• Stream: Ciaran Lavery – Can I Begin Again

    January 27, 2020 - By 

    Over the last few years, Ciaran Lavery has proven himself to be, in both song and approach, much more than your cut-and-dry, run-of-the-mill singer-songwriter. The globetrotting Northern Irish artist’s gestation as a songwriting voice, from the days of his old band, Captain Kennedy, via albums such as Sweet Decay and Let Bad In, right up until the present moment has been nothing short of remarkable. All along the way, his clear reluctance to kowtow to expectation has informed easily one of the most colourful and consistently rewarding trajectories of any Irish solo artist in recent years. Lavery’s new single ‘Can…

  • Output Belfast Reveal 2020 Line-Up

    January 27, 2020 - By 

    More than 40 Irish acts have been announced to play this year’s Output Belfast. Returning to various venues across the city on Thursday, February 13th, the county’s leading music conference will team up with the likes of The Thin Air, Nialler9, Music Venues Alliance, Pizza Pizza Records, PRS for Music and IMRO for its annual evening showcase. Running from 8pm-midnight, venues including Bullitt, the Black Box, Ulster Sports Club and the Oh Yeah Centre will host the likes of Silverbacks, Porphyry, Arvo Party, Sister Ghost, Tebi Rex and Cherym. This year, we’re teaming up with Sentric to host Son Zept, Junk Drawer, Fears and…

  • Monday Mixtape: Joel Harkin

    January 27, 2020 - By 

    In the latest installment of Monday Mixtape, fast-rising Letterkenny alternative ambient folk artist Joel Harkin waxes lyrical on some of his favourite songs, from Phoebe Bridgers and Kitt Philippa, to John Martyn and SOAK. John Martyn – Small Hours I really like how if you didn’t know that there would be singing later in this song that it would surprise you, it doesn’t give you much indication from the start that there will be. It’s very relaxing and it feels very poignant. I love all of the ambient sound and the interesting vocal style. Kitt Philippa – Moth This song…

  • My Chemical Romance To Play Kilmainham

    January 27, 2020 - By 

    My Chemical Romance will play Dublin in the summer. The recently-reunited New Jersey emo five-piece will play their first Irish show since 2011 at Royal Hospital Kilmainham on June 23rd. Support for the date is yet to be announced. Tickets cost €72.50 and go on sale on Friday, January 31st at 10am.

  • Duster – Duster

    January 25, 2020 - By 

    It somehow seems fitting that San Jose slowcore outfit, Duster, would come back from the dead to release an album on the penultimate day of the decade. Nearly 20 years since their last LP, it’s a move that reflects the same elusive and distant feeling their music evokes. Like Duster’s two previous albums, Stratosphere and Contemporary Movement, the tonal theme of outer space is heavily present and with the opening track ‘Copernicus Crater’, that theme is picked right back up. Setting out the cosmic manifesto early on with a driving  bassline and a gloom laden guitar that really makes you feel like you exploring an other worldly geographical feature. Tracks like ‘Hoya…

  • The Thin Air Podcast: Girl Band

    January 22, 2020 - By 

    This week on the Thin Air podcast, Danny Carroll meets one of Ireland’s most beloved group’s Girl Band, to talk about their recent single Shoulderblades.  The first song the band released in four years, Shoulderblades served as an intense, exhilarating teaser for second album ‘The Talkies’. Girl Band’s singer/lyricist Dara Kiely and bassist/producer Daniel Fox speak about how the song developed and reflect on its varied influences – be they 19th-century freaks, low-cost imported lager, or Leonard Cohen’s howling anguish. Tracklisting: 1. Girl Band – Shoulderblades 2. Jon Hopkins – Open Eye Signal (Happa Remix) 3. The Beatles – Baby…

  • A Night for Daniel Johnston @ The Duncairn, Belfast

    January 22, 2020 - By 

    Four months on from his passing at 58, several Irish musicians will come together on Wednesday, January 22 (aka Hi, How Are You day) to pay tribute to the late, great Daniel Johnston. A towering figure of lo-fi, the songwriter and visual artist, Johnston’s music and legacy will be celebrated at the event from 7.30pm at the Duncairn in Belfast. Performing on the night – which will raise funds for PIPS Suicide and Self Harm prevention – are Aaron Shanley, Junk Drawer, Buí, Chris Ryan of Robocobra Quartet and Jealous of the Birds. Tickets are £10 on the door (or £8.50…

  • Lee Fields & The Expressions @ The Button Factory

    January 20, 2020 - By 

    Born in 1951, North Carolina native Lee Fields’ musical CV has amassed an extensive number of impressive notches over the years; he released his first single back in 1969, has worked with the likes of BB King, Kool & the Gang and Dr. John, he helped carve out careers for Sharon Jones – a former backing singer of his – and Charles Bradley, while he had his vocals used in the 2014 James Brown biopic Get On Up, and has had his songs sampled by the likes of J. Cole and Travis Scott. On top of all that he is…

  • God Alone. – God Alone

    January 20, 2020 - By 

    Genre is a tricky thing. While useful for an audience looking for a labelled path to expand their listening, the idea of slapping a label on your music chafes most artists. This can be especially true for metal acts; given its highly specific sub-genres,  it is hard to not be boxed into one or the other. Cork band God Alone. are aware of this, and on their self-titled second EP they demonstrate their grasp on a variety of different styles to avoid any easy categorisation. Opener ‘Feeling on Tic’ is, by a large margin, the heaviest song on the EP.…

  • Field Music – Making A New World

    January 18, 2020 - By 

    One of the under-discussed merits of living in the post-streaming age is that musicians are limited only by their ambition. It used to be that if your label hated your record you either had to bite your tongue and make it more commercial or try to wrangle out of your contract and sell it somewhere else. But now that those Goliaths are largely gone and anyone can host their music for next to nothing, the sky’s the limit. This is an idea which prog-poppers Field Music have embraced wholeheartedly on their seventh album, Making A New World. This LP is…