One from Eardrums compliation that I cannot get out of my head- Detektivbyrån- I am not even sure how you pronounce the groups name! Not that you have to worry about them singing in Swedish since there are no vocals and would actually not be out of place in a Tim Burton film with the lovely dark and yet uplifting vibe.
Have never been a fan of the accordian but the way it is used here is just sublime- excellent musicians and with the keyboards and drums this is damn infectious and brings a smile to my face every single listen! The mp3 has a bit more of a punch than the video below but good to see them actually perform it live.
The Mighty Stef was the support…again. Not much else to be said that I haven’t said before- nice guy, nice tunes but not my type of music and have seen him too many times this year. Good crowd for him at least when I popped my head in.
After reading Jims piece that morning it was on my mind about how many were actually going to turn up as quite a few in Crawdaddy/Whelans of late haven’t had a big crowd- was a good crowd in the end even if it wasn’t completely packed.
The guitarist Josh was up first with a couple of his solo tunes since there was an issue behind the scene with the banjo- good voice and has a nice catch to it. The drummer and bassist came out for the second half of his second tune which gave it a nice punch.
When the lead, Van, came out what was striking was that his speaking voice is completely different than his singing voice- I didn’t realise that all of his songs are sung in a type of falsetto and that his voice is actually deep. It has been a while since I have listened to the album so I don’t remember the exact order of the tunes that he played but he started with the quieter ones with the acoustic guitar and Don’t Take My Advice and Stuck On A Boat were quite good.
One thing that was very obvious from the start was that Van is very chatty person with the audience and the other band members in the break between the tunes- it really made a difference though and it felt more like you were in his living room rather than at a gig. Of course with it being an American band in Ireland there had to be a comment about how much of the band were Irish…made a good joke about though so thankfully not one about actual lineage. He then said he was playing one of the newer songs and somebody from the audience shouted out Fishermans Son which is the very song he was thinking of so he dedicated it to…Ed.
They then went into the more electric side of their sound and while tuning his guitar he told us the story of how Ryan(?) broke his toe with the amp coming down on it and getting a cast in Vienna which was then checked in Germany and told was done wrong…and then checked again in London where they said the Germans were wrong. Even funnier then was the story of the guy that broke into van while in London and stole some of their personal items and that there is now a guy going around with a cool pair of Josh’s jeans with an ipod full of their tunes wondering what hippy shite this was. Just to cap it off Van dedicated the next song to the thief…I swear that if his voice ever goes he can do a line in standup!
A couple of other electric tunes followed (Pigeonhole among them) and then a new song which was ok but not stellar. Van then asked the audience who the best Dublin Band was…there was a pause but eventually somebody shouted Thin Lizzy followed by a shout for Redneck Manifesto (given the connections in the room doubtless somebody associated with the band there!) and then finally Boyzone which of course Van the comedian picked up on and that if there was anybody that had met them to talk to him afterwards…so he could bask in the associated glory I presume;-)
He then pumped out Close The Lid which is one of my favourites and then did something which I have never seen at a gig- he was handing out pots and pans along with drumsticks for some audience participation for the next tune! Along with that he had the audience practice singing woahohohohoha so there was not doubt I Woke Up Today was coming up. A great version of it indeed even without the audience participation since this was more electric than the album version. A great way to end the gig and that was the end despite the clamouring for an encore. Some American groups I have seen just don’t seem to realise that it takes ages for the crowd here to give up unless they get their encore!
While waiting in the que to get another of their cds I ended up chatting with Van along with another gig-goer called Darren. So I heard about Van’s obsession with Westlife and the Pussycat Dolls and how they are using them as role models- yeah tongue really in cheek there! Really nice guy though and got some stories on the fishing up in Alaska and what really happened with the banjo- Van had stepped on the neck but the way it snapped they have managed to keep it going with constant repairs.
Of course when I went out to the main bar in Crawdaddy there was the lovely Tanya Sweeney again…seems that we have this stalker/stalkee relationship going but with Dublin being so small that is not a surprise! Lucky her got to interview the band that morning- definitely benefits of being a journalist and if I could write properly I would be there! Quick hello to Sinead Gleeson as well who I hadn’t seen since the blog awards…and seeing her of course reminded me of how neglectful I have been in checking out Dreadful Thoughts!
Damn straight its a trap! All it took to trap me was the byline Scandinavian Music Blog …dear god I am never going to escape! The first day I had him in the feed reader he was constantly pushing stuff out…although thankfully they are mostly updates since I wouldn’t have the time to listen to all the groups he is talking about!
Dear god how I have missed Eardrums? I only stumbled upon his blog over the bank holiday and suffice it to say that I spent a fair bit of the free time checking out the tunes he has there…some very good eardrums he has indeed!
The best thing is that he has released a compilation called A Good Crop…in four volumes which you can snag for free! Downloadable in Vol 1-2 and Vol 3-4 and not only are there tunes but he has put in pdfs with blurbs on the bands along with links to their pages. I am not sure where he finds the time for all of this but quite a nice package I must say.
I thought that I have been listening to a lot of new groups recently…with a quick glance though I only recognized 1 group…that is 1 out of 83! So have already mentioned Firekites and thankfully I didn’t like every single tune on the compilations- there were enough OMFG moments though and have narrowed it down to 26 that I will have to look into. Judging by the LastFm profiles on them some are established in their own country but some are hot off the press- with only a few hundred listens for them the only way to find them newer is to start cruising the neighborhood garages with a microphone!
No surprise either that nearly half are Scandinavian groups…I know I have banged on about the area and music before but really there has got to be some definable reason as to why there are so many great groups from there! Will leave you with a Norweigan group called Je Suis Animal…can’t find a YouTube for the cracking Dominating Spot In The Room that is on the compilation but here is one for another of their other tunes…
Only came across Snowblink with Daytrotter’s encore session of her and wow what an excellent voice- sweet and strong and definitely compelling. The first session is here but the quality of her voice in the encore session seems much better.
Have a goo at here official site as well- nicely done and just click on the different objects to navigate. You can hear some of her tunes here if you want to skip the aesthetic.
Just a video of her at a friends house but will give you an idea of her voice…
With a busy few weeks of gigs thankfully I scored a free ticket so thanks to Aoife Mc!
Domino Set were the first band up and you will notice the lack of a link- I did look but to be honest you will have heard it before- the singer had a good voice but really nothing new and their last tune was the only decent one. Surprise choice for an electronic festival since it was all guitars and drums.
Channel One were up next and wow- what an excellent sound! Hadn’t come across them before and only listened to the few tunes they have up at their official site that morning. Very good deep and dark vibe that is well balanced between the synth, guitars and drums. Great vocals to boot and hope to see these guys again soon.
M83 were finally up and I would like to say that I enjoyed them since they do have some good tunes. However, it seemed as if they were doing everything by rote and I actually felt completely disengaged from their tunes. They could have easily been playing to an empty room and I don’t think it would have changed their performance a jot. It has been a long time since I actually felt like walking out of a gig and the only thing that kept me there was the excellent drummer. There were moments in a few songs where everything did seem to come together but the moments were fleeting and even his more popular tunes seemed to be missing something. This might be petty but what didn’t help was his ingratiating little bows at the end of each tune as if he wasn’t worthy…well he wasn’t to be honest.
So the highlights of the night were Channel One and chatting with the lovely Tayna Sweeney…who I had only met the night before…yes Dublin is small!
Only just met Anthony McG and am nicking stuff off him already…not that I am one to get political in this space but a very well done add for change in the upcoming US election.
The original Bud add for those who don’t remember…
Plenty of drink flowing at Soundcheck but unfortunately not in me…shame that I had to deal with the boys this morning since Spy was rockin! Rapture Ponies layed down some great tracks along with Songs For Swinging Children…nice indeed!
Bit hard to hold a conversation with the ears still a wee bit plugged from the gig the night before and the sound from the tunes there…so only half tuned into the conversations and missed half the craic I am sure!
Know I will forget to give a shout out to some but RP, Rick, Sinéad, National Lottie, Ben, Anthony McG, another Sinéad who I am not too sure what her blog name is and a couple of her cute friends who may or may not be bloggers were there making sure alcohol was drunk….definitely drunk!
Just in case there weren’t enough Sinéads- had a chat with the excellent Sinéad Ní Mhórdha who was in the company of the lovely Tanya Sweeney and had some great conversations with her when I could hear! Turns out Tanya is friends with the drummer from Halfset who looked damned familiar the night before and has been missing from the blogosphere of late!
Twas a strange night for connections even before I got to Spy- met up with a new friend beforehand and it turns out she works with an old friend who I haven’t talked to in a bit. Then just to make sure I had company in the two minute walk up the road I came across a Phantom trio of Laura Lee, Eavann and Eamonn. I swear I will never feel lonely in this city!
Is Whelans on a new kick to make sure the gigs start on time? Not a complaint believe me!
Got up there just at half 8 and before the ice could even settle in the vodka Halfset were taking the stage. Surprised that they had four members since I thought they were only a twosome but four is a good thing and really expands their sound. Great ambient tunes with some really good drumming but I think that the keyboards are what make the tunes…and it also helps that the keyboardist is stunning . There was a Flyer Girl going around with some details for another gig of theirs on Friday at the Morrison- they are definitely worth checking out!
Pivot came on in the same setup I remember from Electric Picnic- it has to be said though that when I saw them at EP I was well and truly oiled by that stage so while I remember some of their tunes I only really remember that they had a great vibe. That was the first time I had heard them though and have been listening to their album every now and again…even been replacing Battles a bit since they have the same math rock tunes going but a bit groovier.
They had a great set last night and with them only having the one Warp album all the favourites were there- Sing You Sinners, Sweet Memory, Nothing Hurts Machine and of course their storming title track O Soundtrack My Heart. It was great to see how technical they are when playing- one thing that I missed down at EP. The drummer has a great style of being ferocious and yet having a bit of finesse at the same time. The looping of the different sounds of instruments and voices as well really added to the tunes- something which I don’t recall on the album. Great cover for the encore as well- I Zimbra by the Talking Heads with some great beats.
I was certainly getting into the vibe but funnily enough the crowd in Whelans was rather subdued for most of the tracks. Maybe it was too math rock for them or the changing of rhythms mid tune was too much but it was far quieter than I had expected. Had a quick chat with Niall afterwards and Flyer Girl was there and said that it was an Irish thing- she certainly had no problems getting into the vibe since she was the only one that was really getting into it during the set!
Pivot had a tour 7″ that I got as well after the gig along with one of the posters so that I can put it by the boys set of drums and hopefully inspire them a smidgen…still have to get a turntable to play the vinyl though!
First came across The Rosebuds in the lovely similar artists on LastFm…of course one of the regulars already had a post on it as well and as far as I know Captain Obvious still has a couple of tracks for download.
They have a real laidback sound and some great harmonies on some of the tracks while others have some dreamy female vocals. The first three tracks are the standout ones for me- Life Like has a nice dark vibe with the harmonies, Cape Fear with a nice 80’s reverb and Border Guards has a lovely ambient feel. The next few songs are a bit too laid back for their own good though- Another Way In and Black Hole did peak my interest with the lovely female tones but neither really take off. Its only at the very end with In The Backyard that the ambient vibe returns. So a mixed album really but a good on all the same.
Life Like- compilation video of a few of their tunes
Many thanks to United Visual Artists (www.uva.co.uk) for the profile picture from the music video 'Tonto' by Battles. They have done some amazing light fixtures for other groups and shows so check them out!
Watch videos at Vodpod and other videos from this collection.
Tunes
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