• FairPlé Set To Hold Two Day Festival of Music & Ideas

    August 8, 2018 - By 

    The first of its kind in Irish traditional music, grassroots coalition of musicians FairPlé holds its first festival of music & ideas over Saturday 8th & Sunday 9th September was founded to address gender balance in Irish traditional and folk music, and has been expanding and rolling out an increasing number of important events across the island. A series of panel discussions are set to take place at Liberty Hall on September 8 to address the issue of sexual harassment in the arts and Irish music, with a focus on the self-employed status of musicians. Participants will explore the rights and responsibilities of…

  • SKIBUNNY Set For 20th Anniversary Show

    July 3, 2018 - By 

    Fire up the indie disco DeLorean: legendary Belfast DJ duo Tanya Mellotte and Mark Gordon AKA Skibunny will make their long-awaited return for a 20th anniversary show at Voodoo on Saturday, July 28. Back for one night only, the pair will DJ alongside an unmissable live set from Torgas Valley Reds/Backwater. Spinning the very best in indie rock, hip-hop, DIY, Krautrock, folk, northern soul, electronic and everything in between, Skibunny acquired nigh on mythical status in Belfast in the early 2000s. From secret shows to well-known guest DJs, aftershows and the sweatiest of most memorable nights, it brought out the very…

  • Growing Pains: 15 Years of Out On A Limb Records

    June 5, 2018 - By 

    We’re big fans of Out on a Limb Records here at The Thin Air. Back in 2013, we reflected upon their decade in the game – now, a few moons and several releases later, Limerick’s finest indie imprint are celebrating 15 years in existence by hosting Growing Pains, featuring a remarkable line-up of Irish musicians, at Dolans in Limerick on Saturday, June 9. Lining up for what’s set to be a thoroughly well-soundtracked knees-up in celebration of OOAL growing up to be, in their words, a bold teenager are: Fluffy Coke // Jogging // Junior Brother // Katie Kim // Mankyy presents:…

  • Curfew Festival Announced For Twelfth of July

    May 11, 2018 - By 

    Making its return for the first time in many years, Belfast’s alternative, inclusive Twelfth of July proceeding Curfew, takes place across two of Belfast’s finest small venues – The Black Box & Voodoo. The whole day is kindly run by original runner Pete Jez’ Solid Choice Industries. In direct opposition of ‘the other one’, we don’t have to pretend to enjoy the rad tunes. The only cultural division to be seen is in the cross-genre venue booking -Voodoo is set to host the riff-centric acts, headed by Dublin’s synth-driven space-metal trio No Spill Blood, sludgy heavy rock trio Slomatics, Dublin hardcore act Destriers, space punks Wild Rocket, sludge-doom act Nomadic…

  • Spectrum @ Drogheda Arts Festival

    April 25, 2018 - By 

    An outright highlight of this year’s Drogheda Arts Festival, Spectrum aka Pete ‘Sonic Boom’ Kember will perform at Droichead Arts Centre on Friday, May 4. An exclusive Irish date, this is an unmissable opportunity to catch the Spacemen 3 founding member and E.A.R musician’s decades-spanning solo project. Support on the night comes from Drogheda’s very own ethereal down-tempo pop collective We Eat Electric Light, producers and musicians driven by a mutual interest in electronic and organic music, noises and sounds. They are working towards a cassette EP release soon via Drogheda-based thirtythree-45. Tickets – very reasonably priced between €18-€20 – are available…

  • Record Store Day Set To Take Over Bangor High Street

    April 17, 2018 - By 

    As we well know, Record Store Day takes place this Saturday, April 21st, and in celebration, Bangor’s leading the annual day of wax in the North with a series of events on High Street.  Unfortunately for Belfasters, the closure of Belfast mainstays, Head & Sick Records has left them with no local outlets. Thankfully, Bangor’s Bending Sound Records is just a quick train ride away, and will open from 9am-5pm to help. Across the road, the MG car showroom hosts another record fair from 9am-3pm, from which point Flea Market Soul takes over just two doors down, offering up that rare treat: vinyl-only DJs, through the evening on…

  • Four Irish Acts set to play London St. Patrick’s Day Show

    March 14, 2018 - By 

    In the kind of lineup we’d kill for back home, London is lucky enough to bear witness to a St. Patrick’s Day celebration that we’d hold our watch to, packed with fiercely singular hibernophiles & noteable outsiders. It’s the first edition of the national stereotype-subverting Cushty Gamut, and takes place at New River Studios, Ground Floor Unit E on the Eade Road. Five live acts perform in the main venue, comprising four of our own who’ve made the trip across the pond. They are: Cork cosmische, drone voyagers Percolator – who released our Irish album of the 2017, Sestra. Dublin noise rock quartet Hands Up Who Wants To Die, who’ve returned recently with new frontman Rory O’Brien…

  • Music Current 2018

    March 5, 2018 - By 

    Showcasing of the best of new Irish and international contemporary electronic music, Dublin’s Music Current will return for its third outing across April 12-14. Billed as the city’s annual contemporary music festival, the festival – presented by Dublin Sound Lab – will host concerts, panel discussions and a music commission at Smock Alley Theatre on Exchange Street Lower over three days. At the top of the agenda this year is a “distinct celebration” of piano and keyboard music, with several international artist performing in Ireland for the first time at the festival. On the bill this year is Belgium composer Stefan Prins,…

  • Cork Sound Fair 2018

    March 5, 2018 - By 

    A new, non-profit arts and music event set to take place across March 23-March 24, Cork Sound Fair aims to give local and international artists a platform to showcase experimental sound through installations and live performances. Over two days, the event will take over 12th century church St. Peter’s and Cork City Gaol with over 20 homegrown and international acts: African Fiction, Static, Robert Curgenven, Autumns, Isochronal, Kevin Callaghan and Thomas Penc, Davy Kehoe, Dream Cycles, Ellenberger Trio, Nadir, Soft Stone, Beatrice Dillon, Belacqua, Gadget and the Cloud (pictured), Little Movies, Kyteler, Warrior, Signal, OutOut and Baby, Red & Wolf.…

  • International Women’s Weekend Cork

    March 1, 2018 - By 

    Running from March 8th-11th upstairs in The Roundy, Cork, International Women’s Weekend Cork is a four-day fundraiser event for the Rape Crisis Centre. Set up by Emma Kelly aka Merakindie and friends, Elaine Malone, Izabela Szczutkowska, Marjie Kaley and Francesca de Buyl Pisco, it will present a diverse, multidisciplinary line up including daily artists market, performances from Dowry, Elaine Malone, Saint Caoilian, Lowlek, The Come Out And Play Cabaret hosted by writer Tina Pisco and a number of DJs including Toby Kaar, Aisling O Riordan and Cuttin Heads Collective. With several more names to be announced, the daily run-down of events…