• No Good Trying: A Syd Barrett Playlist

    July 7, 2014 - By 

    “I wasn’t always this introverted. I think young people should have a lot of fun. But I never seem to have any.” So said Roger Keith “Syd” Barrett in an interview with Rolling Stone in 1971. Three years on from parting with Pink Floyd – a band he co-founded and named – Barrett had just released his second and final studio album, Barrett, before withdrawing from the limelight, a visionary, plagued genius; victim of psychedelic consumption. Tales of his heavy LSD use and notoriously erratic behaviour are well documented, agonisingly revealing the birth and decay of arguably psychedelia’s brightest star, a beatific songsmith, equally entrenched and liberated by his…

  • Gigs of the Week: The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Arctic Monkeys, Neil Young

    July 7, 2014 - By 

    With Wimbledon reaching an exciting conclusion yesterday evening, and the World Cup edging towards its finale this week, the summer seems to be well and truly flying by. But never fear, friends: we at the Thin Air are here to guide you towards the finest gigs happening across the country over the next seven days. Arctic Monkeys – Marlay Park, Dublin; Saturday, July 12 Arctic Monkeys return to Ireland this Saturday to put on what’ll surely be a great show, but they’re not the only reason to head to Marlay Park this weekend. Jake Bugg, Miles Kane and Royal Blood make up the…

  • Latté Pappa: Öresunds Festival

    July 7, 2014 - By 

    Öresunds festival is held every year at the end May in the southern town of Malmö, Sweden. It’s purpose is to showcase, exclusively musicians coming from Sweden and Denmark. The countries are connected by the Öresunds bridge, hence the festivals name. Music on offer is a mix of electronic, pop, rock, reggae, R&B and soul. Five venues host the festival over two days at a cost of only 325 SEK (€35). It starts in the early evening and keeps going until 4am. Underage get in for cheaper. This was my second time attending and I think it is getting better…

  • Stream: Spoon – Do You

    July 4, 2014 - By 

    Everyone loves the good weather at this time of year, right? And who better to sing a song about the searing heat than the Austin, Texas band Spoon? On the second single from their upcoming album, They Want My Soul, they have perfectly captured that sense of summer euphoria. The song, titled ‘Do You’, is the sound of the wind going through your hair as you drive the coastline with the top down – yes, its undeniably corny in a sense, but its just too lovely to pass up. The track is wonderfully textured, with shimmering keys and quirky backing vocals keeping…

  • Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie: A Dissection

    July 3, 2014 - By 

    It is hard to imagine a less fashionable sitcom than Mrs. Brown’s Boys, Brendan O’Carroll’s cash-spewing granny-drag comedy in which he plays the foul-mouthed matriarch at its centre. Based on the act O’Carroll and various family members developed on stage over years of touring, and co-developed by RTE and BBC Scotland, the show is powered by the comic appeal of a stocky man in a dinner lady’s vest pottering about sets, mugging for the audience, laughing at his own jokes and spitting out ‘fecks’ like punctuation. Trading on shoe-worn sitcom set-ups, Mammy-knows-best nostalgia and gags so broad a rookie stormtrooper…

  • Stream: Adebisi Shank – Voodoo Vision

    July 3, 2014 - By 

    Dropped late last night, Dublin instrumental three-piece Adebisi Shank have got us even more excited for their forthcoming third album with the release of the somewhat familiar ‘Voodoo Vision’. A fixture of their live sets over the last few few years, the track – previously titled ‘Thunder’ – is a vocoder-laced, effects-laden brilliantly-realised, beautifully bastardised and utterly exhilarating six minutes of sheer instrumental transcendentalism. We’re fans, in other words. Stream the track – set to feature on the band’s forthcoming third album – below.

  • Happy Days Festival 2014

    July 3, 2014 - By 

    Dedicated to the life and work of Nobel-prize winning Irish writer Samuel Beckett, Happy Days Festival returns to Enniskillen from July 31 to August 10. World-renown as one of the finest and boldest alternative festivals around, Happy Days – named after the 1961 Beckett play of the same name – will see varied theatre productions, visual art, concerts, writers and artists talks, special events and everything in between take place across Enniskillen over the eleven days. Make sure to check out the full brochure for the festival – including venues and ticket prices – here. Watch a clip of Billie Whitelaw in a performance…