• Belfast, Don’t Miss This Party on Saturday

    The third installment of an ongoing series, a downright unmissable party featuring Not Squares, Twitch DJs, Robocobra Quartet, Chris Hanna, Blue Whale and much more will take place in a secret location somewhere in Belfast this Saturday, October 7. Want in? Here’s the lowdown: Location: TBA (Belfast) Doors: 8:30pm Last Entry: 9:30pm Min. Donation: £10 BYOB With live music ‘til late from: Not Squares Blue Whale Robocobra Quartet Hornets CATALAN! Beauty Sleep Plus DJ sets from – Twitch DJs Chris Hanna Marion Hawkes Chill & Nephillim Cardinal & Underdog Gav Williams Mista Meez Crilli DJs Anton K + More Places are…

  • Not Squares – Bolts

    For fans of Belfast trio Not Squares it’s been a long wait for a follow up to 2010’s Yeah OK, one of the finest Irish debuts of recent years. With drummer/primary vocalist Keith Winter moving to London in 2012, new material has largely had to be crafted long distance, and so we’ve only been treated to a handful of singles to tide us over in the intervening period. These singles make up almost half of the new album, and other tracks like ‘Can Opener’ will be well familiar to anyone who has caught their sporadic live shows over the last…

  • Monday Mixtape: Ricki O’Rawe (Not Squares)

    With their forthcoming second album, Bolts, set for release next month, Belfast-based trio Not Squares are steadily re-affirming their reputation as one of the country’s very best live acts. Ahead of launching the album at Galway’s Róisín Dubh on April 9, Ricki O’Rawe (pictured in the bold white-rimmed shades, above) from the band shares his favourite songs as of late – including Tyondai Braxton, Luke Abbott, Arca and Polmo Polpo – in a playlist aptly-titled Pissed and Passed Out. Take it away, Ricki. “This mix is made up of sounds that I have been digging recently. The music spans time and space but coheres…

  • Watch: Not Squares – Oops Said Hi

    Featuring a sweetly simple and – for fans of their earlier material – compositionally familiar video by their drummer/vocalist Keith Winter, Belfast electro-pop dons Not Squares have resurfaced with a new track, ‘Oops Said Hi’. Taken from their forthcoming second, Strange Brew-released Bolts, it is the sound of a band simultaneously staying true to their (instantly recognisable, Vocoder and beat-driven) sound whilst breaking some new territory. Not Squares will play an all-ages show at Belfast’s Oh Yeah Centre on December 18 and the next installment of Seven Quarters at Dublin’s Whelans on December 19. Watch the video for ‘Oops Said Hi’…

  • Seven Quarters Christmas Party Announced

    Having launched our physical magazine at Belfast’s Bar Sub last month, Not Squares will headline the next installment – and Christmas party of – Dublin club Seven Quarters in Whelan’s, Dublin on Friday, December 19. The fourth outing for the gig night, it will continue its tradition of giving attendees a unique limited edition 7″ vinyl, featuring previously unreleased tracks, from the performing artists. Support on the night comes from critically-acclaimed experimentalists Percolator. The 7″ vinyl will be given away for free to the first 150 people through the door. Tickets – priced at – are available to buy here.

  • In Photos: The Thin Air Magazine Launch @ Bar Sub

    On Saturday night we (rather excitably) launched our physical magazine at Belfast’s Bar Sub. We could have had a group of spazzed-out, talentless street urchins banging a couple of bin lids in the corner all night and worried not, so to have Belfast party-starters par excellence Not Squares, fast-rising indie rock trio Hot Cops and DJ David Baxter AKA Kab Driver soundtrack the magazine’s birth was nothing short of amazeballs*. Our photographers Colm Laverty and Sara Marsden popped down to capture all the action – as you can see below! * first and last night we will ever use that word to describe anything… promise.…

  • Gigs of the Week: The Thin Air Magazine Launch, Hidden Agenda, Joshua Burnside, Hard Working Class Heroes, Madball, Red Rock

    With the new semester back in full swing, the old gig calender has suddenly become a lot busier than usual. This, of course, can only be a thing. Whilst some of us are still lamenting the unexpected loss of two much-loved Irish acts in UNKNWN and Adebisi Shank, the future remains very bright indeed – something we feel is perfectly illustrated in our Gigs of the Week for the next few days. Dig. The Thin Air Magazine Launch Party: Not Squares, Kab Driver, Hot Cops @ Bar Sub, QUBSU – Saturday, October 4 Biased, us? Seriously, though, Not Squares (pictured) remain one…

  • No Tomorrow Launch @ Voodoo, Belfast

    We launch of brand new gig/club night NO TOMORROW at Voodoo Belfast this Saturday, March 1. Headlining on the night is fast-rising Dublin noise rock quartet Girl Band (above), an act whose ferocious latest single ‘Lawman’ seduced Pitchfork, The Quietus and many others aside. Support on the night comes in the form of hugely promising Belfast/Dublin garage quartet CRUISING and a DJ set from the one and only Not Squares. The Thin Air DJs will also be delivering an abundance of tunes throughout the night. A plenitude of awesome visuals will also be on display on the night, the first…

  • The Thin Air’s Top 100 Irish Tracks of 2013 (50-35)

    With 2014 fast approaching, we’re very itchy underfoot to wrap up our countdown of our top 100 Irish songs of 2013. A veritable wealth of great music of practically every shade of genre featured in the first and second installments of the list and we very much continue on that trend on from tracks #50 to #35. Check back next week for tracks #34 to #1 and have a very merry festive period from us in the meantime! 50. Linebacker Dirge – Words Are Missing Fronted by Jason Gibson, Belfast-based alt-rock quartet Linebacker Dirge are comprised of members of bands including…

  • Radar announces first line-up of new semester

    Radar, one of Belfast’s best weekly showcases of establishing and up-and-coming musical talent, has announced it’s first line-up of the new semester on Thursday, September 12. Marking the return of headliners, Belfast-based electronic three-piece Not Squares (above), the line-up will also feature performances from Newbridge artist Gavin Elsted AKA Adultrock and Belfast indie-rock band Go Wolf, who make their return to the Radar stage at the QUBSU Speakeasy having last graced it with presence back in mid-May. Check out the Facebook event page for the show here and check out the poster (featuring a sweet new design) below.