• Win tickets to AVA Festival 2017

    May 24, 2017 - By 

    In partnership with our friends at Helps Musicians NI, we have two pairs of tickets to give away to this year’s frankly unmissable AVA Festival. Right up there with the country’s leading annual electronic festivals, AVA will return to Belfast’s T13 over June 2-3 with Jeff Mills & Guillaume Marmin, Ben UFO, Fatima Yamaha, Job Jobse, Moxie, New Jackson, Ryan Vail and many more. Speaking of the festival, Vail said,  “Careers are being made at events like these. Direct contact to the people that live & breathe electronic music is something that any aspiring producer or DJ should take advantage…

  • Win tickets to Mitski @ Whelan’s, Dublin

    May 24, 2017 - By 

    We have a pair of tickets to give away to Mitski at Whelan’s in Dublin on June 8. To be in with a chance of snapping them up, simple Like our Facebook page here and send your answer to the following question to info@thethinair.net: What is the title of Mitski’s ourth studio album? Good luck!

  • BARE In The Woods Festival Postponed

    May 24, 2017 - By 

    With just over a two weeks until its scheduled return to Portarlington in Co. Laois, BARE In The Woods have announced that this year’s festival – which included Mike Skinner, Rubberbandits, New Secret Weapon, RSAG and many more – has been postponed due to licensing issues. See the full statement from organisers below. All the best with the rescheduled date, guys. “It is with great regret that we wish to inform our patrons that, despite our best efforts to grow the festival into a fully-fledged licensed event, we have made the decision to postpone BARE in the Woods festival until a…

  • Watch: BAILER – In For A Penny, In For A Pound

    May 24, 2017 - By 

    Cork metalcore maestros BAILER are back with a fierce new single in the form of ‘In For A Penny, In For A Pound’. Rounded off with one of the more curious Irish music videos we’ve seen in a while – an accompaniment the quartet aptly summed as featuring “skateboarding gorillas drinking Buckfast and Dutch Gold, and engaging in a high action chase with raging hicks in a Honda Civic” – it’s another pleasingly face-melting effort that is worth it for that pinch harmonic at 1.32 alone. You’ll never watch Planet of the Apes the same way again.

  • Premiere: Pinner – Head for the Bedlam

    May 24, 2017 - By 

    With the prospect of up to three new albums set for release before the end of the year, (presumed) Northern Irish punk-funk masked duo Pinner are back with a new video single, ‘Head For The Bedlam’. Released in advance of forthcoming radio single ‘Incendiary’ – which will be released ahead of Return of the Pin Vol.2: Bloody Murder Picture on June 1 – this new effort is a typically left-of-centre blast of wilfully DIY garage from the pair, whose penchant for and ease at genre-hopping should fully reveal itself on forthcoming full-length releases throughout 2017. In the meantime, have a first peek…

  • Video Premiere: Planting – Relatives

    May 24, 2017 - By 

    A highlight from the latest Culture Glitch compilation, ‘Relatives’ by Derry producer John McDaid AKA Planting is a track that marries somnambulism and morning light just as effectively as it blends spectral ambience with glitchy textures and rhythms across its four minutes. Lending the track a whole new layer of cinematic panache is its accompanying visuals, courtesy of Derry filmmaker Michael Barwise. Featuring a range of black and white shots – from static scenes and intimate moments to muted, semi-mystical moments of nature – it drives home the longing air of the music in compelling fashion. Have a first look of that below.

  • Preview: Women’s Work 2017 with Oh Yeah Music Centre’s Charlotte Dryden

    May 24, 2017 - By 

    Ahead of its second annual return this weekend, Brian Coney chats to Charlotte Dryden, CEO of Belfast’s Oh Yeah Music Centre and founder of Women’s Work NI to discuss what’s in store for the latter this year. Go here for the programme for Women’s Work 2017. Hi, Charlotte. Last year’s inaugural Women’s Work seemed like huge success. How was it from a personal point of view? Oh I was immensely proud and very moved by the support. The line-up for both last year and this year’s forthcoming second outing have been first-rate. But how did the festival bloom from discussion into…

  • Stream a 50 Track Thin Air Tuesday Throwdown Sampler

    May 23, 2017 - By 

    You know, we often get people asking us, “Hey, what kind of stuff do you play at your free, weekly Tuesday Throwdown in the Back Bar of Lavery’s in Belfast – a night that runs from 9.30pm until late and spans every conceivable genre under the sun, minus perhaps polka and classical music?” And to those people, we say: here’s a 50 track sampler – featuring everyone from Slint, Broadcast and Thundercat to Can, Julia Holter and Yo La Tengo – that you can expect to hear, week in, week out. We’re back there tonight, 9.30pm to late as usual.…

  • Watch: Stoat – Try Not To Think About It

    May 23, 2017 - By 

    A self-proclaimed “stylistically inconsistent” indie-pop/rock trio, Dublin/Wexford’s Stoat have unveiled the video for their new single, ‘Try Not To Think About It’. The title song – and third single – from the forthcoming new album, which is due in the summer, the band have said the track is in the “same ballpark” as Beasties Boys and Talking Heads. We can certainly hear that. See for yourself, and check out the single’s wonderfully DIY visuals.

  • Album Premiere: Aaron Shanley – Metal Alligator

    May 23, 2017 - By 

    Currently backed by a new band, The Horrortongues, Northern Irish singer-songwriter Aaron Shanley will officially launch his eleven-track, homemade mini-album, Metal Alligator, via Swallow Song Records at Belfast’s Voodoo tomorrow night. Having relocated to London, throwing himself into a heady maelstrom of writing and recording for both himself and others, Shanley took time to assemble this new release, the follow-up to Bedroom Tapes, released at the tail-end of 2013. Beginning on lead single, ‘My Mind Ain’t Pretty (At The Minute)’, Metal Alligator was recorded “on various devices” throughout 2015 and features multi-instrumentalist Shanley performing “vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, fristleism, synths, programming, sampling,…