• Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival 2017 Programme Launched

    March 30, 2017 - By 

    At a time when the very heartland of the city’s creative community is under threat, Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival is an even more vital annual proposition of first-rate arts and culture. Set to take over the quarter from April 27 to May 7, today saw the launch of the typically-eclectic programme for this year’s outing, featuring everyone from Booker T Jones, K-X-P and Richard Herring to Brix & The Extricated, The Divine Comedy (pictured) and New York avant-garde master William Basinski. Split between music, comedy, words & ideas, theatre, visual arts and more, you can check out the full line-up and…

  • Video Premiere: Oh Joy – So Swell

    March 29, 2017 - By 

    Hands down one of the country’s finest alt-rock propositions right now, Dublin three-piece Oh Joy first caught our attention last year with their single ‘Habits and Recreations’. Having come on leaps and bounds in the four years that have passed, the threesome are back with the video for their latest – and quite possibly great – single effort to date, ‘So Swell’. Accompanied by a perfectly throwback video courtesy of Carrot Gold Enterprises, the track is a fuzzed-out blast of pining indie rock conjuring the likes of Sebadoh via Built To Spill’s more ardent efforts. Have an exclusive first look and listen right below.

  • Stream: Rejjie Snow – Flexin (feat. Ebenezer)

    March 29, 2017 - By 

    Dublin native Rejjie Snow has unveiled his second track of the year in the form of ‘Flexin’. Produced by  Rahki (who also worked on his previous releases ‘Crooked Cops’ and ‘Pink Beetle’) and featuring a frenetic refrain from Ebenezer, the cut is yet another tightly wound string to Snow’s bow. Taken from his forthcoming album Dear Annie set to drop later in the year on 300 Entertainment, ‘Flexin’ is another showcase of Rejjie’s ferocious, brazen flow and statement of intent with cutting, alliterative verses stomping over hard-hitting, symphonic production. If you had been sleeping on Rejjie Snow’s output, about now would be the time to wake up. Not…

  • Castlepalooza Reveal New Acts

    March 28, 2017 - By 

    Having already announced the likes of Girl Band, Wild Beasts and Waze & Odyssey, Castlepalooza have today unveiled a new host of acts set to play this year’s festival, which returns to Tullamore’ Charleville Castle across August 4-6. With more yet to announced, joining the line-up: Oh Boland (pictured), Beach, Robocobra Quartet, Thumper, Le Boom, Frankenstein Bolts, Wolff, Aik J, Appella, Farah Elle, Participant, Rosa Nutty, Cinema, Damola, Phare, Nimino, Spud Gun, Video Blue, Show Fur, Tu-Ki, Lumigraph, Barry Redsetta, Apres Ski, Boca 45, Pete Isaac, Baz Hickey, HVMMINGBYRD, Let’s Sail, Phare and Beauty Sleep. Tickets for Castlepalooza 2017 range…

  • Watch: Bosco Ramos – Rolling Sea

    March 28, 2017 - By 

    Let be known: Belfast’s Bosco Ramos make a lot of pleasant racket for a two-piece. Taken from their forthcoming Signs of Life EP – which is set for release on March 31 and launched at Belfast’s McHughs on April 7 – Phil Brown and Calum McGeown’s earworming new single ‘Rolling Sea’ is a three-minute burst of fuzzed-out, Death From Above 1979-tinged alt-rock that, pretty rare as it is in the genre these days, doesn’t bury itself behind a veil of Americanised vocals. We’re all for singing in one’s own accent here at The Thin Air. Created by Brendan Seamus and Billy Woods, here’s the single’s video.

  • #SaveCQ Campaign Launched to Protect Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter Area

    March 28, 2017 - By 

    Over the last decade and a bit, Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter has flourished to become the city’s cultural and creative hub, as well as the home of countless independent businesses and organisations. At the core of its rapid and vital growth – from the Black Box, Oh Yeah Centre and Established to The MAC, The Sunflower and the National – has been a mindset that encourages the entrepreneurial, rewards the independent and supports the artistically-inclined. But today, new campaign group – #SaveCQ – has been officially launched in Cathedral Quarter to galvanise public awareness of the current proposal for the new Royal…

  • Watch: Liza Flume – Sheets (Elaine Mai Remix)

    March 28, 2017 - By 

    A thrilling triumvirate if ever there was one. Galway based electronic producer Elaine Mai has returned with a simply marvellous remix of Liza Flume‘s 2015 track ‘Sheets’. Ahead of the release of her new EP The Colour of the Night later in the year, Mai’s glitching, symphonic remix of ‘Sheets’ gives a fresh, spacious interpretation on an already powerfully emotive cut from Liza Flume, an artistic force to be reckoned with in her own right who bases herself back and forth between Dublin and her native Sydney. As if that wasn’t enough, the track is paired with a video from the mighty Bob Gallagher whose recent work…

  • Video Premiere: Maija Sofia – Persephone

    March 27, 2017 - By 

    Released last month, we said ‘Persephone’ by Dublin-based Galway artist Maija Sofia was a track that “married a wonderfully cloistered atmosphere with an intimate, lo-fi air”. A month on, Sofia has returned with an evocative, self-directed visual accompaniment. Inspired by vampire mythology and 70s horror cinema, the video was show on a “freezing” morning and edited by Irish filmmaker and blogger Ciarán O’Brien. Have a first look below.

  • Video Premiere: Citizen Nobody – Born Again Primitive

    March 27, 2017 - By 

    Set to release their self-titled debut album via Belfast imprint Ram Alley on April 28, Citizen Nobody are a band that “stand against the dominant culture of corporate fascism and subservience to the psychopathic political, economic and religious systems and their self-serving leaders that have come to dominate the lives of all the creatures on this planet in such a destructive way that has rendered people with a sense of powerlessness and hopelessness.” Drawing influence from influences as diverse as Van Morrison to NEU!, Bartok to Rev. Gary Davis and from Son House to transcendentalist philosophy, the trio’s new single…

  • Stream: Fionn Regan – Cormorant Bird

    March 24, 2017 - By 

    Last month, Fionn Regan returned in style with ‘The Meetings of the Waters’, the title track from his forthcoming fifth studio album. Today he releases it’s equally beguiling follow-up in the form of ‘Cormorant Bird’. A swooning slice of masterfully-produced chamber-pop in the vein of Department of Eagles, the single suggests something especially special in the waiting for the full-length. The Meetings of the Waters is out on April 14 through his own imprint 常に愛TSUNENI AI/Abbey Records.