Stone Throwing Youths – Too Much Information

Stone Throwing Youths is the brainchild of young Cork musician Brian Casey, who for a young guy has oodles of talent. He’s a big fan of bands from the grunge era as you can hear from this track – but he doesn’t ape the work of his heroes, he puts his own stamp on his music. Great stuff. He’s signed to the new Subplot Records label. This track is available for free download here.

Screaming Trees – Shadow of the Season – ‘Sweet Oblivion’

This quintessential grungey track is taken from my namesake, the ‘Sweet Oblivion’ album. Awesome, dude….

Land Lovers – Paul Treacy Probably Knows – ‘Immoveable Feet’

This is taken from the latest EP by the wonderful Land Lovers, who are a Dublin-based band and part of the Popical Island collective. Expect more from them in 2010.

Matthew Sweet – Time Capsule – ‘Time Capsule: Matthew Sweet 90 – 00’

My boyfriend is a big Matthew Sweet fan, so over the years I’ve heard a lot of his stuff – this is one of my favourites. Pure power pop!

Lawrence Arabia – Beautiful Young Crew

This is a new single from Lawrence Arabia, aka James Milne from New Zealand, formerly of bands The Brunettes and The Ruby Suns. It’s taken from his debut album ‘Chant Darling’, which he recorded after he moved to London. He’s signed to the Bella Union label.

Yawning Chasm – To The Void

Yawning Chasm are on the Rusted Rail label, an Irish label that I’ve taken many tracks from for recent shows. Find out more and buy the gorgeous ‘The Shadow Is That Hidden’ EP online here.

Hauschka – Zahnlucke – ‘Room to Expand’

Myself and some friends went to see Hauschka play at the Sugar Club two weeks ago, and it was most definitely one of my favourite gigs of the past year. He puts different objects into his grand piano as ‘preparations’ which vibrate and make different sounds depending on which key is pressed, which was both a delight to see and hear. He was a really forthcoming and funny guy, and the fact he improvised most of the set was just mindblowing. This song, he said, is about the little gaps his sisters and mum have between their front teeth.

John Coltrane – In a Sentimental Mood – Duke Ellington & John Coltrane – ‘Duke Ellington & John Coltrane’

Nowt like a bit of jazz of a winter evening…more on next week’s show!  The first few notes of this are pure perfection.

Moondog – Bird’s Lament – ‘The German Years’

Written for Charlie Parker after his death, this Moondog song is just wonderful. It was sampled by Mr Scruff not too long ago, so it might be familiar to people from that. It’s probably one of Moondog’s best known songs.

Johann Johannsson – The Rocket Builder – ‘Fordlandia’

Jóhann Jóhannsson is a hugely prolific composer and musician who has composed music for films, plays and man other projects, as well as working on his own solo stuff. This track is a perfect example of his ability of conjuring up a mystical atmosphere that will transport you to another place…

Low – Be There – ‘Songs for a Dead Pilot’

Low= Love. I can’t find the video for ‘Be There’, so here’s the one for Landlord that is also on this very downbeat, minimalist EP.

Stars of the Lid – Requiem for a Dying Mother Pt 1 – ‘The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid’

Sparse, sad, emotive…a nice way to end the show, I hope.