• Donum Dei w/ So Long Until the Seance, The Organ Grinders and Cavehill @ The Pavilion, Belfast

    January 25, 2016 - By 

    If you ever needed proof of just how varied the heavy music scene is in Northern Ireland you need only to check out last Saturday night’s Distortion Project gig lineup. Set in the Pavilion bar, it featured groove rock, punk rock, glam/horror metal and modern metal. Impressive, eh? First up were aforementioned groove rockers Cavehill (below), who are forgiven for their slightly too loud snare mike and late bass issues when we discover that due to the rugby match being shown, only the headliners had time to soundcheck. Rock and roll, man… their catchy brand of groove-heavy bluesy rock is…

  • Preview: Cirque Berserk

    January 26, 2016 - By 

    A large-scale international troupe comprised of jugglers, acrobats, aerialists, dancers, musicians and stuntmen, Cirque Berserk has beyond established its reputation for bringing contemporary cirque-style artistry and daredevilry to the theatre. Ahead of two shows at Belfast’s Grand Opera House on Friday and Saturday (January 29/30) our photographer Sara Marsden gets exclusive access to their current show, shooting and reporting back from Glasgow’s iconic King’s Theatre. See below for VIP competition. Two weeks ago I had a mere hope of being allowed in to photograph the performers of Cirque Berserk on their stopover in Belfast, but here I find myself standing outside…

  • Interview: Steven Agnew – Punk Principles & Policies (Part 1)

    January 26, 2016 - By 

    This two part interview gets into the bones of how and why someone who grew up in a predominantly working class Protestant background, who associated and lived primarily around those of an anarchist persuasion with a grassroots ethos, came around to getting involved with the slimiest business around: Big NI politics. We’ll follow through, in The Thick of It fashion, to the absurd complexity inherent within any political structure, and how it’s navigated by someone who actively tries to get things done outside of tribal politics – the extent of which is felt far beyond simply Green vs. Orange. Where…

  • Video premiere: Tobi The Dog – In Bits

    January 25, 2016 - By 

    Set to play our the first installment of Psykick Dancehall – our new Dublin with the most upstanding Medium Presents – we’re pleased to premiere the positively beatific video for ‘In Bits’ by Dublin’s “self-proclaimed lo-fi” three-piece Tobi The Dog. Set for release via their forthcoming, Little L Records-released debut album, Never Ever Ever, the video for the track captures the band and their friends (the veritable lads, no less) roaming the streets of the Dublin, running joyous rampage on the light rail system and beyond. According to Little L, “Visually, ‘In Bits’ feels like a grime posse cut reimagined through the…

  • Independent Venue Week: PORTS, Robyn G Shiels, Strength and DANI @ Oh Yeah Music Centre, Belfast

    January 25, 2016 - By 

    Along with Belfast’s Oh Yeah Music Centre and Independent Venue Week, we’ll co-host a genre-spanning showcase as part of this year’s Out To Lunch Festival at the Oh Yeah Centre on Saturday, January 30. Derry act PORTS are preparing for the release of their debut album, Devil Is A Songbird. Expect harmonies that are full of glory and songs that drill into the chambers of the heart. Robyn G Shiels is ready to unwrap the follow-up to his award-winning album Blood Of The Innocents. His line is intensity, terse yarns plus banjo. Strength have a lineage back to Derry’s Red Organ Serpent Sound…

  • The Thin Air Tuesday Throwdown: The Wood Burning Savages at Lavery’s, Belfast

    January 25, 2016 - By 

    Currently in the studio working on new material, Derry quartet The Wood Burning Savages have steadily built up their reputation as one of the country’s finest and most frenetic live outfits over the last couple of years. Ahead of what’s set to be a breakthrough year for the band, the Paul Connolly-fronted four-piece will play our next Tuesday Throwdown live show in the Back Bar of Lavery’s Belfast on Tuesday, January 26. Admission is free, doors are at 9.30pm. The Thin Air DJs before and after.

  • 16 For ’16: Anna-Mieke

    January 25, 2016 - By 

    As we approach the half-way point in our 16 For ’16 feature – in which we handpick sixteen Irish acts we’re certain are set for great things in 2016 – Joe Madsen introduces Wicklow singer and multi-instrumentalist Anna-Mieke. Photo by Pedro Giaquinto Slowly emerging as a new-age rustic folkstress, Wicklow musician Anna-Mieke plays an enchanting set that’s delighted small crowds since her first shows in 2013. A flexible talent on vocals, guitar, and cello, Anna-Mieke blends styles to craft a product that’s all her own, supplying wistful finger-picking like Paul Simon and subdued jazzy pitch like Regina Spektor. She’s an artist…

  • Irish Tour: East India Youth

    January 25, 2016 - By 

    In the latest installment of Irish Tour, we capture William Doyle AKA East India Youth at Belfast’s Black Box and Dublin’s Button Factory. Words by Cathal McBride, photos by Ruth Kelly and Isabel Thomas. The Black Box, Belfast Photos by Ruth Kelly It’s been a busy couple of years for William Doyle, better known as East India Youth. First his 2014 debut LP Total Strife Forever gets nominated for the Mercury Prize, then he signs with XL to release follow up Culture Of Volume little more than a year later to similar levels of acclaim, all while constantly touring in…

  • The Night Beats w/ September Girls, Twinkranes @ The Grand Social, Dublin

    January 25, 2016 - By 

    It is safe to say that the initial seeds of psychedelic infused garage rock originated in the United States in the mid to late 1960’s. Most of these bands ended up releasing the odd single or if they were lucky an album, before disappearing back into obscurity. Fortunately with the likes of Lenny Kaye’s invaluable Nuggets compilation as well as the Pebbles and Back From The Grave series, these bands have found new audiences with modern-day artists such as The Black Angels, Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees and tonight’s headliners The Night Beats, continuing to bear the psych and garage…