• The Thin Air Top 100 Irish Tracks of 2014 (74-01)

    January 1, 2015 - By 

    In the second (admittedly rather hefty) part of a two part feature, we count down our Top 100 Irish Tracks of 2014, from #74 to #01. Delve in. Go here to check out the first part of the countdown. 74. BeeMickSee – We Took A Dive Featuring his best friend and collaborator Paul Danver, ‘We Took A Dive’ by Belfast-based rapper Brendan Seamus AKA BeeMickSee tells the “tale of my harrowing relocation to Belfast in the mid 90s” and features on the The Belfast Yank. We Took a Dive by Bee Mick See 73. Droids – Burn Down Another rampant, riff-fuelled throwdown…

  • Rave New World (19/12)

    December 19, 2014 - By 

    In the grand second weekly installment of Rave New World, Antoin Lindsay and Aidan Hanratty delve into very best new electronic tracks and mixes of the week, as well as unmissable upcoming nights and releases over the festive period. Gigs The Respected Beggars Present: Dego with Kaidi @ The Menagerie, Belfast – Friday December 19 Get down to The Menagerie tonight for The Respected Beggars’ Christmas party where they’re having Dego and Kaidi provide vibes all night. Dego is probably best known as being one half of the legendary 4Hero and hasn’t played in Belfast since 1991, so this should be a special one.…

  • The Thin Air Top 100 Irish Tracks of 2014 (100-75)

    December 30, 2014 - By 

    Twelve months, a billion tracks (probably) and a ridiculously impressive crop of new, emerging musical talent the island of Ireland over: yes, 2014 was been very generous indeed on the ol’ new music front. In a year when (the altogether sonically disparate) Girl Band and SOAK signed with Rough Trade, Adebisi Shank broke hearts in parting ways and Hozier “did a Kodaline” by going positively stratospheric – more on that later – innumerable lesser-known acts have also been slogging away in the garage, creating some of the very best sounds here or anywhere else on the face on the planet. In the first of a two-part feature,…

  • Rave New World (12/12)

    December 12, 2014 - By 

    In the first weekly installment of Rave New World (Huxley would’ve approved, right?) Antoin Lindsay and Aidan Hanratty delve into very best new electronic tracks and mixes of the week, as well as unmissable upcoming nights and releases. Get diggin’. Gigs Twitch Present: Levon Vincent at Mandela Hall, Saturday, December 13 In Belfast all roads lead to Twitch on Saturday where, in a slight change to their usual venue in The Bunatee, they have house maestro Levon Vincent playing in the Mandela Hall. Anyone who was lucky enough to catch Belfast boys Bicep there earlier in the year will attest…

  • Brian Eno: Ambience For One

    December 8, 2014 - By 

    In a year when much has been written about the return of the Aphex Twin it is easy to forget its been a vintage year for that other studio super boffin, Brian Eno. His excellent collaborations with Karl Hyde, Someday World and High Life were released in May and June respectively. Someday World is an intelligent pop record – full of catchy, intricate melody lines, while High Life with fewer longer tracks sounds more improvisational – some of the best bits sound like out-takes from My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. June also saw the release of the expanded version of Jon Hassell’s City: Works of Fiction. Hassell, an American…

  • Classic Album: Grateful Dead – Live/Dead (1969)

    December 4, 2014 - By 

    The very best music takes you to a different place, a different headspace, to the one you’re in before you hear it. And on the Grateful Dead’s masterful 1969 live album Live/Dead, they grab the listener and pull them head-first into another dimension. You don’t have to be on drugs to enjoy this, but that’s not to say they didn’t need them to create it. The psychedelic era of the late 60s is a problematic time in music history. On the one hand, it saw a generation of talented people reach deep into themselves, and begin to push at boundaries and…

  • Classic Album: Cocteau Twins – Treasure

    November 28, 2014 - By 

    When was the last time you heard something that sounded like it came from another world? We can often be blasé about things now, and with everything being up for grabs and accessible thanks to the ol’ information superhighway, it’s that little bit harder to find something fresh. So try and imagine what it was like when a band from the Scottish industrial town of Grangemouth arrived with something that sounded like it had fallen directly from the kingdom of heaven itself? Minds were, indeed, blown.In no uncertain terms, the first two records by the Cocteau Twins can be filed under ‘goth’. You…

  • Classic Album: The Raincoats – The Raincoats

    November 25, 2014 - By 

    1979 was the peak year for post-punk. Picking up the torch from the already stale and fast dying punk scene, adopting its spirit but injecting it with a new sense of invention, artistry and a range of eclectic influences in place of punk’s self inflicted limitations, there were genre defining debuts from Joy Division and Gang Of Four, as well as classic follow ups from the likes of Wire and Public Image Ltd among many others. The Fall even released not only their first but also their second album that year, featuring two almost entirely different lineups, immediately starting as…

  • Classic Album: The Dismemberment Plan – Emergency & I

    November 24, 2014 - By 

    “The only thing worse than bad memories, is no memories at all” – Travis Morrison, “Spiders In The Snow” Emergency & I is a legitimately great record. It’s one of those rare, incredibly charitable records that just keeps on giving and giving. Repeat listens reveal so many layers and nuances to each of the songs. Musically, everything seems to work. Eric Axelson’s basslines are genuinely inspiring, so good in their own right that they could carry the songs on their own, and often do. This is offset by Joe Easley’s drumming acting perfectly as Axelson’s foil and sliding effortly between…

  • Transition Cinema: Outburst 2014 Review

    November 24, 2014 - By 

    The film programme of the 8th annual Outburst Queer Arts Festival, screened at Belfast’s QFT, offered a showcase of some of the most interesting additions to international queer cinema. A running theme in this year’s films is that of identities in transition. Characters move from female to male, naive to mature, adolescent to adult, loser to big-shot, in to out. Sometimes they escape their current identities through bravery and curiosity; other times they are forced to by events out of their control. New identities and arrangements promise liberation and novelty, but navigating the changes brings unseen problems. Sometimes they make…