A successful week for Irish music all-round! Firstly congratulations to Jape on winning the Choice Music Prize – many have already said it went to the nicest man in Ireland and of those on the final shortlist, he was certainly amongst the most deserving. Halfset made a really good album and R.S.A.G. certainly set tympanics trembling with Organic Sampler but in the end the award went to one whose music played truly massive role in 2008. Despite fear and suspicion on the night due to the presence of David Holmes and The Script, Richie Egan is now wealthier to the tune of ten thousand fruits and a smooth celebratory trophy declaring Ritual the most critically-acclaimed Irish album of 2008. Thank you Jape.
There’s an interview with Choice founder Jim Carroll over on Analog. It’s a decent read…have Phantom really been binning bands’ CDs? In this age of carbon neutrality I thought unwanted promos found a home in charity shops. It’s all a wicked lie!
Salulations are also in order for Falter Ego who won the DIT Battle of the Bands in Think Tank on Wednesday (by the by, how fantastic is the new Cylon ceiling in the Eustace Street club?! Totally makes up for the naff Diet-Cokesque mural and porn-star toilets…!) Falter Ego beat off competition from Bojangled, Flying Columns and The Harm to win the first heat. Myself and two judges from Drop-D were level-pegging at 3/4 time and prepared for a fight amongst Indies when the three metallers rocked on and settled the score with four great, catchy songs. Look forward to hearing from you lads but if I can make one teeeny suggestion – introducing online visitors to your music with “The Official…Myspace Page” is a bit naff. Just sayin….
Before I launch into the plethora of upcoming releases and shows, take a moment to consider Parhelia‘s words on the effects of illegal downloading on small bands.
The Dublin post-rockers released Shifting Sands in early February and yet to date there have been over 500 downloads from one filesharing site alone – more than the album’s total legitimate sales. That ain’t cool. Support your local music industry people – it’s the only way to survive without selling out.
The other gigging biggie is The Urges in Whelans, also tomorrow – biggie because it’s their last Irish date before they descend on the not-so-sleepy town of Austin, Texas for SXSW….did you know the city has a bat population of 1.5 million? Sounds like a kind of haven!
While March hares have yet to come bounding through this neck of the docks, here’s some upcoming madness to pay heed to : Adebisi Shank and Jogging join the bill for the return of Baltimore’s highly-feted four-piece Ponytail on 11 March. This undoubtably hangs down the back of The Vinny Club‘s storming display of support in September. I didn’t go to that but after checking out the latest Ponytail album Ice Cream Spiritual I wish I had.
Foggy Notions have kindly offered two double passes to lucky parties. I’m sure you’ll be beating down the door for these so give the following challenge a bash and send your answers to rockeroffher[at]gmail[dot]com:
Shank’s Pony, Jogger’s Nipple, Blogger’s ….??
Entries close on 9 March. I’m not that finicky about time so 23:59:59 if you’re determined to wrest one.
His name is Chris, not “the super-hot drummer in asiwyfa“. Although he is super-hot. In terms of hunky music, whole band are Chippendales, new haircuts, headbangs and all. Tunes to make the hardest palate drool. And yeea to the new merch, I’m never taking off my t-shirt!!
They played loud, hard and fast, at long last people got the chance to find out for themselves why I’ve been raving about this band for so long. It was superb to see so many out for two support bands at the unprecedented alternative-rock hour of 8pm on a freezing Thursday night.
So worth it tho…new material came to light, including new single Don’t Waste Time Doing Things You Hate but the all-too-short set mostly comprised lovely, faithful oldies such as I Capture Castles, The Machine and of course, wondrous And The Voiceless. I hope these pics go some way towards expressing their phenomenal energy onstage, although it’s really the military precision of their songs which sweep you off their feet. There were moments, eyes closed, I really felt as though we were on the march. Fall in…
Being the soundest of people and thanking everyone who comes to shows – there were shouts for last week’s Button Factory gig – certainly pays off well. Living the life that just keeps on giving, Derry’s Japanese Popstars walked away from the Irish Dance Music Awards on Wednesday night with two shiny wins for Best Live Act and Best Album, We Just Are.
Affirming the “best album of 2008″ hype of international Dance press including praise for Ting Tings and Beyonce remixes along with Mixmag‘s favourite next big thing, this latest news is cherry-on-top tickled-pink for the Popstars trio. Based on public vote, expect to see the full list of IDMA winners on the Slick DJ website soon or keep an eye on Bodytonic news. I voted late last year as Djamel, brother of fellow HP snapper Ruth Medjber, was up for best newcomer.
I wanna throw up music videos more often, not only when they’re new or promoting stuff but also when I’m sitting at my desk thinking, damn, I love this song…
“Where we at?” just doesn’t sound right coming from a slight Irish chick, does it? Just like other Irish chicks saying “innit” and “bothered?” sound like dopes. Oh well, that’s the infinite 8-loop of stupidity for ya. Anyway, regardless of global lingo we’ve enough of our own jingoist affairs to keep you sharp…
Huggy bye-byes and big thank-you-for-the-music to The Dagger Lees who’ve called time on their endeavours. It’s all quite unexpected and shocking, especially as the news broke when I’d literally just mailed asking for info and plans for the year ahead. Originally named Stagger Lee, the band enjoyed a grand run of red and black fun, especially with 2008′s release of Stagger Stomp and their song Scarlet Fever featuring on an American indie movie soundtrack. I’d mailed because there were plans to record with legend producer Jim Diamond in 2009 but…. but nevermind. Wish them all the best and look out for bassist Bennie’s new band Hathor’s Vein over the next few months.
It’s great to see Irish musicians rallying for a great cause in Vicar Street…not the Choice Music Prize but an emergency relief fundraiser for the war-torn region of Gaza which has been subjected to intense attacks from the Israeli military since Christmas. Lisa Hannigan and Neil Hannon head the bill along with a host of others. See la Hot Presse for more details.
The Dirty Nines are strange folks. They always pop up with random bits of news, such as being flown to Stornoway in Scotland by BBC to record a live music show…is Rapal the new Other Voices?
If you’re interested, The Minutes are giving away four free songs: see their MySpace blog for details.
Drop-D do justice (and fire and brimstone) to Estel‘s enigmatic new EP. They’ve also got top-notch reviews with For Ruin, I’ll Eat Your Face and a feature on Cork’s Ladydoll.
Plus D-D’s Chief Editor and hellraiser Paddy Murphy’s gone and set himself up with a mog (read: music blog) of his own and first amongst the news is a relevation that Scary Eire‘s own RiRa has tunes up on MySpace as precursors to a new album…
Nialler 9 sparked a trackback frenzy this week on streaming tracks from Villagers‘ debut EP. Rightly lovely they are too…unlike Rubberbandits who wreck my head. Yeah wotevs, I never said I was cool, unlike my son who absolutely loves their prank calls on YouTube…I’m officially an oul’ ma.
…and Fred made like Stella’s groove and got their gear back! Come on lads, fess up…you left the van unlocked and the altruistic pinnacles of community protection An Garda Siochana only too kindly took it to the station for safekeeping, right?
The japesters at Statesers have maders some tapesers…
A thirteen-track mix of brilliant Irish talent to watch out for in the year ahead. It’s all rather yummy and as a completely free download, you’d do well to drink your fill!
As you’re no doubt aware, the magazine announced last week it will no longer produce print-issues. It’s a hard time all-round for anyone trying to keep independent ventures afloat but the loss was cushioned somewhat to know there will still be a full monthly PDF issue available from State.ie.
The afore-mentioned feature on upcoming Irish music is absolutely packed with interesting nuggets from Villagers, Heathers, BATS and Adebisi Shank and lovely photography too. Defo worth a KitKat and your afternoon cuppa
Warm welcomes to New Kid On The Blog (arrrgh, sorry, I’m terrrrrible ) NI Chart, a new site to keep you updated with the latest offerings from Northern Irish bands. You can tell it’s run by fans for fans: unlike many cockahoop band showcase-sites, there’s no waffle, no shitty PR companies strongarming promo for crap clients and there’s absolutely no sign-up, registration, log in or other irksome features. You just click’n'go.
Although still in its early stages, the manifesto is simple: they upload as much info and free music as poss, you download. Statistics are compiled and each week the chart refreshes with the top five most-downloaded bands. I’m so therrrre!
As of this week, the popularity ratings look like this:
Yo peoples, I’m fighting for my right to xmas party today…for blogging fun, hit Nialler’s link to Vinny‘s twisted Christmas cake mix hosted by the good elves at Richter Collective. Straight to the good stuff, I’m actually sparing you two dozen Pierce Brosnan eyeball action clips and now you’ve all got something to listen to when you’re getting ready tonight. No need to thank me, just get yer adoring hordes to Tripod tonight…this little mix is just a hint of a bleeping brilliant bleep ball ahead…
The japesters at Statesers have maders some tapesers…
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