• Trials Rising (Ubisoft, Multi)

    March 12, 2019 - By 

    Those readers of a certain age will remember Kick Start, a fun for all the family television programme in which amateur motorcyclists rode their steeds over and around an obstacle course comprising hay bales, planks and cabers. Inevitably, the rider would fail to ascend a vertiginous mud bank or tumble into a water trough, much to the hilarity of Dave Lee Travis and those watching at home. Such schadenfreude is at the core of the Trials franchise, in which the gamer rides a motorbike through increasingly ludicrous tracks while trying not to plummet to be bottom of a ravine, into a pit of…

  • the arts column: March 12th

    March 12, 2019 - By 

    In this week’s edition of the arts column we’ve details of exhibitions that are opening and closing around the country, a pair of residencies and an application deadline. As always, if you have an event, talk, exhibition, or would like to recommend one please get in touch via aidan[at]thethinair.net Exhibition | Eamonn Doyle @ RHA Gallery, Dublin Opening this Thursday, March 14th in Dublin’s RHA Gallery is a new exhibition featuring the work of Eamonn Doyle. The eponymous show is born out of Doyle’s new book titled Made in Dublin, which features images from the artist’s first three books: i, ON and End, as well as previously…

  • Foals – Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 1

    March 11, 2019 - By 

    Foals have returned with their fifth album, or at least the first part of it. Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost is a double album released in separate parts with the second half scheduled for release in the Autumn. Double albums are a risky move, and often end up feeling bloated and add weight to the adage that less is more. They’re an endeavour usually reserved for stadium sized acts with little to lose and material to dump, and this is where Foals now find themselves. Having survived the exodus of bassist Walter Gervers, they stride forward carrying the torch…

  • EP Premiere: His Father’s Voice – Context and Perspective

    March 15, 2019 - By 

    The caveat with most ‘scenes’ tends to be that there’ll be some nadir to follow, once its signature sound has had a post-rock-esque fall into over-saturation and self-parody, but Limerick seemingly has no throughline other than its open ear and fiercely independent streak. The city has been responsible for galvanising a new school of Irish artists, and Blindboy seems to be very much emblematic of that. At DIY LK shows, we’ve borne witness to abstract field recording-based performances and 90s-recalling indie rock bands comfortably side-by-side in an idealistic cultural mindset that functions as a microcosm for how we’d love music to be widely presented. A great number…

  • Premiere: Angular Hank – I Don’t Always Like You

    March 14, 2019 - By 

    It’s been a pretty sweet year for idiosyncratic Irish indie rock thus far – look no further than releases from Hot Cops, Postcard Versions & Larry for that – and another name you can add to that heap is Dublin-based quartet Angular Hank. Having only played a handful of shows to date, debut single ‘I Don’t Always Like You’ seeps into the signature Popical Island-style Dublin bedroom jangle that comes pre-loaded with chorus pedals, with a wonderfully human baritone vocal from Mathieu Doogan. Kicking back with dissonance at the hint of a melody getting too cosy like its protagonist does at showing too much vulnerability, the single is a…

  • BBC Radio Ulster To Present New Homegrown DJ Series, In The Mix

    March 11, 2019 - By 

    BBC Radio Ulster is set to present a new series of live mixes from emerging homegrown DJs. Beginning on Tuesday, March 10 at 10pm with Hammer, aka Rory Hamilton, the series will feature four exclusively week mixes, later featuring one half of Schmutz, Kristian Woods, on March 19, co-founder of Belfast’s The Night Institute, Jordan McQuaig, on March 26 and fast-rising Armagh DJ Holly Lester (pictured) on April 2. All four exclusive DJ mixes will be live in the studio, simulcast in video at the BBC Music NI homepage and will be available to catch up via BBC Sounds.

  • Tyrel

    March 11, 2019 - By 

    Like Sebastián Silva’s previous films, Tyrel walks the tightrope between psychological drama and out-and-out horror. Interpersonal conflicts come to the fore in strange, unpredictable ways. The tension is palpable, the level of cringe punishing. The film takes place over the course of one wild weekend. Tyler has been invited by his friend Johnny to drink with his childhood buddies. Being thrown into a new group of people can be anxiety-inducing enough, but once Tyler meets Johnny’s fratboy mates, it quickly becomes clear that he’s the only black man among them, adding an extra layer of unspoken tension. What makes Tyrel…

  • Hozier – Wasteland, Baby!

    March 9, 2019 - By 

    It’s been five years since the release of Hozier’s hugely acclaimed self-titled debut. Tracks like ‘Take Me to Church’ and ‘Someone New’ catapulted the Greystones-native to international attention. Now, having left fans waiting, we’ve been landed with follow-up, Wasteland, Baby! The world has been waiting to see if Hozier would manage to dodge the classic “difficult second album” pitfall. With Wasteland, Baby!, it seems he has. Wasteland, Baby! – despite its name – is an album that feels infinitely more positive and bright than its predecessor. It feels like Hozier is allowing himself to have fun on this record, despite…

  • Preview: Pauli Lyytinen Magnetia Orkesteri @ Brilliant Corners

    March 8, 2019 - By 

    On Friday, March 8, Belfast’s Black Box will play host to one of the outright highlights of this year’s Brilliant Corners Jazz Festival. Backed with his Magnetia Orkesteri – a masterfully mottled assembly of some of his country’s very best players – multi award-winning Finnish saxophonist Pauli Lyytinen will present a career-spanning performance. Renown for drawing on their individual soloistic strengths and nigh on psychic interplay, this project’s blend of free-jazz and western chamber music is implosive, triumphant and essential. Tickets are a measly £12 and can be snapped up here. Sitting on the fence? Delve into 2017’s Pauli Lyytinen Magnetia Orkesteri. Pauli…