Tune of the Week - “Sharp AZ”
There has been an outbreak of Mo Wax love in these parts of late.
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Friendly Fires, Waterford, May
The awesome Friendly Fires, with smashing support from Casiokids and Thecocknbullkid, play The Forum, Waterford on Wednesday May 27. It’s a Heineken Green Spheres shebang so go here for free tickets.
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Major Lazer for Picnic, Horrors for Oxegen
Really liking what I’ve heard so far from Major Lazer, the new digi-dancehall joint featuring Diplo, Switch and a cast of billions. Album “Guns Don’t Kill People - Lazers Do” is due in June and now comes news that they’re playing the Electric Picnic in September.
Meanwhile, new acts for Oxegen include Calvin Harris, The Noisettes (really like their album), The Saw Doctors, The Coronas, The Blizzards, The Answer, Iglu & Hartly, Starsailor, Spinnerette and, proof that there really are second acts in pop, The Horrors
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The Far Side - playlist for Tuesday April 28
As played on The Far Side, Phantom 105.2, Tuesday April 28, 10pm-midnight
Crocodiles “Summer Of Hate” (Fat Possum)
White Denim “Mirrored & Reverse” (Full Time Hobby)
Black Lips “Take My Heart” (Vice)
Cause Co-Motion “Which Way Is Up?” (Slumberland)
Mika Miko “I Got A Lot” (Post Present Medium)
Tidal District “Don’t Turn Your Back On The Bear” (Quiet Guy)
Plugs “All Them Witches” (Kill ‘Em All)
Vampire Weekend “The Kids Don’t Stand A Chance (Miike Snow remix)” (White)
Phenomenal Handclap Band “15 to 20” (Tummy Touch)
The Nights “Lonely Soul” (Self release)
Here We Go Magic “Only Pieces” (Western Vinyl)
The XX “Stars” (Young Turks)
Passion Pit “Moth’s Wings” (Columbia)
The Hood Internet “Two Weeks of Hip-Hop” (Hood Internet)
The Knux “Cappuchino” (Interscope)
Clipse/Kanye West “Kinda Like A Big Deal” (Re-Up)
Doom “Angelz” (Lex)
Caspa “Riot Powder” (Fabric)
Micachu & The Shapes “Eat Your Heart” (Rough Trade)
Dirty Dozen Brass Band/Guru “Inner City Blues” (Evangeline)
Prince “Sign O The Times” (Paisley Park)
Luke Vibert “Sharp AZ” (Mo Wax)
Arthur Russell “See Through Love” (Orange Mountain)
Beach Boys “Wind Chimes” (Capitol)
Tim Buckley “Starsailor” (Straight)
Haruomi Hosono “Honey Moon” (Panam)
Mary Margaret O’Hara “You Will Be Loved Again” (Virgin) -
Making cents from streaming
Earlier this month, I wrote about how the upswing in popularity of streaming might impact on record label coffers, a post came on the back on Spotify’s 15 minutes in the media sun (now stretching towards an hour). I did some back-of-an-envelope sums and wondered would money from streaming be enough to offset losses in digital sales.
It turns out that I wasn’t the only one trying to do those kind of sums and there have been a couple of interesting posts out there addressing similar issues. Niall Smart from Echodio pointed me towards the Pansentient League and that blog’s excellent post about how labels make cash from Spotify. Their graphs clearly show just why the labels are behind Spotify - if they can wean people off illegal file-sharing sites and onto Spotify, they can start to make cash. You might think that 0.1 cent is not much of a return per stream (the blog says this is a guesstimate, but some informal research over the last week would indicate they’re on the money with that figure), yet see that tune rack up 100,000 streams and the revenue begins to rise. Let’s hope Spotify have done their sums in that regard and that they don’t start to feel the pinch like other streaming start-ups.
Streaming maths, though, don’t just apply to Spotify. Eliot Van Buskirk had a excellent post last week on Wired which pointed out that Susan Boyle’s Britain’s Got Talent video, the one on the way to becoming the biggest hit in YouTube history, was amassing a load of dough from streaming royalties, but no-one was collecting it. Van Buskirk calculated a $500,000 pay-day based on 0.5 cent per play royalty given Sony-BMG’s deal with YouTube, not to mention the potential cash from ad revenue around the exposure. Not great news, then, for ITV, Simon Cowell or Sony-BMG - Boyle’s contract with the show is probably the mother of all rights grabs so she won’t be seeing any of that cash. Of course, you could also ask just why a great novelty record man like Cowell hasn’t also tapped into the Boyle effect by rush-releasing a single, but that’s a post for another day.
What both of these stories do point up is the potential honey-pot to be made from streams. Naturally, it all comes down to the deal which the label or act have negotiated with the service provider - I’m sure there are many acts whose videos are accumulating thousands of plays on YouTube who are not even seeing 0.1 cent per play. This again is where labels with their business and legal affairs muscle (and their deep catalogues which YouTube probably would like to maintain access to) come into their own. As we’ve become blue in the face from repeating, it’s yet another new business model which does not necessarily hold out the promise of a lot of cash for new acts.
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11 things I learned this weekend
(1) There are two great rules of thumb in this business: (i) always follow the money and, the one we’re interested in this morning, (ii) keep an eye on the quiet ones. Since Hideaway House alumni Heathers released their debut album “Here, Not There” last year, they have kept their heads down, toured the United States, finished their Leaving Certs, went onto university and continued to write cracking songs. The duo played a short, snappy and rather sublime set at the IMRO Showcase at Andrew’s Lane Theatre, Dublin on Friday night which was full to the brim with get-happy harmonies, delicious tunes (especially the new song called “New Song”, which had just been completed that afternoon, and the closing number, sung half in Irish and half in English) and sprinklings of stardust. Other homegrown bands may be getting all the attention this weather, but these two are just getting on with the business in hand armed with a guitar, two mighty voices and some superfly songs. They’ll spend June touring the US with Ghost Mice and we’d urge you to check them out when they next play in your neck of the woods.
(2) Good morning celebrity readers! Sky News sports dude Chris Skudder (yes, that Chris Skudder) has joined the ranks of happy On The Record readers. Chris popped up here over the weekend to say he thinks Vicar Street rocks and he hopes to get to the Wilco gig at the venue at the end of August. Welcome to the fray, dude. Jeez, this is way better than being one of the 78 eejits following Twink on Twitter.
(3) Chances are those who haven’t seen State Of Play the TV series will probably enjoy State of Play the movie much more because they won’t spend the entire flick comparing and contrasting. A story of media, murder and machinations in Washington DC, State Of Play 2.0 is a solid, occasionally engaging thriller features Russell Crowe (The Hack - he doesn’t swear as much as a real hack, though), Helen Mirren (The Editor - she doesn’t swear as much as a real editor, though), Ben Affleck (The Politician - he’s not great, but is Ben Affleck ever great?) and Rachel McAdams (The Doe-Eyed Blogger - uhm, do I know any doe-eyed bloggers?). OK but, having done a share of comparing and contrasting, the TV series - which was one of Paul Abbott’s finest writing jobs and is available on DVD - was way better.
(4) Per the Trib, you can now rustle up a table for two at a posh Dublin eaterie for a Saturday night at very late notice. A far cry from when the nation had far too much cash to splash on sub-prime nosh. By contrast, you’d be hard pressed to get a table midweek at Green 19 (as was certainly the case last week) as punters vote with their feet and wallets for good grub and decent prices. We can expect the Green 19 hotline to be engaged all week now that Tom “Megabites” Doorley has paid a visit.
(5) More TV shows getting the big screen make-over. The best thing about In The Loop, the film which sort of takes off where director Armando Iannucci’s The Thick of It left off, is probably the swearing. It has been a long time since I’ve come across such inventive uses of invective in the English language and I usually deal with a couple of live music promoters every week. A tale of spin, spinners and spanners (that would be Tom Hallander playing gormless minister Simon Foster to perfection), In The Loop may not exactly be reinventing the wheel when it comes to politicial satire but it’s a hoot nonetheless and not just when Steve Coogan replays Paul Calf. And just when you think it can’t get any more foul-mouthed than Peter Capaldi as spinner-in-chief Malcom Tucker constantly blowing blood vessels, along bounds Paul Higgins (as his sidekick Jamie “The Crossest Man In Scotland” MacDonald) with some more inspiring insults.
(6) A good-ish house to see The Virgins in action at The Academy on Saturday night as they turned on the downtown New York City hipster style for 34 minutes. A band who are better connected than the Dublin Bus timetable (especially this morning), you can’t help but like their rough-around-the-edges tunes about various colourful metropolitan characters, especially when songs like “Rich Girls” come along with such splendid finger-popping grooves and the band have a lead singer like Donald Cumming happily prepared to walk the charismatic/chancer tightrope all night long. While there are moments when their louche pop inspires some some dreadfully rash thoughts to pop into your head (”dear God, it’s the new Boomtown Rats/solo Sting/Razorlight”), there are others which simply remind you to find that Tom Tom Club debut album and re-read Anthony Haden-Guest’s “The Last Party”.
(7) It’s not just celebrity sportscasters who are finding their way to On The Record this weather. I’m always amazed how some posts which I’ve long forgotten about keep getting repeat business. In this case, hello to all the (deluded) Oasis fans who are finding their way to their neck of the interweb woods. Please make yourselves at home and keep your feet off the furniture.
(8) I feel a bit of an addiction coming on. I speak of Breaking Bad, a TV series which a couple of posters here have talked about in the last few months and which I finally got around to checking out yesterday. Any show which begins with a fiftysomething chemistry teacher turned crystal meth maker standing in a pair of Y-fronts brandishing a gun in the New Mexico desert is OK by me.
(9) Think you have heard all you ever wanted to hear about Big Music v Pirate Bay? Well, what about the view from where the legal eagles are sitting?
(10) Who exactly in Team Duffy decided it would be a good idea if she got on her bike and went shilling for Diet Coke? Her live show with the yawnarama session musos was bad enough, but this take the biscuit and dunks (donks) it.
(11) A tune to start this week from a band featured on The Far Side and New Music last week. Behold, it’s Tidal District!
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On The Record’s community noticeboard now open for business
In The Ticket today, Michael Dwyer previews what to expect in the cinemas this summer, we look back at 20 years of gigging in Whelan’s (with contributions from assorted On The Record readers and a slideshow put together by Irish Times snapper Bryan O’Brien) and there’s an interview with Today FM’s Paul McLoone. The New Music slots are occupied by The Knux, Two Door Cinema Club, The The Phenomenal Handclap Band, Tidal District, Wave Machines and Hunter-Gatherer, Lauren Murphy’s Music News covers Delorentos, reaction to the Pirate Bay decision and Castle Palooza, Brian Boyd also focuses on Pirate Bay in Revolver, Eoin Butler rounds up new singles and downloads in Shuffle and NOFX’s Mike Burkett discusses what’s on his rider.
CD of the Week comes from Brakes and there are also reviews of new releases from Bob Dylan, Black Lips, Camera Obscura, She Keeps Bees, The Juan Maclean, Alphastates, The von Bondies, Allen Toussaint, Dale Watson, Staff Benda Bilili and many more.
New flicks on the big screen this week include Observe and Report, State of Play, Encounters At The End of the World, The Uninvited, Shifty, Outlander and Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel. There’s also Film News and Donald Clarke’s dastardly Weekly Movie Quiz
That’s The Ticket: your weekly man/woman when it comes to going out.
Now, over to you. On The Record’s weekly plugging service is now open. Plug away to your heart’s content but please (please) declare an interest where applicable.
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Castle Palooza rounds ‘em up
Here’s the first line-up of live acts for this year’s Castle Palooza festival:
David Kitt (dude’s new album “The Nightsaver” is rather smashing)
Project Jenny Project Jan (really like their “Train Track” tune)
R.S.A.G (awesome!)
Channel One
Robotnik
The Lost Brothers
Dark Room Notes (another Irish band with a really strong album at the mo’)
Noise Control
8 Ball
Glint
Le Galaxie
Nell Bryden
The Ambience Affair (check out their “Fragile Things” EP)
Followers of Otis
Patrick KelleherThe fest happens at Charleville Castle, Tullamore, Co Offaly on August 1 and 2. Tickets now on sale from €89 and capacity is limited to 2,500 folks.
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Delorentos say “hello again boys and girls”
Back in February, Delorentos abruptly announced that they were calling it a day. Band member Ronan Yourell decided to leave and the other three felt it wouldn’t be right for them to continue without him.
At the time, the band refered to some music business problems which contributed to their decision to quit, including a mooted record deal which failed to materialise and the collapse of their distribution company, Pinnacle, swhich cuppered the band’s plans to release their album in the UK.
But that was February and now, as spotted by On The Record reader Caroline via a post on the band’s MySpace blog, Yourell is back in the fold.
Per Yourell, “2008 was a difficult year for all sorts of reasons. I realise now that I didn’t cope very well with these. I guess you could say I discovered the true meaning of the phrase ‘difficult second album’.”
Having made his decision to leave, Yourell then reconsidered things. “About a week ago I asked the other delorentos if they’d consider allowing me rejoin the group. After several good chats, we’ve decided to continue on, together.
“The dramatic press release a couple of months back, was in hindsight premature, but we wanted to be open and honest about what was going on.”
All of which means that the band’s forthcoming dates in May - Electric Avenue, Waterford (8); Cyprus Avenue, Cork (9 and 16); Spirit Store, Dundalk (14); Dolan’s, Limerick (15); Roisin Dubh, Galway (21) and Whelan’s, Dublin (22 and 23) - will not be their last shows after all.
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The Far Side - playlist for Tuesday April 21
As played on The Far Side, Phantom 105.2, Tuesday April 21, 10pm-midnight
White Rabbits “Percussion Gun” (TBD)
Humanzi “Bass Balls” (Self release)
Baddies “Holler for My Holiday” (Medical)
The Horrors “Do You Remember” (XL)
Magistrates “Heartbreak” (XL)
Tidal District “Don’t Turn Your Back On The Bear” (Quiet Guy)
The Love Language “Lalita” (Bladen County)
Dirty Projectors “Remade Horizon” (Domino)
Sonic Youth “Sacred Trixter” (Matador)
Abe Vigoda “Don’t Lie” (Post Present Medium)
Tweak Bird “Shivers” (Volcom)
Yes Giantess “You Were Young” (Neon Gold)
New Look “Function of Your Love” (Self release)
The Hood Internet “Good Ol’ Fashioned Rump Shaker” (Hood Internet)
Major Lazer “Hold the Line” (Mad Decent)
Amanda Black “Might Like You Better” (Downtown)
TV On The Radio “Stork & Owl (Gang Gang Dance remix)” (4AD)
DJ Mujava “Township Funk” (Warp)
Lemonade “Big Weekend” (True Panther)
The Juan Maclean “The Future Will Come” (DFA)
Here We Go Magic “I Just Want To See You” (Western Vinyl)
Hunter-Gatherer “You’re Dead After School” (Self release)
Trihornphone “Warp & Woof” (IMC)
Adrian Crowley “The Three Sisters” (Tin Angel)
Grizzly Bear “Two Weeks” (Warp)
The XX “Crystalised” (Young Turks)
DM Stith “Pigs” (Asthmatic Kitty)
DJ Shadow “What Does You Soul Look Like?” (Mo Wax)
Billie Holiday “God Bless the Child” (Okeh) -
The return of “unforeseen circumstances”
They’re back. We speak, of course, of “unforeseen circumstances”, every promoter’s prefered excuse when they have to cancel a show. This time, it is The Eagles and their mooted show in Galway’s Pearse Stadium in June which has got knocked on the head due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
On The Record has always believed that “unforeseen circumstances” is promoterspeak for “look, we didn’t sell enough tickets for the gig and we need to get out of this one in doublequick time so dust down the unforeseen circumstances excuse and hope the usual suspects just print that and don’t raise any awkward questions”.
But this is The Eagles we are talking about - the frigging Eagles, man - and we thought they were bona-fide stadium fillers at €86.25, €106.25 and €131.25 a pop. So, I suppose, did the promoter.
Of course, there may well be a completely viable set of “unforeseen circumstances” which caused the cancellation of a major show like this. A date-clash with a local parish mission? A threatened invasion of flesh-eating zombies from Roscommon and Leitrim? An administrative oversight which meant the promoter’s rep forgot to book the sushi for the band’s rider? You get the idea
So, over to you, what do you think are the “unforeseen circumstances” which mean The Eagles are blanking Galway this summer? Make with the funnies on a glorious Tuesday.
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Lenny “recession? What recession?” Cohen adds ANOTHER night at Dublin’s 02. Dude will need planning permission at this rate.
Hear that? That’s the sound of another couple of thousand euro hitting Lenny Cohen’s bank account as he adds a fourth night at The 02. It’s like Chris Brown all over again. Too soon? Anway, you can help Lenny buy a new suit and hat when tickets for his fourth show at Dublin’s 02 on July 23 go on sale next Monday. The other three nights - July 19, 20 and 22 - are sold out.
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The randomiser rides again
Nice weekend everyone? I’m sure we shall hear plenty today about AC/DC, Record Store Day and the joys of ice-cream on a sunny day. I spent Saturday afternoon putting together a smashing ‘zine in a few hours in the company of some great folks in the smoking area of the Bernard Shaw boozer in Dublin. Yep, Zine Day was like putting together a magazine in a shed in the middle of a field in Co Laois all over again. Thanks very much to Will St Leger and Bodytonic’s John McMahon for asking me to get involved in the project and to Gareth “Play That Song I Like” Williamson and all those bright sparks who showed up, grabbed a pair of scissors and slapped on the Pritt-Stick. Naturally, there will be more Zine Days in the future.
Incoming: new online city guide for Baile Atha Cliath. Le Cool Dublin launches May 14 as a free weekly mag right to your in-box with a guide to the best cultural and entertainment events in the big smoke. Sign up here if this tickles your fancy.
Anyone interested in kicking the tyres at MySpace Music? Join the queue.
In the wake of lots of yak about a three-strikes-and-you’re-back-in-the-Stone-Age-dude policy when it comes to music piracy, the New York Times scratches its chin a few times and wonders if internet access is a basic human right
Review of Jack White’s new band The Dead Weather as they step out for the first time in New York City.
Viva Vevo?
2fm online music store: epic fail. Ken “Brian” Sweeney catches the story in yesterday’s Trib about how 2fm’s new online store is selling MP3s which are iPod and Mac-unfriendly due to DRMifications. Like, hello? That’s €230,000, or 41.2 per cent of Gerry Ryan’s salary, down the pan.
Music festivals say “we’re grand, boss”. Note 1: this may not apply to the Irish festival sector. Note 2: we have not seen any Ticketmaster manifests to back up Note 1. Note 3: we are, of course and as always, more than open to seeing Ticketmaster manifests in relation to Note 1 should you have a few going spare.
Anyone looking for a Dublin-based festival over the May Bank Holiday Weekend - which is the weekend after next - and wondering what to do now that the Green Energy festival seems to have been 86′d, the Sibin festival could be for you. Some 60 acts do the do on six stages with reps from the Electricity, Reach, !Kaboogie, Worries Outernational, Acii Disco, Antics, Hospital, Rootical and many other crews holding court at the Man O’ War Pub, Balbriggan, Co Dublin on May 2. Tickets are €47.50 in advance (from Spindizzy or All City) or €50 on the day.
Country music sales go down, down, deeper and down. Hey, first and last Status Quo refererence in On The Record! This week, anyway.
Beantown attorney confounds record industry with brand new gameplan: “he did it!” If that happened in an episode of Law & Order, Jack McCoy’s eyebrows would approach Glenda Gilson-like heights.
And finally, let’s start the working week with a chant. It’s going to be a good one.
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Pirate Bay founders walk the plank
Per BBC News, Pirate Bay founders Frederik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Carl Lundstrom and Peter Sunde have found guilty of breaking copyright law and sentenced to a year in jail. This comes on the back of a court decision in Spain earlier this week where the operator of a file-sharing site was fined and jailed.
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I plug, you plug, he plugs, she plugs, they plug - everyone is plugging!
In The Ticket today, you will find interviews with the Electric Picnic-bound MGMT and the rather awesome RSAG (hey, both bands take their names from initials - I love co-incidences like that). Brian Boyd goes mad about Twitter, Lauren Murphy has Music News about Record Store Day, the Electric Picnic and Vevo and my New Music picks are Lissie Trullie, The Postelles, Rural Alberta Advantage, She Keeps Bees, Enemies and Theophilus London.
CD of the Week comes from Depeche Mode and there are also reviews of new offerings from Adrian Crowley, Nite Jewel, Beautiful Unit, Richard Swift, Margaret Healy, The Ettes, Super Furry Animals, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Little Palace, Jerry Fish, Waylon Jennings (”Waylon Forever”, his final collection), Christy Moore and more.
There’s also a series of mini-features on how Recession 2.0 is hitting the music, games and movie industries (see under “Film Features”).
In the cineplex, there are reviews of Good, I Love You Man, In The Loop and Crank, High Voltage, plus an interview with new bromantic dude Paul Rudd.
The Ticket: better than all the rest.
Your plugs please in the space below. Remember to declare an interest where relevant or don’t be surprised if one is declared for you.
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Wilco, Dublin, August
Wilco play Dublin’s Vicar Street on August 27 (and a second date the night after can probably be expected). Yep, the gig happens a week before the Electric Picnic and was announced the day after the Picnic launch - someone at Aiken Promotions, POD’s ex-Picnic partners, has a wicked sense of humour with the timing of this one. Tickets go on sale next Thursday morning at €40.20 a pop. If they are anything as good as they were when they played the same venue in November 2007, it will be one to savour.
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Electric Picnic 2009 - The List
First list of acts for this year’s Electric Picnic, sports fans. More names to be announced in a few weeks. Sundry attractions such as the Body & Soul Area, Comedy Tent, Spoken Word Area, Lucent Dossier, Arcadia and Thisispopbaby will be present and correct. Nothing, though, about pies. Tickets go on sale on Friday morning and will be €240 or €480 for a family ticket (two adults and up to four chislers)
Orbital
Flaming Lips
Basement Jaxx
MGMT
Chic (ooooooooh!)
Madness
Bell X1
Fleet Foxes
Klaxons
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Seasick Steve
2 Many DJs
Lisa Hannigan
Explosions In The Sky
ABC
Efterklang
Damien Dempsey
Alabama 3 (yawn)
Bat For Lashes
Zero 7
Erol Alkan
Roots Manuva
Sugarhill Gang
Billy Bragg
Lykke Li (awesome)
Imelda May (awesome, but in a more rockabilly way)
Echo & The Bunnymen
Magazine
E.S.G
Moderat
Simian Mobile Disco
Skream & Benga
Noze
Heartbreak
Halfset
Chris Cunningham
Okkervil River
Magnolia Electric Company
Low Anthem (good call!)
Villagers
Tunng
Jape (contract clearly stipulates that the artist must not sport a moustache)
Whitest Boy Alive
Micachu & The Shapes
The Walkmen (Ian Thrill Pier will be delighted)
Michael Nyman
Dublin Gospel Choir (sure, it wouldn’t be the Picnic without these lads doing some singing in their cloaks on the Sunday morning)
Quantic Soul Orchestra
Jazzanova -
Electric Picnic 2009 - The List cometh soonest
I bet there has never been so many Irish music writers and bloggers waiting anxiously for The Angelus bells to start ringing so they can press “publish” and go have their tea.
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Electric Picnic 2009 - there is a list?
I’ve just heard that The List is out there and that The List has a number of band names on it. This is exciting news, right? It must be because many people have spent the afternoon either on Twitter saying they have The List (like kids in a playground going “na-na-na-na” at those who don’t have The List) or trying to publish The List on various blogs and websites. It’s at times like this that you realise just how important the interweb is in all our lives. I shall now go off and get hold of The List. Bear with me please, I shall not be long. Has it stopped raining yet?
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The Far Side - playlist for Tuesday April 14
As played on The Far Side, Phantom 105.2, Tuesday April 14, 10pm-midnight
The Phenomenal Handclap Band “15 to 20″ (Friendly Fire)
The Juan MacLean “The Simple Life” (DFA)
Faze Action “Venus and Mars” (FAR)
The Virgins “Rich Girls (Twelves remix)” (Atlantic)
Hockey “Too Fake (Shoes remix)” (EMI)
Bloc Party “Signs (Armand Van Helden remix)” (V2)
Terry Lynn “Kingstonlogic” (Phree)
Amanda Blank “Might Like You Better” (Downtown)
Fly Girlz “Born 2 B Fly” (True Panther)
Those Darlins “Wild One” (Oh Wow Dang)
Dirty Projectors “Stillness Is The Move” (Domino)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Zero (Animal Collective remix)” (Polydor)
La Roux “In For The Kill (Skream’s Let’s Get Ravey remix)” (Polydor)
Monks “Monk Chant” (Light In The Attic)
Humanzi “Bass Balls” (Self release)
Dark Room Notes “Each And Every One Of Us” (Gonzo)
The Horrors “Who Can Say” (XL)
Times New Viking “Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)” (Merge)
School of Seven Bells “Device fuer M” (Feraltone)
Nite Jewel “Bottom Rung” (Human Ear)
David Kitt “A Real Fire” (Gold Spillin’)
Local Natives “Airplanes” (Self release)
Grizzly Bear “Cheerleader” (Warp)
Bob Dylan “Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again” (Columbia)
Marianne Faithful/Nick Cave “The Crane Wife 3″ (Naive)
Vlgeir Sigurdsson/Will Oldham “Kin” (Bedroom Community) -
The randomiser says “Lenihan to consider snark levy on blog comments for December budget”
Electric Picnic launch tomorrow evening, people. You know the drill - drinks, minor local celebs, journalists looking for cocktail sausages, a man called Marmite looking over his shoulder, a press release with no typos, circus elephants, Lovely Girls, trumpets. Me, I’m strictly DDL (Don’t Do Launches) but I kept hearing things all weekend and not just greyhound tips. Names. Acts. Legends. For instance, we heard the name of one act who thinks he’s a legend (and he most certainly is not). There was also mention of an act who really is a legend (oh yes, he is). And an act who put on one of the best live shows we’ve ever seen (man, they were awesome). Plus an act who have just finished a sell-out Irish tour and have the biggest song on Irish radio right now (granted, the lead singer gave the game away at the end of their gig on Thursday night). Please note that On The Record does not accept any responsibility if any or none of the above appear on a list tomorrow night.
Hopefully, Two Door Cinema Club will be on that list. Love this tune
Old media redux: Zine Day takes place in the Bernard Shaw, Dublin next Saturday (April 18) from 1pm. The aim is to produce a zine from start to finish in one day. Will St Legar, Gareth Williamson (Play That Song I Like) and myself are the old dogs who will be doing some mentoring so if you want to contribute (or simply get high on the smell of PrittStick), please come along.
Where are my manners? There is yet another new blog on the Irish Times blogging block. The latest arrival is MiniByte, Ciara O’Brien’s technology blog. Drop over and make her feel at home. More blogs warming up on the sideline.
This week, On The Record is (really, really, really) going to sign up to Twitter (maybe) just to follow Tim Westwood. Comedy gold, people.
Randy Cain, Delfonics’ founder member, RIP
Record Store Day happens next Saturday (April 18) and a couple of independent Irish record shops are putting on in-stores and the like. In Dublin, you will find Jape and a load of other acts (list not to hand) playing live at Road Records, while Heathers, 202s, One Day International, Story of Hair and others play at Tower Records. In Mullingar, you’ll find The Aftermath, Ever27, Innate, Arrow In The Sky, Not Men But Giants and others playing at E2. If there are other record shops around the country who have stuff going on as part of Record Store Day, please feel free to use the comments field below to do some plugging.
Bring out your jazzers! “Way Out West” is a 14-track compilation CD from the Improvised Music Company featuring new jazz from such talents as Mike Nielsen, Hugh Buckley, Trihornophone, Organics, Morla, Dorothy Murphy’s Circleways, Francesco Turrisi Trio, Zoid, Metier and others. The CD will be give away free with the April issue of the Journal of Music. Alternatively, be one of the first 100 folks to show up to the “Way Out West” launch show at the Button Factory, Dublin on April 21 and you’ll go home with a free CD. The show will feature sets from Metier, Francesco Turrisi Trio, Trihornophone, Dorothy Murphy’s Circleways, Mike Nielsen and Organics.
Bandstand Busking is a new-ish thingy from the good folks at Ragged Words in which they take a band and a London bandstand, stick one on the other and film what happens. Actually, it’s not so new because they’ve already filmed a ton of acts including Hauschka, Wildbirds and Peacedrums, The Hours, Speech Debelle (wearing a snazzy hat), Loney Dear and many more.
It’s all go-go-go at the Oh Yeah music centre in Belfast. Aside from the Belfast Music Tour, which will put a bunch of folks on a bus and cart them around the city’s musical must-see locations, and a brand new music exhibition debuting on April 22, they’ve also joined forces with the Strummerville charity to build two new rehearsal rooms at the centre. Oh Yeah and Strummerville start dancing on May 2 with a series of workshops and an evening gig featuring The Wild Wolves, Dan Smith, Panama Kings and Axis Of.
To end, some more Yeahs. I’ve been really digging “It’s Blitz”, the new album from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, these past few weeks. In case you haven’t heard it, check out Animal Collective’s remix of “Zero” and here’s a video of the band performing that same song and “Heads Will Roll” on Later last week.
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The Ticket’s 50 best Irish music acts right now - part two
Due to public demand - and the fact that our first list caused such fun and fuming across the nation amongst commoners and pop royalty alike - we present the next 50. Go get ‘em pop-pickers.
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The Far Side - playlist for Tuesday April 7
As played on The Far Side, Phantom 105.2, Tuesday April 7, 10pm-midnight
Health “Die Slow” (Lovepump United)
White Rabbits “Percussion Gun” (TBD)
Harlem Shakes “Niagara Falls” (Gigantic)
The Rural Alberta Advantage “The Ballad of the RAA” (Own label)
Local Natives “Airplanes” (Own label)
Girls “Lust for Life” (True Panther)
Lissie Trullie “Boy Boy” (American Myth)
The Postelles “123 Stop” (Capitol)
Wave Machines “The Greatest Escape We Ever Made” (Chess Club)
Cymbals Eat Guitars “Living North” (Own label)
Ume “Sunshower” (Hulga)
Salem “Deepburn” (Pure Groove)
She Keeps Bees “Gimmie” (Names)
The Horrors “Three Decades” (XL)
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band “Nikorette” (Merge)
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart “Come Saturday” (Fortuna Pop)
Magic Magic “French Song” (Earth Calling)
Grizzly Bear “Cheerleader” (Warp)
Here We Go Magic “Fangela” (Western Vinyl)
St Vincent “The Strangers” (4AD)
DM Stith “Thanksgiving Moon” (Asthmatic Kitty)
Adrian Crowley “Summer Haze Parade” (Tin Angel)
Quarteto Em Cy “Zambi” (El)
Au Revoir Simone “Take Me As I Am” (Our Secret Record Company)
The Low Anthem “Charlie Darwin” (Own label)
The Impressions “I’ve Been Trying” (Paramount)
AK-Momo “Greasy Spoon” (Peacefrog)
Dusty Springfield “I Think It’s Gonna Rain Today” (Mercury)
Arvo Part/Tonu Kaljuste “In Principio” (ECM) -
Third night at the 02 for Leonard Cohen
Per Ticketmaster, it looks like Lenny’s shows at the 02 on July 19 and 20 are sold out. Yep, the Canuck in the fedora and suit is recession-proof - Brian Lenihan should consider a “Lenny tax” today. Tickets now on sale for show number three on July 22 - and tickets still on sale for the Belfast Odyssey show on July 26.
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Whelan’s at 20
It’s 20 years since Whelan’s opened for business on Dublin’s Wexford Street. It sure was a different world back in 1989. The venue will be marking 20 years in business with a rake of one-off gigs in the coming months. They are also planning a special publication on the venue and want people who have any posters, tickets or memorabilia to get in touch.
We’re in the mood for some nostalgia today and want to hear your memories of the venue. Me, I’ve seen some great shows at the venue down through the years, but my most abiding memory is watching Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy dancing away happily at the venue’s indie disco after one of his shows there in 1999.
Now, over to you: what are the gigs you remember best from 20 years of gigging at Whelan’s?
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The economics - and politics - of streaming
For this month at least, streaming is the new rock’n'roll. While the likes of Spotify and Lala are not currently available in Ireland (well, unless you’re prepared to pay €10 a month for the former’s premium service), it is only a matter of time before one or other or both opens for business on your browser. They may well be the best thing to happen to your online music experience since Rapidshare - and possibly the worst thing to happen to the record business since, uhm, Rapidshare.
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The Ticket’s 50 best Irish music acts right now
In this week’s edition of The Ticket, we count down the 50 best Irish music acts right now.
The list was compiled from the votes of Ticket writers Tony Clayton-Lea, Lauren Murphy, Sinead Gleeson and myself. Each of us submitted our Top 50 lists, the votes were counted (each number 1 was awarded 50 points, number 2 was awarded 49 points and so on) and collated by Ticket editor Conor Goodman and, voila, we had a list which went all the way from 50 to 1.
There were three qualifying conditions. (1) Solo acts had to have been born on the island of Ireland or to hold an Irish passport. (2) In the case of bands, half or more of the members had to have been born on the island of Ireland or to hold an Irish passport. (3) Bands had to have recorded or released music since January 2008, or to have played a gig since January 2008.
While I can’t speak for the others, my Top 50 list was compiled solely on the basis of acts I liked. If I thought what an act was doing was really good, be it on record or live and regardless of how successful or well-known the act were, they made my list. I know this sounds like common sense, but previous experiences with this list lark shows that some people always seem to think there are ulterior motives behind who makes the cut. The reason why I’m saying all this here is that inevitably someone below is going to ask the question so I’m providing the answer in advance.
The real fun began when I started to rate the acts from 1 to 50 - again, it depended on how much I liked one act over another. As simple as that. And no, I have no intention of revealing my Top 50 - it’s a collective decision and this is the only list which counts.
Now, over to you. As we know only too well, On The Record readers are a vocal - and sometimes funny - bunch. What acts did we overlook? What acts should not be in this list? Does this prove that The Ticket has an anti-Enya bias? Let the fuming begin.
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Competition - predict The Ticket’s best Irish music act right now and win an awesome Vestalife Ladybug iPod speaker!
In The Ticket tomorrow, we will be counting down the 50 Best Irish Acts Right Now. Yes, this is what I was on about earlier in the week when I said to make a date with the blog on Friday morning.
Anyway, a bunch of Ticket writers have put their heads together and have come up with a list of acts, which goes all the way from fifty to one. There will probably be fun and games galore when this list is published tomorrow so strap yourselves in.
Ahead of the publication of that list, here’s a competition for On The Record readers to see if they are on the same wavelength as The Ticket’s music writers: who do you think will be at number one?
And if there’s a competition, there has to be a prize. Thanks to Vestalife and Future Sounds, I picked up one of these Vestalife Ladybug speakers at SXSW a few weeks ago.
Vestalife’s Ladybug is, as you can see, a super-duper iPod speaker which comes with snazzy flip-down speaker wings, a digital amp and built-in sub woofer for lots of bad-ass bass, unlike some of the biscuit-tin speakers I’ve used over the years. The Ladybug works with a ton of different generation iPods, will recharge your player when it is plugged in and has won a ton of design awards . Having tried the speakers out for the last week or so when I was away, it comes with a big thumbs-up from me. It’s a damn nifty piece of kit (man, I should be writing for Stuff magazine).
The rules: simply tell us in the comments field below who you think will be at number one in The Ticket’s Best 50 Irish Acts Right Now list, which will be published in the paper tomorrow (Friday). Acts must have played a gig, released an album or recorded since the beginning of 2008. Entries closes at 6pm GMT today (Thursday). One entry per reader. Competition is not open to my colleagues in The Ticket or The Irish Times because they probably already know the answer (sorry folks). If there are several winning entries, the names will be placed in a hat and one name will be selected at random. The judge (ie me) will not enter into any discussion or correspondance with anyone about anything to do with this competition. And no, the prize does not come with an iPod.
Best of luck to y’all.
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Six albums to stir your soul
As happens after every trip away, there are dozens of albums scattered around my office at the moment or sitting patiently on iTunes waiting to be played. Here are half-a-dozen I’m going back to a lot at the moment.
DM Stith “Heavy Ghost” (Asthmatic Kitty)
Every time I listen to this bold-as-brass album, I find something else grabbing my attention. It may be a quiver in the voice or a previously unheard shift in emphasis in the music, but this is an album which pays back your time and attention over and over again. The album is streaming in full here and he plays a free show at Galway’s Roisin Dubh on May 22 and a not-so-free show at Dublin’s Crawdaddy the following night.
Here We Go Magic “Here We Go Magic” (Western Vinyl)
Where Luke Temple’s luck changes forever. Although Temple released a couple of things before now, it’s this new project and band - and more importantly, songs - which are grabbing the headlines. The music twinkles and sparkles away as Temple charms all before him with subtle, magical grooves and a sleepy voice. You can listen to the album in full here - Lala.com is currently only available to US users which is why I’m linking to the Pitchfork review which has the stream embedded - and this song, “Tunnelvision”, is currently playing in my head.
Grizzly Bear “Veckatimest” (Warp)
It’s their “Alligator”, the moment when a band who’ve made their indie scene bones make the big jump to the other side. An album rich and deep in trademark atmospherics and hooks, yet one where the songwriting has gone up several notches. Fans of “Yellow House” and “Horn Of Plenty” (and the Department of Eagles) will dig it like an old friend - newcomers will wonder why they didn’t go Bear-hunting before now. The album is not out until late May but if you haven’t done so already, download “Cheerleader” here.
Quarteto Em Cy “Aleluia 1964-65″ (El)
From Bahia, Quarteto Em Cy are still performing and singing today albeit in a different guise and line-up than was the case when they started out in 1959. This album pulls together three stunning albums from the mid-Sixties when the group were recording for the Forma and Elenco labels and were producing tropicalia and bossa nova nuggets like the “Som Definitivo” album with Tamba Trio. Truly breathtaking sounds.
Adrian Crowley “Season of the Sparks” (Tin Angel)
It’s amazing what confidence can do for a performer. After the huge positive reaction to his last album “Long Distance Swimmer”, the fifth album from the Galway-born, Dublin-based singer-songwriter is a huge cut above what he has produced in the past. Every song here is wonderfully sculpted and weighed to ensure Crowley’s rich voice and subtle, masterful wordplay are to the fore. Hear “The Wishing Seat” from the album here.
Nite Jewel “Good Evening” (Human Ear)
Ramona Gonzalez is the chief bottle-washer here, a Los Angeles musician, composer and multimedia artist with a line in video and sound installations. As Nite Jewel, it’s all about tricked-out, experimental and improvised lo-fi, leftfiel disco-noir, with Kate Bush at large under the mirrorball.
Your lists, as always, are most welcome below
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