Chris and Laura Coffey (aka doctor and psychologist, brother and sister) have released a free 5-track EP on Bandcamp. The tracks are The Holy Roman Army versions of Pixies’ ‘Wave of Mutilation‘, Rollerskate Skinny’s ‘Speed To My Side’, Bon Iver’s ‘Skinny Love’, Peter Broderick’s ‘Not At Home’ and Pavement’s ‘Here’.
Here’s their cover of ‘Skinny Love’ and the five tracks in total. Download them from here. HRA are supporting Yes Cadets alongside We Cut Corners next Friday Upstairs in Whelan’s.
Dublin’s Solar Bears have recently signed up to Planet Mu. Fair play to them for bypassing their locality and going straight to the source.
SB’s music is a mix of old-school electronica, cosmic flourishes, nostalgic sampling and sounds at times like a mish mash of DJ Shadow, Air, ’60s psychedelia, ’80s synths and touches on the same sound sources as the current trend for hypnagogic pop (aka chillwave aka glo-fi aka WTF are you talking about?). Look out for the Inner Sunshine EP coming soon and their debut album, provisionally titled She Was Coloured In in the summer. More tunes at Myspace and a video after the jump.
MP3: Solar Bears – The Quiet Planet
It’s a pleasure to tell you that Nouveaunoise will finally release their debut album Paraphrase Accolade in May this year. One of the last things I heard from them was their State mix nearly two years ago which is still superb.
The duo know how to produce deeply-arranged electronica with an emotional heart using crackled samples that eschews the cut and paste formula that comes with modern software methods. Rather like Four Tet, their songs feel like spliced moments of melodies intertwining around each other matched with nuanced beats and percussion. Very live-sounding.
Here are two tunes: One you may know from a while back ‘Cinnte’ and another ‘Goni’ which has some subtle backing vocals and warped acoustic guitar. Love it. Watch out for a tour closer to the album which will be supplemented by a live drummer.
MP3: Nouveaunoise – Goni
Here’s their properly amazing Bonus Party remix:
MP3: Super Extra Bonus Party – Propeller (Nouveaunoise remix)
You can also pick up these tunes on Bandcamp for free.
Congratulations to Adrian Crowley for winning the Choice Music Prize 2009 for his album Season of The Sparks earlier last night. A surprised, shocked and humble winner he was. A video of Jim announcing him as the winner is below.
Afterwards, the And So I Watch You From Afar juggernaut which shows no sign of stopping played a not-so-secret show in the Mercantile on Dame Street after their performance in Vicar Street, which was by-far and away the best short set of the night.
Here’s a pic of Tony ASIWYFA on the stacks in Vicar Street: More..»
Regular Dublin gig-goers (or Thumped members at least) will know and will have seen Owensie lately. Formerly of Terrordactyl and Puget Sound, Owensie has shorned his trademark dreads and decided to return to playing the classical guitar again after picking one up in a charity shop on Francis St. in Dublin.
The result is a gentle and emotional introspective vibe, somewhere between the American twang of Sam Amidon and the guitar picking of Jose Gonzalez. The dude sings in a falsetto too – you wouldn’t have known he had it in him, especially if you’d seen Terrordactyl or his other band Realistic Train.
He has released a five track demo EP on Bandcamp and I recommend you download it. He has some gigs coming up this month in Dublin too.
Four years after they recorded their debut, Humanzi are back. Tomorrow sees the release of their second album Kingdom of Ghosts, an album long in gestation. The band decamped to Berlin for the last couple of years and the result of that city’s surroundings bears down on this record. After the band endured a perhaps unfair critical backlash, it seems they’ve come out of it stronger and more resolved.
Kingdom of Ghosts is certainly a darker record, a grittier record, a more unique record. It still draws from Humanzi’s classic rock and roll influences but there’s a greater depth here. It’s reminiscent of the likes of War Stories-era UNKLE and Queens of the Stone Age. No bad thing in my book. It is defined by Shaun Mulrooney’s seething, bellowing delivery and the fact that the band are clearly much more at home playing their instruments than ever before. It’s not arrogance, it’s belief in their abilities and it permeates the whole record. The big-sounding production (by Rob Kirwan) does a great job of showcasing this expansion. The album is out on The Firstborn is Dead recordings. Listen to the first song from the album ‘Hammer’ and watch a documentary of the making of the album after the jump.
MP3: Humanzi – Hammer
The Redneck Manifesto Laser Etch
The ten tracks on Friendship were recorded last summer in Black Box Studios in France with Dave Odlum. The band describe the result as “a psychedelic kraut-rock band jamming with The Meters”.
Friendship will be released through The Richter Collective on the March 26th on CD digipak, gatefold vinyl and digital with an M&E-designed sleeve. There is a launch gig on the 27th of March in Tripod. The above image is of a large 5 kilo crystal with three dimensional scans of the band members burnt in to it with a laser (click to enlarge). Apparently, they had it done in Malmo. Epic work lads.
Here’s ‘Black Apple’, the monster of an opener:
MP3: The Redneck Manifesto – Black Apple
I can’t say I was a huge fan of what I heard of Dublin Duck Dispensary but Bobby Aherne’s new project is infinitely more satisfying to me. Brevity is the key here with No Monster Club. We get 10 lo-fi tropical surf-pop songs in 15 minutes on Tropical Decibels Volume Two par example.
Look out for official releases of Volumes One on Rack and Ruin in March, a song on a forthcoming Popical Island compilation, maybe a cassette release and a 16-track debut album in April. It’s rough around the edges but that only adds to the charm. Homemade video after the jumpyloo.
MP3: No Monster Club – Wish Me Well
Or say hello to your new favourite Irish band.
Thanks to labels like The Richter Collective and the autonomous sphere of bands around the country making brilliant and mostly loud guitar music again (Adebisi Shank, ASIWYFA, Bats, Not Squares – to name a few) we can now add Dublin’s brilliantly-titled The Cast of Cheers to that list.
They’ve released their debut album Chariot via Bandcamp for FREE DOWNLOAD with a physical release coming in April. The album is a fully-formed 33-minute blast of post-punk, looping post-rock, tightly-wound songs with echoes of touchstones like Battles, Foals and Death From Above 1979.
It’s so good you’d wonder where this band appeared from? Some of them were involved in the band Abam so they’re not total newbies. Chariot is a breath of fresh air from a band I didn’t even know existed seven days ago. They’ll be supporting Super Extra Bonus Party in Andrew’s Lane Theatre on the 26th of February alongside Nakatomi Towers, Enemies and more.
Download their album now. Here’s three reasons why you should.
MP3: The Cast of Cheers – Derp
it’s safe to assume that this video’s director Bren Talbot took inspiration from Hunter-Gatherer’s debut album title I Dreamt I Was A Footstep In The Trail Of A Murderer. The short-clip for ‘Arc-En-Ciel’ features Niamh from Angkorwat bloodied, dripping and discombobulated in a forest of snow.
HG plays the Haiti Benefit this Thursday in Twisted Pepper and supports tUnE-YaRdS in Whelan’s on February 12th . Buy the album from Road Records.
New video for SEBP’s ‘Comets’ by Donal Mangan. The single is out this Friday digitally backed with a Skibunny remix. The Boners are playing some live dates this month: 13th Feb – Roisin Dubh, Galway, 20th Feb – Waterfront, Belfast & 26th Feb – Whelans, Dublin.
Below, you will also find a new video for Heathers’ ‘Remember When’ by Chloe Walker as part of the NYU Tisch Hot Press initiative.
