• Dublin Is Sound

    April 3, 2019 - By 

    On Saturday, April 13th – Record Store Day 2019 – Dublin’s The Grand Social will play host the inaugural Dublin Is Sound. Co-hosted by Nialler9 and Seven Quarters, the +14s daytime gig will present a genre-spanning bill of four of country’s best acts: Pillow Queens, Squarehead (pictured), God Knows from Rusangano Family and Tebi Rex. Advance ticket buyers will receive a limited edition 12″ vinyl record on the day featuring tracks from the acts. The vinyl is pressed in the city by Dublin Vinyl with specially-designed artwork by Dublin based designer Ruan Van Vliet in response to the music. Doors…

  • the arts column: April 2nd

    April 2, 2019 - By 

    In this week’s edition of the arts column we’ve details on a pair of job vacancies, the last chance to see an exhibition, artist funding, two exhibition openings, a talk and studio lets. As always, if you have an event, talk, exhibition, or would like to recommend one please get in touch via aidan[at]thethinair.net Job Vacancy | Digitisation Project @ IMMA IMMA have announced details of two vacancies tied to their ongoing project that sees the museum digitise their collection. One is a role to provide support to the wider Collections team, with other tasked with helping documenting the collection itself. For both posts…

  • A4 Sounds presents: Silverbacks & Extravision

    April 2, 2019 - By 

    Since 2009, Dublin hub A4 has went above and beyond in their mission to transform the means by which cultural works are produced, accessed, and understood in Ireland. Their latest initiative – a new bi-monthly gig night – is one that we’re fully behind. Curated by Matt Hedigan, an artist and member of Hands Up Who Wants To Die, No Spill Blood and Elk, the next installment of the series unites two of our very favourite fast-rising bands from Dublin on Friday, April 5th: Silverbacks and Extravision  It’s BYOB and runs from 8-11pm. Go here for the gig’s Facebook event page and check…

  • Girls Rock Dublin Announce 2019 Camp

    April 3, 2019 - By 

    Following the success of the past two years, Girls Rock Dublin has announced the return of its summer camp for 12-17 year olds. Set to take place over the last week of June, from 25th-29th, the camp has taken great care in ensuring more inclusivity than ever before. There are spaces for 20 (cis & trans) girls and gender non-binary folks, with half of this number designated as scholarships to applicants from Direct Provision and low-income households. Over the five days, twenty applicants will form a band, learn an instrument, write a song & perform onstage by the end, with no previous…

  • Bats – Alter Nature

    March 28, 2019 - By 

    At long last, one of Ireland’s finest, most singular time-signature-wielding visionaries are back. One of the figureheads in the Richter Collective sound that sculpted independent Dublin music some years ago, BATS are set to release their third album later this year. Titled Alter Nature, it’s been 7 years in the making. The album was recorded by Rian Trench and Robert Watson at The Meadow in Delgany. Frontman Rupert Morris says “It’s fully in keeping with BATS ethos of promoting science and reason over superstition and features songs about CRISPR technology, artificial intelligence, Christian science and a legendary giant hammerhead shark called Old Hitler.” Slated for release…

  • Oranges – Hey Zeus

    March 21, 2019 - By 

    Last December, we premiered first single ‘The Way You Look’ by Dublin three-piece Oranges. We said it “recalled the abrasive, minimalist alchemy of The Fall”. The following single, ‘Upside Upside’ was a “skeletal post-punk riposte that, in its simmering climb and surging climax”. Taken from their forthcoming debut album Hey Zeus, they’re both firm hints at something special. A bare-bones approach has been applied to the entire process of Hey Zeus, which saw band members Gavin Duffy, Mici Durnin and Ed Kelly spit the LP out live in six hours with renowned engineer Stephen Quinn in a room on North Frederick Lane, Dublin, with only two of its eleven segments passing…

  • A One-Off Event Will Explore the Weird & Wonderful Work of Irish Video Director Bob Gallagher

    March 20, 2019 - By 

    If you’re in any way au fait with the likes of Girl Band, Villagers, SOAK, Pillow Queens, Saint Sister and Myles Manley, you’ll be at least familiar with the name Bob Gallagher. Over the last few years, the director and cinematographer has emerged as a force to be reckoned with in the world of Irish video direction On April 18, Dublin’s Button Factory will play host to Under My Garage. It’s an evening of discussion, music and live visuals that will explore Gallagher’s work by inviting attendees on a “journey through his subconscious, transforming the Button Factory into the set of a…

  • the arts column: March 20th

    March 20, 2019 - By 

    In this week’s edition of the arts column we’ve details of a symposium, a journal launch, children’s workshops, an exhibition opening, talks, walking tours and funding applications. As always, if you have an event, talk, exhibition, or would like to recommend one please get in touch via aidan[at]thethinair.net Symposium | VOID//PVA This Saturday, March 23rd, VOID gallery in Derry are hosting an afternoon symposium in collaboration with Paper Visual Art Journal. Titled Fault Lines, the panel discussion is directly linked to the current exhibition taking place in the gallery, taking a look at borders and the impact these can have on the everyday lives of…

  • the arts column: March 12th

    March 12, 2019 - By 

    In this week’s edition of the arts column we’ve details of exhibitions that are opening and closing around the country, a pair of residencies and an application deadline. As always, if you have an event, talk, exhibition, or would like to recommend one please get in touch via aidan[at]thethinair.net Exhibition | Eamonn Doyle @ RHA Gallery, Dublin Opening this Thursday, March 14th in Dublin’s RHA Gallery is a new exhibition featuring the work of Eamonn Doyle. The eponymous show is born out of Doyle’s new book titled Made in Dublin, which features images from the artist’s first three books: i, ON and End, as well as previously…

  • EP Premiere: His Father’s Voice – Context and Perspective

    March 15, 2019 - By 

    The caveat with most ‘scenes’ tends to be that there’ll be some nadir to follow, once its signature sound has had a post-rock-esque fall into over-saturation and self-parody, but Limerick seemingly has no throughline other than its open ear and fiercely independent streak. The city has been responsible for galvanising a new school of Irish artists, and Blindboy seems to be very much emblematic of that. At DIY LK shows, we’ve borne witness to abstract field recording-based performances and 90s-recalling indie rock bands comfortably side-by-side in an idealistic cultural mindset that functions as a microcosm for how we’d love music to be widely presented. A great number…