• Playlist: 15 Must-See Acts at Hard Working Class Heroes This Weekend

    October 3, 2016 - By 

    Right up there with the country’s leading celebrations and showcases of homegrown, independent music, Hard Working Class Heroes will take over several venues in Dublin from October 6-8. With 100 acts once again independently selected to perform, we have well and truly racked our brains to whittle that imposing list down to 10 must-see acts this weekend. Tickets for HWCH ’16 are still available to buy here. Oh Boland Where: The Hub When: Saturday, October 8 (7.30pm) Pale Rivers Where: The Workman’s Club When: Friday, October 7 (7.50pm) Maija Sofia Where: Wigwam When: Saturday, October 8 (10.30pm) Rusangano Family Where: The Chocolate…

  • “I hate to stay still and pat myself on the back”: An Interview With Ciaran Lavery

    October 3, 2016 - By 

    Having spent the last few years steadily carving out his standing as one of the country’s most-loved and increasingly established solo artists, Aghagallon singer-songwriter Ciaran Lavery commands sensitivity and candour like very few songsmiths, Irish or otherwise. Despite confirming his arrival with his sublime debut album Not Nearly Dark and Kosher EP in 2013 and 2014 respectively, it was Sea Legs, his collaborative mini-album with Derry producer Ryan Vail, that positively underscored Lavery’s knack and versatility as artist that has often said he has zero desire to be solely filed under “acoustic guitar-wielding singer-songwriter”. But it’s Lavery’s second full-length album…

  • Picture This: Your National Visual Arts Guide – Ties

    September 27, 2016 - By 

    Among its definitions by the Oxford English Dictionary, alongside ‘a strip of material worn round the collar‘ and ‘a game in which the scores are level’, ties is defined as ‘a thing that unites or links people’. It is this third definition that can be best used to describe the exhibitions, artworks and people that feature in this edition of The Thin Air’s Picture This. In Dublin we see the latest show by Willie Doherty which discusses the unified history of two separate places and how this, via the 1916 Rising and later republicanism, has now become part of the…

  • Inbound: BDBR

    September 27, 2016 - By 

    Following a several-odd year nadir for Northern Irish music, it looks once more like there’s an emergent wave of genuinely interesting Northern acts influenced by a whole new set of cult favourites. BDBR is a bedroom project and the pseudonym under which singer-songwriter Ryan Mills operates, armed only with his telecaster, pedalboard and back-of-the-throat vocal tones. So far, he’s got a five track EP of demos so far, none of which reach the 3 minute mark, recorded in his bedroom and mixed by Robocobra Quartet’s Chris Ryan. His sound, he tells us “came around through trial and error and playing…

  • Inbound: FONDA

    September 23, 2016 - By 

    FONDA are the sound of power pop having grown older and that bit more cynical: imagine Big Star replacing tickets to the dance with overpriced bars and the inevitable morning-after introspection. There’s a sense of displacement and longing that characterises the band’s music, a possible result of the group’s varying backgrounds, with band members Liam O’Connor, Laura Kelly and Patrick Burke hailing from Limerick, Galway and Glasgow respectively. The trio have been performing together since 2015, releasing debut EP Social Services that August. It’s four songs tackled everyday ennui with assured understatement, both in O’Connor’s lyrics and baritone delivery, and…

  • Chemistry, Friendship and Respect: An Interview With Redneck Manifesto

    September 18, 2016 - By 

    Ahead of their only show of 2016 at Debarra’s as part of Clonakilty International Guitar Festival on Sunday, September 18, Cathal McBride talks to Matthew Bolger of Dublin instrumental heroes The Redneck Manifesto about new material, the importance of friendship to the band’s dynamic, failed attempts at writing over the internet and what the future holds in store. Hi guys. How’s the new material coming along? The new material is coming together very quickly at the moment. We’ve written 6 new songs in the last 4 months. It’s really amazing to get back in a room with everyone again. We really missed playing together and…

  • Hit The North: Dan Kitchener (DANK)

    September 16, 2016 - By 

    Just one of many artists coming together for Becks’ Hit The North as part of this year’s Culture Night Belfast today, Dan Kitchener AKA DANK is an English Street artist, illustrator, painter, animator and art director who lives by the mantra “create something new, no matter what, everyday”. We talk to him about the process, perception and politics of street art. You’re set for Hit The North on Friday. Have you created art in Northern Ireland before? What can we expect from your participation? I am very excited to be coming to Ireland for the first time! It’s somewhere I keep meaning to travel to but…

  • Rave New World: Palms Trax, Juniper, Toner Head

    September 16, 2016 - By 

    Antoin Lindsay and Aidan Hanratty look at the best gigs, tracks, mixes and releases of the week. Gigs Footwork presents: Citizenn, Schmutz, Eddy Kennedy & Brien at The Bunatee, Belfast Friday 16 September Tonight the Bunatee hosts a new night in the form of Footwork. Their first night will be headed up by Citizenn, the Kerri Chandler-approved London via Nottingham DJ who had an album out on Crosstown Rebels last year. Main support comes from local heroes Schmutz who’ll also be joined by Eddy Kennedy and Brien. Good stuff. AL Sense with Palms Trax, Button Factory, Dublin Saturday 17 September …

  • Picture This – Your National Visual Arts Guide: Culture Night 2016: Dublin

    September 15, 2016 - By 

    Ireland’s annual night of culture is upon us again this Friday as her galleries, museum, studios and a host of others cultural hotspots open their doors for a night of exhibitions, demonstrations and insights. Culture Night 2016 sees over 3,000 events take place across the whole island, and what started out as a capital only event 10 years ago has now spread to 40 towns and cities across the all of Ireland. Dublin sees a host of music gigs, gallery openings, late night museums and open houses with events taking place across the city until 11pm. As always Culture Night…

  • Picture This – Your National Visual Arts Guide: Collection

    September 13, 2016 - By 

    Collections come in many sizes, outputs and forms. They can be collated by the similarity in object or output, they can also be defined by a universal signifier such as a time, artist or theme. In this edition of The Thin Air’s Picture This we see this idea manifested in four of its many tropes. In Wexford we see a collection of national and international artists explore the idea of a residency and it’s impact on an artist’s practice. Galway also presents us a collection of artists, this time all of the Finnish and all of them discussing the same…