• Stream: Le Carousel – Destroy Us

    January 25, 2015 - By 

    Belfast-based producer and DJ Phil Kieran isn’t one to rest on his laurels. Having dropped some of the biggest techno bombs around over the years, Le Carousel has seen Phil moving in a slightly different creative direction, with the focus more on the possibilities of live production and building layers of groove. ‘Destroy Us’, his latest single under the Le Carousel alias is snappy, tight and the flourishes of melody are so bright and cheery, you’d be hard pressed not to tap along. It’s a slice of electro-pop loveliness, basically. Don’t take our word for it though, have a listen…

  • Interview: Mr. Scruff

    January 14, 2015 - By 

    Ahead of his sold out show at Belfast’s Black Box on Saturday night, the insatiable, inimitable and encyclopedic Andy Carthy AKA Mr. Scruff chats with resident Thin Air Scruff fanboy Aaron Drain about the “necessity” of the arts, his influence (and influences), his legendary stamina for DJ marathons and more. Win tickets to the sold out Belfast show here. You used to work in retail (like me! Separated at birth? Probably.) and made the leap to producing music full-time in the mid 90’s. What gave you that boost of confidence that allowed you to pursue your passion? Was it an easy…

  • The Cyclist – Flourish

    December 17, 2014 - By 

    Having set out his stall with last year’s Bones In Motion LP, Derry native The Cyclist (Andrew Morrison) has returned with another full-length example of what he very aptly describes as ‘tape throb,’ a boundary-defying genre envisioned as a warmer approach to making electronica; crackling, fluid-like but with danceable overtones. Flourish, Morrison’s second album and his first through All City Records, extends to the listener a slightly more evolved tape throb mantra of lo-fi, compounded and naturally rich electronica than that of Bones In Motion; in this latest instance for example, Morrison has included just seven tracks in comparison to…

  • Boxcutter & Defcon – New Yen EP

    November 24, 2014 - By 

    Veteran Northern Irish producer and multi-talented wizard-man Boxcutter (Barry Lynn) has had a fairly enviable run of success since his debut for Planet Mu records back in 2006. A string of high-grade LP and EP releases, collaborations and remixes for the likes of Amon Tobin, Falty DL and Space Dimension Controller – as well as countless headline shows worldwide – would suggest that Lynn might deserve a relaxing day or two off. The release of his latest EP New Yen, in collaboration with fellow NI producer Defcon, suggests otherwise. In fact, what it does suggest is that Lynn is in…

  • Mr. Oizo – The Church

    November 18, 2014 - By 

    Mr. Oizo, the alias of French electro-extraordinaire and director Quentin Dupieux, has come a long way from providing the soundtrack for small-time, petty criminal puppet Flat Eric and his Levi jeans thieving shenanigans. Well known to those who came of age in the late nineties and early millennium, the track ‘Flat Beat’ and its fluffy, yellow mascot, represented a crossover of cultural motifs and fused a relationship between image and sound that is still instantly recognisable over a decade later. More importantly, with ‘Flat Beat,’ Dupieux created a track that was flat-out immense; one that was able to transcend the…

  • Flying Lotus – You’re Dead!

    October 15, 2014 - By 

    L.A.’s Flying Lotus (Steven Ellison) has had a somewhat circuitous musical journey since releasing his debut LP in 2006. Taking its title from his birth year, 1983 saw the beginning of a series of full-length releases that harked back to concepts and ideas – memories even of life and place – that were intrinsic to the beatsmith’s musical identity. These sonic origins, as heard on 1983 and Los Angeles, compounded the variety of deep and melodic hip hop instrumentals that J Dilla and Madlib had long been well known for, but Ellison’s interpretation of the mix-tape style was unique. It…

  • Taylor McFerrin – Early Riser

    July 9, 2014 - By 

    As the oldest son of legendary vocalist and composer Bobby ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’ McFerrin, Taylor McFerrin has presumably had ample time to soak up as much of the unorthodox, richly diverse musicianship that the family crest must surely represent. Taylor, following in the footsteps of his father, puts on the captain’s hat for Early Riser, his debut LP courtesy of Flying Lotus’s and Ninjatune’s off-shoot label, Brainfeeder, and as a consequence, helms the production, instrumental and compositional responsibilities. Considering also that the album has been around five years in the making, it suggests that the multi-talented McFerrin – in…

  • Lone – Reality Testing

    June 12, 2014 - By 

    Nottingham’s most colourful son, Lone, AKA Matt Cutler, has returned to inject our dreary, overcast days with some lush, strobing shades of fluorescence; as has historically been the case since his Kids in Tracksuits days. Reality Testing,Cutler’s – latest full-length effort courtesy of R&S records – is quite frankly a testament to the LPs that have preceded it. No mean feat, but Cutler has had ample time to hone his production skills that bend and shake the boundaries of house, hip hop and electro (with a pinch of jazz for good measure, of course), culminating in a sound which is so rich and…

  • De La Soul w/ Joe Lindsay @ CQAF

    May 13, 2014 - By 

    Tonight, as the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival sadly draws to its inevitable close, Belfast is fortunate enough to have hip hop royalty De La Soul performing at Custom House Square, ensuring that the festival should go out with a bang. An oldskool hip hop sort of bang, rather. Upon arriving at tonight’ s venue, mingling throngs of hip hop fans old and young line up in eager anticipation of what’s starting to look like a belter of an evening. Through the entrance to the square, there are a few of the usual vendors selling their cold, delicious, life giving, good-time-having beery…

  • Kelis – Food

    May 1, 2014 - By 

    Kelis Rogers has always been somewhat of an enigmatic figurehead for the fringes of popular music. A sonic siren, her brand of off-centre RnB has historically enjoyed success with club-goers, channel hoppers and with those who just enjoy a bloody good hook and the occasional raucous holler or two. ‘I Hate You So Much Right Now,’ for instance, her 1999 vocal assault on a cheating spouse, provided Rogers with an opportunity to change the way RnB was to be perceived – it could be powerful, visceral even, but retain the soulful and jazz-influenced backdrop that many of Rogers’ contemporaries exploited…