• We Cut Corners – The Cadences of Others

    November 4, 2016 - By 

    The first time I saw Dublin’s We Cut Corners was on a nasty, raining evening in October 2014. I’d never heard of them but a friend dragged me out and I was in the mood to be distracted. They had just released their sophomore effort Think Nothing. Each song they played that night was a masterstroke of brevity, every line smacked with authenticity, sitting gingerly on top of John Duignan’s clanging guitars and Conall Ó’Breacháin’s drums. By the end, lyrics like “You live by the sword and get hit by a bus” and “Maybe in the future I will say more…

  • Watch: Rejjie Snow – Pink Beetle

    November 1, 2016 - By 

    Was your Halloween not quite spooky enough? That case of the hangover terrors you have after the long weekend not quite sufficient? Rejjie Snow will solve that for you. Yesterday, the Dublin born rapper unveiled the feverishly uncomfortable video for ‘Pink Beetle’, his second track to be released via  300 Entertainment, the same label who will be releasing his debut LP. The aim of the video, according to Rejjie, was to emulate the “hyperreal imagery that one envisions when thinking about going to the dentist”. And that he has done. The unsettling, surreal, squirm inducing visuals manage to trigger every uncomfortable image that…

  • Album Stream: Ralph Cola – Cosmic Joke

    October 24, 2016 - By 

    Dublin based label Little L Records have released the debut album Cosmic Joke from Coventry based musician Aidan Leather aka Ralph Cola. The LP is an assortment of crisp, jaunty cuts, incorporating into the psyche-pop foundation more jazz, funk and soul tropes and tricks than you could throw your hat at. Tracks like ‘Sundial’ and ‘Are You’ are psychedelic gems to put smiles on the faces of Connan Mockasin fans while ‘Floating’ and ‘Must be Tiring’ lean gleefully into the soul and jazz realm while maintaining the lo-fi pop charm. ‘COMMAND’ is a stand-out interlude, splitting the album down the middle and providing an electronic spin…

  • Two Door Cinema Club – Gameshow

    October 18, 2016 - By 

    Having struggled to find their place in society, both musically and personally over the past number of years, it was only going to be the hope that Bangor’s Two Door Cinema Club, who were previously so emblematic of indie-pop, would return with an exciting and re-energized collection. Distancing themselves from the indie scene, they have still managed to stay true to their original fun style of twitchy, undeniably danceable, electro-pop. This third musical endeavour, Gameshow, sees the trio curiously venture into new genres, digging into the 80s for inspiration and injecting a splash of colour to the record with the retro revival of disco, neo-soul and funk.…

  • Gigs of the Week: No Spill Blood, Katie Kim, Slomatics, Holy Fuck, Sister Ghost

    October 13, 2016 - By 

    From the bone-crushing mighty of Slomatics to the propulsive lo-fi electronica of Holy Fuck, this week’s Thin Air Gigs of the Week is a distinctly darker, heavier affair to last week’s guide. Anyone who tries to contest that’s a bad thing is wrong, my friend. Very wrong. No Spill Blood, Robocobra Quartet, Thumper Bello Bar, Dublin Friday, October 14 Trust be told, you’ll struggle to find a stronger three-band Irish bill than Sargent House’s No Spill Blood, Belfast’s singular Robocobra Quartet and Dublin noise-pop Thumper. With that in mind, Bello Bar is most definitely the place to be in Dublin on Friday night. Slomatics…

  • Stream: Kieran O’Brien – Won’t You

    October 12, 2016 - By 

    Rediscovery is a central concept when listening to the music of Kieran O’Brien. The songwriter spent four years after finishing university living in Dublin and Athlone but found himself drawn back to life closer to ocean in his home county of Galway, thus re-emersing himself in the place that had inspired his musical awakening. Reconnecting with home and the associated memories and emotions both positive and negative therein became a fuel for O’Brien to re-awaken the songwriter within him. This “un-freezing” as he describes it came to be defined by his life by the ocean and the memories of youth that…

  • Arab Strap – 20 Songs for 20 Years

    October 10, 2016 - By 

    Six albums isn’t a lot by some bands’ standards, but for one as consistent as Arab Strap, it’s difficult to narrow that down into a “best of”. Without any drastic stylistic reinventions, the duo gradually evolved over their decade long career from fairly lo-fi beginnings, taking in elements of slowcore, folk, electronic music and more thanks to Malcolm Middleton’s impressive musicianship, all anchored by Aidan Moffat’s sung or spoken tales of misery and debauchery in his unmistakable thick Scottish accent. After their amicable split in 2006 they didn’t bother attempting that best of, instead releasing the aptly titled Ten Years of Tears compilation, a ragtag collection of…

  • The Thin Air Tracks of the Week: J Mascis, Solar Bears, Thee Oh Sees, Enemies etc.

    October 6, 2016 - By 

    You know, we got thinking: three years in, it’s really about time that we started herding up our very favourite tracks – Irish and international – and putting them in one place, each and every week. That very obvious thought developed into a very simple plan (ten or so positively must-hear tracks every Thursday) and here we are. This is it. You are here. Dig below. Enemies – ‘itsallwaves’ RIP Enemies. Don’t miss their farewell show at Vicar Street in December. J Mascis – ‘Waltz 2’ (Elliott Smith cover) It probably shouldn’t work but it does. Go here, man. Crystal…

  • Album Stream: Zinc – Zinc

    October 6, 2016 - By 

    Galway based post-rock trio Zinc have spent the first two years of their existence patiently honing a sound that blends their respective musical backgrounds together into a neat instrumental package. Their self-titled debut, mixed by Solar Bears’ and Leo Drezden‘s Rian Trench, is a fitting testament to that careful moulding together of styles, with the sporadic jazz influences sitting comfortably among the trip-hop, electronic and punk elements throughout its seven cuts. Originating as a purely instrumental act, the group, comprised of Simon Kenny (drums), Aengus Hackett (guitar) and Andrew Madec (bass), began expanding on melodic and rhythmic motifs to create something definitive while maintaining a free-form…

  • Oh Boland – Spilt Milk

    September 29, 2016 - By 

    Hailing from Tuam, Garage Rock trio Oh Boland are in the middle of celebrating the release of their long awaited and triumphant debut LP Spilt Milk, touring and performing throughout a number of venues on the East Coast of the US. It’s been a busy time for the Galway lads of late, and the attention they’re no enjoying has been well earned. Oh Boland have already released a number of EP’s since their formation in 2012 and as was the case with these prior releases, Spilt Milk, released this Friday on San Diego label Volar Records, is driven by the same blunt spurges of sludgy and raw, pop punk…