• EP Premiere: Paper Dogs – The Lost Art of Conversation

    September 19, 2016 - By 

    If there’s one thing the island of Ireland has no shortage of it’s straight-shooting rock bands. But one such act that has developed that foundation to skilfully – and often very convincingly – accomadate the influence of blues, funk, indie rock and much more besides is Belfast quartet Paper Dogs. Counting such heavy-hitters as Pink Floyd, Miles Davis, Thin Lizzy and Black Sabbath, amongst their key influences, the Chris Rooney-fronted band – an increasingly established staple on the live scene up North over the last while – doth their collective cap to a certain grade of genre-defining greats whilst very consciously framing that imprint with their…

  • Stream: Chris Hanna – Twitch Set

    September 16, 2016 - By 

    Comprised entirely of new material made in the two/three months ahead of the appearance, Belfast producer Chris Hanna has released a stream of his hour-long set at Twitch last week. Also set to make an appearance at Culture Night in Belfast tonight at Left (well worth swinging by if you get the chance) have a stream of Hanna on fierce form below.

  • Video Premiere: Malojian – I’ll Be Alright

    September 16, 2016 - By 

    Featuring footage of the Stevie Scullion-fronted band recording their forthcoming new album, This Is Nowhere, with Steve Albini in Chicago early this year, the video for ‘I’ll Be Alright’ by Malojian captures a band very much in their element. Also featuring Joe McGurgan on bass and Michael Mormecha (also of Mojo Fury et al.) on drums, their journey was fully captured by Belfast-based photographer and The Thin Air contributor Colm Laverty; make sure to keep an eye out for the full-length reveal of that soon. The lead track from This Is Nowhere, ‘I’ll Be Alright’ is Malojian at their sharpest. With beautiful harmonies…

  • Album Premiere: So Cow – Lisa Marie Airplane Tour

    September 16, 2016 - By 

    Recorded in the small coastal town of Spiddal in the west of Ireland, Lisa Marie Airplane Tour by Brian Kelly’s So Cow – his fifth full-length under the name to date – features “12 songs about anxiety; written in the midst of it, but before actually being aware it was the issue. OCD thoughts making a bus journey to town increasingly impossible, social anxiety making ordering a pint at the local bar a drawn-out task of Herculean proportions.” While influenced by the likes of Game Theory, The Chills, Nick Lowe and The Soft Boys, the album’s primary impetus is – according to Kelly –…

  • Premiere: Hiva Oa – mk2 (part 1) EP

    September 15, 2016 - By 

    With core members Stephen Houlihan and Christine Tubridy having recently returned to Belfast from Edinburgh Hiva Oa are an outfit currently experiencing a well-earned revelatory upswing. Drawing from the limitless realms of fear, loneliness, abandonment and awakening, their new EP, mk2 (part 1) is an emphatic, wonderfully-realised dose of experimental electronica that wears the influence of Radiohead, in particular, on its sonic sleeve. Where this would perhaps prove a hindrance for other acts of their ilk, Tubridy and Houlihan filter that imprint via a much vaster palette of sound, conjuring everyone from The Twilight Sad, Interpol and Jeff Buckley across the release’s four tracks. Though still…

  • Northern Ireland Music Prize Shortlist Announced

    September 15, 2016 - By 

    Having been awarded to Foy Vance, Robyn G Shiels and SOAK in the last three years, the shortlist for this year’s Northern Ireland Music Prize has been revealed. With the overall winner set to be announced at a special event at Belfast’s Mandela Hall on Friday, November 11 – a night which will also feature live music from Girls Names, Jealous of the Birds and PORTS – the following shortlist was compiled via an academy of NI music industry and media. The Bonnevilles – Arrow Pierce My Heart Ciaran Lavery – Let Bad In David C Clements – The Longest Day…

  • Metropolis Reveal New Acts

    September 14, 2016 - By 

    Having already announced the likes of Grace Jones, Moderat, DJ Shadow, Groove Armada, Floating Points (3hr DJ set), BADBADNOTGOOD and Novelist, Metropolis have revealed a new string of acts set to make appearance at its second annual outing at Dublin’s RDS from November 3-5. With still more yet to be announced Jack Garratt, Paul Kalkbrenner, Mount Kimbie, Cyril Hahn and Jessy Lanza (pictured) are amongst the new additions to bill; easily one of the strongest Irish festival bills we’ve seen in quite some time. Set in the industrial array of warehouses and venues with the RDS complex, the indoor event offers a…

  • Album stream: Oh Boland – Spilt Milk

    September 14, 2016 - By 

    While the West of Ireland’s favourite garage-rock, sloppy pop trio Oh Boland commence their travels across America over the next three weeks, those of us at home wait with baited breath for the release of their debut LP Spilt Milk on September 30th via San Diego label Volar Records  (at long last I hear you cry!) In anticipation for the official release you can now stream the album in its entirety over on Volar Records’ Bandcamp. With lyrics rooted in boredom, apathy and vague tragedy, Niall Murphy’s vocals are playfully sardonic while the rhythm section of Eanna MacDonnchadha (bass) and Simon McDonagh (drums) keeps things…

  • Watch: I Am The Cosmos – Letting It Go

    September 13, 2016 - By 

    Masters of the oblique, Dublin electronic duo Ross Turner and Cian Murphy AKA I Am The Cosmos have never been in the trade of empty self-promotion. Have grew up in the suburbs of the city together before forming in 2010, the pair have just unveiled their first ever music video for galvanic new cut ‘Letting It Go’. Directed by long-time IATC collaborator Dorje De Burgh – himself a masterful photographer with an eye for wonderfully cabalistic imagery – it’s a mesmerising accompaniment drawing inspiration from rare footage of Arthur Russell. Touching on the track’s subject matter, Turner said, “The lyrics are a reaction to social dynamics – people playing games with…

  • Stream: Robocobra Quartet – Correct

    September 13, 2016 - By 

    There was a while there that the would-be implication that we were receiving some sort of financial injection from Belfast’s Robocobra Quartet to regularly fly the flag of their sonic wares wouldn’t have been entirely without reasoning.  After all, a quick search on TTA reveals that we have shared news specifically about the Chris Ryan-fronted project at least a dozen times in the space of a year. Frankly, normally, that kind of thing would border on – if not positively encroach – overkill, were they not such a consistently intriguing proposition. As we bide our time for their long-awaited cheque to clear (disclaimer: we jest), the…