• AVA Announce Boiler Room Stage Line-Up

    Set to return to Belfast’s T13 for its third incarnation across June 2-3, the line-up for the Boiler Room stage of this year’s AVA Festival has been revealed. As well as Belfast mainstay Ejeca, Denis Sulta, Jordan, OR:LA, Saoirse, DJ Deeje, JC Williams and Twitch DJs will all feature. Tickets for AVA 2017 are priced at £60 and are available to buy here. Go here for news of this year’s full line-up.

  • MINE Anthology Launch

    On the eve of International Women’s Day 2017 this Tuesday, March 7, MINE – a unique anthology of art, comics and illustrations in support of the Abortion Rights Campaign – will launch at Dublin’s Workman’s Club. With over 30 contributors, the stories and art within the pages of the publication represent creative responses to the struggle for repealing the eighth amendment in Ireland from a wide range of perspectives, both female and male. As well as performances from Æ MAK and Mongoose on the night, the launch will feature speeches and performances from aactor and writer, Tara Flynn, who contributed…

  • Watch: Tongue Bundle – Now That Album’s Funny/No Plans Bastard

    Last week, we premiered the video for Dublin experimental jazz-punk outfit Tongue Bundle‘s track ‘Bobby’, the first to be revealed from their forthcoming album Peppery Talk. Now, with the album set to drop this Saturday March 4th, the group have unveiled yet another teaser in the form of ‘Now That Album’s Funny/No Plans Bastard’. The sample-heavy frenzy, reminiscent of The Books, Air and the dark, tripping urbanity of UK dub outlier Burial is yet another startling cut from an album that is shaping up to be one of the most interesting to come out of the country this year. Tongue Bundle will launch Peppery Talk on March 4th in The…

  • First Acts Announced for Longitude 2017

    Having recently scooped the ‘Best Medium Festival’ award at the Irish festival awards, the first acts confirmed to play this year’s Longitude Festival in Dublin from July 14-16 has just been revealed. With more to be announced for the annual Marlay Park festival in the coming months, The Weeknd will headline the Saturday and Mumford & Sons will top the bill on the Sunday. Elsewhere, Skepta, Picture This, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Jack Garratt, Kaytranada, Glass Animals, Mac Miller, Kaleo, Wiley, Dua Lipa, Milky Chance, Tom Misch, Loyle Carner, Lucy Rose, The Very Best, Jorja Smith, Her, Raye and Rexe Orange County…

  • What’s Happenin’ wi’ TOUTS? An Interview With Derry’s Young Punks

    Derry three-piece TOUTS have wasted little time transitioning from a cover band to an uncompromising punk rock band in the past year.  Having just wrapped up in the studio, they have two E.P.’s tucked in their back pocket, with the first set for release in April*. After meeting at the Brandywell, home of Derry City F.C., the line-up has changed over time, with the current trio consisting of Matthew (singer/guitarist), Luke (bassist), and Jason (drummer).  As a band, their taste has evolved, from mod and pub rock beginnings, to punk rock usurping all other influences. They appear to have the…

  • A Musical Celebration of Stevie Martin

    On Saturday, March 4, Derry’s Nerve Centre will host a Musical Celebration of sadly-missed singer-songwriter Stevie Martin AKA Rainy Boy Sleep. With all profits in aid of Pieta House, And So I Watch You From Afar, Making Monsters, The Wood Burning Savages, John Deery & The Heads, Furlo, Waldorf & Cannon, Rosborough, Susie-Blue, Shoot The Messenger, August and Allie Bradley will all perform in honour of the late Northern Irish artist, who passed in August last year. Tickets for the show are £12 and can be bought here. Doors at 7pm. Photo for the Thin Air by Joe Laverty

  • Album Premiere: Paddy Mulcahy – The Words She Said

    In the midst of the blues inflicted by these cold, wet and blustery days, there are few remedies quite like hearing music that emanates warmth and candour. As luck would have it, that is exactly what we are presented with on The Words She Said, the brand new LP from Limerick based neo-classical producer Paddy Mulcahy.  The seven track collection is a venture through ambient soundscapes and deft piano. Combing its expansive synth drones with nimble, dusty melodies, Mulcahy paints an atmosphere that is reposeful and comfortingly dark. Fans of the likes of Nils Frahm, Ólafur Arnalds, Bing & Ruth and Conor Walsh will find a lot to love…

  • Premiere: WASPS – Future Endeavours

    Having bonded over their love of North Coast post-rock machine And So I Watch You From Afar, Belfast-based “math-punk” duo Charlie Cairns and Danny McClelland WASPS released their debut single, ‘Godzilla is Dead’ back in December. Three months on, the pair are back with ‘Future Endeaours’, a three minute burst fusing almost ballad-like heart with zealous, intricate instrumentalism. The single is released on March 17 and launched at their first headline show at Voodoo in Belfast on March 18. Have a first listen below.

  • Premiere: Field Trip – Evening’s Over

    The title track from their forthcoming, Eoin Dolan-recorded EP of the same time, ‘Evening’s Over’ is a wonderfully restrained slice of jangle-pop from Galway’s Field Trip. All but lullabyesque in its sleepy lo-fi tone and pace, Sean Walsh from the band said, “The song reflects on the scenario of a night of drinking. You’re on the couch, it’s 5am and getting bright, the birds are singing, you’re comrades are passed out around you and now you get the chance to gather your thoughts and reflect on the evening. The song is sort of sigh of relief that the night is…

  • Picture This: Sean Lynch @ Douglas Hyde Gallery

    Sean Lynch – A Walk Through Time (Image courtesy of the artist and Douglas Hyde Gallery)  What: A Walk Through Time // What Is An Apparatus? Where: Douglas Hyde Gallery When: February 17th – April 5th Words: Aidan Kelly Murphy History, and the narrative arcs that flow through it, is rarely presented to us for review, instead it is often curated. ‘History is written by the winners’, is a phrase often used to illustrate this manipulation of stories and events; but even a quick delve into the origins of this quote reveals multiple attributions to Winston Churchill, Napoleon Bonaparte and…