• Dig Early: An Interview with Sligo’s Art For Blind Records

    July 14, 2016 - By 

    For over a decade, Art for Blind Records has been a home for underground, DIY and subversive music and zines of many stripes, both as a label functioning from wherever its composite parts are at a given time, and a series of stalls and shops that have followed them. As the duo prepare to release the debut EP from Cork noisemaker ELLLL and just off the release of the Altered Hours’ first 12″, Mike McGrath-Bryan speaks to Dany and Edel from Art for Blind about the label, its place(s), the people around it, and the future. Art for Blind doesn’t…

  • Front of House: Bettine McMahon & Graham Sharpe of KnockanStockan

    July 12, 2016 - By 

    Very few Irish music festivals are imbued with the sheer independent spirit and passion for homegrown sounds that continues to set Co. Wicklow’s KnockanStockan Festival apart. Set to return to Blessington Lakes this weekend with a host of the country’s very finest artists in tow (full line-up below), Mike McGrath Bryan chats to Bettine McMahon and Graham Sharpe, festival director and music director of KnockanStockan, about their humble beginnings, the festival’s annual schedule, only booking Irish acts and what the future holds. Photos by Moira Reilly. Hi guys. Give us some insight to the beginnings and roots of Knockanstockan. Bettine:…

  • Watch: Girl Band – In Plastic

    June 21, 2016 - By 

    Surrealism is no unbeaten path for Girl Band, and the latest video from the Dublin noise-rock darlings, as usual directed by long-time collaborator Bob Gallagher, takes matters in a much more grimly funny direction. Set in a security line, somewhere, someplace, the video for ‘In Plastic’ mirrors in Gallagher’s inimitable manner the current paranoia around borders, travel, and security, as things quickly unravel for our nameless protagonist. Speaking with Spin mag in the States, Gallagher expands on its themes: “the video is obviously totally ridiculous in many ways, but it touches on themes of surveillance, paranoia, and how arbitrary the…

  • Texture and Physicality with ELLLL

    February 16, 2016 - By 

    Having featuring as an Inbound act in the second issue of our magazine, Cork-based producer Ellen King AKA ELLLL has well and truly kicked into gear with recent release ‘Romance’, a self-professed “beat-driven collage with a playful and sinister narrative”. Touching on her creative process, Irish electronic music and what the future holds, King talks to fellow Cork native Mike McGrath Bryan. Photos by Louise Adelaide McKeown. How did ELLLL start? Where does Ellen King end and ELLLL begin? I had been writing some music as an undergrad and was approached to play live. I needed a name. So, that’s how it came…

  • Premiere: Horse – Dragging

    January 27, 2016 - By 

    Ahead of their appearance at Cork’s Quarter Block Party next Saturday, sludge/hardcore four-piece Horse, led by ex-members of local hardcore outfits Terriers and Ghost of Medina, have unveiled their taut, tense video for new single ‘Dragging’, premiering here on The Thin Air. A thundering, downcast beast of a tune, its weight and heaviness is accentuated by crisp, polished production from Cork desk stalwart Eamonn Coleman, and accompanied by a blink-and-you’ll miss it procession of performance and found imagery courtesy of director Rob O’Halloran. Sharing the tiny, window-facing stage of North Main Street’s BDSM bar with an eclectic line-out, including Dublin grungers Bitch Falcon, Paddy…

  • 16 For ’16: i am niamh

    January 21, 2016 - By 

    We continue our 16 For ’16 feature – looking at 16 Irish acts we’ve the highest of hopes for in 2016 – with Dublin singer-songwriter Niamh Parkinson AKA i am niamh. Words by Mike McGrath Bryan. Photo by Isabel Thomas. Classically-trained vocalist Niamh Parkinson spent 2015 finishing and unveiling her debut full-length, Wonderland, a study in musical curiosity that sees her utilise her voice over loop-driven piano and ambitious cellos. Balancing her boundless musical ability with her own thematic explorations, the result is one of Ireland’s most promising young composers stepping into her own. ‘Hang On!’, released a few months back, marks…

  • 16 For 16: Cian Nugent

    January 19, 2016 - By 

    Our feature profiling sixteen Irish acts we’re absolutely certain will do special things this year, we continue 16 for ’16 today in the company of Dublin’s Cian Nugent. Words by Mike McGrath Bryan. Photo by Cait Fahey Cian Nugent has undergone a profound and constant evolution since debut album ‘Doubles’ arrived in 2011. From acoustic explorations, through drone and psychedelia, Nugent arrives at Night Fiction, showcasing new sounds and a newfound focus on songcraft and simplicity. Shock of all shocks, Nugent even sings on his new full-length, releasing on the 29th on WOODSIST Records. In his debut as a singer-songwriter,…

  • The Altered Hours – In Heat Not Sorry

    January 14, 2016 - By 

    About 20 seconds into In Heat/Not Sorry, it dawns on you that you’re in for something else entirely. For a band that’s drawn with such fearless and bold strokes in previous singles and EPs, opener ‘Who’s Saving Who?’ impresses and awes with its restraint and confidence, setting the tone for the whole record. What we have here is the sound of a band coming into itself, the Cork psych-rock outfit arriving at a destination of sorts after years of exploration. Raw and feral, yet considered and focused, the album hits its stride as its opening gambit of mid-paced movers comes…

  • Premiere: Ealadha – ‘Hurricanes’

    December 10, 2015 - By 

    Since emerging in the past few months, and steadily beginning to gig around the country, Cork post-metal trio Ealadha have rapidly become an important part of the city’s scene, hazily bringing together post-metal heft and dreamy ambience, as amply showcased in their debut single released earlier this year, ‘Dive’. We’re excited to premiere their follow-up here on TTA: ‘Hurricanes’ sees them expand their sonic palate with the inclusion of electronic elements and gentle, layered piano, further widening their scope. Frontman/guitarist Dom Murphy had this to say: “This track sees the band exploring new ground and expanding our ambient haze to…

  • Digging Deep with Chelsea Wolfe

    November 9, 2015 - By 

    Having released Abyss – her heaviest (and finest) album to date – back in August, Chelsea Wolfe is well and truly an artist who has come good on a sense of extraordinary promise. Ahead of her show at Dublin’s Button Factory on Wednesday, November 25, Mike McGrath Bryan chats to the L.A. artist about touring, digging deep creatively and the sonic imprint of sleep paralysis.  Abyss is drawn from the nightmares and situations created by sleep paralysis and other ailments. How was it to confront them creatively? It happened without overthinking it. I’ve had sleep and dream issues my whole life, and over time…