In this installment of AAA, Aaron Corr went behind the scenes in the Workman’s club with Montreal psych-rockers The High Dials to document their debut gig in Ireland.
-
-
New York based hardcore veterans Madball played an explosive set at Fibber Magee’s in Dublin last weekend. Photos by Isabel Thomas.
-
The first single to be taken from her new EP, Adornament, Dublin-based New York artist Cal Folger Day has released the wistful, minimalistic ‘Homez-a-Place’. As with her previous EP, Drom-d’reau, the rudiments of Adornament were recorded on an 8-track in Woodstock, New York. According to Folger Day, “Those analog frameworks were then frankensteined to vocal takes captured in Brooklyn and Dublin”. The track – pieced together by Forest Walker Christenson in Columbus, Ohio – features violins, drum machines, guitars, wurlitzer and vocals, evoking the likes of Julia Holter, Lisa O’Neill and Belfast-based musician Caroline Pugh. Watch the video below.
-
Mike Hadreas’ third Perfume Genius album marks a sea change for the Seattle-based singer-songwriter. The grungy outfits, introverted lyrics and subdued piano confessionals with which he made his name are consigned to history; in their place struts a shiny androgyny and a corresponding confidence in the power his words and appearance invoke. His music reflects this new-found sense of empowerment, employing an impressive level of sonic and vocal variation across these eleven songs. Hadreas leads us gently into this brave new world via the album’s most familiar-sounding track. Brief, aching and piano-centric, ‘I Decline’ cleverly summons uplifting clichés before unceremoniously…
-
Isabel Thomas captured Darkest Era‘s very dark gig at Voodoo Lounge in Dublin last weekend.
-
To local youngsters seeking a bankable trade in these uncertain times, might I suggest a specialism in medieval prop design? HBO’s Game of Thrones has had a good time of it transforming our castle-and-field vistas into a fantasy-realist Middle Ages, and the trend continues with Dracula Untold, feature debut of Dublin-born director Gary Shore. Filmed here over the last year and a half, the film echoes much of Thrones‘ production aesthetic: set in 15th-century Transylvania, it’s all heaving bodices, clashing steel, improbable dental hygiene and over-literal geography like ‘Broken Tooth Mountain’. It’s a very contemporary studio product, feeding on the vogue for origin stories and Universal’s plans for an Avengers-style cinematic universe for the various…
-
Alt-J rose to success in 2012 having already been together for five years. All this time meant that their first album was the result of five years of hard work; the best tracks to come out of long hours spent in the studio. Arriving just two years later, people might not have thought that This Is All Yours would be able to satisfy the fans. The good news is that it does not disappoint. Despite the departure of Gwil Sainsbury (bassist and vocalist), the band’s new album equals the sound of artistic harmony and chemistry that fans fell in love with…
-
Electro wizards Le Galaxie played a very colourful set at the launch of Whiskey Fair, a brand new venue in Dun Laoghaire in Dublin. Photos by Abe Tarrush.
-
Slow Skies @ The Sugar Club, Dublin – Wednesday, October 8 Having released their slick, elegiac Keepsake EP at the tail-end of last month, fast-rising Dublin dream-pop duo Slow Skies will surely spellbind Dublin’s Sugar Club on Wednesday, October 8. Catch them before they go positively stratospheric. Fox Jaw, Gascan Ruckus, Th Greased Palm @ Voodoo, Belfast – Thursday, October 9 Limerick band Fox Jaw (recently abbreviated from Fox Jaw Bounty Hunters) bring their gloomy alt-rock up North for the Belfast launch of their new album, Ghost’s Parades, at Voodoo on Thursday night. Belfast-based acts Gascan Ruckus and The Greased Palm make…
-
Not just a pretty face (“Not even a pretty face!”) Aaron Hamilton is a man of fine and discerning taste. So much so, he has his own monthly column here at the Thin Air dedicated to looking back at the very best tracks released in the month previous. As we’re edging our way very cosily into October, here’s his Choice Cuts from September, the equally parts terrific and tumultuous month that was. Busdriver – Retirement Ode (Big Dada) The opener from Busdriver’s just-released masterclass in experimental rap Perfect Hair, Retirement Ode lists the costs involved in the production of the album…