Our photographer Alan Maguire was in attendance to capture Day Four of this year’s Belsonic which saw Colorado folk rock five-piece The Lumineers top a bill featuring BBC Sound of 2012 winner Michael Kiwanuka and Derry singer-songwriter SOAK. Check out his photos below!
Directed by Sam Fitzpatrick, Dublin-based singer-songwriter Liza Flume has unveiled the suitably quaint video to her new single, ‘Swords’. The track – a delicately soulful, superbly unravelling five minute tale – is taken from Full Steam Ahead, Flume’s bewitching debut EP released via Toast Office Records in January. Watch the video for ‘Swords’ below.
In the first installment of our weekly feature looking back at the best tracks that emerged the week previous, this week’s Recap features a lovely slew of swooning electronica, shady lo-fi pop and the latest, rather interesting metamorphosis of a noise-rock demigoddess (go on, take a guess). As always, we’re interested in what’s been catching your ear from the world of new music full-stop: inform us of your favourite things new-fangled and magnificent via newmusic@thethinair.net. In the meantime, there’s these… RY X – ‘Vampires’ The wonderfully spectral new single by Australian songsmith RY X, ‘Vampires’ is taken from his forthcoming Berlin…
Having just released their long-awaited debut album – the sublime For The Love Of Letting Go – Bangor indie-pop band Kowalski headline our second ever Gig of the Week at The Windsor, Bangor on Saturday, August 31 as part of this year’s Open House Festival. The band will be supported by electro-pop quartet Ed Zealous and Belfast band Go Wolf. Tickets for the show are £9.00 or £12 at the door. Go here for the event page. Stream the headliners’ debut album via Bandcamp below.
One of the more enticing prospects of this year’s CultureTECH in Derry, Belfast-based label Champion Sound will hold a showcase at the wonderfully inimitable Sandinos on Friday September 13. The line-up is comprised of two of the label’s most exciting names: fast-rising Derry electronic artist Ryan Vail and decidedly anonymous producer Unknown (above – sort of). With visuals coming courtesy of award-winning Belfast collective DSNT, the labels bosses of both Planet Mu (Tom Quaye) and Champion Sound (Lyndon Stephens) will also perform DJ sets. Tickets are five pound at the door.
A free admission event at part of Belfast Festival at Queen’s taking place at Belfast’s the MAC from October 18-27, The Mystery of Tears is a series of works “aimed to elicit a sincere and powerful shared response on the the part of the viewer”. Examining the ability of various types of art to literally move one to tears, the exhibition also looks into “why we may have become culturally conditioned to express too readily, and without real or genuine empathy, our emotions and, in particular, our openness to the act of weeping.” Admission is free so need to cry…
Directed by Niall Savage, Belfast quartet Desert Hearts have unveiled the video to their forthcoming single ‘Heavy Hangs The Head’. Taken from the band’s 3rd album, Enturbulation = No Challenge, the track has been released with new b-side ‘Just To Say’. Set for release at the start of September, you can pre-order the single here. Watch the video below.
Following the wonderful success of its being curated by none other than Duke Special last year, writer, broadcaster and 6Music DJ Tom Ravenscroft is set to curate this year’s In The Court Of… at Belfast’s the MAC. Taking place from September 24-28, Ravenscroft has hand-selected five line-ups of music, spoken word and a special club night, kicking off with New York singer-songwriter Nina Nastasia and Katharine Philippa. See below for the five full line-ups. Tuesday, September 24: Nina Nastasia and Katharine Philippa Wednesday, September 25: Adam Buxton: Kernel Panic Thursday, September 26: Slow Dance Party Friday, September 27: Ghostpoet, Girls Names and…
Taking place from Monday September 23 to Saturday September 28, Thriller Live – the “spectacular concert created to celebrate the career of the world’s greatest entertainer” – returns to Grand Opera House, Belfast. Set to feature over two hours of songs paying homage to the so-called “world-class spectacle of Jackson’s legendary live performances” this is a great opportunity for fans of Michael Jackson for fans and newcomers alike to experience both his music and the art of his live craft. Tickets for festival start from £14.5o. Go here to book and for more information.
With their eagerly anticipated eighth studio album, Hesitation Marks, primed for release at the beginning of next month, Trent Reznor’s genre-defining, decade-spanning Nine Inch Nails stop off in Belfast for Day Three of Belsonic 2013 experiencing quite possibly their most marked period of acclaim to date. Twenty-five years since Reznor formed the band as an effective solo project, there is an almost touchable urgency about the band and the music following a four-year incubation period. As fans rove in their thousands, everything, it would seem, is pointed in the general direction of a monumental first visit for the five-piece. Having endured the…