• EP Stream: Arvo Party – 1/1/2017

    January 4, 2017 - By 

    The electronic music-making moniker of LaFaro and GOONS bassist Herb Magee, Arvo Party first caught our attention back this time last year with debut EPs Beep and Tintinnabuli. With an album in the works, Magee resurfaced on Sunday with the aptly-titled 1/1/2017, a compilation EP of sorts featuring five tracks that wouldn’t seem remotely out of place on say, the soundtrack to Commando, Rocky IV, Kickboxer – and countless other classic 80s action movies besides. Conjuring the likes of Todd Terje, DROKK, John Carpenter, Dog Blood and Floating Points, Magee said of the EP on his Bandcamp page: “This EP is a collection of…

  • Album Stream: REPLETE – Zizek At The Discotheque

    January 6, 2017 - By 

    Released via Minneapolis-based imprint Always Human Tapes, Zizek At The Discotheque is a new, eight-track release by Kilkenny producer Peter Lawlor AKA REPLETE. Doubling up as his first ever physical release, the cassette – featuring some of his strongest material to date – is a compilation of sorts, bringing together older tracks with new material. Stream it below and pick yourself up a copy of the limited run release for next to nothing right here. Zizek At The Discotheque by Replete

  • Watch: windings – Boring

    January 3, 2017 - By 

    “I tried to throw a plastic bottle at the singer of the Frames…” As first lines go, ‘Boring’ by Limerick five-piece windings captures one’s attention much like Falco of Future of The Left/Mclusky before taking “aim and firing at complacency, ennui and helplessness in the face of everyday adversity.” Accompanied by Philip Shanahan’s brand new live video compiled of footage shot during the record of the band’s fourth album, Be Honest and Fear Not, the single feels like musical target practice for what’s certain to be an interesting year. We premiered Be Honest and Fear Not back in September. Stream it and check…

  • Stream: The Thin Air’s Death Culture Blues #5 on Dublin Digital Radio

    December 30, 2016 - By 

    In case you missed it or on the off-chance you fancy a second listen, the fifth – and our personal favourite – installment of Death Culture Blues, our weekly show of experimental, cosmic and ambient sounds on Dublin Digital Radio, is available to listen back now.  Check it and this week’s playlist – featuring everyone from Radioactive Man to Robocobra Quartet – below. 1. Radioactive Man – Go Ahead London 2. A Band Called O – Coasting 3. Video Liszt – Fade In Hong Kong 4. Maximum Joy – Let It Take You There 5. Katie Kim – Ghosts 6.…

  • Video Premiere: THUMPER – Lonesome Freak

    December 30, 2016 - By 

    With their collective Christmas tree still up, Dublin noise-pop band THUMPER have re-emerged at the very tail-end of the year with Stephen Patrick Allen’s video for their single ‘Lonesome Freak’. Featuring footage from some of the band’s favourite live gigs of 2016, including Other Voices, Electric Picnic, KnockanStockan, Whelan’s and more, it captures precisely the kind of thing that you’ll get if you pop along to the band’s show with Otherkin at Whelan’s tomorrow (New Year’s Eve) night. Have a first peek at the video below.

  • Watch: This Ain’t No Disco Episode 1

    December 30, 2016 - By 

    A new Irish alternative music program hosted by the tireless Donal Dineen, This Ain’t No Disco couldn’t have come at a better time. Directed by Myles O’Reilly of Arbutus Yarns, the show – which marries music, visuals, discussion and collaboration over 45 minutes – is produced with no budget or sponsorship, and is “powered only out of passion, musicians and crew who worked […] voluntarily.” Titled “Being In A New Place”, the first installment – unveiled on Christmas Eve – takes that implicit manifesto and runs with it in exceptional fashion. Featuring performances from Radie Peat of Lynched, Patrick Kelleher, Emmet Kirwan…

  • The Thin Air’s Top 100 Irish Tracks of 2016 (#49-1)

    December 22, 2016 - By 

    Well, there we have it: twelve months, innumerable tracks, and – despite the mild trauma it has incurred having to do it all over again – our top 100 Irish tracks of the year. It wasn’t easy but we got there, y’know? Go here for #100-75 and here for #74-50. Your move, 2017. 49. Roisin Murphy – Ten Miles High 48. Ships – Around This World 47. Jealous of the Birds – Tonight I Feel Like Kafka 46. R51 – Elephant 45. Hiva Oa – Seskinore mk ll (part 1) by Hiva Oa 44. Galants – Evergreen 43. Saint Sister…

  • 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…

  • Inbound: Hiva Oa

    December 15, 2016 - By 

    Despite having released a debut album and EP back in 2012 while based in Edinburgh, Hiva Oa had gone pretty quiet until recently. As it turns out, a relocation back home to Ireland was on the cards for core members Stephen Houlihan and Christine Tubridy, not to mention a change in direction. Where that previous work traded on a sparse, minimal folk sound mainly built around guitar and cello with occasional forays into loops and effects, their aptly titled new EP mk2 (part 1) sees those electronics completely take over their sound, with single ‘A Great Height’ perfectly juxtaposing sinister…