• Album Stream: Careerist – Weird Hill

    November 15, 2019 - By 

    It’s been a long, weird (sorry) trip up to this point, but the debut album for Belfast’s slickest indie rock trio Careerist (fka Hot Cops) is upon us. Weird Hill‘s nine tracks manage to slink through any number of influences and curveballs without losing coherence, clocking in at just under a half-hour. The wry smirk of Pavement can be glanced through buoyant, Deerhunter-sized melodies and slaloming Spaghetti Western guitar work, while the trio’s distinct, jerking sense of otherness remains consistent throughout. The LP was recorded & produced by Robocobra Quartet’s Chris Ryan, who does justice to the band’s reputation as one of Ireland’s tightest, most…

  • Monos

    November 14, 2019 - By 

    Every so often, a movie comes along that completely rips up the rule book of filmmaking. Alejandro Landes’ (2011’s Porfirio) does so right from the beginning of Monos, with its unforgettable and surreal opening sequence of young protagonists playing football with blindfolds in some undisclosed, ethereal landscape in a Latin American mountain range, surrounded by clouds, as some sort of awareness drill,. The viewer’s attention is shoved, almost in a voyeuristic manner, into their bizarre, hedonistic, militaristic, yet juvenile world. The story progresses at a relentless pace into its premise and finale, leaving the viewer in awe at this wonderfully relevant, strangely realistic, yet ruthlessly brutal…

  • Premiere: Naoise Roo – Falling Stars

    November 13, 2019 - By 

    Dublin’s Naoise Roo creates a world unlike any other in 2019 Ireland – atmospheric electronics lay alongside towering, glacial electric guitars brimming with portent, driven & controlled by Nick Cave-esque astromancy by Roo’s unmistakably beguiling chanteuse vocal. We adored her 2015 debut LP, Lilith, and recently, she’s been gradually rolling out material from her forthcoming Sick Girlfriend EP, after a break from the Irish music scene. Its second single ‘Falling Stars’ directly addresses that issue, and that of mental health in the music industry at large, in a slow-burning gratification that’s more than worth its delay. Produced by Liam Mulvaney, with Roo backed by Rian Trench on drums, Daniel Fox on bass & guitarist Karl Tobin. Tomorrow night – Thursday, November 14…

  • Young Hearts Run Free present Yule! (11)

    November 13, 2019 - By 

    Commemorating the tenth annual outing for Young Hearts Run Free’s annual Xmas fundraising drive for the Simon Community, Yule! (11) will unite some of the country’s finest acts this year on Saturday, December 7th. Running from 7pm to 2am at Dallymount Park in Phibsborough, the event will feature sets from Dónal Lunny, Aoife Nessa Frances, a Scott Walker tribute supergroup, Badhands, Rachael Lavelle, Mother Tongues, Cian Ó’Cíobháin, Natalya O’Flaherty, Tandem Felix, and Paddy Hanna, with more to be confirmed, as well as special surprise guests. Tickets range from Follow €20.07 – €27.55 and can be bought here. Endlessly recommended.

  • Quarter Block Party 2020 Announced

    November 13, 2019 - By 

    Another year, another stellar first wave announcement for Cork’s Quarter Block Party. Returning for its sixth edition from February 6-9th, the music and performing arts festival have revealed some of the acts who’ll be making an appearance at various venues across the city. Best of all, it’s full of some straight-up TTA favourites: The Bonk, Post Punk Podge & The Technohippies, Maija Sofia, Lemoncello (pictured), Elaine Howley, Aoife Nessa Frances, God Alone, Melts, Jar Jar Jr., Pretty Happy and Soft Focus. Festival manager Caoilian Sherlock commented: “We are delighted to bring the sixth edition of Quarter Block Party to Cork this…

  • the arts column: November 13th

    November 13, 2019 - By 

    This week is all about openings and closings as a number of exhibitions and projects either kick-off or wind-down around the country. We’ve details on them, and their associated events including talks and after parties, with links to further informaiton and tickets if required. 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 | Mariele Neudecker’s Sediment@ Limerick City Gallery This week is you last chance to see Mariele Neudecker’s Sediment in Limerick City Gallery, with the exhibition slated to close on Sunday, November 17th. Sediment is Neudecker’s first solo exhibition in an Irish…

  • the arts column: November 20th

    November 20, 2019 - By 

    This week is all about the printed material with a new zine themed project launching, not one but two book fairs in Dublin, as well as details on five exhibition openings and links to funding applications for 2020. As always, if you have an event, talk, exhibition, or would like to recommend one please get in touch via aidan[at]thethinair.net Opening | small night zine—ARRANGEMENTS @ Pallas Projects + Studios, Dublin This coming Thursday sees the launch of a new project from James Merrigan in Pallas Projects + Studios. Titled small night zine, the project sees 35 artists come together through the mediums of screen…

  • Mount Palomar – The Perils Of Youth

    November 11, 2019 - By 

    For those with a finger on the pulse of Ireland’s eminently reputable electronic music scene, Neil Kerr’s Mount Palomar alias and output – though in its semi-infancy – should be fairly familiar by now. With a burgeoning homegrown fanbase and increasingly frequent overseas appearances in the likes of Panorama Bar, Kerr’s development as an authentic purveyor of the analog has been a refreshing expedition to observe. While his debut offering Black Knight’s Tango saw the Falls Road native looking up and gazing into the endless cosmos beyond the nocturnal orange haze of inner city Belfast’s streetlamp sky, The Perils of…

  • NI Music Prize Winners Announced

    November 11, 2019 - By 

    The winner at this year’s Northern Ireland Music Prize has been announced. Taking place at Belfast’s Ulster on Thursday night, the annual ceremony saw Eoin O’Callaghan Elma Orkestra & Ryan Vail walk away with the main Best Album prize for their collaborative Borders release. As well as performances from Strange New Places, Jordan Adetunji, Saint Sister, O’Callaghan & Vail and Oh Yeah Legends Award recipients Snow Patrol, Sister Ghost walked away with Best Live Act, Cherym won the Oh Yeah Contender Award and Junk Drawer took Best Single with ‘Year of the Sofa’. Meanwhile, X-ray Touring’s Steve Strange won the Outstanding Contribution to…

  • Stream: Hales Lake – Pro-Strife

    November 11, 2019 - By 

    Comprising Shane Crosson, Girlfriend’s Sophie Dunne, Jamie O’Suiligh and Ryan McClelland, Hales Lake have played a string of stellar shows in Dublin, Belfast and Limerick this year. Impassioned and curveballing, the have been sets introducing a quartet who, right off the bat, are staking a claim with a sound melding alternative and emo with ‘gazey textures and a fist-clenched noise-rock sensibility. Look no further than debut single, ‘Pro-Strife’, which you can stream below. Speaking about the track, the band offered up the mini-manifesto of sorts, reflecting on how cross-country issues has helped bolster island-wide solidarity in the creative community of which…