• Video Premiere: Malojian – I’ll Be Alright

    September 16, 2016 - By 

    Featuring footage of the Stevie Scullion-fronted band recording their forthcoming new album, This Is Nowhere, with Steve Albini in Chicago early this year, the video for ‘I’ll Be Alright’ by Malojian captures a band very much in their element. Also featuring Joe McGurgan on bass and Michael Mormecha (also of Mojo Fury et al.) on drums, their journey was fully captured by Belfast-based photographer and The Thin Air contributor Colm Laverty; make sure to keep an eye out for the full-length reveal of that soon. The lead track from This Is Nowhere, ‘I’ll Be Alright’ is Malojian at their sharpest. With beautiful harmonies…

  • Album Premiere: So Cow – Lisa Marie Airplane Tour

    September 16, 2016 - By 

    Recorded in the small coastal town of Spiddal in the west of Ireland, Lisa Marie Airplane Tour by Brian Kelly’s So Cow – his fifth full-length under the name to date – features “12 songs about anxiety; written in the midst of it, but before actually being aware it was the issue. OCD thoughts making a bus journey to town increasingly impossible, social anxiety making ordering a pint at the local bar a drawn-out task of Herculean proportions.” While influenced by the likes of Game Theory, The Chills, Nick Lowe and The Soft Boys, the album’s primary impetus is – according to Kelly –…

  • Premiere: Hiva Oa – mk2 (part 1) EP

    September 15, 2016 - By 

    With core members Stephen Houlihan and Christine Tubridy having recently returned to Belfast from Edinburgh Hiva Oa are an outfit currently experiencing a well-earned revelatory upswing. Drawing from the limitless realms of fear, loneliness, abandonment and awakening, their new EP, mk2 (part 1) is an emphatic, wonderfully-realised dose of experimental electronica that wears the influence of Radiohead, in particular, on its sonic sleeve. Where this would perhaps prove a hindrance for other acts of their ilk, Tubridy and Houlihan filter that imprint via a much vaster palette of sound, conjuring everyone from The Twilight Sad, Interpol and Jeff Buckley across the release’s four tracks. Though still…

  • Northern Ireland Music Prize Shortlist Announced

    September 15, 2016 - By 

    Having been awarded to Foy Vance, Robyn G Shiels and SOAK in the last three years, the shortlist for this year’s Northern Ireland Music Prize has been revealed. With the overall winner set to be announced at a special event at Belfast’s Mandela Hall on Friday, November 11 – a night which will also feature live music from Girls Names, Jealous of the Birds and PORTS – the following shortlist was compiled via an academy of NI music industry and media. The Bonnevilles – Arrow Pierce My Heart Ciaran Lavery – Let Bad In David C Clements – The Longest Day…

  • Metropolis Reveal New Acts

    September 14, 2016 - By 

    Having already announced the likes of Grace Jones, Moderat, DJ Shadow, Groove Armada, Floating Points (3hr DJ set), BADBADNOTGOOD and Novelist, Metropolis have revealed a new string of acts set to make appearance at its second annual outing at Dublin’s RDS from November 3-5. With still more yet to be announced Jack Garratt, Paul Kalkbrenner, Mount Kimbie, Cyril Hahn and Jessy Lanza (pictured) are amongst the new additions to bill; easily one of the strongest Irish festival bills we’ve seen in quite some time. Set in the industrial array of warehouses and venues with the RDS complex, the indoor event offers a…

  • Watch: I Am The Cosmos – Letting It Go

    September 13, 2016 - By 

    Masters of the oblique, Dublin electronic duo Ross Turner and Cian Murphy AKA I Am The Cosmos have never been in the trade of empty self-promotion. Have grew up in the suburbs of the city together before forming in 2010, the pair have just unveiled their first ever music video for galvanic new cut ‘Letting It Go’. Directed by long-time IATC collaborator Dorje De Burgh – himself a masterful photographer with an eye for wonderfully cabalistic imagery – it’s a mesmerising accompaniment drawing inspiration from rare footage of Arthur Russell. Touching on the track’s subject matter, Turner said, “The lyrics are a reaction to social dynamics – people playing games with…

  • Track Record: Richard Dowling (WAV Mastering)

    September 13, 2016 - By 

    As the most experienced mastering engineer in Ireland, it’s no surprise that Richard Dowling has an extensive, far-reaching record collection. Having founded WAV Mastering 10 years ago this Autumn, 2017 will mark his 30th year working in audio, with clients ranging from Christy Moore, Choice Music Prize winners SOAK and Jape, David Bowie, Foo Fighters and Suede to name a few.  In the latest installment of Track Record, Aaron Corr captures the Limerick engineer selecting some of his all-time favourite records. David Bowie – Hunky Dory ‘Life On Mars’, ’nuff said. Andy Warhol looks a scream, I’ve him hanging on my wall. Chvrches – The…

  • Stream: Robocobra Quartet – Correct

    September 13, 2016 - By 

    There was a while there that the would-be implication that we were receiving some sort of financial injection from Belfast’s Robocobra Quartet to regularly fly the flag of their sonic wares wouldn’t have been entirely without reasoning.  After all, a quick search on TTA reveals that we have shared news specifically about the Chris Ryan-fronted project at least a dozen times in the space of a year. Frankly, normally, that kind of thing would border on – if not positively encroach – overkill, were they not such a consistently intriguing proposition. As we bide our time for their long-awaited cheque to clear (disclaimer: we jest), the…

  • Loop Launch Night

    September 13, 2016 - By 

    A new night created by local DJs Jamie Nelson and Jamie Nevin promising to deliver music that has been “left behind and under appreciated”, Loop will launch in Mister Tom’s at Lavery’s, Belfast on Friday, September 16. Joining the duo for its first outing – which coincides with Culture Night 2016 – is  none other than adopted Belfast multi-instrumentalist writer, arranger, producer and all-round legend Kaidi Tatham. Filling the gap left by Belfast longest-running club night, Gigantic, Loop was created after “seeing many small-medium size venues eventually closing down or changing tact over the years, resulted in both feeling quite dispirited…

  • Stream: Vogelbat – Ovl (feat. Sad Mermaid)

    September 13, 2016 - By 

    Berlin-based Kilkenny producer David Sheenan AKA Vogelbat last caught our ear back in February with ‘Banx’, a track Eoin Murray called “a jittering slice of melodic trip-hop reminiscent of Bonobo or FKA Twigs, or the less jarring parts of Oneothrix Point Never’s catalogue”. Seven months on and Sheenan’s latest track ‘Ovl’ – featuring vocals from Berlin’s Katharina Burchin AKA Sad Mermaid – also slots very nicely into that particular description. Sheehan said, “It’s influenced by the likes of Portishead and Massive Attack. I’ve been working on it for quite a while, struggling with the mix, aiming for a lush sound without…