• Stream: Ryan Vail – We Drift We Wake/East Berlin

    March 29, 2017 - By 

    To mark this year’s World Piano Day – an annual celebration of the ivory keys, spearheaded by Nils Frahm – Derry producer and musician Ryan Vail has released two new tracks. As well as a sublime rework of his own ‘East Berlin’ (which was selected for Nils Frahm’s playlist for World Piano Day back in 2015), ‘We Drift We Wake’ makes for a wonderfully meditative, delicately sprawling piece that doubles up as an audio visual collaboration. with artist Hohxx_. Better still, both efforts reveal the sheer tonal and emotional range of Vail’s ever-growing musical palette. Featuring everyone from Martyn Heyne and Olafur Arnalds to…

  • 21 (Pretty Much Random) Picks For The Belfast Film Festival

    March 29, 2017 - By 

    Time to hunt out your best pair of sitting-down trousers. The 17th Belfast Film Festival kicks off his week, running from Thursday 30th March to Sunday 9th April, boasting a packed programme of new cinema, both local and international, as well as special guests, live events, short films and classic screenings. There’s a lot going on, and any preview is going to be piece-meal. Ultimately, most of the fun will be encountering something totally unexpected once the lights go down. We’ve picked out a handful of screenings and events but encourage you to browse the full programme on their website. Here at The Thin Air we…

  • #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…

  • Picture This: The Night @ The Model

    March 29, 2017 - By 

    Alexandra Hopf – The Night Image courtesy of Heike Thiele What: The Night Where: The Model, Sligo When: 24th February – 16th April Words: Rebecca Kennedy It would be unwise to assume that the physical size of an exhibition space would act as a limitation to the quality of work it beholds. Seen as the majority of assumptions spring forth from our subconscious, it is oddly fitting to hold such presumptions when visiting Alexandra Hopf’s exhibition, The Night in The Model, Sligo. With motifs ranging from psychoanalysis, surrealism, modernism and the construction of art history & mythology, this capsule exhibition escapes it confines and embodies…

  • 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…

  • The xx, A Tribe Called Quest, Interpol and More Set For Electric Picnic

    March 23, 2017 - By 

    Set to return to Stradbally Estate in Co. Laois across September 1-3, the first names set to play this year’s Electric Picnic have been announced. Including headliners The xx, A Tribe Called Quest and Duran Duran, Chaka Khan, Interpol (pictured), Run The Jewels, Father John Misty, Parquet Courts, Pond and Car Seat Headrest were all amongst the announced acts. With more names set to be revealed, check out the full first line-up below.

  • Air, Mark Ronson and More Set for The Beatyard

    March 16, 2017 - By 

    Taking place across the weekend of August 5 & 6 is this year’s Beatyard Festival at The Beatyard of Dun Laoghaire Harbour with huge headliners Mark Ronson, in what will be an excellent DJ set from the tastemaker, as well as atmospheric French trip-hop channelling outfit Air. Continuing on from last year’s funk & soul-oriented lineup, the bill confirmed so far includes: Toots & The Maytals Bananarama Candi Staton Larry Heard aka Mr Fingers [in his first ever Irish performance] Mood II Swing Romare Rusangano Family [Well-deserved Choice Music Prize-winners 2017] Katie Kim Romare [with a full live band] Horse Meat Disco Fish Go Deep Kíla…

  • Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals Set For Academy

    March 14, 2017 - By 

    Following his support of Bruno Mars at 3Arena on Sunday, April 30, Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals will perform a special live PA at Dublin’s Academy. Head’s up: the appearance is a short, three-song set including a DJ set. Still worth it, right? Tickets, which are priced at €26 (inc. booking fee) go on sale Thursday at 10am. Sitting on the fence? Watch this.

  • Video Premiere: Gumshoe – Forgotten Weapons

    March 13, 2017 - By 

    Wicklow based ambient hip-hop duo Gumshoe have returned with ‘Forgotten Weapons’, their fourth release since they breezed into existence last year. The track is another glistening slice of spacious, throbbing electronics and sliced up vocal samples. The pair’s penchant for lush atmosphere is once again on display here as it was on their previous cuts ‘Yom Kippur’ and ‘Ninbasu’. It is accompanied by a suitably trippy and at points unnerving video directed by Sean Gallagher and starring Miriam Keegan. As she ventures through an eery forest, a darkened house and a hallucinatory mental landscape, the haunting flutes and bass create a sizzling…