• Tim Wheeler: Solo Domain

    November 7, 2014 - By 

    Tim Wheeler took a break from his front-man duties for Ash to release his debut solo album, Lost Domain, for reasons very close to the singer’s heart and it’s a masterpiece. Deirdre O’Brien caught up with the Downpatrick native for The Thin Air on a very flying visit he took to Dublin just before the record’s release and his show at Belfast’s Oh Yeah Centre. Since the release of their debut EP Trailer in 1994 – which turned out to be an immediate success for Tim Wheeler, Mark Hamilton and Rick McMurray – Ash have gone from strength-to=strength worldwide for the…

  • Inbound: Jess Kav

    October 6, 2014 - By 

    In the latest installment of Inbound, Brian Coney talks to multi-talented Dublin singer Jessica Kavanagh AKA Jess Kav about everything from her early influences, studying jazz in college, performing as part of Hozier’s band and her hugely eclectic musical journey to date. Hi Jess. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your background in music? I’m Jess Kav and I am a professional singer in Dublin. I started off in a stage school when I was younger, then got into the live scene from about eighteen. Since then I have been working with an array of different bands. They…

  • Interview: The Hold Steady

    October 2, 2014 - By 

    Having released their stellar sixth studio album, Teeth Dreams, back in March, Brooklyn indie rock heroes The Hold Steady are experiencing something of a much-deserved resurgence as of late. Formed back in 2004, the Craig Finn-fronted band will stop off in Belfast and Dublin on October 17 and 18 respectively, as part of a forthcoming European tour to promote the aforementioned album. Ahead of those dates, Will Murphy has a chat with Finn about the band’s songwriting process, the recording and release of Teeth Dreams and his support for – wait for it – Queens Park Rangers. It was about…

  • RBMA Interview: Ryan Vail, Noel Watson & Boxcutter

    September 24, 2014 - By 

    Nothing short of a downright unmissable four-day mini-festival, Belfast will host its first ever Red Bull Music Academy Weekender at the weekend. Ahead of the showcase – set to take in a whole host of workshops, screenings, lectures, live shows and DJ sets – we talk to three of the acts set to perform from Thursday, September 25 to Sunday, September 28: Derry producer Ryan Vail, shapeshifting electronic maestro Barry Lynn AKA Boxcutter and House pioneer Noel Watson. Check out the full schedule for the Weekender, as well as our chat with the trio below. Go here to buy tickets. So, your set to play…

  • Wassailing Away: An Interview with James Yorkston

    September 18, 2014 - By 

    Just before James Yorkston began his tour around Ireland to celebrate the release of his latest album The Cellardyke Recording and Wassailing Society, Deirdre O’Brien caught up with the softly spoken Scotsman to discuss everything from his very content life of simple domesticity to working with KT Tunstall and the recording process that lead to such an intimate sounding record. The talent of James Yorkston really is something special to behold and the talent of the singer/songwriter/author/artist is so impressive; every album you listen to of his, every gig you attend feels like you’ve been made privy to a well…

  • Interview: Adebisi Shank

    August 25, 2014 - By 

    With sold-out shows in London and their eagerly-anticipated Irish return on the horizon, Niamh Hegarty speaks to bassist Vinny McCreith of Adebisi Shank about everything from This is the Album… to the brand new, critically-acclaimed This the Third Album of a Band Called Adebisi Shank. So, your third album went on release here in Ireland, UK and US releases to follow this week. How have you been feeling about the reaction so far? It’s really positive so far and thinking back, it makes me think back to the second release and a lot of people have it in their heads that a lot…

  • “We Are…” by Diarmuid Kennedy

    August 13, 2014 - By 

    Whether you’ve encountered him or not – and chances are many of you have – self-professed “unprofessional photographer” Diarmuid Kennedy has been a veritable fly-on-the-wall of Belfast music over the last couple of years. A masterfully discreet operator, he is often one of a small handful at people to brave line-ups of all-but anonymous debutantes and furtive young musicians; his photography – just like his work capturing bigger, more established local bills – providing a priceless insight into an ever-evolving, somewhat maligned but, for the most part, consistently impressive music scene. Sitting outside the Pavilion Bar on Ormeau Road – a venue in which the photographer has shot innumerable up-and-coming bands…

  • Interview: No Age

    August 4, 2014 - By 

    Three years on from unleashing the nuanced noise of their stellar third album, Everything In Between, Los Angeles duo No Age re-affirmed their reputation as one of the most accomplished experimental punk outfits around with the masterfully minimalist An Object, released in August last year. Propelled by its candour and bare-boned urgency, it galvanised guitarist Randy Randall and drummer/vocalist Dean Allen Spunt’s effortlessly off-kilter craft, the fuzzed-out forays of old taking a back seat in favour of a markedly more inconspicuous approach. But for a twosome so apparently motivated by and inclined towards impulse, one wonders: was there much intention at the…

  • Interview: Baths

    July 31, 2014 - By 

    “Selfishness plays a very positive role for me. I have to love it to death or I can’t remain involved with it.” So says twenty-four year old Californian electronic producer Will Wiesenfeld AKA Baths. Having developed a particularly crippling bout of E Coli in 2009 that left him bed-ridden and unable to write music for months, he positively channelled this skirmish with mortality into his second full-length release, last year’s masterfully bleak and heart-wrenchingly beautiful Obsidian. If Nietzsche’s immortal adage “That which does not kill us makes us stronger” rings true, Wiesenfeld’s sophomore effort embodied a distinctly do-or-die spirit. With…

  • Inbound: DANI

    July 30, 2014 - By 

    DANI brings something extremely unique to the term “singer-songwriter” here in Northern Ireland. Dabbling between slapping and tapping her guitar strings, her songs are gentle, charming little pieces which ring softly in your ears with their raw, dream-like textures. I caught up with her to discover what’s in store for her in the coming months, including her new EP in which she is collaborating with none other than Mike Mormecha of Mojo Fury and Malojian. Hi Dani. Last year you released an EP, It Speaks for Itself. How have things changed since then? Have you got anything in the works? Yeah,  I released…