• Interview: Paddy Hanna

    June 24, 2014 - By 

    A restless artist and then some, Paddy Hanna is deservedly well regarded as one of the most prolific musicians in Dublin and beyond. When he’s not busy singing in Grand Pocket Orchestra or playing in Popical Island bands No Monster Club, Ginnels and Skelocrats, he’s writing, recording and playing his own wonderfully infectious, clever indie pop music. Off the back of the release of his exquisite debut album, Leafy Stiletto, we talk to Paddy about the incestuousness of Popical Island, scraping the “serious misery muck from [his] mind’s floor” and finding the time to commit to so many different projects. Hi Paddy. You released the…

  • Sons of Caliber – Albatross

    June 19, 2014 - By 

    Having been exclusively previewed here at the Thin Air last month, Northern Irish folk singer-songwriter Andrew Farmer and friends AKA Sons of Caliber will release their spellbinding debut album, Albatross, on Sunday, June 22. Taking place as part of this year’s Open House Festival, Farmer & Co. will release the nine-track album at Belfast’s Black Box, supported by Lonesome George. You can buy tickets for the launch right here. Stream Sons of Caliber’s last EP, Tundra, below. The Tundra by Sons Of Caliber

  • Fruit Tree: A Nick Drake Playlist

    June 19, 2014 - By 

    “Fame is but a fruit tree, so very unsound. It can never flourish, ’till its stock is in the ground. So men of fame, can never find a way, ‘Till time has flown, far from their dying day. Forgotten while you’re here, remembered for a while, A much updated ruin for a much outdated style.” So goes the now almost mythical opening lines to ‘Fruit Tree’ by English folk singer-songwriter Nick Drake, a song that perfectly encapsulates the peculiar phenomenon of posthumous fame and adulation. Although featuring on his 1969 debut album, Five Leaves Left – the first of three full-length albums he…

  • Bob Dylan – 02, Dublin

    June 19, 2014 - By 

    Six decades, thirty five studio albums and several reinventions in, it has long been a certified fact that Bob Dylan – showing few signs of slowing down at seventy-three – has no-one or nothing left to prove. With his critically-acclaimed thirty-fifth album, Tempest, once more stoking the embers of his altogether extraordinary career, a varied legion of hardened fans and sprightly newcomers to the Sacred Word of Dylan converge to Dublin’s 02 tonight for a concert that could well be filed under the “Mass” on Ticketmaster. The question remains, however: how many of tonight’s mixed audience will leave content having spent top dollar for a show that has little interest in…

  • Watch: Tucan – As It Was

    June 18, 2014 - By 

    In the very best sense possible, Sligo instrumental band Tucan have released easily one of the most gloriously messed up videos we’ve seen in quite some time for their new single, ‘As It Was’. Directed by Bobby McGlynn and Bryan Quinn, the video – featuring some extraordinary acting by Jonathan Gunning – features cinematography by Peter Martin and was filmed at The Model in Sligo last year. We challenge you to find a video featuring such an array of facial expressions – some more maniacal than others – from a single actor. Taken from Towers, ‘As It Was’ sees Tucan reinvent themselves…

  • Watch: Michael Mormecha – Mixtapes

    June 18, 2014 - By 

    Lifted from his forthcoming debut solo album, Mojo Fury frontman Michael Mormecha has unveiled the video to his first ever solo single, ‘Mixtapes’. A wonderfully idiosyncratic affair, nicely placed between Mojo’s symbolic sorcery and Mormecha’s more acoustically-inclined work as Clown Parlour, the track’s intrigue and charm resides in its masterfully stripped-back approach. Watch the video for ‘Mixtapes’ – directed by DogKennel productions, and featuring Mormecha perform the song in the woods – below.  

  • Inbound: Big September

    June 17, 2014 - By 

    Featuring original photography by Alessio Michelini, we catch up with Wicklow indie rock five-piece Big September to talk about the recording and release of their debut album, the escapism inherent in their music and the band’s ahwe abundance of self-confidence looking towards the next few months. Hi guys. You released your debut album a month ago to a great response. How does it feel having it out there? It feels amazing. We had such a laugh making it and it makes it so much better that it did so well. We’re really thankful to everyone who bought it – it means so much to…

  • EP Stream: SertOne – Mouthful

    June 16, 2014 - By 

    Liverpool-based, Portadown-derived beatmaker SertOne has released a tasty new five-track EP, titled Mouthful. Available in both digital and cassette form, the EP – released via Fly High Society – is a brilliantly bass-led effort, layering warm textures with skittering rhythms and stabs of balmy synth. According to SertOne’s Bandcamp page, the EP “fuses the sounds of modern electronic music with the exciting new sounds emerging in the forms of Chicago’s Drill & Footwork.” And fuses extremely well at that, we reckon. Stream the EP below now. Mouthful EP by SertOne

  • EP Stream: Making Monsters – Attention

    June 16, 2014 - By 

    Having released the stellar ‘Nosebleed’ just last week, Derry alt-metal band Making Monsters have released their new five-track EP, Attention. Produced, mixed and mastered by Neal Calderwood at Manor Park Studios, the EP – an extremely impressive and powerfully attacking release – is the follow-up to the band’s promising 2012 self-titled debut EP. Check out the band’s forthcoming tour dates and stream Attention via Bandcamp below. Attention by MakingMonsters

  • No Tomorrow: The Bonnevilles & Rhinos @ Voodoo

    June 16, 2014 - By 

    Presented by yours truly, The Thin Air, the next installment of our monthly gig/club night No Tomorrow at Voodoo Belfast on Saturday, July 5 will see two of the country’s finest garage-rock duos lay masterful waste to eardrums, limbs and everything in between. Headlined by garage-blues twosome The Bonnevilles – a duo (pictured) with an incredible live reputation, bursting with energy and sweaty zeal – the show will also feature the Paul Currie-fronted Rhinos, a new fangled Belfast garage-noise duo who have had tongues wagging and ears rattling from the get go. Back-to-back, it’s safe to say that we’re very…