• The Counselor

    November 18, 2013 - By 

    Ridley Scott is not a great director. In the past the man has made great films such as Blade Runner and Alien, which represent some of the strongest efforts Sci-Fi has to offer. But having made eleven films in twelve years, the majority of which toe the line between mediocre and awful, Scott’s lack of  consistency showcases how fundamentally he is not a great director. But he can be. When given the right script, Scott can allow well formed story to transcend itself and become something  much more than the sum of its parts. When the news that Scott’s new…

  • Gig of the week: Shellac @ Limelight 2, Belfast

    November 19, 2013 - By 

    Our gig of the week this week is a slight departure from our normal rule of thumb of featuring local artists. Fronted by  incomparably influential musician and legendary producer Steve Albini, Chicago, Illnois noise rock trio Shellac stop off at Belfast’s Limelight 2 on Thursday, November 21 ahead of the release of their forthcoming fifth studio album. The band will also play Dublin’s Whelan’s on Wednesday, November 20. Los Angeles-based cellist Alison Chesley AKA Helen Money will provide support on both dates. Tickets for the Belfast are £18.50 and are available to buy here. Go to the show’s Facebook event page…

  • In Photos: The Thin Air Showcase feat. Our Krypton Son, Arborist, The Wood Burning Savages & Rory Nellis

    November 18, 2013 - By 

    Belfast-based photographer Diarmuid Kennedy was in attendance to capture our showcase at The Pavilion, Belfast as part of this year’s Belfast Music Week. Performing on the night were Rory Nellis, a fast-rising singer-songwriter – also frontman with Belfast-based indie pop four-piece Seven Summits – impressively progressing Derry-based quartet The Wood Burning Savages, the wonderfully Autumnal song of Belfast band Arborist and the ever magnificent Our Krypton Son AKA Derry singer-songwriter Chris McConaghy. Check out Diarmuid’s photos from the night below.

  • Stream: My Tribe Your Tribe – Vol. II EP

    December 2, 2013 - By 

    Dublin-based singer-songwriter and producer George Mercer AKA My Tribe Your Tribe is streaming his second solo EP, the aptly-titled Vol. II. Formerly of Boy Lights Fire, Mercer released Vol. 1 back in April. Vol. II is mainly comprised of material written since the musician moved to Dublin from Laois in June. Speaking of the release Mercer said “My direction felt like it was changing. A lot of the previous influences and styles of music I has been listening to over the past couple of years were surfacing in my writing.” “I wanted to bring the immediacy of folk and popular music into play,…

  • Watch: We Cut Corners – YKK

    November 18, 2013 - By 

    Having released a stream of it last month, Dublin indie rock duo We Cut Corners have unveiled the Eoin Heaney-directed video for their new single, ‘YKK’. Filmed in black and white, the minimalist video features the pair performing the track in front of supremely seizure-inducing visuals from Dublin-based projection/visual artist collective LeTissier. ‘YKK’ is released via Delphi on November 25 and is set to feature on We Cut Corners’ second studio album, which will be released next year. Watch the video below via Vimeo.

  • The National @ The Odyssey, Belfast

    November 15, 2013 - By 

    Restraint. A hard quality to achieve in one’s day to day life. Musically, however, it’s very difficult indeed. Amplified by speaker stacks and placed in the glare of spotlights, many bands affect emotion by stomping on a distortion pedal or guldering angst-ridden couplets. In stark contrast, the austere members of The National continually reign in such fits of childish pique. Take, for example, ‘Bloodbuzz Ohio’, with its spiralling drum patterns, mournful horns and droning guitar. It’s a perfect storm albeit one that never breaks but pulses and throbs towards a climax which never quite arrives. It creates a thrilling tension,…

  • TTA Session #002: Hurdles

    November 15, 2013 - By 

    Off the back the release of their brilliant Where To Start EP, Belfast-based indie pop band Hurdles are our second featured act on our ongoing Thin Air Live Session series. Filmed and edited by the ridiculously talented Colm Laverty – with audio recorded and mixed by the upstanding and handsome James Bruce – the session features an interview with the Niall Hanna-fronted four-piece and performances of ‘Ruthless’ and their most recent single ‘Control’. Miss our first session with Bellos? Check it out here. Watch the session with Hurdles below!

  • Enablers, Blue Whale, Selaah @ Voodoo, Belfast

    November 16, 2013 - By 

    Five years on from wowing a close-knit assembly at Lavery’s Bunker, one of the most distinctive post-rock bands of a generation return to the Belfast tonight dogged and purposeful despite founding guitarist Joe Goldring having his guitar stolen in Dublin the night before. Founded in 2004 and fronted by poet and spoken word artist Pete Simonelli, San Francisco’s Enablers are all but an act unto themselves, their thoroughly immersive brand of abrasive yet introspective instrumentalism propelled by a masterful confrontational voice that just about guarantees special things on the stage time and time again. Kicking off proceedings in typically inimitable fashion…

  • An Introduction to: Wendy Carlos

    November 14, 2013 - By 

    Wendy Carlos, musician and arranger, is 74 today. If you haven’t heard of her then you will certainly have heard her work on the soundtracks to A Clockwork Orange, The Shining and the original Tron. It was her 1968 triple Grammy winning Switched-On Bach that established her reputation. Like so many great ideas the work was based on a simple notion – arrange JS Bach for the synthesiser. Having worked as an adviser to Robert Moog, she was uniquely qualified for the task. The album sold over a million copies and was influential in all kinds of ways. Vince Clarke…

  • Inbound: TVVINS

    November 14, 2013 - By 

    Made up of Conor Adams of The Cast Of Cheers and Lar Kaye of Adebisi Shank (who between the two of them also produce music as No Spill Blood and Charmers) to say Dublin synth newbies TVVINS have local street cred is something of an understatement. It’s that very indie credibility that perhaps makes the nature of the ‘TVVINS’ pairing something of a surprise. Gone are the pulsating guitars through which Adams and Kaye made their names; in their place lashing synths, vocoder-heavy lyrics and fuzzy dance-party angles. Things weren’t always that way. When Kaye and Adams first met, Kaye…