• Rock For Choice: NI Musicians on Why We Should All Support Rally For Choice 2019

    August 30, 2019 - By 

    On Saturday, September 7th, the fourth annual Rally For Choice will take place in Belfast. Now, more than ever before, the movement – which demands free, safe and legal access to abortion services in Northern Ireland – is propelled by unstoppable momentum. With the country on the cusp of finally achieving women’s rights in line with the rest of the UK and Ireland, there’s a very real sense that the time is now. From 4pm that day, Belfast’s Ulster Sports Club will host its unmissable sister event, Rock For Choice. Hosted by Girls Rock School NI – a non-profit organisation…

  • The Specials @ Open House, Bangor

    August 29, 2019 - By 

    In the tour-heavy years since reforming back in 2008, The Specials have continuously re-affirmed their status not simply as bona fide 2-tone legends, they have underlined their ironclad rep as one of the all-time greats. Vital and visionary in equal measure, few acts, anywhere in the world, have equally defined and transcended genre like they have, all the while keeping two eyes firmly fixed on the horizon. Off the back of the release of Encore – their first album with vocalist Terry Hall since 1981 – the band’s generation-spanning set at Bangor Seafront tonight as part of Open House 2019 only…

  • Pixies Set For Tower Records In-Store

    August 29, 2019 - By 

    Boston alternative rock legends Pixies are set for an in-store at Dublin’s Tower Records. Ahead of their show at Olympia later that night, the Black Francis-fronted quartet will be signing copies of their new album, Beneath The Eyrie, at the Dawson Street store at 1pm on Thursday, September 26. Simply up a copy of the new album on its release on 13th of September and receive a wristband to come and meet the band and get the album signed. Spaces are very limited.

  • Watch: Hatchet Field – Jolene

    August 29, 2019 - By 

    Once a riff-wielding Goliath in Belfast instrumental rock wizards The Continuous Battle of Order (and, before that, WeAreKnives) the musician known as Hornby is as shapeshifting and wonderfully unpredictable as they come. Nowhere is that more apparent than on his current solo project, Hatchet Field. Wielding darkly and masterfully sparse tales, the odd live performance has revealed an artist whose visionary prowess, though significantly more muted than previous full-band efforts, is no less compelling for it. Last week, Belfast imprint Black Tragick offered some insight into that world by unveiling a new Hatfield Field cover. Dedicated to his mother on the tenth anniversary of her passing, a stark and slow-burning Dolly Parton…

  • Stream: Father! – Desire Lines

    August 29, 2019 - By 

    From The Stars of Heaven, Sea Pinks and Fixed Stars to Dott, Postcard Versions and any number of Popical Island bands, Ireland has always held its own when it comes to first-rate jangle-pop. On the more prismstic and forward-pushing end of the spectrum is Dublin quartet Father! (their exclamation mark, not ours – though we do speak with considerable enthusiasm here.) Woozy and warped-out, the Sean Brunswick-fronted foursome’s new single ‘Desire Lines’ is feedback-drenched and star-shaped in equal measure. That it shares a title with a straight-up Deerhunter classic may or may not be a coincidence. Either way, it certainly embodies a certain sonic…

  • Mixtape Preview: Hit So Hard

    August 28, 2019 - By 

    Not least considering the sheer amount of high-profile figures who dominated grunge’s heyday in the early 1990s, it may seem curious – that is on the surface – that P. David Ebersole opted to delve into the backstory of Hole’s relatively shy-and-retiring Patty Schemel in his 2011 documentary Hit So Hard. But it’s a thought that, sans facts, neglects not only the drummer’s vital involvement in one of the generation’s biggest bands, but the heady, tragic lives of those whose personal lives often eclipsed the music. In focusing on one of the scene’s more unassuming characters, Ebersole traces hugely engrossing narrative. Chronicling…

  • David Berman Tribute Set For Dublin

    August 28, 2019 - By 

    A tribute night for U.S. musician David Berman – who passed away earlier this month – will take place at Dublin’s Sound House on October 17th. Featuring Adrian Crowley, Steve Windings, Maija Sofia, Eileen Gogan, Dudley Colley, Anna Carey & Patrick Freyne, Skelocrats, members of Shrug Life, Oh Boland, The Former Soviet Republic and more performing the songs of Silver Jews and Purple Mountains, Purple Jews will see all proceeds going to Aware. Tickets cost €15 and can be bought here. Doors are at 8pm. Revisit Maija Sofia’s TTA obituary of Berman here.

  • This Ain’t No Disco To Return for Season 2

    August 28, 2019 - By 

    After an uncertain two-hear hiatus, we’re pleased to report that online Irish alternative music programme This Ain’t No Disco will return for a second season next year. With season one featuring wonderfully intimate performances from the likes of Landless, Villagers with Nico Muhly, Brigid Mae Power, Lisa O’Neill and more, S2 will launch on New Year’s Day, 2020. Once again, the series will be hosted by ex-No Disco presenter Donal Dineen and directed by music documentarian and award-winning cinematographer Myles O’Reilly. Coinciding with the announcement is the news that on September 26th, This Ain’t No Disco Live will take over D-Light…

  • the arts column: August 28th

    August 28, 2019 - By 

    This week we’ve details on performances, exhibition openings and closings, a pair of artists talks and details on some funding deadlines. As always, if you have an event, talk, exhibition, or would like to recommend one please get in touch via aidan[at]thethinair.net Performance | Project Arts Centre, Dublin This Saturday, August 31st, sees Dance Limerick present a trio of new dance works in Dublin’s Project Arts Centre. The performances are part of the Step Up Dance Project, which is in its 9th year, and features emerging dancers Ambre Twardowski, Juliana Tarumoto, Aliina Lindroos, Claudia Gesmundo, Rosie Mullin & Ginvera Cecere. The performances are curated by…

  • The Hold Steady – Thrashing Thru The Passion

    August 27, 2019 - By 

    Back at the turn of the decade, The Hold Steady were on the top of their game. The self-described “best bar band in the world” had four phenomenal LPs under their belt and were poised to carve out their own niche and achieve the same level of devotion of someone like Bruce Springsteen. Their sound was a fusion of classic arena rock, mid ‘80s hardcore and hip-hop inflected beat poetry about drugs, drunks, and Christianity in Minneapolis. Everything was vital and taut and elevated to these wonderful theatrical heights by off-kilter time signatures, unconventional structures and a veritable hodgepodge of…