• Stream: Vogelbat – Banx

    February 4, 2016 - By 

    Over the course of the past year, Berlin based Kilkenny native Vogelbat has been steadily releasing a stream of tracks that have ceaselessly dazzled. Crafting instrumental hip-hop that draws from the pools like Trip-Hop and Avant-garde R&B is a tough job to do while still managing to sound sincere and professional. Where others may stumble and crash at the first pretentious hurdle of trying too hard to be “experimental”, Vogelbat’s music takes that experimentation and plays with it like a new toy, ensuring that it remains playful and heartfelt. Work on a debut LP continues, but in meantime we have…

  • The Co-Present Returns

    February 4, 2016 - By 

    The Co-Present on Radiomade.ie have been providing one of Irish music’s most valuable independent services, and resume their 3pm Saturday afternoon slot on February 6 with the inimitable BP Fallon and 21st century Irish national treasure, drag queen and gay rights activist Panti Bliss. It’ll no doubt be a fantastic, honest chat with the show’s perennial host, Dwayne Woods (below). As ever, the show will feature some live music, this time from cross-border atmospheric-folk-pop duo Saint Sister. The young act, featuring Gemma Doherty and Morgan MacIntyre, have in no time become one of the hot prospects on the island, playing with Arcade Fire’s Will Butler following a performance…

  • Stream: 202’s – ‘Oh My My’

    February 3, 2016 - By 

    Dublin three piece 202s have been more or less silent since their self-titled debut release in 2009. The first sound they’ve made since then has now arrived in the form of the lush ‘Oh My My’, a hypno-pop chunk of fuzzed vocal harmonies and slowly grooving drums. The track draws influence from across the genre spectrum with plenty of psych-rock and Krautrock sounds embellishing the more contemporary comparisons to the likes of Alt-J or Foals’ more recent output. With a new album due to drop in Autumn of this year, 202s patient approach to releasing music appears indicative of a “quality over…

  • Watch: Solar Bears – Wild Flowers

    February 2, 2016 - By 

    A sublime three-minute of quick cuts and ecstatic late-summer intoxication, Michael Robinson’s video for ‘Wild Flowers’ by Dublin duo Solar Bears is the culmination of months of shooting footage on both 16mm and 8mm film in the Mid-Atlantic region of America. Running parallel with the track’s conjuring of an clarion dreamland far beyond, its footage wonderfully juts around a veritable Shangri-La of perfect Summertime abandon. Musically, the track more than delivers; Solar Bears through and through, its bubbling, synth-heavy electronica is as prismatic and sorcerous as ever. With fresh warping textures emerging and warping on every bar, it feels as much a swift exploration as its visuals.…

  • Output Belfast Showcases Revealed

    February 2, 2016 - By 

    On Thursday, February 18, Output will return to Belfast for the latest installment of the North’s largest one day music conference, featuring key speaker, bona fide music industry legend Steve Albini. Later in the evening, several of the city’s venues will host a variety of free, genre-spanning showcases, including our show with Nialler9 at the historic Duke of York, featuring Paddy Hanna, Katie Laffan, exmagician and A Bad Cavalier. Check out the other showcases below. PRS/Scratch My Progress present: Abandcalledboy, Hot Cops, R51 & Silences @ Oh Yeah Centre Champion Sound and Third Bar present: Alphabetika, The Late Twos, Ryan Vail,…

  • Watch: Damola – WorkFlow

    February 2, 2016 - By 

    The first release as part of the Word Up Collective – a new-fangled Dublin collective with a particular penchant for Irish hip-hop, pop, soul and R&B – ‘WorkFlow’ by Dublin’s Damola reveals an artist that has come on leaps and bounds since he started rapping back in 2008 before formed Backshed Inc. a quartet that includes Sam Ojo, Ange MC and video director Steven Beatsmith. Written in his bedroom and Dublin’s 25A bus, the track is a preview from Damola’s forthcoming ChildLIKE Mentality EP, a song that professes to give “an insight into his struggle in finding balance between dream chasing and making a living while…

  • Premiere: Warriors of the Dystotheque – Return To Coney (feat. Ella Joy – Candi Bianca Remix)

    January 31, 2016 - By 

    An aptly-coined “dystopian journey deep into the heart of modern trip hop and gloomtronica” the forthcoming Return To Coney EP from Warriors of the Dystotheque is a sublime statement of intent set for release via Tigre Fair on March 4. Having formed via Facebook, the four members – including Derry’s Jonny Mac – have coalesced to create a release inspired by cult 70s film The Warriors and in particular, one of the final moments of the film, where The Warriors return to their home turf, Coney Island. A slick maze of lo-fi trip-hop and darkly soundscapes, the upcoming five-track EP evokes the like of Massive Attack,…

  • Premiere: Horse – Dragging

    January 27, 2016 - By 

    Ahead of their appearance at Cork’s Quarter Block Party next Saturday, sludge/hardcore four-piece Horse, led by ex-members of local hardcore outfits Terriers and Ghost of Medina, have unveiled their taut, tense video for new single ‘Dragging’, premiering here on The Thin Air. A thundering, downcast beast of a tune, its weight and heaviness is accentuated by crisp, polished production from Cork desk stalwart Eamonn Coleman, and accompanied by a blink-and-you’ll miss it procession of performance and found imagery courtesy of director Rob O’Halloran. Sharing the tiny, window-facing stage of North Main Street’s BDSM bar with an eclectic line-out, including Dublin grungers Bitch Falcon, Paddy…

  • First Acts for AVA Festival 2016 Announced

    January 27, 2016 - By 

    Having had a triumphant first outing last year (check out our review here) grassroots electronic and conference AVA will return to Belfast’s T13 on Saturday, June 4. With more yet to be revealed, Rødhåd, Mano Le Tough, Bicep, Optimo and Phil Kieran and more are amongst the first wave of acts confirmed to make an appearance. With its implicit manifesto of “collectively celebrating, amplifying and devloping the strong current of electronic music and visual arts talent that has and is emerging from Northern Ireland”, tickets for the festival – which will also include live lectures, Ableton workshops, Q+A with artists, label showcase and more – are…

  • Choice Music Prize Irish Song of the Year Shortlist Revealed

    January 27, 2016 - By 

    Launching tonight at Dublin’s Workman’s Club ahead of the official ceremony just down the road at Vicar Street on March 3, the shortlist for this year’s Choice Music Prize Irish Song of the Year has been revealed. Having been previously won by the likes of Gavin James and the Original Rudeboys, the following ten songs will go to a public vote: The Academic – Different All Tvvins – Thank You The Coronas – How This Goes Daithi – Mary Keanes Introduction Fight Like Apes – Pretty Keen on Centrefolds Hozier – Something New Gavin James – Bitter Pill Kodaline – Ready Otherkin – Ay Ay Pleasure…