• The Thin Air Top 100 Irish Tracks of 2014 (100-75)

    December 30, 2014 - By 

    Twelve months, a billion tracks (probably) and a ridiculously impressive crop of new, emerging musical talent the island of Ireland over: yes, 2014 was been very generous indeed on the ol’ new music front. In a year when (the altogether sonically disparate) Girl Band and SOAK signed with Rough Trade, Adebisi Shank broke hearts in parting ways and Hozier “did a Kodaline” by going positively stratospheric – more on that later – innumerable lesser-known acts have also been slogging away in the garage, creating some of the very best sounds here or anywhere else on the face on the planet. In the first of a two-part feature,…

  • Line-up announced for inaugural Output showcase

    September 30, 2014 - By 

    With just over a fortnight to wait, the line-up for the inaugural Output have been announced. Northern Ireland’s largest ever one-day conference and showcasing event, taking place throughout Belfast’s city centre and Cathedral Quarter on Thursday, October 16, it will see a series of free talks, workshops and pop-up gigs, attending by around 350 artists, businesses and creative students. We’re very happy to be involved, too. Teaming up with tastemaker par excellence Niall Byrne AKA Nialler9, we will host a most awesome showcase in the Black Box main room with Cork psych rock five-piece Altered Hours (pictured), Dublin electronic duo Contour, Derry…

  • Castlepalooza 2014

    July 27, 2014 - By 

    A highly-anticipated annual fixture at the breathtaking Charleville Castle in Tullamore, Castlepalooza 2014 will take place across the weekend of August 1-3. Super Furry Animals’ main man Gruff Rhys, indie-pop duo Summer Camp and Franco-Swiss DJ Gilles Peterson top the bill this year, with several Irish acts including TVVINS, Hurdles, We Cut Corners, The Clameens, Affleck and Ships also featuring in this year’s line-up. Buy tickets and check out full line-up for the festival – taking place across August 1, 2 and 3 – over at Castlepalooza’s official website and check out a live version of ‘Book’ by TVVINS below.

  • Spectrum Festival 2014 announced

    March 11, 2014 - By 

    Featuring an eight-band bill comprised of both fast-rising and established homegrown talent, this year’s Spectrum Festival will take place at Belfast’s Speakeasy on Saturday, June 7. Headlined by Lisburn alt-rock maestros Mojo Fury and England-based quartet A Plastic Rose (above), prog rockers Kasper Rosa, alt-fock duo New Ancestors, five-piece The Late Twos, electronic trio Affleck, and indie pop bands Hurdles and Go Swim will also play the one-day festival, kicking off at 6.30pm. Admission is £12 and it’s £10 for students. Go here for the show’s Facebook event page. Check out the poster for the show below.

  • Gig of the Week: Young Aviators, Hurdles, Foreign Affairs @ Voodoo

    February 11, 2014 - By 

    Our Gig of the Week will see Warrenpoint-derived, Glasgow-based new-wave surf three-piece Young Aviators head a bill featuring the jointly promising Hurdles and Foreign Affairs at Belfast’s Voodoo on Saturday, February 15. With choruses recently compared to fellow Irish émigrés Snow Patrol by The Skinny, the show will be Young Aviators first performance in Belfast since the release of their debut album, Self Help. Go here for the show’s Facebook event page. Watch the video for ‘Forward Thinking’ by Young Aviators below.

  • The Thin Air’s Top 100 Irish Tracks of 2013 (35-1)

    December 30, 2013 - By 

    Sixty-five increasingly exceptional songs in, we’re pleased to round up our first ever countdown of the Top 100 Irish Tracks of the year. Truth be told, this list could have been much, much longesear – such was the extent and quality of the output from our homegrown musical talent over the last twelve months. From unassuming bedroom artists treading the often very thin line between absolute anonymity and mass recognition to genre-defining, decades-spanning bands that fall comfortably under “legendary” status, we’ve been very happily bombarded with some truly extraordinary Irish music over the last year. Until next time… listen, enjoy…

  • TTA Session #002: Hurdles

    November 15, 2013 - By 

    Off the back the release of their brilliant Where To Start EP, Belfast-based indie pop band Hurdles are our second featured act on our ongoing Thin Air Live Session series. Filmed and edited by the ridiculously talented Colm Laverty – with audio recorded and mixed by the upstanding and handsome James Bruce – the session features an interview with the Niall Hanna-fronted four-piece and performances of ‘Ruthless’ and their most recent single ‘Control’. Miss our first session with Bellos? Check it out here. Watch the session with Hurdles below!

  • Gig of the Week: Bouts, Hurdles, Go Swim

    October 29, 2013 - By 

    Off the back of the release of their stellar debut album – Nothing Good Gets Away – our gig of the week this week will see Dublin indie rock band Bouts return to Belfast for a special album launch party on Friday, November 1. Supported by two of the North’s finest indie bands, Hurdles and Go Swim, the four-piece will play the wonderfully tucked-away Menagerie in the heart of the Holylands –  their first show here since they supported Amateur Historians in the same venue early last year. Go here for the show’s event page, check out our interview with Bouts…

  • Stream: Hurdles – Control

    October 8, 2013 - By 

    Belfast indie-rock band Hurdles have released a stream of ‘Control’, the lead single to be taken from their forthcoming debut EP, Where To Start. With the four-piece set to launch the aforementioned four-track EP at Belfast’s Radar on Thursday night, it marks the band’s first single release since ‘Kaleidoscope’ six months ago. Check out our recent interview the band here and stream ‘Control’ via Bandcamp below!

  • Final acts announced for Glasgowbury 2013

    June 17, 2013 - By 

    The final acts set to play this year’s Glasgowbury Music Festival have been confirmed. Joining the likes of headliners The Answer, And So I Watch You From Afar and Japanese Popstars at the annual Eagle’s Rock Valley event are Dublin’s blues-rock band The Mighty Stef, singer-songwriters Katharine Philippa, Alana Henderson, Rob Murphy and Paul Casey. Dance DJs Deep Fried Funk, electro-indie band Don’t Fear The Natives, Derry rock band Wyldling and  Hurdles, Aces Wild, Windings and The Last Generation make up the final line-up. The announcement comes off the back of Belfast-based rockers LaFaro, ska-punk troupe Pocket Billiards and singer-songwriter Peter McAuley AKA Rams Pocket Radio being confirmed to play the festival, set to take place over two days…