• Track Record: Gav Icon

    July 8, 2015 - By 

    With his Sixties sensibility and a penchant for garage and punk rock, Gav Icon, DJ and frontman from Gavin and Thee Icons selects his favourite records from the likes of Black Lips and The Cramps to The Sonics and Ramones. Photos by Ste Murray. Black Lips – Good Bad, Not Evil  The Black Lips are one of Garage Rock’s modern greats, with a live show that would make GG Allin stop and say, “Ah, Jesus that’s just too far lads”. They there are what a rock and roll band should be. This album has the tracks ‘O Katrina!’, ‘Bad Kids’, ‘Lock and Key’ and ‘Veni…

  • Bookmark: JR Ryall (Pastry Chef at Ballymaloe House)

    July 8, 2015 - By 

    In this installment of Bookmark we head to the famous Ballymaloe House in Cork to meet pastry chef JR Ryall, to discuss the cookery books which helped to shape his culinary art and culture. Photos by Melanie Mullan. The Ballymaloe Cookbook – Myrtle Allen Myrtle Allen’s seminal book, first published in 1977, contains the collection of recipes from which I trained when I began working at Ballymaloe House. This book is full of witty and eccentric stories that highlight the fun and mischief, the highs and lows and also the challenges of running a restaurant kitchen. It captures a particular time…

  • Label Mixtape: Merge Records

    July 7, 2015 - By 

    Started by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan of Superchunk in 1989 as a vehicle to release their own music Merge has moved from small-town record label to one of the most respected and successful indie labels in the world. Based in Durham, North Carolina, and never feeling the urge move to a more “hip” city, Ballance and McCaughan captured an NC Sound at a time when Grunge was taking off in the North-East of the US. What really makes Merge stand out is their ability to gauge the zeitgeist of what was coming next. Whether it was Arcade Fire’s global…

  • The Best Releases of 2015 So Far

    July 6, 2015 - By 

    We’re halfway through the year so we asked our contributors to select five of what they believe to be the very best releases so far, picking out personal sonic highlights from each of the great albums and EPs of 2015. Some reoccurring favourites include Courtney Barrett, Young Fathers, Kendrick Lamar and Sleater Kinney. Niall Cregan Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly A true great rap album that will be remembered years down the line as a game changer, with such a varied instrumentation, the complexity of each song is proportional to how hard to dive into the record.   Turnover – Peripheral Vision A…

  • Visual Arts Outlook (30/6)

    June 30, 2015 - By 

    It’s a busy week ahead with the first Thursday of July bringing the usual round of Late Night Art Openings here in Belfast, writes Mary Stevens. However Thursday is not the only night this week when good things are happening. There is a closing event for Product Recall at the Galway Arts Center on Friday evening at 6.30pm with work from the Red Bird Youth Collective who have collaborated with US artist Sarah Baker. The final event of the seemingly endless  BASS Belfast Artists’ Sonic Showcase Event #6 at Framewerk takes place on Saturday evening with the final lineup of…

  • Monday Mixtape: Neil Allen (The Emerald Armada)

    June 29, 2015 - By 

    In the latest installment of Monday Mixtape, Neil Allen, frontman with Northern Irish alt-folk band The Emerald Armada reveals some of his all-time favourite songs, including Temple of the Dog, The Eagles, LCD Soundsystem and John Martyn. The Emerald Armada headline this year’s Spectrum Festival at Belfast’s QUBSU on Friday, July 6. Temple Of The Dog – Hunger Strike One of the best team ups of all time. It was the first time Eddie Vedder went vocally head to head with Chris Cornell. Stone from Pearl Jam said, “That’s right, our boy can sing too!’ Great tune. LCD Soundsystem – All…

  • Time Flies: Buggles, Punk Rock and the Rebirth of Yes

    June 29, 2015 - By 

    It’s tricky to put a band like Yes in historical context. In their pomp, they were one of the biggest rock bands on the planet, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and The Who. They filled arenas with people, and they filled slabs of vinyl with complex, multi-layered progressive rock. Along the way, they filled plenty of rock critics with a sense of anger mixed with despair, and they filled a generation of kids with the desire to grab guitars and do the exact opposite of what’d made them so successful over the course of the 1970s.…

  • Track Record: Chris Ryan (Robocobra Quartet)

    June 29, 2015 - By 

    If you were to put us on the spot and ask us, “Which Thin Air feature do you enjoy the most?” we’d almost certainly say Track Record.  Next up to select and discuss some of their all-time favourite records is Chris Ryan, frontman with Belfast-based band (just “band” – we’ve used up all our high-falutin descriptors for these guys) Robocobra Quartet. Punk rock ahoy. Photos by Colm Laverty. Sound of Ruby – From Under The Sands of the Desert EP (Tian An Men 89) Saudi Arabia’s answer to Butthole Surfers. Sound of Ruby are one of my favourite bands of all time…

  • Front of House: Rocky O’Reilly (Start Together Studios)

    June 26, 2015 - By 

    In the latest installment of Front of House, Laura Carland chats to Rocky O’Reilly of Start Together Studios about the origins of the studio, making music as part of Malibu Shark Attack, his career highlights to date and much more. Photos by Colm Laverty. Hi Rocky! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Hi, my name is Rocky O’Reilly and I’m a recording engineer , producer and mixer. I co-own Start Together Studios in Belfast where I spend most of my time recording all sorts of music from doom metal through to indie-pop and rap music. How did you first become involved in music? I guess it was…