Hey folks, hope you’re all enjoying this wonderfully grey June-uary! I’m back on Sweet Oblivion on 2XM after a few weeks’ break (which included a trip to Primavera), so here’s a link to the latest show.
Here’s the full setlist:
Eleventy Four – Snapshot (released on 10 August 2012)
Fiona Apple – Paper Bag – When the Pawn…
The Walkmen – Heartbreaker – Heaven
Father John Misty – O I Long to Feel Your Arms Around Me – Fear Fun
Bonnie Prince Billy – Because Of Your Eyes (Band Version) – Hummingbird EP
Arborea – Careless Love – Red Planet
Slow Place Like Home – Selkie – There go the Lights Again
Laurel Halo – Two Years – Quarantine
Faws – Hummingbird – Blue Notes ep
Horsemen Pass By – The Lies of Christian Shaw- Giallo
Moon Ate the Dark – Explosions in a Four Chambered Heart – Moon Ate the Dark
DCTV
You’re probably wondering who those cheery fellas are up at the top of the post. Well, despite always fearing doing any sort of TV work at all, I was asked to help out on the volunteer-run Community of Independents series which is broadcast by DCTV.
I’ve already done two panel interview shows with DCTV, so I was delighted to hear that I wasn’t as disastrous on air as I’d imagined, and the folks in charge wanted me to do band interviews for the second Community of Independents series, which is presented by Danny Carroll (and edited, produced and put together by a lot of other lovely folk who are DCTV staff or volunteers). Interview bands? You don’t have to ask me twice! It has been a (fun) learning experience, and great getting to know a bunch of new people too (some of whom are featured in these pics I took while we were filming the Crayonsmith interview).
I recently did a voice training workshop for radio (thanks to AIRPI), which was absolutely invaluable and showed me how to s l o w d ow n while speaking on air… watching the recent DCTV vids, it’s obvious I need to employ the new technique there too. Having been shown the difference in my voice when I am nervous or scatty, and calm and composed (or at least trying to be!) I know that it’s something I need to keep an eye on.
Here’s the first show:
And here’s the second show:
While I have you, here is the A Joyful Slog documentary made by some members of the team – their experience in both documentary-making and music-making is certainly evident throughout the one-hour show. Watching this got me thinking about how the shape of the music ‘scene’ in Ireland will evolve over the next few years. Who will be the big players? Who will last, who will shut up shop?
We’ve just recently seen the closing down of the great Richter Collective label after four years, and though their influence on Irish music will be seen for years to come, it is sad that they have decided to finish up. Other DIY outfits, like Popical Island are, thankfully, still going – Popical are launching their final compilation soon – but how will they evolve and change? Time, obviously, will tell, and I look forward – though with a tiny bit of trepidation – to what happens next, and meeting the future movers and shakers. It’s an uncertain time in many ways, but people keep on trucking, unpaid, and sometimes ignored, because they want to. That’s the music biz for you.
Sweet Oblivion 