On The Record

  • Here come the plugs

    July 31, 2009 @ 9:52 am | by Jim Carroll

    In The Ticket today, Pixie Lott talks world domination, Amiina talk Icelandic, Vincent Cassel talks iconic French gangsters, Damien Dempsey talks brandy, port, fruit, water and nuts and Brian Boyd talks up how Spotify may kill iTunes.

    In New Music, there’s love for Django Django, Harlem Shakes, Pocket Promise, Tyondai Braxton, Free Energy and Your Twenties, while Lauren Murphy’s Music News beat has stories on a DEAF fundraiser, David Byrne snarking U2 and the World Fleadh

    CD of the Week comes from Julian Plenti and there are also reviews of albums from Quantic & His Combo Barbao, Wild Beasts, A-ha, White Rabbits, new Luaka Bop compilation “Twenty First Century Twenty First Year”, “Soul Breakout ‘58″, David Serby, Eilen Jewell, Anúna, REM (the “Reckoning” reissue) and many more.

    New flicks to keep you indoors this week are The Taking Of Pelham 123, Land of the Lost, Coco Before Chanel, Soul Power, G-Force and Mad Sad and Bad. There’s also Movie News, DVD reviews, the weekly movie quiz and Donald Clarke musing why some critics hate horror flicks

    The Ticket: music, movies and Pixies of every sort.

    The OTR noticeboard is now open for business. Plug your gigs, clubs, blogs and church fairs in the space below. Keep the plugs short and snappy and don’t keep plugging the same yoke over and over again - people get the message, y’all. And please, do declare an interest because it’s only polite. OTR reserves the right to delete plugs where he thinks the item is more of a commercial ad than a plug. Etc. Have a smashing weekend.

  • Festival republic

    July 30, 2009 @ 8:50 am | by Jim Carroll

    In terms of sheer volume alone, the August bank holiday weekend is the busiest weekend of the year if you’re in the business of putting on shows in the open-air. There’s Castle Palooza in Tullamore, Indiependence in Mitchelstown, Le Cheile in Oldcastle, Cork X Southwest in Skibbereen and various Spraoi gigs in Waterford. Then, there are the one-day bills led by Metallica and Fatboy Slim bills at Marlay Park in Dublin.

    But very few will be surprised if the only sell-out in a field this weekend will be the clash of Dublin and Kerry in Croke Park on Monday afternoon. As we have seen again and again this summer - Oxegen and U2 being the most obvious examples - the salad days when an open-air show would sell out at the drop of a straw hat are over for now.

    Sure, you’d shows like Oasis, AC/DC and Take That selling out, but these were shows which went on sale last year before the recession really kicked in and the Revenue Commissioners began to take a greater interest in emptying your wallet. If you’re putting on a big bash this summer, you’re spending a hell of a lot more on advertising, promotion and novenas than you did in previous summers.

    A striking example of this is the forthcoming Coldplay gig in the Phoenix Park. Remember this is an act who did four Irish shows last December without any fuss whatsoever, playing twice in Dublin’s O2 and twice in Belfast’s Odyssey to well over 40,000 people in total. Now, as predicted by OTR two months ago, a couple of serious support acts (Elbow and White Lies) have been added to the bill to see Chris Martin prancing in the park where the capacity is 40,000. Are Coldplay fans too chi-chi and wimpy to stand in a field for a few hours? Who knows, we might even see Jay-Z added to the poster yet - after all, he’s supporting Coldplay a few nights before Dublin in Manchester and a few nights after in Glasgow. Hot damn, I’d go to the park to see Jigga.

    Promoters tend to get vexed when hacks zone in on the lack of sell-out shows. It’s not about the show selling out, they whinge between counting large wads of notes, so why do you keep harping on about it? Well, they have only themselves to blame. For the last couple of years, promoters used to try to vie with each other when it came to trumpeting the rapid sell-out. “Sold out in two minutes!” “Sold out in 14 seconds!” “Sold out before the tickets even went on sale!”. The press releases were beginning to get a mite ludicrous when it came to these claims about the fastest selling shows all time. The poor Ticketmaster staff must have been in a blind panic every Friday morning trying to get the tickets sold faster than the previous Friday. It couldn’t last - and it hasn’t.

    Now, the promoters have to do a bit more work, add a stronger support bill and not take the punters for granted. There’s still plenty of gigging euro to go round, but customers have become far more selective in terms of what they’re buying. They’ll look at Fatboy Slim, for instance, and try to work out if it’s worth €69.50 of their hard earned money to relive the hey-days of 1996/7, even with the bold Dizzee on the bill. Or they’ll ask themselves if they really need to see Metallica this year when they seem to be here as often as the Red Hot Chili Peppers used to be. Then again, metallers are a law onto themselves in this regard.

    There’s certainly more buzz about the fests in Tullamore, Mitchelstown, Oldcastle, Skibbereen and Waterford than the weekend shows in Dublin 14. It seems punters really are taking the boutique options into account this summer, especially where the homegrown elements are high on the bill and the ticket price is fair and decent. As a couple of people have pointed out to me in the last few weeks, prices are coming down all over the place, but ticket prices for the big shows have remained remarkably recession-resistent. It remains to be seen if this will continue in 2010.

    Of course, there’s more than one way to skin a cat and hats off to promoters MCD for brilliantly solving one empty venue conundrum. After a seven month run for Bodies (which we hear did very good business in terms of skulls through the door), the next show which will packing them in at Dublin’s Ambassador is CSI: The Experience, which opens in August and will run for a couple of months at least. Probably more money and less hassle for the promoter than three nights of U2 at Croker.

  • The Far Side on Spotify

    July 29, 2009 @ 3:04 pm | by Jim Carroll

    Seeing as there are quite a lot of On The Record readers enjoying what Spotify has to offer and as there are no plans at present to podcast or repeat The Far Side, here’s a solution of sorts - The Far Side’s Spotify playlist.

    Please note that a lot of the music which I play on the show is NOT on Spotify. I know, yeah, Spotify has ten million tracks and Carroll still whinges. But a large bulk of the music on The Far Side is either new or as yet unreleased tracks which are not yet on Spotify, so the playlist is as much of the stuff from the show as I can find with a few other choice cuts thrown in (ie Rustie, The Clonious, Biz Markie etc).

    All comments and feedback here please.

  • Baddies, Ireland, October

    @ 1:57 pm | by Jim Carroll

    Yes! One of the best live acts I’ve seen this year, Baddies play Dublin’s Academy 2 on October 1 and Belfast’s Auntie Annies the night after. They’re going to tear the roof off bothe venues. Debut album “Do the Job” is out in September. Here’s a reason to be excited

  • The Far Side - playlist for Tuesday July 28

    @ 9:54 am | by Jim Carroll

    As played on The Far Side, Phantom 105.2, Tuesday July 28, 10pm-midnight

    You’ll find a Spotify playlist of some of the tunes from last night’s show (and some of the tunes which would have been on last night’s show if I had a four hour show!) here

    Dizzee Rascal “Holiday” (Dirtee Stank)
    The Count & Sinden “Mega” (Domino)
    Boy 8-Bit “Baltic Pine” (This Is Music)
    Simian Mobile Disco/Beth Ditto “Cruel Intentions” (Wichita)
    Lemonade “Big Weekend” (True Panther)
    Yacht “Psychic City” (DFA)
    Moderat “Rusty Nails” (Bpitch Control)
    Ruairi, Zinc & Tom Oberheim “Analogue” (RBMA)
    The Gaslamp Killer “Anything Worse” (Brainfeeder)
    Mos Def “Supermagic” (Downtown)
    Johnson & Jonson “The Only Way” (Tres)
    Jay-Z “Run This Town” (Roc Nation)
    Florence & The Machine “Dog Days Are Over” (Moshi Moshi)
    Robert Wyatt & Bertrand Burgalat “This Summer Night” (Domino)
    The Very Best “Warm Heart Of Africa (Metronomy remix)” (Ghettopop)
    Bibio “Lovers Carvings” (Warp)
    Mayer Hawthorne “Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out” (Stones Throw)
    The XX “Teardrops” (White)
    Bastila “Ghosts” (Sunday Best)
    Woods “Be Still” (Shrimper)
    Thomas Dybdahl “A Lovestory” (Last Suppa)
    Dark Captain Light Captain “Questions (Hatchback remix)” (Loaf)
    Here We Go Magic “Fangela” (Western Vinyl)
    Bon Iver “Blood Bank” (Jagjaguwar)
    Jonsi & Alex “Indian Summer” (Parlophone)

  • Why writing about Irish bands can be bad for your health

    July 28, 2009 @ 9:45 am | by Jim Carroll

    There is one topic above all others which is guaranteed to have tanks parked on an Irish blog’s lawn by teatime: writing about Irish bands. Can you park your M1s on the left and Challengers on the right please?
    (more…)

  • 11 things I learned since last Wednesday at 7.25pm

    July 27, 2009 @ 9:15 am | by Jim Carroll

    (1) Will Lenny be visiting Ireland every summer from now on? This time out, in common with so many returning acts from the last couple of summers, Lenny went indoors and took over The O2 for a few nights last week. While last year’s shows in the open air in Kilmainham were event gigs in every sense, there was a lot less fuss surrounding these shows and Lenny himself seemed a lot more relaxed about things. He leapt around the stage like a young lad, threw himself to his knees a lot like a jilted Romeo and did some sterling versions of the classics. Yes, it was a little sterile in places – that line about “there is a crack in everything” doesn’t really apply to this band who’ve erased “spontaneity” from their lexicon – but it’s still a thrill to see a master like him at work.

    (2) As has become the norm at The O2, as more and more punters make their way to the revamped venue for the first time, there was lots of oohing and aahing at the place. In terms of enormous arenas, it really is the business. Best of all, as a letter-writer to the paper alluded on Friday last, you can’t blame the venue for the poxy sound any more. A poor sound can be laid squarely at the feet of a poor soundman or a tour (or promoter) cutting costs.

    (3) Interestingly, the further back you went in Galway’s Big Top at the Bon Iver gig, the better the show seemed to sound. It was Justin Vernon and co’s first ever show in Galway and the atmosphere was a little frenzied to say the least. Yep, that many people here know all about him and “For Emma, Forever Ago” now and yep, even better, that many people were prepared to listen with rapt attention to every single song. The only downer for me was that there were no new songs in what was, it has to be said, a rocking set. The only downer for Vernon, revisiting Galway after a spell a couple of years ago in the city selling mobile phones on Eyre Square, was that venerable eaterie the Snackbox is no longer on Shop Street. Hey, maybe he could, like, write a song about that?

    (4) Afterwards, I hit the decks at the Roisin Dubh’s Strange Brew club night, back to back with the bold Gugai, the dude who fulfilled a lifetime’s ambition by having 3,000 Galwegians bow down to him earlier on (you can see it and other Galway Arts Fest clips on GAF TV). It really was one hell of a night as people went buckwild to a selection of buckwild tunes – and it’s probably like that every week. Galway loves Tyondai Braxton, Casiokids, Animal Collective, Harlem Shakes, Battles, Shit Robot, Modest Mouse, Lionel Richie, Local Natives, Lemonade, Florence & The Machine (twice), Holy Ghost, Lynn Collins, Redneck Manifesto and – for that nearly-end-of-night tune – Bon Iver. Respect to Gugai and Kevin for inviting me to the wild, wild west and thanks everyone who turned out at the Roisin and all those who came up to say hello.

    (5) Foodie tip for punters going to the Galway Races: the chorizo-in-sherry tapas at Cava on Dominick Street. Yum-yum. And yeah, they’re better than chips at Ballybrit.

    (6) Here are the dates for your diaries for the next couple of Banters. On August 15, Banter #2 is “The A-Z of DIY” with Dylan Haskins (Hideaway House, Exchange Dublin) and Niall McGurk (Hope Promotions) talking about alternative all-age gig spaces in Ireland and the politics of doing gigs in gaffs, church halls and community centres. There will also be a screening of Dylan’s “Roll Up Your Sleeves” documentary (which is now out on DVD). On September 27, it’s Banter #3, “Final Scratch, Me Arse”, starring Irish clubland veterans Paul Webb and Tonie Walsh shooting the breeze about the very early days of Irish clubland. Both Paul and Tonie will be DJ-ing at POGO afterwards. And on October 17, Banter #4 is “Meet the New Media Cats” with Una Mullally and Nialler9 poking around around in the Venn diagram between blogs, Twitter and the established media. All the above Banter events will be held at the Twisted Pepper (Middle Abbey St., Dublin 1) and admission is free. As room capacity is limited, please email your name to conor@bodytonicmusic.com with Banter #2 or #3 or #4 in the subject bar to guarantee your place

    (7) The reviews are in for The Crab Hits Dublin 3 and it seems we’re talking hit, hit, hit, hit, hit! Mmmm, were the reviewers contractually obliged to mention the U2 cynics, critics and begrudgers? Seeing as the last show is tonight and the venue is only down the road, I may saunter down, buy a ticket and pop along. Or I may stay at home and calculate my taxes. Decisions, decisions…..

    (8) It’s not just OTR who was getting its cycling/TdF freak on last week; The Observer got on its bike yesterday too.

    (9) Incoming: Dun Laoghaire’s Festival of World Cultures takes over the seaside town yet again on August 29 and 30 (down from three days to two days due to….well, what do you think?) with performances from Jane Birkin, Oumou Sangare, the Dhaod Gypsies of Rajasthan, Sain Zahoor, Dub Colossus, Kilfenona Ceile Band and many more. Good to see that the fest are still using my “family-friendly Glastonbury” line. Drat, I should have charged them for that.

    (10) And then, there were four. That strange sound you heard over Thurles yesterday round about 3.30pm was the sound of Dublin’s hurling balloon bursting for another season. Chalk it down to the Dubs’ lack of big-game experience and the fact that they spent too much time arguing the toss over frees and other decisions. Limerick, to their credit, just got on with knocking over points and winning the game. Then, there was Waterford, nicking the game with seconds to spare from a Galway team who seemed to think all they had to do was turn up and make sure Joe Canning had shaved to make the semis. A brilliant, dogged, never-say-die performance from the Deises. Next up: Kilkenny v Waterford and Tipperary v Limerick. Anyone care to do some predictions? You’ll probably do better than the pundits at the weekend who were all Galway and Dublin FTW.

    (11) Local Natives are coming! One of our favourite bands from SXSW 2009, Tune of the Week graduates and New Music picks play Dublin’s Academy 2 on September 29. Tickets are €13.50 and are now on sale. Here, once again, is what all the fuss is about

  • U2 - more cheap tickets on sale

    July 24, 2009 @ 3:31 pm | by Jim Carroll

    Per a check on Ticketmaster, there are suddenly cheap seats (well, €33.60 pius booking fees cheap seats) back on sale for U2’s Monday show.

    Couple of questions for Bono: dude, do you know the meaning of “sold out”? Or is this some sort of Dutch-approved tax-efficient measure? Or did you just find the tickets under your sofa?

    This is a very strange state of affairs altogether. I mean, these so-called homecoming shows were supposed to have been sold out months ago. That’s what we were told and that’s what we were lead to believe. Then, there’s the fact that this is bloody U2 and their big-ass Dublin shows and The Crab (™ On The Record) that we’re talking about. This is not supposed to happen. The end must be truly nigh.

    I suppose, though, every cloud has a silver lining: they won’t have to bother with pre-sales and fan club specials at this rate the next time the aul’ pension plan needs a boost.

  • Cad a dhéanfaimid feasta gan plugs?

    @ 9:46 am | by Jim Carroll

    In The Ticket this week, we talk to La Roux about her fabulous year, Tony Scott sells us his remake of The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three (flick better be good because the original was a smasher), Wallis Bird lets us into her dressingroom to scrutinise her rider, Lisa Hannigan’s Mercury Prize gushing continues and viewers give their reaction to Lars von Trier’s Antichrist.

    There’s New Music bunks for Talulah Does The Hula, Clockwork Noise, Fergus & Geronimo, In Valour, Mazes and Untold, and Music News stories on Fight Like Apes and Jape’s troubles at European fests, Arthur’s Day line-up and U2 giving (a wee bit of) their cash away.

    CD of the Week comes from Levon Helm and there are also reviews of new releases and reissues from Reverend & The Makers, Joker’s Daughter, Pocket Promise, Joe Pernice, MSTRKRFT, “Tell Me: Ember Beat Vol 1 (1962-64)”, Death, Jonsi & Alex, “Brazilika” and many more.

    New flicks in the cinemas round the land this week are reviewed, namely Antichrist, The Proposal, Don’t Look Now and Just Another Love Story. Plus DVD reviews, the weekly movie quiz and movie news (including Irish adds to the forthcoming Toronto Film Festival).

    The Ticket: music and movies covered with elan since 2000.

    Roll those drums, the OTR community noticeboard is now open for yer plugging. Plug away until you burst but please be polite and declare an interest where appropriate. And keep those plugs short and succinct.

  • Tune of the Week - “Uffe’s Woodshop”

    July 23, 2009 @ 9:22 am | by Jim Carroll

    What a beautiful noise.

    You probably know Tyondai Braxton best as one-quarter of advanced maths combo Battles. It is now time to get to know his forthcoming solo album, “Central Market”.

    “Uffe’s Woodshop” is the first tune from that album to slip out from beneath the covers. It’s a mini-symphony of kazoos, violins, violas, synths, electronics, piano, six guitars, bass, drums and percussion. It’s a large out-there tune which swoops and swoons and carries on down the road without a care in the world. By all accounts, the album is just as head-expanding. A tune your post-modern milkman would probably whistle at 6am in the morning if he wasn’t listening to Maxi. Hear it here or download it here. And no, I don’t gave a clue who Uffe is either.

  • Electric Picnic - latest additions

    July 22, 2009 @ 3:40 pm | by Jim Carroll

    The latest names for the Stradbally soiree from September 4 to 6 are Florence & The Machine, Baaba Maal, the Duckworth-Lewis Method, Mick Flannery, Laura Izibor (I thought she had been announced ages ago?), The Big Pink, Nightmares On Wax Soundsystem (weren’t they booked for the Picnic before and had to pull out due to, uhm, issues? Or am I imagining this?), Two Door Cinema Club, The XX, new Vicar Street house band Blitzen Trapper, the excellent Wave Machines, the equally fine Peter Broderick, OTR faves Cap Pas Cap and Stee Downes

    So, how’s €240 sounding for all of the above and the previously announced acts with just over six weeks to go?

  • The Far Side - playlist for Tuesday July 21

    @ 9:39 am | by Jim Carroll

    As played on The Far Side, Phantom 105.2, Tuesday July 21, 10pm-midnight

    DJ-ing plug: I’ll be DJ-ing with Gugai at a post-Bon Iver Strange Brew special at the Roisin Dubh in Galway tomorrow (Thursday, July 23 - admission is free). If you’re going to the Bon Iver gig in the Big Tent earlier, drop by and say hello afterwards. You may well hear some of the following…..

    Delorean “Seasun” (Fool House)
    Shit Robot “Simple Things (Work It Out)” (DFA)
    The Field “The More That I Do (Foals remix)” (Kompakt)
    Dizzee Rascal “Holiday” (Dirtee Skank)
    Toddla T “Rice & Peas” (1965)
    Vampire Weekend “The Kids Don’t Stand A Chance (Miike Snow remix)” (XL)
    Woon & Subeena “Solidify” (RBMA)
    Onra “Beef” (Favourite)
    Ras G “Stealth Mode” (Dublab)
    Atlas Sound/Panda Bear “Walkabout” (4AD)
    Air “Do the Joy” (Virgin)
    Free Energy “Free Energy” (DFA)
    Your Twenties “Billionaires” (Neon Gold)
    Tyondai Braxton “Uffe’s Woodshop” (Warp)
    Three Trapped Tigers “7” (Too Pure)
    Camp Lo “Luchini” (Profile)
    Speech Debelle “The Key” (Big Dada)
    Digital Underground “The Return of the Crazy One” (Tommy Boy)
    Johnson & Jonson “The Only Way” (Tres)
    Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band “P.I.M.P” (Mocambo)
    Quantic & His Combo Barbaro “The Dreaming Mind, Part 1” (Tru Thoughts)
    Hypnotic Brass Ensemble “War” (Honest Jons)
    Scuba “Klinic” (Hotflush)
    Nico Muhly/Sam Amidon “The Only Tune” (Bedroom Community)
    Valerie Francis “Slow Dynamo” (VF)
    Best Coast “Sun Was High (So Was I)” (Art Fag)
    Leonard Cohen “Who By Fire” (Columbia)
    Sir Richard Bishop “The Pillars Of Baalbek” (Drag City)

  • Allez Roche Allez!

    July 21, 2009 @ 7:07 pm | by Jim Carroll

    Another excellent performance by Nicolas Roche in his debut Tour de France. After two previous Top 10 finishes (including the runner-up spot at the weekend), Roche came in fourth today, six seconds behind Mikel Astarloza, after what was a tough day in the mountains and a dramatic 10km final sprint. Roche is now 30th overall and sixth in the green jersey points race.

  • Mercury Tuesday - now with shortlist

    @ 10:05 am | by Jim Carroll

    Later this morning, the shortlist for this year’s Mercury Prize will be announced. While there has been a lot of speculation in the last 24 hours about the albums which might be on the list, all such guesswork should be taken with a pinch of salt for a few reasons.

    For a start, people need to remember that there is an application process for the Mercury. It is not as simple as just releasing an album and waiting for the judges to reward your ingenuity. If you want your album to be considered - and provided it meets the various qualification criteria - you have to send 25 CDs and a cheque for £195.50 to the Mercury office. There may be thousands and thousands of albums released in any 12 month period but, as was the case in 2007, only 233 acts bothered with the application process. Remember then that we’re dealing with a very small sample of releases.

    Then, there’s the fact that the Mercury judges do not have the final say on the shortlist. As former judge Jude Rogers points out in this article about her experience as a judge, the 10 judges each produce a shortlist of 12 and these lists are then collated. “How are the choices then collated?”, she asks in the piece. “Sadly, I don’t know. It remains “confidential”, but I wish that it wasn’t.” She’s probably not the only one because it is this collating process which means you end up with the token jazz/folk album.

    Such quibbles aside, I love these shortlists because they get people all worked up and talking passionately about music. Prepare for your workout now by having some bran flakes and a glass of milk and we’ll see you back here later for the fuming.

    And here’s the shortlist….

    Glasvegas “Glasvegas” (Sony BMG)
    Bat For Lashes “Two Suns” (EMI)
    Lisa Hannigan “Sea Sew” (Absolute/Hoop)
    The Horrors “Primary Colours” (XL)
    Kasabian “West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum” (Sony Music)
    Led Bib “Sensible Shoes” (Cuneiform)
    The Invisible “The Invisible” (Titan/Pyramid)
    La Roux “La Roux” (Polydor)
    Friendly Fires “Friendly Fires” (XL)
    Sweet Billy Pilgrim “Twice Born Men” (EMI)
    Speech Debelle “Speech Therapy” (Big Dada)
    Florence and The Machine “Lungs” (Island)

    OTR instant reactions: hurrah for Lisa Hannigan! Actually, loads of lasses on the list. Good to see Friendly Fires, The Horrors and La Roux getting the nods. No Doves. What the hell are Kasabian doing there? Speech Debelle FTW! A really fresh looking list with lots of debut albums. And the winner? I think it will be Glasvegas or Florence & The Machine

    Now, over to youse.

  • Hope Sandoval, Ireland, October

    July 20, 2009 @ 4:31 pm | by Jim Carroll

    Hope Sandoval and her band of merry men The Warm Inventions play Galway’s Roisin Dubh on October 29, Cork’s Cyprus Avenue, Cork on October 30 and Dublin’s Vicar Street on October 31. Yep, you too can spend Hallowe’en with Hope. New album “Through The Devil Softly” will be released in September.

  • U2’s “limited number of production tickets”

    @ 10:42 am | by Jim Carroll

    Am I the only one wondering just how many tickets U2 have sold for their homecoming shows next weekend? Over the last few weeks, there have been non-stop ads advertising the fact that there are a “limited number of production tickets” on sale for these shows. In addition, Today FM were giving away tickets for the shows as competition prizes over the weekend like they were going out of fashion. Per random Ticketmaster checks over the weekend and again this morning, I would have no problems buying six tickets for the Friday or Monday shows - the Saturday show now appears to be sold out. All of this makes one wonder if there’s a lot of spare capacity for these shows.

    “Production tickets” do actually exist - they’re not a swine-flu version of “unforseseen circumstances”. They’re tickets which were originally with-held from sale at the very start of the sales campaign in order to facilitate the band’s production set-up. These might be spaces which the band and their production crew feel were required for cameras, additional lighting, sound equipment etc. However, such seat kills always err on the side of caution so the band and the promoter usually with-hold more than they need. It is only when the show goes on the road that the band can work out just how many seat-kills they actually require, which means that “production seats” can go back on sale nearer gig-time. It’s also a smart way of KO’ing touts.

    But in the case of U2’s 270° tour and the giant crab currently going up on Jones Road, it really does strike me that there’s an inordinate amount of pushing going on for three shows which were sold to the press and the public a couple of months ago as “sold out shows”. Production tickets were available for AC/DC a few weeks ago in Punchestown, but they didn’t come with this kind of push.

    If there was such a demand for tickets to see the band months ago, surely a “limited number of production tickets” would be snapped up in jig-time? Or is it the case that U2 fans have had time to listen to new album “No Tunes On The Horizon” and agree with the prognosis that it’s another turkey? Let’s hope we’re not in for a spate of “U2 tapes stolen” tales this week.

  • The Noisettes, Dublin, October

    @ 8:40 am | by Jim Carroll

    The excellent Noisettes play Dublin’s Button Factory on October 10. Tickets, at €16 a pop, go on sale next Friday.

  • What time is it? It’s plug time

    July 17, 2009 @ 9:28 am | by Jim Carroll

    In The Ticket, your best weekly guide to music and movies on the planet, Donald Clark goes moonwalking with Duncan “Zowie Bowie” Jones, director of the rather awesome Moon, we go Dutch with comedian Hans Teeuwen, one of the stars of the forthcoming Carlsberg Comedy Carnival in Dublin, Brian Boyd gives this year’s Mercury Music Prize (the British version of the Choice Music Prize) to Doves and there are music interviews with Alela Diane and VV Brown.

    The New Music pin-ups are Janelle Monae, Shit Robot, Chief, Size2Shoes, Hawthorne Headhunters and Ran (the last four are not included in the online edition for some reason), and there’s Music News about Arthur’s Day, even more Michael Jackson merchandise and Julian Casablancas’ solo Stroke.

    The Album of the Week gong goes to Steve Kuhn Trio with Joe Lovano and there are also reviews of recent releases and reissues from Wallis Bird, Major Lazer, Lucky Elephant, Mos Def, VV Brown, The Dead Weather, Clark, Jeff Buckley and many more. Plus Eoin Butler goes a-wry with the singles.

    New flicks for your viewing pleasure include Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Moon, Wide Open Spaces and Frozen River. Plus DVD reviews, film news and the weekly quiz

    The Ticket: walk this way

    As usual at this time of the week, the OTR community noticeboard is now open for business. Keep your plugs short and snappy and please don’t pin your ad over the ad of someone else. Loads of room for everyone! And do declare an interest where one should be declared.

  • An Bord Snip Nua KO’s the Department of Fun

    July 16, 2009 @ 3:55 pm | by Jim Carroll

    Poor Martin Cullen must be wondering what he has done to deserve this. In a report which doesn’t take any prisoners when it comes to recommending snips (snips? You would want to be desperate to go to Colm McCarthy and friends for a haircut), the recommendations from the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes when it comes to the Department of Arts, Sports & Tourism (AKA the Department of Fun) are quite stark.

    “The Group believes that the rationale for a separate Department to administer programmes which mainly involve allocations to national bodies and institutions is significantly diminished. Consideration should be given to the discontinuation of D/AS&T as a Department in its own right.”

    Wham, bam and goodbye to the Department of Fun, if the Special Ones have their way. They’re also recommending reductions in the money spent on tourism marketing, sports, the Horse and Greyhound Fund, the Arts Council and various other cultural projects. The Irish Film Board isn’t spared either and its functions, per the Special Ones, should be moved to Enterprise Ireland. Blimey, a good job there was no budget line entry for the Music Board of Ireland.

    All of the above will cause much hand-wringing and outraged Letters to the Editor from the arts communities around the country. In fact, those letters are probably being drafted at the moment. It will be interesting to see what efforts Minister Cullen will take to save his department (and his Merc) or if, in the current economic doom and gloom, the department dedicated to arts, sports and tourism as it currently stands really is surplus to requirements.

  • Tune of the Week - “Storm”

    @ 11:57 am | by Jim Carroll

    The name of the band is Django Django. And no, they’ve got nothing to do with Belgian gypsy jazz guitarists.
    (more…)

  • Pixes add third Dublin show

    July 15, 2009 @ 11:11 am | by Jim Carroll

    Oh yes. Pixies will now also recreate their “Doolittle” album at Dublin’s Olympia on September 30. Tickets go on sale tomorrow morning at 9am (€54.80 and €44.20). The shows on October 1 and 2 are sold out.

    UPDATE Gig is now sold out (Thursday, 9.01am)

  • The Far Side - playlist for Tuesday July 14

    @ 9:35 am | by Jim Carroll

    As played on The Far Side, Phantom 105.2, Tuesday July 14, 10pm-midnight

    DJ-ing plug: I’ll be DJ-ing with Gugai at a post-Bon Iver Strange Brew special at the Roisin Dubh in Galway on July 23. If you’re going to the Bon Iver gig in the Big Tent earlier, drop in and say hello afterwards.

    Friendly Fires “Kiss Of Life” (XL)
    Florence & The Machine “Rabbit Heart (Switch remix)” (Moshi Moshi)
    Animal Collective “Summertime Clothes (Zomby’s Analog Lego remix)” (Domino)
    Vitalic “Your Disco Song” (Citizen)
    Boy 8-Bit “Wolfen” (This Is Music)
    Major Lazer “When You Hear the Bassline” (Mad Decent)
    Django Django “Zummzumm” (Shadazz)
    Russ Elevado, Piper Davis & Natalie Lafourcade “Just Words!” (RBMA)
    Fergus & Geronimo “Tell It In My Ear” (Transparent)
    The Dodos “Fables” (Wichita)
    Lucky Elephant “Lucky Elephant” (Sunday Best)
    Rainbow Bridge “Big Wave Rider” (True Panther)
    Mission Of Burma “1, 2, 3, Partyy!” (Matador)
    Jay Reatard “Wounded” (Matador)
    Clockwork Noise “Egoeccentric” (Self release)
    Mazes “Bowie Knives” (Sex Is Disgusting)
    Untold “I Can’t Stop This Feeling” (Hessle Audio)
    Mount Kimbie “Sketch On Glass” (Hot Flush)
    Hudson Mohawke “Free Mo” (Ubiquity)
    Bass Clef “Basss & Drumm Make My Heart Sing” (Blank Tape)
    In Valour “Into the Light” (Self release)
    Andy Nice “Somebody Take Me Home” (Front & Follow)
    Chief “Stealing” (Chess Club)
    Gareth Williams “Nothing On” (Life & Living)
    Alela Diane “To Be Still” (Names)
    Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu “Djorimirri” (Skinnyfish)
    Os Mutantes “Baby” (Luaka Bop)

  • Festival updates - MONIO, Northside, Belsonic, Bobfest

    July 14, 2009 @ 2:07 pm | by Jim Carroll

    MONIO - Music of Northern Irish Origin - takes place at the King’s Head, Belfast on August 1 and 2. Playing the marquee next to the pub over those two days are David Holmes, And So I Watch You From Afar, Wallis Bird, Polarbear, Six Star Hotel, Iain Archer, Cashier No. 9 and a ton of others. Day tickets are £19.50 and a weekend ticket is £33.

    The third Northside Music Festival will be rocking and rolling from July 21 to August 16. There’s a ton of free gigs on in various parks on the northside of Dublin so check here for the full schedule.

    The Belsonic fest in Belfast at the end of August is shaping up to be quite a feast. Dizzee Rascal, Vampire Weekend, Crystal Castles, 2 Door Cinema Club and the Sketchy DJs (the lovely Rigsy and the lovelier Paul) play on August 27. 2 Many DJs, Deadmau5, Boys Noize, Mix Hell, Phil Kieran and Space Dimension Controller are the attractions on August 28. Duke Special’s Dukebox on August 29 will feature the Duke himself, the Magic Numbers, Bell X1, David Kitt, Jerry Fish and The Mudbug Club and Panama Kings. There’s also a second stage at Dukebox with David Ford, The Voluntary Butler Scheme, Thomas Truax, Dan Michaelson and the Coastguards and One Day International. Tickets are £29 per day. And if you really want to make it a Belfast week, don’t forget the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are playing St George’s Market on August 26.

    And finally, there’s BobFest, a celebration of Bob Dylan’s music to held at a free mini-fest in the middle of the woods somewhere in Co Tipperary on Saturday next July 18. Music, films, BBQ and Bob.

  • Nico Muhly, Dublin, September

    @ 9:57 am | by Jim Carroll

    Nico Muhly is coming to Dublin. You may not know the name, but you certainly know his work. The awesome composer, arranger, collaborator and all-round new music whizzkid, who has worked with Antony & The Johnsons, Grizzy Bear, Sam Amidon, Philip Glass, Bjork and Sigur Ros, plays the Spiegeltent during the Dublin Fringe Fest on September 6. Tickets at €25 are now on sale. Here’s a video for “It Goes Without Saying” from his “Speaks Volume” album for Bedroom Community.

  • Oxegen - the morning after the three nights before

    July 13, 2009 @ 9:50 am | by Jim Carroll

    If you want the reviews, please scroll down the page. If you want the analysis from 60 hours in the mud, please keep reading.
    (more…)

  • Oxegen - The Specials

    July 12, 2009 @ 10:59 pm | by Jim Carroll

    Here come the sharp-dressed men. If you required any additional proof that we’re reliving the 1980s at the moment, the sight of a reformed Specials near the top of the bill as well as the miserable rain pelting down as they begin to play should do the trick. This may be a reformation without founder member Jerry Dammers, but it’s one with bite. The band pogo onstage with a bounce that belies their age and happily, the songs too have aged well. The opening “Do the Dog” and “Too Much Too Young” resound with a potency just as sharp as when this two-tone revolution was first put into effect. While the Oxegen juniors may look on a little bemused at the spectacle, the older and greyer folks in the crowd (including many daytrippers obviously here solely to see the band) skank away happily in the rain. Next on the back-to-the-1980s agenda: how about a couple of general elections?

  • Oxegen - Hudson Mohawke, Phenomenal Handclap Band, Fever Ray

    @ 6:27 pm | by Jim Carroll

    HudMo arrived in Dublin airport at lunchtime and was onstage kicking out the bass bumpers an hour later. He may have been playing to a tiny crowd but that doesn’t stop Hud from some accomplished grandstanding. This is the real-deal new school, drums which are louder than bombs and grooves which are bigger than Godzilla coming fast and furious coating his 23rd century r’n'b in delicious waves of electronic varnish. It can only be a matter of time before some sussed pop star (hello Kanye?) takes notices, hires the Hud and this wonky shit goes global.

    Holy retro mirrorballs, it’s the Phenomenal Handclap Band! Yes, I’ve lightly dissed their album but if only - if only - they’d simply recorded the damn thing straight from the mixing-board. Live, the PHCB hit their stride with luscious disco delights, like Hercules & The Love Affair dancing in a more retro disco with bigger mirrors on the wall. “15 to 20″ is an one-stop-shop for summer delights, but “Disappear” isn’t too shabby either.

    The pantomine has come early to town. We could have done with more smoke to go with those lazers - and we could have done with more bodies in the colossaly underwhelming concrete shed that is the dance stage - to really illustrate Fever Ray’s tales from the darkside. This was an Alice In Wonderland tableau where that wonderland turned out to be full of goblins who could talk for hours about love and dishwasher tablets. Slow-motion gothic fairy tales which lodged in your brain and will still be creeping into your senses days from now.

  • Oxegen - RSAG, Friendly Fires, Lady Gaga

    @ 6:18 pm | by Jim Carroll

    It’s a schtick which never fails to get a crowd pumped. On the stage, RSAG’s Jeremy Hickey is playing the drums and singing away like a man possessed. On a screen behind him, you can see the outlines of a bass player and guitarist and you can also hear them playing. But look closer and you can see that Hickey is controlling everything. It’s an one-man-band trompe d’oliel. But there’s nothing shady or tricky about RSAG’s sound. This is robust, beaty and meaty fare, a fabulous mash-up from the Marble City which is one part hardcore-punk to three parts heavyweight funk. At this stage, Hickey has been playing songs from his breakthrough “Organic Sampler” album so long that he’s beginning to find new routes through familiar notes. Here’s one Irish musician who won’t settle for reheating leftovers.

    If a member of Friendly Fires stood next to you in a bus queue, chances are you wouldn’t pay him any attention whatsoever. They are a band who don’t really stand out in the crowd – no mad hats, no interesting tattoos, no big hair. But the music? Now, you’re talking a completely different language. With very little fanfare, they stroll on, strap themselves in and proceed to tear the Heineken Green Spheres tent apart with a set of sparkling, glowing, euphoric indie-electro-disco. Word-of-mouth about the incredible grooviness of songs like “Jump In The Pool” and “Hospital Beds” is what’s working in their favour here, the band piling on the guitars and the brass and the percussion with gusto. One of the surprise hits of Oxegen 2009.

    This was a weekend when Oxegen’s musical axis shifted about 180 degrees to the right. Huge crowds and massive positive reaction for the likes of The Script, The Saturdays and Lily Allen saw the fest go far more pop than in previous years. It should, then, have been a triumph for Lady Gaga. She’s pop from head to toe and has shifted over 50,000 copies of her debut album in Ireland. However the endless costume changes, a ropey sound at times (even the Lady seemed miffed by this) and a distinct lack of oomph meant this was a show which didn’t go according to plan. Indeed, it was as flat as the proverbial crepe. Gaga tried every trick in the book but that procession of mega-hits just didn’t project all the way back to the burger vans. She might need some more time at festival finishing school before she’s ready for her next close-up.

  • Oxegen - the final countdown

    @ 2:09 pm | by Jim Carroll

    If it’s Sunday, it must be (still) Punchestown.

    The mud report: it’s not raining, the car parks are in pretty good nick (the blue carpark, anyway) and the arena is OK. Like, I wouldn’t like to spend a week’s holiday there, but conditions are OK.

    The “unforeseen circumstances” report: The Horrors are a no-show. Problems getting all that hair-gel through customs.

    The traffic report: I’ve been driving back and forth from Ballymore Eustace all weekend and there have been zero hold-ups, even despite the fact that numptie here has had to go all the way past the red car parks to get to the blue car parks. The traffic management stuff seems to be working very well - lots of gardai and stewards doing their job. After all, as Ronan reported on Friday, the promoters are spending €2 million on policing, health & safety and security so they seem to be getting value for money.

    The radio whoring report: OTR was out there speaking too fast on RTE Radio One’s The Business, Spin South West’s Balance and The Block (big up the Webbman and PC respectively) and Phantom 105.2’s Richie Ryan shows over the last few days. Thanks to all of them for having me/putting up with me.

    The daytrippers: they’re here in doves today for The Specials, Nine Inch Nails and Jane’s Addiction

    The Dublin Bus report: I’ve heard no reports about Dublin Bus screwing up, which must be a first this summer.

    The hurling forecast: Tipp to beat the Deisemen by 3 or 4 points.

    The music report: the must-see acts in the next few hours are RSAG, Fever Ray, The Noisettes, Lady Gaga, Friendly Fires, Hudson Mohawke (provided the dude manages to get here from the airport in time) and Foals. Laters, people.

  • Oxegen - Pet Shop Boys, St Vincent, And So I Watch You From Afar

    @ 12:39 pm | by Jim Carroll

    More capsule reviews from last night. I also saw a bit of the Kings Of Leon – mmm, so that’s what the Jonas Brothers will sound like once they start shaving.

    Ooooooh, now this is pop (baby). The Pet Shop Boys wow us with outlandish theatre, dancers in costumes designed by someone from Jupiter and pop songs you know as well as your muddy feet. It’s a non-stop glitzy, shiny, sexy parade of gooey, dayglo POP. Neil Tennant used to be a music journalist so there’s hope for us yet

    There’s drama by the dozen too with St Vincent. Not the drama of some ditzy, flakey muso, but drama plucked from the lines and the tracings of some seriously refined songs. On the material from “Actor”, the band play with furious vigour and Annie Clark sings with lively, emphatic intent. It’s a weird scene inside the mud-mine, but one which is probably good for your mind, soul and spirit all the same

    Making music to move you without singing words to stir works damn well for And So I Watch You From Afar. They load up their weapons, check the sight-lines and fire up one epic, monstrous symphony of out-there-but-in-here soundscapes after another. It’s music for stagediving off mountains, starting riots, driving at 100 miles per hour on the road from Eadestown to Ballymore Eustace at night with the lights off, herding bulls though china shops and trips to the dentist. Resistance, you know, is over-rated.

  • Oxegen - Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV On The Radio

    July 11, 2009 @ 9:44 pm | by Jim Carroll

    Reviews by me for The Daily Ticket

    Yeah Yeah Yeahs: it’s a blitz

    It’s their time. You can sense this in how the Yeah Yeah Yeahs approach this show. It’s pelting down, stagehands stand around with towels and mops and there are worried glances at the speakers. But the Yeah Yeah Yeahs – particulary queenpin Karen O – aren’t going to let the weather stop them. You really can’t take your eyes off Karen O. Rocking a Peig Sayers shawl (provided the great bogeywoman of Irish lit frequented hip New York boutiques), she prowls the stage, throwing the kind of shapes usually found in advanced pilates. Throughout this gymnastic largesse, the hits keep coming. It’s the ones from “It’s Blitz!” that glue us to the stage – “Heads Will Roll”, “Dull Life” and “Zero” holding all the aces. We’re counting down the days to their August 26th gig in Belfast.

    TV on the Radio: rockin’

    TV On The Radio made a blink-and-you-missed-it appearance at Oxegen a couple of years ago – just a bunch of New York hipsters with one album to show for their toils. Few mentioned them in the Punchestown despatches on that occasion. Fast-forward to this outing in Kildare’s mudfields – thanks to last year’s “Dear Science”, an album that did for NYC art-rock what Ronaldo’s Real Madrid transfer did for his bank account, there’s a genuine interest in what they’re doing. It’s a sonic assault to savour, from how frontman Tunde Adebimpe’s vocals rage hard to band producer David Sitek’s wizardry with the guitar. They do “The Golden Age” like they have something to prove, and you’re rocked back on your feet at the intensity of it all. Who said there’s nothing on the TV these days?

  • Oxegen - Regina Spektor, Peter Doherty, Elbow

    @ 9:40 pm | by Jim Carroll

    Reviews by Tony for The Daily Ticket

    Regina Spektor: posh ‘n’ packed

    This New York resident, Russian-born singer was surely agog and agape at the reception she received yesterday – but was the tent stuffed to the rafters because they all loved her, knew her music, or because they wanted to keep the rain off? We like her, but not even in our most generous appraisal could we say that she could pull such a large audience at, say, Dublin’s Olympia or Vicar Street. That said, there’s something nice‘n’smart‘n’kooky about this classically trained lady – a cool mixture of anti-folk and pro-pop, the compound of which is laced with casual references to literary figures like Ezra Pound, Margaret Atwood and Edith Wharton. All this, and a band that includes a cellist and violinist. A posh gig at Oxegen? Get outta here, Batman!

    Peter Doherty: empty vessel?

    It’s getting mucky now, very mucky. But before we all sink into the quagmires that are the various entrances to the Heineken Green Spheres tent, here’s Peter Doherty, complete with guitar, ciggie and black trilby. Despite covering the Stone Roses’ “I Wanna Be Adored” (and getting the requisite reaction), Doherty seemed to be firing on one cylinder. The crowd, too (at least from the few places I positioned myself during the gig) seemed to be flagging. Most in view, in fact, just chatted as ragged singer-songwriter tunes floated overhead. Doherty has his diligent worshippers, to be sure, but the impression that he’s running on empty refuses to budge.

    Elbow: against all odds

    Arriving on the main stage in a fanfare of trumpets, green rain macs and a string quartet, Elbow swiftly triumphed over the adversities of the weather, a very tightly packed front-of-stage area (which singer Guy Harvey patiently tried to resolve) and an appreciative audience that, nevertheless, looked as if they were getting listless. Fair play to Elbow, then, for pulling out quiet yet sturdy reserves of energy and resolve. You would never have thought that the band’s music – intense, profound, without humour yet full of life – would have transferred to such a damp, open-air environment, but as the rain relentlessly pelted, Elbow reigned supreme. Definitely a moment here, folks

  • Oxegen - Passion Pit, Messiah J & The Expert

    @ 9:38 pm | by Jim Carroll

    Reviews by me for The Daily Ticket

    Passion Pit: wide awake

    It all happened for Passion Pit before they were really ready. The band wasn’t even fully formed when blogs went doo-lally for the songs Michael Angelakos wrote as a Valentine’s card. When the band first toured here earlier this year, they were upstaged by co-headliners Hockey – and seemed a little miffed by it. A few months can work wonders. Passion Pit’s debut album “Manners” is a promising pointer to their dreamy, occasionally ecstatic pop twists and turns. Live, they’ve thankfully improved in leaps and bounds since those earlier dates. Playing to a full crowd at the New Bands Stage, they rarely let the tempo or atmosphere drop, keeping eyes very much on the ball. “Sleepyhead” remains their calling card, but they’ve certainly got a whole lot more where that came from.
     
    Messiah J & the Expert: hip to the hop

    Whatever about rock ‘n’ roll’s questionable suitability for open fields, hip hop was never really intended to live large in the plains of Kildare. No one, though, told Messiah J & The Expert, who made us forget about the rain and mud with a blistering set. There are two musicians onstage with John (Messiah J) and Cian (The Expert) and this additional melodic weight is a newly minted trump card. Whether it’s how this heft adds snarling intensity to “Keep The Noise Down” or the manner in which the players accentuate the sunny-side-up buzz of “Turn The Magic On”, MJEX go for the jugular again and again. If you missed them, you missed one of the weekend’s finest high-phat treats.

  • Oxegen - Squeeze, The Blizzards, The Saturdays

    @ 9:32 pm | by Jim Carroll

    Reviews by Tony for the Daily Ticket

    Squeeze: pop credibility

    Something of a British heritage act, Squeeze still know how to write a classic pop song. So effortless is their skill at putting kitchen-sink-drama lyrics to melodies that give bad whistling a good name that the Deptford band has passed the test of time without penalties for being over 50. Crackers such as “Tempted”, “Annie Get Your Gun” and “Up the Junction” lay testament to the fact that there aren’t too many bands of their vintage able to hold an audience’s attention during the first of several downpours. One of the few credible festival acts? We think so – familiar songs that aren’t tired and cliched are hard to come by.

    The Blizzards: punk priority

    Judging by the reaction to Mullingar’s Blizzards, they are fast approaching the level of popularity that belongs (still) to other Irish acts like The Saw Doctors. Yet the band operates from a different creative platform – high quality punk/pop. While the title of their debut album, “A Public Display of Affection”, could well be a barometer of mutual attraction, it’s upto tracks such as the very silly but highly singable “Trust Me I’m A Doctor” to turn a wet gig into something of a dry spell.

    The Saturdays: to the bumper

    Well, they couldn’t be on Friday or Sunday, could they? But such obvious strategic placing on the bill is neither here nor there – it wouldn’t matter if The Saturdays were playing on a wet Wednesday morning in Nobber – they’d still stuff the place. Speaking of which, if you weren’t in the Heineken Green Spheres tent at 5.20pm yesterday, you were nowhere. It could have been the rain that shoved people in, but whatever the reason, the five gals (Frankie, Rochelle, Mollie, Vanessa and Una – from Thurles, you know) pulled up to the bumper, snapped off the Child On Board signs and let rip with a choice pop selection. Fluffy? It sure ain’t Nine Inch Nails. Tough? That’d be Nine Inch Manicured Nails, then.

  • Oxegen - Gaslight Anthem, Daniel Merriweather, Howling Bells

    @ 4:35 pm | by Jim Carroll

    First capsule reviews of the day

    The Gaslight Anthem rock like beasts. When it comes to chronicling US small town blues and ennui, New Jersey punk-rockers The Gaslight Anthem are your only men right now. Aside from the fact that they’ve had the seal of approval from Bruce Springsteen, it helps that the band’s compulsive, frantic, lyrical songs are the real deal. The set is drawn mostly from their current blockbuster album “The ‘59 Sound”, a run of songs where frontman Brian Fallon’s references to high-top sneakers and sailor tattoos paint a vivid, evocative picture of their particular hood. Both the title track and “Miles Davis & The Cool” hit all the right spots, whipped into shape by bucaneering guitars. And to top it off, they look like they’re having a hoot.

    No matter how hard he tries - and he’s trying so hard that he even has a bloody album under his oxter - Daniel Merriweather will be the bloke who sang “Stop Me” with Mark Ronson. His songs all throw similar shapes to that keeper but lack the hooks or the hummability.

    Say what you like about Gary Lightbody’s band and their music (and we’ve heard it all), the Snow Patrol singer always come up trumps with band tips. He tipped Howling Bells and we really liked the Sydney band’s muscular widescreen classic indie. A bit Bunnymen in some places and a bit gothy elsewhere. Great stage presence too. Memo to self: check out their “Radio Wars” album.

  • Oxegen - OK, it’s now raining

    @ 4:26 pm | by Jim Carroll

    Today’s cancellations: The Game is a no-show. Dude must be still mourning Michael Jackson.

  • Oxegen - it’s not raining (yet)

    @ 2:27 pm | by Jim Carroll

    Second day in Punchestown Racecourse and it’s all about to begin once more. The clouds are low and the weather forecast is lousy but, hey, what are you going to do? Bands we’re looking forward to seeing today include The Gaslight Anthem, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Messiah J & The Expert, TV On The Radio, The Saturdays (the only act on the bill which features someone from Tipperary so we’ve gotta represent), Annie Mac, Pet Shop Boys, Patrick Wolf, Nick Cave, Hockey, Cap Pas Cap, And So I Watch You From Afar and St Vincent.

    News from yesterday: Ladyhawke was a no-show.

    News from the outside world: POD Concerts has gone into liquidation

    News on the radio: check out The Business on RTE Radio One tomorrow morning to hear On The Record talking shite about the music business as John Murray and his team come to Oxegen to do a special report on the music business in Ireland. You can always play buzzword bingo and have a drink everytime someone mentions “unforeseen circumstances”.

    Reports to come through the day. Stay tuned, sports fans.

  • Oxegen - Blur review from last night

    @ 2:18 pm | by Jim Carroll

    As reviewed by Tony for The Daily Ticket

    Blur: played a blinder

    The main turn? The one-time Britpop stars back in a surprise/ shock/cataclysmic turn of events? Yes, hell, in one of its many formats, has frozen over, and after Damon Albarn’s many musical forays (which will advance ever onwards, one imagines), guitarist Graham Coxon’s beautifully off-kilter solo records, bassist Alex James’ adventures in cheesemaking and drummer Dave Rowntree’s political ambitions, the reformation continues apace. Certainly, the sense of expectation is heightened by their being the critics’ and peoples’ favourite – great tunes, smart lyrics and personable blokes. A potent fusion that works a treat. Opening with “She’s So High”, keeping the momentum flowing with Girls and Boys and maintaining that energy with the likes of “Beetlebum”, between Albarn’s running on the spot and a synapse-blitzing light display, Blur played a blinder. Rough around the edges? There’s no other way for Blur – and I don’t think we’d want it otherwise

  • Oxegen - Blur show the love

    @ 2:59 am | by Jim Carroll

    Nice touches from Blur in what was an all-hits set. They dedicted “There’s No Other Way” to the late, great Leo Finlay, a Dublin-born music journalist who worked for a rake of publications including Sounds and Music Week. He was one of the first people to write about the band (in their Seymour incarntion) and Damon Albarn explained that Blur’s first Irish gig was at his wedding reception in 1990.

    And, later in the set, Damon Albarn dedicated “The Universal” to another late, great - Joe Dolan, the dude in the white suit who covered that song.

    Full review to follow, though I did feel that the audience weren’t quite as mad for the gig as they were for earlier sets from Snow Patrol, Lily Allen and The Script. Tiredness? Drunkeness? Unfamiliarity with the bulk of the set bar the big tunes? A combination of all three?

  • Oxegen - The Script, Heathers

    @ 1:48 am | by Jim Carroll

    Reviews by me from The Daily Ticket

    The Script: a steady rise

    Was there anyone watching any other band while The Script were onstage? It felt as if everyone in Punchestown was ole-ole-ole-ing at the main stage for this one. Two years ago, The Script wouldn’t even have made it onto the New Bands stage. But in 2009, their polished pop has produced hit after hit and they gave value for their perch. Of course, some will sniff that a band like this, with its boy-band pedigree, shouldn’t be given the time of day. But this audience has no truck with snobbery. The keeper from this triumph is We Cry. There were a few likable R&B-like ringers, a few failed attempts at Celtic soul, a few (too many) plays from the Bono handbook, but We Cry had ‘em rocking as far back as the chip-vans. Score!

    Heathers: sister act

    It’s moments like this that should really get more space in the Oxegen despatches. Within a few songs, people are filling the tent for an under-the-radar Irish band – and sticking around. Then again, maybe they’re also clicking that Heathers are well worth spending time with. Dublin sisters Louise and Ellie McNamara may be armed with just two voices and one guitar, but they beguile with songs dripping with fantastic folky pop harmonies. Two US tours in the past year with the likes of Ghost Mice and Kimya Dawson have helped them hone that material into some unmissable forms. It’s the songs that don’t feature on last year’s Here, Not There debut album that really strike you – something that augers very well for album number two.

  • Oxegen - Snow Patrol

    @ 1:46 am | by Jim Carroll

    Review by Tony Clayton-Lea from The Daily Ticket

    Snow Patrol: generic genius

    It’s a given by this point that Snow Patrol are festival favourites – perhaps especially so In Ireland – but it’s only when you see them in action that you realise how good they are. There are some who say they’re the epitome of generic rock, but such misgivings are unfortunate – they smear the band with the kind of brush strokes that other acts such as The Script and Maroon 5 are more deserving of. Factor in Gary Lightbody’s lightness of touch and you have a very fine, commercially accessible rock act who give the impression that, creatively, there’s far more to come. Some songs may be by now overfamiliar, but we refuse (and yes, we’re using the Royal “we” here) to believe that makes Snow Patrol any the less important or enjoyable.

  • Oxegen - Dinosaur Pile-Up, Fight Like Apes

    July 10, 2009 @ 10:21 pm | by Jim Carroll

    All reviews by me for The Daily Ticket

    Dinosaur Pile-Up: G is for….

    On the eve of their first Irish show, this trio spent the night doing what every band should, to get in the right mindset: watching Arnie gurn his way through Commando. And it worked – they came out of the traps with a hi-octane energy.The G-word will always follow them around and, if Timberlake is bringing sexy back, grunge is their poison. They’ve got the classic, heavy songs with a pop edge to fuel that revival too – My Rock’n’Roll, in particular sets out their stall, with maximum riffs and throaty yells. By the time they’ve come to Summer Hit, the crowds wondering if Leeds is the new Seattle.

    Fight Like Apes: trick and treat

    Jumping into the crowd, banging chairs against the barrier, climbing the scaffolding: Fight Like Apes know all the tricks of the festival trade. More importantly, though, they’ve learned that songs are every jot as important as japes. Two in particular stand out: I’m Beginning to Think You Prefer Beverley Hills 90210 to Me and Lend Me Your Face are lean, mean and full of vim. The Apes throw these songs out with a casual aplomb that comes from practice. Even when running amok, the beat is steady. This time next year, Rodney, they’ll be turning the main stage into their playground

  • Oxegen - Lily Allen, The Hours, The Answer

    @ 10:21 pm | by Jim Carroll

    All reviews by Tony Clayton-Lea for The Daily Ticket.

    Lily Allen: the critic’s vote

    Everyone’s At It could be Oxegen’s signature tune. And Allen could be its signature act. She’s cheeky, swears and writes great melodies. Admittedly, F**k You might not win an Ivor Novello (unless there’s a gong for Most Unwarranted Yet Assertive Put-Down), but for participation, it’s up there. So she gets the critic’s vote (yay!), but does she get anything else? Well, songs such as LDN, Smile, 22 and her well-known version of Kaiser Chiefs’ Oh My God got the crowd going, and the main stage neared capacity crowd for her performance. Come back before the end of the year, now, y’hear?

    The Hours: gathering fans

    Out of the fires of failure and desperation come The Hours, the nucleus of which are hardworking musicians Antony Genn and Martin Slattery. They have served time with Black Grape, Robbie Williams, Grace Jones and Joe Strummer, so they know the drill – which makes their slow progress all the more frustrating. They have a steady stream of focused, urgent and the-right-side-of-strident rock music. An understated beginning turned into quite a party as the tent filled with stragglers, who quickly turned into fans. The Hours’ time will come.

    The Answer: a minor triumph

    Several months on tour with AC/DC clearly had a bearing on this Downpatrick band. Their hard rock/blues sound might reference 1970s bands such as Nazareth, (more obviously) Led Zeppelin and AC/DC, but there’s a rasping sound all their own that bears testament to the fact that they are a touring unit, oblivious to anything like a “normal” routine or lifestyle. Lead singer Cormac Neeson (right) looks retro enough for Robert Plant fans to give him a rock-on thumbs-up, while his voice comes across as a fags-driven blend of Jake Burns (of Stiff Little Fingers) and AC/DC’s Brian Johnson. A small enough crowd to cheer them on, but a minor triumph, nonetheless.

  • Oxegen - 202s, Dirty Epics, Coronas

    @ 4:40 pm | by Jim Carroll

    A trio of Irish acts to start the weekend.

    A lovely buzz with 202s (Red Bull Music Academy). While their album is good, if not great, there’s little to fault in their live set: gorgeous Krautrock grooves, really robust songs and great stage presence. Just a pity there were so few people there to see them.

    On the other hand, there was a full-ish tent to see the Dirty Epics, but it was raining. I last three songs before I have to leave for the sake of my sanity. The kind of dreary, pedestrian, hackneyed, unadventurous, dull, dismal and banal “rock” which gives “rock” a bad name. Props to the lead singer for throwing those shapes but, Jesus, the music was beyond dull.

    At least you can understand why people like The Coronas. No, no, you can. It’s radio-friendly fare, bouncy songs and big choruses, with that unchallenging rigmarole repeated over and over again. Up there on the big stage, in front of thousands of their fans going absolutely doo-lally at it all, they give it socks. Unfortunately, it just happens that I prefer a different pair of socks.

  • Oxegen - the rainy season has begun

    @ 3:20 pm | by Jim Carroll

    Yep, it’s raining.

  • Oxe-plug

    @ 8:24 am | by Jim Carroll

    It’s Oxegen week at The Ticket. We talk to the Punchestown-bound Fight Like Apes about their rocky rock to Co Kildare, Tony Clayton-Lea gives his guide to the weekend’s runners and riders and we unleash Oxegen I Spy, the game for all the family to play as they wonder when it’s going to rain.

    New Music love this week for Miike Snow, Sleep Thieves, Screaming Females, The Clonious, Blattant and Mount Kimbie, while there’s Music News on playing safe at Oxegen, more festivals on the way, The Daily Ticket and Radiohead manager’s new foray into record labels.

    CD of the Week comes from the excellent Gurrumul and there are also reviews of releases from Frankmusik, Wave Machines, Sam Shinazz, Dan Black, The Field, J Dilla, Don Henley and many more.

    New films in the cinemas this week are Bruno, 35 Shots of Rum, Fired Up, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee and Cloud 9. Also from the movies department: an interview with Rebecca Miller, DVD reviews, movie news (including the latest list of the most lucrative films ever at the box office) and the weekly movie quiz. Plus Michael Clark on his new Galway Arts Fest-bound show inspired by David Bowie, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed, while Brian Boyd scrutinises the Dublin-bound Steve Van Zandt’s vision for the music industry.

    The Ticket: music, movies and the potential for mud

    Parish notes: that Banter podcast from last weekend’s session (with Today FM’s Paul McLoone and Power FM’s The Golden Maverick) is now live and you can hear it or download it here.

    This week’s OTR community noticeboard is now open for business. Get plugging, folks. Keep them short and snappy and declare an interest where one should be declared.

  • Oxegen news bulletin - Specials, Yeah Yeah Yeahs to play standalone Irish shows

    July 9, 2009 @ 2:02 pm | by Jim Carroll

    Per posters pasted up around the Oxegen site, The Specials are playing Dublin’s Olympia on November 14. Memo for those who’ve lifted this for their own sites and tweets: I’ll drive back around later to check on ticket prices etc.

    UPDATE Tickets for The Specials in Dublin are from €49.20 (including booking fee). They also play in St George’s Market in Belfast on November 16.

    Also from the posters on the walls at Oxegen, the awesome Yeah Yeah Yeahs play St George’s Market, Belfast on August 26. No mention of gigs in the dirty south.

  • Tune of the Week - “Tender”

    @ 9:47 am | by Jim Carroll

    It’s all Oxegen all weekend from here on in.
    (more…)

  • The Daily Ticket goes to Oxegen

    July 8, 2009 @ 2:00 pm | by Jim Carroll

    The Daily Ticket will be published on Saturday and Sunday at Oxegen.

    As those who’ve seen the Daily Ticket at the Electric Picnic in 2007 and 2008 will know, each edition will contain all the words and photos we can fit onto the pages, including reviews of the previous day’s music, previews of what’s ahead, line-up updates, features, food reviews and much, much more besides.

    The supplement will be distributed each day from 10.30am by distribution staff in the campsites, food areas and main arena. It will also be available at the Heineken Green Spheres stage.

    For those of you who won’t be in Punchestown, the content from the Daily Ticket, along with regular updates, can be found over the weekend on this blog.

    And, before you ask, the Daily Ticket will be back in Stradbally in September. Sure, how could we miss it?

  • La Roux, Dublin, November

    @ 12:39 pm | by Jim Carroll

    La Roux plays Dublin’s Academy on November 12. No ticket info as of yet (promoters probably too busy in Punchestown). I liked her show at Sonar last month and really like this Skream remix of “In For The Kill”

  • The Far Side - playlist for Tuesday July 7

    @ 9:53 am | by Jim Carroll

    As played on The Far Side, Phantom 105.2, Tuesday July 7, 10pm-midnight

    Bruce Springsteen “Born to Run” (Columbia)
    Simian Mobile Disco/Beth Ditto “Cruel Intentions” (Wichita)
    Shit Robot “Simple Things (Work It Out)” (DFA)
    Holy Ghost “I Will Come Back” (Green Label Sound)
    Boy 8-Bit “Wolfen” (This Is Music)
    Chk Chk Chk “Must Be The Moon” (Warp)
    Cecile & Delphi “Una Donemica Italiana” (RBMA)
    Spank Rock “Rick Rubin” (Big Dada)
    Three Trapped Tigers “7” (Too Pure)
    Hook & The Twin “Race for the Bone” (Self release)
    Major Lazer “Can’t Stop Now” (Mad Decent)
    Blur “Tender” (Food)
    Highlife “F Kenya Rip” (New High)
    Mos Def “Life In Marvelous Times” (Downtown)
    J Dilla “Won’t Do” (BBE)
    Flying Lotus/Declaime “Whole Wide World” (Ramp)
    Mount Kimbie “Maybes” (Hot Flush)
    Tinariwen “Lulla” (Independiente)
    Group Doueh “Wazam Samat” (Sublime Frequencies)
    Ohio Penitentiary 511 Jazz Ensemble “Psych City” (Now Again)
    Giorgio Moroder “Tears” (Hansa)
    Aleuda “Galope” (Far Out)
    Terry Callier “Occasional Rain” (Cadet)
    Jonsi & Alex “Boy 1904” (Parlophone)

  • MyTwitterFaceIn

    July 7, 2009 @ 1:56 pm | by Jim Carroll

    Am I the only one out there who is still using MySpace? It sure seems so from some of the coverage of late. Over the last few weeks, I’ve read nothing but doom and gloom about the social networking service which cost Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation some $580 million in 2005. Most of the analysis revolves around how social networking rivals like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter have overtaken MySpace in terms of number of users, visitors, time spent on the site and, most of all, fashionability.

    Yet MySpace continues to exert a huge influence over one constituency which recent arrivals to the social networking sphere haven’t quite captured: the music-making community. When I come across a new band, I’ll head straight away to their MySpace site to hear the tunes. Not the band’s own site or LastFM or Spotify, but the band’s MySpace site. Click on the site and the player starts spinning immediately. Within 30 seconds, you know what the band sound like. Within a minute, you’ll know if you want to hear more. I’d say about half of the acts I cover in the New Music column in The Ticket (especially the Irish ones, strangely enough) are found via MySpace. Life would have been a whole lot easier if MySpace had existed back when I was talent-scouting for labels and publishers for a living.

    I know I’m not alone in this regard. For instance, the 12 Points new jazz fest in Dublin is usually booked every year via MySpace and Bodytonic have used MySpace to find and book acts for their club nights in the past. As a music resource - especially in terms of finding and hearing new acts - nothing else comes close. Despite some criticisms about its design and layout, I’ve always found it damn easy to use compared with various MySpace wannabes which have been touted. And unlike those wannabes, every single band on the planet is on MySpace waiting for you. Well, bar Prinzhorn Dance School.

    But as so many others hawking new models for the music business have found out, it’s hard to turn what is essentially a free service into turnover and profit. As that Guardian report above points out, MySpace’s ad deal with Google ends next year and this will halve the site’s revenue. There have been management changes and lay-offs already as the hatches are battened down. We’ll probably know within a year or so if Murdoch is prepared to continue propping up the site or if will he cut his losses and move on.

    You can bet, though, that if the site is shuttered or downsized, an alternative MySpace network will be up and running within months. None of the other social networking sites provide what MySpace is providing, hence why it continues to be the go-to site for music. But in the absence of MySpace, a brand new destination may well work. And you can expect that new-TwitterFaceInBebo-kid on-the-block to be the site everyone else will want to befriend for at least 12 months.

  • Gigroll - Umack edition

    @ 9:40 am | by Jim Carroll

    Umack are rocking out in September (and November) with shows by Silver Apples, The Jesus Lizard, Zu and Fugazi’s Joe Lally. The awesome Silver Apples play Whelan’s on September 12 (tickets €20), the equally fine Lizard - who were as hot as hell at Primavera in May - play somewhere in Dublin on September 22 (venue and ticket details to follow), Zu play Dublin’s Crawdaddy on September 29 (tickets €12) and Joe Lally plays Crawdaddy on November 20 (tickets €12 and support from Adebisi Shank). I suspect this news will make some OTR readers very happy.

    And don’t forget Umack’s gig this week with the ferocious Chk Chk Chk (!!!) playing at Whelan’s tomorrow night (tickets €17).

  • A weekend in the life of the randomiser

    July 6, 2009 @ 1:59 pm | by Jim Carroll

    Funniest blog post of the weekend: Darragh goes to a full-moon party in Kells. Read it here.

    Very successful outing for the very first Banter with Paul McLoone and Ciaran “The Golden Maverick” Nugent chewing the fat in the Twisted Pepper on Saturday night about radio past, present and future. Thanks to everyone who showed up (good to put faces to blogging names like Sweet Oblivion and Rob Egoeccentric) and an extra-special thanks to the Bodytonic crew for ensuring everything went off without a hitch. The diary date for the next Banter is August 8 and more info on that in the coming weeks. The podcast of Saturday’s Banter is currently in the works so ears peeled for that.

    Farewell Rodney Rice. The Saturday View (and Worlds Apart) presenter retired at the weekend after 40 years at the microphone. With Rice at the helm, Saturday View always provided an interesting hour’s listening as politicians and members of the political class were harried and harrassed. Add in the fact that this was the week which saw John Bowman wrap up Questions & Answers after a lengthy run and it looks like we may be in a whole new class of political coverage on the radio and TV from the autumn.

    Headline of the weekend: U2 270° in the Trib. Turns out that U2’s much mooted Crab (hey, it looks like a crab) stageshow won’t be an in-the-round affair in Croker. Boo! Is that the sound of Joe Duffy I can hear rubbing his hands with glee? Altogether now: it’s-not-fair-Joe.

    Speaking of Joooooeeeee: excellent piece from Stephen Collins on Saturday about how if the public are up in arms about a €200 tax on mobile homes, how the hell are they going to react to what might be coming down the line via the so-called An Bord Snip Nua?

    Sporting headline of the weekend: The Great Puzzling Anomaly, also from the Trib subs. Good piece too from Liam Hayes about the questions surrounding the GPA which no-one else seems to have asked. That said, Tom Humphries argues this morning that it may be time for the GAA and the GPA to be friends and share a bed in Croker.

    Allen Klein RIP. The toughest manager in the business is now doing deals somewhere else.

    More festivals! More festivals with homegrown bills! Summersound takes place at East Point Business Park, Dublin 3 on August 22 and will star The Mighty Stef, The Laundry Shop, Funeral Suits, Heritage Centre, Disconnect 4 and more. Tickets go on sale here on Wednesday at €26 a pop.

    By all accounts, I missed a Nighty Night with Vinnie Browne humdinger where the Limerickman grilled, toasted, roasted, fryed, boiled and gently sweated Brian Lenihan (dude obviously has not got the time to update his website) for an hour. Pass the pepper and watch it here

    Twitter users buy more music than people who don’t tweet - official. Next week: Twitter users buy more Argyle socks than people who don’t tweet.

    Album of the weekend: Major Lazer “Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers Do”. Rewind selector!

  • Fleet Foxes, Dublin, September

    @ 8:25 am | by Jim Carroll

    The awesome Fleet Foxes play Dublin’s Vicar Street on September 7. Tickets will be €24 and go on sale on Thursday (Ticketmaster 9am). New Vicar Street house band Blitzen Trapper support.

  • Anyone got a spare plug?

    July 3, 2009 @ 9:33 am | by Jim Carroll

    Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol was The Ticket’s guest editor this week and Ticket ed Conor Goodman explains how it came about and how it worked. In the mix: Snow Patrol’s festival survival guide and Oxegen tips, the editor interviewing a music journalist, the guest editor interviewing Howling Bells and Gary Lightbody’s New Music starring Lowly Knights, Holy Ghost, Jonquil, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Miracle Fortress and Villagers.

    In other stuff, Brian Boyd watches Glastonbury on the box, Pierce Turner reveals the contents of his rider and Lauren Murphy’s Music News has stories on Michael Jackson souvenir tickets, Pirate Bay’s latest move and Daedelus and Jape talking shop.

    CD of the Week comes from Florence & The Machine and there are also reviews of releases by Discovery, Ape School, Patrick Kelleher, Phenomenal Handclap Band, Sa-Ra Creative Partners, Bert Jansch, Shawn Colvin and many more.

    In the cinemas, this week’s new releases are Public Enemies, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Gigantic, Lake Tahoe and Sugar. Plus from the movies department: film news and the weekly quiz.

    The Ticket: we built this city on rock’n'roll

    The OTR community noticeboard is now open for your plugs. Anything goes but (1) keep ‘em short and snappy or they will be edited, (2) make sure you include admission prices and (3) declare an interest where an interest should be declared.

  • Tune of the Week - “Moskow Discow”

    July 2, 2009 @ 12:29 pm | by Jim Carroll

    Time to catch the train.
    (more…)

  • Have you played Fantasy Festival Promoter yet?

    @ 9:02 am | by Jim Carroll

    Last day of our competition where you can win a pair of weekend tickets to Oxegen 2009. A huge volume of entries so far so get stuck in here.

  • Electric Picnic latest acts

    July 1, 2009 @ 2:06 pm | by Jim Carroll

    Well, this information was supposed to be made public tomorrow, but it arrived early so what are you going to do? Here are the latest runners and riders for the Stradbally steeplechase. Sadly, no Eazy-E

    Kid Creole & The Coconuts
    Dinosaur Jr
    Neko Case
    Dan Deacon Ensemble
    Diplo
    Hypnotic Brass Ensemble
    The Temper Trap
    Buraka Som Sistema (live)
    Major Lazer
    The Acorn
    First Aid Kit
    Julie Feeney
    One Day International
    Fake Blood
    Boy 8 Bit
    The Lost Brothers

  • The 25 best albums of 2009 so far

    @ 12:21 pm | by Jim Carroll

    As we reach the halfway mark in what has already been a champion year for new music, I’m reminded of a fine piece a few weeks ago in the Guardian. Johnny Dee had a look back at 1989 and noted what a momentous year it was for music. You had fantastic releases or breakthroughs from the Stone Roses (I can still remember the first time I heard that album), De La Soul (I bought that on vinyl in Belfast and nearly wore the grooves out the following week), Pixes (”Dolittle”), Beastie Boys (”Paul’s Boutique”), Soul II Soul (”Club Classics, Vol 1″), Happy Mondays (myself and two others put them on in McGonagles in Dublin with The Shamen on St Patrick’s Day - the heavy metal disco afterwards drew a bigger crowd) and plenty of others. Yet, as Dee notes, for all that great music in the ether, the public went out and bought Jive Bunny records as if their lives depended on it.

    Much has changed in the 20 years since. The labels are no longer the powerhouses they once were and you can be sure a Jive Bunny 2009 would not be selling records in the same quantities as before. There’s still a disconnect between the mainstream and the underground, but it’s no longer the massive leap it once was as several bands have found out in recent times. Moreover, as several of this year’s success stories know only too well, you don’t need to go the whole hog to make a living from your music. You can do things on your own terms.

    Yet the fact remains that, leaving aside the overall slippage in sales, much of this year’s big sellers will still come from the same quarters as always. Major label-guided TV pop continues to show up the truism of the if-you-throw-enough-at-the-wall-something-will-stick approach. A couple of big acts will clock up the digits. That slew of electropop lasses everyone was tipping at the dawn of the day will produce one winner (Lady Gaga) and one surprise contender (La Roux) with a host of also-rans (Little Boots’s album certainly does not do her any favours). It’s like 1989 – and 1999 – all over again.

    But in terms of volume, everything has changed. There has never been so much music, so many new releases, so many new bands to check out. You could spend your entire time just listening to freshly hatched music without having a minute to go back to the vintage stuff. Some view this as a problem (in fact, many do and see churning as a reason why so many new bands burn out so fast), yet it’s a problem which has a very simple solution: just make better music.

    And yes, like every year of late, it has been a good year so far for new releases. Here are 25 albums in no order whatsoever which are rocking my world as we head into the second half of 2009. There are probably some more and there are certainly some smashing albums to come in July and August from The XX, La Roux and Florence & The Machine but we’ll stick with these for now.

    Animal Collective “Merriweather Post Pavilion” (Domino)
    The Juan Maclean “The Future Will Come” (DFA)
    Grizzly Bear “Veckatimest” (Warp)
    DM Stith “Heavy Ghost” (Asthmatic Kitty)
    Hudson Mohawke “Polyfolk Dance” (Warp)
    Micachu & The Shapes “Jewellery” (Rough Trade)
    Fever Ray “Fever Ray” (Rabid)
    Adrian Crowley “Season of the Sparks” (Tin Angel)
    Here We Go Magic “Here We Go Magic” (Western Vinyl)
    The Pains of Being Pure At Heart “The Pains of Being Pure At Heart” (Fortuna Pop)
    White Denim “Fits” (Full Time Hobby)
    Toddla T “Skanky Skanky” (1965)
    Dirty Projectors “Bitte Orca” (Domino)
    Dorian Concept “When Planets Collide” (Kindred Spirits)
    Bibio “Ambivalence Avenue” (Warp)
    Sa-Ra Creative Partners “Nuclear Evolution: The Age Of Love” (Ubiquity)
    Raphael Saadiq “The Way I See It” (Columbia)
    Cymbals Eat Guitars “Why There Are Mountains” (CEG)
    Yonlu “A Society In Which No Tear Is Shed Is Inconceivably Mediocre” (Luaka Bop)
    Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics “Inspiration Information” (Strut)
    Hypnotic Brass Ensemble “Hypnotic Brass Ensemble” (Honest Jons)
    Holy Roman Army “How The Light Gets In” (Collapsed Adult)
    Speech Debelle “Speech Therapy” (Big Dada)
    The Horrors “Primary Colours’ (XL)
    Antony & The Johnsons “The Crying Light” (Rough Trade)

  • The Far Side - playlist for Tuesday June 30

    @ 9:40 am | by Jim Carroll

    As played on The Far Side, Phantom 105.2, Tuesday June 30, 10pm-midnight

    RSAG “The Climb” (Psychonavigation)
    Casiokids “Finn Bikkjen!” (Moshi Moshi)
    Ladyhawke “Paris Is Buring (Cut Copy remix)” (Modular)
    David Holmes “Melanie” (Mercury)
    Messiah J & The Expert “Keep the Noise Down” (Inaudible)

    The Far Side at Sonar 2009 special

    Interview with Hank Shocklee
    Public Enemy “Bring The Noise” (Def Jam)
    Interview with Malcom Catto & Mulatu Astatke
    Mulatu Astatke & Heliocentrics “Masenqo” (Strut)
    Mulatu Astatke “Tezeta” (Buda Musique)
    La Roux “Coming In For The Kill (Skream’s Let’s Get Ravey remix)” (Polydor)
    Fever Ray “If I Had A Heart (Fuck Buttons remix)” (Rabid)
    Interview with Dorian Concept
    Dorian Concept “Clap Beep Boom” (Kindred Spirits)
    The Clonious “Emora” (Ubiquity)
    Interview with Mike Slott
    Mike Slott “My Lightbridge” (All City)
    Interview with Lukid
    Lukid “Raise High The Roof Beam” (Werk)

    Red Bull Music Academy special

    Interview with Davide Bortot (RBMA)

    Spank Rock “Rick Rubin” (Big Dada)
    Buraka Som Sistema “Sound Of Kudora” (Enchufada)
    Onra “The Anthem” (Bo Bun)
    Flying Lotus “Comet Course” (Warp)
    Hudson Mohawke “Star Crackout” (All City)
    Aloe Blacc “Arrive” (Stones Throw)

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