Cowley’s urgent piano playing is often reminiscent of punk – punk performed by Chopin.

They are one of the most visually captivating jazz acts around. When he is in full flow, Cowley is all movement. His right leg often appears to be acting independently of the rest of his body, moving in time with the rapid, unrelenting tempo.

The bearded Horan, meanwhile – who looks like he has wandered in from the Cambridge Folk Festival – is a bundle of restless energy as he plucks the strings ever more furiously. And Jenkins, who has played with the likes of Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton, plays some wonderfully manic drum solos, which threaten to bring the house down. But he too shows his sensitive side with delicate brushwork on the more elegiac tracks.

As the gig nears its end, Cowley introduces the lovely ‘Box Lily’, a wonderfully intense track about his daughter, who was born three months prematurely and weighed in at just one pound, 11 ounces. 'It is a sad song with a happy ending,' he explains. 'It was written when she lived in a little plastic box. She is now five years old and a pain in the backside in all the right ways.'

At that time, Cowley could hold his little daughter in the palm of his hand – tonight, that's exactly where he has the audience with this poignant and beautiful tribute to the fragility of life.

After such a full-on, emotionally draining gig, you are left wondering how the band summon up the energy to sign the obligatory CDs and DVDs as the satisfied audience form an orderly queue. But they do – because they are professionals, happy to perform anywhere, anytime, to give everything for the music.

The 2013 Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival continues until May 12.

For the last year or so, the careening, fiendishly catchy single 'Can't Keep Up' by Silhouette has been soundtracking the Discover Northern Ireland TV ad campaign, provoking people from all walks of life to hum, clap and air drum along to the driving rhythm and hook.

The track was a massive mainstream breakthrough for the Magherafelt-born, but Belfast-based, Shauna Tohill. Having spent the past five years performing with the likes of Angelfall, Poet's Pocket Symphony, Rams' Pocket Radio and Joe Echo, the multi-instrumentalist has certainly deserved her shot as a solo artist. In May 2013, she releases her long-awaited Can't Keep Up EP.

Aided and abetted as always with a revolving cast of musicians, friends and like-minded artists, Tohill's vision circa 2013 is assured, stately, grandiose and grown up. Comprising four tracks, the mini-opus sees Silhouette at the peak of her powers. It is every bit as good as, if not better than, the sublime piece of alt-pop that was her first single, 'Volume Destroyed', with Tohill truly blossoming as a frontwoman and creative force.

The EP opens with a re-worked, re-imagined version of 'Can't Keep Up' (the video above is a former version), it having been dissected and unravelled then stitched back together. Now it features a slower, more moody tempo, some suitably triumphant trumpets and swelling strings. Less manic and jittery than version 1.0 (which is included on the EP as a bonus track), this altered incarnation of her best-known song offers some new flavours to the Silhouette sound.

'Toss It Up' starts with a stark strummed acoustic guitar, before kicking in to a chiming chorus which, strange as it may sound, calls to mind the refrain from Papa Roach's 'Getting Away With Murder', only faster and with a pop polish. It develops into a piano-based number, which has an ace mid-section that's reminiscent of some of the mellower moments on the Smashing Pumpkins' Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness.

'Put The Silence On Hold' is the real star of the show, however, an unflinchingly emotive ballad that in an ideal world will establish Silhouette on the global stage. It's the type of track that seems destined to have a huge cross-over appeal, a starry-eyed, tear-stained track that boasts a beautiful vocal full of passion and purity. Possibly Silhouette's best musical moment to date, it taps a similar vein to some of Snow Patrol's more anthemic songs, and is worth the price of admission alone.

'Running Against The Wall' finishes the EP in dark fashion, with drum loops, electric guitars and a more aggressive vocal style the order of the day. If there are any criticisms to be made, it's that Can't Keep Up is over all too soon. An extra song certainly wouldn't have gone amiss. However, with cuts like 'Put The Silence On Hold' in their arsenal, Silhouette are sure to cast a large shadow on the Northern Ireland music scene this year. I can't wait to hear a full album.

Belfast City Council is hoping that the fourth annual Belfast Music Week will be bigger and better than ever. The Council’s Development Committee gave the go-ahead on Tuesday, April 23 for this year’s event to take place between November 11 and 17.

The decision – which still has to be ratified by the full Council at its meeting on May 1 – was taken after members considered a report which showed that the 2012 Belfast Music Week had been the most successful yet.

Last November, more than 41,000 people attended more than 250 events in 70 venues across the city. This compared to 33,500 people attending 170 events in 45 venues in 2011 – when Belfast Music Week coincided with the MTV EMAs being held in the city.

The figures also showed that the 2012 programme brought an associated economic impact of almost £2.1 million – an increase of around ten per cent over the previous year.

Reacting to the figures, Alderman Christopher Stalford, Chairman of the Development Committee, said that Belfast Music Week helped to change the image and perception of the city, especially among younger audiences.

'More than three-quarters of those who attended Music Week events in 2012 were aged between 16 and 34,' he pointed out. 'Furthermore, our audience surveys show that two-thirds of those questioned said that they would not have visited Belfast if they had not been going to a Belfast Music Week event, and 99% of people said they would both recommend Belfast Music Week to friends and would return for future events.'

Alderman Stalford continued: 'The music sector in Belfast has grown significantly over the past three years, and now plays a key role in the overall economic development of the city.

'With a rise in the number, and quality, of musicians and bands making headlines and enjoying success in the international marketplace, and new and innovative music businesses based in our city, events such as Belfast Music Week, and the council’s support for it, have a significant role to play in developing the music industry, appreciating the ongoing success stories which make us proud of our unique, indigenous music scene and showcasing this on the global stage.'

Belfast Music Week 2014 will take place from November 11 – 17. Further details to be confirmed.

Craft is a much undervalued attribute in modern life. In our manic march through the mainstream mush that passes for popular culture, speed is everything. We want it all and we want it yesterday. Mass-produced and under-formed items weigh down our shelves and clog our inboxes as we celebrate the immediate at the expense of the well made.

Coleraine singer-songwriter, Anthony Toner, knows the benefit of old-fashioned craftsmanship, however. You can hear it all over his latest collection of songs, Sing Under The Bridges, an album full of pin sharp portraits of life, both broken and beautiful. It is a record to cherish.

Painting from a palette that offers brightly-coloured, blue-eyed soul hues alongside the more familiar rusty shades of folk and the acoustic songwriter tradition, Sing Under the Bridges offers story songs peopled with real characters attempting to make their way through lives that are peppered with pot holes and unexpected twists in the road.

As anyone familiar with Toner’s back catalogue knows – and he emerged onto the scene with 'Sailortown', his ode to the Belfast docklands that first brought him to the radio airwaves back in 2008 – that’s exactly what the 40-something songwriter has been doing all through his career.

There’s something about the material on offer here, though, that suggests a sizable leap forward from previous albums like A Light Under The Door (2011).

The production is thanks to fellow Coleraine muso, Clive Culbertson, and there are subtle changes in musical style that are accentuated by guest players, including keyboardist John McCullough and blues icon Ronnie Greer, but mostly it’s the mood shift that makes this album special.

There’s an edgy, slightly dark sense of foreboding that permeates proceedings, and leaves you in no doubt that the artist has had a few dark nights of the soul in recent times. That manifests itself in gems like 'Most People Are A Pain In The Ass'.

This track lists off modern irritants, from work mates who infringe on your personal space to experts keen to make your life a misery. As Toner sings, 'If life was a movie, you’d kill them in the opening scene'. It may amount to merely a grumpy man’s list of bugbears, but when its told with style like this, who cares?

Best of this dark bunch is 'Things Fall Apart'. Ushered in on a JJ Cale style shuffle, it takes us from the New Jersey Turnpike to Smithfield Market in the blink of an eye, leaving us with the memorable image of Toner driving 'up and down the road to hell, looking for a place to park'.

This track also provides the album's finest moment, with the sketch of a mother and daughter relationship that is summed up in the killer line, 'There’s nothing worse than two generations disappointed in each other'.

'Take The Road To Fivemiletown' is another moody little minor key highlight that tells of deep-rooted family abuse, with a protagonist locked in a loveless marriage. At just over four minutes, it does exactly what a truly great short story should do: lays out it’s tale and leaves you to make of it what you will. Evocative and economical, this is literary songwriting at its very best.

Some pieces, like the horn enhanced opener 'Tell Me Something That I Don’t Know' and the deeply affecting 'Only Child In The World', could move a statue to tears. In between there are love songs cut from the kind of soulful cloth that Van Morrison used to turn to so effectively in the early 1970s, and more quality one liners than anyone has the right to expect from a singer-songwriter album.

Whatever emotion he’s invoking, though, you know it's authentic, genuine and painstakingly crafted with time and love. In a world of sweat shop produced sneakers, Anthony Toner is a pair of lovingly sculpted Italian brogues, all handmade and finely finished. Go ahead and treat yourself to a little luxury.

'You know the way you look at an old photo of yourself and cringe at your dodgy fashion decisions, but get all sentimental?' asks Joshua Burnside. 'I guess that's the best way to describe how I feel about my first two EPs.'

What makes Burnside cringe about Seeds (2011) and The Winding Straits (2012) is difficult to ascertain. Perhaps now, at the ripe old age of 23, he hears naivety in his lyrics, imperfections with the production, ill-conceived harmonies, dodgy instrumentation. That, of course, is Burnside's prerogative. After all, perfection is attained by slow degrees.

As for the rest of us, we come to Seeds and The Winding Straits with an impartial ear, unburdened by foresight – and revel in the ambient, textural soundscapes, the inventive time signatures, perfectly-pitched harmonies, multi-instrumentation and an incredibly advanced finger-picking style that might have led John Lennon, had he been alive to hear it, to break a string in frustration.

Seeds and The Winding Straits are much better than the humble Burnside would care to admit. And whilst they are the work of a young artist attempting to find his feet, they are, nevertheless, a delight to listen to. Burnside's command of melody, his skill as an arranger and producer draws unfortunate but inevitable comparisons with that other precocious talent, Nick Drake, as well as Tom Waits and Elliott Smith, who Burnside cites as inspirations.

Such comparisons can be the kiss of death for any young artist. How on earth, one might ask, is he ever to live up to the expectation? The answer is: he already has. Burnside's third act, If You're Goin' That Way, is set for release in June 2013, and is similarly prodigious, eclectic, original, unpredictable, well-produced... Stop me when the kettle's boiled.

Which leads one to wonder: why have I not heard of this young man before? The answer lies at Queen's University, where Burnside is currently studying music, and back in Lisbane, County Down, where he has recorded all of his work at home in his bedroom.

The track 'Black Dog Sin' has already caught the eye of the industry, having been flagged up as a recommendation by Lauren Laverne's 6 Music blog team. A video for the lead single – which staggers and bounces along on waves of hand claps, plucked violin strings and gut-wrenching yells – directed by Darren Lee, has also been doing the rounds on YouTube and Facebook. And a session for BBC Radio Ulster's Across the Line programme is also in the bag.

'I'm not a leader,' sings Burnside on 'Black Dog Sin', 'I'm just a soldier.' But the four remaining tracks on the EP would suggest otherwise. On the evidence of this latest work, Burnside is indeed a leader. Northern Ireland's legions of singer-songwriters should prepare to follow – just as soon as he graduates from uni.

'Black Dog Sin is a step in a new direction for me,' Burnside admits. 'For both of my previous releases, I had a particular mood in mind that I wanted to act as a kind of backdrop. I was listening to Joanna Newsom's Have One on Me, summer was on it's way, and I had a new appreciation for the beauty of my home, having just got back from Beijing, where I lived for a few months. But everything I'm writing these days is much darker, much more experimental.'

Burnside ponders how to describe his sound, and is momentarily stumped. 'I guess "experimental folk" would give you an idea, but the word folk has been warped so much in popular music that it could be interpreted in so many different ways. The experimental element would be due to some of my production techniques.

'I tend to go through phases where I just get completely obsessed with an artist. I had a huge Paul Simon phase, a huge Tom Waits phase, and at the minute I'm listening to Andrew Bird's Break it Yourself a lot. But it's always difficult to describe your own sound.'

That sound has, of course, attracted the attention of the media and, you can be sure, various A&R men, publishers and record labels who should be itching to add him to their roster. Yet Burnside remains an unsigned artist. He releases his work online, without much fanfare, and carries on with his studies as he goes.

'I am not signed to a label, but I've always been a fan of the DIY approach, and it is easier to do it these days what with so many great websites like Bandcamp and Cdbaby,' adds Burnside. 'I feel as if I have been writing songs and gigging for a lot longer than I actually have, like I have been on a very long journey to get to the music I am making now. The challenge now is not to drop out of university.'

Burnside fits into the mould of the modern singer-songwriter who is unafraid to experiment with convention, instrumentation, structure and sound – to travel a sonic path less travelled. From a technical point of view, he is a fan of Laura Mvula's debut album, Sing to the Moon, which is currently storming the charts, as well Zachary Francis Gordon, aka Beirut, who has championed world music since his emergence in 2006.

'I think that influence comes through a bit in If You're Goin' That Way,' adds Burnside. 'I think you should always strive for new and interesting sounds. I play a few instruments such as the banjo, guitar and piano. It's a bit like learning a language – once you learn one, you can pick up another much quicker. I've started playing the accordion a bit recently, too. I've always loved them.'

As for recreating his studio sound in a live context, Burnside has been honing his set in venues across Northern Ireland over the past few years, and next plays live at Molly's Parlour, Lisburn on May 26, supporting Rams' Pocket Radio. For those unacquainted with his fledgling oeuvre, it's the perfect opportunity to catch Northern Ireland's most exciting new talent.

'My live set can be quite different from my recordings,' Burnside warns, 'but I like that. I've arranged trumpet parts for all my latest songs, and I have recruited an excellent trumpeter for the next few gigs, just to see if it works. But so far, it sounds great.' Damn right it does.

Joshua Burnside launches If You're Goin' That Way in White's Tavern, Belfast on June 19.

Lisburn-based five piece Pretty Cartel have won themselves a sizeable following in Northern Ireland in recent months, having formed only 14 months ago.

A radio-friendly indie group, they combine the grittiness of The Verve with the strutting accessibility of Oasis, and it’s no surprise that their debut single, ‘The Busker’, was one of the most requested songs on Northern Irish radio in March 2013.

Pretty Cartel have never known what it means to move slow, and the release of their debut EP, Tales of the Working Class, which is currently available from iTunes and other online outlets, should keep them busy in the weeks and months ahead.

The five-track EP opens with a series of soundbites set against a wall of white-noise, before Neal Connor’s bluesy guitar kicks in and Dee McIlroy’s catchy lyrics are introduced. 'She’s The One' is a superb opening track, displaying the bands brit-pop leanings.

Highlighting the Cartels folk side is 'Diamonds and Rainbows'. This jaunty, jubilant track has a Lumineers feel and it’s stamped rhythm, simple chord changes, fast finger-picking and propulsive forward motion make it one of the best tracks on the EP – and surely one of the best tracks by a Northern Irish band in 2013.

Rock is next on the agenda for the Cartels with 'Holyman', an atmospheric track that is marked by Connor’s guitar riffs, married perfectly with David Braniff’s cannoning drums. Close to five minutes in length, 'Holyman' is the longest song on the EP, which also treats its listeners to an uninterrupted minute-long rock guitar solo. You don't hear that kind of thing much these days.

The group's stomping debut single, 'The Busker', is up next. 'Just put a penny in his case, he'll put a smile on your face,' sings McIlroy, telling the story of Belfast's many street performers. It's a simple track, yet infectiously rhythmical – I'm foot-tapping before I know it. No surprise, then, that the single has over 2,000 views on YouTube already, and is currently being used in the #BackinBelfast campaign.

Pretty Cartel don't just give good glee with their upbeat songs, they can do sorrow, too. Closing the EP is 'Light Shines Through', which suggests greater depths of emotion from the band. It's an intimate, piano-led track which features some lovely strings, and holds its own in the shuffle of the band’s eclectic debut release.

With no sign of the momentum slowing down anytime soon, Pretty Cartel can look forward to an exciting 2013. Their brit-pop sensibilty is, perhaps, not exactly 'on trend' at the minute, and won't be to everyone's taste, but they should be commended for being themselves, and fans of bands like The Las should appreciate this EP in its entirety. They may just be the local band to watch out for this summer.

Pretty Cartel officially launch Tales of the Working Class at the King's Head, Belfast on May 3.

30 years ago, a group of young brothers from Fermanagh, John, Pat and Tommy McManus, rebelled against their folk music background and decided to rock out. Within a few short years, the band known as Mama’s Boys had the world at their feet.

From 1908 to 1992, the band released eight albums. But, just as quickly things went right, things started to go wrong. Bad business decisions and dubious recording contracts were only the start of their problems.

The death of youngest brother, the drummer, Tommy, in 1994 after a lifelong battle with leukaemia spelt the end for Mama's Boys. The surviving brothers re-invented themselves as Celtus, an experimental folk-rock outfit, and enjoyed some renewed success.

Turn the clock forward to 2013 and Pat McManus is one of the most respected guitarists in modern music. He’s also a musician who just loves to play music – be it in an arena in front of 20,000 screaming fans or at a ceilidh down his local pub.

Pat McManus rarely does interviews. It’s not that he’s not media friendly. Far from it. ‘The Professor’, as he is affectionately known to his legion of international fans, just prefers to let his music do his talking for him.

So, what follows is a very rare, personal insight, as McManus chats about his views on music, the importance of retaining his folk roots, his place in the Irish musical canon alongside Rory Gallagher and Gary Moore, the musical reunion with his brother John and how the Mama’s Boys story has been brought back into the spotlight with a new book by Michael JK Walsh.

Pat McManus returns to play Mason’s Bar in Derry~Londonderry on Saturday, May 4 and the Portrush Playhouse on Friday, May 24. Other dates are to be announced.

No other record originating from these shores this year will show more invention, energy and chutzpa than Welcome to Miksector-50.

Sure, there have been many strong albums made by Northern Irish electronic artists in the last few years, but here Belfast’s Space Dimension Controller sets the bar so high as to make Mikrosector-50 seem from another galaxy altogether.

A few years ago, Jack Hamill made records under the name RL/VL. They were glitchy slices of electronica that were frequently easier to admire than they were to enjoy. Whilst they helped to establish the young producer on a national level, only a brave soul would have predicted that he would reach Next Big Thing status.

Releasing music under the Space Dimension Controller moniker as a sideline, however, this is exactly what happened. Hamill's perfectly produced tracks attracted an international audience with remarkable ease and speed. Similarly, Welcome to Mikrosector-50 stands out from the crowd in a number of ways.

Firstly, Mikrosector-50 is a concept album, dealing as it does with the story of Mr 8040, the titular Space Dimension Controller, and his journey through the galaxy. He eventually returns home to find that the world has changed in his absence.

Don’t worry though – Hamill has managed to blend concept, narrative and sound, creating a surprisingly coherent fictional setting that doesn’t interfere with the music.

Secondly, this 13-track album is unashamedly playful. With its cast of characters, sound effects, cover art and slinky grooves, the album just exudes a light-heartedness. There is no po-faced seriousness here.

Hamill’s genius – and it can genuinely be described as such – is how he makes a surprisingly complicated brew look so effortless.

Fusing 1980s-era electro-funk with sleek synths, ambient atmospherics and hair-metal guitar solos, Mikrosector-50 has the feel of a washed out, overplayed VHS tape with a suitably garish neon cover. You imagine it having languished in a long-forgotten bargain bin in some vacant video shop in Tokyo.

Rather than sounding like a work of pastiche, however, Hamill manages to make it all sound like his is the only music that matters, as if Mr 8040’s story could be told no other way, and that’s where the true success of the album lies.

So, when the Space Dimension Controller starts rapping in a faux-Barry White voice, it’s fun, but not funny. When the guitar solos kick in, we respond to them ironically, but they’re not ironic. This album sounds like the past, but it isn’t a nostalgia trip. Hamill has created a totally convincing and engaging aesthetic that owes nothing to retro fetishism. He is light-years ahead of his contemporaries.

In other hands, ‘When Your Love Feels Like it’s Fading’ may have seemed mawkish or sneering, yet it's an emotional high point of the album. Originally released as a single back in 2009, ‘The Love Quadrant’ still sounds incredible, a shimmeringly erotic slice of space funk, with jazzy synth solos and squelchy bass.

And peppered throughout the album, the various slices of spoken word narratives and pseudo adverts flesh out the sound, giving it a real sense of this being an album that is intended to be listened to from start to finish, rather than a disparate collection of tracks.

Welcome to Mikrosector-50 affirms that Northern Irish electronic music stands right at the forefront, ready to step up to a global audience – and beyond.

The Wood Burning Savages – The Wood Burning Savages

Rock and roll in 2013 can mean anything you want it to. The internet killed context stone dead, and now all that remains is the song. This is something that Derry~Londonderry’s The Wood Burning Savages hope to benefit from with the release of their eponymous debut EP.

With all the frantic urgency of The Seeds or The Sonics, The Wood Burning Savages break things down to their basic elements, opting for a ‘less is more’ approach, where guitars scream, vocals wail, bass guitar thunders, and drums crash.

‘Living Hell’ suggests that there’s a perfectly competent and exciting Kingsmen-esque band here somewhere, currently hindered by production that is a little to clean for this kind of thing, whilst ‘The Duke’ highlights a much more original, song based sound that feels like a more comfortable setting, but one which will struggle to make as much of a visceral impact.

Context isn’t important anymore, but consistency is, and this release finds The Wood Burning Savages struggling to achieve a coherent sense of identity. ‘Living Hell’ suggests that there’s a perfectly competent and exciting Kingsmen-esque band here somewhere, but the production is much too clean.

Rock and roll can mean anything you want it to – now all The Wood Burning Savages have to do is work out exactly what it means to them. With their raw garage rock sound curiously out of time, yet entirely contemporary, this record should speak to the young and the alienated, if very few others.

Vanilla Gloom – Vexed

For Vanilla Gloom, grunge is alive and well, Kurt Cobain never took the easy option, Chris Cornell didn't cut his hair, The Screaming Trees are still going to be huge and Pearl Jam are not awful bores. It’s an exciting world for Vanilla Gloom. I'm just not sure about the rest of us.

'There’s a hole in my head, a putrid void of the things I’ve left unsaid,' coos Megan O'Kane on ‘Wolves’ (Shannon O'Neill sings on the other tracks), over a bassline copped from the Kim Deal School of Languid Melodic Playing, positively dripping with irony. The song ends with a blistering refrain: 'I hate you so much and I want you to know, how much it hurts to be all alone.'

Grunge was always good at circumnavigating the kind of over-the-top displays of emotion that categorised hardcore, and which came to define emo, and in the current music world, it’s impressive to see a band singing this kind of thing rather than screaming it.

‘Lemons and the Wine’ is even better than the opening track, a surging tide of Sonic Youth-inspired texture providing the backdrop for an absolutely delectable melody. It then explodes into a wall of shimmering distorted guitars. Vanilla Gloom have not re-invented the wheel here, but they have crafted the perfect calling card.

While is still boasts a pretty gnarly guitar solo, ‘Vultures’ is less impressive than the previous two tracks on this debut EP, feeling more like a genre exercise. But, at this point, I'm already sold. Assuming they can avoid being becoming a parody act, Vanilla Gloom have every chance of establishing themselves as a major force on the Northern Irish scene, especially with the grunge aesthetic evidently making a comeback.

Elspeth – Quick Exit

It’s easy to feel sorry for bands like Elspeth. Their debut album, Coax, was released in late 2012, and whilst it failed to set the entire world on fire, it was a perfectly decent effort. Elspeth's only crime, as the world then saw it, was that they were too in thrall to gentle, melancholic indie-rock – the kind of thing that people listened to in the 1990s, not now.

Or maybe that’s not the case. Suede, after all, are making a big return this spring, Elbow still provide the soundtrack to a billion emotional moments on television, and Radiohead remain the thinking indie kid’s band of choice. Evidently, Newry-based Elspeth were ahead of the game.

Next single 'Quick Exit' is a big, sweeping indie-rock anthem, the kind of thing that would be used to soundtrack a soap opera or independent art house movie, when two estranged lovers pine for each other, gazing out through window panes soaked with rain, their faces streaming with tears. You get the point.

Elspeth don’t add much to the formula, and without detracting from the quality of the songwriting, performances or production on this album, which are certainly impressive, it’s impossible to listen to 'Quick Exit' without picturing a field of lighters being waved in the air.

That’s not really a criticism of Elspeth, per se. But there is a distinct sense that there should be something more happening here. While Elspeth have been rightly praised for making unfussy music without bowing to trend or fad, there’s still a lingering sense that they’ve not been able to bring any of their own personality or character to proceedings, resulting in a kind of vague anonymity for them.

Maybe they should become vegans, or embrace a ‘right on’ political cause, because if they want to play with the big hitters of ‘bland’, then they’re going to have to add another dimension. After all, in the world of indie rock, a little personality goes a long way.

It's Monday evening in Holy Week, and an icy wind is blowing tufted flakes of snow around the precincts of St Peter's Cathedral, Belfast.

Although the weather is unseasonable, it seems curiously appropriate for what is happening inside the building – a rare performance of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt's Passio by the National Chamber Choir of Ireland.

Passio is a bleak, unvarnished setting of texts from St John's gospel describing Christ's final hours on earth and crucifixion. Bleak but beautiful: the apparent austerity of Pärt's musical procedures, with formulaic recycling of interconnected triads and sparse instrumentation, is deceptive.

Over the course of 70 increasingly mesmeric minutes, Pärt's compositional restraint is used to tellingly support and reinforce the harrowing details of St John's Passion narrative, creating space for contemplation on the deeper resonances of the words and music.

The performance given at St Peter's is of world-class quality, and would grace any international platform. That's partly because it's conducted by Paul Hillier (pictured above), a Pärt expert who has worked extensively with the composer, and written an important book on him.

Hillier's experience shows particularly in his unobtrusively natural pacing of the music. Passio is through-composed, with no breaks or set-piece arias, and a careful balance must be struck between allowing individual details of the narrative to make their proper impact, and moving the story-telling compellingly forward.

That balance is struck perfectly in Hillier's interpretation, which is gripping from start to finish. He brings to St Peter's his own Danish-based Theatre of Voices, six of whose members take the solo parts in this latter-day oratorio. These are beautifully modulated and tutored voices, each individual in timbre, but blending mellifluously in the ensemble writing.

Bass-baritone Jakob Bloch Jesperen stands out particularly for his nobly expressive account of Jesus. His singing is an object lesson in how to let the words convey their own implicit drama, without resorting to the kind of over-projection and mannerisms often resorted to on operatic stages.

Jespersen's inflection of 'Mulier, ecce filius tuus' ('Woman, behold thy son') at the work's conclusion is movingly poised and dignified. The extraordinary extension of note-values Pärt suddenly imparts to the single word 'Sitio' ('I thirst') is also made to yield a depth of emotion and suffering belying the superficial simplicity of the musical gesture.

Swedish tenor Johan Linderoth's Pilate is another strong assumption. His music is more obviously conflicted and ambivalent than that voiced by the other singers. Linderoth intelligently registers these angularities without over-emphasis, powerfully suggesting the contentious role Pilate was fated to play in the events leading to Christ's crucifixion.

A quartet of Else Torp (soprano), Iris Oja (alto), Paul Bentley (tenor), and Asger Lynge Petersen (bass) share the part of the Evangelist, while four players (oboe, violin, bassoon, cello) from the Estonian YXUS Ensemble provide the eloquently restrained instrumental commentary, with Christopher Bowers Broadbent on the St Peter's organ.

Ranged behind them are the 19 singers of the National Chamber Choir of Ireland, whose contributions to the developing narrative are crucial. The hand of conductor Paul Hillier, the choir's artistic director, is again evident in the superbly rounded, resonant quality of the singing they produce throughout the evening.

Most memorable, perhaps, are the brutal moments when, as the Turba ('crowd'), the choir bays for the crucifixion of Jesus, and the release of the robber Barabbas. These are searingly realised in Hillier's performance.

The work's conclusion, one of the few occasions in the score where Pärt requires dynamic levels to rise substantially, is also deeply stirring, the choir's ardent prayer for mercy resounding to the farthest recesses of the cathedral's spacious acoustic.

This is, in short, a performance of the highest calibre. It's also a timely and sobering reminder that in a world engulfed by the contemporary verities of instant gratification and conspicuous consumption, Easter used to mean something very different to eggs, chocolate and holiday shopping expeditions.

The National Chamber Choir of Ireland returns to Belfast on May 11, 2013 with a mixed programme of works by Gibbons, Janequin, Ligeti, Berio and others at St Thomas's Church, Lisburn Road. They're in stunning form at the minute, and it's a concert that, for vocal enthusiasts, looks simply unmissable.

It has been a whirlwind year for Farriers. They released their debut album, Years Ago in Our Backyard, in May 2012 to widespread critical acclaim, and toured it on a wave of euphoria from their growing fanbase, who yearned for their first longplayer following on from 2009's promising Coastlines EP.

The shows have subsequently gotten bigger, and the band's reputation as a dynamic live act continues to grow. Years Ago in Our Backyard managed to capture that dynamism, that charm, on record, and has cemented Farriers' place as one of Northern Ireland's hippest bands.

For singer and guitarist Stephen Macartney, hard graft has been the key to their success. All those years performing live as a group – getting to know one another musically, developing the confidence to engage with a crowd, perfecting that distinctive alt-folk sound that has served them so well – were well worth it.

'I think our style of music is honest and people enjoy that,' he attests. 'We’ve always had a real desire to make the performances interesting and to have banter with the crowd, talk to them about the songs and what we’re doing.

'If you get up there and don’t say anything, you might as well have a CD on. There’s no real buzz. Whether we’re playing a sold out show, or to 50 people who have never heard of us in Birmingham, we still get really into it.'

Although still touring the album, Farriers are already discussing plans for their follow up. What shape the new songs will take, and whether or not a continuation of the themes and sounds explored on Years Ago In Our Backyard will inform future work, is yet to be decided.

'But,' adds Macartney, 'we’re trying to collaborate more as a band. There’s a few songs we’re playing around with that are a lot darker. The whole album, when it comes, is going to be a lot darker.

'I’d written some of the songs on the first album a few years ago, and they had some very positive ideas behind them. That's not to say we're a bunch of miserable so-and-sos now, but certainly we can explore different ideas. Recent songs have been about things like death and so on, but then there are going to be some more upbeat ones. We have been inspired by Wilco and that kind of thing.'

Then comes the revelation – Farriers' Bob Dylan moment. 'There will be electric guitars, with some distortion,' admits Macartney, not in the least bit fased to say so. That may come as a shock to some – a disappointment to others – but Macartney remains confident that the Farriers' fanbase will not be disenchanted.

'Stylistically and lyrically, we're going in a darker direction. The lyrics are more poetic. I suppose I've put a little more thought into them, tried to make them more beautiful. But it's definitely still important for us to keep things fun. That’s the whole point of going to gigs, to have fun. I'm wary of releasing an album that features miserable song after miserable song.'

Whereas Years Ago in Our Backyard was, in many ways, a typical alt-folk mixture of traditional acoustic instruments and warming, uplifting vocal harmonies, showcasing the band's unique musicianship, Macartney expresses the desire to experiment with new sounds, influences and instrumentation on future albums.

'We did a gig a while back with the Arco String Quartet,' he recalls, 'and that sounded beautiful (see video below). So we’re definitely going to try and get them in to do some strings. Also I have a liking for a brass trio/quartet, to make things a bit more dynamic. A warm, slightly Northern English kind of sound. There was a very American, folk influence on the last album, but I think you need to try and elaborate on what you can do. I’d quite like to bring in this side of the Atlantic more.'

Macartney and co-vocalist/guitarist, Rachel Coulter, have been mainstays in the Bangor live music scene for years, playing weekly shows in a number of the town’s taverns together. They formed Farriers with the ambitious aim of recording and playing further afield, and Macartney looks back on those formative years performing as a duo as important with regards to writing in the present.

'Rachel and I gigging together has been pretty integral to the band working as a whole, as we know exactly how to play off each other. It’s an instinctive kind of vibe that we’ve forged over the years. Quite a few ideas on the first album came about when we were noodling about and thinking, "That’s pretty cool”. We would get our phones out there and then and go back to it later on.'

Farriers recently had the opportunity to reach a much wider audience supporting fellow Bangorian songsmith, Foy Vance, on his UK tour. Now they are planning an early summer tour of Ireland with friend and fellow songwriter, Gentry Morris, who Macartney plays with Thursday nights at Alley Cat in Belfast.

A new video for 'Keep it Alive' ('the most poppy thing on the first album by far', according to Macartney – see video above) was released in March 2013, and Farriers are in the process of recording a brand new track for Belfast visual artist, El Mandrake, which will be free to download from their Bandcamp page in the coming weeks.

'He is someone I heard of through a friend,' Macartney explains. 'He does a lot of steam-punk stuff, a mixture of Victorian engineering with modern punk sensibilities. It’s very cool. We’re going to get the guys to record it in the next few days and put it up as a free download. People will hear a new track, and it will link in with El Mandrake's website and forthcoming exhibition.'

Is this new song potentially indicative of the next album in any way? 'It’s a track we've been playing around with,' says Macartney. 'It’s very obviously what Farriers do, it has that vibe. We could do a studio version of it and put it on the next record, but we’ll see how that goes.'

With their audience ever growing and a reputation as a formidable live act proceeding them, 2013 promises to be another big step forward for Farriers. For now, though, the mission continues. 'Let's see if people like it or not,' Macartney concludes.

From its inception, jazz has always seemed to have had a special affinity with water. From Dixieland bands playing rollicking rhythms to entertain gamblers on the Mississippi, to beautiful young things wildly doing the Charleston on the great Transatlantic Liners of the Jazz Age, the two have gone hand in hand.

The Belfast Barge may not compare with a New Orleans Riverboat, but the packed out crowd at this Arthur Kell Quartet gig, part of the inaugural Brilliant Corners jazz festival, can feel the room gently sway on the freezing cold Lagan, while the sound of running water provides nature’s accompaniment to the music.

It is the last night of Brilliant Corners, which was planned to coincide with the coming of spring but is instead clenched in the icy grip of an unseasonal deep freeze. Jazz fans are a hardy and intrepid bunch, however, and despite the power cuts, the 60mph winds and the horizontal blizzards, they come out in great numbers to support the gigs.

The only casualty is the Steve Davis’ Human concert at The MAC on the Friday, which was hit by a double whammy of half the band being stranded in Gatwick and the great Belfast Blackout of 2013.

The Arthur Kell Quartet, from the US, is a hardworking, touring band of talented, creative musicians and they produce a gig full of subtle interplay, cohesiveness, flowing with an abundance of ideas and effortless improvisation. They exude a New York-style cool.

Brad Shepik’s brilliant guitar solo kicks off the first set, with Arthur Kell on bass and Mark Ferber on drums joining in with intricate grooves, and Loren Stillman adding his distinctive voice to some lovely boppy alto sax.

The set is a mixture of tunes from the band’s highly acclaimed album, Jester, which was recorded live in Germany, and some new, untitled tracks, which Kell sprung on the band before their worldwide tour. One of the new songs, entitled simply ‘Number 17’, is a funky piece of free jazz featuring some soaring sax playing and symbiotic dueting between Shepik and Kell.

After a lively opening, the musicians show their softer side with a meltingly beautiful ballad, ‘Song for the Journey’, which open with some wistful Spanish style bass, followed by a delicate swish of brushes from Ferber and plaintively mellow sax from Stillmann.

The result is poetic, sublime, almost spiritual music that receives a rapt response from an appreciative audience. The next song can’t be more different – a wildly fast-paced piece of jazz rock full of great guitar riffs, furious bass soloing and Coltrane-style sax.

Kell explains that this song was written in tribute to ‘Dada’, a Good Samaritan Monk dressed in orange robes, who appeared magically at Valencia train station when the guards wouldn’t let him take his double bass on the train.

During the halfway break, a member of our party prophetically notes the lack of a drum solo, and Ferber puts the record straight thereafter, almost stealing the show with a succession of stunning solos. The first piece, another new untitled track, has a more avant-garde, experimental feel.

Next up is ‘Quarter Song’ from the Jester album, which begins with some atmospheric bass interspersed with funky, groove infused guitar riffs. Stillmann’s sax joins in – fast, furious and free – before Ferber takes over with an unusual, compelling solo that has elements of a march. The whole effect is incredibly cool and full of surprises.

The second half includes another wonderfully rich, multi-layered ballad followed by ‘Papa Abba’, a song that Kell wrote in tribute to a friend from the African state of Niger, which, he says, he used to visit regularly before the US opened a drone base outside the capital of Niamey in the middle of the Sahara.

The final song of the night, a short piece entitled ‘Speculate’ has a Spanish mood, full of great rock riffs and crashing waves of sound from the cymbals, ending with a dead calm, rather like the aftermath of a storm at sea. It seems an appropriate way to end as the Belfast Barge empties her super-charged cargo for the night.

The dawning of the new year heralded the arrival of a new force on the Northern Ireland rock and metal scene – Blink Music Management, a company dedicated to giving a professional boost to the industry.

The man behind it, Steve Simms, can count back almost three decades to his first involvement in the Northern Irish music business, playing guitar with his first band, Abandon, at venues like the Rosetta in Belfast.

Having, like many rockers of that era, been forced to put music to one side in order to pay the bills, circumstances eventually conspired to bring Simms him back into the game. Aspiring rock acts, walk this way...

What made you want to launch Blink Music Management at the beginning of 2013?

I had worked as a manager for a construction company for 20 years which, due to the economic downturn, went bust in late autumn 2012. It gave me some free time to actually think about what I wanted to do next in my life. Music and management was the top of my list.

You’ve already signed three of the most prominent acts on the Northern Ireland rock and metal scene – Ajenda, Stormzone and Worldsend. How did these signings come about?

All three signings came about quite differently. I had been taking an interest in Ajenda for a long time, with the idea of shopping them out to some of my contacts overseas and, as this progressed, it just seemed right for the band to sign with Blink when I had established the new company.

With Worldsend, I had the chance to work as tour manager on their recent UK tour with Little Angels. With that going so well, it was obvious that together we made a good team. We decided to make it a permanent arrangement and Worldsend became my first signing to Blink Music Management.

Stormzone approached me around a month or so ago about considering them. The band’s three-year deal with Jess Cox (former lead singer with Tygers of Pan Tang) had just come to an end, and the guys were looking for a different perspective moving forward. We had a couple of great meetings and agreed a fully exclusive two-year deal.

They are three bands with very different styles. Is that diversity deliberate on your part?

I believe that those three bands are at the top of their prospective genres in this country, but it was a coincidence that they are all so different. Although I do see Blink as being diverse musically, it will always be aimed at the rock genres, because that’s where I feel most comfortable.

You come from a musical background yourself, having played in several bands over the years. Does that experience give you a more sympathetic approach to the management side of the business?

I think the opposite, actually. I have been playing in bands since the early 1980s and have had many 'almosts'. I've learnt that, for the very, very many, there is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It’s important that bands understand that as quickly as possible so that they can make decisions as to what they want from the industry. When they know that, then I can work out the best way for them to achieve it.

What qualities do you look for when considering signing new acts?

A band who are confident and talented, willing to work hard, who have some grasp on where they are and where they want to be, and who understand that there is no quick fix to success.

Are you restricting yourself to Northern Irish bands?

Absolutely not. At present I am currently in talks with a band from London and a band from Finland.

Tell us a little about Helfast, your forthcoming rock festival.

Helfast is a one-day mini rock/metal festival taking place on June 1 at Limelight 2 in Belfast. I wanted to put together a gig to showcase the best of what we have to offer here in Northern Ireland, and hope to have some industry people there to have a look at the bands on show.

I think it’s essential that we all work together on projects like this. The rock and metal scene in Northern Ireland is already loaded with promoters putting on shows all the time. So we teamed up with PR agency Paradise City and The Distortion Project to put a show on that was not going to squeeze an already packed scene.

We have a fantastic team, a management company, PR company and promotion company all working together. And six great bands. All the ingredients are there for a fantastic show, one I hope we can expand in the future.

You have some seriously heavyweight connections in the business, in London and Los Angeles et cetera. Has that helped in promoting your current acts?

It has indeed. Being based in Northern Ireland would bring major problems to running a music-based management company if it wasn’t for contacts. Luckily, I count a few of the biggest names in the music world as very close friends. Over the coming weeks and months, we will be putting together a fantastic opportunity for bands outside of the metal scene. But that's all I can say about that for now...

What else can we look forward to regarding Blink Music Management?

I am currently setting up some ‘paid for’ services, which Blink will be offering in due course. This info will be on our website, which is being constructed at the minute. Blink will be offering fully exclusive, non-exclusive and pay-to-work contracts, as well as music consultancy. So there is a lot of scope for many bands to be part of the company, depending on their situation.

If you’re in a band and wish to contact Steve, you can email blinkmusicmanagement@gmail.com or check him out on Facebook or Twitter. Helfast ’13 takes place at Limelight 2, Belfast, on Saturday June 1.

SXSW in Austin, Texas is the world's largest and most important creative industries conference and showcase, taking place from March 8 – 17. It is anticipated that this year's event will attract over 30,000 international delegates from the creative industries and media worldwide.

The event provides an opportunity for internationally focussed creative businesses to develop their knowledge, networks and markets, and this year NI@SXSW is the collective brand for the Northern Ireland Music, Interactive and Film trade mission.

This year's delegation includes 25 Northern Ireland companies from the music, film and digital sectors, one feature film premiere – the Terri Hooley biopic Good Vibrations – and six showcasing artists and bands: Ash, Girls Names, Sea Pinks, The Lost Brothers, Psycatron and Bicep.

NI@SXSW creative industries delegates at the Austin Convention Centre

Freelance journalist and photographer, Carrie Davenport, on working and networking at SXSW

Stuart Bailie, CEO of the Yeah Music Centre in Belfast, on promoting Northern Irish music on a global stage

They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and that hoary old cliché certainly rings true when it comes to Girls Aloud, if the ticket sales for their current Ten Tour are anything to go by.

First formed on reality TV show Pop Stars: The Rivals in 2002, up until their hiatus in 2009 the Girls’ held a firm grasp on the UK pop mainstream, thanks to a schizophrenic blend of synthed-up, raunch ‘n’ roll beats, killer hooks and lyrics that often made no sense whatsoever.

Holding the record for the most consecutive top ten single entries in the UK charts by a female group, the band rewrote the rule book – they were talent show winners who somehow managed to achieve instant street cred, and set a standard for a new breed of feisty female pop group.

Along the way they shifted millions of units, saw their songs covered by indie darlings Arctic Monkeys, were adopted by the NME, collaborated with Franz Ferdinand and even toured with Coldplay and Jay Z. In short, Girls Aloud achieved success beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.

After parting ways for a few years to pursue individual goals, tonight's sold out Odyssey Arena show sees the quintet reunite to celebrate ten years at the top. Welcome back Cheryl Cole, Nadine Coyle, Kimberly Walsh, Nicola Roberts and Sarah Harding.

Aptly opening with their first single, ‘Sound Of The Underground,’ the five-piece descend from the Odyssey rafters on top of a huge sign bearing their band’s moniker, while live musicians bash out that famous Dick Dale-esque surf guitar riff and shuffling, dance rhythms.

Harding looks terrified at being suspended 20 feet above the raucous audience, and her vocals suffer accordingly, but for the most part it’s a strong start to the show.

Second single ‘No Good Advice’ is up next. The brazen borrowing of the bass-line from the Knack’s ‘My Sharona’, coupled with a chorus that sounds like a school-ground taunt, is pure Girls Aloud. This is pop music with attitude, though ballad ‘Life Got Cold’ hasn’t aged quite so well.

Still, there are plenty of killer songs ahead and ‘The Show', which squeezes no less than four hooks into one three-minute tune, is rapturously received by the faithful tonight.

It would be remiss not to highlight the undeniable talent of Girls Aloud’s songwriting and production team, Xenomania. This evening’s gig is as much about their achievements as it is the quintet’s. In their pomp, Xenomania were near peerless in the pop world thanks to their mad scientist-like approach to crafting a tune, and there’s no better example of this than ‘Biology'.

Hailed by The Guardian as 'the best pop single of the last decade', this track stitches together Motown sounds, disco and dance, creating something entirely new. It’s an undeniable highlight of the evening.

As expected, another of Derry~Londonderry's musical exports, Nadine Coyle, seems happy to be back on home soil after spending the majority of the past few years in LA. While her 'What’s the craic? I’m a wee bit nervous' schtick is a little cringe-worthy (and that accent is as thick as ever), the crowd lap up the local girl made good’s onstage patter.

Vocally, there are a few wobbles, and you can tell that the group are a tad out of practice when it comes to performing on arena stages. But there is an overwhelming feel good factor about the gig, with the Belfast audience willing Coyle and co on to succeed.

While recent single ‘Beautiful ‘Cause You Love Me’ is a little too schmaltzy and saccharine for these ears, their final number ‘The Promise’ ends the night in style. The Brit Award-winning number still sounds like an absolute anthem. Genre Nazis and the too cool for school set be damned.

SXSW in Austin, Texas is the world's largest and most important creative industries conference and showcase, taking place from March 8 – 17. It is anticipated that this year's event will attract over 30,000 international delegates from the creative industries and media worldwide.

The event provides an opportunity for internationally focussed creative businesses to develop their knowledge, networks and markets, and this year NI@SXSW is the collective brand for the Northern Ireland Music, Interactive and Film trade mission.

This year's delegation includes 25 Northern Ireland companies from the music, film and digital sectors, one feature film premiere – the Terri Hooley biopic Good Vibrations – and six showcasing artists and bands: Ash, Girls Names, Sea Pinks, The Lost Brothers, Psycatron and Bicep.

Good Vibrations premiere, featuring interviews with directors Lisa Barros D'Sa and Glenn Leyburn

Northern Ireland musicians showcase, featuring interviews with Ash frontman Tim Wheeler and Girls Names

NI Delegates @SXSW – the background

NI@SXSW is a collaborative initiative supported by Invest NI, Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, Belfast City Council and Digital Derry. Watch this space for further exclusive video reports from the SXSW conference.

Album number three from Belfast-based post rock instrumentalists And So I Watch You From Afar was always going to be make or break.

Not only is the 12-track opus their first offering since the untimely departure of guitarist and founding member Tony Wright (who now performs solo as VerseChorusVerse), but All Hail Bright Futures is their chance to win back those critics and fans who were left feeling a little cold by 2011’s Gangs.

With their backs to the wall, and facing a multitude of cocked eyebrows from those with an enduring fondness for their former de facto frontman, guitarist Rory Friers, bassist Johnny Adger, tub thumper Chris Wee and relative new-comer/former Panama Kings guitarist Niall Kennedy would perhaps have been forgiven for crumbling under the increasingly voluminous weight of expectation.

After all, this is the band whose sprawling, eponymous 2009 debut helped to kick-start a new renaissance in Northern Irish music, deservedly putting them on a global stage to boot. Thankfully though, All Hail Bright Futures sees the new-look ASIWYFA writing and performing with a collective smile on their face. It's an adventurous and ambitious effort that sets the rule book alight and hurls it skyward.

Deftly side-stepping a plethora of pitfalls that have scuppered similar instrumental acts by the time they reach their third album, ASIWYFA have embraced electronica and a more blissed out, expansive sound.

Opening with a dancing, darting, delicate riff that splices together calypso and traditional Irish music, 'Eunoia' kicks off the record with a shot of sonic sunshine before ASIWYFA sucker-punch us with 'Big Thinks Do Remarkable', which boasts a snappy guitar-line, sci-fi sound effects and a general and welcome feeling of positivity.

The most obvious addition to the ASIWYFA musical arsenal this time around is their use of vocals. All Hail Bright Futures interestingly utilizes chants, mantras, mumbles and whoops sparingly, and they augment the collective sound rather than dominate it.

'Ka Ba Ta Bo Da Ka' even uses vocals as a percussive tool, creating an excitingly odd, hand-clap-driven post-dance sound, and the brass-fuelled, afrobeat-steeped triumph that is 'The Stay Golden' is surely the most accessible and arresting song they’ve made in their eight-year history.

'The Stay Golden Pt. 2 (Rats On A Rock)' sees the band incorporate steel drums (it's not a million miles away from the melody in 'Cardiel' by Axis Of, to be honest) and they even manage to make a flute sound rocking on the hypnotic 'Mend And Make Safe', a feat not heard since Ian Anderson of 1970s progsters Jethro Tull last entered a studio.

For all its ambition and wide-eyed musical abandon though, there are times during All Hail Bright Futures where this reviewer misses the unbridled blood and thunder that made the ASIWYFA of old such a ferocious beast.

Yet, like Chicago’s Pelican, for example, who have also abandoned their metal and punk-informed approach for something (dare I say it?) a little softer, such departures are integral to any band’s growth, and a necessity if they hope to avoid chewing their own tails.

What the future holds for And So I Watch You From Afar post All Hail Bright Futures is anyone’s guess, but after living with their third record for the last few weeks, this reviewer is looking forward to finding out. All Hail Bright Futures is released March 19.