• Hyperbolex with Ray Wingnut: Rough Trade

    January 10, 2017 - By 

    To INSPIRE: to fill (someone) with the urge or ability to do something, especially to do something creative. At the beginning of a new year, we probably all need a bit of inspiration. To feel inspired, to have the energy and the will to begin or to continue. For me personally, to be inspired is something that I’m always chasing. It’s not always easy to find or hold on to. But it is an energy or life source. To inspire also means to breathe in. Or in the recent first episode of This Ain’t No Disco, Dónal Dineen used a…

  • Our Krypton Son: The Bridge of Early Sorrows

    December 16, 2016 - By 

    Set to release the video for his single ‘Relics’ on Monday (which you can preview below) Derry singer-songwriter Chris McConaghy AKA Our Krypton Son returns with a Kafkaesque tale for the latest installment of his Thin Air column.   One morning I awoke to find I’d transformed into a gigantic animated turtle. I lay in bed, upended on my flat, brown coloured shell – which was two-dimensional and, having presumably been drawn by some celestial cartoonist (one clearly on a budget), lacking in any detail whatsoever. I stared terrified at the ceiling, unable to turn my body over. I immediately…

  • For The Love of Art

    December 12, 2016 - By 

    There was a time when a person could have dreams of being creative, of writing that novel, recording that album, or starring in that movie that would make everything OK. And there was a time when those dreams might actually come true. But that seems like such a long way away from the current vantage point. Liberties Press have recently come under scrutiny after several of their authors have made allegations of business irregularity. Despite books being on the shelves, several writers have spoken out about not being paid, and a new policy of charging money for manuscript submissions has…

  • Our Krypton Son: Letters From Throat Lake

    October 27, 2016 - By 

    Derry songsmith Chris McConaghy AKA Our Krypton Son reflects on writing his forthcoming second album on a child’s acoustic guitar in a tent in Creeslough in Co. Donegal. Day one. I’ve been plucking the nylon strings of my child’s acoustic guitar for several hours. And glaring at a notepad. It’s bloody freezing and I’m shivering. Shivering with the starling, shaking with the gorse bush. I’ve come to Creeslough to stay for two nights. We’re to write an album, this village and I. An album to be titled ‘Fleas And Diamonds’. A song cycle about rebirth, the first growl of love…

  • The Problem With The Problem of Ramones T-Shirts

    October 3, 2016 - By 

    A year or two back I was at a family get together and sparked up a conversation with a teenage cousin of mine. I had initially decided to go over and talk to him for two reasons. First, and foremost, was to get out of the banal conversations I had been having with the other ‘adults’ about topics such as the Oscar Pistorius case, the Pope’s resignation and an aunt’s warbling about some motorway that was or wasn’t being built near her home. The second reason, the reason I selected said cousin to talk with, was because I heard 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…

  • Column: Lisa Hannigan

    August 29, 2016 - By 

    Having just released her highly-anticipated third studio album, At Swim, Lisa Hannigan pauses to reflect on her recent string of Irish dates with Ye Vagabonds. I hadn’t played in so long before my Irish shows. So before my new record, At Swim, came out, I just wanted to dip my touring toe back in and play these new songs with a different band and try to figure that all out on stage. Ireland has always been the warmest and most welcoming place for me and I would venture to say most artists, so I just really want to go all over…

  • “You’re Tearing Me Apart Lisa!?!”: How Not To Make A Music Video

    May 23, 2016 - By 

    Citóg Records is a relatively new indie label based out of Galway City. Being involved with Citóg Records is something I hold and respect dearly. Unlike other traditional labels, Citóg Records is a collective of West of Ireland musicians who have come together under an imprint to share their knowledge, experience and ideas with one another. In my opinion, they have become a type of resource that every artist in this country could do with being a part of, regardless of one’s artistic discipline or strength in the industry. It is something I wish I was more a part of…

  • How Satire Explains The Rise of Trump

    April 6, 2016 - By 

    “Let’s Drop The Big One And See What Happens” On November 8th 2016, the United States of America will elect a new president, and at the moment, in the eyes of many commentators, it’s a three horse race as to who that individual will be. On one side, the liberalism of Bernie Sanders is vying for prominence with the pragmatism of Hillary Clinton, and on the other side stands the man no-one would have expected, the irascible Donald Trump. The eyes of the world will be upon the US, and it’s difficult not to feel history is being made, for…

  • Hyperbolex with Ray Wingnut: Community Music – Skratch Manifest

    March 16, 2016 - By 

    Communities are inevitable among humans. They can be generational, geographical, professional, circumstantial, cultural and can take on any shape you can think of. We are drawn together by factors and forces from without and within the individual. For an example of a community; even if you’ve never read The Thin Air before, if you sniff around the pages you’ll find a community; a group of pro-active fans and know-alls and eager heads that co-operate to publish a sweet piece of street literature that reflects them and their community. Their art and their era. But of course the community doesn’t stop…