• The Thin Air’s Top 50 Irish Releases of 2020

    December 20, 2020 - By 

    In years to come, when someone asks me what The Thin Air was and represented, I’ll likely direct them to features like the one you have just opened. Much like other publications of our ilk – Nialler9, The Last Mixed Tape, Goldenplec and others – we spend 52 weeks of the year relentlessly championing what truly makes Irish music special and, very occasionally, genuinely world-beating. We all do it in different ways, and to slightly different audiences, but the impetus and desire to shine a light on what we have is one and the very same. Although they’re almost never…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – October 2nd

    October 2, 2020 - By 

    It’s the first Friday of the month, which can only mean one thing: it’s also Bandcamp Friday. As ever, if you’re going to pick up some great new Irish music, best make it today. Here’s our round-up of the best of this week, including Denise Chaila, Kynsy, Arvo Party, Katie Kim, Neil Brogan, Ailbhe Reddy and, because we couldn’t possibly choose just one track, A Litany of Failures Volume III. Denise Chaila – Rí Rá Go Bravely by Denise Chaila Go Bravely by Denise Chaila Various Artists – A Litany of Failures Voume III A Litany of Failures: Volume III…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – June 12th

    June 12, 2020 - By 

    Including premieres of brand new singles by Not I and James Anderson, we round up the best Irish tracks released this week, from Jafaris, Everything Shook, Tebi Rex and Alpha Chrome Yayo to Dott, Goodtime John, Pillow Queens, Susie Blue and Unbelievable Lake. Not I – Please Be Kind [Premiere] James Anderson – Peace [Premiere] Jafaris – Glue Everything Shook – Stand Ajar Stand Ajar by Everything Shook Tebi Rex – I Got My Whole Unbelievable Lake – Forgive Unbelievable Lake · Forgive Susie Blue – Daughter Alpha Chrome Yayo – Tomb Dive Skylight Sessions by Alpha Chrome Yayo Dott –…

  • Album stream: Alpha Chrome Yayo – 19th Hole

    April 17, 2020 - By 

    As prolific and idiosyncratic as they come, Belfast synthwave artist Alpha Chrome Yayo has spent the last couple of years exploring a whole heap of sonic terrain. Taking in After Dinner Cigar, Komorebi, Twirl, Choke, Grangeweird with fellow Belfast conspirator Danny Madigan and more, he’s long been a surefire bet for curveballing, genre-mutating, one-man retromancy. Which conveniently brings us to 19th Hole, ACY’s latest and arguably greatest LP to date. Across 15 tracks, the “virtual soundtrack to a golf-game that never was” promises (and fully delivers on) chillwave grooves, robot rap, crunchy chip and hot FM funk. As the main man succinctly put…

  • Album Premiere: Alpha Chrome Yayo – Twirl

    December 6, 2019 - By 

    To say that it’s been a busy 2019 for Belfast’s Alpha Chrome Yayo would be something of an understatement. The one-man, full-blown synthwave whizz has very kindly drip-fed us a string of masterfully shapeshifting releases, from Lithobreakin‘ and Malediction Boulevard, to Komorebi and After Dinner Cigar last month. And what better way to round off 2019 than with Twirl, ACY’s new, ten-track album? This is the part where we normally wax lyrical about a release but, in this instance, we’ll happily defer to the artist, who sums up the release as so: With a sound-palette straight out of the Encarta era, it’s…

  • EP Stream: Alpha Chrome Yayo – Komorebi

    August 16, 2019 - By 

    Over the last few months, Belfast-based artist and multi-instrumentalist Alpha Chrome Yayo has made a steady, increasingly prolific rise via his interstellar brand of genre-warping synthwave. Today he offers up another – considerably more ruminative – side with his new EP, Komorebi. Titled after the Japanese word referring to the phenomenon of sunbeams filtering through trees, the release – which was influenced by the likes of Terje Rypdal, Vangelis, David Shire and Ryo Fukui – is a masterfully meditative and largely ambient affair from one of the country’s most chameleonic artists. From the balmy twists and turns of its title…

  • Stream: Alpha Chrome Yayo – Lithobreakin’

    June 28, 2019 - By 

    On the slinky, interstellar ‘Lithobreakin”, Alpha Chrome Yayo confirms our suspicions that he’s a jack of all trades and a master of many. Having emerged as a maestro of stellar synthwave retromancy over the last few months, the Belfast producer’s new single is a first-rate foray into interstellar electro-funk. Inspired, he tells us, “in almost equal parts by the interstellar grooves of Zapp and Roger, vintage Sega Mega Drive title Toejam and Earl, and the surprisingly sexy world of astrophysics”, it’s a bombastic, wonderfully curveballing new effort from the remarkably productive artist. Better yet, the single’s masterfully downtempo, Jean-Michel Jarre-influenced b-side ‘Escape Atrocity’ melds a…

  • EP Premiere: Alpha Chrome Yayo – Malediction Boulevard

    April 26, 2019 - By 

    If you’re a regular reader of The Thin Air, you’ll likely be familiar with Belfast producer and musician Alpha Chrome Yayo. Fluent in the acrolect of synth-drenched retromancy, his output to date has taken a cue from everything from Giorgio Moroder and Steve Vai to the works of William Gibson and smoke-filled arcades. New EP Malediction Boulevard is his most assured and comprehensively impressive effort to date. Bearing the imprint of Gothic influence – namely the likes of The Sisters of Mercy, The Cure and Goblin, as well as the films of Lucio Fulci and David Cronenberg – it’s a four-track blitz…

  • Premiere: Alpha Chrome Yayo – Cerberus 3000 (Killing Time)/A Sweet Car Named Demented

    March 21, 2019 - By 

    Last month, we had the pleasure of premiering ‘Breakfast in Daytona’ by Belfast producer and musician Alpha Chrome Yayo. It was, as we saw it, “soaked, SEGA-leaning gem” from an artist who, alongside the likes of the equally mysterious Danny Madigan, are flying the chequered flag for Belfast’s surprising, yet thriving synthwave scene. A self-proclaimed “hi-octane hellride”, new single ‘Cerberus 3000 (Killing Time’) ups the ante from ACY. Building on previous releases, the track – just like shorter, but no less inspired b-side ‘A Sweet Car Named Demented’ – is a pure-cut dose of synth-drenched, shred-heavy retromancy from the producer.…