Here he is tripping on mushrooms. The anti drugs people should use it as a deterrent. "Do you ever speak directly to either the moon or the sun?" Jesus Christ.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Talking shite with Will Oldham.
There's a new Bonny "Prince" Billy album out next month. A demo from one of the songs on it is up at the drag city website. He's also playing Ireland in June. Edit: The 15th in Vicar St. with Baby Dee and Paul Curreri.
Here he is tripping on mushrooms. The anti drugs people should use it as a deterrent. "Do you ever speak directly to either the moon or the sun?" Jesus Christ.
Here he is tripping on mushrooms. The anti drugs people should use it as a deterrent. "Do you ever speak directly to either the moon or the sun?" Jesus Christ.
I don't quite understand all this.
But here are the rules ...
Link to the person that tagged you.
Post the rules on your blog.
Write six random things about you in a blog post.
Tag six people in your post.
Let each person know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
Let the taggee know your entry is up.
The collective internet is bored today. But OK.
Tagger
Rules ... check.
1. I served 2 tours in 'Nam and an unofficial third one as part of a secret black ops unit. Did you know that when you're pushed, killing's as easy as breathing? It is!
2. I have family in Portadown and I share the same last name as a very prominent dead loyalist terrorist. He's no relation to me.
3. I have never danced with the devil in the pale moonlight. But would like to.
4. My current great musical ambition is to write a suite of 5-6 instrumental pieces inspired by scenes the Rocky series of films and in particular the character of Micky Goldmill to be entitled "You had the talent to become a good fighter, but instead of that, you become a legbreaker to some cheap, second rate loanshark! " For real. I've one and a half things written.
5. I originally wrote something deeply disturbing about my occasional curiosity about the mechanics of the love life of the Mills-McCartney's here. I shall leave it to your imagination to figure out what it was.
6. I don't find Woody Allen all that funny.
I am tagging:
Hifi Bobby
Nadine O'Regan
Le Catch
Valerie
Torture Garden Shane
LPX Leigh
Link to the person that tagged you.
Post the rules on your blog.
Write six random things about you in a blog post.
Tag six people in your post.
Let each person know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
Let the taggee know your entry is up.
The collective internet is bored today. But OK.
Tagger
Rules ... check.
1. I served 2 tours in 'Nam and an unofficial third one as part of a secret black ops unit. Did you know that when you're pushed, killing's as easy as breathing? It is!
2. I have family in Portadown and I share the same last name as a very prominent dead loyalist terrorist. He's no relation to me.
3. I have never danced with the devil in the pale moonlight. But would like to.
4. My current great musical ambition is to write a suite of 5-6 instrumental pieces inspired by scenes the Rocky series of films and in particular the character of Micky Goldmill to be entitled "You had the talent to become a good fighter, but instead of that, you become a legbreaker to some cheap, second rate loanshark! " For real. I've one and a half things written.
5. I originally wrote something deeply disturbing about my occasional curiosity about the mechanics of the love life of the Mills-McCartney's here. I shall leave it to your imagination to figure out what it was.
6. I don't find Woody Allen all that funny.
I am tagging:
Hifi Bobby
Nadine O'Regan
Le Catch
Valerie
Torture Garden Shane
LPX Leigh
A reason to watch Tubridy Tonight.
The National will be appearing on Tubridy Tonight on May 10th ahead of their 3 night stand in The Olympia. Hopefully they'll be allowed to play live instead of the usual RTE bullshit of having to sing over backing tracks.
Oh and they've added a new Irish date. 8th July in Mandella Hall in Belfast.
Here they are appearing on Letterman performing a great version of Fake Empire.
Oh and they've added a new Irish date. 8th July in Mandella Hall in Belfast.
Here they are appearing on Letterman performing a great version of Fake Empire.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Daniel Johnston to play 2 ultra intimate Irish dates.
news from drownedinsound
Daniel Johnston is to tour in July, backed by some very special musicians.
These An Evening with Daniel Johnston and friends events will see the following play as backing players and support acts: Sparklehorse, Scout Niblett, Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub), Jad Fair (Half Japanese) and James McNew (Yo La Tengo).
Tickets go on sale on Friday, May 2. UK/Ireland dates as follows:
July
23 Glasgow Old Fruit Market
24 Manchester New Century House
25 London Indigo2
27-28 Dublin Whelans
I thought the last time he was here playing Vicar St. he was really hard to watch at times what with the lip chewing and shaking but at the same time there were moments when what he was playing was utter magic.
Daniel Johnston is to tour in July, backed by some very special musicians.
These An Evening with Daniel Johnston and friends events will see the following play as backing players and support acts: Sparklehorse, Scout Niblett, Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub), Jad Fair (Half Japanese) and James McNew (Yo La Tengo).
Tickets go on sale on Friday, May 2. UK/Ireland dates as follows:
July
23 Glasgow Old Fruit Market
24 Manchester New Century House
25 London Indigo2
27-28 Dublin Whelans
I thought the last time he was here playing Vicar St. he was really hard to watch at times what with the lip chewing and shaking but at the same time there were moments when what he was playing was utter magic.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Okkervil River radio session.
Pop Drivel has a WOXY session that Okkervil River did a few days ago. It features one unreleased new song and a few others including one of my favourite but lesser known Okk Riv tunes "It Ends With A Fall" that has guest touring guitarist/musical hero of mine Charles Bissell of The Wrens doing all sorts of magic to it in the background. Can't wait to see this OR lineup at the EITS ATP.
Link.
Link.
Future Days lineup announcement expected tomorow.
From what I've been told there's at least 3 gigs that are part of it that I'm really looking forward too. Dan Deacon night will be epic.
Friday, April 25, 2008
First Impressions: Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip - Angles
Well the immediate first impression is that if you've heard the stuff that's gone to radio in the past year or so then you've heard the best stuff on the record. However that's only half true, if you've heard the stuff that's gone to radio in he past year you've heard the best of Dan Le Sac's contributions to the record because the glitchy, stuttering, catchy beats that were such a strong element of early singles "Thou Shalt Always Kill", "The Beat That My Heart Skipped" and the Radiohead sampling "A Letter From God To Man" don't feature nearly as much on the other songs on the pair's debut album.
Instead the more discrete but no worse sounds that he's constructed allow the focus to fall more on the words of Scroobius Pip. It's a good idea too as Pip's rhymes on the non-singles touch on some pretty heavy stuff. At times he addresses, with his slightly skewed but constantly moral world view isolation, child abuse, depression, suicide and it's aftermath, and our contemporary idea of what beauty is (and puts forth a compelling argument that if you want to find what beauty really is then look no furthr than Tommy Cooper dying on stage to rapturous applause). This guy has something to say and I don't think the dichotomy of putting those words to club friendly beats would have sat too well.
Pip is at his best when he allows his slamming past to shine though. He seems more comfortable when his flow comes across more like poetry rather then that of a more conventional MC and it's on songs like those, and in particular on the one that I'm putting up, is he most affecting and does he seem to have the most gravitas.
It's a super record, not the one that I thought they'd make but how it's turned out is a really pleasant surprise.
MP3: Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip - Magicians Assistant from Angles.
The pair are in Ireland early next month:
4 May The Limelight Belfast
6 May The Nerve Centre Derry
7 May Button Factory Dublin
8 May STRESS @ De Burgo’s Galway
9 May Trinity Rooms Limerick
Instead the more discrete but no worse sounds that he's constructed allow the focus to fall more on the words of Scroobius Pip. It's a good idea too as Pip's rhymes on the non-singles touch on some pretty heavy stuff. At times he addresses, with his slightly skewed but constantly moral world view isolation, child abuse, depression, suicide and it's aftermath, and our contemporary idea of what beauty is (and puts forth a compelling argument that if you want to find what beauty really is then look no furthr than Tommy Cooper dying on stage to rapturous applause). This guy has something to say and I don't think the dichotomy of putting those words to club friendly beats would have sat too well.
Pip is at his best when he allows his slamming past to shine though. He seems more comfortable when his flow comes across more like poetry rather then that of a more conventional MC and it's on songs like those, and in particular on the one that I'm putting up, is he most affecting and does he seem to have the most gravitas.
It's a super record, not the one that I thought they'd make but how it's turned out is a really pleasant surprise.
MP3: Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip - Magicians Assistant from Angles.
The pair are in Ireland early next month:
4 May The Limelight Belfast
6 May The Nerve Centre Derry
7 May Button Factory Dublin
8 May STRESS @ De Burgo’s Galway
9 May Trinity Rooms Limerick
And one way to dramatically disimproove it.
Edel Coffey (a.k.a. the best thing on their daytime schedule by a long ways) will be beginning her final shift on Phantom in about quarter of an hour as she's going back to newspapers. Presumably this means she'll be writing in them and not just standing at a traffic light in a bib on the N4 flogging copies of the Evening Herald. At least this means she'll no longer have to feign interest as she chats to utterly delusional shit (mainly "rock n' roll") local bands who talk like they're rock stars already. But her gain is everyone else's loss.
This isnothing like Gay Byrne leaving the Late Late, hopefully Sinead Ní Mhorda doesn't turn out to be the Pat Kenny of the pair. Actually that makes no sense, I think Pat Kenny as a current affairs broadcaster is pretty decent.
Best of luck anyway Edel and thanks for playing Battles on daytime radio.
This is
Best of luck anyway Edel and thanks for playing Battles on daytime radio.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Sebadoh - Whelans
I'm a solitary kinda fella. Mainly I think because i) I'm not a Catholic, ii) I grew up in the countryside and iii) I'm the eldest of 2 and the age gap between my sister and I is such that it's only since she went to college that we've been able to relate properly and move away from the me as dickish big brother/her as annoying little sister dynamic.
But mostly it's the first 2. There's not all that many Church Of Ireland folk around and consequently not a great number of schools that have their religious hang ups based on the Anglican ethos so those that do tend to draw kids from a large catchment area. And of those few kids my age that did live around me, almost none of them I knew from school so I wound up keeping to myself a lot; reading, hammering a football against a garage wall, playing games on my C64 and watching TV.
This lack of contact had a number of consequences. I've got a vast swath of Hardy Boys books ticked off on my "read list"*, I used to have a decent first touch and could finish well but couldn't beat a defender for shit, I've got an unhealthy feeling of nostalgia for "Way Of The Exploding Fist" and I apparently, to some, speak with a slight American accent which often confuses folk when they learn that I'm actually from Kildare. Though I suspect that may be more to do with the fact that I can pronounce "th" properly. They taught it to me in school during the time saved in R.E. classes not discussing the divinity of Mary, also I say "dude" a lot.
But you fall into habits and I got used to not talking to people so I stayed fairly quiet where possible in secondary school (again Prod but this time even further away and with an even wider catchment area) and for much of college (TCD, so I suppose Protestant again but I believe they've done away with the rule that states if you are looking out of a certain window in front square you can shoot a Catholic cleric with a crossbow). In fact one of my now closest friends who did the same course as me told me a couple of years ago that until he heard me ask him a question about halfway through our second year he suspected that I may in fact have been mute. Though that was in part due to the fact that by that point I'd begun to have panic attacks when faced with the prospect of having to deal with social situations. Even now I hate making smalltalk and often find myself feeling profoundly uncomfortable when chatting to people that I don't know that well.
But going back to my teens, my musically formative years. I missed out on the experience of sharing new music with my mates, obsessively listening to some cool new discovery and furiously discussing it and trying to one up them by turning them on to something great that they'd not heard before, at least that's how I'm led to believe that these things are supposed to work. Nor had I a clued in older brother type to contemptuously dismiss whatever it was that I was listening to at the time (for the most part mainstream Britpop) and shove a copy of Daydream Nation or Loveless in my hand and make me throw away that first Garbage record. This means that up until the last couple of years there's been a giant 90's US indie sized hole in my musical knowledge that with the disgracefully recent broadband enabling of my sub-suburban home I've only recently had the chance to fill.
All the above is basically a long preamble saying that I've not listened to all that much Sebadoh apart from III and Harmacy and my knowledge of their mythology is some possibly inaccurate idea that it's what Lou Barlow did when he got pissed off about not being able to get his songs played with "Asperger Jr." and also an explanation as to why I'm not going to write "well they played this off of this and it was cool but I'd have liked to have heard something else off of something else". I basically know jack-shit. Christ I didn't even realise they swapped instruments and that all 3 of them sang their own songs until it happened, and the significance of Eric Gaffney's return to the band is somewhat lost on me.
But boy, did they kick my arse last night. My cool uncle is a painter so it's not really appropriate to drag out that tired old cliche but as I have a cool third cousin who is a Mezzo-Soprano who was I understand, as a member of the La Scala company for many years, of some repute (lovely lady Marjorie but terribly eccentric, one time about 15 years ago she visited with my family and insisted that my dad drive her to U2's studio near Pearse St. because "that boy can't sing, he doesn't know how to breath") so I'll go for that one. The trio of cool third boy cousins I never had and always wanted played 30 or so songs touching on material from all lineups and eras of the band (apparently, like I fucking know) with all 3 rotating into the frontman role and displaying completely different ways to handle being the focus of the crowd. Gaffney threw all manner of shapes around the stage as he played and was otherwise witty and glib though it was hard to tell if some of his sarcastic comments were good natured ribs about the fact that the 3 of them were back together after 14 years or massively passive aggresive; Barlow, dry and just likable in general when not wringing a furious racket out of a Martin acoustic strung with only 4 string; and Jason Lowenstein didn't say much and seemed content to sing his songs.
By my standards I've not actually been to that many gigs in the past few months (though that will certainly be rectified in the next 8 weeks) but I don't think I've enjoyed a gig more this year than I did last night's.
Oh, a quick note on openers Bats as I know that one of my companions from last night is planning on doing something a bit more in depth on them but after a year of hearing their name being mentioned over and over I finally got the chance to catch, and be hugely impressed by them. The label of "prog-metal" that I'd heard attached to them had put me off checking them out but I think the description I saw on thumped today was far more accurate, "it was like there was a metal band on the right hand side of the stage and a hardcore band on the left hand side".
* I don't actually have a "read list" any Obsessive-Compulsive tendencies I have don't extend that far.
But mostly it's the first 2. There's not all that many Church Of Ireland folk around and consequently not a great number of schools that have their religious hang ups based on the Anglican ethos so those that do tend to draw kids from a large catchment area. And of those few kids my age that did live around me, almost none of them I knew from school so I wound up keeping to myself a lot; reading, hammering a football against a garage wall, playing games on my C64 and watching TV.
This lack of contact had a number of consequences. I've got a vast swath of Hardy Boys books ticked off on my "read list"*, I used to have a decent first touch and could finish well but couldn't beat a defender for shit, I've got an unhealthy feeling of nostalgia for "Way Of The Exploding Fist" and I apparently, to some, speak with a slight American accent which often confuses folk when they learn that I'm actually from Kildare. Though I suspect that may be more to do with the fact that I can pronounce "th" properly. They taught it to me in school during the time saved in R.E. classes not discussing the divinity of Mary, also I say "dude" a lot.
But you fall into habits and I got used to not talking to people so I stayed fairly quiet where possible in secondary school (again Prod but this time even further away and with an even wider catchment area) and for much of college (TCD, so I suppose Protestant again but I believe they've done away with the rule that states if you are looking out of a certain window in front square you can shoot a Catholic cleric with a crossbow). In fact one of my now closest friends who did the same course as me told me a couple of years ago that until he heard me ask him a question about halfway through our second year he suspected that I may in fact have been mute. Though that was in part due to the fact that by that point I'd begun to have panic attacks when faced with the prospect of having to deal with social situations. Even now I hate making smalltalk and often find myself feeling profoundly uncomfortable when chatting to people that I don't know that well.
But going back to my teens, my musically formative years. I missed out on the experience of sharing new music with my mates, obsessively listening to some cool new discovery and furiously discussing it and trying to one up them by turning them on to something great that they'd not heard before, at least that's how I'm led to believe that these things are supposed to work. Nor had I a clued in older brother type to contemptuously dismiss whatever it was that I was listening to at the time (for the most part mainstream Britpop) and shove a copy of Daydream Nation or Loveless in my hand and make me throw away that first Garbage record. This means that up until the last couple of years there's been a giant 90's US indie sized hole in my musical knowledge that with the disgracefully recent broadband enabling of my sub-suburban home I've only recently had the chance to fill.
All the above is basically a long preamble saying that I've not listened to all that much Sebadoh apart from III and Harmacy and my knowledge of their mythology is some possibly inaccurate idea that it's what Lou Barlow did when he got pissed off about not being able to get his songs played with "Asperger Jr." and also an explanation as to why I'm not going to write "well they played this off of this and it was cool but I'd have liked to have heard something else off of something else". I basically know jack-shit. Christ I didn't even realise they swapped instruments and that all 3 of them sang their own songs until it happened, and the significance of Eric Gaffney's return to the band is somewhat lost on me.
But boy, did they kick my arse last night. My cool uncle is a painter so it's not really appropriate to drag out that tired old cliche but as I have a cool third cousin who is a Mezzo-Soprano who was I understand, as a member of the La Scala company for many years, of some repute (lovely lady Marjorie but terribly eccentric, one time about 15 years ago she visited with my family and insisted that my dad drive her to U2's studio near Pearse St. because "that boy can't sing, he doesn't know how to breath") so I'll go for that one. The trio of cool third boy cousins I never had and always wanted played 30 or so songs touching on material from all lineups and eras of the band (apparently, like I fucking know) with all 3 rotating into the frontman role and displaying completely different ways to handle being the focus of the crowd. Gaffney threw all manner of shapes around the stage as he played and was otherwise witty and glib though it was hard to tell if some of his sarcastic comments were good natured ribs about the fact that the 3 of them were back together after 14 years or massively passive aggresive; Barlow, dry and just likable in general when not wringing a furious racket out of a Martin acoustic strung with only 4 string; and Jason Lowenstein didn't say much and seemed content to sing his songs.
By my standards I've not actually been to that many gigs in the past few months (though that will certainly be rectified in the next 8 weeks) but I don't think I've enjoyed a gig more this year than I did last night's.
Oh, a quick note on openers Bats as I know that one of my companions from last night is planning on doing something a bit more in depth on them but after a year of hearing their name being mentioned over and over I finally got the chance to catch, and be hugely impressed by them. The label of "prog-metal" that I'd heard attached to them had put me off checking them out but I think the description I saw on thumped today was far more accurate, "it was like there was a metal band on the right hand side of the stage and a hardcore band on the left hand side".
* I don't actually have a "read list" any Obsessive-Compulsive tendencies I have don't extend that far.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
If you fancy going a little further afield than Minehead or Camber Sands.
ATP New York will be curated by MY BLOODY VALENTINE. This event will be taking place from Friday 19th September to Sunday 21st September inclusive at Kutshers Country Club in Monticello, NY.
The line up so far:
MY BLOODY VALENTINE
FUCK BUTTONS
POLVO
LOW
EDAN WITH GUEST DAGHA
MOGWAI
THE DRONES
BUILT TO SPILL PERFORMING PERFECT FROM NOW ON
WOODEN SHJIPS
SHELLAC
THEE SILVER MOUNT ZION ORCHESTRA
AUTOLUX
MEAT PUPPETS PERFORMING MEAT PUPPETS II
TORTOISE PERFORMING MILLIONS NOW LIVING WILL NEVER DIE
THURSTON MOORE PERFORMING PSYCHIC HEARTS
More here: http://www.atpfestival.com/events/atp-ny/
There'll be many a trust fund cashed in around the US by people wanting to go to this. A country club sounds much more swanky than a Butlins too.
The line up so far:
MY BLOODY VALENTINE
FUCK BUTTONS
POLVO
LOW
EDAN WITH GUEST DAGHA
MOGWAI
THE DRONES
BUILT TO SPILL PERFORMING PERFECT FROM NOW ON
WOODEN SHJIPS
SHELLAC
THEE SILVER MOUNT ZION ORCHESTRA
AUTOLUX
MEAT PUPPETS PERFORMING MEAT PUPPETS II
TORTOISE PERFORMING MILLIONS NOW LIVING WILL NEVER DIE
THURSTON MOORE PERFORMING PSYCHIC HEARTS
More here: http://www.atpfestival.com/events/atp-ny/
There'll be many a trust fund cashed in around the US by people wanting to go to this. A country club sounds much more swanky than a Butlins too.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Arsenal 2-0 Reading
As the season heads towards it's inevitable trophy-less conclusion if our final 3 games are anything like yesterday then I'll be as pleased as I possibly could be when you consider how hopeful I was just a month ago. Arsenal played well for most of the game, in fact I think, aside from the middle game against Liverpool, they've actually been playing to that standard for the past 4 games but things didn't go against them yesterday. Granted Reading are nowhere in the class of Liverpool or Manchester United but the common perception that the wheels finally fell off in the past 3 weeks because the sides that Wenger has put out haven't been performing just isn't true. They've been playing super football at times but it's been a problem at the back that's cost us.
Another common perception that I don't think is really all that fair, Adebayor isn't good enough. He scored his 27th (really nicely taken) goal of the season yesterday which is a fantastic return from a campaign where he's played much of his football in the thankless lone striker role. The issue I think is that he tends to go on hot scoring runs and then have barren patches in between, he'd probably be thought of a lot more favourably if he was genuinely getting a goal every other game rather than how the season has actually gone for him. He's also got a lot to live up to, disregarding his last 2 injury hit years with us and now Barca Theirry Henry was the most dangerous striker in the world for half a decade and Ade, whatever his gifts are isn't at that level but I don't think there are all that many players out there and available that are. David Villa maybe, he'll be leaving Valencia in the summer and has said nice things about Arsenal but I'm not going to believe anything till I see an awkward photocall at the Emirates and in any case we're more likely to buy someone I've never heard of.
But that's talk for the summer and there's still a few more games remaining to have a tilt at the small compensation of finishing second. Next up is a trip to Pride Park tomorrow week and a match that shouldn't cause too many problems.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Frightened Rabbit Irish dates.
I'm still loving The Midnight Organ Fight (which is released physically here today I think, and it's record store day tomorrow with a 20% off everything sale in Road Records, jus' sayin'). Unfortunately I'll be away when they're here.
18 May Sugar Club, Dublin
19 May Dolan’s, Limerick
20 May Auntie Annie’s, Belfast
Here's their video for "Head Rolls Off".
Frightened Rabbit MySpace
18 May Sugar Club, Dublin
19 May Dolan’s, Limerick
20 May Auntie Annie’s, Belfast
Here's their video for "Head Rolls Off".
Frightened Rabbit MySpace
Chrome Hoof to replace Liars at Vicar St. Battles gig.
If you didn't know Liars will be opening for Radiohead on their US tour in May so the lineup is now:
Battles
Chrome Hoof
Redneck Manifesto
Battles
Chrome Hoof
Redneck Manifesto
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Keeping today's Waitsian theme.
The Scarlett Johansson album began to leak today. The song isn't bad. She doesn't have a particularly stong voice but it's nice enough there's a great guitar part from about 2:45 onwards. I had thought that the album would be an unmitigated disaster and some wort of huge folley but it may be OK. Zooey may just have the edge though.
MP3: Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I lay my head from Anywhere I lay my head.
Lots of Tom Waits chatter around the place this morning.
Wait n' see I guess. In the meantime here's a video someone sent me last night. Cheers Tim.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
My Bloody Valentine Box Set.
My Bloody Valentine - 4CD + DVD Complete Box [4CD+DVD] [Limited Release]
Description
Japan-only complete box set from My Bloody Valentine commemorating the band's upcoming performance at the Fuji Rock Festival 2008. Includes the album's "Isn't Anything," "Loveless," EP collection, and unreleased recordings collection (w/ 16-page booklet featuring liner notes from Everett True). Each album features cardboard sleeve case. Also includes bonus DVD with music videos for the songs "You Made Me Realise," "Swallow," "Feed Me With Your Kiss," "Only Shallow," "To Heart Knows When," and "Soon." *Unless otherwise indicated, DVDs are region-2 encoded (Japan, Europe, and Middle East), and carry no subtitles.
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview....P-1851&ref=myp
Description
Japan-only complete box set from My Bloody Valentine commemorating the band's upcoming performance at the Fuji Rock Festival 2008. Includes the album's "Isn't Anything," "Loveless," EP collection, and unreleased recordings collection (w/ 16-page booklet featuring liner notes from Everett True). Each album features cardboard sleeve case. Also includes bonus DVD with music videos for the songs "You Made Me Realise," "Swallow," "Feed Me With Your Kiss," "Only Shallow," "To Heart Knows When," and "Soon." *Unless otherwise indicated, DVDs are region-2 encoded (Japan, Europe, and Middle East), and carry no subtitles.
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview....P-1851&ref=myp
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Fleet Foxes Irish date
As per On The Record. Whelan's June 14th. I'm not quite on the boat with all the people that have been raving about them but I have been caught up in the mooring lines and am in danger of being dragged away. That is to say I think they're pretty good.
Manchester United 2-1 Arsenal
After the crushing disappointment that was last Tuesday I don't there's ever been a better time to lose a match to Manchester United. It's hard to feel depressed about Sunday's game when the manner of the defeat and the consequences of it were less dramatic. Despite Arsene's protestations that we were in the league race I think that it was gone the moment Drogba netted his second at Stamford Bridge.
As it happens I think we played really well on at Old Trafford and when it came to open play may just have shaded it. Clichy had a brilliant game (in fairness both lefts back were probably the best players on each side) Hleb had his best game in some time and Gilberto played the best he has all season. It was also nice to see that after 2 months of bad penalties and dodgy offside decisions that went in tandem with our general lack of form a poor reffing decision for a goal finally went our way.
But we lost, ah well. It stinks. Not as much as Anfield though.
As it happens I think we played really well on at Old Trafford and when it came to open play may just have shaded it. Clichy had a brilliant game (in fairness both lefts back were probably the best players on each side) Hleb had his best game in some time and Gilberto played the best he has all season. It was also nice to see that after 2 months of bad penalties and dodgy offside decisions that went in tandem with our general lack of form a poor reffing decision for a goal finally went our way.
But we lost, ah well. It stinks. Not as much as Anfield though.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Despite earlier reports it’s not going to be called "Pardon My Blues" and there’s a good chance that nor will it be named "Kissing The Beehive".
Whatever the fuck it’s called the new Wolf Parade album will be out on Sub Pop on June 17th. There’ll be 9 songs on it and according to Dan Boeckner it’ll be “proggy”.
Apparently once the current Sunset Rubdown (Crawdaddy, May 20th) and Handsome Furs touring commitments are taken care of there’ll be a massive Wolf Parade Tour.
Tracklisting:
01 Soldier's Grin
02 Call It a Ritual
03 Language City
04 Bang Your Drum
05 California Dreamer
06 The Grey Estates
07 Fine Young Cannibals
08 An Animal in Your Care
09 Kissing the Beehive
Edit: Stereogum have posted Call It A Ritual.
Apparently once the current Sunset Rubdown (Crawdaddy, May 20th) and Handsome Furs touring commitments are taken care of there’ll be a massive Wolf Parade Tour.
Tracklisting:
01 Soldier's Grin
02 Call It a Ritual
03 Language City
04 Bang Your Drum
05 California Dreamer
06 The Grey Estates
07 Fine Young Cannibals
08 An Animal in Your Care
09 Kissing the Beehive
Edit: Stereogum have posted Call It A Ritual.
First Impressions: Islands - Arm's Way
When I left Whelan's back in February having seen Islands play one of their first gigs in a long time despite my disappointment at the somewhat curtailed set I was feeling really enthusiastic about the slew of new material that they'd showcased that night. It seemed far more epic and grand than the material that had featured on Return To The Sea or anything that Nick Thorburn (neé Diamonds) had done as a Unicorn for that matter. My one fear was that much of the material sounded a little samey.
Aside from the sheer brilliance of many of the songs the great thing about the first Islands album, which featured a core trio plus numerous Montreal scene luminaries, was the way it dipped so effortlessly into Various styles. Country, calypso, post-rock and underground hip-hop all got a look in. Touching upon so many different styles was a big risk but due to the strength of the material it worked.
Islands in it's current incarnation is a far more settled 6-member band and because of that perhaps it's understandable that their second album has a much more uniform sound. And it's early days so I'm not sure whether or not if that's the reason that I don't like this album as much as the last one but it does feel a little like it's a one trick pony. That shouldn't matter really, there's plenty of albums which sound consistent that I love, so I think there's only one other possibility. The songs just aren't as good.
That's not to say that it's a bad album or that the songs are bad it's just that Islands set themselves such a high standard last time around and the fact they've failed to match it, much as fellow Montrealers Arcade Fire "failed" with Neon Bible (though I still really liked that record), is a disappointment. Third times the charm though and Wolf Parade have a new album out in a few months.
MP3: Islands - I Feel Evil Creeping In from Arm's Way.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Magnetic Fields Irish date.
Vicar St. (Fully Seated gig). July 8th.
Tickets on sale April 18th. €30
Fantastic news.
Tickets on sale April 18th. €30
Fantastic news.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Holy Fuck - Whelans
A bit of a let down to be honest. Holy Fuck were briefly excellent last night though it took them about 20 minutes to hit their stride and when they got there they were only on top of their game for quarter of an hour. Before that the most impressive thing about them had been Matt Schulz's barefooted drumming and Graham Walsh's Big Black T-Shirt. To call it a bad gig would be completely unfair but considering the reputation that they've got as fearsome dance noise terrorists they didn't get me to do all that much dancing. In a festival with the dynamics of the set changed a little they could be epic but last night, not so much.
Far more entertaining was the soundtrack to my drive to and from the gig. I returned to an album by one of my favourite that I'd not listened to in about a year. So in honour of Graham Walsh's clothing choice here's my favourite song about fucking.
MP3: The Wrens - I've Made Enough Friends from Secaucus.
Far more entertaining was the soundtrack to my drive to and from the gig. I returned to an album by one of my favourite that I'd not listened to in about a year. So in honour of Graham Walsh's clothing choice here's my favourite song about fucking.
MP3: The Wrens - I've Made Enough Friends from Secaucus.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Dodos Irish date.
Unlike Plants And Animals these guys are, I think, pretty good. June is shaping up to be just slightly less loco than May yo.
Friday June 13th
CrawDaddy – Harcourt St – Dublin 2.
Doors – 11pm
Tickets €14 & €17 (inc. booking fee)
MySpace.
Friday June 13th
CrawDaddy – Harcourt St – Dublin 2.
Doors – 11pm
Tickets €14 & €17 (inc. booking fee)
MySpace.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Liverpool 4-2 Arsenal
Well it's about 45 minutes since the the match ended and I guess I better get this out of the way.
Right now I feel sick in my stomach.
I'm numb everywhere else.
For the first 30 minutes tonight Arsenal played some remarkable football. Gorgeous stuff to watch and Liverpool hardly got near the ball, when they did their passing was so sloppy they turned it over really quickly. For most of that period their only semi effective player was Fabio Aurellio who mainly succeeded in scuppering Arsenal's moves. At times there were shades of what we'd done in Milan about the play and it was rewarded when following some slick passing Fabregas made a run that pulled a huge hole in the defence for Hleb to slip the ball into the space for the onrushing Diaby who controlled and beat Pepe Reina at the near post.
It didn't last very long though. Aurellio's deflected cross resulted in a corner and Hypia, partly through some brilliant movement, partly through some awful defending got away from Senderos and the quality of the header deserved the goal. Things went wrong from then on and we went seriously off the boil for the rest of the first half. Up till then it wasn't just the quality of our passing compared to Liverpool's that was the cause of the Arsenal dominance, we were getting most of the breaking balls too. Once the goal went in the heads dropped a little and our play was nowhere near as crisp and it allowed Liverpool to get more and more possession. Fortunately their play remained as poor as it had been for the rest of the half.
That wasn't the case from the start of the second half though. Liverpool began really, really well and dominated possession. They eventually they took the lead when Kolo Toure missed a ball into Torres pass him and the Spaniard turned Senderos inside out before smacking home a fantastic finish to make it 2. Senderos will probably get crucified in the papers tomorrow but for me Kolo was more guilty for allowing the ball to get to Torres. He'd been remarkably quiet all game yet when the chance came to him he finished brilliantly. It's the sign of a top class striker.
Up until this season I'd always thought that of the 2 young strikers Spain had at their disposal David Villa was the superior, he's certainly the more naturally gifted, but Torres has been brilliant since coming to England and is looking well worth whatever was paid for him. With Barcelona and Real Madrid (neither of whom looked at Torres for various reasons, Barca because they didn't think they needed him, Real because he'd never countenance a move there) in the running for Villa in the summer along with all the other top European sides he will probably go for more money but I don't think he'll be as good value as his compatriot.
But I digress, I think Villa is quality. Liverpool's second goal didn't really change what Arsenal needed to do to go through, a second unanswered goal would send them through but there was less of a safety net now as there wasn't the prospect of extra time or penalties to factor in. Given Benitez's style I had thought that there was a chance Liverpool would sit back and in doing so allow Arsenal more chances to get that goal but surprisingly they came looking for a third.
Arsenal eventually came back into the game though. Adebayor had loads of time to control a long through pass and put it away but snatched at his chance and the ball went harmlessly wide. Eboue, after some good work took too long in squaring the ball and knocked it over the goal line. He was soon substituted for Theo Walcott who did have an impact once given his chance. With 7 minutes to go he took control of the ball on the edge of the Arsenal area and went on a 70 yard run through the middle, beating 3 or 4 defenders before squaring the ball in the box for Adebayor to slip it home and draw the sides level. It's amazing the confidence a goal can give you and since Walcott got his brace against Birmingham he's been a totally different player. He's now willing to take on anyone and has frightened the shit out of plenty of players when running at them, but I never thought he'd do something like that in such a big game.
I was barely back in my seat after jumping all over the living room when Liverpool were awarded a penalty. A penalty that yes, I can understand being awarded, but compared to the one that wasn't awarded to Arsenal last week it was a nothing challenge. It wasn't even a challenge as such, Kolo was just clumsy and got tangled up with Babel. Gerrard, who admitted afterwards that he'd just played one of his worst matches ever for the club stepped up to hammer the spot kick into the net and my heart to somewhere below my knees.
Then Babel broke after Liverpool cleared a free kick and made it 4. Bit of a kick in the teeth that one.
Arsenal were good tonight. They were really, really good and they got beat. That's the game and sometimes you just can't make excuses for it or account for it's machinations. And now, it seems that we're going to end the season trophyless despite playing some great football for much of the year.
I don't think there's any doubt that with a fit first 11 we're a match for any side in the league but it's that crucial 12-18 that's done for us. In Van Persie and Rosicky we've spent most of the season with 2 first choice players out and there's been little in the way of cover of comparable quality. Eduardo looked like he could have been a player to step up but he as expected took a while to settle into the side and just as he did had that horrible injury but for all the potential there is in Denilson or Bendtner or Traore the Crozillian and Theo are really the only 2 players that I'd currently think are good enough to be a first team contender.
Senderos, and he's been better this year than he's been given credit for, probably isn't good enough but the issue is finding a central defender to be third choice and happy about it, there's no real option that has performed when Cesc or Flamini have missed matches. I really think some of that mythical 70 mill needs to be spent in the summer. But first we need to secure second place in the league, it'd really hurt to end the year and not even have that to show for it. A win at Old Trafford on Sunday would be a nice start, and with a repeat of tonight's performance it's doable. Without the conceding of goals part obviously.
As for the Champions League, I'm backing Schalke 04 to the hilt. Null vier uber alles motherfuckers.
Right now I feel sick in my stomach.
I'm numb everywhere else.
For the first 30 minutes tonight Arsenal played some remarkable football. Gorgeous stuff to watch and Liverpool hardly got near the ball, when they did their passing was so sloppy they turned it over really quickly. For most of that period their only semi effective player was Fabio Aurellio who mainly succeeded in scuppering Arsenal's moves. At times there were shades of what we'd done in Milan about the play and it was rewarded when following some slick passing Fabregas made a run that pulled a huge hole in the defence for Hleb to slip the ball into the space for the onrushing Diaby who controlled and beat Pepe Reina at the near post.
It didn't last very long though. Aurellio's deflected cross resulted in a corner and Hypia, partly through some brilliant movement, partly through some awful defending got away from Senderos and the quality of the header deserved the goal. Things went wrong from then on and we went seriously off the boil for the rest of the first half. Up till then it wasn't just the quality of our passing compared to Liverpool's that was the cause of the Arsenal dominance, we were getting most of the breaking balls too. Once the goal went in the heads dropped a little and our play was nowhere near as crisp and it allowed Liverpool to get more and more possession. Fortunately their play remained as poor as it had been for the rest of the half.
That wasn't the case from the start of the second half though. Liverpool began really, really well and dominated possession. They eventually they took the lead when Kolo Toure missed a ball into Torres pass him and the Spaniard turned Senderos inside out before smacking home a fantastic finish to make it 2. Senderos will probably get crucified in the papers tomorrow but for me Kolo was more guilty for allowing the ball to get to Torres. He'd been remarkably quiet all game yet when the chance came to him he finished brilliantly. It's the sign of a top class striker.
Up until this season I'd always thought that of the 2 young strikers Spain had at their disposal David Villa was the superior, he's certainly the more naturally gifted, but Torres has been brilliant since coming to England and is looking well worth whatever was paid for him. With Barcelona and Real Madrid (neither of whom looked at Torres for various reasons, Barca because they didn't think they needed him, Real because he'd never countenance a move there) in the running for Villa in the summer along with all the other top European sides he will probably go for more money but I don't think he'll be as good value as his compatriot.
But I digress, I think Villa is quality. Liverpool's second goal didn't really change what Arsenal needed to do to go through, a second unanswered goal would send them through but there was less of a safety net now as there wasn't the prospect of extra time or penalties to factor in. Given Benitez's style I had thought that there was a chance Liverpool would sit back and in doing so allow Arsenal more chances to get that goal but surprisingly they came looking for a third.
Arsenal eventually came back into the game though. Adebayor had loads of time to control a long through pass and put it away but snatched at his chance and the ball went harmlessly wide. Eboue, after some good work took too long in squaring the ball and knocked it over the goal line. He was soon substituted for Theo Walcott who did have an impact once given his chance. With 7 minutes to go he took control of the ball on the edge of the Arsenal area and went on a 70 yard run through the middle, beating 3 or 4 defenders before squaring the ball in the box for Adebayor to slip it home and draw the sides level. It's amazing the confidence a goal can give you and since Walcott got his brace against Birmingham he's been a totally different player. He's now willing to take on anyone and has frightened the shit out of plenty of players when running at them, but I never thought he'd do something like that in such a big game.
I was barely back in my seat after jumping all over the living room when Liverpool were awarded a penalty. A penalty that yes, I can understand being awarded, but compared to the one that wasn't awarded to Arsenal last week it was a nothing challenge. It wasn't even a challenge as such, Kolo was just clumsy and got tangled up with Babel. Gerrard, who admitted afterwards that he'd just played one of his worst matches ever for the club stepped up to hammer the spot kick into the net and my heart to somewhere below my knees.
Then Babel broke after Liverpool cleared a free kick and made it 4. Bit of a kick in the teeth that one.
Arsenal were good tonight. They were really, really good and they got beat. That's the game and sometimes you just can't make excuses for it or account for it's machinations. And now, it seems that we're going to end the season trophyless despite playing some great football for much of the year.
I don't think there's any doubt that with a fit first 11 we're a match for any side in the league but it's that crucial 12-18 that's done for us. In Van Persie and Rosicky we've spent most of the season with 2 first choice players out and there's been little in the way of cover of comparable quality. Eduardo looked like he could have been a player to step up but he as expected took a while to settle into the side and just as he did had that horrible injury but for all the potential there is in Denilson or Bendtner or Traore the Crozillian and Theo are really the only 2 players that I'd currently think are good enough to be a first team contender.
Senderos, and he's been better this year than he's been given credit for, probably isn't good enough but the issue is finding a central defender to be third choice and happy about it, there's no real option that has performed when Cesc or Flamini have missed matches. I really think some of that mythical 70 mill needs to be spent in the summer. But first we need to secure second place in the league, it'd really hurt to end the year and not even have that to show for it. A win at Old Trafford on Sunday would be a nice start, and with a repeat of tonight's performance it's doable. Without the conceding of goals part obviously.
As for the Champions League, I'm backing Schalke 04 to the hilt. Null vier uber alles motherfuckers.
I think Plants And Animals stink
But they're playing Crawdaddy on the 5th of June. They sound like Queen.
€14
€14
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Phosphorescent video
When I wrote about Phosphorescent a couple of days ago I mentioned that listening to it conjured up really evocative winter images for me. It appears that I'm not alone in that thinking as evidenced by this video for A Picture of Our Torn Up Praise which was directed by Zachary Sluser and Matt Thiesen.
Friday, April 4, 2008
I'm drunk, I'm drunk, and you're probably on pills.
I had something of a road to Damascus moment during my second listen to Frightened Rabbit's The Midnight Organ Fight a few days ago. It had been recommended to me by a friend whose tastes I broadly share and she'd been talking about it as though it were an album of the year contender so I first listened to it with expectant ears.
I was totally nonplussed. There was nothing to dislike about the album but at the same time there was nothing that excited me about it. Just another scuzzy sounding indie rock record but with the lyrics sung in a Scottish accent.
But I trust the person who turned me onto them's tastes enough to give them another go. And to me it's still another scuzzy sounding indie rock record. A really fucking good one. Frightened Rabbit follow a path that's already been well travelled by lots of my favourite lyricists, Tom Waits before he met Kathleen and made Swordfishtrombones, Jarvis Cocker circa Different Class, Craig Finn in nearly every song he's every written; it's the one that's signposted "Life is quite often pretty shit and sometimes the only way to get through it is to get wasted, get shitfaced, fall in love every night and wherever possible take comfort in the arms of whoever will have you, even if it's only for a moment Boulevard". But unlike their countrymen Arab Strap who expressed similar sentiments in what is probably my favourite Scottish song ever "The Shy Retirer" and made that sort of existence sound as miserable as it should be Frightened Rabbit at times make it seem euphoric, and they make me feel euphoric.
Recorded music very rarely does that for me, and possibly the reason this album does is that it feels like a live record. There's very little studio trickery present here, to me it sounds like a band going into a room and just making music. Over on the Compost Heap today Darragh blogged about Pavement, he's written a lot over there about his affection for the lo-fi aesthetic and it's one that I share with him. Mine is based on the fact that the music feels honest to me, it may sound like shit from a technical point of view but that sense carries it for me. The Midnight Organ Fire doesn't sound like shit, with Interpol/National/Twilight Sad producer Peter Katis at the helm how could it? But it's got that same quality about it all the same.
So that's why I've stopped persecuting Christians in ancient Palestine.
MP3: Frightened Rabbit - Keep Yourself Warm from The Midnight Organ Fight
MP3: Frightened Rabbit - Old Old Fashioned from The Midnight Organ Fight
Frightened Rabbit toured through Ireland in February. I hadn't heard of them at that point. Bollocks.
I was totally nonplussed. There was nothing to dislike about the album but at the same time there was nothing that excited me about it. Just another scuzzy sounding indie rock record but with the lyrics sung in a Scottish accent.
But I trust the person who turned me onto them's tastes enough to give them another go. And to me it's still another scuzzy sounding indie rock record. A really fucking good one. Frightened Rabbit follow a path that's already been well travelled by lots of my favourite lyricists, Tom Waits before he met Kathleen and made Swordfishtrombones, Jarvis Cocker circa Different Class, Craig Finn in nearly every song he's every written; it's the one that's signposted "Life is quite often pretty shit and sometimes the only way to get through it is to get wasted, get shitfaced, fall in love every night and wherever possible take comfort in the arms of whoever will have you, even if it's only for a moment Boulevard". But unlike their countrymen Arab Strap who expressed similar sentiments in what is probably my favourite Scottish song ever "The Shy Retirer" and made that sort of existence sound as miserable as it should be Frightened Rabbit at times make it seem euphoric, and they make me feel euphoric.
Recorded music very rarely does that for me, and possibly the reason this album does is that it feels like a live record. There's very little studio trickery present here, to me it sounds like a band going into a room and just making music. Over on the Compost Heap today Darragh blogged about Pavement, he's written a lot over there about his affection for the lo-fi aesthetic and it's one that I share with him. Mine is based on the fact that the music feels honest to me, it may sound like shit from a technical point of view but that sense carries it for me. The Midnight Organ Fire doesn't sound like shit, with Interpol/National/Twilight Sad producer Peter Katis at the helm how could it? But it's got that same quality about it all the same.
So that's why I've stopped persecuting Christians in ancient Palestine.
MP3: Frightened Rabbit - Keep Yourself Warm from The Midnight Organ Fight
MP3: Frightened Rabbit - Old Old Fashioned from The Midnight Organ Fight
Frightened Rabbit toured through Ireland in February. I hadn't heard of them at that point. Bollocks.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Moog to release their first guitar?
Viewing the intro video is like trying to watch scrambled porn. Some really bizarre sounds coming from it though.
Crayonsmith to tour the new world with Islands.
2-6 week tour in the summer. Details to be confirmed in the next couple of days. Fair play.
They're launching their new album tomorrow too.
They're launching their new album tomorrow too.
I'm not sure if I should mention this.
I'm wary of even writing about the music my friends make here most of the time but fuckit.
If you're going to Man Man in Whelan's next month and feel like getting there a little early I'll be opening. One man, a few loops, too many guitar pedals, some agogo bells and one of these.
There will be no dancing. It'll mostly be pretty quiet.
Be my friend.
If you're going to Man Man in Whelan's next month and feel like getting there a little early I'll be opening. One man, a few loops, too many guitar pedals, some agogo bells and one of these.
There will be no dancing. It'll mostly be pretty quiet.
Be my friend.
Bon Iver Irish date update.
Bon Iver's MySpace had it wrong.
Crawdaddy, JUNE 2nd.
Great news. Even greater then when I thought he was playing September.
Cheers Backpedalbrakes.
Crawdaddy, JUNE 2nd.
Great news. Even greater then when I thought he was playing September.
Cheers Backpedalbrakes.