• Ten must-see shows at Cathedral Quarters Arts Festival 2014

    May 1, 2014 - By 

    Now in its fifteenth year, hands down Belfast’s most exciting, diverse and inspiring festival of music, culture and arts, Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival returns from May 1-11. Boasting a programme featuring everyone from De La Soul and Tinariwen to Simon Amstell, Shonen Knife and Yuck, it is quite possibly the annual festival’s strongest roster to date. At the risk of scaling a mount of hyperbole, we reckon there is quite literally something for everybody at this year’s festival. Whether you look to the words and ideas of the likes of Bernard McLaverty or Mark Ellen, the comedy of Katherine Ryan or Howard Read et al, genre-defining artists such as The Handsome Family, The Selecter and Fuck Buttons or…

  • The First Time: Johno Leader (The Radioactive Grandma)

    April 30, 2014 - By 

    Not for the last time, it’s the The First Time time. Belfast-based photographer Joe Laverty delivers yet another wonderful portrait shot, this time of Johno Leader from Co. Cavan acoustic indie-rock band The Radioactive Grandma, and gets the musician’s music-buying, making and loving firsts, traversing everyone from Moby, Val Normal, R Kelly and the Prodigy. First album you bought? The very first album I ever bought was purchased with vouchers that I got for my birthday. I was about 15 or 16 years old and that album was 1977 by Ash. It got played about five times before I was introduced to…

  • Inbound/exclusive stream: Nyt Bloomer

    May 1, 2014 - By 

    Hailing from Donegal, Conor McNamee AKA Nyt Bloomer is one of the more interesting voices in Ireland’s thriving electronic music scene. I met with him at his April 24 show at the Menagerie with Shammen Delly and Colpey to speak about the inception of Nyt Bloomer, his record label You Can’t Break It Records, and his infatuation with sampling. Ahead of the vinyl release, Old Toys is available for streaming exclusively on The Thin Air, and the cassette can be bought in Belfast’s Sick Records. Hi Conor. Lets start with a little background – where did Nyt Bloomer come from? I…

  • Interview: The Altered Hours

    April 30, 2014 - By 

    Ahead of their highly-anticipated return to Belfast on Friday night (May 2, the Menagerie), Brian Coney talks to Cathal Mac Gabhann, frontman of Cork psych-rock trailblazers The Altered Hours about momentum, new material and pushing the boundaries of their sound. Photo by Izabela Szczutkowska. Hi Cathal. It’s been a great twelve months or so for you guys. You’re busier than you’ve ever been and a lot of new fans are getting behind you. How’s it been getting your music out to new ears? Hi Brian. I enjoy making and releasing music and doing shows. I like the whole process so it’s been fine. You recently set…

  • TTA @ 1: A Year of Photography

    April 30, 2014 - By 

    Five thousand photographs is an impressive feat for our photographers and an even more difficult task to whittle them down to a gallery showcasing 150 fantastic images that represent what we’ve been doing for an entire year. Having worked as photo editor at State.ie and AU Magazine before starting from scratch at The Thin Air, I found myself in the unique position of hand picking a team of photographers. I was presented with some snappers whom I was familiar with previously, some I worked along side in the pit at gigs and some fresh meat all with varying backgrounds and experience. Quality…

  • Inbound: Exploding Eyes

    May 6, 2014 - By 

    In this installment of Inbound we chat to Robbie, Al and Brian from Dublin based psychedelic rock band Exploding Eyes about their involvement in the Irish music scene over the years, their biggest influences and why getting stranded in Switzerland is not an option again! Hi lads, can you tell us about Exploding Eyes and where you got the name? Robbie: We’re a new band from Dublin playing rock music. name? Well I was hoping to call the band Flaming Lips but that seems to be taken so I just went for the next horrible thing that could happen to a part of…

  • Frame by Frame #009: Sullivan & Gold – Glory

    April 29, 2014 - By 

    In the ninth installment of Frame by Frame, Belfast-based photographer and filmmaker Colm Laverty talks to Ben Robinson from Derry acoustic duo Sullivan & Gold and director Michael Barwise about the former’s recent, rather lovely video for their single ‘Glory’. Hi guys. First off, tell us a little bit about each of your roles on this music video. Michael: I was director and editor on the video. In a sentence, what sets ‘Glory’ apart from other Northern Irish music videos? Ben: We’ve wanted to keep Sullivan & Gold something quite organic and homely. Forget Myself was one of the ‘poppier’…

  • Track Record: Somadrone

    April 29, 2014 - By 

    Electronic producer/musician Neil O’Connor AKA Somadrone sits down with Ian Pearce to give his ten LPs that have influenced him. Somadrone’s fourth album, The First Wave, which was recorded in San Francisco and Brooklyn and released in December 2013, is available to buy now via the Bodytonic website. White Noise – An Electric Storm Sixties English Psychedelic Music, but with a twist. Delia Derbyshire, who was part of BBC Radiophonic workshop, did all the electronics, which are stunning. This record was a big one for Broadcast. I went to see them play in the Sugar Club a good few years back. It…

  • Slogan: Or how I learned to stop worrying and hate Serge Gainsbourg.

    April 24, 2014 - By 

    Francois Mitterrand, the French president at the time of Serge Gainsbourg’s death, called him, in a surprisingly emotional obituary, “our Baudelaire, our Apollinaire” with the sort of off-the-cuff erudition that’s made me a life-long Francophile. Our premier at the time was Margaret Thatcher, a woman who is to poetry what Baudelaire was to self effacing good humour and an early night. That the President of France felt the need and, no doubt, a political compunction, to address a pop singers death is extraordinary: I wouldn’t hold your breath, Sir Cliff. But Serge Gainsbourg was much more to the French than…

  • Inbound: Under Tears

    April 29, 2014 - By 

    In the latest installment of Inbound, we talk to Berlin-based, Dublin musician Julie Chance (also of Kool Thing) about her current solo project as Under Tears and the emotional inspiration behind it. Exclusive photography featured by Berlin photograhers Wilkosz and Way. Hi Julie. Can you tell us a little bit about Under Tears, how you began and what the name means? After I broke up with my partner and bandmate last summer, I was going through a lot of pain and wrote a few songs about it. That’s basically how it started. You’re also one half of Kool Thing so how does this current…