• Irish Tracks of the Week – April 16

    April 16, 2021 - By 

    Here are the very best Irish tracks of the week, featuring Fears, Ra Gerra, KK Lewis, Joshua Burnside, Ferals, Strange Boy, The Bonk, Local Boy, Xona, Orla Gartland and more. The Bonk – Chore Loops EP Chore Loops by The Bonk Fears – Fabric Oíche by Fears Ra Gerra – Pressure Strange Boy – Waiting KK Lewis – First Bus Home Ferals – A Collection of Unreleased Works EP Joshua Burnside – Higher Places Local Boy – Thoughts Comrade Hat – Old Gods, Vol. 1 Old Gods, Vol. 1 by Comrade Hat Punching Peaches – Wristwitch Xona – Waiting Chxmist…

  • Premiere: The Bonk – Chore Loops

    April 15, 2021 - By 

    The Bonk, formed some years ago by erstwhile O Emperor man Phil Christie, was conceived as an vessel by which to explore jazz, classic pop, psychedelia and garage, via loose, minimalist song structure and recursive rhythms – and across a string of our favourite Irish releases in recent years, they’ve done so with aplomb. Self-written, performed and produced by Christie himself, their new EP Chore Loops comes out tomorrow. Developing upon the kind of tension-building meditations of composers and artists like John Barry, and The Incredible String Band, it conures a feeling not unlike discovering a saloon in aspic in some bucolic future after ambling…

  • The Thin Air’s Top 100 Tracks of 2020 (#50-1)

    December 17, 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…

  • 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…

  • Another Love Story Announce Online Series ‘It Just Wasn’t Meant To Be’

    August 7, 2020 - By 

    Dusting themselves down from the disappointment of having to cancel this year’s real-world outing due to the fallout of COVID-19, the organisers of annual Co. Meath festival Another Love Story have announced details of a new online series. Set to broadcast from its home at Killyon Manor, the series will feature various live performances and DJs from homegrown artists and some further afield. Airing free to view via the Another Love Story website across August-15-16th, The Bonk, Jape, Rozi Plain (pictured), Rachael Lavelle and more will all make an appearance. Check out the full line-up and schedule below. Saturday, August 15th, 8pm: The ALS Shift Shack Soundsystem…

  • Stream: The Bonk – Songs For The Mean Time Vol. 1

    July 8, 2020 - By 

    Ahead of featuring on the first episode of Live at Guerrilla Studios tomorrow night, The Bonk have gifted us a new, typically superb EP, Songs For The Mean Time Vol. 1. Three songs “about good and bad sense,” the release finds the Phil Christie-fronted collective further distil their perfectly unpigeonholeable craft down to eight odd minutes of experimental song. Though it’s never been in doubt, The Bonk’s rep as one of the country’s most forward-pushing acts has just been doubly underscored. Delve in deep below. Songs For The Mean Time Vol. 1 by The Bonk

  • A Litany of Failures: Volume III Announced

    July 3, 2020 - By 

    Two years on from its second volume, islandwide independent music compilation series A Litany of Failures has opened pre-orders and announced the tracklisting for Volume III in the series – out Friday, October 2nd. More eclectic, and more export-ready than ever, the compilation features brand new music from 22 acts across Ireland, including the first recorded output from Fifty Years of Hair (Postcard Versions/Girl Band’s Dara Kiely), The Golden Cleric (Shrug Life/Girlfriend/That Snaake) and Grave Goods (Girls Names, Pins, September Girls), as well as many of our favourites – Robocobra Quartet, Silverbacks, Rising Damp, Percolator, Extravision and many more. With cover art by Nathanaël Roman, it will be accompanied by…

  • Live From Guerrilla Studios

    July 1, 2020 - By 

    Since launching back in 2011, Dublin’s Guerrilla Studios has become a vital hub in the landscape of independent Irish music. Situated under a bridged railway close to Dublin City Centre, it has produced myriad first-rate sounds from some of the country’s finest forward-pushing propositions. On Thursday, July 9, the studio space will play host to the very first episode of Live From Guerrilla Studios. The brainchild of two titans in Irish music, Ray Wingnut and John ‘Spud’ Murphy, it will feature performances from TTA favourites The Bonk and John Francis Flynn. Things kick off at 10pm from here. Stay tuned…

  • Monday Mixtape: The Bonk

    March 2, 2020 - By 

    The Bonk recently released hypnotic garage psych-jazz single ‘May Feign‘. Spanning primitive computer music to postmodern art rock, frontman (and former O Emperor member) Philip Christie takes us through some recent key influences. “These are a few tunes that I have been coming back to over the last while. Turns out I haven’t made it past the late seventies. I am not with it.” Annette Peacock – I’m The One I came across Annette Peacock’s music two or three years ago and since then it has been something I’ve come back to over and over. There is a lovely playfulness in the…

  • Kosmische Kristmas 6

    December 20, 2019 - By 

    That most seasonal of Irish underground krautrock supergroups celebrate that special time of the year with a night of “music that never happens again not happening again” for the sixth year running at Plugd this Sunday, 22nd December. The band features Cruiser’s Chris Quigley & The Sunshine Factory’s Jack Horgan on guitar, The Altered Hours’ Cathal MacGabhann on keys, Gilbert & Trá Pháidín’s Micheál Fitzgerald on Bass, Fixity/The Bonk man Dan Walsh on Drums & Flute. For just five euros, you can join them as they seek freedom through repetition until 1am. Walsh and MacGabhan will spin appropriate tunes before and after. Doors open…