• 19 for ’19: Problem Patterns

    January 11, 2019 - By 

    Happy new year! We’re pleased to present 19 for ’19, a handpicked selection of Irish acts we’re absolutely convinced are going places in 2019. Over the next couple of weeks, we’re going to be previewing each of those acts, accompanied by words from our writers and an original photograph by our wonderful team of photographers. First up is Belfast-based feminist punks Problem Patterns. ___ Jokingly describing themselves as “A bunch of women screaming in a room”, Belfast’s Problem Patterns wasted little time getting under our skin with the raucous and politically charged bombast of their debut track ‘Allegedly’. Released in December…

  • Video Premiere: Arthuritis – Let’s Touch

    January 8, 2019 - By 

    You might have missed idiosyncratic Cork auteur Arthuritis inconspicuously dropping one of the best Irish releases of 2018 at the end of November. Released through Cork independent label KantCope, I’m Great pulled off that rare balancing act of being equal parts opaque and inviting, its shards of influence – electronic, minimalism, drone, R&B, psychedelia, dreams (presumably) – painting vividly abstract images of an alien, dissociated consciousness, and one that’s all the more human for it. Following on from his wealth of releases – that include the deservedly-titled Neglected Ambient Shirts Vol 1 – lead single ‘Let’s Touch’ and its accompanying video are as good a Rosetta Stone for his output as you’re likely to…

  • Premiere: John Blek – The Blackwater

    January 3, 2019 - By 

    Cork singer-songwriter John Blek is a master at weaving gossamer tales stemming as much from his own headspace as the lineage of various transatlantic folk traditions. Set for release on February 1, Blek’s fourth studio album, Thistle & Thorn, is set to underscore that repute tenfold. Recorded between Clonakilty and Louisville, Kentucky at the start of last year, the album is a largely collaborative, with Brian Casey, Davie Ryan, Joan Shelley and guitarist Nathan Salsburg among the artists who have lent their own touch to the release. Lead single ‘The Blackwater’ is a delicate and carefully-crated sample of what to expect. Brimming with pathos,…

  • Stream: James Joys – Fugitive Wound

    January 4, 2019 - By 

    Despite existing on a peripheral plain sonically, Belfast producer and composer James Thompson AKA James Joys deserves much more than negligible regard, both at home and much further afield. Beyond his work as one-half of Ex-Isles with vocalist Peter Devlin, his solo output to date is equal parts spectrum-bucking, dense and hugely rewarding. Six minutes of self-proclaimed “deep brain cracking electronica to get sweaty to”, new single ‘Fugitive Wound’ encapsulates this. Mastered by fellow Belfast-based electronic wizard Herb Magee AKA Arvo Party, it’s a heady, warped triumph marrying a slew of staggered beats with ecstatic arpeggios and textures. Placed back-to-back with October’s Super_Tidal, it heavily suggests that James Joys might well…

  • The Thin Air’s Top 100 Irish Tracks of 2018 (#100-51)

    December 22, 2018 - By 

    Christ on a rickety sleigh, was this tough. But truth be told – it’s rarely easy. As we scramble to bang heads and attempt to assimilate, order and re-order the absolute deluge of excellence that has met our ears over the previous twelve months, it’s instantly clear that there will be some notable omissions. It’s equal parts unavoidable and unfortunate, but more significantly, it’s glowing testament to what we’re dealing with in every pocket of this island. Of course, we can’t – nor wish to – conclusively say this is “the best year for Irish music in recent memory” (the…

  • Premiere: Oranges – The Way You Look

    December 20, 2018 - By 

    Holding out throughout Oranges have held on until now to reveal the first single from their debut album, Hey Zeus, set to come out next year through arguably Ireland’s most consistently stellar independent label, Sligo’s Art For Blind. Recalling the Fall’s abrasive, minimalist approach to the rock’n’roll palette, ‘The Way You Look’ was one of 11 tracks captured in 6 hours with Stephen Quinn in a room on North Frederick Lane, Dublin in 2017 – and it sounds it, in the most immediate, alchemical fashion. Oranges comprise three musicians who’ve been involved in Ireland’s underground scene for years: G. Duffy on vocals & guitars, M.T. Durnin on bass, synth & vocals, and E. Kelly on drums. Stream ‘The Way You Look’…

  • Album Stream: Foolish Mortal – Foolish Mortal

    December 14, 2018 - By 

    Luminously captured in its eponymous, sixteen-track LP, Laurie Shaw’s new side-project, Foolish Mortal, is a blitzing, fuzzed-out traipse through the inner and outer recesses of Shaw’s musical mind. Conjuring everyone from White Fence and Black Lips, to The Wipers and our Lord and Saviour, Ty Segall, it’s a heady, genre-mangling feat of garage rock mastery from the prolific Cork-based Wirral artist. Out now via the brilliant Sunshine Cult Records, you can stream the album in full below. While you’re at it, pop along to Plugd in Cork on Saturday, December 22 to catch Foolish Mortal alongside Mikron and Perish.

  • The Thin Air’s Top 50 Irish Releases of 2018 (#25-1)

    December 14, 2018 - By 

    Each December, when we sit down to compile, order (and re-order) our end-of-year lists, a few familiar patterns emerge: though an undeniable bastion of forward-moving sound – and despite what the UK’s more kneejerk music press have been sold as of late – Dublin is not Ireland; there’s always enough feature-length curios released across the calendar year to warrant, if we were so audacious, a Top 200 Releases; and, more than ever, the self-released EP continues to hold its own in the face of even the most monied, PR-wielded long-player. This year was no different. In fact, it was a textbook…

  • Premiere: Anto and the Echoes – Hollywood Baby

    December 13, 2018 - By 

    Belfast-based Fermanagh six-piece Anto and the Echoes are a band that have long prided themselves on their live show. It’s something that shines through and then some in the video for their new single, ‘Hollywood Baby’. Running parallel with the track’s rock-pop bombast (good luck finding a catchier chorus this side of Christmas) Declan Ó Grianna’s video – which features the band and some of their fans in the thick of it at the National Club on Queen Street in Belfast – puts cutting loose firmly centre-stage. Have a first look below. Photo by Rebecca Dougan

  • The Thin Air’s Top 50 Irish Releases of 2018 (#50-26)

    December 13, 2018 - By 

    Each December, when we sit down to compile, order (and re-order) our end-of-year lists, a few familiar patterns emerge: though an undeniable bastion of forward-moving sound – and despite what the UK’s more kneejerk music press have been sold as of late – Dublin is not Ireland; there’s always enough feature-length curios released across the calendar year to warrant, if we were so audacious, a Top 200 Releases; and, more than ever, the self-released EP continues to hold its own in the face of even the most monied, PR-wielded long-player. This year was no different. Delve into #50 to #26…