• Irish Tracks of the Week – 31st March

    Stretching across synth-pop, fuzzed-out riffs, hip-hop, psych and beyond, here’s our selection of the best tracks from every corner of Ireland this week. Everything Shook – Blacking Out Blacking Out by Everything Shook Loud Motive – Money Jealous of the Birds – Morse Code Lemonade Shoelace – I Think My Heart Is Set On You Daniel Luke – Chatterbox 1000 Beasts – Brigitte Bardot Brigitte Bardot by 1000 Beasts Cinder Well – A Scorched Lament Badhands – For A Little While The Wheel by Badhands ZOiD – Internal Space Element Internal Space Element by ZOiD Dutch Schultz – Whose Is…

  • Premiere: Dutch Schultz – Start Me

    In March 2016, we hosted a show that would double up as the last we’d heard from Belfast alt-rock quartet Dutch Schultz in over four years. Blessedly, out of the blue, last month came a signal. Via trouncing new single, ‘Brutus’, the Willy Mundell-fronted foursome were back just when we needed them the most. Ahead of release tomorrow, we’re pleased to present the first look and listen to its follow-up, ‘Start Me’. The second single to be taken from the band’s forthcoming, Russ Russell-produced album, Friends Like Brutus, it’s a typically earworming effort tackling, in their worlds, “consumerism amid the pressures of…

  • Watch: Haunch – Twitching

    The inaugural release from Robyn G Shiels’ new record label, Black Tragick Records, is one of major sonic heft from some of Northern Ireland’s pedigree bringers of the riff. After two years or writing and recording behind closed doors, Haunch release their debut album, Lay My Bones Beside The Others on January 26, and you can watch the video for first single, ‘Twitching’ below. Based in Larne – Larnia, for the rose-tinted – the band comprises Rory McGeown, Michael McKeegan & Willy Mundell, each of whose noisemaking chops are in no doubt, being current & former members of Therapy?, Throat and Dutch Schultz. A seemingly inevitable combination, the trio bonded over a mutual love of…

  • 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 –…

  • Gig of the week: Astralnaut, Dutch Schultz, Bellos

    This week’s Thin Air gig of the week is surely one of the heaviest Radar line-ups at Belfast’s QUBSU to date. Headlined by fast-rising sludge-doom overlords Astralnaut (above), the three-band bill on Thursday, October 17 also features the riff-fuelled talents of the ever blistering Dutch Schultz and one of the country’s best breakthrough bands of the year, alt-rock three-piece Bellos. Check out our Live Session with Bellos here, our recent interview with Astralnaut here and the video for Dutch Schultz’s fantastic ‘Year Of The Mule’ here. See below for the Radar poster for the show.  

  • A Fight You Can’t Win, Dutch Schultz, Bellos @ Voodoo, Belfast

    The massively talented Diarmuid Kennedy captured Edinburgh alt-rock quartet A Fight You Can’t Win stop off at Belfast’s Voodoo Bar recently in what turned out to be an unforgettable show (particularly for an otherwise unremarkable Sunday night). With the Matthew Bakewell-fronted foursome delivering a storming – highly entertaining – set, the equally riff-fuelled wrath of Bellos and Dutch Schultz proved themselves to be perfect support at either end of the travelling band’s raucous set. Check out Diarmuid’s photos below!

  • Watch: Dutch Schultz – Year of the Mule

    Belfast rock four-piece Dutch Schultz have unveiled the video to the latest single, ‘Year of the Mule’ – and we have the first look! Taken from the recently rejuvanated band’s latest – second – album, Tonight We Hunt, the single follows on from the success of ‘Big Dime’ (featuring vocals from Kerbdog’s Cormac Battle). Directed by Dan Danger, watch the video below! Photo by Diarmuid Kennedy