• Premiere: Rebekah Fitch – Another Show

    April 6, 2017 - By 

    We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: we’re not above straight-up pop music here at The Thin Air. For us, a killer chorus and gleaming production can easily be as potent as the the heftiest riff or most left-of-centre experimentalism. And why should it be any different? Steadily established herself as an artist who is honing her strong penchant for hook-heavy pop, Belfast singer-songwriter Rebekah Fitch is a perfect case in point in the defence of music that fully embraces its strengths. Launched at Belfast’s Pavilion tonight (with support from Brash Isaac and Amy Montgomery) her new single, ‘Another Show’, sees commanding vocals…

  • Track Record: Steve Caffrey (Destriers)

    April 5, 2017 - By 

    Studio Manager of Sound Training Productions & Temple Lane Studios and vocalist/guitarist in Dublin experimental punk band Destriers, Steve Caffrey reveals some of his all-time favourite records, including The Locust, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Minor Threat and At The Drive-In. Photos by Colum O’Dwyer. Destriers’ debut 7″ Cynosure will be out soon on Distro-y Records. They play The Poor Relation in Cork on Friday with Bailer, Parthalon, Horse and Ilenkus, as well as The Roisin Dubh in Galway on Saturday, April 8 with Rest & Ilenkus. At The Drive In – Relationship of Command This album came out at a time when Rage Against The Machine, Nu Metal…

  • Pharmakon – Contact

    April 7, 2017 - By 

    Noise music mostly operates within the sphere of the modern avant-garde, but can be a deeply alienating experience for many; not only because of its tendency to be anti-everything – structure, melody, basic auditory comprehension – but because of its potential to generate actual discomfort in listeners. Despite this, its compositional strategies can be almost decadent in execution – when Lou Reed wanted to release his 1975 double album Metal Machine Music (mostly impenetrable but considered by many to be a pioneering Noise work), he wanted to release it on RCA’s classical arm, Red Seal. Reed, along with many proponents…

  • Stream: Beach – Bram Toker

    April 5, 2017 - By 

    In the best possible sense, Dublin five-piece Beach – one of our featured 17 for ’17 acts – have always been one to pin down. Marrying left-of centre psychedelia with the imprint of electronic, Krautrock and indie rock influence, their increasingly earworming craft caught our ear and then some at the tail-end of last year on single ‘Ono Noh‘. With its Goat-like incanted psych, propulsive groove and sub-bass sorcery, its follow-up, ‘Bram Toker’, goes one further, confirming the band as an act to be considered alongside fellow Irish sonic diviners The Altered Hours and Elastic Sleep.

  • Transmission Opening @ MART

    April 6, 2017 - By 

    Opening tonight in MART’s Rathmines gallery is Transmission, a new exhibition featuring the work of Sofie Loscher and Helen Mac Mahon. The exhibition explores the theme of light, looking at its use as an identifier of the risks we encounter in our lives, as well as its capability to challenge our perceptions regarding gallery spaces and their functions. The opening to this intriguing show starts at 6pm this evening, with the exhibition due to continue until May 4th and is open Tuesday to Saturday, 1pm to 6pm. Full details here.

  • Ro Gang – H.E.R.

    April 5, 2017 - By 

    The duo formerly known as Mr Rosso, Dublin lo-fi act Ro Gang release their album H.E.R. on April 12. Channelling Mac DeMarco-flecked, chorus-drenched idiosyncratic in-joke indie pop – and occasionally rap – they’re part of the Herzog TV collective in Dublin, responsible for countless records – check them out on Bandcamp. H.E.R. is released through Little L Records, was recorded by the band, and produced by Bart Boy. Ro Gang launch the album at the Grand Social on April 18, with support from Kean Kavanagh, Dachau Giftshop and 5 to 2. Admission costs €6 and doors open at  7pm.

  • Come On Live Long Announce New Album ‘In The Still’

    April 5, 2017 - By 

    Dublin’s Come On Live Long have announced the release of their long awaited second album In The Still.  Having released their debut Everything Fall in 2013, the band took their time before returning for their sophomore effort. In that time we have heard teasers for the record without even realising, with ‘For The Birds’ and the breathtaking ‘Trough’ both set to appear on In The Still. Nonetheless, aside from playing scatters of gigs here and there, the past four years for Come On Live Long were spent largely on the periphery of the scene. Making a big impact whenever they did return however meant they were…

  • BFF17: All This Panic

    April 6, 2017 - By 

    Last year the Belfast Film Festival opened with Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s Mustang, a modern Turkish fairytale about a group of sisters dealing with the challenges of puberty in a small, conservative seaside village. This time around, up the road from the buzz of the Julian Barratt’s delirious Mindhorn, opening night gave us another intimately observed film about a coterie of young girls on the cusp of adulthood. The subjects of All This Panic, directed and shot by Jenny Gage and her cinematographer partner Thomas Betterton, are not subject to the same level of lock-and-key control and captivity, the six girls…

  • Body & Soul Reveal New Acts

    April 4, 2017 - By 

    In just over 11 weeks, Body & Soul will return to Ballinlough Castle for its annual three-day summer solstice festival. Having already announced the likes of Metronomy, Lambchop and Sleaford Mods, today the festival have revealed a host of new acts set to appear at the Co. Westmeath event across June 23-25. As well as genderqueer performer, activist and poet Mykki Blanco, Austra, The Moondlandingz, Sinkane, Æ Mak, Mario Batkovic, BARQ, Shookrah, Le Boom, Katie Laffan and Sing Along Social will also perform. Elsewhere, Reckless In Love, Homebeat and more will also join those taking care of things as proceedings edge into evening across the weekend. Check out…

  • Watch: Elder Druid – Rogue Mystic

    April 4, 2017 - By 

    When it comes to doom and sludge metal, the island of Ireland more than holds it own. Staking their claim in such a healthy scene is Ballymena five-piece Elder Druid, a band who formed in early 2015 via a mutual love of riffmasters general Black Sabbath, the impossibly heavy Electric Wizard, desert masters Kyuss and the almighty Sleep. Lifted from the band’s latest EP, Magicka, the band have unveiled the video to their pulverizing new single, ‘Rogue Mystic’. Featuring suitably warped, arcane archive imagery courtesy of Gryphus Visuals, the six-minute effort conjures the fuzzed-out, hazy heft of everyone from Down at their most vengeful, Come My…