If you’re someone with an interest in the Irish music scene as a whole, a great festival to give you an insight into what’s going on here is Hard Working Class Heroes. Yes, it doesn’t cover every single band in the country but it’s a good snapshot of what’s happening nationwide. One interesting aspect to the festival is its panel discussions, where people working in the music industry in a number of different countries gather to give their opinion on subjects such as technology, downloading, labels, and more.
Jim Carroll of the Irish Times was the man asking the questions during the sessions. Late last year, DCTV, a Dublin-based community TV station, asked me would I be interested in hosting two discussion shows on the panel sessions for their Community of Independents series. Despite having no TV experience at all and a mortal fear of seeing myself on the screen, I said yes – sure why not do one thing every day that scares you, eh?
The shows feature Andrew Bushe from Estel and Keith Johnson from IMROchatting to yours truly – they both come from very different places on the musical spectrum. Andrew had an interesting viewpoint as an independent musician active in the Dublin scene for years, while Keith represented the industry side of things.
One track I’ll definitely be playing next week is from S Carey, whose new EP ‘Hoyas’ is due out on Jagjaguwar in May. I loved his debut, and this new track is a confident, electronics-tinged progression on the subtly affecting, gently-creeping feel of his earlier work.
Sweet Oblivion will be on 2FM this Sunday at 11pm. It’s the weekly 2XM on 2FM slot and it’s a great one to be included in! I’ll be playing some tracks from the likes of Little Xs for Eyes, Lower Dens, Balam Acab and Orcas.
In other news, this gig sounds extremely interesting: Resound playing the Button Factory on Thursday April 19, doors 730pm and tickets: €12/10.
The gig features Resound, You Can Call Me Frances, Buzz Aldrin Allstars and Ryan Taylor Doyle, and the visuals will be looked after by Donal Dineen, Hector Castells and Jane Cassidy. If you’re wondering who Resound are, they’re a talented bunch indeed:
Crash Ensemble Cellist and Kaleidoscope co-curator, Kate Ellis. RTE Lyric FM composer in residence, Linda Buckley. Rising star aka Glitterface of NanuNanu, Laura Sheeran. Jazz maestro and world music specialistFrancesco Turrisi. The inimitable John Lambert aka Chequerboard. Old-time and traditional fiddle player (amongst other things), Adrian Hart. Words of wisdom from the award winning poet Billy Ramsell and visuals from the uber talented Jane Cassidy.
You can call me Frances is a band of four dancers, Justine Cooper, Jessica Kennedy, Emma Martin and Áine Stapleton, They formed in Dublin in 2010 and taught themselves to play an instrument.
The Buzz Aldrin Allstars are a collection of like-minded musicians from the following bands – Si Schroeder / 3epkano / Halfset / Strands / United Bible Studies / Beautiful Unit.
Finally, Ryan Taylor Doyle says he is a solo artist “after years of trying to put the perfect band together and failing miserably”.
Finally, I’m currently putting a feature together for The Ticket on Limerick, and if you’re in the Limerick area on Sunday then I highly recommend you head to A Love Supreme in Leddins Bar, where the Cork Shape Note Singers will be performing. It’s a daytime event (4pm – 8pm) that promises to be the perfect place to raise your spirits and invigorate yourself for the week ahead. More info here.
Hey folks! Just a little update – 2XM has undergone some (really positive) changes, which has led to the station schedule being shuffled about a bit.
As a result, Sweet Oblivion is no longer on Thursdays at 5pm. Instead, it is on Wednesdays at 11pm. At first I was a little worried about it being so late, but I’ve starting feeling like it’s actually quite a positive thing. My show isn’t really ‘daytime radio’ in style, and I have moved on a lot musically since my early days (the show began in 2002 or so on Cork Campus Radio).
Having a late show means I can play darker, weirder and more downbeat tracks than usual, and I’ve started thinking of the show as having two parts… sort of like a Side A and Side B, with the first more upbeat than the second. I want to give night owls something soothing to listen to as it approaches the witching hour, which is a nice goal to have.
Also, the show is now on after John Kelly’s show, which I am chuffed about as he is an incredible and inspiring broadcaster and writer. Hopefully some of the magic of his show will rub off on mine, ha!
Lastly, Sweet Oblivion was on Wednesdays on Campus Radio and Flirt FM, so that’s the day I always associate with the show.
As for the changes at 2XM – now the great Dan Hegarty broadcasts a live show from Mondays to Thursdays on 2XM at 11am, which is then re-broadcast on 2FM at 11pm. How cool is that? It provides a tangible link between the two stations and also means there is more Dan on the radio, and he’s a great champion of Irish music. He seems delighted about the change and I really hope it goes well for him. Here’s to a bright year for 2XM!
Thanks as always to everyone who listens in – you’re who I make the show for. Don’t forget that the show is available for a few weeks after broadcast on the RTE Player. I always Tweet and Facebook this link so follow me on either of those sites to go straight to the player, or go to the website and search for it there.
Finally… it was the two year anniversary of Alex Chilton’s passing on St Patrick’s Day. This one is for all you Big Star fans out there…
There’s people around who tell you that they know And places where they send you, and it’s easy to go They’ll zip you up and dress you down and stand you in a row But you know you don’t have to, you can just say “no”
I’m not really a religious person, but I’m no atheist either. Maybe you’d call me spiritual – or just plain indecisive – but whatever it is, I believe there’s something other than ourselves out there. With that in mind, when I listen to a piece of music that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and a shiver run down my spine, I feel a jolt of something that can’t be described in words.
Some people believe that spaces are marked with the invisible fingerprints of those who once passed through them, and that music made or played in spiritual or religious buildings takes on a certain mood because of this. So when someone takes an instrument long associated with religion, and places (plays) it in its usual context, there is often a special feel to their work. Or perhaps that is a sort of musical placebo effect…
Whether you are a believer (in anything) or not, Music for Church Cleaners by London-based musicianÁine O’Dwyer is an experience anyone can be open to. This album, which is released on the relatively new – and already hugely impressive - Fort Evil Fruitlabel, is available on tape. The resulting (and always welcome) tape hiss only adds another dimension to the improvised songs that Áine (a member of United Bible Studies) crafts on a pipeorgan, as do the clatters, hoovers and other sounds you hear throughout the live recordings.
Each time I listen to the tape, I naturally picture a person in muted clothes, with Henry hoover in hand, methodically cleaning their way around the church while Áine plays just feet away. They are simultaneously aware of and ignoring each other, each going about their own work uninterrupted. If I close my eyes, I could be sitting in a pew myself, head bowed and – for the first time ever – not wishing this experience to be over soon.
€5 per cassette
Rep. of Ireland / N. Ireland: add €1.50 p&p for one & €1 for each extra
Rest of world: add €2.50 p&p for one & €1 for each extra
Each tape comes with a download code (tucked inside the inlay so well that I didn’t even notice it first time around) and, in Áine’s case, a photo of the organ she played on in St Mark’s Church, Islington, in 2011 (above).
This week’s Sweet Oblivion is up for your listening pleasure right now - just click here.
Here’s what to expect on the show…
Artist//Track//Album
Kings of Convenience – I Don’t Know What I Can Save You From – Quiet is the New Loud
Perfume Genius – DIRGE – Put Your Back in 2 It
Low – Like a Forest – Things We Lost in the Fire
Windings- The Space I Ooccupy
“The Space I Occupy/ The Hassle” is the new double A-sided 7” Single fromwindings, released this February 2010 on Out On A Limb Records. Both tracks on the single are available to stream at www.windings.bandcamp.com. The 7”, complete with download code, will be available in independent record stores and online. This month, windings will launch a Fundit campaign to raise funds for the recording of their new album, to be recorded by Efrim Menuck (Godspeed You! Black Emperor) in Hotel2Tango Studios, Montreal.
I go with gut feeling a lot when it comes to music. In a weird way, I often get a sense about whether I’ll enjoy a band before I even listen to them. It’s like I’m driven to seek them out and just know I’m meant to hear their work. This isn’t the same as hearing a new band’s name bandied about blogs; this usually happens to me with older or established bands.
In the case of Wipers, the cult Portland post-punk/pre-grunge-era three-piece, when I first heard their name I knew they were a band I needed to investigate. And almost immediately I started seeing them mentioned in different places, like a little flag saying ‘Hey! We’re waiting!’.
So I got stuck in.
And if you’ve ever listened to them, you’ll know where this goes.
The ironic thing is that their music wasn’t what I was really seeking out at the time – isn’t that always the way? But this… well, this was pretty special.
It’s a great read and a look at why people find Greg Sage, Sam Henry and Dave Koupal so fascinating. Some of the bands Wipers influenced – like Melvins, Dinosaur Jr, Pavement – went on to become more famous than their idols could have dreamed of. But there’s always something that bit more interesting about the bands whose names are only rarely scribbled on teenagers’ notebooks, I find.
I love this quote from the Pitchfork piece:
A lot of bands, my own included, claim Wipers as an influence, but it’s a tough one to back up. At best it’s spiritual. At worst you’re ripping these guys off and hoping no one catches you.
Wipers have a rough, angry edge to their music – it’s unpolished, uncompromising and unapologetic. But it’s melodic, too, with its punch-the-air, sing-along choruses. The relationship between the vocals and music can even seem discordant at times.
Sage’s lyrics have a depth to them that takes a while to be seen. He’s singing of alienation, of suicide, of darkness, of war, real and imagined, and of no-longer-giving-a-fuck; of roaming a boring American suburban town and teetering on the edge of a metaphoric cliff.
This music is vital and thrilling. Delving even further into their back catalogue excites me, but based on what I have already heard of their later releases, I don’t know if they ever topped those first three albums.
Here’s a clip from a documentary on Portland’s DIY scene – I love Sage’s comment at the very beginning:
And my personal favourite, the Sonic Youth-esque Doom Town from Over the Edge:
Last Friday, I bundled myself up, tucked myself into bright red hat, scarf and gloves, and went into town, to meet a lovely friend, chat, eat, and then seek out something I have been waiting exactly a year to own.
The Gallery of Photography, where I was determined to buy this book, was unexpectedly closed, and so I left, just a little dejected. To tell the truth, I had wanted to buy the book as a present for a friend, and though I couldn’t really afford two copies, I just knew in my heart that once I had one in my hand, I’d need another.
On the way out of the building, I saw a man standing in the doorway to the women’s bathroom, turning around, slowly touching the wooden doors. In his hand was a stick, perched on his nose was a pair of dark glasses. I reached for his arm and asked him where he wanted to go. The men’s bathroom? ‘The main door,’ he told me, and off we went, me awkwardly explaining where we were – “There’s nothing in the way… Here’s the door… Here we are, now: Temple Bar’. He left silently.
When I’m out, I always have a camera in my bag, but I realised recently that I am often too self-conscious to use it. I’m not a ‘photographer’, and I feel self-conscious taking out a camera and capturing a moment.
Vivian Maier seemed to have no such worries – but then again, she had an incredible secret talent. We are not alike except that we are two women with the mechanical ability to capture an image we find pleasing, but she helps to encourage me to just pick up a camera and go with it. In this age where everything is documented online, where people put up their photos for others to see on Flickr or blogs, sometimes it’s impossible for you to know your own ability. You scrutinise your work – whatever the medium – because you can compare it so easily to others’.
But Vivian Maier’s maxim appeared to be ‘No one will see this, except you, so just take the photo’. No matter if she thought anything like this at all or not, these are words that are inspiring, words that show that you don’t have to create something in order to prove you are the best or most talented photographer/writer/singer/insert-profession-here.
You can create just for you, for your enjoyment. For the feeling of reading back your own words, and knowing that only you will be satisfied by them; for the knowledge that only you will know the difference between the image you pictured in your head when you pressed the shutter button and the image that appeared, like magic, on the photographic paper in your hands. It’s not for anyone else; it’s just for you. So if people see it, or read it, or listen to it, and they don’t enjoy it, that’s fine. It’s just for you.
The past two years have seen a huge rise in the amount of young electronic musicians emerging from their bedrooms and plonking themselves onto blogs, radio shows and into the ears of many.
It’s not like Ireland wasn’t a place for great electronic-based music before, but it’s very easy now to get your hands on the software needed to make purely electronic tracks, and even easier to get your music online and into people’s heads. You don’t even have to release a full album – look at Toby Kaar, who is wowing people on the strength of a handful of official tracks, great remixes and awesome live shows.
That all brings me to Feel Good Lost, and the Fundit campaign set up for this Cork-based duo’s new project, The Lightbox Tour.
This tour will involve a number of young Irish producers – here’s what Brendan Canty of Feel Good Lost had to say about it:
We are organising a short Irish tour taking in Dublin, Limerick, Cork, Galway, Belfast and Waterford over a week at the end of February. The tour will have 7 acts wich include Bantum,Feel Good Lost, Monto, Reid, Sert One, Simon Bird and Tenaka.
The tour will go under the banner ‘Lightbox’ as each of the acts perform using visual based music hardware such as Monomes, Kaoss Pads, APCs and iPads. Feel Good Lost will be providing live visuals for each of the acts over each of the nights.
Workshops will be staged before each night which will allow people to come and see how each of the acts interacts with the software/hardware so as to provide an even more interactive elements to the nights.
Each night will also host DJ sets in secondary rooms which will include guest DJs such as Nialler9, Jim Carroll, Logicparty and Ian Malaney as well as several of the featured acts.
Two Cork-based bands are teaming up to play in a nicely unusual venue: Rest & Ten Past Seven will play at WRKSHP, which is based in Sample Studios. This in turn is based in the Old FÁS Building in Cork on the second floor and is a great example of an abandoned space being used for a creative purpose.
The gig will take place in Cork on Saturday, February 4 and admission so far is TBC but I will update as soon as it is confirmed.
This is instrumental rockers Rest and Ten Past Seven first co-headlining bill since 2006 (I feel a bit old reading that!).
They say that the capacity for the show will be very limited, so you can expect to get up close and personal with Corkonians on the night. I expect it will be intense!
Finally, here’s the new tune from Daniel Rossen, he of Grizzly Bear/Department of Eagles fame. It’s sweet, it’s piano-based, and it’s suitably minor-key-mournful for all us Grizzly Bear fans out there.
You’ll find it on his solo debut Silent Hour/Golden Mile, which will be released on 16 March this year.
This track couldn’t have come out in any decade other than the 80′s – that bassline! those drums! – and yet there’s something quite timeless about it too. It’s by Canadian singer/actress Mary Margaret O’Hara, who has a sort of cult status amongst her fans, given that she only released one album ‘proper’, the stunning Miss America (in 1988), one soundtrack to a film called Apartment Hunting (that she apparently did not consent to being released), and one Christmas-themed EP, as well as contributing to a handful of other people’s projects.
There’s nothing like releasing an album as intriguing, unusual and gut-twisting as Miss America and then not doing what people expect you to, which is go and release another damn album. This has helped O’Hara – who is the sister of actress Catherine O’Hara – maintain an air of mystery about herself that is further cultivated by her endearingly offbeat appearance during her gigs (which don’t take place very regularly) and her unique style of self expression (check out the video below for evidence of the latter – her facial expressions and movements are unlike anything I’ve seen in a music video before).
There really is no one else who sounds and performs like Mary Margaret O’Hara, and with a voice that could shatter the hardest of hearts, and songs that explore the deep ache of love, Miss America is an album that will remain a classic.
I did have fears based on the new sponsors, Meteor, given how disconnected the old Meteor Awards were from the Irish independent music scene, but overall the decisions here are down to the judges, a very trustworthy and knowledgeable gang.
That said, it is perhaps inevitable that the music would all come from one corner of the Irish music scene – I wonder how this could be remedied, or should it be up to other awards ceremonies to reward the best albums in Irish hip hop, metal, trad, etc?
What do you think? Let me know in the comments.
Free music: Out on a Limb Records
Out on a Limb Records have been giving away free downloads of albums from their back catalogue all during the week. So far, Owensie, Windings and Giveamanakick have been featured. Who is on offer today? Check out their website and twitter for more info.
Free music: Orcas
Orcas is the new musical project by duo Rafael Anton Irisarri (The Sight Below) and Benoit Pioulard. The first inklings that they were working together came when they released a haunting cover of the Broadcast song Until Then, in tribute to the late Broadcast musician Trish Keenan. Now they’re back with their first original release, which is available for free download (see below). Combining their ambient sensibilities and love for layered, ghostly sounds, Carrion is both stark and beautiful. Expect a full album later this year.
Fancy listening to some incredible old Katie Kim songs? Check out VAULTS Vol 1, which is only available to buy on tape during her forthcoming tour, and is on Bandcamp now for your listening pleasure.
Walpurgis Family
I achieved one of my dreams a few months ago when I got to sing as part of a small ‘choir’ for a song on the Walpurgis Family album. The album, Dawn, is released this month and it has already gotten a rave review from Patrick Freyne in Hotpress, who really knows his stuff. Here’s Let’s Go Camping from the album – listen closely and you might hear me (ha!). Congrats to Jeroen and Popical Island on the release!
Many venues tick the boxes but do not go further than the token requirements. The wheelchair area often has a restricted view or limits you to having one mate with you, even if you’re with a gaggle of mates.
My tips are Nanu Nanu, Depravations, Alarmist, Bouts, and Come On Live Long – but heck, it’s a bloody great list of bands.
Radiolab
I love Radiolab in a big way – it’s like the younger, more rambunctious sibling of This American Life. Its latest show is about the bad things that people do, like, er, commit murder. Expect to feel very informed (and a bit wary of humanity) after listening to this.
Elastic Witch
Gib from the independent record store Elastic Witch had a chat with me for this week’s Sweet Oblivion. You can listen to it by following the link here.
Gig of the Week
My gig of the week next week is definitely going to be A Winged Victory for the Sullen. They play the Sugar Club on Thursday 19 January and it’s going to be a guddun’. Tickets are just €13.50 and you can find out more here.
Montreal-based musician Jon Cohen is playing Ireland next week – Dublin’s Grand Social on Friday 20 January to be exact. If you’re a fan of Brendan Benson, The Dears, and Broken Social Scene, I think you’ll really dig his stuff.
Finally, I’ll leave you with this video from Dirty Beaches. I really love his stuff and so does Cohen – we had a chat about how he really wears his influences on his shirt sleeve, and yet manages to maintain his own originality.
His album Badlands and other releases can be found on Bandcamp.
