• Hot Cops – #1 Babes

    Arguably one of the most exciting and idiosyncratic Irish indie-rock bands of a generation, Belfast-based three-piece Hot Cops are teetering on the brink of some great things in 2015. Released immediately off the back of their stellar double-single ‘Origami/Novelty’, the band’s new four-track EP, #1 Babes, coyly, often cryptically renders instability, heartbreak, and the human condition in first-rate, wanderlust-tinged lo-fi glory. Positively bursting at the seams with fuzzed-out tangents, earworming refrains and masterfully nonchalant hooks, the Carl Eccles-fronted threesome’s cunningly off-kilter, slacker-soaked anti-anthems instantly evoke their main influences in Pavement, Deerhunter and Cloud Nothings. At the root of that is…

  • EP Download: Hot Cops – #1 Babes

    Few young bands excel at their respective genre as convincingly as Belfast-based indie-rock trio Hot Cops. Set to play our Independent Venue Week show at Oh Yeah Centre on Friday night, the band have just unveiled their new release, #1 Babes, a four-track EP of cunningly off-kilter, slacker-soaked anti-anthems that instantly evoke their main influences in Pavement, Deerhunter and Cloud Nothings. The EP was recorded by the band’s bassist Nathan Rodgers and mixed/mastered by Chris Ryan. Stream/download it (for free, if you so like) via Bandcamp below. #1 Babes by Hot Cops

  • In Photos: The Thin Air Magazine Launch @ Bar Sub

    On Saturday night we (rather excitably) launched our physical magazine at Belfast’s Bar Sub. We could have had a group of spazzed-out, talentless street urchins banging a couple of bin lids in the corner all night and worried not, so to have Belfast party-starters par excellence Not Squares, fast-rising indie rock trio Hot Cops and DJ David Baxter AKA Kab Driver soundtrack the magazine’s birth was nothing short of amazeballs*. Our photographers Colm Laverty and Sara Marsden popped down to capture all the action – as you can see below! * first and last night we will ever use that word to describe anything… promise.…

  • Gigs of the Week: The Thin Air Magazine Launch, Hidden Agenda, Joshua Burnside, Hard Working Class Heroes, Madball, Red Rock

    With the new semester back in full swing, the old gig calender has suddenly become a lot busier than usual. This, of course, can only be a thing. Whilst some of us are still lamenting the unexpected loss of two much-loved Irish acts in UNKNWN and Adebisi Shank, the future remains very bright indeed – something we feel is perfectly illustrated in our Gigs of the Week for the next few days. Dig. The Thin Air Magazine Launch Party: Not Squares, Kab Driver, Hot Cops @ Bar Sub, QUBSU – Saturday, October 4 Biased, us? Seriously, though, Not Squares (pictured) remain one…