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On The Record

Jim Carroll

Music, Life and everything else

Monthly Archives: November 2008

“It’s carnage out there. Some venues will close”

As On The Record readers know only too well, it’s bleak out there in gigland at the moment. While acts with established audiences can sell out The 02 or Slane in the blink of an eye, poor ticket sales and …

Priests and Killers duke it out for chart supremacy

It’s that time of year when you don’t blink an eye at the sight of priests and rockers battling it out at the top of the Irish music charts.

Bono takes the reins of subscription bandwagon

Many music industry pundits have advocated subscription services as the way forward for the business, so Bono and his Red organisation may well be in the right place at the right time with (Red)Wire. It’s a new $5 per month …

Dubs making a Stand

Unlike many of their peers, who were content to stay in the domestic comfort zone, Dublin band Stand headed to the US five years ago to boost their career. It’s a move which appears to have paid off. The band …

Etc

The weekly plugathon. You know the score – plug away to your heart’s content but please declare an interest where relevant or one may be declared for you. Garage rock fans rejoice: Billy Childish and the Musicians of the British …

Tune of the Week – “Sisters Are Forever”

These are the very best of times for new music

The end (of the year) is nigh

December is around the coner which can mean only one thing. Yes, it’s time to recall your musical highs and lows of 2008. In a week or two, The Ticket will be publishing its review of 2008. Aside from our …

The Far Side – playlist for Tuesday November 25

As played on The Far Side, as broadcast on Phantom 105.2, Tuesday November 25, 10pm-midnight R.S.A.G. “Moving Image” (Psychonavigation) White Denim “Lets Talk About It” (Full Time Hobby) Lefties Soul Connection “Organ Donor” (Melting Pot) Fred Wesley & The JBs …

You’ll never look at an Irish venue in the same way again
  • Venues
  • November 25, 2008, 14:10

It will probably take you about two minutes at most after you walk into The 02 to cast the Point to the very back of your mind. After five minutes, you’ll wonder just why the hell Irish audiences put up …

Competition – win tickets to go dancing!

Michael Mayer is coming to town. Few can bug out a dancefloor like Kompakt’s minimal kingpin and you can check him out at Spy/Wax in Dublin on December 5. Besides Mayer, the gig also features label-mates Jennifer Cardini and French …

The return of the Choice Music Prize for the fourth year

Yes, it is happening again so here are the relevant dates for your diary. The shortlist for the Choice Music Prize for Irish Album of the Year 2008 will be announced on Wednesday January 14th and the live event will …

Here we go again – the Monday morning randomiser

(1) It’s the end of an era. Abbey Discs in Dublin closes its doors this evening after 25 years in business in the capital. Yep, another record store says feck this for a game of cowboys and heads for the …

No definite date on the horizon for new U2 album
  • U2
  • November 21, 2008, 09:41

A year or so ago, On The Record predicted that one of the landmark releases of 2008 would be an U2 album. Not for the first time, On The Record was wrong.

The Hannigan effect

There’s no stopping the Lisa Hannigan bandwagon at present. The latest to fall for the Kilcloon, Co Meath singer are ATO Records, stadium rocker Dave Matthews’s label. They have just added Hannigan to a roster which already includes David Gray, …

A community of sound

What’s that sound? That’s the sound of a dozen community organisations around the country making merry with their IRMA Trust musical starter kits. Each of the 12 groups will get instruments, equipment and a starter fund of €500 to enable …

Etc

The weekly post where you can plug away to your heart’s content. The floor is yours – club nights, gigs, new releases, bands to check out, credit crunch celebrations etc. Please be polite and declare an interest or don’t be …

Tune of the Week – “A Beautiful Mine”

Yep, I have the Mad Men bug too.

The Far Side – playlist for Tuesday November 18

As played on The Far Side, as broadcast on Phantom 105.2, Tuesday November 18, 10pm-midnight Everything Everything “Suffragette Suffragette” (Salvia) TV On The Radio “Wolf Like Me” (4AD) Parts & Labor “Prefix Free” (Jagjaguwar) Husker Du “Could You Be The …

Malcolm Gladwell in Dublin next week
  • Books
  • November 18, 2008, 14:45

Thanks to Sarah for the heads-up on this. Malcolm Gladwell will be speaking at the John Hume Institute at UCD on November 27. Gladwell is the author of The Tipping Point and Blink and the lecture ties in with the …

Competition – win a taste of Baltimore!

Thanks to our pals at Foggy Notions (purveyors of cutting-edge indie music for yonks), we have a pair of tickets to give away to see the aweome Beach House in action at Whelan’s in Dublin on November 27. Victoria Legrand …

Monday morning randomness for the gaiety of the nation

(1) Just how good were TV On The Radio on Saturday night? How about intense, searing, life-affirming, rollicking, immense and magnificent? Anyone who walked away from that show feeling otherwise must have lost the power to be moved by music …

10 years of Vicar Street
  • Venues
  • November 14, 2008, 09:13

Thanks to On The Record readers for their recent input into our feature looking back at 10 years of the Vicar Street venue in Dublin. The piece is published in today’s Ticket. If you want to read all our readers’ …

Compilations prove greater than the sum of their parts

Good news for record labels: compilations are still selling.

Getting jazzy at home
  • Jazz
  • November 14, 2008, 08:58

Some music fans may think that Irish jazz festivals begin and end with Cork in October, but a wealth of exciting jazz events happen all over the country every year. Next week, the Galway Jazz Festival kicks into action. Acts …

Beyond The Pale

The Pale’s run continues. Next year, the veteran Dublin band release a new album, “Proper Order”, and there are two tracks from it, “Chocolate Factory” and “Lady Gregory”, now available as free downloads from the band’s website. The band’s earliest …

Etc

The first Letterkenny Rhythm and Blues Festival has Big Boy Bloater, Lee Headley Band, The Mudskippers and many more playing in the Donegal town from November 28th to 30th. Get some pre-Xmas vibes with Roy Ayers at Dublin’s Button Factory …

Tune of the Week – “This Summer Night”

You dancing?

Credit crunch conks Counting Crows

Those 138 readers (sorry, just did a recount, 27 readers) who were looking forward to seeing Counting Crows (or, more likely, support act The Hold Steady) in Dublin’s 02 and Belfast’s Odyssey in December now have a free date on …

The state of hip-hop in 2008

Like everyone else, I have a slew of emails hitting my mailbox every day from various news sources. This daily onlaught of info usually includes at at least one or two missives from All Hip-Hop, “the most widely read Hip-Hop …

The Far Side – playlist for Tuesday November 11

As played on The Far Side, on Phantom 105.2, Tuesday November 11, 10pm-midnight Metric “Help, I’m Alive” (Last Gang) Jon Spencer Blues Explosion “Afro” (Mute) Free Blood “Quick & Painful” (DFA) Blaqstarr/MIA “Save Ur Soul” (JB Starr) Buraka Som Sistema …

The Gaslight Anthem, Dublin, March 2009

Per Lauren – the first and last word in gig annoucements – the truly awesome Gaslight Anthem play Dublin’s Academy (unfortunately) on March 4. Hurrah!

“Bertie”

Are they watching “Bertie” up in Fagan’s, the pub that’s a hop, skip and jump across the road from Bertie Ahern’s stronghold in downtown Drumcondra? Perhaps they’re tuning into “Katherine Lynch’s Wonderwomen” (though, on second thoughts, there doesn’t appear to …

The great Monday morning re-up in 11 easy steps

(1) There was an impressive turn-out last Thursday for the NI Music: The Way Forward all-day yakaton at Belfast’s Whitla Hall organised by the Northern Irish Music Industry Commission. While the number of heavy-hitters on the panels (new UK Music …

Economic slump hits brave new world of digital radio
  • Media
  • November 7, 2008, 10:26

The global economic slump is giving the digital radio sector a bashing. Lately there has been a stream of bad news stories, with several high-profile UK companies either pulling the plug on existing digital stations or shelving launch plans.

Wolves at the door in 2009

The demise of the record label is still a long way off, especially those labels still run by genuine music fans. Besides putting on live shows around the city, Dublin’s Skinny Wolves are also in the business of releasing records, …

Christmas crackers

You may be trying to avoid the “C” word for a little while longer, but some people are already compiling lists and checking them twice. The 12 Nights to Christmas festival sees a host of Irish and international names gigging …

Etc

The weekly post with more plugs than the ESB. You know the score: plug away to your heart’s content but declare an interest where relevant or don’t be surprised if one is forcibly declared for you. Other Voices returns for …

Tune of the Week – “Too Fake”

Yes, friends, it is time to start thinking about the bands of ’09

The Far Side – playlist for Tuesday November 4

As played on The Far Side, on Phantom 105.2, Tuesday November 4, 10pm-midnight We have lift-off with the new show. Loads of Irish music to make off for the last few weeks of international music only on the Producers, plus …

A song for today

Sam Cooke. “A Change Is Gonna Come”. Oh yeah.

10 years of Vicar Street

It’s a decade since Vicar Street opened on a corner of Thomas Street in Dublin which used to house an abattoir and a rundown pub. That’s 10 years of quality gigs, big names and shouts for “one more tune”. We’re …

White Hinterland responds

On the back of last week’s post about the future of the music business, Casey Dienel AKA White Hinterland has added her thoughts to the debate. As anyone who has read the piece will know, I used her recent gig …

11 things I learned this weekend

(1) I bet there must be at least five of you who wondered what ever happened to Phil Babb. OK, four. Three? Anyway, the former Liverpool, Sporting Lisbon and Ireland footballer (who also had a thing for walking on car …