• Brilliant Corners 2020

    February 20, 2020 - By 

    A remarkably consistent, ever-rewarding peak of the Irish festival calendar over the last eight years, Brilliant Corners can lay claim to being the island’s most carefully-curated jazz festival. Packing out (all being well) a mélange of Belfast’s finest venues and bars – both big and small – from February 27 to March 8, this year’s bill is a suitably essential affair. Curated, as ever, by the clued-in heads at Moving on Music, acts and events as mottled as the Mercury Prize-nominated Dinosaur, Athens, Georgia trailblazers Kenosha Kid, the always compelling Joseph Leighton Quartet, Wood River and the downright unmissable Parker/Niblock/Sanders will take over the likes…

  • Stream: Tuath – pAy Ur TaXeS! (Feat. Post Punk Podge)

    February 20, 2020 - By 

    Having been called psych, noise rock, trip-hop, industrial, and any other lysergic-laced subgenre under our dying sun, Letterkenny’s Tuath continue to defy classification. They remain as shapeshifting an entity as the likes of Mr Bungle, Ween, and Primus – the latter of whose bulbous low-end shares a lot in common with their pulverising, singular new ‘doomer metal’ single ‘Pay Ur Taxes!’. The release, part of the forthcoming The Fuckening EP, sees frontman Robert Mulhern continue to laugh into the void, distilling their 2020 modus operandi into one easy to understand – unless you’re a conglomerate – mantra. Mulhern has submitted to us an essay on the origin…

  • Music Photography Exhbition @ Bloody Mary’s, Dublin

    February 20, 2020 - By 

    Opening tonight in Dublin’s Blood Mary’s is a new exhibition featuring the works of four Irish Music Photographers: Leah Carroll, Kieran Frost, Colm Kelly and James Murray. Titled What We Did in The Shadows, the show will feature work by the four photographers over the last ten years of live music in Ireland, taking in gigs of all sizes from local venues through to international festivals. Artists featured include The Fall, The Strokes, Green Day and Billie Eliish, as well as native acts such as The Murder Capital, Lankum, U2 and The Undertones. Tonight’s launch kicks off from 7 pm running until…

  • Andras – Joyful

    February 19, 2020 - By 

    What happens when the rave has to end? Ideas of nostalgia have been a frequent presence in the zeitgeist of recent dance music; from the endless-party revivalism of Jamie XX’s In Colour, to the lost futures that critic Mark Fisher identified from Burial’s debut. Those albums are arguably positioned on the extremes of nostalgia, however; for a more tender, bittersweet exploration of these ideas, Australian producer Andras presents his latest album, Joyful. Andras himself describes Joyful as “cutting a path through an overgrowth of nostalgia around 70s acid folk and 90s acid house”, which on first listen is an intriguing…

  • 10 for ’20: Denise Chaila

    February 18, 2020 - By 

    In the latest installment of 10 for ’20, Kelly Doherty tips Limerick-based Zambian-Irish rapper and poet Denise Chaila for huge things in 2020 and beyond. Photo by Tara Thomas Few Irish artists are swimming as smoothly in a wave of excitement and anticipation as Denise Chaila. The rapper and poet, despite having only two solo singles to her name, has been turning heads across live venues and major publications for the last couple of years. Winning herself a cover spot on the Irish Times’ 50 People To Watch in 2020, a celebrity fan in BBC Radio 6’s Cillian Murphy and…

  • Bright Eyes Set For First Irish Show in 18 Years

    February 18, 2020 - By 

    Bright Eyes are set to play their first Irish show in 18 years. Thanks to Selective Memory, the Conor Oberst-fronted Omaha indie folk band will play Dublin’s Vicar Street on Friday, September 4th. The show is the latest live date to be announced from the band following a 9-year hiatus. Tickets cost €37.50 standing and €42.50 seated. They go on sale at 9am on Friday, February 21st.

  • Wire – Mind Hive

    February 17, 2020 - By 

    Though Wire were always renowned for their musical transformation over three short years in the late ’70s – from the art school punk vignettes of 1977’s Pink Flag through to the icy, doomed post-punk of 154, stopping off at the transitional Chairs Missing in between – it’s no great surprise that 40 years into their career they don’t always possess this same level of invention. It’s not necessarily a bad thing though – while their last outing, 2017’s Silver/Lead could be possibly be described as samey, it was also their most solid and consistent work in a while. At once…

  • For The Love of Music: An Interview with Andrew Weatherall

    February 17, 2020 - By 

    There simply was no one quite like Andrew Weatherall. One of the most respected selectors, prolific producers and legendary gentlemen in the game, the announcement of his death at the age of 56 has ruptured the music world. Capturing the very essence of the man – his abundant charm and unending devotion for music – we’re pleased (and yet, of course, sad) to share this previously unpublished interview with the man himself from 2015. In it, you can trace the makings of someone who, more than most, could always effortlessly transform a potentially great night into something positively unforgettable. Words by Chris Jones How…

  • the arts column: February 27th

    February 27, 2020 - By 

    This week we’ve got details on a host of new exhibitions opening around the country from Dublin, Sligo and Cork; as well as details on artists’ talks taking place, an open call for a series of studio spaces and residencies and a public art commission. As always, if you have an event, talk, exhibition, or would like to recommend one please get in touch via aidan[at]thethinair.net Open Call | The Walker Plinth, Derry VOID Derry have announced details fro an open call that is seeking work to appear on The Walker Plinth in Derry which has been funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs…