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Memoryhouse – The Slideshow Effect
It sounds daft now, but I was hoping this Canadian duo was a Memory Tapes/Beach House hybrid, a chillwave-dream pop chimera, with scuffed beats, reverbed vocals and 5 a.m. sunrise synths aplenty. If that was on your wish-list too, look away now. Fans of terribly polite indie are on to a winner though.
The arrival…
Band Of Skulls – Sweet Sour
If insanity really is doing the same thing over and over again, Band of Skulls may well have gone certifiably bananas during the recording of their second album. From the decent opening title track to the agreeable, folksy finale of ‘Close to Nowhere’ you get the impression that they only know how to write two…
The Score: classical and contemporary news
This issue of The Score… is all about chamber music. As orchestral music becomes increasingly unpopular, and large force concerts increasingly unfeasible, love for the intimacy of smaller ensemble performances just keeps growing. As well as the usual string quartets and chamber choirs – who are coming up with some very beautiful programmes – there
Grand Pocket Orchestra – Ronald & Sylma
Having found their niche through sheer wondrous oddity in debut The Ice Cream…, Grand Pocket Orchestra became a jangly, upbeat ode to carefree power-pop. ‘Odd Socks’ was a clear highlight of the debut: a jangly mess of a track that held together with the kind of hooky chorus that wedged itself deep in the
Sleigh Bells – Reign Of Terror
On their raucous debut Treats…, New Yorkers Sleigh Bells grabbed plenty of love for their sheer noisy abandon. Performing like an electro band channelling guitarist Derek Miller’s hardcore roots with blithe brutality, they let up only briefly, in the ear-melting hooks and gorgeously alluring melody of single ‘Rill Rill’. If the debut was a
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Dublin
It’s the second gig in Dublin in less than six months for Noel Gallagher‘s High Flying Birds, this time in a sold-out O2 Arena after they made their live debut at the Olympia Theatre. Safely back in the big league again, the risk free approach he’s taking this time round seems to suggest that he…
Rodrigo Y Gabriela & Wallis Bird – Dublin
You rarely come across a character as charmingly happy-go-lucky as Wallis Bird. Having risen from de facto headliner of many an open mic session at The Mezz, the hippie purveyor of loveable pop ditties and wonderfully rock out moments is a larger-than-life character. With a third full-length in These Mistakes Are Intentional… just around the
Ham Sandwich – Dublin
Middle Abbey Street isn’t always the natural home for the Dublin music scene (that location lies across town somewhere along Wexford Street), but tonight most gig goers seemed to have decamped to the northside. They’re joined by a number of touts who can sniff some potential business as the two Irish acts have sold out…
Interview: Emeli Sandé – The chemistry between us
Her debut album was just released this month but the Scottish-born singer Emeli Sandé has spent most of her 23 years preparing for the moment. There’s been a lot of behind the scenes action while she bided her time, waiting for the spotlight to turn on her. She co-wrote songs for Leona Lewis, Cheryl Cole…
Mick E Rawrk launch new mixtape at State gig tonight
Tonight sees the latest in our State vs… gigs, with the marvelous Loud Mouth Collective helping us provide the sounds at the Mercantile on Dame St. The main event of the evening is the launch of Mick’s Tape… by headliners Mick E Rawrk, a free release that adds yet another name to the increasingly impressive
Tindersticks – The Something Rain
A Tindersticks review is a curious thing. It’s more of an exercise in reassurance. If Tindersticks were to branch out into drum and bass, or bossanova, or Stuart Staples were to duet with Lana Del Rey, people would need to know. Otherwise the perceived wisdom would be to write “all is well” and the average…
Camden Crawl comes to Dublin
Long one of the major fixtures on the UK festival calendar, the Camden Crawl has established itself as the key event for new live music across the water. Now that experience is coming to Ireland, with the first sister event launching here in May. The Meteor Camden Crawl Dublin will take place on 11th and…
Album premiere: Deaf Joe – Burrowings
Muted, coiling and graceful, Burrowings is the debut album by folk-abstractionist Deaf Joe. A combination of acoustics, waltzing blues and ambient stretches, the album is both hypnagogic while rooted in familiar terrain and it is streaming below for your listening pleasure.
Deaf Joe will release Burrowings… on The Delphi Label, this Friday, February 17th. He
State’s Office Stereo – Silly Little Love Songs
Terius Nash introducing Casha – ‘Silly’ (chosen by Alan Reilly)
So here we are at Valentine’s Day – the most redundant and fickle of all make-believe celebrations – and romance lingers in the air like the putrid stench of a rotting relationship. A man very lucky in the fleshy side of things, The-Dream’s career is…
