• Premiere: Edward F Butler – Running From Fears

    Originally from London, Belfast-based musician and filmmaker Edward F Butler first made his mark here with the now defunct HOWL, a genre-spanning outfit driven by Butler’s soulful, nigh on beatific vocals. Going several steps further – both in sound and scope – the artist’s debut single, ‘Running From Fears’, is an extremely impressive first gambit, marrying Butler’s idiosyncratic electro-acoustic music with his extraordinary vocals. Conjuring the likes of James Vincent McMorrow, James Blake and Nina Simone, they serve as a transformative centre-piece of a sound bearing the hallmarks of resounding inspiration. And if that wasn’t enough to convince you of his talents, Butler –…

  • Download: Princess – Molly

    Another highlight from Hard Working Class Heroes festival at the weekend, Dublin noise-pop band Princess have released the bewitching ‘Molly’, the follow-up to their breakthrough single ‘Neverlook’, released back in June. A spectre-weaving, superbly slow-burning eight minutes of astrally-inclined rapture, the single evokes the likes of Bardo Pond, Galaxie 500, Beach House and fellow Irish sonicosmonauts The Altered Hours‘ more subtle efforts. Expect it to feature quite highly in our annual Best Irish Tracks End of Year list in December. Stream/download ‘Molly’ – produced by the band, engineered by Ian McNulty and mixed by Solar Bears’ Rian Trench – via Bandcamp below. Molly by Princess

  • Watch: Ciaran Lavery – Orphan

    Having played a triumphant set at Dublin’s Grand Social as part of Hard Working Class Heroes festival at the weekend, Aghagallon singer-songwriter Ciaran Lavery has unveiled the decidedly cathartic video for his new single, ‘Orphan’. Created by ROC, the minimalist visual accompaniment features a few anonymous individuals baring themselves to the camera, a theme introduced in Lavery’s video for ‘Left For America’. Propelled by the Northern Irish songsmith’s instantly-recognisable husky vocals and progressively experimental alt-folk approach, ‘Orphan’ is the closing song on Kosher, Lavery’s latest EP. Stream/buy that here. Watch the video for ‘Orphan’ below.

  • Where to find The Thin Air magazine: an Illustrative Guide

    It’s finally here! Our first ever print issue of The Thin Air magazine. “Where can I find it?” we hear you cry. Well, fear not, as we asked Aoife Dooley to kindly illustrate two handy maps on where you can pick up your very own copy. It was very important to us at TTA towers (ahem) that U2 and Van Morrison – our biggest supporters – were included on these maps. Belfast: Sick Records, Voodoo, Oh Yeah Centre, QUBSU, Boojum, Black Box Derry: Abbazappa Records Dublin: Tower Records, Twisted Pepper, Boojum, Kaph, Bernard Shaw, Fumbally, Roasted Brown, 3FE Cork: Triskel Arts Centre All…

  • Stream: September Girls – Veneer

    Having gradually distanced themselves from the straight-up surf-rock of their early ruminations,September Girls have positively confirmed their rather exciting metamorphisis with ‘Veneer’, the title track from their forthcoming EP on Kanine Records. Psych-tinged and feedback-soaked in all the right places, the track is a swift, earworming lo-fi masterstroke; swooning and sinister in equal proportion, tapping into an inner recess, looking far beyond pacific, jangling, Summer pop. Veneer is released on November 25. Stream the single below.  

  • Line-up announced for inaugural Output showcase

    With just over a fortnight to wait, the line-up for the inaugural Output have been announced. Northern Ireland’s largest ever one-day conference and showcasing event, taking place throughout Belfast’s city centre and Cathedral Quarter on Thursday, October 16, it will see a series of free talks, workshops and pop-up gigs, attending by around 350 artists, businesses and creative students. We’re very happy to be involved, too. Teaming up with tastemaker par excellence Niall Byrne AKA Nialler9, we will host a most awesome showcase in the Black Box main room with Cork psych rock five-piece Altered Hours (pictured), Dublin electronic duo Contour, Derry…

  • Shortlist revealed for Northern Irish Music Prize 2014

    With Bangor singer-songwriter Foy Vance having scooped the inaugural award last year, the twelve-act shortlist for this year’s Northern Irish Music Prize has been revealed. Recognising the very best albums released in the last twelve months by a Northern Irish act, this year’s ceremony will see Belfast-based singer-songwriter Robyn G Shiels (above), alt-rock heroes Mojo Fury, the Smalltown America-signed More Than Conquerors, Derry indie-pop quartet Wonder Villains, transatlantic indie-rap duo Malibu Shark Attack, singer-songwriter Tony Wright AKA VerseChorusVerse, electro-pop band Ed Zealous, Nathan Connolly’s Little Matador, singer-songwriter duo Sullivan and Gold, Dungannon folk songstress Alana Henderson, Belfast doom masters Slomatics and multi-instrumentalist Peter McCauley AKA Rams Pocket Radio vie for prize. The shortlist was compiled…

  • Watch: The Wood Burning Savages – Boom

    The follow-up to their breakthrough single, ‘America’, Derry quartet The Wood Burning Savages have only gone and released a video for ‘Boom’ – and what an skilfully urgent effort it is. Shot and edited by Fiachra O’Longain at Derry’s Playhouse, the video nicely mirrors the song’s lyrical content, not least via black-and-white archive footage of the Troubles. The song itself is a surging, Motorik-driven live favourite, and the title track of the band’s forthcoming EP, also released today. Stream Boom in full and watch the video for the single below. Boom EP by The Wood Burning Savages  

  • Watch: A Plastic Rose – Move Islands

    Nottingham-based Northern Irish alt-rock quartet A Plastic Rose have unveiled the brilliantly adventurous, short film-like video for their new single ‘Move Islands’. Shot in Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, the video – directed by David Louis Lankester – features the Ian McHugh and Gerry Norman from the band going on a little journey in an attempt to make contact with something both unseen and unknown. Piqued your interest? Watch the video below. ‘Move Islands’ is the fourth single to be taken from the band’s forthcoming new album, Flickering Light of an Inner War, due out in February. The single itself is officially released…

  • Album Stream: Sea Pinks – Dreaming Tracks

    Nine months in, Neil Brogan’s Sea Pinks have unveiled what could well be contender for our favourite Irish album of 2014: Dreaming Tracks. Going one better than 2012’s superb Freak Waves – a feat in itself – the album conjures brooding, sun-split coastal trawl imminent Autumnal solipsism via ten tracks of cello-lined melancholia and masterfully blithe jangle-pop. According to the band, “This a record about disorientation, ambivalence, and the overlapping of past, present and future that can happen in dream states as well as in waking life.” Dreaming Tracks is available as a Limited Edition Shell Pink 180g 12″ vinyl LP, which can…