Jape has remixed And So I Watch You From Afar’s new single taken from the exceptional Gangs, ’7 Billion People All Alive at Once’.
It is a very different remix from Jape, in fact, it has been reworked it into a pretty indistinguishable dance number with only mere echoes of the original coming through.
‘7 Billion People All Alive At Once’ is out via the Richter Collective on Sept 16th. Listen to both superb versions below.
After an impressive but sparse Friday, Saturday had a lot to live up to but spirits were raised as Punchestown basked in glorious sunshine, a rare occurrence in recent years.
Away from the sunshine was Belfast 5-piece Cashier No.9 who were wooing punters in the Heineken Green Energy tent with their brand of shimmering indie. The set which opened with EP title track ‘Goldstar’ was cheerful and charming and also included ‘Oh Pity’ and latest single ‘Lost at Sea’. A really enjoyable set and there’s little doubt these guys are ones to keep and eye on.
Over on the Main Stage fellow Northerners Two Door Cinema Club drew the biggest crowd of the weekend so far. The Bangor trio’s cheery and energetic indie-pop perfect complementing the mood of the crowd, buoyed by the sun, they lapped up tracks like ‘Something Good Can Work’ and ‘Undercover Martyn’. It was a performance full of energy and confidence as they continue to grow in stature, they seemed perfectly at home with the Main Stage billing. They also announced we can expect an album in early 2012.
London trio Kitty, Daisy & Lewis have already carved out a niche as fine purveyors of genre-hopping retro sounding music. A sound molded from a mixture of R&B, Swing, Country and Western, Rockabilly, Blues and Rock ‘n’ Roll filled the 2FM Hotpress Academy. A wonderfully charming set full of feel good, toe-tapping infectious rhythm.
Next up was Miles Kane, who is probably best known for his role in The Last Shadow Puppets alongside Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys. This boys got skills, confidence, swagger and supreme stage presence. He swaggered through a set of whirlwind of ’60s psych-soul swathed in twangs and spooky feedback and pulse-raising rock’n’roll riffs, including ‘Inhaler’, ‘Rearrange’, ‘My Fantasy’ and ‘Quicksand’ while the live ‘Kingcrawler’ almost makes the neck hairs stand on end. As the set progressed, for the first time all weekend the symbiotic relationship between artist and crowd was exploited to the full as each goes for it, pushing the other further and further. Kane’s blistering show is Saturday’s high point so far but there is still the small matter of a certain band from Sheffield to come.
For me Saturday’s main attraction was always going to be Arctic Monkeys who somehow I had never seen live. Four great albums in and they have solidified into one of the most formidable bands on the planet, surely they couldn’t let me down? They were in no mood to mess around launching into ferocious performances of ‘Brianstorm’, ‘Still Take You Home’ and ‘This House Is A Circus’. As the rolled through their set much like The Strokes the previous night, it is real drilled home how good they really are.
The new material sounded fantastic even if some of the momentum ebbed away somewhat as the rump of the crowd seemed unfamiliar with tracks like ‘Brick By Brick’, ‘Suck It And See’, ‘She’s Thunderstorms’ and to a lesser extent ‘Library Pictures’. ‘Don’t Sit Down Because I’ve Moved Your Chair’ in particular was glorious with Turner’s voice sounding fantastic.
The punters played their part too and when ‘When The Sun Goes Down’ and ‘I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor’ got an airing all hell broke loose throughout the crowd. ‘Teddy Picker’, ‘Florescent Adolescent’ and ‘Crying Lightening’ sounded great too before Miles Kane joined them on stage to close a memorable set with ‘505’. The performance was a glorious success if a little distant at times, the next time they announce their own Irish dates I’m there.
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Have you got enough riffage in your life? If not Event Horses are the answer to all your problems.
Formed in April 2010, the punk-pock and hardcore trio have already become a hot favourite within the North of Ireland music scene following some high-profile gigs and their critically acclaimed debut EP, Faces.
The Antrim 3-piece’s second EP, Dance With Devil serves up three savage slices of aggressive rip-roaring punk-rock fury. We are confronted with a relentless aural assault of gritty, raw and energetic songs as they screech their way through dangerously addictive riffs and foot stomping drum beats that are ‘Dance With The Devil’, ‘From The Start’ and ‘Desperate Times’
A caustic racket to be reckoned with no doubt, these guys are going destroy places with their live shows.
Dance With The Devil is out now on Generation Peace Records.
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photo by Sara Devine
It’s been a while since I did any posts about live gigs. I’m not sure why because so far this year I’ve been to piles of shows.
Friday was a scorcher in more ways than one. The one day Irish summer was here as was the SquareD showcase in Whelan’s.
First up was Avalanche Ammo‘s (aka Kildare man Anthony Boland). Remarkably this was his first live show but apart from some first show nerves you would never tell. The one-man racket machine, ably assisted by a desk top PC (old school) ramped out a short but impressive set of LOUD melodic post-rock. Hopefully there’s plenty more live shows in the tank from this guy, interested to see if a full live band will be introduced in future.
What more can be said that hasn’t already been said about We Are Losers? Since seeing their first show at Hard Working Class Heroes last year they have endeared themselves to me no end, seeing them umpteen times since. There live shows continue to impress as does the new material. Their jangly, fuzzy lo-fi indie was bursting with energy and feel-good-vibes, just the trick to wash down a glorious days sunshine, including ‘Empty Head’, ‘The Narcissist’, ‘Cheerleader’ and a new tune (both of which are below).
Instrumental Dublin four-piece Alarmist rounded things off, obviously superb musicians, it just wasn’t my thing.
Anyway, a couple of video clips to indulge you including ‘Cheerleader’ and a new tune from We Are Losers.
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So far 2011 has been characterised by bands slinking and sliding towards an ’80s and ’90s vogue, not a bad thing is it? After all everything is borrowed.
A brief respite is offered by Dublin 4-piece The Pacifics who roll back the decades, embracing their predilection to ’50s and ’60s sounds. Their debut EP, Play Favourites is an homage to Little Richard, Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry. As the title suggests, Play Favourites EP is a collection of their favourite songs.
While the idea of a covers EP doesn’t really promise much, this one manages to surpass whatever the initial scepticism. They succeed in delivering the record on a tide of roaring Sixties garage rock and R&B swagger. They haven’t just copied the songs they have added their own little touch of magic, giving these old songs a new lease of life. They have paid tribute to true classics with a mixture of admiration and personal interpretation.
It will be very interesting to see what comes next, original recordings would be a plus but for now this will do nicely.
Their debut EP Play Favourites is out now on Bandcamp and all the usual spots.
The Pacifics – You Can’t Judge A Book (By Looking At The Cover)
The Bristol duo Malachai carved themselves an enigmatic position on the musical landscape with 2010 debut Ugly Side Of Love. Listeners were treated to a unique and scatty ride through ’60s psychedelia, ’70s prog, ’90s trip hop and howling garage-soul, a nice breather from the tide of indie/electro-pop.
Return To The Ugly Side bares all the hallmarks of its predecessor but sees the Bristol duo overcome their more obvious influences to perfect their scatterbrained aesthetic into a cohesive sound of their own.
It is and album clearly designed to be experienced in one sitting. Songs seem to have a symbiotic relationship as they flow effortlessly into the next. Each is bound together by an overwhelming sense of unease. This unnerving feeling exists from the thudding demon stomp of ‘Mid Antarctica (Wearin’ Sandals)’ to quieter moments like the gorgeous, haunting duet with Katy Wainright on ‘Rainbows’ and even the fuzzy The Beatles circa Revolver ‘(My) Ambulance’ and ‘The Don’t Just’.
Return To The Ugly Side is fresh and organic whilst feeling remarkably vintage and yet it admirably avoids clumsy nostalgia. The veracity with which they deliver their fusion of 60s/70s psych-rock, trip-hop and soul is all the more impressive. It deserves to make a much bigger impact than last year’s Ugly Side Of Love. It was never going to be easy to follow up such a great debut, but somehow they have managed to create and equally enthralling and inventive record.
There seems to be a never-ending flow of great music emanating from Kildare but who’s complaining?
The latest, Avalanche Ammo, is the work of Anthony Boland who has released his debut EP Animals, in which each song is cleverly named after one. Animals is 4-tracks of lively melodic post-rock, tight riffs and samples; not to different to that of Adebisi Shank. Hard to believe so far this is the work of just one guy, yes one guy.
This is his debut release and it’s free to download via bandcamp. Keep an eye of out for some live shows in the future.
Download: Avalanche Ammo – Panda Capture
Download: Avalanche Ammo – Owl Speaks
Whilst we await the release of the Arctic Monkeys next album, frontman Alex Turner has somehow found time to release a solo EP, ‘Sumarine’. The EP is the soundtrack for Richard Ayoade of IT Crowd fame’s debut movie of the same name.
It is somewhat different from the energetic brand of indie-punk which made his name. Always a supreme storyteller, Turner has found his niche, accompanied by some stripped back acoustic guitar and piano, his tender, touching, sometimes sneering vocals allow the stories to unfold perfectly. This short but sweet record has so much to offer as he picks and gently strums his way through ‘Hiding Tonight’, ‘Glass in the Park’ and ‘It’s Hard To Get Around The Wind’ with breathtaking wistful maturity. The tempo is upped meanwhile with ‘Stuck on the Puzzle’, a ponderous jaunty Lennon-esque tune while closer ‘Piledriver Waltz’ burns brightest of all. A sentimental, if slightly melancholic journey through forgotten youthful dreams and fears, quite similar in many ways to ‘Cornerstone’, an absolute gem from 2009’s Humbug. A brief but worthwhile encounter, five beautifully sung warm and intimate songs. I wonder if he’s infected with the solo side-project bug (fingers crossed).
The EP is out now on Domino.
Mp3: Alex Turner – Stuck on the Puzzle
[audio http://indierocker.net/songs/Alex%20Turner%20-%20Stuck%20on%20the%20puzzle.mp3]Mp3: Alex Turner – Piledriver Waltz
[audio http://indierocker.net/songs/Alex%20Turner%20-%20Piledriver%20waltz.mp3]Via Indierocker.net
ASIWYFA are set to return with a new album Gangs on May 2nd through Richter Collective.
The first single to be taken from the album is ‘Search:Party:Animal’. It’s a discernible aural assault from one of, if not THE loudest band in the business. A welcome indication of what to expect from the lads album in May.
‘Search:Party:Animal’ is out now (download below) and will be released as a 7″ single on April 4th.
For the most part Weezer‘s career has been a sporadic mix of brilliance and mediocrity, one record stands head and shoulders above all else, Pinkerton.
The recent acquisition of the ‘deluxe edition’ of the album has seen my fondness for this record rekindled. The story behind this one is pretty well-known at this stage, best to keep it short.
In 1996 the release of Pinkerton seen a move away from the band’s original power pop sound which made their name, toward a darker and more abrasive sound.
Initially critics especially didn’t get it, branding it “seething and self-indulgent”, “juvenile” and it “clearly shows Weezer is headed to the graveyard of forgettable bands”. How wrong they were, such harsh criticism put off the punters ultimately rendering it a commercial failure.
Despite the rough start it rose in stature in the intervening years slowing winning over legions of fans. Soon cult status ensued and coming full circle it soon began securing posthumous like acclaim.
It may be clichéd to say but I don’t really care, this is by far Weezer’s best work and remains one of my favorite records of all time . If you don’t have it already make sure and get your hands on a copy, you’re missing out!
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