• 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…

  • 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…

  • Exclusive album stream: Captain Kennedy – Draw It In Chalk

    October 24, 2013 - By 

    Ahead of its release next week, we have an exclusive first listen of the fantastic Draw It In Chalk, the long-awaited new album from Lurgan band Captain Kennedy. Recorded live and in one session at Mogul Studios, Portadown exactly two years prior to its November 1 release, the album mark encapsulates Captain Kennedy’s change to a 4-piece line-up and reveals the path the band were headed prior to their indefinite hiatus. Ahead of our review of the album, check out the artwork and listen to the stream below!

  • EP Stream: Paper Man – After Effects

    October 10, 2013 - By 

    Showing huge potential, young Ballyclare-based alt-rock four-piece Paper Man have unveiled their debut EP, After Effects. Produced by Michael McCluskey, the five-track release (including a live track, ‘Hieroglyphics’) the EP “demonstrates,” in the band’s own words, “the roots from which the band have been influenced to write and play their alternative style of indie rock music.” Paper Man count the likes of local band A Plastic Rose, The Beatles and Smashing Pumpkins as three of their main influences. Stream After Effects via Bandcamp below.

  • Exclusive stream and Q+A: Ed Zealous – Thanks A Million

    October 2, 2013 - By 

    Ahead of its official release on October 21, we are pleased to do a one-day stream of the expectedly exuberant ‘Thanks A Million’, the forthcoming new single by Belfast electro-pop quartet Ed Zealous. Taken from their giddily anticipated debut album – set to finally drop at the start of next year – the track is an effective distillation of the band’s well-honed electronic rock shtick. Stream ‘Thanks A Million’, check out its excellent artwork and read our  quick catch-up with the band’s guitarist and sampler Andrew Wilson below. Hi guys. The (brilliant) ‘Thanks A Million’ is taken from your forthcoming…

  • Ciaran Lavery – Other People Wrote These

    September 25, 2013 - By 

    Having released one of the finest Irish albums of last year – his mesmerising debut full-length release Not Nearly Dark – Aghagallon-based singer-songwriter Ciaran Lavery is an artist who clearly lives and breathes his craft. When he’s not honing and delivering his own uniquely longing brand of alt-folk he refers to the tales of others and revisits the sweeping imprint of influence that has helped shape his own wonderfully distinctive sound. A four-track manifestation of this, Lavery’s aptly-titled new covers EP, Other People Wrote This, offers a ideal opportunity to re-assess his talents from a totally new and interesting perspective. Starting…

  • Cordials – Cordials EP

    September 24, 2013 - By 

    With the north coat really having carved a niche in recent years – to the extent that punk, post-hardcore and post-rock practically soundtrack the area – it’s refreshing to hear a band from the area who don’t feel obliged to be boxed in with the usual names. A trio from Coleraine & Portrush, Cordials in their self-titled EP tread paths not a million miles away from heartfelt classic power-pop/college rock bands in the vein of Teenage Fanclub and The Replacements. From the onset of opener ‘Metal Man’, the classic lo-fi overdriven chiming wall-of-sound has been implemented appropriately, allowing the EP…