• Lesser Known Pleasures: James Brown – Get on the Good Foot

    November 22, 2013 - By 

    Lesser Known Pleasures is dedicated to celebrating great albums that are often overlooked in the hope of gaining them some more of the attention they so deserve. This time, from a surprisingly large choice of decent James Brown full lengths, Get on the Good Foot receives the LKP treatment for it’s breadth and because, for a funky pop album, it gets plain nutty… It is perhaps fair that James Brown is considered a singles artist. From the mid-50s on he was responsible for an endless stream of 45s saturating the R&B market. Served up in what seemed like throw-enough-at-the-wall tactics…

  • Director’s Cut: September Girls – Heartbeats

    November 25, 2013 - By 

    Can you introduce yourself to us and a give us a little background? My name is Jessie Ward O’Sullivan and I’m a filmmaker/musician originally from California, but have been living in Dublin since 2002. I went to NYU film school originally to become a camera operator, but found I preferred directing, editing and working on a smaller scale. How did you get into directing music videos? I think it was music videos that got me into filmmaking in the first place. I grew up watching videos like ‘November Rain’ and Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’. I just loved the creativity and the…

  • An Introduction to: Wendy Carlos

    November 14, 2013 - By 

    Wendy Carlos, musician and arranger, is 74 today. If you haven’t heard of her then you will certainly have heard her work on the soundtracks to A Clockwork Orange, The Shining and the original Tron. It was her 1968 triple Grammy winning Switched-On Bach that established her reputation. Like so many great ideas the work was based on a simple notion – arrange JS Bach for the synthesiser. Having worked as an adviser to Robert Moog, she was uniquely qualified for the task. The album sold over a million copies and was influential in all kinds of ways. Vince Clarke…

  • Inbound: TVVINS

    November 14, 2013 - By 

    Made up of Conor Adams of The Cast Of Cheers and Lar Kaye of Adebisi Shank (who between the two of them also produce music as No Spill Blood and Charmers) to say Dublin synth newbies TVVINS have local street cred is something of an understatement. It’s that very indie credibility that perhaps makes the nature of the ‘TVVINS’ pairing something of a surprise. Gone are the pulsating guitars through which Adams and Kaye made their names; in their place lashing synths, vocoder-heavy lyrics and fuzzy dance-party angles. Things weren’t always that way. When Kaye and Adams first met, Kaye…

  • Track Record: Michael McKeegan (Therapy?)

    November 15, 2013 - By 

    Ahead of our Belfast Music Week listening party with him on Wednesday, November 13, Therapy? bassist Michael ‘The Evil Priest’ McKeegan gave photographer Liam Kielt exclusive access to his enviable record collection for the latest installment of Track Record. Featuring  acts as diverse Kraftwerk to Iron Maiden, McKeegan talks Liam through some of his most prized records from down the years ahead of the release of his own band’s Gemil Boxset (which you can check out/buy right here). Bad Brains – I Against I It was one of the first punky harcore records I got into. I’d never heard anything like…

  • The First Time: David C Clements

    November 14, 2013 - By 

    Ahead of his appearance at the Belfast Music Week showcase at the Limelight tonight, alt-folk singer-songwriter David C Clements is the latest local artist to allow Belfast-based photographer Joe Laverty (responsible for the wonderful portrait photo above) insight into the “firsts” of their listening, loving and making lives. First album you bought? Bathroom floor by Booley First single you bought? ‘Spaceman’ by Babylon Zoo First live concert/gig? Phantom of the Opera in the Point, but my first actual gig was Stereophonics supported by Turin Brakes. First album you properly loved? Biffy Clyro – Blackened Sky   First artist/band to change your music-listening/making life?…

  • Director’s Cut: Le Galaxie – ‘Lucy is Here’

    December 9, 2013 - By 

    In the first of a new feature here on The Thin Air, Loreana Rushe speaks with Steve Mac Devitt and Greg Corcoran about their music video work, particularly the recent video they created for Le Galaxie’s latest single ‘Lucy is Here’. Mark Earley also provided us with behind the scenes photographs from the video shoot. Hi there! Can you introduce yourself to us and a give us a little background on your work? S: I’m Steve Mac Devitt and I’m a dublin born designer and director. Originally a graphic designer, I worked print and then web in the dot com…

  • Inbound: Skymas

    November 7, 2013 - By 

    In the latest installment of Inbound, we talk to Martin Corrigan, main man with new-fangled Belfast-based electronic three-piece Skymas. With collaboration at the heart of the project, Corrigan tells us about the band’s musical manifesto, the influence of philosophy and the band’s debut double A-side, Primer. Hi Martin. Firstly, how did Skymas come about? Did you all know each other before getting together as a musical unit? Nick owned a clothes shop that I was buying a T-shirt in. He was standing behind the counter playing air bass to ‘Elephant Talk’ by King Crimson. We started talking. Three weeks later…

  • Inbound: The Twenty

    November 6, 2013 - By 

    One of a few up-and-coming Northern Irish bands whose music straddles vehement punk and straight-up garage, underpinned with straight-up, socially conscious lyrical content, Belfast-based four-piece The Twenty embody the rigorously no-frills approach that they’ve bestowed upon their music. In the latest installment of Inbound, we catch up with their frontman Colm Warren to learn where he and the rest the band stand on influence, success and the so-called scene. Hi Colm. Firstly, how did the band first come together? Well, Paul (Leggett, guitarist) and I have been mates since school and have been writing songs together more or less since then…

  • Interview: French For Rabbits

    November 5, 2013 - By 

    Ahead of their debut Belfast show at the Pavilion on Thursday, November 7 – supported by Sons of Caliber, no less – Brian Coney chats to Brooke and John from New Zealand dream-folk duo French For Rabbits about recent touring, sonic influence and their joint love of the sea. Hi guys. So, how did the band first come together? John: Hello! It all came about when we uprooted our lives in Christchurch in between earthquakes and moved to Wellington. The real reason for the move was because Brooke had decided she needed to start singing – in her previous bands she…