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 low turnouts have become the norm in smaller venues. Based on gigs over the past couple of months, I’ve had a look at this in today’s Ticket. Full story here and your comments, as always, are welcome.
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.
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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 subscription service and users will receive a weekly digital magazine with an exclusive song from a major act along with other music and video showcases.
Acts believed to have already signed up for (Red)Wire include Coldplay, U2, The Killers, The Police, Death Cab For Cutie, Jay-Z, John Legend and TV On The Radio (video below).
The service is launched on December 1st, which is World AIDS Day.
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 have garnered much media and industry attention to date, chiefly for their live shows.
They’re currently starting work on material for album number five, the follow-up to “Travel Light”.
Irish fans can run the rule over those new songs when Stand play Dublin’s Whelan’s on December 21st.
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 Empire are at Dublin’s Whelan’s on January 16th.
Murmer Presents, the gig promoters formerly known as Sugarlips, are bringing French band Papier Tigre (video below) to Dublin’s Twisted Pepper on Sunday.
The Drogheda Traditional Music Weekend starts today and runs all weekend.
“Penny Black” was one of the better Irish releases of 2008 and its creator Chequerboard plays at Dublin’s Joy Gallery on December 6.
Banging double-bill of the weekend? That would be Women (forthcoming self-titled album on Jagjaguwar is excellent) supporting Chad VanGaalen (whose “Soft Airplane” album is also pretty fly) at Belfast’s Limelight tonight, Galway’s Roisin Dubh tomorrow night and Dublin’s Crawdddy on Sunday.
These are the very best of times for new music
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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 music and movie writers recalling what rocked and what most definitely did not rock, we want to hear from you, our much loved readers.
What albums made you go wow? What gigs do you remember fondly? What movies impressed you so much that you recommended them to their pals?
Have your say in the comments field below.
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 “Blow Your Head” (People)
Lee Dorsey “Yes We Can” (Polydor)
Dinosaur Pile-Up “My Rock’n'Roll” (Friends Vs)
Snowden “Anti Anti” (Jade Tree)
Sexy Kids “Sisters Are Forever” (Slumberland)
Story Of Hair “Hondamolly” (Plugged In Pig)
Moonbabies “Take Me To The Ballroom” (Hidden Agenda)
Apache Beat “Tropics” (Summer Lovers Unlimited)
Suicide “Dream Baby Dream” (Blast First)
The Pharcyde “Runnin’” (Delicious Vinyl)
Q-Tip “Manwomanboogie” (Universal Motown)
Art Ensemble of Chicago “Theme de Yo Yo” (EMI France)
Errors “Dance Music” (Rock Action)
Johnny Thunders “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory” (Sire)
Lucinda Williams “Car Wheels On A Gravel Road” (Mercury)
Plush “Blown Away” (Broken Horse)
Arthur Russell “This Is How We Walk On The Moon” (Orange Mountain)
Ribbons “Miu Miu” (Osaka)
Peter Broderick “Games Again” (Bella Union)
Bon Iver “Skinny Love” (4AD)
Bernard Herrmann “Psycho (Prelude, The Murder, Finale)” (Milan)
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 with - or had to put up with - that dreadful calamity of a venue for so long. And after ten minutes, you’ll dread seeing the words “playing at the RDS” associated with any act coming to Ireland.
Yeah, it really is that good. I had a look around the venue last week as the opening date inches ever closer and was hugely impressed by the remarkable transformation which has occured inside the shell of the old Point. The sightlines are Vicar Street-like (and thankfully not Olympia-like). The way the seats are arranged means you’re closer to the action from what is supposed to be the worst seat in the house than you’ll ever be in other venues. And the attention to detail thoughout is not what we’ve ever seen in other Irish venues, with the possible exception of the Odyssey in Belfast.
It may sit on the same location as the Point, but that’s as far as the relationship between the two goes. One is a potentially world-class venue - the other was a big old shed for trams and trains which found itself pressed into use as a venue because we’d nowhere else to use.
Of course, there are a few caveats to be aired before the doors open and the punters come in for the first show. The venue have yet to have a band and 14,000 punters in so we have to take their word that the sound will be bang on. An extensive set of acoustic tests have already been done so I’m sure that any sonic imperfections which occur will have more to do with the quality of the touring band’s crew than the venue (something which was always the other way around in the Point). There will, naturally, be some crowd control teething problems as people get used to the venue and where everything is now located.
But I can’t imagine it will take long for this place to bed down. Punters are already snapping up tickets for every blooming show scheduled for the 02, a remarkable fact given these hard economic times and the way Recession 2.0 is causing havoc with smaller, mid-size gigs. Given that the 02 is set to host many shows once destined for outdoor fields - where they usually underperformed - we can all get used to spending more time down on North Wall Quay.
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 electro geek Maxime Dangles.
Thanks to our buds at Remedy, we have a pair of tickets to give away to this Kompakt session. To win, simply tell us who is your favourite German DJ or act and why. As simple as that. Entries remain open until the crack of dawn tomorrow. Judge’s decision is final and all of that.
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 take place in Vicar Street, Dublin on Wednesday March 4th.
The winning act will go home with a cheque for €10,000 (courtesy of the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and the Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO)) and a smashing piece of glassware (courtesy of industry body, Recorded Artists & Performers (RAAP)).
The shortlist is selected by a panel of 12 men and women, good and true, drawn from the ranks of those who write about and/or talk about music for a living. They are currently hard at work working out which of the 180+ Irish albums released in 2008 will get on the shortlist. You’ll find out who the judges are when the shortlist is announced in January.
Declaration of interest: I’m the co-founder of this and am also the non-voting chairman of the judging panel.
(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 hills. There cannot be a DJ or music fan in this city who hasn’t bought some tunes from Billy Murray over the years in either the Abbey Mall or, in more recent years, Liffey Street. He was a man who always knew how to get a sale. We have fond memories of being told week in and week out that he’d have that particular 12″ in stock the following Thursday. Come Thursdays, the tune was sometimes in but even when it wasn’t, he’d sell you something else instead. Best to luck to Billy and all the other Abbey staff wherever they go from here.
After the jump: help the government form the new Arts Council, Silvio back on the box, in the ring with Kenny Egan, Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve really want to gig in Ireland and much, much…
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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, Radiohead and My Morning Jacket and will be releasing her debut solo album, Sea Sew, in the US on January 20th.
The album has already sold nearly 14,000 copies in Ireland since its release in September.
Hannigan is currently rounding off an extensive US tour supporting Jason Mraz (she’s in Milwaukee tonight in case any readers want to head along) before returning home for dates at Cork’s School of Music on December 12th and Dublin’s Vicar Street the following night.
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 them to assist new acts and musicians.
Recipients of the kits include the Youghal Youth Project, Co Monaghan VEC, RED South Dublin Arts Centre, Sligo’s Model Arts and Niland Gallery, Roscommon’s Phoenix Youth Centre and Kerry Diocesan Youth Service’s Live Band Project.
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 surprised if one is declared for you.
Bright new Irish talent on show at Club AC30 at Dublin’s Whelan’s this Sunday in the shape of And So I Watch You From Afar, We Are Knives and Lights.
The full cast for Other Voices next month in Dingle, Co Kerry is Emiliana Torrini, Duke Special, Billy Bragg, Liam Finn, Colm Mac Con Iomaire, Elbow, Richard Hawley, James Morrison, Lisa Hannigan, Eric Bibb, Steve Reynolds, Mick Flannery, Kila, Imelda May and Jape.
The best way to start a new year: Bruce Springsteen releases his 16th studio album, “Working On A Dream”, on January 23. Old-school video follows to mark the occasion
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 One?” (Warner Brothers)
Jay Reatard “Painted Shut” (Matador)
George Pringle “LCD I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down” (Trouble)
Cap Pas Cap “We Are Men” (Skinny Wolves)
Marnie Stern “Shea Stadium” (Kill Rock Stars)
Bad Brains “Big Takeover” (Caroline)
Devo “Gut Feeling” (Virgin)
Pretty & Nice “Tora Tora Tora” (Hardly Art)
Deerhunter “Never Stops” (4AD)
Parenthetical Girls “A Song For Ellie Greenwich” (Tomlab)
Passion Pit “Sleepyhead” (French Kiss)
Kwes “Hearts In Home” (Salvia)
Heathers “Remember When” (Hide Away Records)
The Har-You Percussion Group “Welcome to the Party” (Ubiquity)
Sly & The Family Stone “Everyday People” (CBS)
RJD2 “A Beautiful Mine” (Decon)
Kronos Quartet & Asha Bhosle “Light A Match” (Nonesuch)
Spook of the Thirteenth Lock “The Partisan” (Transduction)
Arthur Russell “The Letter” (Rough Trade)
Beachwood Sparks “Sing Your Thoughts” (Sub Pop)
Emmylou Harris “Wrecking Ball” (Warners)
Horse Feathers “Working Poor” (Kill Rock Stars)
Dennis Wilson “Thoughts Of You” (Columbia)
Booker T & The MGs with Judy Clay “Children Don’t Get Weary” (Fantasy)
Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate “Monsieur Le Maire de Niafunke” (World Circuit)
Colm Mac Con Iomaire “An Cosan Dearg” (Plateau)
Coldcut “Autumn Leaves (Irresistable Force remix)” (Ninja Tune)
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 publication of his new book Outliers. Admission to the lecture is free and there’s more information here.
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 and Alex Scally are welcome return visitors to these shores, having played at the same venue earlier in the year as support to Fleet Foxes. We’re big fan of their dreamy and ethereal as pop as demonstrated on the lovely “Devotion” album.
To win the the pair of tickets, all you have to do is answer the following riddle. Beach House hail from the mean streets of Baltimore which is, as On The Record readers know only too well, the setting for The Wire, the finest show EVER shown on the TV. And the question? Tell us who is your favourite character from the TV show and why. Aiiight?
Competition runs until I turn on my computer tomorrow morning. Entry open to everyone except ex-members of the Artane Boys Band. Judge’s decision is final.
(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 or to have their synapses blown away. It was a show to remind you just how incredible a bunch of folks with guitars, drums, microphones and a Moog can be when the mood is right. If everyone at the gig who claims to be in a band went away after that show and set about trying to produce music as good as that, the world would be a much better place. And that’s a show which didn’t even feature one of my favourite tunes of Zero Nine, “Halfway Home”. Interesting to see too that TVOTR were flogging their tees from the tour-bus outside the venue after the gig.
(2) Unlike some people, On The Record did not receive an invitation to Silvio’s supper last week, but we’re not bitter about it. No, really, we’re not bitter about missing out on all that food (house-cured Irish salmon, grilled tenderloin steak and vanilla crème brulee - don’t flaming like crème brulee anyway) and entertainment (the Irish Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Prof Micheal Ó Suilleabháin as well as a troupe of set-dancers - sure, it was like a night out at Johnnie Fox’s). The guest-list does make fascinating reading - wonder if there is any connection between some people on the list and soft interviews carried out with Silvio in the past? Where was the love for Silvio’s fellow Feck Lisbon advocates from the Sinn Fein camp? And will Silvio be throwing similar bashes (with vegetarian options and line-dancing) for all those who plan to vote No in the Lisbon 2 referdendum?
(3) As most of you will know by now, Jay Reatard was a no-show in Dublin last night leaving a couple of dozen fans of Memphis garage punk-rock kicking their heels on a Sunday night. Dude missed his flight from Hotlanta, y’know. Shame on the Heineken Green Synergy people for not sending a private jet to pick him up. Fecking sponsors….
(4) Malcolm Gladwell’s new tome Outliers is published this week and Tim Adams had a fascinating piece on Gladwell and the book in yesterday’s Observer. Gladwell fans who find themselves in London next Monday might like to know that he’s giving two lectures at the Lyceum while he’s in town.
(5) Staying with the Observer, there was an odd piece on Jamie Oliver in the Food Monthly supplement yesterday. It would seem that Rachel Cooke had a bit of her chip on her shoulder about Oliver (at least three mentions of his cars and jeeps) and his Ministry of Food initiative which led to a piece which as disjointed as a badly roasted rib of beef.
(6) If you’re only going to see one film this year about a cowboy who found God, Karl Rove and the keys to the White House, it will unfortunately have to be W. Oliver Stone’s film is the cinematic equivalent of one of those cut and paste books you get after a band become overnight successes. Josh Brolin is superb, but the story hits more bumps and raises more dust than a drive down a bumpy Texan blue highway. John Waters, on the other hand, seems to go to flicks like W with his eyes on the audience rather than the big screen.
(7) Those who have not already checked out the Nick Thinks blog should make amends this morning. Every day, Ruan plays his dad, Nick, an album. Every day, Nick tells Ruan what he makes of the album.
(8) From the On The Record parish newsletter. Regular wisecracking reader and man-about-Dublin-town Matt Vinyl is back on the radio. Yes, the Golden Maverick rides again and this time, he ain’t got no calf milk replacer. Every Monday night from 11pm to 1am, Matt sits in his salubrious penthouse and plays a selection of tunes which, thanks to the wonders of the interweb and a VPN, are then broadcast on Power FM. He takes requests too.
(9) Excellent piece from Keith Duggan on John Dower’s Thrilla In Manila documentary which revisits the Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier bout from 1975 and especially all the trash-talking which went on in the lead-up to the fight. On a similar boxing tip, the peerless When We Were Kings was also on the box last week, giving you another take on Ali in all his pomp.
(10) Busted! Nialler9 has found some interesting, uhm, similarities between a review of a new Coldplay EP which appeared in The Sun and a review of the same yoke in Hot Press. Question: what the hell was Nialler9 doing reading reviews of a Coldplay EP to begin with?
(11) And finally, one of the highlights from Saturday night.
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’ comments on the venue or add some of your own, have a look here.
One small update: it turns out that it was actually a shoe shop - not a pub or an abattoir - which operated on that corner of Thomas Street before Vicar Street came along
Good news for record labels: compilations are still selling.
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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 heading west from November 20th to 23rd include Amsterdam’s excellent Eric Vloeimans Gatecrash Quartet, New York pianist Kenny Werner and The Thing with Japanese sonic pioneer Otomo Yoshihide.
Back in the capital, the Made On Mondays series highlighting new Dublin jazz projects returns to JJ Smyth’s.
Over two weeks, six new projects will be strutting their stuff, with Colm O’Hara & The Troupe, Morla and the Nick Roth Sephardic Project appearing on November 24th, with the Dave Redmond Project, the Carpio Trio and the Sensoria Band at the Aungier Street venue on December 1st.
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 tracks, particularly the songs recorded with their mentor and producer, the late Columb Farrelly, have been long unavailable on CD, a state of affairs which they hope to rectify in the near future.
Live, they play The Quays, Galway (November 21), Academy, Dublin (with Sultans of Ping, December 20) and Sky, Portlaoise (with The Stunning, December 21).
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 on December 22nd. Stee Downes supports, plugging his “All In A Day” album.
This year’s Choice Music Prize winners Super Extra Bonus Party bounce into 2009 with a bash at Whelan’s, Dublin on New Year’s Eve.
Those who missed Baby Dee earlier this year can catch her at Galway’s Roisin Dubh on December 4 and Dublin’s Whelan’s on December 5.
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 their dance card because the band’s entire European tour has been 86′d.
The reason? Well, promoters MCD originally claimed it was down to “unexpected personal and work commitments”. But it now appears that the band are blaming the cancellations on the global financial shizzle. For real.
Here’s the business news from Adam Crow
“I just wanted to write a quick note to everyone about the change in our European tour. It happened for a few reasons. I’m sure everyone’s painfully aware of how hard it is for anyone to afford to spend money on anything right now but the fact that every currency in the world is acting a yo-yo at the moment also means that it’s very difficult for anyone, bands and promoters alike, to make a deal because no one has any way of knowing if cutting a deal in Australian Dollars or ours or the Euro or the Pound is going to turn out to be a be a good thing or bankrupt you. It makes international tours tough to figure out.
We just decided that it made more sense to move things to May when, hopefully, things will have settled down a bit. It also seemed like it might be an easier time for people to be able to afford to spend their hard-earned money on something like a concert. The only shame is that we weren’t actually struggling to sell tkts the way we thought we might. Wembley sold over 10,000 seats almost immediately.
Still, we thought about it and this just seemed like the best thing to do for everyone. We’re really sorry to disappoint those of you hoping for shows this winter. We will, however, see you in the Spring!”
The band’s Irish gigs have been rescheduled for May 7 (Belfast) and 8 (Dublin). Interesting that they cite the ticket tally for the London show - wonder how many tickets they had sold for the Irish shows before they yanked them? Anyone with TM manifests to the comments field as fast as your little legs can carry you.
Will the “credit crunch” take over from “unforseen circumstances” as the prefered excuse for under-performing bands and promoters in 2009?
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 entity in the world”.
Usually I just look at the headline and delete. It’s how you have to operate with information overloads - I bet loads of you saw the word “hip-hop” in the headline here, said “no thanks” and clicked through to Perez instead (no fibbing, we see the stats). It’s the same with the All Hip-Hop nibs - there’s usually no need to read any further to find out about what Pitbull thinks of Sarah Palin, Heavy D’s new reggae album, how Jaden Smith is going to star in a remake of the Karate Kid or that Busta Rhyme’s lawyer has filed a complaint against “machine gun-toting police” in London.
Most of the stories revolve around guns, arrests and court cases - Maury Levy would make a fortune from this lot. The sheer monotonous content of those headlines makes you think about the current state of play in the hip-hip world. Has hip-hop really become all about, to cite one of the more recent stories, ex-Death Row boss Suge Knight (I was going to use a more colourful description but then remembered some key passages of Ronin Ro’s “Have Gun, Will Travel” and thought better of it) suing Kanye West over a shooting? And no, Mr 808s & Heartbreak didn’t pull the darn trigger.
Per the story, “Knight was shot in the right leg at Kanye’s pre-MTV Video Music Awards party at the Shore Club, located in Miami” in August 2005. “Initially some speculated that Knight accidentally shot himself, but that claim was later refuted after eyewitnesses confirmed that at least six shots were fired during the incident. The assailant was never apprehended.”
Knight claims West is liable because the bad man with the gun was able to get past the party’s security with a deadly weapon. He is now claiming damages for his medical expenses and, more importantly, mental anguish for “the loss of use and enjoyment” of a diamond stud earring valued at $135,000. Oh and he also had to take a private jet back to California after the incident and needs that bill to be settled. Naturally, the reader comments over on All Hip-Hop following the story are fairly colourful.
All of this kerfuffle reminds me of a quote from a few weeks ago when I was chatting to Messiah J & The Expert about their new album for a Ticket interview. When talk turned to the current state of the game, Messiah J added a proviso after he had bemoaned the current culture for everything we’ve talked about above. “I hate shitting on hip-hop – it’s like dissing a family member”, he said. “It may be acting up a bit so you’re going ‘oh no, cop on’. But because we know what it is capable of doing, we continue to stick by it.”
Many of us feel the exact same way. We’ll claim to all the haters and detractors that the big names covered by All Hip-Hop and their ilk do no represent the real hip-hop nation that we grew to love. We’ll say you gotta check what Chuck is saying these days. We’ll talk about what’s going on in the underground, point to the fact that the White House is about to be painted black and holler that a change is about to come. Hell, we might even quote some lines from Wimsatt.
Of course, all of this is right and bang on - there’s far more to hip-hop than the flotsam and jetsam which makes the yellow press headlines. Even All Hip-Hop know this and occasionally cover stories which are more about good causes and positive issues than bling and bitching. But the pendulum keeps swinging back to the thugging and that’s where all the attention goes because that’s where all the cash is. I don’t think I’m alone in finding it hugely sad that one of the most creative and life-changing cultural forces of all time has been reduced to using tawdry hard-chaw carry-on to hawk tickets, t-shirts and traction. You have to wonder if hip-hop is doomed to keep on heading down the same sorry street forever and ever.
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 “Kurum” (Fabric)
DJ Mujava “Township Funk” (Warp)
Donk Boys “Orangutango” (Frankie)
Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid “Between B & C” (Domino)
Holy Ghost! “Hold On” (DFA)
Everything Everything “Suffragette Suffragette” (Salvia)
Pretty & Nice “Tora, Tora, Tora” (Hardly Art)
Jay Reatard “Always Wanting More” (Matador)
Hockey “Too Fake” (Own label)
The Lost Brothers “Angry At the Sun” (Bird Dog)
Port O’Brien “Stuck On A Boat” (City Slang)
Amadou & Mariam “Sabali” (Because)
Dengue Fever “Tiger Phone Card” (Real World)
Giorgio Moroder “Tears” (Hansa)
David Shire “Night On Disco Mountain” (RSO)
Robert Wyatt & Bertrand Burgalat “This Summer Night” (Domino)
Curtis Mayfield “Move On Up” (Curtom)
Idris Muhammad “Express Yourself” (Prestige)
Talk Talk “Happiness Is Easy” (EMI)
Daedelus “Fair Weather Friends” (Ninja Tune)
Onra “Chop Your Hands” (Bo Bun)
Camille “Gospel With No Lord” (Virgin France)
Little Joy “Brand New Star” (Rough Trade)
Dennis Wilson “River Song” (Epic)
Leadbelly “The Midnight Special” (Catfish)
Per Lauren - the first and last word in gig annoucements - the truly awesome Gaslight Anthem play Dublin’s Academy (unfortunately) on March 4. Hurrah!
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 be much room for any females in their world - and the programme is horrendous and unwatchable anyway) or “The Apprentice” instead. If they are watching “Bertie”, the four-part series on the lives, times and hairstyles of the ex-taoiseach, I wonder if there is much squirming going on as the story unfolds.
I doubt it. Ahern’s kitchen cabinet, close advisors, assorted drinking buddies, ward bosses, jobbing builders and fellas willing to cough up a big wad of cash to get close to the action don’t appear to do squirming. It’s not in their genetic make-up. Instead, they’re probably lapping it all up and slagging each other to beat the band. They were happy to sit back and explain at great length to Steve Carson’s cameras how they got their man into the taoiseach’s office. They’re proud of what they did and how they did it and they’re happy to flex their muscles retrospectively for the gaiety of the nation.
In political machine terms, their achivement was immense. They took a young callow buck from the streets of Dublin 9 and helped him get into the most powerful political office in the land. He had to ditch the anorak - “car coat”, as PJ Mara maintains Ahern called it - and get a decent haircut, but he got there in the end. Every politican out there would love to have a mafia like that to keep an eye on their back and keep the home base happy while they were off seeing to matters of state and driving around in a Merc. Sadly, the programme didn’t ask these well-upholstered, grand gentlemen what they got out of all those late nights tending to Ahern’s patch, but I suppose they got a few pints and a box of biscuits from a grateful Ahern at the Christmas.
It is usually the case with political docs of this ilk that the subject has rolled away from the limelight and is now happy to tell his or her story a couple of years after the fact just as the history books are about to be written. With Ahern, it’s more current affairs than history - he was still in the taoiseach’s hot-seat up to a few month’s ago lest we forget, while he is still trying to explain those dig-outs and large cash transactions which dogged his last couple of years in office.
It makes you wonder then why Ahern decided to co-operate so closely with the programme-makers. He surely knew that every explanation he had to offer about his troubles with cash would be rebuffed and questioned closely by various hard-nosed pundits (Matt Cooper and Colm Keena, in this case). Whatever shine he can put on his career and various achievements will always - always - be undone by those dodgy envelopes changing hands in pubs. Even the recreation of those exchanges for the cameras looked dodgy, while the explanations by various benefactors are still not convincing.
One possible reason for Ahern speaking to the cameras about his troubles is that this is the opening move by him in the 2011 race for the Aras. Yes, yes, he has always maintained that he’s not interested in that job or the big house in the Park, but Ahern, like all politicians, didn’t get where he is today without saying one thing and doing something else many, many times. The programme has allowed him show his Republican colours (he said in the first episode that he was in the crowd when the British Embassy in Dublin was torched in 1972) and the shows to come will replay his role in the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. He knew that the series was going ahead with or without his co-operation so his involvement is a bit of a pre-emptive strike, a chance to clear the air, give his side of the story and remind the Irish people that there were always good times when he was in charge. By the time 2011 rolls around, there may well be many more people who agree with that one.
Of course, there are plenty of obstacles facing an Ahern run for the Aras, not least Brian Cowen deciding the time has come for some retribution. It would be more than just history repeating itself if the Offalyman decided to do to Ahern what Ahern did to Albert Reynolds when it came time for Fianna Fail to nominate a candidate for the last Presidental election in 1997. Now there’s something for the Drumcondra mafia to ponder over their pints as they decide what’s next for their boy.
(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 boss Feargal Sharkey headed a line-up which included reps from Domino, South By Southwest, Kerrang, Bestival, Sony ATV Music, POD Concerts and others) certainly helped, it was still very encouraging to see a couple of hundred folks turning out on a weekday for a music business seminar in Ireland. I don’t think they were there to hear the BBC’s Stuart Bailie, AU magazine’s Jonny Tiernan and myself gush away for an hour about our favourite songs. Still, maybe they were. Any road, one of the best music biz gatherings I’ve been to in an age.
(2) Some interesting takeaways from the label panel courtesy of Smalltown America boss Andrew Ferris. He outlined how the 26 week campaign for each release rolls, from initially contacting 300 bloggers about the track or album (he says there’s usually a 40 per cent take-up from the music blogosphere to host or write about each track) to eventual release. Ferris also noted that an 8 out of 10 NME review five years ago would mean 5,000 sales - in 2008, the same rating means about 700 sales.
(3) I finally had a chance to check out Stuart Bailie’s Oh Yeah music centre in the middle of Belfast. At the moment, it has more potential than a new US president - a vast warehouse located a plectrum throw from the centre of town with a stage and oodles of space for rehearsal rooms, studios, a cafe, offices and everything else you could need to get your show on the road. As things stand, there’s lots going on and Stuart is open to any new ideas people want to throw at him. There’s some cash already in the kitty from various public funds but, as you would expect, more is needed. Maybe some of the £5 million earmarked for culture projects Up North can be sent to Gordon Street? (By the way, Stu’s excellent BBC blog is well worth checking out)
(4) Who knew there was such an appetite for Fox hunting in Dublin? A full house for the second visit in 2008 of the Fleet Foxes to town and much anticipation in the air. The audience thankfully hushed for the songs and, while those of us who saw them at Whelan’s in June probably prefered that gig, it was stlll a swell showcase for what is one of the albums of the year. Sure, even Fleet Foxes super-fan Joe Duffy tapped his feet and clapped his hands in the right places. It will be a while before we see the band in these parts again - when this tour wraps up, the band plan to record a bunch of new songs (nine are ready for the studio) before they hit the road again and avail of increased pay-days.
(5) Did you know that Barack Obama’s campaign provided a crash-course for country music yahoos in how to build and maintain an audience? You didn’t? Chet Flippo is the man with the pages from the playbook.
(6) Eva Wiseman checks out the state of NME life in yesterday’s Observer Music Monthly. Apparently, some of the staff are worried about the second album from Crystal Castles. Also in yesterday’s OMM, the first of many pieces you’ll read in the coming months on Motown at 50.
(7) We shall never their likes again, if we’re lucky. Goodbye Progressive Democrats, you will not be missed.
(8) Are you ready for a rake of would-be Barry Obamos knocking on your front door in the next couple of months to seek your vote in the local elections? Here’s the Sunday Business Post guide to what you can expect. And here’s Andrew Rawnsley from the Observer on why such cut-and-pasting will not work: “It’s preposterous. David Cameron is not the British Obama just because they both like to use the word ‘change’ a lot. Gordon Brown, a long-serving incumbent whose oratory has rarely been described as magical, cannot be Obama either. Much of the point about Obama is that there is no other leader like him. Not here. Not in America. Not anywhere. Not in a generation and probably not for another. His singularity is why he won and why his victory is so sensational.
(9) Bruuuuuuuuuce! New album due from Bruce Springsteen in January to tie in with that Superbowl appearance. More of that ol’ “Magic”? That will do nicely. And Bruce, please note that giving away a free download of the first song from the album with the Irish Times worked a treated last time round.
(10) Vaaaaaan! Rave reviews for the “Astral Weeks” love-in in Los Angeles at the weekend from the Washington Post and LA Times. What’s the betting he’s going to spend 2009 doing “Astral Weeks” all over the place?
(11) And finally, as the world learns that it was Bob the Builder who bashed Joe the Plumber, lets have some love round these parts for Lee Dorsey
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.
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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, with three key releases due between now and year’s end.
The pick of the bunch is the new single from Cap Pas Cap. “We Are Men” goes on release on November 28 with remixes from Jape, Decal and Thatboytim. Lets hope an album is on the CPC plans for ‘09.
Skinny Wolves are also releasing “Sangles Redux”, a round-up of early recordings from Houston band Indian Jewelry, and a split single featuring Effi Briest and Telepathe, the latter one of many people’s tips for 2009.
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 and DJ-ing in various venues around Dublin.
Acts on this Christmas run from December 12 to 23 include David Holmes, Hot Chip, Lee “Scratch” Perry, DJ Vadim, Mixmaster Morris, A-Skillz and the Lost Vagueness performers.
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 its seventh run in Dingle, Co Kerry from December 5 to 9. Acts Kingdom-bound include Lisa Hannigan, Duke Special, Liam Finn and Emiliana Torrini (video below). The TV show will be presented this time around by regular presenter John Kelly and welcome newcomer to Irish screens, BBC Radio One DJ, Annie MacManus.
Long-standing Munster rugby fan Elton John and his big piano will be at Limerick’s Thomond Park on June 6. Ticket prices go from 79.25 euro all the way up to 116.25 euro.
Michael Knight’s 2005 debut “Youth Is Wasted On The Young” is the latest to get the reissue treatment courtesy of Indiecater.
Quote of the week: “I felt like it was my vote that put him into office”. President-elect Obama will be glad to hear that it was all thanks to P Diddy
Yes, friends, it is time to start thinking about the bands of ‘09
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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 the Far Side take on the US election ahead of the results. Strap yourselves in for more every Tuesday night. Please note The Far Side is a podcast-free zone.
No Age “Teen Creeps” (Sub Pop)
R.S.A.G. “The Climb” (Psychonavigation)
Hockey “Too Fake” (Own label)
Telex “Moskow Diskow” (Hansa)
LCD Soundsystem “Get Innocuous” (DFA)
Audion “Billy Says Go” (Ghostly International)
Liquid Liquid “Optimo (Optimo remix)” (Domino)
Cap Pas Cap “We Are Men” (Skinny Wolves)
Adebisi Shank “You Me” (Richter Collective)
Armoured Bear “Imagination” (Blind Chicken)
Lisa Hannigan “Ocean & A Rock” (Own label)
Katie Kim “Radio” (Granny It’s OK)
Marilyn Monroe “Happy Birthday Mr President” (Silva Screen)
Steinski “The Motorcade Sped On” (Illegal Art)
Legendary K.O. “George Bush Don’t Like Black People” (Ethos)
Eric B & Rakim “Eric B Is President” (4th & Broadway)
The Last Poets “When The Revolution Comes” (Charly)
Charles Wright & Watts 103rd St Rhythm Band “Express Yourself” (WEA)
Bill Withers “Harlem” (CBS)
JB Lenoir & His African Hunch Rhythm “I Sing Um The Way I Feel” (Demon)
Nina Simone “I Wish I Knew How It Felt To Be Free” (Verve)
Marvin Gaye “What’s Goin’ On” (Motown)
Buffalo Springfield “For What It’s Worth” (Atco)
The Dells “Oh! What A Night” (Chess)
Bruce Springsteen “Born In The USA (acoustic version)” (CBS)
Woody Guthrie “This Land Is Your Land” (Smithsonian)
Staple Singers “This Could Be The Last Time” (Vee-Jay)
Sam Cooke “A Change Is Gonna Come” (Keen)
Sam Cooke. “A Change Is Gonna Come”. Oh yeah.
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 planning a feature on Vicar Street for The Ticket and we’d like your input please: what are the Vicar Street gigs you remember fondly? It could be one of the big ones like Bob Dylan or Neil Young. It could be one of the many, many Irish bands who’ve played there to full houses. It might even be Dan Deacon at large. Let us know.
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 in Dublin as an example to show what the music business may well look like in the future. Have a read of what Casey has to say about the piece here.
(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 roofs) has now moved into the weird and wonderful world of magazine publishing. Yep, there are still people who believe in the power of print. Per Richard Gillis’s interview with him in the paper on Saturday, Babb is now the publisher behind the Golf Punk mag and is planning a Football Punk mag too. Wonder how he would deal with a very well paid Premier League footballer telling him that he couldn’t be arsed doing an interview, eh?
(2) Best take on the whole Brand-Ross-BBC kerfuffle? Hold onto your hats, blogging brothers and sisters - it was John Waters on Friday.
(3) Would you give Ryanair a tenner for a flight across the Atlantic? I suppose the story is one way of taking the dirty look off some not very good financial results for the first half of the year.
(4) One of my favourite Irish albums of the season comes from Waterford lass Katie Kim. “Twelve” (as reviewed here) is a slow-burner, all weird turns and fuzzy twists. Live, as seen in the Sugar Club on Saturday night, Katie and her two hooded co-players get tougher and grittier in a Mazzy Star rocking out with Cat Power kind of way. Best songs were the ones which book-ended the set, the glorious “Radio” and the rivetting “Jennifer”. She plays Cleere’s in Kilkenny on November 15 and Twisted Pepper, Dublin on November 20.
(5) Does anyone know why Cork GAA folks are so intent on constantly pressing the self-destruct button? While a Tipperaryman like myself should be rubbing my hands with glee at even more lies, destruction and despair by the Lee, I actually find the whole affair to be quite strange and pointless. Does Gerald McCarthy really deserve all this? Good column by Tom Humphries on Sandwichgate.
(6) I liked the Why? show at the ALT on Saturday, though not as much as I thought I would before the gig. The room was full-ish and the audience were in the sort of mood where they would probably cheer if even Tommy Tiernan was fronting the band and telling more of his Bernard Manning classics, but the material just didn’t quite seem up to scratch. Maybe it was one of those “it isn’t you, it’s me” situations.
(7) One of the very first Tunes of the Week featured on this blog was the Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve still awesome remix of Midlake’s “Roscoe”. We posed the question then why no Irish promoter had brought over BtWS for a show. Well, Richard Norris has found his way to the blog (see comment number 7 here) and it seems himself and Erol Alkan are up for the challenge.
(8) It seems that the band I should have gone to see on Saturday night were Villagers. Three different people in the course of an hour were raving to me about their show at Whelan’s. Villagers is the new band fronted by Conor O’Brien who used to be in The Immediate (and is also part of Cathy Davey’s all-star band) and “The Meaning of the Ritual” from their MySpace is well worth clicking on. Their next gigs are supporting Bell X1 (Vicar Street, November 12) and supporting Halves (Whelan’s, November 22).
(9) Oddest promo on your radio right now? No, not the one with the fake Eddie Hobbs, but rather the one plugging Morning Ireland’s special extended US Election coverage on Wednesday. So what time are they starting? Midnight? 1am? 1.30am? Er, no, 6am. 6am! Sure, Sarah Palin will be the leader of the free world at that stage. And what are RTE broadcasting through the night instead? Repeats of the Tubridy Show, Today with Pat Kenny, Liveline, the Gershwins in Hollywood and The Arts Show.
(10) Ahead of next weekend’s Van Morrison shows in Los Angeles when the Great Grump plays “Astral Weeks” in full for the first time. Sean O’Hagan muses on that seminal release 40 years on.
(11) And finally, some music for the week that’s in it.
