• Watch: Eraser TV – Golden Boy

    August 29, 2017 - By 

    The astutely-named debut EP, Buzzfeed Depression Quiz, from Limerick indie rockers Eraser TV now has an accompanying video for its nine minute centrepiece, ‘Golden Boy’. A composition reminiscent in scope and mood to David Pajo’s Papa M, or slowcore greats Codeine, ‘Golden Boy’ never drags as much as it could; Functioning as something as a Freebird as far as rock epics go, it bucks the trend by saying more in its sole lyric than all the confederate flagwavers the ’70s could muster. The video itself eschews a potentially overdriven narrative or the dreaded ‘live performance video’ in favour of grainy, intensely frisson-inducing archival footage of war, giving the song…

  • Premiere: Pale Rivers – West Point

    August 29, 2017 - By 

    One of our must-see Irish acts at Electric Picnic this weekend, Cork five-piece Pale Rivers released one of our favourite Irish tracks of 2016 – debut single ‘August 6th‘ – back in October last year. Having arrived in such promising fashion, the band have doubly confirmed with new single ‘West Point’. Accompanied by visuals Kevin McGloughlin and Mike Lee, it’s a wonderfully earworming effort betraying the band’s knack for combining inward-looking lyricism with their own brand of instantaneous alt-pop. Wrangling with spectres of the past as framed by the present day, this is a refined primal scream that broods as much as it…

  • Matthew Bourne – Isotherm

    August 29, 2017 - By 

    Picture a venn diagram with three circles. Label one “classical”, the next “minimalism” and the remaining with ‘maximum emotion’. Occupying the centre ground sit A Winged Victory For The Sullen, James Heather and Ólafur Arnalds among others. Each are pioneers of the neoclassical movement in their own way, and are united by their signature combinations of sweeping ambient brushstrokes tinged with electronic roots and often brought to life by earthier elements, such as choirs and string quartets. In doing so, they’ve blown the doors off classical music, redefining everything from its audience, its medium and its purpose. The latest to…

  • Watch: King Kong Company – Involved

    August 29, 2017 - By 

    Photo by Tara Thomas The mighty King Kong Company have shared their first new music since last year’s self-titled LP. ‘Involved’ marks the drawing to a close of the band’s busiest summer to date, having become vital stalwarts of the festival circuit in the past couple of years. Recorded on the road, ‘Involved’ is a typically high-energy, melody strewn kicker that has been opening the band’s sets throughout the summer. It comes paired with a classic tour-video, comprised of videos taken on their travels and clips from gigs and festival slots sent in by people in attendance. King Kong Company will be capping of…

  • Exhibition: HAMMER | ANVIL | STIRRUP @ Wexford Arts Centre

    September 1, 2017 - By 

    Edgardo Rudnitzky – VanishingMusic, 2014 (Wood, Brass, Paper, Music Box – CourtesyOfTheArtist) Opening this Saturday in Wexford Arts Centre is HAMMER | ANVIL | STIRRUP – an exhibition featuring local, national and international artists. The work that has been included in this exhibition focuses on the role of sound in art and, taking leave from Salome Voegelin’s Listening to Noise & Silence: Towards a Philosophy of Sound Art, looks at the idea “that sound art must remain a strategy of listening rather than an instruction to hear”.  The practices of the four artists presented in this show, David Beattie and Richard Carr (both Ireland), Edgardo Rudnitzky…

  • Little Terrors: The Enduring Domestic Horror of Rosemary’s Baby

    August 25, 2017 - By 

    Horror is about the violation of boundaries. To keep life tolerable we parcel up the world in our head, organising experience into handy categories, and the most familiar genre icons signal their disruption: alive/dead (zombies, Frankenstein’s monster), old/new (The Mummy), reality/dreams (Freddy Krueger), animal/man (werewolves). The puss and blood and inside-out, syrupy mess of body horror speaks to a primal fear about the loss of identity and self. Roman Polanski’s 1968 horror classic Rosemary’s Baby, adapted from Ira Levin’s hugely popular novel and screening in the Beanbag Cinema tonight, is organised around a series of boundary violations. Some of these…

  • Iron & Wine – Beast Epic

    August 24, 2017 - By 

    Hot on the heels of last year’s collaborative record with Jesca Hoop – Love Letter for Fire – Sam Beam returns to the Iron & Wine moniker with Beast Epic – eleven comparatively back-to-basics folk songs. Iron & Wine’s three-album run of The Shepherd’s Dog, Kiss Each Other Clean, and Ghost on Ghost gradually channelled Beam’s musical ambition into more florid arrangements while pulling his songcraft into the middle of the road. The same delicate turns of phrase were still present, but crowded out by florid flutes and saxophones. Recorded in Wilco’s Loft studio, Beast Epic marks a return to…

  • Watch: SlowPlaceLikeHome – Echoes

    August 24, 2017 - By 

    Fronted by Keith Mannion, Donegal psychedelic electronic act Slow Place Like Home returned last week with one of the Irish tracks of the year so far, ‘Echoes’. The second single to be lifted from the band’s forthcoming album, When I See You…Ice Cream, the track – which features vocals from Fearghal McKee of ’90s cult Irish alt rocker Whipping Boy – now comes bolstered by a stellar video courtesy of Michael Liston. Filmed on location in July in and around Ballyshannon and Dicey Reillys in Donegal, it very nicely reflects the song’s nocturnal, otherworld sway. Slow Place Like Home play Electric Picnic…

  • Watch: Video Blue – Magpies at Dawn

    August 24, 2017 - By 

    We’re big fans of Video Blue here at The Thin Air. The London-based, Dundalk native’s brand of DIY indie-pop has rarely been far from our respective speakers since the release of his debut album Love Scenes in March of this year. Now the solo-crooner – real name Jim O’Donoghue Martin – returns with yet another single to be lifted from the album, and with some charming visuals to boot. Following the snappy minimalism of  ‘Hold Muzik’ and the scratchy insecurity of ‘Dust Moves’, ‘Magpies at Dawn’ is the LP’s slow-burning closer, all woozy guitars, layered vocals and subtle, glittery synths. We’ve said it before…