IT'S probably high time Noise Annoys checked in with Belfast singer-songwriter Rory Nellis again – not least because the Seven Summits leader has released a couple more tunes from his forthcoming new solo album since he last featured on this page.
Gas & Air is the sixth song to escape on to RoryNellis.Bandcamp.com from whatever virtual vault There Are Enough Songs In The World (the follow-up to 2015's crowd-funded solo debut Ready For You Now) is being stored in until it's ready to be launched at The MAC in Belfast on November 11.
Apparently drawn from Rory's own recently child-enhanced reality, this sweet, slow-building story song about the panic/joy of impending fatherhood is bound to strike a familiar chord with listeners who have also successfully procreated.
However, even barren and wilfully infant-free fans should enjoy this rolling, guitars and piano-powered alt-pop number with gospel choir style backing vocals.
The song also features a chucklesomely memorable last line in which Mr Nellis shares an internet style 'review' of his paternal experience: "Four stars, would try again."
Gas & Air follows on from song number five off the album, All I Ever Wanted Was A Chance, a woozy piano-driven ballad about confusion and miscommunication which soars pleasingly from plaintive to powerful in its rousing final moments.
"Most of us weren't born to listen, we were born to broadcast – communicate one way," croons Nellis.
Hopefully, there will be a good few people prepared to listen when he performs live in Belfast next week at The Empire.
The show on Thursday September 7 finds Rory serving as main support at the single launch show for fellow Belfast-based troubadour Owen Lamont, formerly of one-time Noise Annoys regulars The Delawares.
This alt-country styled combo were one of our most promising bands just over a decade ago, but sadly The Delawares fizzled out prematurely amid record deal related wranglings.
However, now Owen is back in the game under his own name.
His debut single, Hold On, is a serious soul pop earworm (complete with a cheeky tip of the songwriting cap to ABC's The Look of Love) and a great showcase for his bluesy vocalisations.
The single itself is a well produced record with a rich, warm 'vintage' sound, but you should also make a point of checking out the video for Owen's stripped-down live version of Hold On, which transforms the song into a superb campfire soul sing-along.
You can view it now at FB.com/owenlamontmusic – treat it as practice for adding your own vocals to the live version at The Empire on Thursday night.
Doors are at 9pm and admission is an entirely reasonable £3.
On the subject of 'stripped-down' versions of good tunes, Ulster punk metal godheads and longtime Noise Annoys inspirations Therapy? have a new live acoustic record out now: Communion captures the trio in 'Wood & Wire' mode at London's Union Chapel at the tail-end of 2016.
This double CD contains a broad selection of Therapy? hits and should-have-been hits performed in an unplugged style, from 90s faves like Potato Junkie, Screamager and Die Laughing to 21st century raves including If It Kills Me, Living In The Shadow of The Terrible Thing and Tides.
While the idea of Therapy? going acoustic might seem sacrilegious to the most pious celebrants amid the congregation at their Marshall-equipped church of noise, the absence of amplification merely allows for a greater appreciation of Andy Cairns' finely-tuned songwriting skills.
The live setting also allows him to show off his winning way with an amusing pre-song anecdote. To be fair, the band have chosen to snip out a good few of these informative and reliably chucklesome intros, presumably for the sake of creating a more free-flowing listening experience (and possibly to ensure the entire concert fitted onto two CDs), though the ones which do remain are solid gold.
For example, you'll never be able to listen to Opal Mantra again without hearing Andy's impersonation of a kindly RUC man's post-car crash enquiry: "Do ye watch a lot of The Dukes of Hazzard, son?"
If you have enjoyed the Therapy? leader's recent pair of solo acoustic CDs or enjoyed their recent Wood & Wire acoustic show at The Empire in Belfast, you will want to take Communion at the earliest opportunity.
It's only available via the band's website at Therapyquestionmark.co.uk, where you can also pick up signed copies of their most recent studio album Disquiet and indeed the fully 'plugged' double live CD We're Here To The End, just to remind yourself how much Therapy? rock at 'full strength'.
On the subject of rocking 'full strength' live albums (honestly, you'd almost think this column was planned out in advance), Belfast bowel-quakers Slomatics have a brand new concert LP ready for release.
As its title suggests, Futrurians: Live at Roadburn is a document of the band's set at this year's Roadburn festival in Tilburg. Unlike the previously mentioned Therapy? release, you won't find any between song anecdotes here – only the odd salutation to the crowd and a heartfelt declaration of their love for the Roadburn festival punctuate the onslaught of molecularly damaging riffage.
Drummer/howler Marty's "Good evening, we're Slomatics from Belfast" serves both as an introduction and as fair warning for a head-banging run at Electric Breath off last year's crushing Future Echo Returns LP, seguing nicely into the bog-thick prog sludge of Running Battle from 2005's debut Flooding The Weir.
Indeed, Futurians features songs from right across the Slomatics' discography: stand-out moments include a pair of A Hocht cuts, Tramontane's groovily slow metal-grunge epic and Return To Kraken's pulsating psychedelic doomery, sinister sludge-blues dirge And Yet It Moves from 2015's Estron LP, the stumbling Sabbathian lament of Ulysses My Father from their split with Holly Hunt and Future Echo Returns' anthemic extinction level event fuzzer, Supernothing.
A blast through March of The 1,000 Volt Ghost featuring a guest appearance from Slomatics' buddy Jon from Liverpudlian doom crew Conan on vocals makes for a suitably celebratory yet apocalyptic climax to Futurians.
While this live LP could never hope to replicate the organ-violating physical thump of your actual Slomatics live experience, it's still a great set and pretty much the next best thing to the real deal.
The vinyl version of Futurians – which is the only one to have, really – is limited to just 300 copies on clear 'wax', to be released via Burning World on September 12.
Pre-orders will start any day now via Burningworldrecords.com, while Slomatics.bandcamp.com will be the place to avail of inferior yet infinitely more portable digital copies.
