Tune of the Week - “Lips”
Oooooooooh, this is good
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Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - second Dublin date added
As predicted by On The Record last week, a second date for Bruce Springsteen at the RDS, Dublin has just been added - Sunday July 12. First date now sold out. Guess a lot of us won’t be going to Oxegen this year, eh?
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The weekly plugging session - ours and yours
In this week’s Ticket, there’s an interview with Chris Brown (yes, we have gone off to find the answer to the “who the hell is Chris Brown?” question posed by On The Record readers), Brian Boyd looks at Motown and race and there are reviews of new albums from Andrew Bird, A Camp, Titus Andronicus, Nickel Eye, The View, The Welcome Wagon, Susumu Yokota, Thomas Newman’s soundtrack for Revolutionary Road, Johnny Cash (a reissue of “Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison”) and this week’s CD of the Week is “Dublin Made Me” by Liam O’Connor and Seán McKeon.
In the New Music world, there are profiles of Telepathe and Jazmine Sullivan plus the 3 to Try this week are Margaret Healy, Stórsveit Nix Noltes and The Brothers Movement. In Music News, Lauren Murphy has the skinny on the first five acts for Oxegen 2009, a cricket-themed concept album and Steve Martin recording with Mary Black.
Filmwise, there are reviews of Revolutionary Road, Nick & Nora’s Infinite Playlist, The Broken and two other flicks I’ve never heard of before. Donald Clarke also talks to director David Fincher about the making of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Plus DC’s dastardly weekly film quiz.
Now, over to you. Use the comments field below to plug your wares - including any new bands I should be checking out.
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John Martyn RIP
Very sad news to report via On The Record reader Ivor that the great folk and blues singer-songwriter John Martyn died this morning.
From a concert at Reading University in 1978, here’s a performance of the beautiful “Small Hours”
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Message to the Meteors - these things come in threes
First there was the leak. Then, there was the gig that never was.
And now? Well, get out your umbrellas people, we have another live one.
The main rule which the Meteor Music Awards abide by is as follows:
“For nomination all artists must have had an album commercially released between 1st November 2007 and 31st December 2008 in Ireland (excluding greatest hits/best of releases etc)”
There are three exceptions to this rule (nominations for the Hope for 2009, Best Irish Pop Act and Best Live Performance categories), but the Best International Female category is not one of these. So you have to wonder what the hell Rihanna is doing on the list seeing as her current album, “Good Girl Gone Bad”, was released back in June 2007, well before the cut-off point.
What’s that I hear from the Meteor HQ as they wrestle with their hangovers from yesterday’s launch? Oooops.
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Eircom v the Record Business: more analysis
(1) Very interesting piece from Ars Technica about yesterday evening’s news from the courts with Nate Robinson making the point that users seem to be have no say once the evidence has been gathered:
“While such graduated response mechanisms have the potential to be a huge improvement of massive litigation against end users, the process is generally understood to need some form of appeal or defense. It’s not clear from the reporting coming out of Ireland that the Eircom agreement contains any such provisions. It appears that the music industry hands over its evidence, Eircom evaluates it, and a decision is made. Users, at least for now, seem to be shut out.”
(2) Justin Mason takes a look at the software which may be used by the record labels to gather IP addresses
(3) Not directly about this story, but Andrew Orlowski has a good opinion piece in The Register about the relationship between the ISPs and the record biz
(4) “Other broadband providers not keen on Eircom deal” runs a blog post from Irish Times colleague John Collins containing statement from Alto, the trade group repping non-Eircom telecoms, about the case. Per Alto: “as yesterday’s agreement between Eircom and the record companies was a direct action against Eircom, it is not enforceable on Ireland’s other broadband providers.”
(Please post all comments on the Eircom vs The Record Business story here)
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Eircom and Irish record labels settle action
Full story here. This is the action which began in March 2008.
Per Irish Times breaking news report, “both parties have agreed to work closely together and on a joint approach aimed at ending ‘the abuse of the internet by P2P (peer to peer) copyright infringers’.
“The approach involved the companies - EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner - providing Eircom with the IP addresses of all persons whom they detected to be illegally uploading or downloading copyright works on a peer to peer basis.
“Eircom has agreed measures which include the ultimate disconnection of infringing subscribers who ignore warnings to cease such infringement”.
This report also contains a comment from Willie Kavanagh, chairman of EMI Records and of the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA), saying he expects other ISPs to follow Eircom’s example.
UPDATE Report from Adrian Weckler with quote from Eircom
UPDATE 2 John Collins and Mary Carolan’s piece in today’s paper has a quote from Ronan Lupton, chairman of Alto, the group which represents telecoms operators other than Eircom, saying the agreement “is not one enforceable on the rest of the industry given the direct nature of the action against Eircom”.
(Original RTE report here)
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World exclusive: Enya to play Oxegen. And other festival tittle-tattle
But seriously folks….
All is very quiet on the Oxegen front at the moment. It’s usually around this time that the first names begin to appear for the festival but we’re at a loss to figure out who might be on the bill this year worth skipping Bruce in the RDS to go see. I mean, another year with the Kings Of Leon at the top of the bill? If anyone can explain to me why those momentously dull, boring and risible charlatans are so big in Ireland, I’ll happily send them a copy of their new album. Or even two copies. And, as Una notes, Oxegen are also planning a four day wham-bam-thank-you-mam shebang in July. Four days at Punchestown? Ye gods!
It will, though, be a quiet summer on the festival front. I’ve heard a lot of rumblings over the last few days that a number of the smaller fests, the interesting ones which pushed last year’s final tally over 70, will not be happening in 2009 due to all manner of reasons (I’m not naming these fests simply because there is a chance they might stil go ahead). While there has been a lot of online and offline chatter about the Electric Picnic, these rumours were categorically denied by the festival organisers and I’m taking their word on that. I understand also that a number of acts have already been booked for this year’s Picnic.
Add in the fact that there are less and less shows happening in general this year - it may be January but some Dublin venues have been much, much quieter than in previous years - and it looks like the live music sector is in a bit of a pickle.
As we’ve seen again and again over the last 12 months, life is sweet if you’re Chris Brown, AC/DC or Beyonce but it’s another case entirely if you’re not yet at the 02 level. I’m sure too that some of the bigger landfill-indie acts who have reached that level, acts like Keane and Kaiser Chiefs, both of whom are currently touring with big, expensive productions and crews, are relying heavily on record label support to keep the wheels on the tour buses going round and round. Indeed, many mid-level acts and their agents took the decision late last year to sit things out until May and wait for the summer festival circuit to crank up again. Whether that circuit will be as lucrative for them as in previous years remains to be seen. Interesting times ahead.
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You will never look at Johnny Giles in the same way again
A nod and a wink to The Walkinstown Roundabout Chancer for this link to the trailer for The Damned United. Opens in cinemas on March 27, which gives you plenty of time to read David Peace’s truly wonderful book on which this flick about the one and only Brian Clough is based. If you still have a book voucher hanging around the house from the Christmas and haven’t read the book yet, what are you waiting for?
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The Far Side - playlist for Tuesday January 27
As played on The Far Side, Phantom 105.2, Tuesday January 27, 10pm-midnight
The new tunes on last night’s show from Arcade Fire, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Beirut, Antony (with The National’s Bryce Dessner), The Books & Jose Gonzalez and TV On The Radio’s David Sitek came from “Dark Was the Night”, the indie blockbuster double-CD due on February 20 with all proceeds going to the Red Hot, the organisation dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture. More info on the release and full track listing here
The Phantom Band “Folk Song Oblivion” (Chemikal Underground
Arcade Fire “Lenin” (4AD)
Crystal Stilts “Departure” (Angular)
Crystal Antlers “Vexation” (Touch & Go)
Titus Andronicus “My Time Outside the Womb” (Merok)
Wavves “Wavves” (De Stijl)
Santogold/Lil Wayne “Unstoppable” (Atlantic)
Jay Electronica “Exhibit A (Transformations)” (Guitar Center)
Mos Def “Quiet Dog” (Downtown)
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings “Inspiration Information” (4AD)
Micachu & The Shapes “Golden Phone” (Accidental)
Beirut “Mimizan” (4AD)
Antony & Bryce Dessner “I Was Young When I Left Home” (4AD)
Evan Voytas “I Live This Life Here For You” (Own label)
Imelda May “It’s Your Voodoo Working” (Blue Thumb)
Bruce Springsteen “My Lucky Day” (Columbia)
Fever Ray “I’m Not Done” (Rabid)
The Books & Jose Gonzalez “Cello Song” (4AD)
David Sitek “With A Girl Like You” (4AD)
Duke Ellington “Moonbow” (Reprise)
Nina Simone “Wild Is The Wind” (Verve)
Nico Muhly “The Only Tune (III)” (Bedroom Community)
Hauschka “Waiting for the Bus” (Fat Cat/130701)
Soap & Skin “Sleep” (Couch)
Katie Kim “Beautiful Human” (Artbeat 2008)
Alex Turner “A Choice Of Three” (Azuli)
Tenaka “Alaskan” (Own label)
Bon Iver “Woods” (Jagjaguwar) -
Meteor Music Awards folks wake up and shut down website
It seems that the link to this year’s Meteor Music Awards nominations which I posted earlier is now not working. I assume the Meteor web monkeys must have dropped a cup of coffee with soya milk into the interweb and that caused the leak.
Good job so that I cut and pasted the lists.
The official launch is tomorrow but, per that website (which appears to be the official one), the nominations will be as follows:
Best National DJ
Tony Fenton – TodayFM
Dan Hegarty – 2fm
Alison Curtis – Today Fm
Dave Fanning – RTE Radio 1
Ray Foley - Todayfm
Rick O’Shea – 2fmBest Regional DJ
Dermot, Dave & Siobhan – Dublin’s98
Keith Cunningham - Red FM
Leigh Doyle – Beat 102.103
The Zoo Crew – Spin South West
Mark Noble - FM104
Jon Richards – Galway Bay FMBest Irish Band
The Blizzards
Republic of Loose
Fight Like Apes
The Script
Snow PatrolBest Irish Male
Mick Flannery
Damien Dempsey
Duke Special
David Holmes
Jape (Richard Egan)Best Irish Female
Enya
Lisa Hannigan
Gemma Hayes
Imelda May
Tara Blaise
Camille O’SullivanBest Irish Pop Act
Boyzone
The Blizzards
The Coronas
The Script
WestlifeBest Irish Album
Fight Like Apes – Mystery Golden Medallion
Snow Patrol – A Hundred Million Suns
Lisa Hannigan – Sea Sew
Messiah J & The Expert – From the Word Go
The Script – The ScriptBest Irish Live Performance
The Coronas
The Blizzards
The Swell Season
Fight Like Apes
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Meteor nominations hit the street a day early
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The first randomiser of the year of the Ox
The best smackdown yet for the kind of nonsensical begobery which has produced tripe like “There’s No-One As Irish as Barack Obama”? That would be Fintan O’Toole’s excellent piece in Saturday’s paper on why this particular play in the endless, tiresome game of claiming everyone as Irish deserves a red card.
I feel some readers are about to do that “I don’t know who Chris Brown is” dance all over again. Per Forbes magazine, Taylor Swift was the top-selling artist in 2008. Further proof that niche is the new mainstream.
It may be time for Scary Eire to revamp “Dole Q” for the 21st century. You know things are getting bad when you have pieces here, there and everywhere about people signing on for the first time.
Really like “Traffic Music” from Icelandic band Hjaltalin who were just mighty at Eurosonic the other week
The pazz and jop writers have spoken. Per Village Voice’s annual wrap of what the critics thought, TV On The Radio’s “Dear Science” was the best album of 2008 - M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” got the best single nod.
Our thread on the closure of Road Records continues to bring in interesting contributions, thoughtful comments, insightful debunks and paranoid allegations.
A night at the flicks (1): Frost/Nixon is a high stakes set-piece interview recast as a boxing match. In the red corner, the TV presenter as challenger, hoping this clash will bring gravitas as well as box-office gold. In the blue corner, the ex-prez as champion, looking for redemption and easy pickings. Top-notch acting (especially Frank Langella, who even gets Nixon’s jowls down pat, and all the support cast) and excellent pacing. Hey, maybe some film director could shoot an encounter with Lou Reed like that. Or just even shoot Lou Reed.
Anyone else jumping up and down about Damages? That’s the new TV-on-DVD addiction round at On The Record’s gaff. It’s an excellent tale of double-crossing, treble-crossing and quadruple-crossing (not to mention plot twists which you just never see coming) as a big ol’ class action has a lot of attorneys running around trying to work out what is going on. As much as Glenn Close is excellent as the legal eagle bitch from hell (she’s even terrifying when she’s just smiling at people), it’s the casting of Ted “Cheers” Danson as the baddie which is the really inspired move here. Season two has just kicked off on RTE so get with Season One on DVD pronto.
A night at the flicks (2): Milk. Superb performance from Sean Penn as Harvey Milk, the San Francisco community activist who became the city’s first openly gay elected rep. Aside from getting Penn to give the performance of a lifetime, director Gus Van Sant also deserves applause for a fantastic celebration of San Fran in full bloom in the 1970s. A couple of quibbles aside - for instance, the reasons why fellow council rep Dan Smith felt compelled to shoot Milk in the end remain a bit of a mystery, though Josh Brolin does play up the character’s broodiness well - Milk is a fine charmer.
The soundtrack to the weekend? Ah, c’mon, you have to ask? That would be “Working On A Dream”, the new album from Bruce Springsteen. Really like Kitty Empire’s description of it as “a record with a big doggy grin on its face”.
And finally, here’s the awesome video from the Wachowski brothers for “Epilepsy Is Dancing” from Antony & The Johnsons
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Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Dublin, July
Bruce Springsteen plays Dublin’s RDS on July 11. Last year, he sold out three shows there in the blink of an eye so chances are there will be more shows added. Tickets go on sale next Friday - €86.25 for a ticket for the field or €96.25 if you want a seat in the stands. Here’s Springsteen with Pete Seeger singing “This Land Is Your Land” from the “We are One” Inaugural Celebration concert in Washington DC last weekend.
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Changes at The Ticket
It’s not just football teams who avail of the January transfer window to bring in new faces, you know.
From this week onwards, Lauren Murphy will be taking care of the news column formerly known as On The Record in The Ticket. Lauren was previously at Entertainment.ie where she was consistently on the money when it came to scooping everyone else with music stories. Manchester City may not have got Kaka, but we got Murphy. You can read her first news column here.
All of this means a new column for me and that is the New Music column. Every week, I’ll be writing about a couple of new acts which you may or may not have heard about before. The column will cover all music and all styles - column number one features Passion Pit and Kid Cudi and there are also reasons to check out John Fairhurst, Tenaka and Fever Ray . You can read more here. By the way, I already have a huge list of acts I do want to cover, but if you’ve any recommendations, use the comments field below to contact me. I’m all ears.
Other stuff in this week’s Ticket which may be of interest to the discerning On The Record reader: Sinead Gleeson salutes Road Records, my report from Eurosonic, Tony-Clayton-Lea’s interview with the great Edwin Collins, what’s on James Yorkston’s rider and reviews of new albums from Bruce Springsteen, Telepathe, Lady Gaga, The Things, Squarepusher and Jaydiohead. There’s also reviews of Frost/Nixon and Milk
And, hey, don’t worry, this blog continues as normal, bringing joy, happiness and moments of irrational irritation to thousands of readers every day of the week.
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Tune of the Week - “Track 1″
I keep going back to this tune and trying to work it out.
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Q-Tip, Dublin, March
The dude behind one of 08’s finest hip-hop albums “The Renaissance” makes a long overdue visit to these shores. Q-Tip and band play Dublin’s Button Factory on March 13. Tickets are €30 plus booking fee. Here’s the vid for “Renaissance Rap”
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The Far Side - playlist for Tuesday January 20
As played on The Far Side, Phantom 105.2, Tuesday January 20, 10pm-midnight
Franz Ferdinand “Can’t Stop Feeling” (Domino)
Baddies “Open One Eye” (YoYo Acapulco)
The Soft Pack “Nightlife” (1928)
Kid British “She Will Leave” (Mercury)
Afefe Iku “Mirror Dance” (Yoruba)
Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip vs Posdnous “Thou Shalt Always Kill (De La
edit)” (Sunday Best)
M.I.A. & AR Rahman “O Saya” (Interscope)
Jay Electronica “Exhibit A (Transformations)” (Guitar Center)
The Pharcyde “Passin’ Me By (Hot Chip remix)” (Delicious Vinyl)
The Virgins “Rich Girls” (Atlantic)
Everything Everything “Luddites & Lambs” (Salvia)
One Little Plane “Sunshine Kid” (Text)
First Aid Kit “Jagadamba, You Might” (Wichita)
Animal Collective “Brother Sport” (Domino)
The Phantom Band “The Howling” (Chemikal Underground)
Gabo Brown & Orchestre Poly-Rythmo “It’s A Vanity” (Analog Africa)
Dirty Projectors & David Byrne “Knotty Pine” (4AD)
James Yuill “This Sweet Love” (Moshi Moshi)
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson “Buriedfed” (Say Hey)
Alela Diane “White As Diamonds” (Rough Trade)
Green Lights “Tiny Little Ghost” (Own label)
Jimmy Behan “Granby Row” (Elusive)
Villagers “The Meaning Of The Ritual” (Any Other City)
Claire Maguire “Strangest Thing” (Own label)
Howlin’ Wolf “Who’s Been Talking?” (Spectrum)
Marvin Gaye & The Funk Brothers “What’s Goin’ On” (Motown) -
The end of the Road
There was a lot of shocked reaction here and elsewhere last week as news spread of the imminent closure of Road Records in Dublin. For the last 11 years, Dave Kennedy and Julie Collins have seen their shop on Fade Street become, like all the best record stores worldwide, something more than just a retail outlet. It was the fact that the closure of the store would mean an end to this community centre of sorts for a certain community of Irish artists which seemed to sadden people the most.
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The Tuesday AM randomiser
Reports on that new U2 single from Brian Boyd, State and Stereogum. On The Record’s verdict? In keeping with the tradition of U2 paying homage to other acts (see “Beautiful Day” and A-ha’s “Take On Me”), “Get On Your Boots” reminds us of Peter, Bjorn & John (that drum-roll at the start, 1.18 and at 2.58 has a “Young Folks” buzz to it), Queens of the Stone Age (that riff) and Bob Dylan (the lyrics are a little “Subterranean Homesick Blues” redux). There is also a bit which sounds like the theme tune to Las Vegas but that could be just me. Still, the tune isn’t as bad as that Bono opinion column in the New York Times the other week.
That part of the record industry which can still claim expenses are in Cannes this week for the MIDEM beano so we can expect more reports and re-ups like this (and this) as the week goes on. Just don’t expect anything new or remarkable to emerge from the south of France.
Wonder how many of the people Rolling Stone believe will save rock’n'roll are in Cannes this week? Very few of them, I reckon, because MIDEM hasn’t been about the future of anything for a very long time. Good to see Arts & Crafts dude Jeffrey Remedios on that list, though.
What the record industry actually needs now is more bright ideas like the Now series. Now That’s What I Call A Goldmine!
Or maybe this is the way to go: house parties to flog CDs.
Peter Robinson pens an obituary for landfill indie.
US ambassador to Ireland Thomas Foley says goodbye. Says we’re too cynical, disses our pepper, trashes our neutrality and doesn’t even say thanks for the Ferrero Rocher.
Warner Music does not heart Facebook Music. Wonder does this mean that Edgar will tell his staff to stop updating their profiles during work hours?
The mighty Steven Wells reveals the golden rules of gig reviewing.
And finally, because so many people have emailed me the link (who the hell do you think I am, Prop Jim?) The Wire in five minutes. Spoilers from the minute you press play, dudes.
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Hockey and Passion Pit, Dublin, March 1
Per Ticketmaster, Hockey and Passion Pit play Dublin’s Whelan’s on Sunday March 1. Tickets are €15 a pop and go on sale on Wednesday.
Here’s Passion Pit with the song of 2008, “Sleepyhead”
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Bruce mania hits The Irish Times again
You can hear Bruce Springsteen’s new album “Working On A Dream” - and download new track “Life Itself” from that same album - all this week here on The Ticket.
While we patiently wait for Bruce to say yes to an interview if - and I said “if” not “when”, people - he comes to town in 2009, here’s what he had to say to Mark Hagen in yesterday’s Observer Music Monthly.
Pic below of Springsteen singing “The Rising” with a gospel choir at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC yesterday (taken by Doug Mills, New York Times)
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On The Record at Eurosonic - part two
The bite-sized reports from Friday night at Eurosonic 2009
Emmy the Great. Er, no she’s not. Wimpy tunes which I forgot the moment I walked out of the venue. Lass started complaining that her guitar is out of tune because of the weather. She’d better not leave home again so. And to think I left the dodgy Mexican-Indian cafe in a hurry for this? Next!
Errors. What Battles would sound like if they had been reared on Irn-Bru. Monstrous post-rock tunes with plenty of electronic twists, turns and bends. Truly delicious.
Our Broken Garden. Neat songs, neat performance but no real passion or spirit. Band are from Denmark which means they’ve spent years in music school learning their chops. Singer looks bored. Leave venue in a hurry and get hit by a bike. Cyclist shouts at me in Dutch. I shout back at her in Irish. Confusion all round.
James Yuill. Glasses, tie, white shirt, laptop, acoustic guitar, pedals. Very simple folky tunes gone large with Kleerup-like beats beneath. Thumbs up. Reminder to self to buy the album
First Aid Kit. Karen Dalton and Joanna Newsom’s younger sisters sing the songs of Fleet Foxes. Two teen girls from Stockholm, now signed to The Knife’s Rabid label (and Wichita are also in the frame). Truly mesmerising harmonies, melodies and songs. Young faces, old souls. Everyone in the room looks absolutely smitten by what they’re experiencing. A big hit.
Kid British. The Specials are back! Great fun and easily the best display of headgear at Eurosonic 2009.
Birdy Nam Nam. Four French dudes with turntables and plenty of dash putting on a fabulous orchestral mish-mash. The kind of thing you know will be a hit at summer festivals.
Aeroplane. Swish, elegant, lip-smacking, sexy disco grooves with loads of psyechedelic guitars in the wash. Another DJ duo from Belgium so expect to see them everywhere in the coming months.
Rita Redshoes. The Portugese Patti Smith. Big dramatic songs in a small room. Singer Rita throws all the right shapes and her voice hits all the notes it is supposed to hit. All the band wear red shoes, which is a neat move.
A Brand. More Belgians. Co-ordinated stage moves - check. Co-ordinated outfits - check. Co-ordinated artrock by way of a healthy big rock record collection - check.
Buraka Som Sistema. Diplo-endorsed Libson suburban youths bring the kudura noise. Buckwild percussive soundclashes to keep everyone happy. Notes say it’s “a punky mix of rave beeps, ghetto-funk and totally all-over-the-shop Afrobeats”. Shopping list for stew on other side of the notes.
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On The Record at Eurosonic
Groet van Groningen! For the fifth year in a row, I’m at Eurosonic for the first binge-gigging session of the year which involves running around this lovely town, staying out of the way of marauding cyclists and seeing a whole bundle of new European acts.
It’s an amazing place to catch new acts first. Last year, I saw this Swedish girl playing in the basement of a cafe. It was her first ever show but it was obvious that she had some amazing tunes. By the end of the year, Lykke Li was absolutely everywhere.
I’m hoping that some of this year’s acts will have a similar upward curve and there were a few likely lads last night.
Man, I loved Baddies. They tore the Vera club apart - high-energy post-punk with more angles than a bunch of architects signing on for the first time. Here’s a video of their first single “Battleships”
I finally got a chance to see my new fave Swedes Marching Band. Imagine the Fleet Foxes if they’d listened to pop rather than Crosby Stills Nash & Young. Perfect harmonies, beautiful grooves, fantastic songs. Going into the show, I loved “Make No Plans”. Coming out of the show, I couldn’t get the guitar line for “Gorgeous Behaviour” out of my head. Awesome.
The biggest queue of the night? That was the one of bookers, journalists, DJs and assorted others trying to get into see Fight Like Apes. I hadn’t seen them in over a year and boy, has everything changed round here. Punchy songs, turbo-charged performance and stage presence by the bucketload. Oh, the hometown haters will always hate them but going on this performance, they ain’t going to be spending much of 2009 in BAC.
There was much good news to report from the Dinosaur Pile-Up show. They do indeed have more than one song. In fact, the songs before and after “My Rock’n'Roll” were every jot as on-the-money as their debut single. It’s the rebirth of grunge, sports fans. Hope you’re ready for that.
Other acts I caught and made a note to check out again included the Icelandic for Arcade Fire Hjaltalin and Swedish spikey pop crew Dag For Dag
Tonight, I’m looking forward to Aeroplane, Our Broken Garden, Buraka Som Sistema, James Yuill and whatever other randomers I bump into.
For those of you near a radio tonight, check out Jenny Huston, on 2FM from 10pm to midnight who will be broadcasting live from the festival. Big Dan Hegarty did the same thing last night thanks to the producers sticking him on the roof of the Vera club and putting an aerial on his head.
More reports over the weekend.
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State goes online only - and Dublin’s Road Records shuts up shop
After just nine issues, State magazine has ceased publication of its print edition and will continue to exist as an online entity only.
It was also announced this week that Dublin independent music store Road Records will cease trading after 11 years.
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Points for Project
Now firmly established as one of the best showcases around for new European jazz acts, 12 Points! returns to the Project Arts Centre in Dublin from February 11th to 14th.
Organised by the Improvised Music Company, the third outing for 12 Points! will showcase a dozen new exciting acts.
Aside from giving Dublin fans a taste of the new, the event also attracts attention from international promoters, festival bookers and journalists.
This year’s line-up features Luca Aquino (Italy), Audiofeeling (Poland), Giulia Valle (Spain), Albatrosh (Norway), Paavo (Sweden), Emile Parisien (France), Hyperactive Kid (Germany), Zapp (Holland), Magnus Fra Gaarden (Denmark), Aki Rissanen (Finland) and Curios (UK). The home reps are Dublin act Moria.
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Weekend of turntables
Once upon a time, club weekenders were all the rage, but they’re fallen out of fashion in recent years.
The Babalonia crew hope to rekindle those flames with Turntables in Dublin’s South William bar next weekend.
The headliner is Nickodemus, the New York producer and DJ behind such cuts as Cleopatra in New York and Desert Dancer and the Turntables on the Hudson club night (video below)
Others appearing include the Afronova Project, Choice Cuts DJs and various Babalonia residents.
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Etc
Where the whole world goes to plug their wares….
The Datsuns plugs their “Head Stunts” album with dates at Dublin’s Think Tank (February 4), Galway’s Roisin Dubh (5) and Belfast’s Spring & Airbrake (6)
Hear why Dublin-based Theo won the Malibu Music Award for Best Alternative Song last October when he plays Whelan’s in Dublin on January 22.
The latest re-release for Irish digital label Indiecater will be “The Ghost of H.W. Beaverman”, the debut album from Athens, Georgia band Folklore.
The Brothers Movement, the band formerly known as Mainline, release their debut album in April
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State magazine to cease print publication
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Here’s the Choice Music Prize shortlist
The following acts and albums have been nominated for the Choice Music Prize for Irish Album of the Year 2008 (acts in alphabetical order)
Fight Like Apes “Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion” (Model Citizen)
Mick Flannery “White Lies” (EMI)
Halfset “Another Way of Being There” (Casino Gravity Records)
Lisa Hannigan “Sea Sew” (Own label)
David Holmes “The Holy Pictures” (Canderblinks)
Jape “Ritual” (Co-Op)
Messiah J & The Expert “From The Word Go” (Inaudible)
Oppenheimer “Take The Whole Mid-Range And Boost It” (Fantastic Plastic)
R.S.A.G. “Organic Sampler” (Psychonavigation)
The Script “The Script” (Sony Music)The live event will take place in Vicar Street, Dublin on Wednesday March 4 and will feature performances from as many of the acts who can play on the night as possible (we’ll be announcing the full details in the next few weeks). Tickets, priced €27 euro including booking fees, go on sale on Monday next. This is the same ticket price as last year and the year before. Recession, what recession?
The winning act will receive a cheque for €10,000 (courtesy of the Irish Recorded Music Association and the Irish Music Rights Organisation) and a smashing piece of glassware (courtesy of industry body Recorded Artists & Performers).
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 compile their individual Top 10 lists and we combine the results, giving 10 points to the album at number one in each list, 9 points to the album at number 2 and so on right down to one point for the album at number 10.
As has happened every year, these judges have stayed schtum about their involvment in the project until now. A lot of people wonder why we keep their identities under wraps and it’s simply to ensure that there is no canvassing from PRs or labels and that the judges can come up with the shortlist without any third party pressure whatsoever. As simple as that.
Anyway, the judges who came up with this shortlist and will have the final decision on March 4 are:
Niall Byrne (State/Nialler9 blog)
Edel Coffey (Irish Independent)
Ian Dempsey (Today FM)
James Foley (Record of the Day)
Andrew Hamilton (Clare People)
Kieran Hurley (Cork Campus Radio)
Paul Mallon (Irish Daily Star Sunday)
Lauren Murphy (Entertainment.ie)
Sinead Ni Mhorda (Phantom FM)
Ed Power (Freelance)
Rigsy (BBC Northern Ireland’s Across The Line/ATL TV)
Ian Wilson (2FM)Declaration of interest to keep everyone happy: I’m the co-founder of this yoke and am also the non-voting chairman of the judging panel.
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The Far Side - playlist for Tuesday January 13
As played on The Far Side, Phantom 105.2, Tuesday January 13, 10pm-midnight
Animal Collective “Summertime Clothes” (Domino)
MGMT “Electric Feel (Aeroplane remix)” (Sony)
Friendly Fires “Paris (Aeroplane remix)” (XL)
Telepathe “So Fine” (Co-Op)
Deerhunter “Strange Lights” (4AD)
Stricken City “Tak O Tak” (Adventures Close To Home)
Passion Pit “Cuddle Fuddle” (French Kiss)
Hockey “Curse City” (Own label)
Dinosaur Pile-Up “Love Is A Boat And We’re Sinking” (Friends Vs)
Animal Collective “My Girls” (Domino)
Malajube “Ursuline” (Dare To Care)
Langhorne Slim “She’s Gone” (Kemado)
The Welcome Wagon “Sold! To The Nice Rich Man” (Asthmatic Kitty)
Link Wray “Rumble” (Cadence)
John Fairhurst “Obnox Stomps” (Humble Soul)
Roy Budd “Carter Takes A Train” (Cinephile)
David Holmes “Kill Her With Kindness” (Canderblinks)
Monkey “Monkey Bee (Kwes remix)” (XL)
Sholi “Dreams Before People” (Touch & Go)
J Tillman “Steel On Steel” (Bella Union)
Bruce Springsteen “Dream Baby Dream” (Blast First)
Fever Ray “If I Had A Heart” (Rabid)
Antony & The Johnsons “Crying Light” (Rough Trade)
Katie Kim “Something Growing” (Granny It’s OK)
Tamara Wellons “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (Ocha) -
Bono to take over On The Record blog for one day. Nation groans and wonders when Blogorrah will be back
The over-the-top promotion for the new U2 album continues at a pace to rival Usain Bolt. Not content with dominating last week with that Q interview (amazing how band members weren’t able to see that question about tax and Amsterdam coming a mile away), the latest salvo in the campaign is Bono penning an opinion column for the New York Times. Trust me, Maureen Dowd and Frank Rich have nothing to worry about.
This will probably be followed in the weeks before the album release by The Edge’s blog, Adam Clayton’s Irishman’s Diary, Larry Mullen on Twitter (”picking up the kids from the swimming pool on my Honda 50″) and Bono presenting the Late Late Show. By the time the album arrives and the band have appeared three dozen times on Xpose, there will not be a person alive who won’t be screaming “enough, sweet Jesus, enough”.
Yes, the release of a new U2 album is a big-ish story, yet does it really warrant this level of interest? It’s hard to understand why no-one in U2 Inc’s kitchen cabinet hasn’t advised them that such frenzied frontloading does not work anymore. While it may well have been the norm during the 1980s and 1990s - and it worked back then for sure - the campaign to make everyone aware that there is a new U2 album called “Not The Same As The Last One” coming out seems intrusive, over-bearing and badly handled by today’s standards.
Just because a big band are releasing a new album doesn’t mean we want to have it rammed down out throats every time we turn on our computers. This is old-school record industry thinking, a relic of a time when a big mainstream act like U2 could dictate the pace and the pitch. In this age of niche, when Chris Brown can sell 50,000 tickets for a couple of Irish shows in a few minutes and still be largely unknown to a huge number of music fans, the big, over-arching, ubiquitous campaign annoys more people than it convinces. It also shows up a lack of confidence in the product and their fanbase.
But U2 and their team have been brought up to believe that media domination of this kind is the only way to go. Any new-school tools or ideas which are added to the arsenal just become another brick in the wall rather than signalling a new way to go or engage with their audience. This online and offline shock and awe is created to persuade fans to go into the shops (if there will be any record shops left by the time the album comes out) on day one to buy the bloody CD.
There are many ways to deal with this. We can ignore them. We can write about genuinely fantastic new music from the likes of Antony & The Johnsons and Animal Collective instead. We can concentrate on great new Irish bands like R.S.A.G. or Heathers or Adebisi Shank or Cashier No 9. Hell, we could even kick off a National No-U2 Day on the day of the album’s release to show that there’s a whole lot more to Irish music than U2.
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Competition - predict the Choice Music Prize shortlist and win €100 of On The Record’s money!
On Wednesday afternoon, the Choice Music Prize shortlist for Irish Album of the Year 2008 will be revealed.
The announcement will be made during a lavish ceremony in central Dublin involving fireworks, speeches from assembled luminaries (including President Mary McAleese and the drummer from Radiohead), a couple of marching bands, a children’s choir featuring 2,000 kids all dressed in yellow, 16 Lovely Girls (one for each letter in “Choice Music Prize”), a hurling match between previous winners Super Extra Bonus Party and Divine Comedy and a spectacular “Thriller” video dance-off between Michael Flatley and Michael Jackson. The location for this recession-what-recession event will, of course, depend on the weather. (*)
But why wait until Wednesday? In a feat of generosity not seen since everyone had a job and wasn’t looking for “value for money” when they went for a bit of grub in a restaurant, On The Record will give €100 of his own cash to anyone who can predict the 10 albums on the shortlist. This is almost as good a prize as that snazzy radio and those CDs we gave away before Christmas.
Test your knowledge of Irish music! See if your own musical likes match those of our 12 expert judges who are currently in hiding in a Celebrity Big Brother-like gaff in deepest Cavan! Come up with your own Choice Music Prize shortlist! Fun for nearly all the family!
The rules are simple. You can enter once and once only. Entries will be accepted up to midnight on Tuesday. Anyone who makes a smart remark which is not judged by me to be funny will be disqualified. The judge reserves the right to be really suspicious if someone gets all 10 albums right (because there are a few surprises on the list).
Declaration of interest: I’m the co-founder of this yoke and am also the non-voting chairman of the judging panel.
(* Real announcement will be made on Wednesday at 3pm on Today FM and on the official Choice Music Prize website)
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The dude from the Hideaway House
Dylan Haskins first popped up on my radar last year when there was a discussion here about the lack of all-ages venues in Dublin city-centre and some folks mentioned the Hideaway House gigs he was doing out in his house in Deansgrange. Since then, I’ve come across Dylan via his excellent Roll Up Your Sleeves documentary on DIY culture and Hideaway Records, the label which stuck out that great album from Heathers amongst other releases. He’s also involved in a lot of other very interesting bits and pieces too, including the forthcoming Change? event.
A lot of people think very highly of him and quite rightly so. He’s someone who has already kicked off a load of interesting, fascinating projects which have encouraged others to get involved or try their hand at putting on gigs. And he could well be someone we will be hearing about for many years to come.
There’s an interview with him in today’s Ticket, but print issue space restrictions meant I couldn’t include everything we talked about so the full transcript is after the jump.
Be sure to check out Change? in the Project Arts Centre from January 26 to 31. It will feature lots of workshops, discussions, photo exhibitions and much more. There will also be ongoing screenings of Roll Up Your Sleeves every day from noon on the half-hour.
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Same old story: record sales down, live income up
No prizes for guessing what the review for 2008 revealed for the music business: yep, record sales are down and live revenue is up.
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New Irish albums incoming
2008 was a bumper year for Irish albums, with more than 180 releases in all.
While most of the domestic attention in 2009 will be on U-know-who, other Irish acts will also be getting back in the game.
Bell X1 release their fourth studio album, Blue Lights on the Runway, on their own label in Ireland on February 20th, with Yep Roc releasing the album in the US on March 3rd.
Veteran Northern Irish band Therapy? are also prepping a new album, with their 10th studio album Crooked Timber due for release on March 20th on the Demolition label.
And David Kitt’s sixth album, The Night Saver, will be released on his own label in March.
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Guthrie Jr due
Some 40 years after Woodstock and Alice’s Restaurant brought him to attention, Arlo Guthrie is still going strong.
In recent years, Guthrie has continued to record. His most recent album, 32c Postage Due, was a collaboration with The Dillards and contains versions of 10 of his father Woody’s songs.
Guthrie tours Ireland this month, visiting Cork’s Cyprus Avenue (January 17th), Dublin’s Whelan’s (18th), Galway’s Róisín Dubh (20th), Limerick’s Dolan’s (21st), Roscrea’s Grant Hotel (23rd), Castlebar’s Royal Theatre (24th), Culdaff’s McGrory’s (25th) and Belfast’s Menagerie (26th).
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Etc
Got something to plug? Well, you’ve come to the right place. Plug your gig, new album, gig, happening, hamster or haircut here. Just be sure to declare an interest please
The Oscar-winning Swell Season have rescheduled their charity fundraiser at Dublin’s Vicar Street for February 5th.
Shine’s first outing in 2009 is on January 31st at Queen’s University Belfast, with Tiefschwarz, Silicone Soul, Psycatron and the excellent Fake Blood.
Capital city dubstep dons Kaboogie celebrate a third birthday at Twisted Pepper on January 16th with Sunken Foal, and many more.
Awesome jazz guitarist David Torn brings his new Prezens band to Cork’s Triskel on April 15th and Dublin’s Sugar Club the following night.
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Tune of the Week - “My Girls”
Just listen again and again and again and again and again….
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The Far Side - playlist for Tuesday January 6
As played on The Far Side, Phantom 105.2, Tuesday January 6, 10pm-midnight
Dan Deacon “Getting Older” (Carpark)
Jaydiohead “99 Anthems” (Minty Fresh Beats)
N.A.S.A. “Gifted” (Anti)
Friendly Fires “In The Hospital” (XL)
Tanlines “New Flowers” (Young Turks)
La Roux “Quicksand” (Kitsune)
Dirty Projectors & David Byrne “Knotty Pine” (4AD)
Women “Black Rice” (Jagjaguwar)
Mr Hudson “There Will Be Tears” (Island)
The Soft Pack “Parasites” (1928 Recordings)
Three Trapped Tigers “Track 2″ (Blood & Biscuits)
Ty Segall “Pretty Baby (You’re So Ugly)” (Castle Face)
Wavves “The Boys Will Love Us” (De Stijl)
Sky Larkin “Beeline” (Wichita)
King Blues “What If Punk Never Happened (Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip remix)?” (Field)
The National “So Far Around the Bend” (4AD)
Marina & The Diamonds “Obsessions” (Neon Gold)
Antony & The Johnsons “Everglade” (Rough Trade)
Bon Iver “Blood Bank” (4AD)
J Tillman “James’ Blues” (Bella Union)
Cornelia “Coming Home” (Ramjac)
Lyn Christopher “Take Me with You” (Paramount)
Ann Peebles “Troubles, Heartaches & Sadness” (Hi)
Baby Huey “Hard Times” (Charly)
Gladys Knight & The Pips “The Way We Were” (RCA Victor)
Isaac Hayes “The Look Of Love” (Stax)
Moodymann “Heaven” (KDJ) -
Midweek ebbs and flows
It’s probably the end of the world as some major label executives know it but do they feel fine? At Macworld in San Francisco yesterday, Apple announced that the age of variable pricing and DRM-free downloads at iTunes is coming down the tracks. From April, per John Collins our man in SF, “Apple will introduce a three-tiered pricing plan for iTunes, with labels able to sell songs for $0.69, $0.99 or $1.29″. Apple-dude-who-is-not-Steve-Jobs, Philip Schiller said he expected “many more songs priced at 69 cents than $1.29”. The Register, though, notes that the devil in the detail. All the same, is this enough to tempt people away from eMusic or even Amazon’s new download shizzle? Some great quips from Lefsetz on the back of this news including “getting excited about multiple price points at the iTunes Store is like being thrilled there are three price points at the gas station” and, a knowing nod to fellow grumpy soul brother Dunph, “the iTunes Store is a sideshow but, in this rinky-dink circus, that’s all we’ve got.”
Hey, free music! Hey, really good free music for the price of one of your many email addresses! The folks at 4AD have put together a fantastic compilation to mark a year of great releases for them which means you get boss tunes from TV On The Radio, Bon Iver, Deerhunter, Department of Eagles, Anni Rossi and many more. Dowload it here.
Wire fanboys and girls, this is for you. Dude comes across the abandoned HBO soundstage for the show in a soon-to-be-demolished building in B-More. Dude takes pictures. Dude also takes some red ribbons so they’re probably on eBay as we speak. Ta very much to Damien and Sinead for the tip-off.
No fun: Ron Asheton RIP
School for scoundrels - a couple of lecturers at Hollywood’s Musicians Institute are attempting to teach their classes the fine art of A&R
From the “fancy that” department. The fact that sterling is in the basement at present doesn’t just mean cheap CDs and DVDs from online stores for euro-bearers. It also means a (probably temporary) end to English stag parties taking over Irish city-centres. That lack of English accents around town has been very noticable over the last few weeks, with more tourists from elsewhere wandering around freezing their nuts off and wondering why they didn’t go to Portugal instead.
I have gone on at great length - and will be going on again at probably greater length - about the amazing new album “Merriweather Post Pavilion” from Animal Collective earlier in the week, but I overlooked another amazing new album getting many spins round at On The Record this weather. Antony & The Johnsons release “The Crying Light” on Friday week and it’s an album to fall head over heels in love with. It sees the big man from Donegal by way of Chicester and California aim for the moon and damned if he doesn’t get there. Look out for a fascinating interview with Antony in The Ticket on Friday.
On the back of Santogold licensing nearly three-quarters of her ace debut album for commercials, video games or soundtracks, Jon Parales muses on how linking music to mercenary agendas has become the biggest part of the gameplan for acts after that trinity of traction, tickets and t-shirts.
More from the “fancy that” department. Has anyone else noticed the way all those commuter horror stories which were all the rage a year or so have ago have just disappeared as if they were in a Keith Barry magic trick? The two hour commutes from beyond the exurbs are still going on, but people have stopped fuming about them because they’re probably glad to have a job.
I’ve yet to hear or read a bad word about The 02. Is this a record (no, a record is a round black thing with a hole in the centre)? Or is this down to the fact that most On The Record readers weren’t arsed going to see the Kings Of Leon or Coldplay before Christmas (and who could blame them for blanking those pointless, clueless triumphs of mediocrity)? Nonetheless, it seems to have had a very impressive opening run so far.
And finally, love this tune
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Here’s Johnny
Spoofing the TV news has become hard work, especially when you look at what the real shows try to pass off as news. The dumbing down is not even confined to the soft items or the “and finally” stories anymore - the dead hand of all-knowing presentation gurus means even serious items look daft. From idiotic visuals to illustrate economic woes to reporters shivering on street corners to deliver their spiels to camera, news programming ate itself a long time ago.
Then, there’s the honour list of TV shows which have already made an artform of the spoof news item. Be it The Day Today or The Daily Show, there has already been a run of shows which have got their creative and critical highs from poking mock-horror fun at how the presentation of the news have become an excercise in high melodrama. Anyone seeking to follow those steps had better know what they’re getting themselves into.
John Ryan is already on record as expecting a kicking for This Is Nightlife!, his new spoof-news show on RTE 2. He probably thinks it’s another chance for his media peers to throw a few punches at the man who was the leader of the gang involved in such exploits as (deep breath) VIP, Blogorrah, Stars On Sunday, Gay Ireland, New York Dog, The Sunday Supplement on Radio Ireland/Today FM and putting lovely girls on the cover of the Culture magazine in the Sunday Times from time to time. As far as Ryan is concerned, the Irish media will always look to have a dig at any member of their own pack who has the audacity to have ideas above his or her station, hence why he sought to get his retaliation in first.
The bad news for Ryan is that he was probably going to get it in the neck for the new show anyway, regardless of what it was like. But the good news is that This Is Nightlife! is actually nowhere near as horrific as we may have thought 24 hours ago. Ryan and sidekick Cillian Fennell (a tag-team previously in action to persuade Terry Keane to spill the beans about Charlie Haughey on The Late Late Show and in the pages of the Sunday Times) are not reinventing the wheel here and they know it. But the show is actually a fairly watchable hoot nonethless and it was certainly better than the truly appalling Project Ha Ha/Dead Cat Bounce dross which followed it.
The caricatures are perfectly executed (Trevor Corocran the sports guy and Una Og Nic Ni Suillicain the Grainne Seoige-like sidekick straight from the sofas of Bravo TV are particularly bang-on) and the writing is very good in places and mostly shapely throughout. There were even a couple of good laugh out loud lines - it will always be the Sunni South East for me from now on, the Rock the Recession gag was good if a little short and the rolling news ticker items were Blogorrah headlines redux. Best of all, as anchorman Johnny Hansom, Ryan sends himself up mercilessly throughout. Sure, there’s still work to do - the pacing seems a little rushed throughout and that weatherman character is no near as ridiculous as he should be - but there are the bones of a decent show here.
And, as if to prove that the business of real news is just as stone cold ridiculous as spoof news, you could always have flicked afterwards to Nighty Night With Vinnie Browne over on TV3. Before the bould Vinnie presented a show previewing just how dismal 2009 is going to be (and he introduced the latest readings from the book of doom with a smirk), you had TV3’s take on the stories of the day delivered in a manner which could have fit snugly - and smugly - into This Is Nightlife!
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Gong! Gong! Gong! First media awards for 2009 already in!
The If It Walks Like A Duck And Quacks Like A Duck, Then It Is Probably A Duck award goes to…. TV3. Having bought Channel 6 for an estimated €12 million (though some On The Record sources mutter that a much lower figure may have been exchanged between the two parties), they have now rebranded C6 as 3e. All hail the mighty 3e! Uhm, that’s “e” for entertainment. Per TV3/3e chief bottle-washer David McRedmond, “we have put the two channels under a single programming team, which means that over the coming months, the schedules will become entirely complementary.” Why do I think this means we’re going to see a lot more of the Xpose gals over the coming months? And Martin King? Hey, maybe they could give the whole channel over to Vinnie….
The If I Knew You Wanted A Jukebox, I’d Have Baked A Cake award goes to….2FM. Per yesterday’s Sunday Tribune, management have decided that the station’s afternoon shows - ie Nikki Hayes and Rick O’Shea - are to be talk-free zones. Instead of the usual features and banter between the tunes, the DJs will now simply say “that was that” and “this is this”. Having spent a couple of years actually building, developing and maintaining audiences for these shows through listener interaction (something every single show on every single radio station tries to do), the 2FM grand poobahs (Michael Cahill is the lad credited in the piece as delivering this dastardly plan) have decided that the future will be a chit-chat-free one. Sure, isn’t that what we thought digital radio was all about?
And actually, seeing as this is really an effort to cut costs (less talk means less researchers, dontchaknow), why stop at the afternoon shows? Maybe Michael Cahill should take a look at the morning shows as well? There must be a couple of thousand euro to be saved by getting Gerry Ryan to play his favourite 2FM sessions.
You also have to love the subtle spinning of Cahill as the man most likely to succeed John Clarke when JC calls it a day. If the incoming Head of Radio at RTE, Clare Duignan, has any gumption, she’ll nip that one in the bud and start lovebombing Liam Thompson to return to Montrose or give Mark McCabe the job. 2FM needs to be shaken, not stirred.
And finally, the Brass Neck Of The Year award goes to… Beverley Cooper Flynn. You will not hear any better example of this noble art than that displayed by the TD in her interview with Sean O’Rourke on the News at One earlier today. Ms Cooper Flynn, currently a member of the Fianna Fail parliamentary party, was defending her decision to retain an annual tax-free allowance of over €40,000 awarded to those TDs who are independents when they are elected to the Dail. I’d say the calls to Liveline were only fantastic after that one (the interview is here).
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Is everyone here? The first re-up of 2009
(1) Open up your throat! Some good news to start as the band behind what we believe will be one of the best albums of 2009 are coming back to town. Animal Collective play Dublin’s Tripod on March 27 and Belfast’s Stiff Kitten on March 28. Lets hope they don’t miss their ferry and/or have sore throats this time out. And, just to show that we do notice and acknowledge these things, tickets for the Dublin show are the exact same price as they were when the band last played that venue in November 2007 (€20 and €24.50).
(2) Change of every stripe will be very much on agenda in 2009 so it’s apt that the year will begin with Change? Organised by Dylan Haskins (he of the Hideaway House, Hideaway Records, the Roll Up Your Sleeves flick on DIY culture and a dozen other things), Change? is a series of panels, events, discussions and what-have-you in Dublin’s Project Arts Centre from January 26 to 31 which “aims to examine and dissect our perceptions of ‘change’ as a concept”. More information here.
(3) The credit crunch has claimed another blogger. Matt Vinyl has decided the time has come to shut up shop. We shall never see his likes again.
(4) Bands for 2009? The Ticket rounded up some music business movers and shakers to get their views on who we’ll be listening to in the coming 12 months. Unsurprisingly, Passion Pit figure highly in the despatches.
(5) A couple of fine pieces from this here paper which you might have missed over the last few weeks as you wondered who took the last chocolate Kimberley: Keith Duggan’s excellent interview with eternal mischief-maker Ger Loughnane, a timely reprint of Conor Cruise O’Brien’s “grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented” column on Charlie Haughey and a feature on why LeBron James is rocking basketball on and off the court.
(6) It was thanks to On The Record’s Pricewatch-esque special that I picked up my compilation of the season. That was the mighty “Take Me To The River” three-CD story of Southern soul from 1961 to 1977. Tower Records were demanding €45 for it but, as advised by OTR reader Mikey, I got it via Amazon for €31 (it’s gone up in price since). A hugely recommended trawl through the good stuff south of the Mason-Dixie line with William Bell, Otis Redding, Al Green Etta James and dozens more. I’m thinking about making On The Record Goes Shopping a regular feature so readers can post about bargains and highlight rip-offs when it comes to music, DVDs and books - any thoughts?
(7) And it was also thanks to On The Record readers Matt and Darren that I caught up with the writing of George Pelecanos over the break. Pelecanos was one of the writers on The Wire but he’s also an ace crime writer in his right. His latest book The Turnaround is hugely recommended: a rollicking tale of youth, redemption and revenge on the streets of Chocolate City complete with a well tuned rock and soul soundtrack. His DC Quartet is next on my hitlist.
(8) One album which got a lot of air-time from me over the last fortnight was one which definitely got away in 2008. Indeed, Camille’s “Music Hole” album would probably have made my Top 10 list if I’d listened to it as much during the year as I did over the last few weeks. A brilliant, breath-taking adventure from the French lass. Here’s a track from the album for y’all
(9) The best thing on the TV over the last few weeks? That would be a screening of The Getaway, Sam Peckinpah’s gritty thriller involving Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw robbing banks and driving hell for leather for the Mexican border while evading the police, a fuming accomplice and a double-crossing politician’s henchmen.
(10) The second best thing on the TV over the last few weeks? That would be The Naked City, the 1948 film-noir shot as a documentary about a wisecracking New York detective (Barry Fitzgerald) and his homicide squad investigating the murder of a model. You can probably trace all those police procedurals like Law & Order and Homicide back to Jules Dassin and Mark Hellinger’s Oscar-winning doc where the city streets are as much a feature as Fitzgerald’s begorrahs. “There are eight million stories in the Naked City; this has been one of them”.
(11) The worst thing on the TV over the last few weeks? Oh, RTE, RTE, RTE! Do those initials now really stand for Recession Television Everyday? It seemed as if there was a prize turkey on every single time I flicked the remote-control to RTE One or Two over the last few weeks. Some of the shows which probably had you also looking on in horror included Young, Irish & Wealthy (a show so shoddy they couldn’t even come up with photos of some of those wealthy young ones featured, while a couple of the talking heads on hand to give a bit of an aul’ spiel plainly didn’t have a clue who or what they were talking about) and Tubridy Tonight Rings In The New Year (I really hope this was some kind of post-modern gag which RTE pulled on the nation). And the less said about those couple of Katherine Lynch shows flung carelessly into the schedules, the better. But hey, forget about all that, are you going to watch This Is Nightlife tonight (RTE 2, 10.25pm)?
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The Far Side - playlists for December 23, 29 and 30
Playlists for various shows on Phantom 105.2 over the last two weeks after the jump.
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Top five topics for the watercooler in 2009
Here are five news stories which we think you won’t be able to avoid in 2009.
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Factory’s famous and not so famous
Factory Records was one of the great maverick labels of the 20th century. It’s a testament to the late, great Tony Wilson and friends that there is still plenty of interest in the label, even to this day.
Factory Records: Communications 1978-92 is the latest lavish tribute to the label, its ethos and its acts.
Released next week, the limited- edition four CD box-set features the label’s best-known acts (Joy Division, Happy Mondays, New Order) and some of its more idiosyncratic signings (Cath Carroll, A Certain Ratio (video below), The Durutti Column and, er, Northside).
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Frank’s new house
It seems like only yesterday that everyone was getting very excited about a Pixies reunion tour. While there is still chatter about a new album, band members are cracking on with new projects
Black Francis has enlisted the help of his wife, Violet Clark, for a new project called Grand Duchy. Their debut album, Petits Four, will be released here on February 13th.
Francis claims that any proceeds from the album will go towards the purchase of a house in Luxembourg: “just a little place on the river, in the ravine, in the trees, in the stars.”
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Etc
Cathy Davey was forced to pull her pre-Christmas date at Dublin’s Tripod due to illness and it has now been rescheduled for February 27.
Benjamin Escoriza, frontman with world music veterans Radio Tarifa, brings his flamenco fusion to Dublin’s Button Factory on February 6.
Music Network have a busy January and February ahead with nationwide dates from Happy To Meet You, Sorry to Part, Slide, Ensemble Avalon, Trihornophone, the Callino Quartet and the Gyan Riley Trio.
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