Doctor Leaves

This is the internet, and the wonders never cease. Using an array of talents to produce an E.P. of quirkiness and all round self deprecation. A winning combination. I'm still not sure on the business model (indoctrination of business courses is hard to shake) but its great great music. Doctor Leaves deserves to be heard and also possibly an award for website design!

An Old Fashioned CD Buying Expedition

In the past few weeks there has been an upsurge in all things music related. A splurge of the CD buying variety. First up the new Arctic Monkeys one Humbug which is decent and not as poor as some recent reviews would suggest. I suppose if songs don't win people over within the first two listens it will be consigned to the bin labeled "ill-advised trip to the U.S.", a label which one will never find a Cat Steven's album. In typical fashion the first single picked is slightly left of centre, but Crying Lightening is a quality tune with perfectly weighted and observed lyrics. The rest of the album just gets better with each listen. A return to listening to albums ala the eighties is required (or else some proper reviewing, the Q review of the debut Interpol album always springs to mind), and I doubt a Smith's album is best appreciated after one/two listen then scribble a review.

Next up is the gang how drove me mad every time never mind in Five Year's Time, however this album is a little gem. Noah and the Whale with their First Days of Spring, full of strings and madness with just the right pitch. Just buy it, simple as.

As we would say as gaeilge.... sin sin (for the phoenetically minded, shin shin).

Finally just because I can, The Byrd's and a unique take on Dylan.

From American to Local Townland

In days of yore it was once something akin to The Electric Picnic with stars such as Van Morrison in Astral Week pomp and Rory Gallagher headlining what was then the Mountain Dew festival (the first outdoor festival of it's type in Ireland). History such as that highlights the gaping hole that requires filling and finally this has come about. The first step on the road to artistic recovery see's Macroom host the Lughnasa festival. The line up includes the previously posted Interference and Director(snazzy site by the way). Also to ensure the local connection is not lost Fred and Remma are just part of the line-up that will ensure the festival will continue for years to come. (This has been a public service blog posting!)

The days of yore.

And of now.

American Townland

A quick visit to the archives (can 2002 be filed under archived, christ I'm getting old). Anyways this is an excellent live recording taken from a music series Other Voices recorded within an old church in Dingle of the County Kerry. Introduced by Glenn Hansard (I will forgive em that) and probably known most for their track on that Oscar winning soundtrack yoke of his Once. This is Interference are their opening track American Townland is a joy to behold.

Random Thoughts Like The Google

The wonders of modern technology unfortunately do know some bounds. Take for instance the wonderful google ad app that appears on the right hand side of this blog appears to generate based on the content of the site. I'm kinda fuzzy on how the whole thing works but I imagine its a mixture of meta tags and wonderful algorithm (more than likely a Lucky 8 Ball placed on the coffee machine of the Viz inspired Google open plan workspace). So this has lead to the wild and wacky world of randomly generated ads that I for one do not endorse. Why not uninstall I hear people shout, well 38 cent over three months is reason enough not to and also for the head shaking and giggles the whole thing has provided.

Anyways back to matters more important, the outstanding indie machine that is the Hold Steady return to these shores in September in the county of Clare of all places on the 12th of September. Worth the festival price alone and more festival classics than the proverbial stick can be shuck at.

To finish, as a fan of slightly off kilter cover versions, this is one of the more bizarre I have stumbled across recently (well the man can definitely sing).

Frank Sinatra: For Once In My Life

Cosmic Love

I'm never the biggest fans of more or less home movies at gigs but this one those highlight the talent of Florence and The Machine. Of course this song has the unfortunate link to all things mobile phone, but still its floats above it like those bubbles in the ad for the same company. She is mad as a box of frogs and as according to every other media source on the planet has a passing resemblance to a certain Kate Bush. In a previous posting not a million miles away from this post she helps Glasvegas create a classic cover, here she shows quirky lyrics with an amazing voice and some crowd motivating arm swinging. Cosmic Love for the 21st Century, on another note reading the Ascent of Money, so far its depressing, that is all!

Beat Radio: Safe Inside The Sound

Thanks to a chance encounter facilitated by the elbo.ws blog aggregator I first listened to New York band Beat Radio, now as an acknowledged fan of said same band, I was delighted to see that they are streaming their second EP on the blog cinema of sunshine (you're off-line for a few weeks and this happens... typical). Continuing on that upward curve this EP takes off from where in my mind where Elegy left us. The songs strike deep and anything that drops some Neil Young references (Memoir of a Lightening Bolt)  is all good with me. The distinctive sound remains (Hard Times For Dreamers) though and well worth a listen. Now let's hope Beat Radio get more of the credit the album richly deserves.

Below a demo version of their song Mexico with accompanying video. The gift of an on-line community.

The Drums

Quick post. This crowd are worth checking out.

The River

Its been a long break since the last post. A time to reflect and basically gather some more music together. A new Wilco album imaginatively titled Wilco (The Album) has been released and its pretty decent. Nothing outstanding but solid. Thanks to spotify this album listening to lark has become both an easier and cheaper past-time.

However this week I've decided after much reflection to go back to five tunes that keep me blogging..

5. The Jags: Back of My Hand
4. The Police: So Lonely
3. Mick Flannery: Wish You Well
2. The Hold Steady: Stuck Between Stations

1. Mainly cause he is playing here Sunday night, I can really only go with the Boss and one of the greatest songs of all time and song in the style of Nebraksa.

Buy The Album

A week without writing on the blog means that the sun and work have taken too strong a hold. This past week though I have been mainly listening to Eels. New album is a solid contribution to an already excellent back catalogue. Unusually for one of the more popular artists all the video's are able to be directly embedded on a blog post, ergo, it has to be played.