• The Thin Air’s Alternative Halloween Playlist

    Dire though it is we can’t get all get together for a big old Samhain soirée this year, the thinning of the veil is very much upon us. To mark the occasion, as per tradition, here’s our annual seventy-five track alternative Halloween Spotify playlist, featuring everyone from John Maus, Broadcast and The Cramps to Flying Lotus, Suicide and Throbbing Gristle.

  • Monday Mixtape: Andy Ortmann

    In the latest installment of Monday Mixtape, Chicago based sound/visual/conceptual artist and founder of Nihilist Records Andy Ortmann selects some of the tracks that have inspired him recently. “As of late, I’ve been in the studio, chipping away at the new Panicsville double LP. It will have a slew of guests including Rudolf Eb.er, Diana Rogerson, Christoph Heemann, Matthew Waldron & Daniel Menche. My newest solo album Eye of the Beholder is to be reissued on cassette September 2019 (pro-dubbed Chrome tape) in an edition of 100 copies with artwork by Paul Nudd. Myself and VIKI (Detroit) will be touring Europe October…

  • The Thin Air’s Semi-Alternative Christmas Playlist

    To celebrate our collective itchy feet awaiting the onset of socially acceptable daytime drinking, half-arsed cracker pulling and hastily-concocted post-pub sandwiches, here’s our annual Semi-Alternative Christmas Playlist – featuring everyone from Yo La Tengo, Big Star and Mazzy Star to The Fall, Mark Kozelek and Deerhoof.

  • The Thin Air’s Alternative Valentine’s Playlist

    Sure, every second song is about love (or the lack of it) but that hasn’t stopped us from compiling our annual Spotify playlist of 30 songs that sum up the sometimes transformative, other times crushing realm of love pretty succinctly. Featuring Mojave 3, Elliott Smith, Nick Cave, James Blake, Grizzly Bear, Yo La Tengo, My Bloody Valentine, Big Star, Father John Misty, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Magnetic Fields, Radiohead and more, you can stream and subscribe to it below.

  • Playlist: Belfast Music Club – Pride @ The Bear and The Doll

    Berlin-based, Californian-born producer Daniel Wang will stop off at Belfast’s new-fangled The Bear and The Doll on Saturday night. Presented by and featuring the ever-tasteful folk at Belfast Music Club, it promises to be a night of first-rate disco and boogie from 9pm. Featuring Sylvester, Gwen Guthrie, The Rah Band & more, here’s a 10 track sampler courtesy of Roger Montgomery of BMC to give you a sense of what to expect on the night. Photo by Christopher Martin

  • Playlist: 20 Acts To Catch at Electric Picnic 2017

    For all its kaleidoscopic, genre-spanning variety, there’s no denying choosing which acts to catch (and those artists to regrettably miss) at Electric Picnic can be a bit of a headache. Sure, Clashfinder is a big help (seriously, we’d be lost without it) but let us help you out if you’re EP-bound this weekend: from Interpol, Chaka Khan and Parquet Courts to Run The Jewels (above), Soulwax and Car Seat Headrest, here’s 20 acts to catch at this year’s Electric Picnic, returning to Stradbally Estate across September 1-3

  • Stream a 50 Track Thin Air Tuesday Throwdown Sampler

    You know, we often get people asking us, “Hey, what kind of stuff do you play at your free, weekly Tuesday Throwdown in the Back Bar of Lavery’s in Belfast – a night that runs from 9.30pm until late and spans every conceivable genre under the sun, minus perhaps polka and classical music?” And to those people, we say: here’s a 50 track sampler – featuring everyone from Slint, Broadcast and Thundercat to Can, Julia Holter and Yo La Tengo – that you can expect to hear, week in, week out. We’re back there tonight, 9.30pm to late as usual.…

  • Playlist: TTA is 4

    Today is our 4th birthday and to celebrate we have compiled a playlist of 40 of our favourite Irish tracks from the years we have been operational featuring Adebisi Shank, Sleep Thieves, Oh Boland, Girls Names, No Monster Club, Documenta, Bantum, Katie Kim and many more. Music and culture has exploded over the last four years here and we’ve been proud to cover that throughout. We’ll be relaunching The Thin Air magazine and website later in the year but in the meantime we’d like to thank our contributors, everyone who has supported us, picked up the magazine, clicked on the website,…

  • Playlist: World Poetry Day 2017

    To mark this year’s World Poetry Day we’ve compiled thirteen songs from the likes of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Cure, James Blake (above) and Talking Heads directly inspired by poetry. Check out the playlist and accompanying poems/poets below. 1. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Red Right Hand (Paradise Lost by Milton) 2. The Cure – How Beautiful You Are (The Eyes of the Poor by Baudelaire) 3. Talking Heads – I Zimbra (Gadji Beri Bimba by Hugo Ball) 4. Joni Mitchell – If (If by Rudyard Kipling) 5. Lana Del Rey – Body Electric (I Sing The Body Electric by…

  • Playlist: Strike 4 REPEAL

    Tomorrow – Wednesday, March  8 – The Thin Air staff will be participating in Strike 4 Repeal so we shall refrain from posting and sharing content in solidarity with the Repeal the 8th movement. As the strike also coincides with International Women’s Day, to mark the occasion we have compiled a 100 track, 6-and-a-half-hour playlist celebrating the many incredibly talent female performers our island has to offer from Lisa Hannigan, Heathers, Hvmmingbird, Saint Sister, Roisin Murphy, ELLLL, Naoise Roo, Die Hexen and BARQ to Aoife Underwater, LYRA, Nina Hynes, September Girls, Jealous of the Birds, DOTT, Sleep Thieves, EVVOL, Wounded Healer,…