• A Sacred Heart: Remembering Aengus Friel Lawrence

    April 8, 2022 - By 

    Jude Barriscale pays tribute to her close friend, and much-loved TTA favourite Aengus Friel Lawrence, aka Shammen Delly, who sadly passed away in February Illustration by Loreana Rushe We’re at an afters house party, all of us sat in a circle in the living room. I ask for the acoustic guitar from someone who’s just played a Fleetwood Mac cover to great acclaim. Ill-advisedly, I play a song I’ve been working on, which isn’t ready and I’m far too inebriated to do it any justice. The cringe monster crawls up my spine as I approach the end and I trail…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 1st April

    April 1, 2022 - By 

    With such an incredible bombardment of new albums, collaborations and singles from the likes of Pillow Queens, Oh Boland, Acid Granny, Roe, Tuath x Shammen Delly x Tara Baoth Mooney and many more this Bandcamp Friday, do the needful and pick up a few new tracks from a selection of our absolute best. Oh Boland – Cheap Things Cheap Things by Oh Boland Tuath x Shammen Delly x Tara Baoth Mooney – Sumer Is Icumin In Iarlais by Tuath Pillow Queens – Leave The Light On Leave The Light On by Pillow Queens Acid Granny – Songs For The Radio Songs For…

  • Spilt Milk Festival Announce 2021 Line-Up

    September 30, 2021 - By 

    Spilt Milk makes its return to Sligo for its third edition from 18th – 21st November, 2021. Coming a year on from its online event Transmission last November, organisers are delighted to announce the festival will return as an in-person series of live shows, installations, film screenings and workshops across four days and nights. As with previous installments, Spilt Milk have once again delivered an eclectic, carefully-curated bill that reflects the scope of forward-pushing music and art in Ireland today. On Thursday, 18th November, the festival launches with a zine workshop and an audio-visual trail. On Friday 19th November the…

  • Shammen Delly Set To Kick Off Notions Series With AV Set

    May 20, 2021 - By 

    Set to air tomorrow – Friday, May 21st – at 10pm, ‘Northern Tape Lord’ Aengus Friel, aka Shammen Delly is set to bring his hauntological blend of old VHS tapes, found-footage, reel-to-reel tape loop manipulation, ambience, trip-hop & electronic music to the very first edition of new live series Notions, broadcast from Letterkenny’s Regional Cultural Centre. The Notions series is set to feature everything from alt. rock to jazz, and aims to shine a light on Donegal artists currently pushing the boundaries in their fields to make a singular imprint on music in Ireland. Shammen Delly released his eponymous debut album in 2013, which has…

  • The Thin Air’s Top 50 Irish Releases of 2020

    December 20, 2020 - By 

    In years to come, when someone asks me what The Thin Air was and represented, I’ll likely direct them to features like the one you have just opened. Much like other publications of our ilk – Nialler9, The Last Mixed Tape, Goldenplec and others – we spend 52 weeks of the year relentlessly championing what truly makes Irish music special and, very occasionally, genuinely world-beating. We all do it in different ways, and to slightly different audiences, but the impetus and desire to shine a light on what we have is one and the very same. Although they’re almost never…

  • The Thin Air’s Top 100 Irish Tracks of 2020 (#100-51)

    December 16, 2020 - By 

    Ah, 2020 eh? Unless you were living off the grid in a self-made banana bread house whilst rocking yourself gently to various iterations of ‘Happy Birthday’ as you washed your hands, then you will know that despite collectively living through the pandemic there were plenty of Irish songs to get excited about. 100 to be precise. We’ve listened to them on repeat since we couldn’t attend gigs, raves, or house parties so we’re certain we’ve selected the finest this little locked down island has to offer. It’s safe to say this year epitomised the true meaning of community in this country…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – September 25th

    September 25, 2020 - By 

    Once again, it’s been a ridiculously strong week for Irish music throughout. Here’s the very best, from Post Punk Podge & TPM’s toxic masculinity takedown, wonderfully-constructed modern classic pop from Paddy Hanna, CMAT, Wyvern Lingo, Jackie Beverly, Dark Tropics, twisted Donegal Lynchisms from Shammen Delly, Bitch Falcon’s dreamy post-punk, and the inimitable Myles Manley, and wonderful new EPs from Gadget & the Cloud and Damien Lynch. Denise Chaila, Sorcha Richardson, God Knows, Murli – Out The Gaff Post Punk Podge & The Technohippies feat. TPM – Hard Man Paddy Hanna – Sinatra Cmat – I Wanna Be A Cowboy, Baby! Myles Manley –…

  • EP Stream: Shammen Delly – The Peoples Temple OV Big Tom

    May 1, 2020 - By 

    Without a doubt our favourite hauntological, psychogeography peddler around, Donegal experimental electronic auteur Aengus Friel, AKA Shammen Delly has released his mythological magnum opus, created in the midst of lockdown. This latest heady, hazy trip-hop-influenced concoction was recorded at his own ‘Red Dunge’, inspired by country & Irish legend Big Tom‘s 70s little-known wilderness years: “This is a vivid reimagined vision of a time when Big Tom and his Mainliners were leaders of ‘The Peoples Temple’ in Monaghan back in the late 70’s and would travel around the country summoning new followers for the sacred dances around stone circles and beaches. His followers…