Entertainment.ie are ever so good to us. Sheena‘s got the tastiest, scurrilous gossip and Lauren Murphy is just ledge, ledge, ledge. I <3 Lauren. I would marry her tomorrow* and feed her irascible ire with green beans and CDs while fanning her pale complexion as she reclined in a hammock for the rest of her days….
*shakes out of reverie*

Aaanyway, E.ie have created a mini-site for Fight Like Apes fans to get their fill of monkey music in the run up to the album’s release next week. On entertainment.ie/fightlikeapes they’ve created a mini-site of yellow madness packed with photos, videos, blog and review and most importantly, the full 12-track album featuring all your favourites like Jake Summers, Do You Karate? and Lend Me Your Face along with newbies like Tie Me Up With Jackets and I’m Beginning To Think You Prefer Beverly Hills 90210 To Me.

A must for fans or disbelievers. Or the Chinese regime.

www.fightlikeapesmusic.com

* …except marriage is a load of codswallop. Unless we’re talking all four members of Franz, at the same time.

Oh bloody FINE, then, just leggo my arm! I’m not one for reviews but this was always going to happen:

A very nice man behind a new outfit called Land Lovers sent me an album in late June, enclosing sweets and a very well-written press release announcing the launch of his debut album Romance, Romance in September. Recorded entirely at home in true lo-fi style, it’s proved my ultimate Irish album of the summer, packed to the brim with gorgeous, singable tunes all about – you guessed right – romance.
Such broad, differing expanse of singular emotion creates something of a challenge to do justice, yet Padraig Cooney has done just that. Produced to crystal-clear effect, Romance, Romance mirrors the pitch and toss of that thing called Love, using a gamut of tempo, mood and melody changes – from opener The Whip Hand’s hint at fine Irish tradition of gentle guitar set to singer-soothsayer rumination, jaunty disco beats of Dark Secret, Hildegart, No‘s plaintive pleading and almost-Postal Service simplicity of Novel Rus – to catalogue the angst, euphoria and desperation that comes when a heart is pledged to another.
Assumptions of yet another love-song LP lie shattered by these ten songs, remarkably well-crafted considering Cooney laid down each instrumental arrangement by himself. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, like this record in any other musical camp in the country. My biggest critique is the sheer quality of it all: a debut album of such strong calibre left me feeling hoodwinked and cheated, drawn in and left panting for more like a lovesick sucker. At just over 34 minutes, it’s a whirlwind courtship that ends as suddenly as it began, the listener emerging from a pink haze of melody defined as clearly as a heart on a steamy window. Be prepared to hit ‘repeat’.

Land Lovers are now a full live outfit consisting of Padraig Cooney, Ciaran Canavan, Brian Lynch and Rob Maguire. In conjunction with Hefty Horse Promotions, Romance, Romance premieres at the Boom Boom Room with a special launch price of €5 on 19 September. Special guests on the night include Brian Cullen’s Love Bullets and Betamax Format’s Darren Moloney with his solo project You’re Just A Voice On The Phone.

Download Dark Secret from MySpace.

www.myspace.com/landlovers

Full soundtrack details of Disney Interactive/Black Rock Studio‘s extreme sports game PURE have been announced, accompanied by a great surge of pride in Irish electrock here in the OHR camp at the inclusion of north Dublin outfit Noise Control. As reported last month, NC agreed to license two tracks Cities of Dreams and Mudbath from their as-yet-unreleased debut album…both of which can be streamed from MySpace.

The band first came to light in 2006 and quickly escalated into serious players on the live circuit, tucking IMRO, HWCH, Childline Rocks, Castle Palooza and Electric Picnic appearances under their belt along with massive support slots to Asian Dub Foundation, Basement Jaxx, Calvin Harris, Mylo, The Progidy and Underworld.
As the only Irish artists to feature on the game, Noise Control rub virtual shoulders with some of the biggest names in popular music. Black Rock’s game director Jason Argent said:

“Music plays an integral part in action sports games and we wanted to provide the right background to complement the nonstop spectacular tricks and massive jumps in the game. We feel that the songs we’ve included on the soundtrack are ideal to round out the adrenaline rush players will get while playing PURE.”

The full soundtrack line-up consists of :
The Answer – “Into the Gutter”
Fred Baker -”Genius Touch”
Jeff Beck -”Grease Monkey”
Calyx & Teebee -”Dual Processed” Featuring MC Verse
The Datsuns -” Maximum Heartbreak’ and ‘Sittin’ Pretty”
Diet Kong -”With Magic”
Adam Freeland -” Spin Machine”
The Futureheads -” Beginning of the Twist”
DJ Hyper -”We Control”
Midfield General -”On the Road”
The Music -”Strength in Numbers”
My Luminaries – “The Sound of Music”
Noise Control -”Cities of Dreams’ and ‘Mud Bath”
Pendulum -”Granite’ and ‘Showdown”
Pop Levi -”Wannamama”
Qemists -”Drop Audio’ and ‘Stomp Box”
The Radishes -”Good Machine”
Silvertone -”Try”
The Subways -”Rock and Roll Queen”
Tapeworm -”Getting Through”
The Whigs -”Need You Need You”
Zero DB -”Late in the Day’ and ‘Redline”
Wolfmother -” Woman”
We Are Scientists -”Inaction”
Blindside – “For the Nation”

Great stuff, eh? As an unsigned band amongst such huge names, here’s hoping this is the break to launch the band into the international electro arena…the world is waiting for you, guys

…Every time I hear And So I Watch You From Afar.

Mummy, can I go?

www.iheartau.com