• Watch: A Lilac Decline – Mountain Rages

    March 31, 2017 - By 

    The anagrammatic musical pseudonym of West Coast-based Swedish visual artist and dreamfolk musician Cecilia Danell, A Lilac Decline’s debut album, The Mountain Rages, has just been released via Galway imprint Rusted Rail. Having come together during sessions in the spring and the wet summer of 2016, the album was recorded via one microphone and a selection of borrowed and found instruments in a Galway attic room and a remote cabin in Norway. Melding Danell’s brittle ruminations with  ‘gazey soundscapes, check out the title track – and its video – from the album below.

  • Belfast Film Fest Blog: Day 9

    April 7, 2017 - By 

    It’s engines go for festival, and we’ll be running daily reactions, reviews and previews of upcoming screenings here on this regular blog. There’s going to be a lot to get through. Send us your film reactions at conor@thethinair.net, or tweet @thethinair – we want to hear what you’re seeing and what’s good. Day Nine – Friday 7th We’re closing in on the home stretch here. Expect more reviews and reflections over the weekend, including cinematographer Kirsten Johnson’s absorbing, reflective doc-collage Cameraperson and Breaking Bad‘s Betsy Brandt’s not-bad (that’s a lot of Bs) lead turn in missing-husband drama Alice in Motion, but for…

  • Stormzy w/ A2 @ The Olympia, Dublin

    March 31, 2017 - By 

    Every single owner of a pair of Adidas Superstars has started to form a queue outside the Olympia on this particular Wednesday evening on Dublin. As the crowd eyes up each other’s shades of Adidas, it’s clear there’s only one name on everyone’s lips – Stormzy. Stormzy, or Michael Omari to his mum, has been setting grime and pop audiences alight with his palatable take on Britain’s hottest genre of 2017. His critically lauded number one album, Gang Signs And Prayer has already been slated as one of the biggest successes of the year and the excitement is palpable amongst…

  • Bosco Ramos – Signs of Life

    March 30, 2017 - By 

    Fuzzy Belfast-based alt. punk bass & drum duo Bosco Ramos release their debut EP Signs of Life on March 31. Recorded and produced by Jonny Woods of R51 at Start Together Studios, it follows up on their debut double-A-side SNKSWM from early 2016. Phil Brown and Calum McGeown have a knack for an earworm, taking influenced from Death From Above 1979 and Torche-esque aggressively uplifting alt. rock, without hiding behind Americanised accents. Check out the video for lead single, ‘Rolling Sea’: Bosco Ramos launch Signs of Life at McHugh’s, Belfast on Friday, April 7, with support from Junk Drawer, Vulpynes and Gnarkats.

  • Base 1 Art IMMA Project

    March 31, 2017 - By 

    Opening today at 1pm and running until April 6th in IMMA is Symbiosis – the end of year exhibition for 1st years in IADT’s BA Hons. Art programme. The students are due to graduate in 2020 and Symbiosis marks a pivotal moment in their practices. This year also represents the 10th anniversary of IADT’s residency programme in IMMA, an iniative that encourages a research lead practice, and one that sees work and artist engage with IMMA and onsite creation. The exhibition will be open daily from 10:30am until 4:30pm with students present each day (the work is situated in Studios 5,9 and…

  • Premiere: Autre Monde – Customs

    March 30, 2017 - By 

    We’re delighted to premiere the debut single, ‘Customs’, from Dublin-based indie supergroup of sorts, Autre Monde. The quartet comprises revered songsmith Paddy Hanna on vocals, Ginnels‘ Mark Chester on guitar, Land Lovers‘ Padraig Cooney on bass and Eoghan O’Brien on drums. Harking toward minimal ’80s college rock and esteemed chiming CBGB’s guitar reinventors like Television, Suicide and Pere Ubu, with a saturated Neil Young crunch, it’s an idiosyncratic, dynamic number; it’s also the first of a series of releases planned for spring and early summer, stemming from their time in the studio with Jamie Hyland & Girl Band‘s Daniel Fox. ‘Customs’ will be initially released on their Bandcamp next week, and available on Spotify the following…

  • Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival 2017 Programme Launched

    March 30, 2017 - By 

    At a time when the very heartland of the city’s creative community is under threat, Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival is an even more vital annual proposition of first-rate arts and culture. Set to take over the quarter from April 27 to May 7, today saw the launch of the typically-eclectic programme for this year’s outing, featuring everyone from Booker T Jones, K-X-P and Richard Herring to Brix & The Extricated, The Divine Comedy (pictured) and New York avant-garde master William Basinski. Split between music, comedy, words & ideas, theatre, visual arts and more, you can check out the full line-up and…

  • Stream: Ryan Vail – We Drift We Wake/East Berlin

    March 29, 2017 - By 

    To mark this year’s World Piano Day – an annual celebration of the ivory keys, spearheaded by Nils Frahm – Derry producer and musician Ryan Vail has released two new tracks. As well as a sublime rework of his own ‘East Berlin’ (which was selected for Nils Frahm’s playlist for World Piano Day back in 2015), ‘We Drift We Wake’ makes for a wonderfully meditative, delicately sprawling piece that doubles up as an audio visual collaboration. with artist Hohxx_. Better still, both efforts reveal the sheer tonal and emotional range of Vail’s ever-growing musical palette. Featuring everyone from Martyn Heyne and Olafur Arnalds to…