• Label Mixtape #003: 4AD

    March 10, 2015 - By 

    A label based on aesthetic principles, 4AD has spent over 30 years being everything you think it is not. Initially founded by Ivo Watts Russell in 1980 as a vehicle to release music by bands at the centre of the nascent goth scene, the label quickly established a style and format that would lead to it becoming one of the most iconic record labels of the 80s.With records clad in immaculate Vaughn Oliver sleeves, the label originally specialised in floaty, gothic ambience, before encompassing world music, dance music, and – perhaps most significantly – the cutting edge of the US…

  • Optimus Primavera – Day One

    June 17, 2013 - By 

    Ah, festivals. Around these parts the very word conjures up images of wet weekends with wellies, mud, overpriced beer, flooded tents and a bunch of rowdy twats in the campsite who “only came here to see David Guetta.” Sure, there are more than enough decent acts to be seen, but precious few of them can stave off the sinking feeling that spreads throughout the crowd when it senses the pitter-patter of rainfall as the opening song rings out. Which is why The Thin Air has made an executive decision and flown out to the northern Portuguese city of Porto for…