• Ten must-see shows at Cathedral Quarters Arts Festival 2014

    May 1, 2014 - By 

    Now in its fifteenth year, hands down Belfast’s most exciting, diverse and inspiring festival of music, culture and arts, Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival returns from May 1-11. Boasting a programme featuring everyone from De La Soul and Tinariwen to Simon Amstell, Shonen Knife and Yuck, it is quite possibly the annual festival’s strongest roster to date. At the risk of scaling a mount of hyperbole, we reckon there is quite literally something for everybody at this year’s festival. Whether you look to the words and ideas of the likes of Bernard McLaverty or Mark Ellen, the comedy of Katherine Ryan or Howard Read et al, genre-defining artists such as The Handsome Family, The Selecter and Fuck Buttons or…

  • Watch: VerseChorusVerse – Three

    May 1, 2014 - By 

    Currently on tour in England, Northern Irish singer-songwriter Tony Wright AKA VerseChorusVerse has unveiled the video to his latest single, the wonderfully dark ‘Three’. Created by Industrious Dark – the team behind Wright’s videos for  ‘No More Years‘ and ‘Nothing is Easy‘ – it was shot in Wright’s Grandmothers old house and in Edinburgh. Speaking of the video, Wright said, “Adrian Rowe  – who was guitarist in my first band, PepperBook – and Emma Dodds are the brains behind it. I said that I had been watching lots of Orson Welles’ movies – well, more than usual – Third Man etc., and would love something noir. Plus…

  • Inbound/exclusive stream: Nyt Bloomer

    May 1, 2014 - By 

    Hailing from Donegal, Conor McNamee AKA Nyt Bloomer is one of the more interesting voices in Ireland’s thriving electronic music scene. I met with him at his April 24 show at the Menagerie with Shammen Delly and Colpey to speak about the inception of Nyt Bloomer, his record label You Can’t Break It Records, and his infatuation with sampling. Ahead of the vinyl release, Old Toys is available for streaming exclusively on The Thin Air, and the cassette can be bought in Belfast’s Sick Records. Hi Conor. Lets start with a little background – where did Nyt Bloomer come from? I…

  • Kelis – Food

    May 1, 2014 - By 

    Kelis Rogers has always been somewhat of an enigmatic figurehead for the fringes of popular music. A sonic siren, her brand of off-centre RnB has historically enjoyed success with club-goers, channel hoppers and with those who just enjoy a bloody good hook and the occasional raucous holler or two. ‘I Hate You So Much Right Now,’ for instance, her 1999 vocal assault on a cheating spouse, provided Rogers with an opportunity to change the way RnB was to be perceived – it could be powerful, visceral even, but retain the soulful and jazz-influenced backdrop that many of Rogers’ contemporaries exploited…