• Premiere: Akrobat – Zamalour

    February 23, 2023 - By 

    On 18th March, Dublin indie/art-rock band Akrobat play their biggest headliner to date when they take over Whelan’s for a show alongside BiG Fridge. The show is set to kickstart the latest incarnation of the Shane Regan-helmed band, with a line-up reshuffle cueing what’s set to be a busy few months. Ahead of the release of the first of two EPs in 2023 – Shank, which is due in April – we’re pleased to present a first look at the video for ‘Zamalour,’ one of several peaks from the band’s Rian Trench-recorded, wonderfully genre-spanning debut album, Jammed Space Movement. Created by Ray Beggan and Aaron Ross,…

  • Defying Gravity: A Punk Odyssey

    January 12, 2023 - By 

    On 16th March, Belfast’s punk-inspired fashion competition Defying Gravity: A Punk Odyssey makes its inaugural outing at The Banana Block, a thriving events space & living museum in East Belfast. A celebration of homegrown talent and a fashion competition honouring a true punk and style icon, the project was devised with its original guest judge, British punk icon Jordan Mooney – who sadly passed in April 2022 – as central to the premise of the show. Honouring her towering legacy while showcasing Belfast’s creative sector, it will give local fashion designers the chance to showcase their work and walk away with…

  • The Thin Air’s Top 100 Irish Tracks of 2022

    December 22, 2022 - By 

    “We’re excessively confident we’re set for another year of genre-spanning, forward-pushing greatness.” It feels like an actual aeon since we signed off our Top 100 Irish Tracks of 2021 feature this time last year. Over the last 12 months, we’ve been positively inundated with sounds that fit that description and then some. The ever-arbitrary designation of 100 – as opposed to, say, 250 or 300 tracks – has felt near impossible to adhere to, but we’ve found it has once again served its purpose. Without that curious limitation, we’d be in the even more frustrating position of having to dump hundreds of streaming embeds below and…

  • Max Cooper Announces 3D/AV Irish Shows

    December 16, 2022 - By 

    Max Cooper has announced two Irish dates for next year. The audio/visual techno shapeshifter will bring his live 3D/AV show to Belfast’s Mandela Hall on 17th February and Centre Point, Dublin on 18th February. Tickets are on sale now. In a statement, the London artist said: “This tour will bring the 3D / AV show, with the immersive gauze screen that I’ve been taking with me recently – if you’d like to have a look at the technique, see the film Live from the Acropolis on YouTube or some clips from the recent Brixton Academy show on my Instagram. I’m…

  • Myles Manley Announces Irish Mini-Tour

    December 6, 2022 - By 

    Myles Manley has announced details of a new Irish mini-tour. Kicking off 2023, the Dublin-based, Sligo-raised experimental pop artist will play four full-band shows in Dublin, Belfast, Limerick, Galway on his Wet January tour of the island. Coming two years on from the release of his critically-acclaimed debut album, Cometh the Softies, support will come from various acts, including a solo set by fast-rising psych-folk artist Aoife Wolf in Belfast. Check out the full dates and revisit one of Manley’s first efforts to date below. January 12th – Fibber’s Dublin w/ The Deadlians January 13th – McHughs, Belfast (tickets here) w/…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 25th November

    November 25, 2022 - By 

    Aoife Wolf – The Wetlands EP Alpha Chrome Yayo – Tom Waits is There Tom Waits Is There by Alpha Chrome Yayo Meltybrains? – Space Ghetto Celica – Celica EP 02 Celica EP 02 by Celica AOIBHA – When You Hold Her Christian Cohle – Strength Constant Supply – I Keep Hitting Every Wall, Baby Lobotomy by Constant Supply I Have a Tribe – Teddy’s Song Driven Snow – Flickers of You Willzee – Eclipse   Photo credit: Aaron Cunningham

  • Monday Mixtape: M Stevens & The Ghasts

    November 21, 2022 - By 

    Popical Island founder and M Stevens & The Ghasts main man Mike Stevens reveals some of his all-time favourite songs, from Silver Jews and Weyes Blood, to Wilco and Lankum Birds by M Stevens & The Ghasts Brigid Mae Power – ‘Mother in the Sky’ At the end of a recent gig of hers in the Bello Bar, I said to an embarrassed Brigid Mae Power that it was maybe the best gig I had ever seen. In the cold light of the next morning, I cringed not a bit, realising it wasn’t just the drink talking, that it was…

  • Watch: Akrobat – Eskimo

    November 1, 2022 - By 

    This Friday night, Dublin indie/art-rock band Akrobat seal their arrival with the release of their highly-anticipated debut album, Jammed Space Movement.  Across ten tracks – including debut single ‘Basquiat’s Widow‘ – it’s a wonderfully sprawling, genre-spanning effort from the Shane Regan-fronted band. Among the record’s many peaks is new single ‘Eskimo’. Slick and earworming and in equal measure, it distils the more pop-leaning finesse threaded throughout their album. Speaking about the song, Shane Regan said: “It’s about the thrill and intimidation of chasing that person you crave, but who is seemingly out of your league. Or are they!? We have tried to…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 21st October

    October 21, 2022 - By 

    Featuring two of our albums of the year, here’s the best Irish music released this week, from Clara Tracey, Crispy Jason aka Rian Trench, Meljoann, Joshua Burnside, Aoife Wolf and more. Clara Tracey – Black Forest Black Forest by Clara Tracey Crispy Jason – Laminated Jason Laminated Jason by Crispy Jason Joshua Burnside – Rough Edges Aoife Wolf – The Wetlands Invaderband – Octopus Part 10 OCTOPUS part 10 by Adam Leonard Paddy Hanna – Imagine I’m Hoping Imagine I’m Hoping by Paddy Hanna Comrade Hat – I Love To Take The Train I Love To Take The Train by…