:: Aoife Wolf – The Woman Who Shot Andy Warhol (single, Analogue Catalogue)
WE KICK off this week's feast of local music with a tune from a newcomer to Noise Annoys: having just missed Aoife Wolf's set supporting The Lovely Eggs a couple of weeks ago, I was pleased when friend to the stars Brian Coney sent me over a link to preview the Co Offaly-bred singer/songwriter's latest single.
The Woman Who Shot Andy Warhol is a dark 'n' dreamy, sultry sly and slinky lamentation packed with ominous, rolling drums, portentous Telecaster strum 'n' clang and Wolf's spine-tingling vocal performance, which conveys a tangible sense of emotional distress befitting the titular subject matter: namely Valerie Solanas who shot the pop art master (and an art critic as well) in 1968.
"I was fascinated by the details of the story, namely Solanas' belief that the government was spying on her via a microchip in her womb and through her bed sheets, as well as her outrage at being named an actor, rather than a writer in the headlines that followed," explains Wolf, whose previous single I and The Ocean pushes similarly bewitching buttons.
"But it was the hold that paranoia had on her psyche, in particular, that resonated with me the most."
The Woman Who Shot Andy Warhol is the lead single from Wolf's upcoming debut EP, Wetlands, set for release via Schoolkids Records on September 2.
Listen/buy/love now at aoife-wolf.bandcamp.com. I can't wait to hear what else is on there, and am already hoping to right my previous wrong by catching her live during the Women's Work Festival on June 4, which you're about to read more about right now.
:: Women's Work Festival 2022
THE Oh Yeah centre-based annual celebration of women in music returns next month between June 2 to 5 with its usual mix of live music, special events, workshops and discussions.
A few highlights of this year's programme include indie rockers New Pagans playing their first Belfast show of 2022 on the opening night of the festival (June 2, The Black Box, 8pm), when Moving On Music will also be hosting singer and harpist Rachel Newton at the American Bar (8pm).
There will also be a Classic Album Night (June 2, Oh Yeah, 7pm) celebrating the 30th anniversary of one of Ireland's best-selling albums, A Woman's Heart: Brigid O'Neill, Bernadette Morris, Rose Connolly, Ria Maguire, Ciara O'Neill and Edel Ní Churraoin will revisit the music of Maura O'Connell, Frances Black, Dolores Keane, Sharon Shannon, Eleanor McEvoy and Mary Black as featured on your ma's favourite compilation from 1992.
Hannah Peel and the NI Electronic Workshop will be launching their first ever release during the festival (June 3, Sound Advice Belfast, 6.30pm) and a live showcase will take place at Oh Yeah on June 4, featuring performances from Cherym, Problem Patterns, Sprints, Girl For Sale, Winnie Ama, Don Chi, Susi Pagel, the aforementioned Aoife Wolf and Clara Tracey.
Sasha Samara and broadcaster/musician Gemma Bradley will also be performing at Women's Work Live sessions at St George's Market (June 4, 12pm / June 5, 12pm).
Charlene Hegarty coordinator of the festival at Oh Yeah said: "The purpose of the Women's Work Festival is to illuminate the many talented women working onstage and off stage in our music community.
"This year we have welcomed as many artists as possible to perform or host events over four days and nights in June. Women's Work is a festival for allies in equality and music lovers: show up to show your support."
There will be a special Zine & Heard workshop on fanzines and 'zine culture hosted by Girls' Rock School NI (June 2, Oh Yeah, 1pm), whose head honcho Shannon 'Sister Ghost' O'Neill will also be launching her own new 'zine, Ghost Notes with some live tunes in the Black Box Green Room (June 3, 7pm), and there's a DIY gig poster workshop with Sasha Samara and Grace Fairley (June 4, Oh Yeah, 4pm).
Safe in Sound and Three's Theatre Company will present I Believe Her (June 5, departing Oh Yeah at 8pm), a walking tour-based evening of audio experience, discussion and a Problem Patterns DJ set, and there will also be a Female and Non-Binary Music Producer Meet-Up (June 4, Oh Yeah, 4.30pm) hosted by Shade Music.
See womensworkni.co.uk for full programme and venue details.
:: Paper Tigers – Graceless (EP, self-released)
ONWARDS to Belfast alt-rockers Paper Tigers who recently released their debut EP in full following a steady drip of singles taken from it over the past year or so.
Do you remember Blue Light Trails, their "nicely noisy yet memorably melodic indie rocking ode to the ups and downs of late night/early morning hedonism"?
How about title tune Graceless, which has "a distinctly woozy and worn out morning-after-the-night-before feel to it, the alternately spiralling and crunching guitars contrasting nicely with singer Hayley's emotive, anthemic vocal"?
Maybe you're more of a Moloko man, enjoying how the EP's epic final tune "pinballs entertainingly between sub-ska pop, noisy post-punk and nasty biker grunge as singer Hayley cuts a wailing swathe through the lot"?
If that hasn't recruited you to Paper Tigers' cause, there's always the two tunes they've held back for the full release, namely EP opener Omission and penultimate track Hush (not a Deep Purple cover, sadly/thankfully).
The former successfully sets up listeners for the band's signature combo of gritty post-hardcore and noise/sleaze-informed guitar abuse topped with huge pop diva vocals, a formula pushed to its extremes on the choppy, urgent Hush which should quickly become a live favourite for this unusual, entertainingly different band – if it hasn't already.
Find out when they launch the Graceless EP at The Workman's in Dublin with Hawk and VLLNS on June 7 and at Voodoo in Belfast on June 11. Listen in full at papertigersni.bandcamp.com.
:: Stendhal Festival final line-up additions
THE Stendhal Festival has announced the final additions to this year's musical line-up, bringing the total number of acts set to perform across the stages at the Limavady based event between June 30 and July 2 to an impressive 66.
Bronagh Gallagher, DJ Yoda, Scratch Perverts, Here Come The Landed Gentry, The Streetwise Samba Band, The Unholy Gospel Choir, NI Opera, Hyfin, Louise Da Costa, Big Jelly, Rory Nellis, Emet, Will Softly, Weston Loney, Dowry Strings, Heart Shaped, Molly Hogg, Jude Dude and Cartin will join a programme which already features the likes of Villagers, Sister Sledge, Hayseed Dixie, Lisa McHugh and Oscar and Simon out of Ocean Colour Scene.
Festival director Ross Parkhill says he is delighted at the eclectic line-up for the 12th Stendhal Festival.
"The line-up has come together really well this year," he said.
"We obviously have a huge, globally known headline act in Sister Sledge, who will no doubt put on a show to remember. We also have a headliner in Villagers who are very different but have cultivated a stellar catalogue of music and amassed a great following, while Bronagh Gallagher headlining the Thursday means that we will kick the event off in a very classy fashion.
"The headline support acts are all incredible as well; Simon and Oscar from Ocean Colour Scene will essentially be doing an unplugged Ocean Colour Scene greatest hits set.
"DJ Yoda is one of our favourite DJs ever, always innovating and igniting any crowd he performs for, Hayseed Dixie are singalong festival favourites all over the world, Lisa McHugh is the biggest female country music star around and Scratch Perverts are another DJ act that will have the farm absolutely bouncing."
Ross continued: "On top of that Stendhal, as always, is the largest festival platform for indigenous Northern Irish acts. Performers like Ciaran Lavery, The Woodburning Savages and Cherym will once again show why we consider Northern Irish talent as being as good if not better than anywhere else."
Visit stendhalfestival.com for tickets and full festival line-up
