That’s right y’all. Thanks to Bacardi who will be bringing the Bacardi B-Live Stage back to Oxegen 2009 on July 10th -12th (next weekend) we are giving away a pair of camping tickets with the added bonus of unlimited access to the Bacardi B-Live VIP arena, for when you need to find a comfy seat and a cocktail on site with DJs like Beardyman, Horse Meat Disco, Dublin Streets, Filthy Dukes and A Skillz on hand if ya fancy a wee dance.
Oxegen has a completely stonking lineup this year and personally I cannot wait to see Friendly Fires, Foals, Pendulum, Hudson Mohawke, Fever Ray, Mogwai, Jamie Woon, Onra, Goldielocks, Aeroplane, Mumford & Sons, Blur, Little Boots, St. Vincent and on and on. Of course, I’m DJing on Sunday in the Dance Arena at 3.20pm before Fever Ray so look out for that obviously ;)
All you have to do answer the question below in the comments:
What has been the best live act you’ve ever seen at Oxegen and why?
The best answer wins the pair of tickets. You can include Witnness live acts as well if you want. If you’ve never been to Oxegen, tell us the best festival set and you’ve ever seen. Comment lines closed on Tuesday the 7th at noon. Get scribblin’.
It’s worth a lot more but until Saturday (4th July) you can buy the mighty Reservoir for one dolla. They’re even throwing in a 4-track EP for nothing on top of that. Fanfarlo are lucky that Arcade Fire are on a hiatus because they share the same kind of epic heart and there’s probably only enough swelling emotion in the world for one of these bands at a time. ‘Drowning Men’ even gets off on a near-carbon copy piano/bass motif as ‘Rebellion (Lies)’.
Despite the similarities in tone, Reservoir has plenty to recommend. It’s flush with great tunes with sweeping autumnal strings, crescendos, boisted by violin and trumpet and dashes of cellos, mandolins, ukeleles and melodicas. All of this is drawn together by the voice Simon Balthazar who Maldini reminded me how much he sounds like the pithy-voiced Alec Ounsworth of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!. Despite all the comparisons, Reservoir could be one of this year’s best and it’s only a dollar for the next two days so buy it! I did.
It’s July 1st, the mid-point of the year, a good time to reflect on what we’ve been offered musically so far in 2009. There’s been some stonkers like Grizzly Bear, Animal Collective and Fever Ray but you know about them already. I’ve listed my ten obvious favourite records of the year so far and then fifteen overlooked ones (with MP3s) you should definitely check out. Obviously “overlooked” is not exact science but generally, these are records you would like to see get more attention in the remaining six months of the year.
I left out a couple of newer albums like White Denim’sFits and Paul White’sThe Strange Dreams of because they are relatively new and I haven’t listened to them enough to place them here as much as I like them. There are a few others like Black Milk, Ribbons, Solid Gold which were actually last year officially but check them out anyway because they are amazing. Here we go..
I got this nice tune in recently and seeing as Ruairi will be DJing at the “For The Love Of” Exhibition tomorrow, Thursday 2nd at Mill Street Gallery and Studios in Dublin 8, the info is pertinent.
Lynch has an “acoustic-y” Myspace page and an “electro-y” Myspace page and ‘Slide’ is truly somewhere in the middle -all sliding, hailing guitar and beats before a distinctly more ambient outro. I like this. Make sure to check out both his myspace pages as there’s some cool stuff there.
FYI: “For The Love Of” is the first in a series of exhibitions in Dublin which hopes to bring together Ireland’s talents and showcase them in an accessible and contemporary environment.
Bitte Orca is one of the better albums of the year so far but you knew that already riiiight??? ‘Stillness is the Move’ is also one of the better songs of the year (and we’re at the halfway point so maybe a list is due – Carroll is on the ball) but the DP are still a pretty weird band. So it’s no surprise that the video would equally match it in the WTF-department – goat herders, dances with wolves and a Mary Mother of God giving it socks on the mountain high vibe.
You’ll know this tune if you’ve seen Casiokids live at all this year. ‘Finn Bikkjen!’ is infectious and bouncy Scandanavian synth-pop at its best. The glacial falsetto manages inflect the song with some genuine pathos but for all I know, the dude is singing about falling in love with a sheep. Probably not though. The single is out on Moshi Moshi on 3rd August in the UK on 7″ and download.
After the MP3, watch the band perform the song acoustically in a hot air balloon…
Remember those archaic days when you picked up a magazine or newspaper and saw a playlist of what people were into that week. There is power in those subjective charts. No great fanfare or descriptions just ten of the best song around right now you should know or you might already know.
One of my favourite labels IAmSound (home to Suckers, Little Boots, Telepathe, Thecockandbullkid, Florence and the Machine etc) has announced a new signing in the form of Fool’s Gold (the band, not A-Trak’s label) who will be releasing their debut in September.
Hailing from LA, the band is made up of members of We Are Scientists, Glasser, Foreign Born and The Fall. Surprisingly, they have an African pop sound (or should it be? Everyone’s at it at the moment..) as is evident from ‘Surprise Hotel’ the opening number on the self-titled album. It’s a funky jam.
That’s right y’all. Thanks to Bacardi who will be bringing the Bacardi B-Live Stage back to Oxegen 2009 on July 10th -12th (next weekend) we are giving away a pair of camping tickets with the added bonus of unlimited access to the Bacardi B-Live VIP arena, for when you need to find a comfy seat and a cocktail on site with DJs like Beardyman, Horse Meat Disco, Dublin Streets, Filthy Dukes and A Skillz on hand if ya fancy a wee dance.
It’s July 1st, the mid-point of the year, a good time to reflect on what we’ve been offered musically so far in 2009. There’s been some stonkers like Grizzly Bear, Animal Collective and Fever Ray but you know about them already. I’ve listed my ten obvious favourite records of the year so far and then fifteen overlooked ones (with MP3s) you should definitely check out. Obviously “overlooked” is not exact science but generally, these are records you would like to see get more attention in the remaining six months of the year.
I got this nice tune in recently and seeing as Ruairi will be DJing at the 
You’ll know this tune if you’ve seen 
Remember those archaic days when you picked up a magazine or newspaper and saw a playlist of what people were into that week. There is power in those subjective charts. No great fanfare or descriptions just ten of the best song around right now you should know or you might already know.
One of my favourite labels 
