• Magic Pockets – Volcano of the Bleeding Skies

    With a beautiful, Roger Dean-esque album cover befitting a ’70s proggy Krautrock cult classic, Ruadhan O’Meara AKA Magic Pockets has unveiled his debut album titled Volcano of the Bleeding Skies. Also known for providing the synthesised sonic tapestries in Dublin noise-merchants No Spill Blood, O’Meara’s album comes out via Cork label Penske Recordings – home also to The Altered Hours and Woven Skull – on Friday, November 25. Expect a world of psychedelic & minimal synthscapes from the album, which was recorded using vintage synthesisers, drum machines, electronics and manipulated samples, recorded to 1 inch tape. In the same way the likes of Boards of Canada have…

  • Dublin Digital Radio Launch Party

    On Saturday, October 8, Dublin Digital Radio will host a BYOB launch party at Dublin’s Jigsaw in the company of Breen, Noid The Droid, Bukeepsie Boys, Daire Carolan, Dream Cycles, Cáit, Melly and Ellll (pictured above). Kicking off around 2pm, the launch 0 which will be streamed via DDR’s new website here – will run on to around 10pm. Entry is through donation (suggested between €5 – €10) and all proceeds will go towards studio equipment, rent, bills etc. Dedicated to “providing a quality platform for the various communities striving to create a socially and culturally progressive city in a landscape netted…

  • Wah Wah Club Launch @ The Grand Social, Dublin

    Operating within the walls of The Grand Social, Hidden Agenda and This Greedy Pig will team up to launch Wah Wah Club, a new late late night club experience in Dublin on Thursday, September 29. Taking place from Wednesday through to Sunday every week in the Lower Liffey Street venue, the club will feature light installations by visual design crew Algorithm, a brand new custom built Funktion-One sound system. Elsewhere, the downstairs space has been completely renovated to accommodate a purpose-built club space with a custom DJ booth. Nice. With yet more to be announced over the coming days (including…

  • The G Sessions: Orchid Collective & Michael Mormecha

    Following a three-year hiatus, Glasgowbury’s G Sessions will make its highly-anticipated return with Dublin alt-folk quartet Orchid Collective (pictured) and Michael Mormecha (Mojo Fury, Clown Parlour, Malojian et al.) on Saturday, September 24. Having previously been held in Draperstown’s Cellar Bar, the bona fide Irish music institution will now be held in Glasgowbury’s hub in the Mid-Ulster town, the Cornstore Loft. The show is bring your own booze (strictly no glass). Tickets are £7 and available now here or from the Cornstore. LOFi LiFE by michael mormecha

  • The Thin Air Tuesday Throwdown: Franklyn @ Lavery’s Belfast

    Having recently released a string of stellar singles including ‘Tongue Tied’ and ‘Pleasure’ (which we premiered here), Belfast quartet Franklyn will play our next live Tuesday Throwdown in the limited capacity Back Bar of Lavery’s Belfast on October 4. Comprised of three-quarters of the sadly-departed General Fiasco, this is a chance to catch one of the country’s most promising, fast-rising outfits in such an intimate setting. Admission is free. The Thin Air DJs before and after to late.

  • Loop Launch Night

    A new night created by local DJs Jamie Nelson and Jamie Nevin promising to deliver music that has been “left behind and under appreciated”, Loop will launch in Mister Tom’s at Lavery’s, Belfast on Friday, September 16. Joining the duo for its first outing – which coincides with Culture Night 2016 – is  none other than adopted Belfast multi-instrumentalist writer, arranger, producer and all-round legend Kaidi Tatham. Filling the gap left by Belfast longest-running club night, Gigantic, Loop was created after “seeing many small-medium size venues eventually closing down or changing tact over the years, resulted in both feeling quite dispirited…

  • 30 Under 30 Film Festival

    With its sell of “classics films through modern eyes”, 30 Under 30 is a new season of must-see films to watch on the big screen before the age of 30. Taking place in various venues in Belfast and Derry from August to October courtesy of Queen’s Film Theatre, Belfast Film Festival, Cinemagic, the Nerve Centre and Strand Arts Centre, the programme for the festival addresses a wide range of issues and concerns for under-30s such as becoming an adult, love and friendship, finding your place in the world, work life and dreams versus reality. Claire Shaw, Press and Marketing Officer…

  • Adam Buxton’s Bug: David Bowie Special

    Bona fide Bowie obsessive, Adam Buxton will bring his Bug show celebrating the music videos and other on-screen appearances of the Thin White Duke to Dublin’s Vicar Street on November 20. Having started back in April 2007 as a series of bi-monthly shows at BFI Southbank, Bug quickly became a phenomenon looking at global creativity in music videos. This show – set to take place less than a year after Bowie’s passing –  is a perfect opportunity to enjoy some key moments from David Bowie’s life and career on the big screen, as well as remember the indelible mark he made on our…

  • Lingo Festival 2016

    Returning following the sold-out success of its second annual outing last year, Lingo – Ireland’s first and only spoken word festival – returns to Dublin from October 21-23. With more acts and full line-up info yet to be announced, the forefather of indie-hop Sage Francis (pictured), Rubberbandits‘ Blindboy Boatclub, Palestinian spoken word artist and human rights activist Rafeef Ziadeh and Galway poet Sarah Clancy will headline this year’s festival. Lingo Programme Manager Erin Fornoff said, “Irish Spoken Word has gone from being a practically unknown and underground movement to being an invigorating part of Ireland’s wider culture, you just have to…

  • Beat Root 2016

    Presenting four days of wonderfully diverse roots music, Belfast’s Beat Root festival returns with yet another stellar bill from September 7-10. With all shows taking place in the city’s Crescent Arts Centre, this year’s schedule traverses Scottish psych folk maestros Trembling Bells with support from London-born, Galway-raised musician Brigid Mae Power (above), sublime psychedelic samba, distorted jazz and Afro-punk in the form of Metá Metá, English folk musician Chris Wood with support from Conor Caldwell and Danny Diamond, as well as Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh of The Gloaming and This Is How We Fly, with support from Amy McAllister. Whilst you can pay per gig,…