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 IMRO chatting 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.

Here are the videos, part one… and part two.

DCTV has also produced some fantastic band profiles, interviews and a weekly music show, all of which can be viewed on its jam-packed Vimeo page. 

Happy (almost) weekend! Here’s the latest Sweet Oblivion show (click) and playlist

Artist / Track / Album

THEESatisfaction – Enchantruss – QueenS

Big Star – Ballad of El Goodo – #1 Record

Grandaddy – He’s Simple, He’s Dumb, He’s The Pilot

Townes van Zandt – Waiting Around To Die

Yawning Chasm – Seen Like A Bird’s Cold Cold Eye – Snarl

Woven Skull – Cattlemart Crows – Moods of the Hill People

Leyland Kirby – A fluid wilderness of nothing – Sadly, the future is no longer what it was (Limited edition)

Áine O’Dwyer – In A Fugue State of Mind – Music For Church Cleaners

Robert Glasper Trio – Mood – Mood

Cogar - There Are Dreams Where They Speak

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.

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:

I got a roll of film developed last week but wasn’t too happy with the results unfortunately.
Still, there were a few ones I liked, including this unintentional triptych. Sometimes with half-frame toy cameras the film gets stuck or during processing something occurs and you end up some triptychs rather than diptychs – the results can be kind of sweet.
These were all taken out of car or train windows so it’s somewhat miraculous they turned out ok!

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.

Click here to listen to last week’s show.

Artist – Track – Album

Parks – Topaz – Umber

Grimes – Circumambient – visions

Solar Bears – Alpha People

Mansions On The Moon – Light Years

Sharon Van Etten – Ask – Tramp

Brigid Power Ryce – The Waves Were Wild (live)

Yawning Chasm – Moon Silver Ocean

Mirroring – Fell Sound

Julia Holter & Linda Perhacs – Delicious Descent

Moondog – Moondog’s Theme

Katie Kim – Dimmer – cover and flood

Windy and Carl – Sirens – Depths

Arvo part – Spiegel im Spiegel

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…

The organ Áine O'Dwyer played on while recording Music for Church Cleaners . Pic from http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fort-Evil-Fruit/178681202216020

Whether you are a believer (in anything) or not,  Music for Church Cleaners by London-based musician Áine 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 Fruit label, 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.

You can find out more about Fort Evil Fruit‘s releases on its blog.

Purchasing info 

Releases currently available from:
Into the Void Records (Dublin)
Loki Records (Dublin)
Plugd (Cork)
Boa Melody Bar (UK)
Elastic Witch (Dublin)

Mail order: Paypal to fortevilfruit@gmail.com

€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).

Crows: Taken one day on the way to work (right) and the way from work (left) in Newbridge, last year, using a Golden Half

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.

Songs of Green Pheasant – Teenwolf – Soft Wounds

Katie Kim – Your Mountains My Mountains – Cover and Flood

Plugd/We Are Noise listening party for Cover & Flood on 1 March 

Laura Sheeran – Oh, How The World Changed – Murderous Love

Twin Terrace – To Belong

mynameisjOhn – Sweaty Dreams of Bate Kush- ‘The Thinker & The Prover’ EP -

Kim V Porcelli - I Want Your Love

Shlomo – wen uuu (Teebs Remix)

Anenon – Acquiescence

Chromatics – Into the Black

Lindstrom – Déjà Vu

Hey folks, here’s a little update on the most recent Sweet Oblivion shows.

You can listen to them all on the RTÉ Radio Player, which is a really handy addition to the site.

Here’s the link to the most recent show – if you click through to this, you will then be given the option to listen to even more Sweet Oblivion shows. Just click on ‘Listen Back Further’.

As always, thanks to everyone who listens in, I couldn’t do the show without you.

Here are the playlists for the most recent shows:

[Artist - Track - Album]

9 February 2012 (click)

Jens Lekman – 17 Maple Leaves [7' Version]

Cloud Nothings – Fall In – Attack on Memory

Wild Nothing – Nowhere

Sharon Van Etten – Serpents  – Tramp

PJ Harvey  – This Mess We’re In – Stories from the city, stories from the sea

Ghost Estates – October

mynameisjOhn –  The Cumulative Recorder – The Thinker & The Prover EP

Twin Terrace –  You Keep Coming Back – Twin Terrace

Kim V Porcelli – I Want Your Love – Chic

Mark Lanegan – Harborview Hospital – Funeral Blues

Sufjan Stevens – Casimir Pulaski Day – Come on Feel the Illinoise

Benoit Pioulard – Ailleurs – Lyon

Olafur Arnalds – Film Credits – Living Room Songs

Deadball Specialists – Trapatoni’s Men – Wingnut Fundraiser EP

2 February 2012 (click)

Kayfabe – Bicycle Day In The Cosmos

Peaking Lights –  All the Sun That Shines – 936

Logikparty – Anti Omerta

ESG – Erase You

Fela Kuti – Everything Scatter (Toby’s Indigo Edit)

Arthur Russell – See Through Love

Blonde Redhead – Melody – Misery is a Butterfly

Bill Ryder-Jones  - Leaning From The Steep Slope – If

Sharon Van Etten – Serpents  – Tramp

Wild Nothing – Nowhere

07-Perfume Genius – Dark Parts – Put Your Back N 2 It

Perfume Genius – Put Your Back N 2 It - Put Your Back N 2 It

Songs of Green Pheasant – Deaf Sarah – Soft Wounds

26 January 2012 (click)

Perfume Genius – All Waters –  Put Your Back N 2 it

Kayfabe – Bicycle in the Cosmos

Nicolas Jaar – And I Say (ft. Scou Larue and Will Epstein)

Come on Live Long – White Horses  (REID Remix)

Simon Bird – Nightcall (Kavinsky Cover) - Quompilation #2 

Slow Place Like Home – Carte Blanche – Coastal Hubs for Chivalry

Bantum – Elephants and Time – Come on Live Long Remix

Mark Lanegan-  Ode to Sad Disco – Funeral Blues

Lower Dens – Brains

Perfume Genius – Hood – Put Your Back N 2 it

Perfume Genius – Normal Song – Put Your Back N 2 it

Elliott Smith – Rose Parade – Either Or

Orcas – Carrion

19 January 2012 (click)

Yawning Chasm – Stars are Going Out

Peter Delaney – If You Become Impossible – Duck Egg Blue

Marisa Nadler –  Box of Cedar – Ballads of living and dying

Sharon Van Etten – Love More – Serpents

The Unthanks – Nobody Knew She Was There – Here’s the Tender Coming

Orcas – Carrion

Band of Clouds – No Maps No Compass – Outside Broadcast

A Winged Victory for the Sullen – We Played Some Open Chords and Rejoiced, for the Earth Had Circled the Sun Yet Another Year

The Caretaker – Tiny Gradiations Of Loss (excerpt)

Brigid Power Ryce – Wild Grin

Gillian Welch – Everything is Free –  Time (The Revelator)

Mary Margaret O’Hara – Body’s in Trouble – Miss America

12 January 2012

Songs of Green Pheasant – Teen Wolf – Soft Wounds

Songs of Green Pheasant – For People – Soft Wounds

Seamus O Muineachain – Down I Go – Between Islands

Band of Clouds – So Long Bitter Root Hill – Outside Broadcast

INTERVIEW – GIB CASSIDY

The Lives of Millionaires – Chrysalis

The Star Department – Antlers

Logik Party – Anti Omerta

Slow Place Like Home – More Chlorine in the Gene Pool – Coastal Hubs for Chivalry EP

Toby Kaar – Fela Kuti – Everything Scatter (Toby’s Indigo Edit)

Faws – Camille – Antonym

5 January 2012

Mitten – Similar Sense- See You Bye

Toro y Moi – New Beat – Underneath the Pine

M83 –  Midnight City – Hurry Up We’re Dreaming

Kuedo – Ant City – Kuedo

THEESatisfaction –  Do You Have Time – Transitions

Hauschka – TwoAM – Salon Des Amateurs

A Winged Victory for the Sullen – Steep Hills of Vicodin Tears – s/t

Olafur Arnalds – Fyrsta – Living Room Songs

Dirty Beaches –  True Blue – Badlands

Widowspeak – In the Pines – Widowspeak

Arborea – Phantasmagoria in Two

Low – Especially Me – C’mon

Meg Baird – Share – Seasons On Earth

Gillian Welch – Tennessee – The Harrow and the Harvest

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.

Pitchfork recently featured a comprehensive and passionate article about the band written by Nick Sylvester, which focuses on the band’s first three albums (Is This Real?, Youth of America and Over the Edge), the ones which I personally am most familiar with.

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: