• 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…

  • Track Record: Richard Dowling (WAV Mastering)

    September 13, 2016 - By 

    As the most experienced mastering engineer in Ireland, it’s no surprise that Richard Dowling has an extensive, far-reaching record collection. Having founded WAV Mastering 10 years ago this Autumn, 2017 will mark his 30th year working in audio, with clients ranging from Christy Moore, Choice Music Prize winners SOAK and Jape, David Bowie, Foo Fighters and Suede to name a few.  In the latest installment of Track Record, Aaron Corr captures the Limerick engineer selecting some of his all-time favourite records. David Bowie – Hunky Dory ‘Life On Mars’, ’nuff said. Andy Warhol looks a scream, I’ve him hanging on my wall. Chvrches – The…

  • One Minute From Home: An Interview with Adam Wiltzie of Stars of the Lid

    September 11, 2016 - By 

    Few artists reign in their respective genre quite like Texan duo Stars of the Lid. Having released a string of stellar, deeply evocative albums via the likes of Kranky over the last 20 years, Adam Wiltzie and Brian McBride have long established themselves as easily one of the most pioneering and influential drone/ambient outfits of all time. Ahead of highly-anticipated shows in Cork (Triskel Christchurch, October 8) and Dublin (National Concert Hall, October 9) as part of their first tour since 2008, Brian Coney talks to Wiltzie about new material, the legacy and future of Stars of the Lid, his work with Dustin O’Halloran as A Winged Victory For The Sullen and…

  • R51 – No Chill EP Premiere & Interview

    September 9, 2016 - By 

    R51 are amongst the hardest working bands on the island right now; they’re taking this seriously. Falling broadly into a nu-gaze sound without ever losing sight of their carefully crafted & thoughtful pop sensibility, they’re a five piece with all the right components. In the studio, they’re all about pop perfection and live, it’s a padded mallet of sound. They’re led by the power coupling of frontwoman Mel Shannon’s soaring vocals – also band photographer & craftsperson – and lyricist & guitar wizard Jonny Woods – who records & produces everything in their studio – with the punk edge coming from…

  • Inbound: Brand New Friend

    September 8, 2016 - By 

    As the seasons inevitably turn and summer ambles into autumn, sometimes you need music to augment the mood and bridge that interim between the party and the comedown; the wind-down from long evenings boozing by the canal and the sinking realisation that it all has to finish up sometime. That seems as good a time as any to welcome a brand new friend into your life – four of them, more accurately – playing a blend of sad and raucous, joyous and melancholic songs about love and other less important things. Initially Taylor Johnson’s solo endeavour, the addition of his…

  • These Are The Voyages: 50 Years of Star Trek

    September 8, 2016 - By 

    In June 1969, US television viewers were treated to the unforgettable spectacle of William Shatner portraying a woman inhabiting his body. The final episode of Star Trek, ‘Turnabout Intruder’, featured Captain Kirk and his crew struggling to defeat a mentally unstable woman who had captured his body, planning to take over the USS Enterprise, and wreak havoc upon all and sundry. Shatner, never the most… subtle… of performers, threw himself into the role, straining to capture the full spectrum of emotions of a woman, trapped in a man’s body. Like I say, the results are pretty spectacular, for all the…

  • Rave New World: Bjarki, Frankie Grimes, Shanti Celeste

    September 9, 2016 - By 

    Aidan Hanratty takes you through the essential electronic gigs, tracks, mixes and releases of the week. Gigs Collate presents Bjarki Live, The Bunatee, Belfast Friday 9 September Iceland’s Bjarki hit the big time last year with ‘I Wanna Go Bang’, a silly banger on Nina Kraviz’s трип label, having previously featured on that imprint’s first two compilation releases. Since then he’s dropped “Б”, and Lefhanded Fuqs is due in the coming weeks. You can catch his blistering live set tonight at The Bunatee, but be warned, it will… bang. Sorry. Axel Boman, Kornél Kovács & Pedrodollar, Opium Rooms, Dublin Saturday…

  • Stripping It Back: An Interview with Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor

    September 7, 2016 - By 

    Best known as Hot Chip’s typically cheeky, earnest-voiced frontman, Alexis Taylor embarked on an exploratory solo adventure back in 2008 trading the group’s funky and percolating electro-pop sound for something a little more introspective and intimate. His 2014 solo endeavour, Await Barbarians, saw him on almost every instrument which led him to create a record that was much more quiet and vulnerable this time round, honing in on his dreamy, effortless falsetto and the beautifully simplistic piano keys. Ahead of his at The Workman’s Club in Dublin on September 15, Paula Murphy talks to the London-born musician. What prompted you…