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Jim Carroll

Music, Life and everything else

Monthly Archives: April 2007

Raving, we’re (still) raving
  • Clubs
  • April 30, 2007, 09:42

That post below about the changing of the guard at Ri-Ra, an interesting to-do at the Guardian’s blog (which reminded us of some clubs in Waterford we’d completely forgotten about) and a rumour that the fabulous Powderbubble may be returning …

Grand musical ambition for docklands

It appears that changes on Dublin’s docklands are not merely confined to the amount of new buildings sprouting up everywhere you look. In July, the Martha Schwarz-designed Grand Canal Square to the south of the Liffey will host Analog, one …

Future is free for The Crimea

One of the albums of the year is set to be given away for free. The Crimea, the band fronted by Dubliner Davey MacManus, will give away their excellent new album, “Secrets of the Witching Hour”, as a free download …

DJs get wiiiings
  • Clubs
  • April 27, 2007, 09:01

It’s not just DJs who take control at the Red Bull Music Academy these days. Last year, local jazz musician Daniel Jacobson was the Irish rep at the week-long boot camp for music makers. This year, Toronto will host the …

Seminal Steinski spins

Cut-and-paste pioneer Steinski will be hitting Ireland when the country in the grip of political fever (or extreme ennui in some cases). One-time New York advertising executive Steve Stein’s seminal productions, such as “Lesson One: The PayOff Mix” and “The …

You did buy tickets, didn’t you?

It would appear that the Electric Picnic is now sold-out.

Tune of the Week – “I Wish I Could Have Loved You More”

Her name is Candie Payne and she sounds, well, extraordinary.

Hip-Hop: now the New York Times gets busy

Props to fachtna (and Donny) for pointing us towards this piece. Kelefa Sanneh stitches the whole story together, from Don Imus to Russell Simmons, in a level-headed fashion and makes some very salient points about how this particular hullabaloo plays …

Rick’s digital radio
  • Media
  • April 25, 2007, 09:56

2FM disco-jockey Rick “who’s the daddy now?” O’Shea is talking about RTE’s current digital radio trials over at his blog As well as a lot of the existing Dublin stations being on test on DAB as well as all the …

Hip-hop continues to examine fluff in bellybutton (extra fluff found – see below)

Various hip-hop activists and players are continuing to think out loud about what the hell is going on in their game. Obviously, they have plenty of time on their hands at the mo’ seeing as hip-hop sales have collapsed (sales …

Beirut in Dublin

Good news, people. Beirut play Dublin’s Tripod on June 22. Yahoo. Tickets now on sale from Ticketmaster.

When is a sold-out show not a sold-out show?

On the one hand, you have the official statement from MCD Concerts issued last Friday that The Police at Croke Park is sold out. This was, naturally, reported on by some of the usual sources. On the other hand, as …

Vote For …… ?

News that Blur drummer David Rowntree is to stand for the British Labour Party in a forthcoming by-election should provide food for thought for the Irish political establishment. Jaded party hacks could feel it’s time to take a punt on …

Boogie nights to go on as Rí Rá changes hands
  • Clubs
  • April 20, 2007, 09:30

When Rí-Rá opened on Dublin’s Dame Court in June 1993, the club was one of several newcomers to the city during an intensive 18-month period when clubbing really was the new rock’n’roll.

Jammy way to cash in

Everyone has to make a living, which probably explains Irish dates in May for two ex-members of The Jam trading under the name “(from) The Jam”. As Paul Weller has no intentions of doing a Police and rejoining his former …

Season of the sell-outs

By the time you read this, the sold-out signs will probably be up for The Police’s show at Croke Park in October. It’s shaping up to be that kind of season, with sell-out shows already for the Rolling Stones, Rod …

Tune of the Week – “Saturn Strobe”

His name is Hendrik Weber, but anyone seeking a slice of what electronic music might sound like a couple of years from now knows him as Pantha Du Prince.

The other Rev Al

If you think your local political numptie is some man when it comes to making the headlines, you obviously haven’t seen Rev Al Sharpton in action.

The Buckley stops here

A couple of years ago, I wrote a tongue-in-cheek column in The Ticket giving record labels some ideas for concept albums. Look, it was January and there wasn’t much else going on. There was no new REM album, for instance, …

Fore! Random Monday morning links

Say hello to Lull. He’s the geezer who has done an amazing Music Box & Tears remix of Bloc Party’s “I Still Remember” (and he’s also done a good job on the ace I Was A Cub Scout’s “Pink Squares”). …

Sumner in October

The Police have confirmed an Irish show – they’ll play Croke Park on Saturday October 6. Tickets go on sale next Friday. Given that the Rolling Stones at Slane sold out in a few minutes/hours, this one will probably go …

Downloads: the high price of high quality

You could say that they were the bits of the story that everyone ignored. The big hullabaloo about EMI getting into bed with Apple concentrated on how the major music company’s catalogue will be available free from all digital rights …

Oxegen eats up Live Earth

Will there be an Irish Live Earth concert? Shows are already slated for New Jersey, London, Shanghai, Sydney, Johannesburg and Rio de Janeiro for July 7th, but on that day here the Oxegen bash gets under way in Co Kildare. …

(Some) 2FM DJs hit the road

In May, the RTÉ 2FM 2moro 2our (see what too much coffee in the RTE canteen does to you) will take Choice Music Prize-nominated Messiah J & The Expert, Limerick shams Giveamananakick and the excellent Flaws around the land. In …

Roll, Nina Roll

There’s currently a whole lotta Nina Simone in the pop ether. Ignore Timbaland’s butchering of Nina’s Sinnerman on his Shock Value album, but we really like the cut of Sea Lion Woman from Feist’s The Reminder album (yes, we know …

This week’s Bruce post

Have a read of Josh Ritter’s blog about what happened when Bruce himself turned up at the all-star “Celebrating the Music of Bruce Springsteen” hop at Carnegie Hall, New York. UPDATE: as Brendan points out in the comments below, there’s …

Tune of the Week – “Roscoe (Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve remix)”

Yes, I’m a sucker for remixes. I like the way some remixers take a tune which you might know like the back of your hand and turn it into something which now resembles the back of your ankle. Sure, there …

Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!

Fans of razor-sharp barbs and robotic funk, pay heed. Devo play Dublin’s Vicar Street on June 21.

Pearlman goes pop

Without Lou Pearlman, there would be no Louis Walsh or Simon Cowell. Pearlman was the boy band mogul who created the Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync and crafted a template for how to make money out of intricately hair-gelled male …

The word of Ged

Sony-BMG’s move to kill off the demo tape last week (see piece from Friday’s Ticket here) gathered a great deal of press attention and showed once again that label boss Ged Doherty knows how to get the headlines.

We are three

Yes, there’s a new Irish Times blogger in the area. Shane Hegarty is the newest blog on the ireland.com blogging block. Who’s next? Have patience, all will be revealed soon.

Vault hitting the heights

Wolfgang’s Vaults is an extraordinary treasure trove of vintage poster art and memorabilia, but the real crowdpuller is legendary San Francisco promoter Bill Graham’s archives, especially audio recordings of nearly 400 concerts from 1965 until the late 1980s promoted by …

Eno’s you know

It’s not every day that Brian Eno tells an interviewer that a band makes him “fucking angry”, but that’s what how the producer, currently working with Coldplay, described The Books to The Ticket in 2005. “I think ‘I should have …

When rappers clash (part 1,478)

While hip-hop beefs rarely bother the headlines any more, here’s one which has been generating significant heat in New York of late. G-Unit rapper Tony Yayo is facing assault charges after he allegedly confronted and hit a 14 year old …

Friends in the north put it up to national broadcaster

Watching So Hard To Beat, it was startling to realise just how rare quality music TV shows like this have become on our TV screens. In fact, it’s hard to remember any other music shows in recent years which could …

Tune of the Week – “Kid On My Shoulders”

It’s the last night at South By Southwest and there are a couple of hundred bands to see. The usual story in Austin in March.

Sole music

Looking for something for the well-dressed, sporty miserabilst in your life? These Joy Division trainers might do the trick.

Dancing Skeletons On Moore Street

Alan O’Boyle talks about “Little Sketches”, a Decal out-takes album now available to download for free. These tracks were recorded at home in late 2004 when I’d dismantled my studio in Moore Street and had just bought a decent soundcard …

The Boss Live In Dublin in June

Sorry for any heart attacks which that mischevious post title may have caused, but I couldn’t resist it. While Bruce Springsteen is not slated to be coming to Dublin any time soon, “Live In Dublin” is a new CD and …

An Apple a day

Steve Jobs and Apple are back on the music business news wires this lunchtime following an EU commission decision to launch an enquiry into the company’s pricing structure for its iTunes store. “Consumers can only buy music from the iTunes …

When great minds think alike

It was hard to avoid the sheer volume of coverage in the UK papers last weekend about the joys of spending a few days in the open air listening to music, drinking warm beverages and eating pies/noodles/burgers. All of this …

If you go down to the woods today….

The Electric Picnic have announced their first set of acts for the festival and our guesswork from last week was fairly accurate. No MIA yet. Or Peter, Bjorn & John. Or Wilco, come to think of it. Still, there are …

The End Is Nigh (latest update)

EMI Records have become the first of the Big Four major labels to read the writing on the wall and proceed with digital rights management (DRM)-free downloads. Their deal with Apple means EMI’s DRM-free catalogue will be available initially through …

I have company

Yes, there is another Irish Times blog out there. Conor Pope’s Pricewatch is now on the blogging block – check him out and be nice. Nice is good.

Coming Soon To A Music Player Near You

While some pundits continue to add adjectives and adverbs to their pending “death of the album” pieces (they’re a bit like those property collapse pieces which economic commentators had on hand for the last decade), you’ll find no such predictions …