In other news, Ladydoll are enjoying a busy buzz as they support the New Bloods on Sunday night at The Whiskey in their hometown of Cork. Later in the month you can catch them supporting the mighty Fighting With Wire in Dolans Warehouse, Limerick on 23 May.
Tuesday night saw HotPress/Tisch Spring 2008 videos premiere in a new home: Temple Bar’s Button Factory. Established events of the Irish music calendar, the premieres celebrate a series of short music video collaborations. Ten bands across Ireland work with student directors from New York’s Tisch School of Arts for a stunning audio/visual showcase of creative potential. The latest batch of bands to find themselves on the silver digicam screen were:
Team Fresh have a new vid for Trojan, using live footage shot in venues and studios across the north coast and Belfast…
I might buy a bullwhip and herd y’all up to see them rock Auntie Annies in Belfast this Wednesday. Or maybe I’ll turn it round and thrash ‘em down here. A southern gig is long overdue guys!
Fresh from supporting Fight Like Apes in Belfast last week,AJ Suzuki are releasing their new single on iTunes today. Entitled Jump Start, it features remixes by Skibunnyand Jupiter Ace & K Harmonix (and while you’re in the mood, download this free, brand-new mixtape from SkiBunny)….
Still on the subject of things norn, a shout-out to Japanese Popstars who’ve signed an exclusive record deal with Japanese label Beatnik Records who are responsible for Asian distribution of Underworld and Aphex Twin. Signed to Gung Ho! over on the home front, it’s all good for the Japstars who’ve been making fast impressions with their quirky electronics, converting your dearly-beloved Hot Press along with BBC jocks Steve Lamacq and dance legend/MySpaceMusic curator Pete Tong, who’s been playing their tune Sample Whore on his radio show. The band are set to release their Delboy’s Revenge EP on Gung Ho! Records on 19 May and a gander at their MySpace calendar shows a packed live schedule for coming months culminating in a slot at Oxegen in July. Keep your eyes peeled for a show in your town soon!
Your Arch Enemies have posted three wicked new songs to MySpace, a taster of their debut EP to be released sometime later this year. Older songs are available to download via mediafire if you should so fancy…more information here.
Skinny Wolves are up to their usual hi-jinx this weekend with the fabulous Effi Brieste come to Dublin and none other than the Party Weirdo girls pledge support. Give yourself a break and check out the Transformer venue under Thomas Reads while you’re at it…
Wicklow instrumentalists Almost Cliche popped into view this weekend with a live video of their new song Tubelord performed at Eamon Dorans. Not quite ready to steal my heart from ASIWYFA just yet, nonetheless it’s good to see some new post rock beginnings…
If you’re at a loose end tomorrow and fancy a career in the music biz, The Mighty Stef is looking for extras for his Tisch video for Death Threats. Shooting begins at 9am until 6pm in Voodoo Lounge, Arran Quay and follows a theme of red, white and black clothing. Give the man a shout over on his MySpace if you’re interested.
Following previous success on the soundtrack to US drama One Tree Hill, two new La Rocca tunes Love Under Key and Roadway Hymn will feature in the newest series which kicks off for American viewers tonight! Having released their debut album state-side in 2007, band were recently home in Ireland from their LA base to give the record a push on its release here at home and jetted straight back to put the finishing touches to endeavour #2, which is now finished. A chosen title is yet to be revealed so keep checking back for new updates….
Ham Sandwich performed a medley of tunes at Tower Records for the launch of State magazine’s first March issue and the band were so taken with this cover of Goldfrapp’s Ride A White Horse, they’re looking to include it as a permanent fixture to their live catalogue…if YOU agree. Have a listen and let them know if you be likin’ what ya hear…
The clock is ticking down for Limerick’s finest as the entry date for Gohan Records/Limerick Green and Live FM compilation album draws close. If you’re a band from Fab City, get your skates on and get in touch with Alan Jacques…
Finally, check out this new video by Toni Ireton for Noise Control. A keen fan, she combined several months’ music and fashion photography to create this short for Our Life, one of the band’s live favourites and a dead cert for the coming album. It’s looking like a quiet time for the Control crew in the wake of extensive gigging over the last few months…methinks I hear festival batteries a-charging!
Butterfly Explosion are playing a free gig at the Bernard Shaw tonight as part of the Frantics Club AFTER the Arsenal vs Liverpool match, so you have no excuse! Doors and DJs from 8pm, band on-stage at 9:45.
If you can’t make tonight, check out the flutter-byes when they support Maps as part of BudRising next Saturday April 12th.
Here’s a vid from their recent ClubAC30 stint at Whelans last month:
SuperExtraBonusParty have risen so far above Ireland’s ’scene’ and associated dingy venues that they’re circuiting straight to sq 0.1 ver 2.0 in a colourful trail of squiggly lines…the London Underground. Oh, yes…this weekend sees the KilBrazil headers hit Shepherd’s Bush (Ginglik, Fri 4th April) and Islington (Hope & Anchor, Sat 5th).
On the agenda for us SEBP saps back home is a Whelans extravaganza with GrandPocketOrchestra for BudRising…then the lads hit the razz once more… in Spain (Razzmatazz, Barcelona, 17 May). Yes…SuperExtraJammyBastards! I’m bloody delighted for them and equally jealous of all those people out there who are set to discover this blinding talent afresh.
Forget the menopausal Celtic Women compilations, this band is exactly the kind of music we should be exporting and couldn’t ask for crazier ambassadors of rocket-fuelled Irish electronica.
As for you, yes, YOU….that’s enough faffing about. You’d have to be dumb or dead to not have lived the SEBP experience by now and if not, tough. You had your chance! The time has come to call out your Facebook, bully up the Bebo and intrude beyond MySpace into TheirSpace…message, spam, text, bulletin, email, blog, shout-out, throw a SuperExtraBonusPoke at all your foreign friends and spread the love for blu-razbree beats. It’s your duty!!
A reminder to lucky souls: all purchases via SuperExtraBonusPaypal receive a free Everything Flows EP…this includes their eponymous debut album, gorgeous azure 12″ EF vinyl and t-shirts so hot they’d get a Labrador panting….see the MySpace or SEBP.com for more details.
Here’s a taster of what’s in store for our friends abroad:
Everything Flows - The first, official SuperExtraBonusParty video with stellar animation from Al Dunne and Steve MacDevitt.
Propellor - AKA ‘Waking Up‘, a short film by Ger Browne.
My favourite alternative Dublin band The Eclectic made a rare return to the stage last Friday at Death Via Satellite in Eamon Dorans, bringing with them an array of haircuts, instruments and excitingly, new tracks!
Finally receiving much-deserved recognition, the fivesome wowed their way through the headline set in no time, whizzing the minutes away to a starlit, stagestruck reservoir of memory. Thankfully I had my camera to record what was an excellent show, starting off with nombres neuvo and ending with more familiar tracks Lucky Landing, Scream and The Lobotomist…dig the sampling, which begins with a soundbyte from a man who underwent the intrusive brain surgery at the age of twelve and describes its feeling as “a screwdriver in the brain“…Decide for yourself:
