• Watch: Ciaran Lavery – Left For America (Live)

    October 14, 2013 - By 

    Aghagallon singer-songwriter Ciaran Lavery has unveiled a live video for a new song, ‘Left For America’. Recorded for Dublin-based live music platform BalconyTV, the  track follows in the vein of his superb debut album Not Nearly Dark, which was released in March to a wave of critical acclaim. Lavery is is currently on a brief UK and Irish tour. The remaining dates over the next two weeks are: October 15: Broadcast, Glasgow October 16: Dublin Castle, London October 18: The Revelry, Exeter October 19: Exwick Mill, Exeter October 26: Voodoo, Belfast (Emerald Armada EP launch) Read our review of Lavery’s recent…

  • Stream: We Cut Corners – YKK

    October 14, 2013 - By 

    Taken from their forthcoming second album – set for release at some point next year – Dublin indie-rock duo We Cut Corners have unveiled their excellent new single, ‘YKK’. Set for release via Delphi on November 25, the short track is a simple but characteristically infectious little slice of the two-piece’s craft. To coincide with the release – the band’s first single in over a year – We Cut Corners are set to play four dates over the next while: Thursday, October 17: CMJ showcase, Fat Baby, Rivington St, NYC Friday, October 18: The Planetary/The Great Escape Party @ CMJ, Pianos, Ludlow…

  • Shortlist for Northern Irish Music Prize announced

    October 14, 2013 - By 

    The fourteen-strong shortlist for the inaugural Northern Irish Music Prize has been revealed. Organised by Belfast’s Oh Yeah Music Centre, the new award is “aimed at recognising the great wealth of recorded music from these parts”, focusing on albums released by Northern Irish bands over the last 12 months. The shortlist (below) is the result of votes from The Academy AKA several dozen industry professionals including music writers, DJs and editors amongst others. A Plastic Rose – Camera Shutter Life And So I Watch You From Afar – All Hail Bright Futures Anthony Toner – Sing Under The Bridges Axis…

  • Gig of the week: Astralnaut, Dutch Schultz, Bellos

    October 14, 2013 - By 

    This week’s Thin Air gig of the week is surely one of the heaviest Radar line-ups at Belfast’s QUBSU to date. Headlined by fast-rising sludge-doom overlords Astralnaut (above), the three-band bill on Thursday, October 17 also features the riff-fuelled talents of the ever blistering Dutch Schultz and one of the country’s best breakthrough bands of the year, alt-rock three-piece Bellos. Check out our Live Session with Bellos here, our recent interview with Astralnaut here and the video for Dutch Schultz’s fantastic ‘Year Of The Mule’ here. See below for the Radar poster for the show.  

  • Everything Everything, Thumpers, Outfit @ Limelight 1, Belfast

    October 14, 2013 - By 

    Having released their breakthrough, critically devoured second album Arc back in January, Manchester quartet Everything Everything stop off at Belfast’s recently expanded Limelight 1 comfortable in their status as 2013’s most comprehensively doted-upon darlings of English indie pop. But, as is invariably the case, having come to prominence so rapidly over the last few months, it remains to be seen how well the Jonathan Higgs-fronted four-piece fare in satisfying older fans whilst accommodating for the whims of the very newly inducted. The first of Everything Everything’s two touring support bands tonight, Liverpool psychedelic pop five-piece Outfit deliver a commanding performance to…

  • Watch: The Mighty Stef – Vampire, Hold Me Tight

    October 11, 2013 - By 

    With Halloween just around the corner, Dublin four-piece The Mighty Stef have unveiled the video to their aptly-titled new single, ‘Vampire, Hold Me Tight’. Directed by Lindsey Byrne, the video “acknowledge[s] the use of some projections from a certain classic British film that has long been a favourite among the group” AKA Robin Hardy’s 1973 horror classic The Wicker Man. Taken from their forthcoming fourth album – produced in Los Angeles by Alain Johannes in Spring – the track will also features on the band’s introductory three-track release, Iveagh Flats EP, which is set for release on November 7. Watch the…

  • EP Stream: Paper Man – After Effects

    October 10, 2013 - By 

    Showing huge potential, young Ballyclare-based alt-rock four-piece Paper Man have unveiled their debut EP, After Effects. Produced by Michael McCluskey, the five-track release (including a live track, ‘Hieroglyphics’) the EP “demonstrates,” in the band’s own words, “the roots from which the band have been influenced to write and play their alternative style of indie rock music.” Paper Man count the likes of local band A Plastic Rose, The Beatles and Smashing Pumpkins as three of their main influences. Stream After Effects via Bandcamp below.

  • Watch: Con Vos – Central Park

    October 10, 2013 - By 

    Earlier this month we featured the enchanting new EP by New York-based singer-songwriter and vocalist Sorcha Richardson. Nine days on we introduce the Dubliner’s new project CON VOS via the Matt Baron-directed video to the sublime ‘Central Park’. Taken from the upcoming five-track EP Cocoon Bloom, the track clings to summer whilst accommodating for Autumnal psychic ruminations, its stomping, shimmering bass-led march – and Richardson’s vocal in particular – suggestive of a very promising extended play on the horizon. CON VOS are comprised of Richardson and Fortunate Ones, a production/hip-hop duo from Fort Lee, New Jersey. Watch the video to ‘Central Park’ below.

  • Watch: Foy Vance – Closed Hand, Full of Friends

    October 10, 2013 - By 

    County Down singer-songwriter Foy Vance has unveiled the video to his new single, ‘Closed Hand, Full of Friends’. The song is the lead track taken from Vance’s second full-length album Joy Of Nothing, released in August via Glassnote Records. Following on from ‘Joy Of Nothing’ and ‘Janey’, it is the third track to be taken from the album, the follow-up to Vance’s 2007 debut full-length, Hope. The piano featured in the video was the focus of a police investigation after police attempted to discover how it was found in the River Tay in Perthshire. Watch the video below.

  • Emma Sweeney & Friends @ The Mac, Belfast

    October 9, 2013 - By 

    Fast-rising musician Emma Sweeney and guests will perform a night of cutting edge Irish traditional music at Belfast’s MAC on Thursday, October 10. A finalist at the prestigious BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award in 2003, Sweeney will perform music from her album Pangea, which was released early this year to critical acclaim. Despite her age, Sweeney she accumulated an impressive amount of live experience performing alongside a host of respected traditional musicians including Dick Gaughan, Cara Dillon, Mike McGoldrick and Dezi Donnelly. The performance is part of Not So Trad, a new series of MAC music events offering traditional music with a fresh, modern approach…