• Inbound: DANI

    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…

  • Meb Jon Sol: Worried Man, in A

    I pressed the dusty keys of the old upright near the entrance of the barn. It let out a brace of discordant notes in the close summer heat and left little finger silhouettes in the dirt on the ivory. ’I shouldn’t be here,’ I thought, ‘and it won’t be long until I’m found out.’ The barn was out the back of a farmhouse around the back roads of Leitrim. It had been converted into a studio, but it seemed to have fought valiantly against the conversion. Rusting car parts and stumped farm tools scattered around the stony garden surrounding the…

  • Festival Mixtape: Indiependence 2014

    Hands down one of Cork’s finest annual festivals, Indiependence returns to Mitcheltown’s Deer Park across the weekend of August 1-3, headlined by hip-hop overlords Public Enemy, London post-punk trio White Lies and Tom Odell. Better still, this year’s festival boasts some of the very finest acts, of every conceivable ilk and genre, that fall comfortably under the banner “homegrown”. Whether you look to the cosmically-inclined rapture of Cork’s The Altered Hours or Belfast-based indie-pop quartet Go Wolf, amongst several others, the veritable cream of Ireland’s musical crop will be nicely represented across the weekend. Check out the full line-up for the festival…

  • Friday Mixtape: Owen Strathern (Oh Volcano)

    In the first of a new weekly “thing” here at the Thin Air (sometimes “thing” sums it up perfectly, you know?), Oh Volcano’s Owen Strathern delivers the inaugural Friday Mixtape, featuring some of his all-time favourite tracks – everyone from Talking Heads to The Magnetic Fields. Stream the playlist and read Owen’s thoughts on each track below. Future Islands – Seasons (Waiting On You): “I saw this track on Letterman and pre-ordered their album right away. The guy is mesmerising and this song is incredible.” Caged Animals – Teflon Heart: “I heard this track a few years ago and just heard an instrumental of…

  • Inbound: Jamie Neish

    Ahead of his solo performance at the latest Volume Control show at Belfast’s Oh Yeah Centre, Rebekah Wilson sits down with the sonically ambidextrous Jamie Neish. Not merely content with drumming in one of Northern Ireland’s finest and most promising alt-rock outfits,More Than Conquerors, Neish is also an auspicious unaccompanied artist in his own right – something he happily discusses alongside the rise and restlessness of the aforementioned Belfast band. Photos by Sam Stronge Hey Jamie, how’s it going? It’s going very well, thanks! Good stuff! So, for anyone who hasn’t heard your music before how would you describe your…

  • Video exclusive: Arborist – Border Blood

    Officially launched on Friday, July 18 at Belfast’s Flow Yoga Studio, we’re very pleased to present an exclusive first-look at the video for ‘Border Blood’, the new single by Belfast-based band Arborist. The lead single from the Mark McCambridge-fronted band’s debut album, Home Burial, the track was recorded by Ben McAuley – also a member of the band – at Belfast’s Start Together Studios. Several local musicians – including core members McAuley, Richard Hill and James Heaney, as well as the likes of violinist Luke Bannon and trumpeter Linley Hamilton – perform on the song. The video was shot and edited by…

  • Choice Cuts: The Best Tracks of… July

    Death From Above 1979 – Trainwreck 1979 (Last Gang Records) The stonking great bass thump on Death From Above 1979‘s 2004 record You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine was an undeniable part of the duo’s past successes. Ten years later and we are finally getting another taste. Their sound hasn’t evolved drastically, but with the new track ‘Trainwreck 1979’, its obvious that the band is out to make a statement, a reaffirmation of what they can do with a bass and a roaring vocal hook. NehruvianDoom – OM (Lex Records) The second track to be unveiled from NehruvianDoom‘s debut album, ‘OM’ is a…

  • Inbound: Contour

    Having signed to Belfast-based imprint Champion Sound just last week, Dublin electronic duo Conan Wynne and Anna Doran AKA Contour have hit the ground running since forming in November last year. With the release of their glitchy debut EP, Chaos Theories, we talks to Conan about the formation of Contour, the direction of the project and the current state of Irish electronic music. Hey Conan. Can you give us some background on Contour and how yourself and Anna met? I met Anna while teaching a production course with Realsound Dublin. She was looking to put a mix together using Ableton and…

  • A Guide to The Cathedral Quarter – Part II

    Photo by Nicholas McCloskey Ask anyone in Belfast: the Cathedral Quarter is the artistic home of Belfast where culture parties and never rests. The energy of the area is contagious judging by the thousands that walk the cobbled streets every week, viewing the murals featuring iconic figures of Northern Ireland or just sampling the buzz. Its approach to art is diverse, giving a platform for various art forms as well as music that maybe aren’t as accessible to the masses including spoken word, dance and visual art forms. This acceptance of the arts is so influential that it even has…

  • A Guide to The Cathedral Quarter – Part I

    Boasting over 200 free events to over 30,000 attendees, the sixth year of Culture Night Belfast is drawing near with much of the focus being directed towards the city’s stunning Cathedral Quarter, an area which prides itself on being at the heart of cultural locality in the city. Set to take place on Friday, September 19, the annual showcase – which calls itself “the city’s biggest, most colourful and inclusive cultural celebration” – will bring the quarter and it’s many established and makeshift venues to life. The annual Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, which celebrated its fifteenth year in early May, brought the very…