• Watch: Meltybrains? – Oh Earth (Live in The Pepper Canister Church, Dublin)

    Having spent the last week driving home their impossibly distinctive brand of experimental pop at SXSW, Dublin experimental five-piece Meltybrains? will play a special Thin Air show at Belfast’s Bar Sub on Friday, April 10 alongside the equally unmissable Blue Whale. Sitting on the fence about attending? Relieve your behind by watching Bob Gallagher’s live video of ‘Oh Earth’ by Meltybrains?, filmed at Dublin’s wonderful Pepper Canister Church in February. Go here for the Facebook event for the Belfast show.  

  • Stream: Paddy Hanna – Austria

    Just over a year on from released the exquisite Leafy Stiletto – one of our Irish albums of 2014 no less – Dublin’s Paddy Hanna has returned in something of a new guise with ‘Austria’, a jangle-pop mini-masterstroke evoking the likes of Morrissey, The Divine Comedy and Elvis Costello. There’s also a vague hint of Joe Dolan in there too but we’ll pretend we didn’t hear that. Or will we? Anyway, we’re very fond of ‘Austria’ and wouldn’t even remotely kick up a fuss if Hanna deciding to dander down this sonic path for an eon and an age. Paired with a b-side,…

  • Boiler Room set for Belfast’s AVA Festival

    Set to take place as part of the inaugural AVA Festival, legendary underground music showcase Boiler Room will make its Belfast debut in the very capable company of Bicep, Space Dimension Controller, John Daly (who performs live), Timmy Stewart and Schmutz. A fine line-up of homegrown electronic talent for a highly-anticipated event, we’re sure you’ll agree. Go here for more information about AVA Festival, including where to buy tickets and all the usual.

  • EP Premiere: R51 – Pillow Talk

    Belfast-based quintet R51 have come on leaps and bounds over the last couple of years. Having cultivated a perfectly pulverizing live show and an effects-laden, shoegaze-tinged noise-pop craft that continues to surprise and intrigue, the Melyssa Shannon-fronted quartet will launch their debut EP, Pillow Talk, at Belfast’s Bar Sub on Wednesday night (April 25). In his review of the EP for the Thin Air, Will Murphy said, “Each one of the songs has something to recommend, be it the Sigur Ros vibe permeating throughout the EP closer, ‘Seaweed’, the spaced out verses on ‘I Hate That Too’ or the monstrously huge chorus on ‘Pillow…

  • Belfast Film Festival Programme Launch

    Set to take place in venues across the city from April 16-26, the programme for the 15th Belfast Film Festival has been announced. As is very much its custom, the festival has an extraordinarily diverse line-up up its sleeve this year, with categories boasting categories including New Cinema, Altered States & Twisted Corners, Northern Irish Independents/Shorts, as well as Opening & Closing films I Am Belfast, Shooting For Socrates and The Survivalist. Check out the full programme and buy tickets at the Belfast Film Festival website here.

  • Watch: All Tvvins – Thank You

    Having received its premiere on Zane Lowe’s Radio 1 programme last month, Dublin duo All Tvvins have unveiled the rather fabulous video for their triumphant debut single, ‘Thank You’. In January we summed up a live version of the track, released last year as “A charming and bewitching math-pop track released as a live video from the post-Adebisi supergroup. Whip-smart in the composition, and beautifully restrained in the delivery, it is a wonderful dichotomy of heart-warming melodies and existential uncertainty, sealed with searing, aching swell guitar.” The video for the single – a hyper-disco, ballerina-centric mini-masterpiece – was directed by Brendan…

  • Stream: Rusangano Family – Wasteman

    Formerly known as God Knows + mynameisjOhn, month we had the pleasure of bearing witness to Limerick’s Rusangano Family live in a filming of the Parlour (in which were also guests) at Whelan’s, Dublin. Both on and off camera, the guys – one of the featured acts in our 15 for ’15 feature – delivered an electrifying brace of tracks including the equal parts excellent and ethical ‘Wasteman’. Now, ahead of their midnight performance at our second birthday party at Dublin’s Twister Pepper on Saturday, May 2, the trio have released a studio version of the track. Featuring guitar from Steve Ryan of Windings,…

  • Watch: Patrick Gardiner – I’m Your Creation

    Cornwall-based, Northern Irish singer-songwriter Patrick Gardiner is a methodical songsmith that thrives on the intricacies of his craft. From the poise and refrain of his carefully-considered words to specific chord changes and structures, he has really made an impression on us, live, on more than one occasion. Three years on from his self-released debut EP, Save Myself, the Co. Down musician will release its five-track follow-up, Carcassonne, on April 1. On first listen, it’s a subtly eclectic mix of acoustic tale-telling, Gardiner’s earnest delivery on each track hovering confidently over full-band tracks underpinned with some instantly memorable melodic threads and pop nuances. Ahead…

  • The Thin Air’s Second Birthday @ Twisted Pepper, Dublin

    We’ll be celebrating our grand second birthday at Dublin’s The Twisted Pepper on Saturday, May 2. Kicking off at 6pm in the Twisted Pepper cafe with an exhibition of our magazine covers to date and selected work from our fantastic team of photographers. Following that we have Robocobra Quartet and Night Trap live in the Stage room with our headliners who will be announced on April 2nd. Rusangano Family (pictured) will be playing a special midnight gig for us in the cafe too along with DJ sets from BATS and Andy Walsh from Little Gem. More info to be announced…