The excellent Pivot play Dublin’s Whelan’s on October 22 and Galway’s Roisin Dubh on October 23. Tickets for the Dublin show will be €12.50 and will go on sale next Thursday. (Gugai, throw the Galway prices in the comment field below when you get a chance. Ta)
(1) I used to think that the easiest big venue in the country to get in and out of was the Odyssey in Belfast, but the Rat Cellar was even better. Drive up the main road into the park (no hold-ups whatsoever at 7pm), park the jalopy (loads of parking space near the venue at the top of Chesterfield Avenue), walk a hundred yards or so to the gate and there you are. Same getting out again. Mad, Tom, mad.
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You asked for it. This is where you, fans and freaks of the finest TV show ever made, can talk turkey with fellow devotees.
From here on in, there are certain assumptions. Anything which occured in seasons one through four can be discussed. Questions relating to plot points or stuff which happened to specific characters or in scenes can be asked and discussed. Every Wednesday (well, most Wednesdays), we’ll also start rolling with a recap of the latest episode of season 5 as screened on TG4 the previous Monday. For those who missed episode one this week, the station are repeating the show on Saturdays at 11.25pm (we had better be getting some love from TG4 for this). Everyone ready?
(Please note that all random comments which have nothing to do with the show will be deleted. After all, the assumption is that only those who have watched the show or are watching it are going to click through.)
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As if you didn’t already know, Crazy Ol’ Tom will be playing in a big tent in the Phoenix Park on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights. If you’re going, you’re going to have a whale of a time if reviews of his Edinburgh show here, here and here are anything to go by.
Per the promoters, doors to the Rat Cellar open at 6.30pm and the talent is onstage at 8pm sharp (though they do say these times are “subject to change” if Tom wants to have a ham sandwich or talk to the deers or gets lost on his way to the stage or something like that). The Rat Cellar is located near the Visitor Centre in the park.
You will need a valid ID (passport, driving licence, that sort of thing) matching the name on the ticket to get in. All tickets will be scanned on entry to the show and all IDs will be checked.
If you have any queries about this, don’t ask me - I stopped promoting shows years ago. Instead, contact Ticketmaster (this is how they earn their big fees) or the promoters (ditto) with all your questions about this.
Naturally, we’ll do a re-up here on Big Tom’s first show on Thursday morning.
Our (usually reliable) sources tell us that the sons of a travelling preacherman and their cousin are coming back to the capital for more of our euros in December. This will make it three visits in all in less than a year. They’re yet another act who will be playing The Venue Formerly Known As The Point in the run-up to Christmas. It’s going to be busy down there.
Fans of the Kings - and there must be gazillions of them here if the band keep coming back so often - can download a new track, “Crawl”, taken from their forthcoming fourth album, “Only By The Night“, for free from the official website.
Crystal Castles play Dublin’s Academy on October 1 and Belfast’s Spring & Airbrake on October 2. Does this mean we’re in for a repeat of this the morning after?
The blog will be quiet-ish on Monday and Tuesday due to, uhm, “forseen circumstances”.
This means that we’ll start the On The Record on The Wire thread on Wednesday morning. Here’s how it will work. Comments will be allowed from the get-go about anything from Seasons 1 to 4 and we will follow Season 5 as it unfolds on TG4. They kick off Season 5 on Monday night at 10.30pm with, what I assume, will be the first episode in the series. Yeah, I’m sure they will do that. It’s RTE who usually mess up the running order - they showed the last three episodes of Boomtown in the completely wrong order. You have seen Boomtown, haven’t you? Man, that Hallowe’en car chase scene still cracks me up.
But I digress. Comments will be allowed each week on what has happened in that week’s episode, but all spoilers posted relating to the rest of that season will be deleted. I’m going to be fairly ruthless about that so don’t test my patience. We will, however, be assuming that everyone who is reading or commenting has already seen the first four seasons, aii’ght? The first rule of On The Record on The Wire? “Casual viewers? Fuck the casual viewers”. The second rule of On The Record on The Wire? If you’re not a fan, don’t read it. The third rule of On The Record on The Wire? Sheeeeeee-it, you have to ask? Clay Davis for Taoiseach, of course.
So what will you do until then? How the hell will you fill those hours you usually spend here when you really should be counting paper-clips, managing hedge-funds, interviewing criminals (hello lads!), making Gerry Ryan quake in his boots (howya boss!), mooning over your big colour photo of Mozzer (our research indicates that at least a dozen of youse do it every single day and then come over here for a spot of self-flagellation) or compiling cue-cards for Lorraine Keane (greetings to all our new readers in TV3!)?
Well, look right and down a bit - the blog-roll has returned. There are some downright excellent blogs there for you to explore if you have not done so already. New-ish additions to the roll to check out come from Johnnie Craig, Gimme Tinnitus, See What You Hear, The Anti-Room, Rosemary McCabe and Egoeccentric. There are also new blogs on the Irish Times block - namely Outsidein, the Politics blog and Peter Murtagh’s Balkan Bikers blog about going around the Balkans on a motorbike. Get clicking.
As played on Phantom FM, Saturday July 26, 10pm-midnight
This was actually my second appearance on Phantom on Saturday as I also took part in The Kiosk’s first ever pop culture quiz. It was great fun, made even better by the fact that Team Red, which was Sinead Gleeson, Neil Dunphy (Sunday Tribune) and myself trounced (yeah, that’s the word) Team Blue, AKA John Meagher (Irish Independent), Edel Coffey (Irish Independent and ex-Phantom) and Alan Corr (Entertainment Weekly, sorry, the RTE Guide). Well done to Nadine, Derek, Johnnie and Sarah Anne for putting it all together. For knowing more about Johnny Logan (that was the Gleeson) and bands who took their names from kitchen implements (Boards Of Canada, ahem), we won a Sex Pistols glass each. It’s grand if you’re drinking milk but, for some reason, you get a stream of racist comments when you pour Coca-Cola into the glass.
Little Boots “Meddle” (50 Bones)
Ladyhawke “Dusk Till Dawn (The Canyons remix)” (Modular)
Daedelus “Make It So” (XXXchange remix)” (Ninja Tune)
Lykke Li “I’m Good I’m Good (Metronomy remix)” (LL)
Uh Huh Her “Not A Love Song” (Nettwerk)
Duchess Says “AEAE” (Alien8)
The May Fire “Red Eye” (Rock Whores)
Cold War Kids “Something Is Not Right With Me” (V2)
The War On Drugs “Taking The Farm” (Secretly Canadian)
No Age “Eraser” (Sub Pop)
Minotaur Shock “Am Dram” (4AD)
Kitty, Daisy & Lewis “Going Up The County” (Sunday Best)
Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir “Go Back Home” (Ballin’ The Jack)
Nina Simone “Gimme Some” (Verve)
Lefties Soul Connection “Organ Donor” (Melting Pot)
Nightmares On Wax “195lbs” (Warp)
Santogold/Diplo “Guns Of Brooklyn” (Mad Decent)
Mickey Factz “Machine Gun” (GFCNew York)
Cool Kids “Oscar The Grouch” (Cool Kids)
Clipse “Fast Life” (Re-Up)
Au Revoir Simone “Oh! You Pretty Things” (Rapster)
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson “Buriedfed” (Say Hey)
Azeda Booth “Ran” (Absolutely Kosher)
Quiet Village “Victoria’s Secret” (!K7)
Bon Iver “Wisconsin” (4AD)
M Ward & Zooey Deschanel “When I Get To The Border” (Merge)
Bruce Springsteen “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)” (CBS)
We’re back on the road with Josh Ritter and he’s still hanging around the mountains. This time around, he’s on the festival trail with stories and pictures from the Mile High Festival and the Grand Targhee Festival involving beer, Tom Petty and Abraham Lincoln. Also below is a live video of “Overnite”. You’ll find this on the Irish edition of the “Live At The 9.30 Club” album, which is released here on September 5. “Overnite” is one of a number of bonus tracks and videos on the Irish release.
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The Revs went their separate ways in 2006 after a lengthy innings which saw them unable to build on their Irish popularity.
Lead singer Rory Gallagher is about to get back in the game with the release of his debut solo album in August.
Gallagher, who is shortening his name for this project to Rory, to avoid confusion with another Donegal-born musician, has spent the last couple of years since the demise of The Revs living and working in the Canary Islands.
The new album, God Bless The Big Bang, was recorded in Germany and will be released on new indie label Buddy Records, on August 15th. Gallagher kicks off a lengthy Irish tour at the Rathmullan Summerfest in Co Donegal on August 3rd.
Acclaimed jazz guitarist John Abercrombie has announced an Irish tour for September.
The ECM artist has played and recorded with a glittering roll-call of musicians down through the years, including Gil Evans, Jan Garbarek, Chico Hamilton, Billy Cobham, Joe Lovano and many more. He also led the seminal Gateway trio alongside Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette.
For his Irish tour, Abercrombie’s band will feature Michael Buckley (tenor sax), Ronan Guilfoyle (bass) and Joey Baron (drums).
The tour will visit Limerick (Dolan’s, September 11th), Cork (Triskel, September 12th), Belfast (Black Box, September 13th) and Dublin (Whelan’s, September 14th).
Dublin local indie station Phantom FM has a new morning and lunchtime line-up from next Monday. Richie McCormack and Charlotte Flood take over the breakfast show, Channel 6’s Michelle Doherty is in the mid-morning slot and Sinéad Ní Mhórdha takes over the lunchtime show. (Declaration of interest: I present a weekly show on the station).
Athens, Georgia veterans Elf Power plug forthcoming album “Dark Developments” with a show at Dublin’s Whelan’s on August 9 with support from the excellent Spook of the Thirteenth Lock.
The Reverend is back. Al Green (video below) plays Dublin’s Vicar Street on October 26.
Glastonbury hit, one-to-watch and recent On The Record Tune of the Week pick, Thecocknbullkid plays Club NME at Dublin’s Button Factory on August 21.
There’s a lot of coverage across the water today (including pieces in The Guardian and on the Beeb) about plans by UK internet service providers to send letters to customers they believe are illegally uploading or downloading music. It does not say if these will be strongly-worded letters or if other action will follow if the letters don’t have the desired effect.
As always with these stories, it’s interesting to note the spin from different publications. The Telegraph, for example, take the line that parents will be censured for all the illegal downloading done by their kids (parents, of course, would never have the time to download music).
And, just to ensure that illegal downloading really is in the ether over there, there’s a piece in The Independent about UK government proposals to charge broadband users an annual levy to allow them download as much music as they want to.
However, as the Guardian’s Charles Arthur notes on his blog today, this levy ain’t going to happen if the BPI have their way. Arthur was writing after the body representing UK record labels conducted a conference call this morning giving its spin on plans for The Letters, during which BPI chief Geoff Taylor said the levy was news to him.
As Arthur notes, “it still feels like the wheels are grinding exceedingly slow” on this issue, but they are moving. And it can only be a matter of time before Irish record label reps IRMA and the Irish ISPs come up with a similar plan. However, and correct me if I’m wrong here, I really don’t think a letter is going to suddenly change the situation. It’s simply yet another example of how the music industry’s business model has changed and how the industry has just not come up with a workable response or solution in time.
There are times when graphic designers and commissioning editors think alike. It happens and, as a result, you get the same folks interviewed and featured in different magazines and publications on the same day or in the same week. You sometimes even end up with the same cover shot.
Then, well, there’s another kind of coincidence. Case in point, the two covers below. On the right, you have the current issue of the RTE Guide, the one dated July 26. And, on the left, you have Entertainment Weekly, dated, oh, hold on, June 27. You have to admit that Bono and the Harry Potter lad look well in both.
The Jerry Dammers Spatial A.K.A. Orchestra will be playing “a tribute to the mystic music mavericks” at Dublin’s Vicar Street on September 12. It’s Dammers and his orchestra of top-notch UK jazzers playing the music of Sun Ra, Alice Coltrane, Coxsone Dodd and, of course, Dammers himself. The Orchestra features Zoe Rahman, Denys Baptiste, Larry Stabbins, Jason Yarde, Nathanniel Facey, Anthony Joseph and Francine Luce. Tickets will be €30.
Time for a confession: the latest On The Road diary comes from the man whose tour blog for The Huffington Post and Paste gave On The Record the notion to do these diaries in the first place. Josh Ritter is back on the road once again, this time co-headlining some shows through the US midwest with Andrew Bird and playing a few festivals as well. More words (and pictures) from the road to come. Josh plays the sold-out Electric Picnic festival at Stradbally, Co Laois on August 30.
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The runners and riders for the latest Mercury Music Prize (which is, of course, the UK version of the Choice Music Prize) are as follows:
Adele “19″
British Sea Power “Do You Like Rock Music?”
Burial “Untrue”
Elbow “The Seldom Seen Kid”
Estelle “Shine”
The Last Shadow Puppets “The Age Of The Understatement”
Laura Marling “Alas I Cannot Swim”
Neon Neon “Stainless Style”
Portico Quartet “Knee-Deep In The North Sea”
Robert Plant And Alison Krauss “Raising Sand”
Radiohead “In Rainbows”
Rachel Unthank And The Winterset “The Bairns”
On The Record says: give it to Burial and be done with it.
Are you in need of a Wire re-up this morning? And we’re not talking about Lauren Laverne’s woeful, cringeworthy, shoddy, pointless and amateur-hour interview with David Simon on the Beeb’s Culture Show last week. If you didn’t pick up the Observer at the weekend, make with the clicking here to read why a couple of crime writers rate the show so highly. When you’re finished there, click through to the full repository of Wire articles from The Guardian and The Observer.
Speaking of the best TV show ever, season 5 kicks off on TG4 on Monday 28 at 10.30pm. Of course, some of you have already seen Season 5, lots of you are still working your way through seasons 1 to 4 and more of you are saving it all for the release of Season 5 on DVD in August. All of which begs the question - do we kick off a Wire thread here once a week? Seeing as Bryan has his book club, maybe it’s time On The Record got its Wire freak on. A new thread every Tuesday or Wednesday morning where people get to talk about that week’s episode on TG4 and the series to date? Or is this a truly terrible idea? Thoughts, people.
Want to know where you will be sitting when you go to see Lenny at The Venue Formerly Known As The Point in December? Well, here’s how the venue will look for seating shows and here’s how it will look for standing shows. Interesting to see that one of the options is for a Coldplay gig. Wishful thinking or are the vastly overrated, mind-numbingly boring and outrageously bland ‘Play on their way to Dublin this year?
By the way, I assume you did know that Lenny is coming back in December to get some cash together for the Christmas shopping. Lauren broke that story on Friday. Later that day, though, Hot Criminal picked it up, but they forgot to credit the source of their story. Seems to be a lot of that ol’ forgetfulness round Hot Criminal Towers of late. You’d want to be careful about that kind of thing, you know. I mean, what would have happen if all the red-tops did something similar with a Hot Criminal story, eh? Bang goes the publicity stunt.
From the sublime to…..er, Russian emos. It seems that a bunch of young Siberian emo fans are not happy about plans to ban them from wearing “emo and goth fashions” in schools. The Siberian kids did what all good emos do when they’re in a strop and went for a good old stomp around the streets of Krasnoyarsk. I’m sure Dmitry Medvedev is quaking in his boots at the thought of a bunch of fuming My Chemical Romance fans. Stalin had it easy by comparison.
Wonder will HMV be introducing these tax-free in-store kiosks in their Irish shops in the near future?
Houston, we have an indie band problem. The Houston Press examine why the Texan city is not so hot right now for indie bands. Meanwhile, the Independent wonder do we really need yet more indie bands who look and sound exactly same as the last lot.
“You know who they are, these smooth-chinned strummers, with their smart-arsed, self-admiring band names almost invariably prefaced by the definite article: The Kooks, The Courteeners, The Holloways, The Rascals, The View, The Wombats, The Automatic, The Pigeon Detectives, The Hoosiers. Their turgid, tuneless banalities use all the oxygen between ad breaks on XFM; they mop up the soggy midday slot on the main stage. Indie is the 30-year-old genre that gave us The Smiths, The Stone Roses, Blur and Arctic Monkeys. But in that period it has also produced Ocean Colour Scene, Menswear and Joe Lean and The Jing Jang Jong.”
From the Old News Department. The Times says Italian rock bands are so hot right now and they go into rhapsodies of delight about Disco Drive. We here at On The Record were in rhapsodies of delight about them a year ago. Tsk, tsk. Our tip for the next bunch of non-English speakers which the Times will be writing about in the next few months? We’re going with the Catalans: El Guincho, Guillamino, Balago, El Chico Con La Espina En El Costado and Raven Heads.
You wait for a book to come along on Clear Channel and two turn up at once. The Wall Street Journal takes a look at the “official” book, Clear Vision, by Reed Bunzel, and the (far more interesting) “unofficial” book. Right of the Dial, by Alec Foege, about the big radio giant with its equally fascinating Live Nation off-shoot.
Where would El Randomiser be without a festival story? The WSJ (again - go on the WSJ) to the rescue, this time with its guide to festivals for grown-ups. What do you know, the Electric Picnic features. And, well, Oxegen doesn’t.
And finally, one from the Good News Department. Al Green is coming back to town. Hallelujah! The Rev Al plays Dublin’s Vicar Street on October 26, ten years almost to the day since the venue opened. The price for love and happiness (and red roses for the ladies) in Recession 2.0? €69, €75 and €79.50.
On The Record has learned that Fleet Foxes, who have quickly become everyone’s favourite band on the back of that amazing album, play Dublin’s Vicar Street on November 7. I reckon everyone who was at their Whelan’s show in June and everyone who wishes they had been at that show will want to be there. Tickets priced €21 go on sale next Tuesday from the usual purveyors of such items.
Here’s the video for “White Winter Hymnal”, one of the year’s finest tunes.
There’s a very good piece in today’s Ticket featuring Hugh Linehan (Irish Times features boss and the founding editor of The Ticket) and Stuart Bailie (BBC Radio Ulster DJ, Oh Yeah music centre dude and former NME album reviews editor) exchanging views back and forth about U-know-who.
There are plenty of choice, juicy remarks in the piece from the pair. Hugh takes the view that U2 play “vacuous, self-satisfied stadium rock garnished with trite sloganeering”, while Stuart sees them as “an astonishing band” who can “summon up the transcendent – a place out of linear time and rational thought” and believes that “the survival of U2 is a fascinating aspect” to observe.
The pair have been exchanging emails about U2 over the past few weeks and it’s obvious that they’ve both put a lot of time and thought into it.
To my mind, one of the most striking statements comes from Stuart: “we probably wouldn’t have the interest to sustain this kind of argument about another rock and roll band. That’s an indication of the band’s presence on our cultural landscape”. In some ways, though, the arguments about the band are a lot more interesting than any of the music they’ve produced in the last 17 years.
The people have spoken - and they feel that Oxegen 2008 has been the festival’s most successful outing to date.
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Oxegen and the Electric Picnic may command all the music news headlines, but there’s a ton of other festivals which deserve your time and recession euros (™ Thrill Pier).
Like Cork X Southwest, a one-day bash at The Showgrounds, Skibereen, Co Cork on July 26.
Cathy Davey, Afel Bocoum, Jape, The Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir and The Walls are amongst the main stage attractions, while other stages will feature Andrew Weatherall, Fish Go Deep, DJ Kormac, John Spillane, Roesy, Preston Reed and Juno Falls.
There will be a bunch of quirky sideshows (including a lecture on how to grow a garden in your flat and Sensible Soccer), art exhibits, slow food producers and a mobile cinema screening music documentaries
Muzu TV was first mentioned here back in March 2007, but the Dublin-headquartered music video site is now, finally, ready for your clicks.
Muzu TV is an ad-supported streaming music video site which allows anyone from artists and labels to venues or fans to broadcast their own music TV channel for free.
The kickback for the artist is they get a share from the advertising revenue generated in the site’s video player.
Over 200 labels and content producers are already on the books, including Sony-BMG and its mega artist roster including The Ting Tings, Beyonce, Foo Fighters, Pink, Miles Davis and many more.
Polish trumpet maestro Tomasz Stanko and his Nordic Quintet are the latest additions to this year’s Kilkenny Arts Festival, playing Hotel Kilkenny on August 10th.
Oxegen acts on the rebound with Dublin dates this autumn include MGMT (Ambassador, November 3), Black Kids (Academy, October 21), British Sea Power (Academy, September 29), The Swell Season (Olympia, December 2) and The Script (Button Factory, September 20).
Catch Malian kora player Ballaké Sissoko when he plays the Salon Music series at Kilkenny Castle (Tuesday), Farmleigh House, Dublin (Wednesday) and Castletown House, Celbridge (Thursday). Tickets are free in advance from this website.
I may have to do a Mulley and run master-classes in how to write press releases and get info about live music events to people.
While the press release for the Kraftwerk show on September 13 goes on about 6,000 acres of lushness (”a veritable Middle Earth of heather-covered mountains, silvery waterfalls and lakes, emerald forest and meadows”) and The Beatles, it has very little info about the rest of the bill. That’s all contained in an advert in today’s paper. See, there are reasons why you should still buy the paper.
Besides the majestic Kraftwerk, the rest of the bill features Soulwax, Boxcutter, Comtron, Dark Room Notes, The Jimmy Cake (”classical music in leather trousers” to quote On The Record regular Hot Lunch) and D1 DJs. There will also be a Body & Soul area, bar and gourmet grub.
Tickets? They will be €89.50 to include transport by “magic bus” from either Dublin city-centre or a park and ride jobby at Leopardstown Racecourse - no cars or car parks on site. Tickets go on sale on Friday at 9am.
There’s also a website, but this has the wrong date and no other info, making it about as useful as the Limerick hurlers were last Saturday night. (UPDATE Date now amended on website)
There are two letters published in today’s paper regarding Brenda Fitzsimon’s photo in yesterday’s paper of security staff and cleaners putting out small fires on the Oxegen campsite and starting the mammoth task of cleaning up Punchestown Racecourse.
From Gary Morrissey:
“If a picture tells a thousand words, the photograph on page 3 of Tuesday’s edition,showing countless abandoned tents, sleeping bags and camping chairs, as well as other human detritus following last weekend’s Oxegen festival, speaks volumes for the attitudes of today’s Irish teenagers towards money, material possessions, hard work, the environment and their own self-respect. Who said the recession couldn’t come quickly enough?”
And from Paddy Mettler:
“I was shocked to see the picture of the Oxegen campsite. Looking at the mess, it really was beyond me how anyone could call this event a success. Granted, the whole site may get cleaned up by a third-party contractor, but I think the picture just speaks volumes about Irish society today. How people could just leave that behind them is a disgrace and negates any positive aspects of the festival.”
After the last few Oxegens, people have fumed on and on and on about so many things to do with the festival and have directed their ire at promoters MCD. Yes, some of the problems at Oxegen in the past have been due to the promoters getting things like traffic and site management wrong. But a lot of the problems, especially the ones which relate to how people behave in a public space and respect those around them, have nothing whatsoever to do with the promoters. After all, it wasn’t the promoters who left the campsite looking like that (though I’m sure some conspiracy theorists will claim to have seen Dinny Desmond and his boys walking around with bags of rubbish). And, just in case you think it’s just teens and kids who’ll leave a place looking like that, you can probably expect to see the same scene re-enacted after the Electric Picnic, albeit with a slightly more upmarket brand of abandoned tent.
Nearly every single week after I post the playlist for the Phantom FM Saturday night show, I get asked if the show is available to download as a podcast or if there is a listen-again facility. Unfortunately, for now, the answer to both of these questions is no - there are neither podcasts of the show nor listen-again facilities on the Phantom site.
But there is, as of today, On The Record’s muxtape featuring a selection of tunes played on the radio show in the last few weeks which you might like to hear. Click and enjoy.
More, more, more names for the Picnic. This time, it’s for the festival’s Body & Soul arena.
And the list is as follows:
Martina Topley-Bird
Nitin Sawhney
Laura Marling
The Deviant Crew (with The Hideous Penguin)
Ultan Conlan
Johnny Hoban
Autamata
One Day International
Dark Room Notes
Rollers/Sparkers
Pathaan
Mauxuam
Helios Jive
R.S.A.G.
Windings
Vivienne Long
Somadrone
Ronan O Snodaigh
James Yorkston
3epkano
David Kitt
Jesse Evans
Matt Elliott
Milosh
Donal Dineen
Alphastates
Vinny Kilduff & Steve Cooney
Armoured Bear
Yoav
Fink
The Yard Dogs
Oh yes, remember where you read this first. Following her awesome performance at last month’s Meltdown festival in London (rave reviews here, here and here), the peerless Grace Jones will play the sold-out Electric Picnic in Stradbally, Co Laois at the end of August. You did get tickets for it, right?
Other new additions: Joan as Policewoman, The Stunning (back, back, back again on the reunion trail), Stephanie Dosen, Dan Deacon (dude better considering moving here with all the recession euros (™ Thrill Pier) he’s making from Irish shows), Booka Shade (who were rocking at EXIT the other night) and Deadmau5
On The Record has learned that Kraftwerk are to play at Luggala Estate in Co Wicklow on Saturday September 13 as part of a festival called A Day In the Life.
UPDATE Per press release, 4,999 tickets go on sale on Friday July 18 at 9am. Tickets are €89.50 and include transport from either Dublin city-centre or a park-and-ride facility at Leopardstown Racecourse, as there will be no car parking on site.
Seeing as On The Record spent the weekend raving in Serbia, we were as far removed from what was going on at Oxegen 2008 as it was possible to get.
We’ve had a heads-up about some of the fun and games via the Oxegen coverage in today’s paper, reviews over at State, updates (OK, one update - she had other things to do) from UnaRocks and faster-than-the-speed-of-light reviews and blogs from the NME (including Steve Cummins’s post about “the replacement frontman of a famed Derry City punk band” throwing an after-hours strop in a hotel).
But we really want to hear from the folks who seem to always know more than anyone else about this kind of thing. Cue, the On The Record readers. How was it for you? Was it, as billed, the “greatest rock’n'roll weekend of the year”? Or was the real highlight of the weekend Tipperary’s smashing Munster hurling final victory yesterday afternoon? The floor is yours.
(1) Ian was fuming about Gogol Bordello wanting 30 of his recession euros for their forthcoming show in Dublin’s Ambassador on December 20. Well dude, if Eugene Hütz and friends are anything like they were when they strormed the main stage on Saturday night, don’t dare miss it.
(2) The less said, though, about the Sex Pistols, the better. Like the rear end of a pantomine horse.
(3) Then, there were the bands performing on the other stages, bands like Vrelo and Orkestra del Sol and the Pannonia All Stars. No, I’d never heard of them either until I ran into them on one of the two dozen stages, but they were all well worth checking out. Especially Vrelo, who reminded me of Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares albeit Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares after listening to En Vogue
(4) Best DJ name of the entire weekend? That would be Balkan drum’n'brass jock Haris Pilton cutting it up for the masses on one of the stages lodged in the fortress’s former moat.
(5) Best tweaking of the dancefloor? That would be Claude VonStroke. Awesome set from the San Fran Dirtybird dude. The place went bananas when he dropped “Who’s Afraid Of Detroit?”. Just wish he’d also spun the Kevin Saunderson remix.
(6) Hot, hot, hot. It was 28 degrees at 2am on Sunday night/Monday morning.
(7) The Serbs like their heavy industrial sounds as played from behind large wire gates. Ministry, then, went down a treat. Al Jourgensen is in fine fettle. They play their last ever shows at Dublin’s Tripod on July 18 and 19.
(8) Most bottles thrown at the stage during a band’s set? The Hives get the green recycling award. You got to love that garage rock and strutting lead singer Pelle Almqvist.
(9) Best t-shirt slogan of the weekend? At a stall urging people to turn vegetarian (and best of luck with that, pal, in a country which loves its meat like a fat kid loves cake): a cartoon of an angry cow with a speech bubble: “how about I eat you, fucker?”
(10) Next year, EXIT marks its 10th anniversary. Easily the best rock’n'rave fest we’ve been to in years.
(1) The tune of the night? Art Ensemble of Chicago’s “Theme de YoYo” as played over the PA after Primal Scream left the stage. I could not believe my ears. Way, way, way more exciting than what Bobby and friends had to offer. Sorry, Bobby. Actually, most of the music played over the PA on the main stage between bands bested the Scream last night. Sorry, Scream.
(2) Second best tune of the night? “Eton Rifles” as thumped out by Paul Weller. Most of Weller’s set was top-notch (though he should have played more from “22 Dreams”), but the return to his youthful days trumped all. Weller now has a cigarette roadie. He may or may not have a man-bag roadie too. And he was getting a fierce time altogether from the mosquitos who were buzzing around his head.
(3) The reggae stage is still rocking
(4) Tiga’s set had more epic and pointless breakdowns than the M50
(5) The Serbians are only mad for the Latin music. Every time I walked past that stage, it was mobbed
(6) Sham 69 are still going. They weren’t as good as Concrete Worms, though.
(7) The Gossip have some amazing new songs (including one which may or may not be called “New Sensation”). Beth has a great command of the Serbian language.
(8) There are times, dear friends, when cheesy trance makes sense.
(9) And finally, the things you discover when you’re walking around a fortress in the early hours of the morning. I came across for a flyer for Dis-patch, a forthcoming art-and-music fest in Belgrade. One of the festival highlights is the world premiere of Totally Wired, a documentary made by Niamh Ahern, an old acquaintance of mine, about Schneider’s Buero, Andreas Schneider’s renowned electronic musical instrument shop in Berlin. The documentary will also be screened at Dublin’s Digital Hub on October 25 as part of DEAF 2008 (thanks to Karen for the heads-up). Here’s the trailer:
I hope that busted radar at Dublin airport doesn’t mean a spate of cancellations this weekend. A lot of bands will probably be on ferries but there are some, we assume, who will be using Dublin airport. Anyone know if MCD have a few private planes?
See you all here Monday for the rewind.
(1) Is there a point to The Streets? I know there are about 10,000 Brits at EXIT but that still doesn’t mean you go out and book Mike Skinner. Geezer-rap never went off so quickly. His attempts to get the crowd doing some synchronised dancing belongs to the Not A Good Idea department.
(2) More from that department. NERD’s Pharrell Williams has a great command of georgraphy. “This is not America! This is not China! This is not Russia! This is not, er, England! This is Serbia!”
(3) Audion’s “Mouth to Mouth” is the sexiest tweaking house tune you’ll ever hear within the walls of a fortress overlooking the Danube.
(4) The Serbians are only mad for the reggae.
(5) They don’t understand why the Irish said no to Lisbon. I tried to explain about Silvio Ganley and micro-chipped babies, but they weren’t buying it.
(6) Sven Vath is still alive and well and trancing away to his heart’s content.
(7) EXIT hearts Francois Kevorkian. Awesome set from the old-school New Yorker a couple of hours ago. He plays at Night Flight in Dublin on July 25. Go, go, go.
Time for round two. Last summer, Raidió na Gaeltachta’s An Taobh Tuathail show released its first compilation to a round of applause for all quarters.
Now comes volume two with longstanding presenter Cian O’Ciobhain selecting tracks from Susanna & The Magical Orchestra (see video below), the excellent Boxcutter, L. Pierre, Mice Parade, Hannu, Songs Of Green Pheasant, Sarsparilla and Somadrone.
The release on the Psychonavigation label in August will be supported by a tour featuring appearances by Kilkenny electronic act Rarely Seen Above Ground, Alphamono, Dry County and Somadrone.
The tour kicks off at Dublin’s Button Factory on August 1 and visits Galway (Roisin Dubh, 8), Cork (Electric Underground, 15) and Limerick (Trinity Rooms, 22).
Last seen in Ireland when he was artist in residence at the Dún Laoghaire Festival of World Cultures in 2004, Nitin Sawhney releases his eighth studio album in October.
London Undersound features Sawhney collaborating with Natty, Reena Bhardwaj, Ojos de Brujo, Anoushka Shankar, Imogen Heap, Faheem Mazhar and Paul McCartney, with artwork by Antony Gormley.
Sawhney says the album is his attempt to capture the London he knows.
“London’s heartbeat has changed”, he says. “Within that heartbeat there lies a feeling, a collective consciousness, the uniting hum of disparate voices waiting to be heard.”
London Undersound is released on October 10.
Steve Albini’s Shellac (see video below) play Galway’s Roisin Dubh on October 27 and Dublin’s Button Factory on October 28.
Dublin City Council’s Arts Office is behind the Northside Music Festival running in various northside Dublin city venues throughout August, with performances from Havana Son, Grada, Kevin Glackin, Veda and many more.
Polish post-rock outfit Korbowod play shows at Dublin’s Boom Boom Room on July 25th and Waterford’s Artbeat Festival on July 26th.
Minimal techno maestro Pantha Du Prince plays a live set at Dublin’s Andrew’s Lane Theatre on August 2.
Hollywood’s favourite Irish film score composer David Holmes releases his new album The Holy Pictures on September 8.
Yes, there’s more than one “greatest rock’n'roll weekend of the year” happening in July. I’m at the EXIT festival in the Petrovaradin fortress in Novi Sad. The sun in shining, they’re expecting 60,000 people (including a couple of hundred Irish folks) over the weekend and the vibes are already good.
There are 160 acts down to play on the 25 different stages between now and Sunday, including Audion, Booka Shade, Deep Dish, Francois K, Gogol Bordello, Gossip, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Laurent Garnier, Ministry, N.E.R.D., Paul Weller, The Presets, Primal Scream and, yes, the Sex Pistols.
If you’re going to that other greatest rock’n'roll weekend of the year on a racecourse in Co Kildare, have a great time and no doubt, we will hear from you on Monday.
Spiritualized play two dates in Ireland in October. Jason Pierce and assorted space cadets play Cork’s Cyprus Avenue on October 18 and Dublin’s Vicar Street on October 19.
Yes, we have another new blog on the block.
The Irish Times politics blog will feature contributions from some of the paper’s political staff including Deaglán de Breadun, Mark Hennessy and long-time blogger Harry McGee. It’s now open for business.
Taking a break from writing and recording album number two, Delorentos have been playing a couple of shows around the country ahead of their appearance at Oxegen next weekend (they play on Sunday at 5.15pm on the Pet Sounds stage sandwiched between Lightspeed Champion and MGMT).
Given what happened on the band’s US and Canadian tour earlier this year, we asked Nial Conlon to pen the latest On The Road diary about these warm-up shows. Find out why “being in a band is just the right balance of really shitty times and really fantastic times”.
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Ahoy, me hearties! It is time for another infamous On The Record competition. Walk the plank this way please…
Thanks to the nice folks at Analog Concerts, we have a pair of main stage weekend tickets to give away to their forthcoming jollies in Grand Canal Square in Dublin. This stage features Hal Willner’s Rogue’s Gallery holding court on Friday July 18, a smashing triple bill with Tortoise, Efterklang and Liars on Saturday July 19 and Taraf De Haïdouks and Vinicius Cantuária in the house (or square) on Sunday July 20. Aside from the main stage, there will also be appearances over the weekend from the lovely Silje Nes, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Chequerboard, Jonathan Coe & the High Llamas and a special Ninepoint Records label night out. See the website for whole enchillada on the event.
Producer Hal Willner’s Rogue’s Gallery features a right mad gallery of would-be pirates singing sea-songs, shanties and various tunes about bottles of rum, jolly rogers and looking like Keith Richards. Hal has already enlisted the help of Lou Reed, Tim Robbins (can he sing?), Gavin Friday, Guggai, Neil Hannon, Teddy Thompson, Ed Harcourt, Rachael Unthank and many more for this.
Here’s the question to win that pair of weekend tickets for the main stage, simply tell us what singer or performer you think Hal should add to his crew for this hullabaloo in the docks. Make with the smart alec remarks, folks. Competition runs until sun-down on Wednesday and the winner will be selected by me on the basis of the amount of chuckles the answer provokes. Competition open to everyone (including Vodafone employees, former pirates and ex-employees of the Irish stock exchange).
New blogs on the block, people, so step on up and don’t be shy. There’s some smashing stuff from Dublin indie promoters Skinny Wolves at their new joint and we also welcome Hot Press writer (and dude with his “John the Revelator” novel due on Faber & Faber in early 2009) Peter Murphy to the blogosphere.
Then, there are the blogs which are not really blogs, as in the Oxegen production blog. A lovely diary from the wet and soggy fields of Punchestown, the Oxegen production blog gives us the skinny on how a racecourse in Co Kildare is transformed into Oxegen City. Only thing, though, it’s an one-way thing as readers cannot comment on the posts. Er, right, so it’s not a blog, then. In fact, now that we think of it, there’s also no forum on the Oxegen site, a state of affairs which has remained in place since 2006. Does this make Oxegen the we-want-your-money-but-not-your-opinions kind of music fest?
Speaking of money, it’s Crazy Ol’ Tom (™ On The Record) time! Waits has gone scalping for charity which means he is auctioning five pairs of premium tickets to shows in each of the European cities on his Glitter and Doom tour this month, with the proceeds donated to charity. This means you can get your hands on the best seats in the Ratcellar in the Phoenix Park for any of the three nights by making a bid here. I hope someone has told Crazy Ol’ Tom (™ On The Record) that there is now a recession on here. (Cheers to Bren @ Analogue for the heads-up)
It’s official: Rick O’Shea is the new Gerry Ryan. Rick (real name: Brandon Anto Murphy) takes over the Ryanline from July 21 while Gerry is off (a) on his summer holidays and (b) writing his big buke about his life and times. 2fm chiefs can expect a big surge in the audience for the 9am to noon slot with new listeners, younger listeners and blogging listeners tuning in.
I meant to write about Bono’s letter to the NME last week but completely forgot about. Una, though, didn’t and she had this piece in yesterday’s Tribune about it. Basically, U2 manager Paul McGuinness gave Radiohead a few digs in the mush a while back about their “In Rainbows” experiment, saying it had backfired and stuff. Hoever, Bono and the boys disagreed with McGuinness and wrote a letter to the NME in praise of the ‘Head and all that. Lovely hurling. However, it’s unlikely that U2’s solidarity with their brethern will extend to making the new album a pay-as-you-go affair. That might be a step too far for the pension plan.
And finally, Irish Times reporter Ronan McGreevy had some quotes from Harry Crosbie in Saturday’s paper about his Giant Man project (AKA Big Bertie). Ronan also asked Crosbie about The 02 and what we were saying about the new venue on Friday. Here’s what Crosbie had to say about our speculation:
“I was reading that. I think that the experience of seeing a show in the new arena is going to up the ante for all the punters. There is a huge win situation for the public here. The experience of going to a show is going to be vastly improved because the sightlines are perfect, because of its massive intimacy and because of the choice of catering, you can eat and drink around the venue.
I fail to understand why you want to stand in a wet field in broad daylight and you can’t see the light shows. I really believe that people will be stunned when they see the Point.”
As played on Phantom FM, Saturday July 5, 10pm-midnight
Rage Against the Machine “Killing in the Name Of (Mr Oizo remix)” (White)
Ting Tings “That’s Not My Name (Kasper Bjorke remix)” (Columbia)
Simian Mobile Disco “It’s the Beat (Shit Disco remix)” (Wichita)
Syclops “Where’s Jason’s K” (DFA)
Crystal Castles “Crimewave (LAZRtag remix)” (Last Gang)
Annie “Loco” (Island)
Pivot “In the Blood” (Warp)
Ratatat “Mirador” (XL)
The Flaws “Change Clothes” (Live on Phantom FM’s Access All Areas)
Ugly Megan “One Night At My House” (Well Wicked)
Lil Wayne “A Milli” (Cash Money)
Liquid Liquid “Optimo” (Domino)
Erase Errata “Tax Dollar” (Kill Rock Stars)
No Age “Cappo” (Sub Pop)
The Hold Steady “Stay Positive” (Rough Trade)
The M’s “Big Sound” (Polyvinyl)
Titus Andronicus “Titus Andronicus” (Troubleman)
The Night Marchers “Jump In The Fire” (Vagrant)
Violens “Violent Sensation Descends” (Cantora)
Bo Diddley “Who Do You Love?” (Checker)
Thecocknbullkid “On My Own” (Need Now Future)
Bell “The Miner” (Self-release)
The Notwist “The Devil, You + Me” (City Slang)
Leila “Norwegian Wood” (Warp)
She & Him “Sentimental Heart” (Domino)
Women “Black Rice” (Flemish Eye)
Saint Etienne “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” (Heavenly)
A prediction for 2009? Expect to see less and less single-artist outdoor shows on the summer gigging schedule.
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When Taoiseach Brian Cowen is looking for a bed for the night in the capital, he lodges at the Farmleigh estate in the Phoenix Park.
The rest of us get a chance to enjoy Lord Iveagh’s stately pile when the Farmleigh Affair returns for its third outing over the August Bank Holiday weekend.
The free two-day event from the Improvised Music Company will feature Justin Adams (a regular collaborator with Robert Plant and Tinariwen) with Gambian ritti maestro Juldeh Camara, the Mornington Singers, Grada, Iarla Ó Lionáird, Grupo Fantasma, Lo Còr De La Plana and many more.
Tickets are available from today here and are limited to four per person (and that goes for the Taoiseach too).
We’ve two recommendations today for those seeking some fresh new music for the weekend.
Music blogger MP3Hugger has put together Indiecater, a 10-track compilation from a bunch of artists he thinks deserve more exposure. They include Burning Codes, Beaten Awake, Empty Rooms and Michael Knight. Download the compilation for €4.50 here.
Back in 2004, Jimmy Behan’s excellent Days Are What We Live In album was one of the Irish highlights of that year. His brand new five-track EP, In the Sudden Distance, is now available as a free download from Zymogen.
Musos seeking a dig-out for recording or performance projects should check out Music Network’s funding schemes, details of which were announced this week. Closing date for applications is October 6.
New York punk-funk pioneers Liquid Liquid play Dublin’s Tripod on October 5th, one of just two European shows for the band. Domino has just released Slip in and Out of Phenomenon, a fantastic set of their greatest grooves.
Tickets go on sale today for US house kingpin Danny Tenaglia’s date at Dublin’s Tripod on September 19th.
The sound of the summer? That may well be White Shoes & The Couples Company
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This time, it’s the Transmission festival in Kufstein, Austria which is putting up the shutters and handing back the cash.
The festival, which would have featured Mogwai, Spiritualized, Talvin Singh, Efterklang, Cornelius, Why?, Milosh and a couple of Irish acts (The Jimmy Cake, Halves, Donal Dineen), is blaming “lower than expected presales and budgetary concerns” for the cancellation. A three-day ticket for the event was €95.
Add this one to a couple of cancelled fests in Britain earlier this year (including the Wax:On Live fest in Leeds which blamed the “credit crunch”) and it’s obvious that the demand for all these festivals may just not be there.
UPDATE On a similar note, there’s an interesting post on live music promoter Harvey Goldsmith’s blog about whether there are just too many festivals on at the moment and, just as importantly, where the next wave of festival headliners and super-groups are going to come from (Tip of the hat to Record of the Day for the link)
Say hello to Bryan Mukandi whose Outside In blog is now live on our all-new, all-free, all-singing, all-dancing site.
Yep, the Point is going to be called The 02 when it re-opens its doors as a 13,000 capacity venue in December.
Loads of guff in the press release about 02 bars and special access for 02 customers, but nowt about how much the mobile phone company paid for the pleasure.
The magnificent Liquid Liquid play Dublin’s Tripod on October 5. Domino have just released “Slip In & Out Of Phenomenon” (review here), an excellent retrospective of their work and much, much cheaper and easier to get your hands on than that Mo Wax compilation from a few years ago. Tickets for the show, one of just two European shows by the band, are €31 and €33.50 and will be on sale at Tickets.ie from Thursday and Ticketmaster from Friday.
More cowbell in the monitor please!
We’ve reached the half-way point in the year so here are some Best Of lists drawn from the last six months of new releases. Doing this now also means (a) I’ll save myself some work at the end of the year and (b) I can point those folks who were asking me to recommend some music for them towards this post. All the following lists are in no particular order and links given after each album are to interviews and reviews which I have done for The Ticket. In the case of the reviews, you may have to scroll down the page to get to the review.
10 albums which are still making me smile and/or jump around
No Age “Nouns” (Sub Pop)
Vampire Weekend “Vampire Weekend” (XL) [Review]
Fleet Foxes “Fleet Foxes” (Sub Pop/Bella Union) [Review]
Lykke Li “Youth Novels” (LL) [Interview / review]
White Denim “Workout Holiday” (Full Time Hobby) [Interview / album review]
Bon Iver “For Emma, Forever Ago” (Jagjaguwar/4AD) [Review]
Kleerup “Kleerup” (EMI Sweden) [Review]
Chequerboard “Penny Black” (Lazybird)
Times New Viking “Rip It Off” (Matador) [Review]
Jape “Ritual” (Co-Op)
10 other albums which I also like a lot
The Notwist “The Devil, You + Me” (City Slang)
The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock “The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock” (Transduction)
Our Brother The Native “Make Amends For We Are Merely Vessels (Fat Cat) [Review]
Pivot “O Soundtrack My Heart” (Warp)
Hercules & Love Affair “Hercules & Love Affair” (DFA) [Interview / review]
Santogold “Santogold” (Downtown)
Lil Wayne “Tha Carter III” (Cash Money)
The Ting Tings “We Started Nothing” (Columbia)
She & Him “Volume One” (Merge/Domino) [Review]
Crystal Castles “Crystal Castles” (Last Gang) [Review]
And 10 other albums which could have made the last list but for the fact that a list of 10 albums can only have 10 albums
These New Puritans “Beat Pyramid” (Domino) [Interview / review]
Ratatat “LP3″ (XL)
Thao “We Brave Bee Stings And All” (Kill Rock Stars) [Review]
Daedelus “Love to Make Music To” (Ninja Tune) [Review]
Paul Weller “22 Dreams” (Island) [Interview]
Foals “Antidote” (Transgressive)
The Kills “Midnight Boom” (Domino) [Interview]
The Hold Steady “Stay Positive” (Rough Trade)
Cool Kids “The Bake Sale” (XL)
The Black Keys “Attack & Release” (Co-Op) [Review]
Enough about me, what about you? What new music has rocked your world this year so far?
Interesting to see some changes already to the Cois Fharraige bill. Initial press releases and ads back at the start of June for the Sony Ericsson-sponsored seaside jolly listed the fabulous Cathy Davey amongst the participants. Most of the write-ups about the fest - including this one, this one and this one - mentioned her inclusion on the bill.
Now, though, she’s no longer listed on the festival website. She’s also absent from the current run of ads and the latest press release from the organisers (though Ticketmaster still think she’s playing).
However, her own MySpace site never listed this show in the first place and she already has an appearance confirmed for the sold-out Electric Picnic. We’d imagine that the contract for the Picnic would rule out an act playing another festival in Ireland a fortnight later, so her inclusion on the Cois Fharraige bill was a bit of a surprise to begin with. Wonder will any of the other “confirmed” acts get seasick before September? Or is Cathy’s absence from the new ads and website line-up (indeed, maybe even her presence on the bill in the first place) down to, uhn, an administrative oversight at the promoter’s office?
Here’s the video shown before Jigga went onstage at Glastonbury on Saturday night
The final installment of Adrian Crowley’s diary from his recent adventures on tour these past few weeks. This time out, we’re in London, Cardiff, Belfast and Birmingham via trains, taxis and flight 666.
Adrian will be playing dates during July at Dublin’s Crawdaddy (July 4, his first Irish show with Emma Smith on violin and Vince Siprell on viola), Cork’s Cyprus Avenue (16), Limerick’s Dolan’s (17), Galway’s Roisin Dubh (18), Dundalk’s Spirit Store (26 ). He also plays the Electric Picnic at the end of August.
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