• the arts column: July 15th

    July 15, 2020 - By 

    July has seen a number of arts organisations across the island of Ireland reopen, with more scheduled to reopen in the coming weeks. As the arts community begins to embark on this new kind of normal, a normal that sees bookings, limited access and reduced space, our support is more vital than ever. That said safety is still of paramount importance, so for this first edition of the arts column since lockdown restriction have begun to ease we have highlighted events that promote social distance in offline events and those with online aspects to ensure that people can engage with art on a…

  • A Litany of Failures: Volume III Announced

    July 3, 2020 - By 

    Two years on from its second volume, islandwide independent music compilation series A Litany of Failures has opened pre-orders and announced the tracklisting for Volume III in the series – out Friday, October 2nd. More eclectic, and more export-ready than ever, the compilation features brand new music from 22 acts across Ireland, including the first recorded output from Fifty Years of Hair (Postcard Versions/Girl Band’s Dara Kiely), The Golden Cleric (Shrug Life/Girlfriend/That Snaake) and Grave Goods (Girls Names, Pins, September Girls), as well as many of our favourites – Robocobra Quartet, Silverbacks, Rising Damp, Percolator, Extravision and many more. With cover art by Nathanaël Roman, it will be accompanied by…

  • Live From Guerrilla Studios

    July 1, 2020 - By 

    Since launching back in 2011, Dublin’s Guerrilla Studios has become a vital hub in the landscape of independent Irish music. Situated under a bridged railway close to Dublin City Centre, it has produced myriad first-rate sounds from some of the country’s finest forward-pushing propositions. On Thursday, July 9, the studio space will play host to the very first episode of Live From Guerrilla Studios. The brainchild of two titans in Irish music, Ray Wingnut and John ‘Spud’ Murphy, it will feature performances from TTA favourites The Bonk and John Francis Flynn. Things kick off at 10pm from here. Stay tuned…

  • Celtronic 2020: Together-Apart

    June 30, 2020 - By 

    For the last 20 years, Celtronic has been a vital part of the island’s world-beating festival scene. Uniting some of the very best names in electronic music worldwide with all Ireland has to offer, its annual, forward-pushing presence in Derry has been an unwavering joy to behold. As with so many other festivals, big and small, organisers have had to think outside the box to make this year’s outing a reality. Cue Celtronic 2020: Together-Apart. Taking place online from Tuesday June 20th to Sunday July 5th, this year’s festival will feature over 100 hours of exclusive performances from more than 60…

  • Half Moon Festival 2020

    June 17, 2020 - By 

    Originally due to be launched as a multi-venue series at The Kino in Cork back in March, the inaugural Half Moon Festival will take place online from Friday, June 26th to Sunday, June 28th. No doubt likely to return in its full form next year, the line-up for this year’s inaugural outing offers up a stellar, multi-disciplinary series of music, performance, podcasting and beyond. Inspired by the way in which Cork’s Half Moon street “acts as a bridge between everyday life and the cultural spaces that are central to Cork,” the inaugural outing will feature Trá Pháidín, Síomha, Pulses featuring…

  • EP Premiere: Licehead – Friends

    May 19, 2020 - By 

    Paul O’Connor – of That Snaake notoriety – has shared with us his latest release under the Licehead banner, which follows up on last year’s Music For Normal People album, and precedes upcoming summer LP Perfect Death Forever, which is set in a modern Ireland and based around a reincarnated lung’s attempts to kill its host. An aural equivalent to peeling-paint walls-closing-in claustrophobic hysteria, Friends at its extremes recalls the torpid squalor of Fat White Family or The Fall in dada-techno mode. Partly written over the last two months, the EP sees O’Connor turns the pen upon himself and loved ones, and societally-ingrained truths; title track ‘fRENDS’ is itself a reworking of ‘I’ll Be There For You’,…

  • the arts column: lockdown

    April 3, 2020 - By 

    Whilst art is almost always intended to resonate in non-physical ways, sparking inspiration, challenging perceptions, eliciting responses and generation debate, it is almost always delivered in person in specific spaces be they galleries hosting shows or talks, museums showcasing collections, libraries inviting people to browse books, etc. In these uncertain times, we have the double blow of losing access to these institutions at a time when escape to them is most needed. That said over the last number of days and weeks we have seen the art community in Ireland pivot to its new online world providing platforms for digital…

  • Video premiere: Sunken Foal – Barley Stick

    March 10, 2020 - By 

    Dublin’s Sunken Foal will release his seventh album, Hexose, on April 24th. One of the most prolific producers in Ireland, the Countersunk label-founder and synthesist supreme – real name Dunk Murphy – follows 2019’s Ribbon Works and Le Doux Nord albums with a new 10-track collection of rich electronics inspired partially by “a lifelong infatuation with confectionery”. Every track on the album is named after some kind of sugar or dessert. Rich, generative melodies and syrupy atmospheres ooze all over the tracklist, while bubbling percussion keeps things energised. Throughout the album, comparisons to Laurie Spiegel, Cluster and Warp’s early bleep…

  • the arts column: March 5th

    March 5, 2020 - By 

    This week we’ve got details on some new exhibitions opening around that country that delve into history, some workshops and open calls. As always, if you have an event, talk, exhibition, or would like to recommend one please get in touch via aidan[at]thethinair.net Open Call | Bloomers Issue #5 Details have been announced for submissions for Bloomers Magazine’s 5th Issue. Titled Where We Once Lived, When Myths Collided, which is a line from Eavan Boland’s Love, this issue seeks to explore the varying approaches taken by female artists in redefining myths and folklore. Those interested are encouraged to submit a single PDF file…

  • Brilliant Corners 2020

    February 20, 2020 - By 

    A remarkably consistent, ever-rewarding peak of the Irish festival calendar over the last eight years, Brilliant Corners can lay claim to being the island’s most carefully-curated jazz festival. Packing out (all being well) a mélange of Belfast’s finest venues and bars – both big and small – from February 27 to March 8, this year’s bill is a suitably essential affair. Curated, as ever, by the clued-in heads at Moving on Music, acts and events as mottled as the Mercury Prize-nominated Dinosaur, Athens, Georgia trailblazers Kenosha Kid, the always compelling Joseph Leighton Quartet, Wood River and the downright unmissable Parker/Niblock/Sanders will take over the likes…