• 17 for ’17: Our Krypton Son

    January 25, 2017 - By 

    Our Krypton Son’s ethereal sounds may seem bathed in “the glow that flashes red” from the sun of Superman’s home planet, but we don’t really need to look as far as the celestial bodies. Those auroras closer to home should take just as much responsibility for where Chris McConaghy’s melodies emanate from, piercing every so often through the coastal skies to inspire and ignite. Written in the small village of Creeslough in northwest Donegal, the sonic themes of Fleas and Diamonds swell and meander like the landscape of the county that birthed it; impenetrable yet so welcoming once breached, a…

  • Having The Last Laugh: An Interview with Susan Calman

    January 22, 2017 - By 

    If laughter is indeed the best medicine, then Scottish comedian, actress and writer Susan Calman should be designated GP. Having imbued her diverse and far-reaching career with promoting mental health awareness via her own personal experience, Calman talks to Brian Coney about process, profile and positivity ahead of appearing at Belfast’s the MAC on February 5 (tickets and full info here). Hi, Susan. You’re setting off on a string of tour dates in February. How are you feeling about the shows? And tell us more about this particular show, The Calman Before The Storm. I’m really looking forward to getting out on…

  • 17 for ’17: Super Silly

    January 24, 2017 - By 

    There’s a need for the kind of music Super Silly are currently making. Sonically rooted in the anthemic theatricality of gospel, the warmth of R’n’B, and with a proclivity for the cutting-edge end of the urban music spectrum, theirs is a prospect that slices through the doom and gloom and offers acute relief. Take debut single ‘No Pressure’ as an example. A slickly produced showcase for the vocal dexterity of the collective of Precious, Solbas, Grooves, and Shek, the track extends to the listener the positive, familial, and inclusive attitude of Super Silly – not entirely surprising given their background…

  • 17 for ’17: Beach

    January 23, 2017 - By 

    The spirit of psychedelia is alive and well and living in the heart of Dublin, or at least that is what Dublin based five-piece Beach would have you believe. The quintet has spent the last few years finely honing their brand of everything but the kitchen sink psych into a well-oiled machine. Even a cursory glance at the band reveals a vast depth and scope at their very core. These are not minor or modest compositions. They’re huge ambitious beasts meandering through an unpredictable, almost endless series of twists and turns. As you listen closely you can pick out these…

  • 17 for ’17: Damola

    January 27, 2017 - By 

    Nigeria, Jamaica and Ireland mightn’t be known as hip-hop hotspots, but it’s these unexpected influences that seem to characterise Damola’s music. He cites listening to his parents’ Jamaican music as a child in Nigeria as his earliest influence, although he didn’t start performing until he was a teenager in Dublin, making up raps to impress his friends. Since 2014 he’s been releasing tracks and videos with the Backshed Inc. collective, allowing him the freedom to develop his increasingly idiosyncratic sound. Last year’s ‘Workflow’, in both it’s production and hard-hitting, rhythmic flow, owed a lot to the earlier work of Kendrick…

  • 17 For ’17: Fears

    January 23, 2017 - By 

    There’s something otherworldly about Constance Keane, and her solo project, Fears. The music here is remove from what Keane was making as the drummer of the feminist/animal welfare punk group M(h)aol, though keeping that distinctive dark tone. Her latest single Blood, a follow-up to 2015’s Priorities is a journey through alternative pop, with dark and looming synths and minimalist vocals, reminiscent of both BANKS and FKA Twigs. Produced and written by Constance, and mastered by Huntley Miller (Bon Iver, Tallest Man on Earth, The Staves) the track wouldn’t be unusual to hear on a John Carpenter soundtrack, or indeed in…

  • 17 For ’17: New Pagans

    January 19, 2017 - By 

    While new bands are The Thin Air’s raison d’être, new bands full of familiar faces are always a particularly mouthwatering prospect. Featuring Cahir O’Doherty of Jetplane Landing/Fighting With Wire and Claire Miskimmin of Girls Names on guitar and bass respectively, along with Balkan Alien Sound’s Conor McAuley on drums and vocalist Lyndsey McDougall, New Pagans are a veritable supergroup of Irish talent to rival Miskimmin’s other side project, Cruising. With one double A-side single to their name so far featuring the tracks ‘I Could Die’ and ‘Lily Yeats’, the latter is a paean to one of the oft-forgotten sisters of…

  • Hyperbolex with Ray Wingnut: Introducing Guerrilla Sessions

    January 18, 2017 - By 

    So, here’s the story, right? I like to fuck about with music projects that really turn me on. As someone put it to me recently, “… I want it to freak me out”. Nicely put. I’m just messing around with music projects that fire me up and I guess like any other broadcaster, you try to curate something that is worthwhile, that is new and challenging, and then just maybe you might do the ultimate and capture lightning in a bottle. That probably sounds selfish and indulgent of me. But at least it’s not just me in the media game…

  • 17 For ’17: Woven Skull

    January 17, 2017 - By 

    Including Woven Skull in our 17 for ’17 list feels like a little bit of a cheat, seeing as they have been producing music together since 2008. The trio have been lurking quietly in rural Leitrim, making music that is as rugged, gnarled and atmospherically captivating as the landscape they operate within. Utilising raw experimental sounds and field recordings from woods, hills and abandoned houses as textural enhancers has given Woven Skull’s output to date a depth of space and size that is exhilaratingly tense. While most of their releases up to this point have been collections of assembled field…

  • 17 For 17: Rocstrong

    January 16, 2017 - By 

    Andre Bangala, otherwise known as Rocstrong, has made a triumphant arrival, emerging with a vibrant sense of swagger and style that many artists seem to never quite grasp. Having grown up in Terenure, the Congo-born artist writes and co-produces all his own material which encompasses a truly unique sound that can only be described as an energetic and refreshing explosion of funk, soul, electro-pop and rock. Following on from his 2014 win in the Hot Press/Alcatel Big Break competition, the ever-cool newcomer dropped his debut extended play, SOWG just last Summer, which boldly told the music world he’d arrived on…