• Album Premiere: Aaron Shanley – Metal Alligator

    Currently backed by a new band, The Horrortongues, Northern Irish singer-songwriter Aaron Shanley will officially launch his eleven-track, homemade mini-album, Metal Alligator, via Swallow Song Records at Belfast’s Voodoo tomorrow night. Having relocated to London, throwing himself into a heady maelstrom of writing and recording for both himself and others, Shanley took time to assemble this new release, the follow-up to Bedroom Tapes, released at the tail-end of 2013. Beginning on lead single, ‘My Mind Ain’t Pretty (At The Minute)’, Metal Alligator was recorded “on various devices” throughout 2015 and features multi-instrumentalist Shanley performing “vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, fristleism, synths, programming, sampling,…

  • Video Premiere: Aaron Shanley & The Horrortongues – My Mind Ain’t Pretty (At The Minute)

    Primed to release his debut album, Metal Alligator, at Belfast’s Voodoo on May 24, Northern Irish artist Aaron Shanley now has a full band in tow in the form of the excellently named Horrortongues. Ahead of that, we’re pleased to present a suitably tripped-out live video for ‘My Mind Ain’t Pretty (At The Minute)’, a track we said was “a really tidy, very promising taste of things to come from the wanderlust-smitten artist” upon its original release back in 2015. Filmed at Millbank Studios in Lisburn, the well-honed, scuzzed-out lo-fi aesthetic of Shanley and the Horrortongues is laid bare in fine fashion Pre-order the stellar…

  • Album stream: Aaron Shanley – Metal Alligator

    An eight-track, homemade, mini-album, Metal Alligator by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Aaron Shanley is a snapshot of an artist who threw complete caution to the wind in favour of reaping the artistic fruits of flux, providence and transformation. Having relocated to London, throwing himself into a heady maelstrom of writing and recording for both himself and others, Shanley took time to assemble this new release, the follow-up to Bedroom Tapes, released at the tail-end of 2013. Beginning on lead single, ‘My Mind Ain’t Pretty (At The Minute)’, Metal Alligator was recorded “on various devices” throughout 2015 and features multi-instrumentalist Shanley performing “vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, fristleism, synths,…

  • Watch: Aaron Shanley – My Mind Ain’t Pretty (At The Minute)

    Lisburn singer-songwriter Aaron Shanley has always operated on the periphery of his music-making peers. With a sound traversing perfectly subtle balladry to abrasive anti-folk forays, he will release a new, eight-track album, Metal Alligator, on September 22. A track falling very much and rather brilliantly under the latter descriptor, ‘My Mind Ain’t Pretty (At The Minute)’ marries scuzzy lo-fi indie rock in the vein of Ty Segall and Sparklehorse with a wall of drone evoking Bardo Pond and early Flying Saucer Attack. In short: a really tidy, very promising taste of things to come from the wanderlust-smitten artist. Check out the suitably…

  • The Thin Air’s Top 100 Irish Tracks of 2013 (100-75)

    It’s that time of year again: End Of Year” lists are steadily rolling in from every conceivable direction, many of us are still debating the BBC Sound of… verdict for next year and we’re all silently pondering our own favourite albums and EPs of the last twelve months. Closer to home, it’s been yet another ridiculously impressive year for Irish music, both North and South. Since January 1, right up until the writing of this article (December 10), a single week hasn’t gone by that wasn’t soundtracked in some way by the very best in new, homegrown music. As such –…