• Watch: Post Punk Podge & The Technohippies feat. TPM – Hard Man

    September 22, 2020 - By 

    If there’s a scene in Ireland right now that best embodies the power of a diverse, unified voice for disseminating positive change, then it’s without a doubt the hip-hop community. An all-star pairing of independent acts, Limerick’s Post Punk Podge & The Technohippies have paired with Dundalk counterparts TPM to give toxic masculinity the acerbic skewering it needs in a collaboration that more than delivers on its ear-watering potential. Podge, no stranger to exploring personal and societal issues without filter or pontification, tells us: “it’s a comedic look at the nature of being a ‘hardman’, and how those who portray machoism in a very direct way are often masking their own vulnerability.…

  • the arts column: September 10th

    September 10, 2020 - By 

    In this week’s edition of the arts column we’ve details on new exhibitions opening in Dublin, Kilkenny and Navan, as well as details on an open call and an artist talk. If you’ve an event, talk, exhibition, etc., please do get in touch via aidan[at]thethinair[dot]net. And as always – Stay Safe, and Support the Arts x Exhibition Opening | National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin This coming Friday sees the opening of a new exhibition in the National Gallery of Ireland featuring the works of George Wallace. While Wallace may be better known on the other side of the Atlantic, he spent the…

  • EP Premiere: Licehead – Friends

    May 19, 2020 - By 

    Paul O’Connor – of That Snaake notoriety – has shared with us his latest release under the Licehead banner, which follows up on last year’s Music For Normal People album, and precedes upcoming summer LP Perfect Death Forever, which is set in a modern Ireland and based around a reincarnated lung’s attempts to kill its host. An aural equivalent to peeling-paint walls-closing-in claustrophobic hysteria, Friends at its extremes recalls the torpid squalor of Fat White Family or The Fall in dada-techno mode. Partly written over the last two months, the EP sees O’Connor turns the pen upon himself and loved ones, and societally-ingrained truths; title track ‘fRENDS’ is itself a reworking of ‘I’ll Be There For You’,…

  • Stream: DIY LK – Bed Covers Vol. 1

    April 14, 2020 - By 

    A vital presence in the country’s ever-evolving independent scene, DIY LK tirelessly fly the flag for homespun Limerick sounds, all while going beyond the call of duty to accommodate artists and micro-scenes from beyond. It’s a rare breed of collaborative initiative that hasn’t faltered in the time of pandemic. The collective have just released Bed Covers Vol. 1, a new charity covers compilation in which seven Limerick bands (Anna’s Anchor, Bleeding Heart Pigeons, Casavettes, Cruiser, Hey Rusty, His Father’s Voice and Scenes) cover each other’s material in aid of Doras Luimní, a non-profit, non-governmental organisation that support the rights of…

  • Bleeding Heart Pigeons Announce New Album ‘Stir’

    March 27, 2020 - By 

    Four years on from the release of their acclaimed debut album Is, experimental pop trio Bleeding Heart Pigeons have announce its long-awaited follow-up, Stir, accompanied by lead single, the prescient ‘Real Connection’. Written and recorded in their converted farm-shed in rural West Limerick, the band have been together for twelve years, having signed to Virgin Records as teenagers in 2013 and since moving on to their own new imprint Hlym Records. Stir is set for release on May 22. In contrast to the “album-oriented” process of Is, the band described their approach in Stir as being more song-focused – “each song is its own little world”. Infectious and…

  • Stream: DJ Limewire x Post Punk Podge – Stuck In The System

    February 7, 2020 - By 

    Photo by Eilis Walsh Talismanic Limerick rapper Post Punk Podge has a knack for cutting through to Ireland’s most uncomfortable truths, and one day ahead of the next Irish general election, the Direct Provision system – swept under the carpet by most leading politicians – is in his scope. ‘Stuck In The System’ is a collaboration with DJ Limewire – aka Cathal of Bleeding Heart Pigeons – whose beats accompany Podge with apt clautrophobia and dissonance. As many of you know, Direct Provision is essentially this generation’s Magdalene Laundries. A system in place for over two decades, asylum seekers become institutionalised, having been given just…

  • Video Premiere: Paddy Mulcahy – Sunset Connoisseur

    December 15, 2019 - By 

    Limerick ambient and experimental electronic producer Paddy Mulcahy has shared a video for ‘Sunset Connoisseur’. Lifted from his new album, ‘How To Disappear’, the track is a delicate work of muffled piano motifs, dusty percussion and warm atmospherics. The nostalgic visual pairing comes coutresy of Dublin based director Dave Fox. “The song instantly struck a nostalgic chord with me,” says Fox of the video. “There’s a texture within Paddy’s music that has grit and grain and I thought that shooting on film would be the perfect way to compliment that sound. I recently inherited a super 8 camera that had…

  • Premiere: Casavettes – Imposter Syndrome

    December 4, 2019 - By 

    DIY LK‘s resident emos-in-chief Casavettes round out a year that’s seen them tour the length of the land on the back of their debut album, Senselessness. One of the most prolific acts in the most prolific music city on the island, they’re back with new single ‘Imposter Syndrome’ – a 2nd wave homage which firmly posits them as potentially the finest of their ilk in Ireland. Like Senselessness, the single was engineered and produced by Mícheál Keating of Bleeding Heart Pigeons. Artwork comes from Eilis Mahon (Girlfriend/icebear). Frontman Diarmuid Ó Sé told us more about how the track came together: “I started writing it directly after the album…

  • Split EP Premiere: Mob Wife / Cruiser

    November 27, 2019 - By 

    It’s easy for bands to serve up those oft. espoused platitudes about the value of “co-operation in the music scene”, but to be pro-active in that is another matter entirely. Gladly, we’re seeing that attitude start to spread, with the latest in the trend being two of the most exciting DIY, guitar-driven bands on the island coming together for a split EP release. Mob Wife/Cruiser features, unsurprisingly, two tracks each from Belfast trio Mob Wife and Limerick quartet Cruiser, conceived of in early 2019. Both with their own singular imprint, Mob Wife and Cruiser share the emotionally-charged influence of 90s post-hardcore and fist-clenched modern indie rock & punk sensibility, as well…

  • Stream: His Father’s Voice – In The Shade

    October 14, 2019 - By 

    Staking their claim as one of the brightest prospects in Irish post-punk & shoegaze with their Context & Perspective EP earlier this year, Limerick’s His Father’s Voice are back with a new single. Written around the same time as their debut EP, the quartet’s A-side goes further down the path trodden down fellow ‘gaze revivalists like DIIV & Cheatahs, without letting the wall of sound envelope what it is – a great pop song that plays on the idea of “how resentment finds room to feed and grow through hiding behind the appearance of a bright and happy exterior”. Meanwhile, B-side ‘Close’ is the kind of miasmic sea of…