• Gig of the week: Champion Sound Showcase

    September 11, 2013 - By 

    Our gig of the week this week is set to be an outright highlight of this year’s CultureTECH in Derry/Londonderry: a showcase by Belfast-based label Champion Sound at the most excellent Sandinos on Friday September 13 featuring performances two of the label’s most exciting names. Fast-rising Derry electronic artist Ryan Vail (above) and decidedly anonymous producer Unknown lead the way on the night. Visuals coming courtesy of award-winning Belfast collective DSNT, the labels bosses of both Planet Mu (Tom Quaye) and Champion Sound (Lyndon Stephens) will also perform DJ sets on the night Tickets are five pound at the door. Check out ‘Fade’ by Ryan Vail below.

  • Getting Re-Acquainted: Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Round & Round

    September 11, 2013 - By 

    A year is a long time in the world of pop music, and it’s hard to believe that an incredible three years has passed since the release of Ariel Pink’s game-changing album Before Today. Before that, he’d been a lo-fi oddball, a seemingly deliberately obscure artist as likely to be responsible for a piece of unlistenable mucking about as he was for a warped slice of vintage FM pop music. Before Today changed all that, and ‘Round & Round’ was the moment when his peculiar genius asserted itself. Over a bed of hazy Hall & Oates-esque synths, Pink and the rest…

  • Exclusive stream: The Late David Turpin – Bear of a Star

    September 11, 2013 - By 

    On the eve of the release of his forthcoming third album, we have an exclusive stream of ‘Bear of a Star’ by Dublin-based singer-songwriter The Late David Turpin. Having already released two albums under his own name, Turpin – who recently died for “approximately died for 28 seconds” – will release We Belong Dead on September 13. To celebrate the release, Turpin will perform the album in full with a chamber choir  on September 15 at Dublin’s Smock Alley Theatre.  ‘Bear of a Star’ strikes a rather brilliant balance between Beck, Eels and Of Montreal, with hints of Wire and Soul Coughing. Ahead of our interview with Turpin on…

  • Twenty Months, Twelve Photos, One Glass Eye

    September 11, 2013 - By 

    If you’re a regular gig-goer in Belfast, chances are you will at least know amateur music photographer Diarmuid Kennedy to see. Having worked tirelessly on his own initiative to capture  pretty much every single local gig worth going to over the last twenty months, he has very kindly selected a dozen of his favourite distinctive black-and-white photographs during this period, offering a snapshot of a small but thriving scene and the thoughts of a true champion of homegrown live music. Take it away, Diarmuid. “It is very flattering to be asked to select my favourite photographs for Thin Air.  I am a complete amateur…

  • Nine Inch Nails – Hesitation Marks

    September 11, 2013 - By 

    Hesitation Marks is the furthest Trent Reznor has pushed the aural parameters of Nine Inch Nails since the bands’ inception. Whilst previous releases have varied in degrees, several constants have always remained: dark and nihilistic themes, recurring musical motifs, and tracks that build dozens of layers into a towering climax – most of these traits have been eschewed in favour of a new approach here. The new record Hesitation Marks – their eighth full length –  is an exercise in minimalism, in honesty, in peeling back the skin; both in terms of song writing and tone. Reznor is creating music with new goals…