Zenda Marie EP

I have been a fairly reflective mood recently and at those times I always go back to simple folk tunes on my ears instead of the more  convoluted math rock or electronica that usually reside there.

Zenda Marie have that simplicity and in such lovely measures- wonderful harmonies, slow guitar strumming and low electronica  that leaves you with the feeling of being in a meandering stream with the water slowly flowing over you.  You can buy/stream their self-titled EP over at their Bandcamp.

Prairie County

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Competition- The Very Most, Upstairs @ Whelans

The Very Most will be hitting Ireland with their Christmas cheer and I have two double passes up for grabs!

They will be in Upstairs @ Whelans on the 12th of December and support on the night will be from the excellent Irish groups Storkboy Choons and The Ambience Affair so it should be a cracking night!

For your chance at a pass simply email the answer to this question:

What US state are The Very Most based in?  Hints here.

Answers to tenacioustimothy[at]gmail.com with The Very Most in the subject line by 8 pm on Thursday the 10th of December.

You can have a listen to a tune from each below along with a quite wicked Santa video from The Very Most to go along with their version of Away In A Manger!

The Very Most- Sweater

Storkboy Choons- Rockfield Symphony

The Ambience Affair- I Recoil

The Very Most- Away In A Manger

The Riptide Movement- What About The Tip Jars??

I first caught The Riptide Movement as support for James Yuill back in June and I have finally followed them up with their album What About The Tip Jars??

They have a great rock sound which varies between blues and psychedelic and comparison to the Doors is inevitable.  The concentration on the percussion is what makes them standout though- not only with the excellent drumming but with the syncopated type of guitar work.  With a few exceptions all the tunes have an abundant energy…and the ones that don’t I think are all the better for it in showing the subtleties of their sound.

The album kicks off with Reno and a nice driving pace which continues in Downtown Hotel and is followed by The Unknown which is  slightly more instrumental but has a great vibe.   Cry Cry Baby has more of a psychedelic element with the keyboards and a great jam at the end while  Face Dancer really highlights the drumming skills.

Good Times Roll feels like there was some fuel injection added and from the first note this is a fast paced number which contrasts with the follow-up Bringing Down The House which is quieter for most of the tune but has a good build up at the end.

Pale Green Eyes is a change completely from the previous tunes and in a way is the standout track on the album for me- excellent subtle instrumentation with understated vocals.

What About The Tip Jars brings back the rollicking vibe- very catchy indeed and is followed by the more instrumental In The Eye Of The Storm.   Cold Wind Blows cranks up the psych element again but it’s with Alive Inside that the head will really nod with the stomping bass drum and great guitar riff.

The album ends on a quieter note with Ten Days In The Desert- again some great subtle instrumentation but this time with harmonies and supplemented with sampling.

All in all its a great listen and some very solid tunes- as I had said previously there is nothing new about their sound but their take on bluesy rock is exceptionally good and well worth catching them live.

They will be in Crawdaddy tonight for their single release of Alive Inside and will be supported by Morgan La Faye & Yukina.   Doors at 8 and tickets are €10.

Alive Inside

The Very Most- Autumn: An Indiecater Release

Ah autumn is finally in the air!  Even if it’s a rather muted affair in Dublin the memory of the east coast in the US remains with the brilliant colours of the leaves, the nip in the air and the sharp smell of the freshly fallen leaves- superb!

While it is one of my favourite time of years the lack of sunlight has always been an issue so nothing better to deal with post-daylight saving time blues than some tunes from The Very Most!

Their 3rd season-related ep has hit Indiecater and has hit the high mark as usual- three sublime tunes that are full of sunshine even if it is slowly dying away.

When Summer Finally Dies kicks it off with some lovely sublime vocals, backing and great beats with Sweater following it up with some warm tones and a superb toe tapping vibe.  Autumn Air ends it with a rather more sombre tone which is befitting of the season- still some sunshine there with the vocals but the slight use of  sleigh bells is certainly a sign that winter is on its way!

You can download or stream Autumn Air below and head over to Indiecater where you can stream all three tunes and buy them for the very pocket pleasing €2.00!

The Very Most – Autumn Air

Timber Timbre

Timber Timbre sounds like spirits at work but in reality its Taylor Kirk with his sublime voice and simple instrumentation from the band that give their sound such a mysterious element.

You can get their third self-titled album for free until this Saturday at their official site and the eight tunes are of a dark, subtle, understated beauty that is simply entrancing.

The first track, Demon Host is one of my favourites and has a pretty cool video to boot.  The other tracks have varying  instrumentation throughout but subtlety is definitely the key and be it drums, guitar, organ or auto harp the understated beauty shines through.

Demon Host

Demon Host Video

Thanks to @longmanoz for the headsup and for a great review of Timber Timbre’s tunes check out Obscure Sound’s post back in January- far ahead of the curve as always!

HEALTH- The Village Oct 09

Night started with a bit of irony when I got a text from a friend to say that she wouldn’t make it to HEALTH since she was sick.  Turned out to be a great night though so irony aside it was a shame she missed them!

Arrived in time for some of the tunes from Irish lads Wounds and they had a some good ones with a hardcore edge.  Sometimes they were a bit theatrical with the two guitarists actually performing on the floor in front of the stage but it was good to see their youthful zeal by asking the crowd to hold one of them aloft for their last tune.  Good vibe though and I hope to see a full set from them at some stage.

Picture Plane was up next and what started fairly promising with a loop and some singing from him turned into a rather average performance of dance tunes.  It actually became unbearably boring at one stage so for the first time in a long time I actually went outside for a smoke…and I don’t smoke.  The upside being that I ran into a friend and friends of the sick friend so at least I have him to thank for that.

HEALTH were finally up and fuck me they might not be healthy for your hearing but damn did they get the heart racing!  Good to see that some of the gig goers had earplugs- while it’s too late for me I am certainly now a campaigner on protecting your hearing so for a group like HEALTH plugs are a must.

The stage setup was quite interesting with having a synth in front of each of the three guitarists on the floor so they could literally get down to business and hammer out some electro bliss and the lead also had quite a few pedals by him which he deftly used during the tunes.  What got my attention most of course was the extra drum in front so they could add some beats- really think it adds so much to the vibe of a live performance when any extra percussion is used.

They only played for about 45 mins but it was a blistering set with barely a break in between tunes- and I think they only had the break so that the drums heads could be tightened after the banging from the savage drummer!  The crowd were really into the vibe which was great to see and while I couldn’t differentiate between all of their tunes the easily recognisable Die Slow, Death +, Before Tigers and We Are Water were there along with most if not all of the new album Get Color.

Of them all I think We Are Water encapsulates their sound best…

We Are Water

Whether or not these are your type of tunes or not, these boys are talented and know how to put on a performance.  Definitely one to catch if you can!

Local Natives- Academy2 Sept 09

I had only come across Local Natives the weekend before the gig so thankfully had checked MySpace to see that they were going to be playing Dublin in the next few days!  Luckily there were still tickets left for their gig but unfortunately it was in Academy2 which doesn’t have the best sound for multifaceted bands like this seeing how its setup mostly for electronic artists.

Good crowd when I arrived and caught a couple of tunes from the first support The Shoos– not much really to be said except that they are radio friendly.

A surprise was in store when the Funeral Suits came on- pretty much the same set they had the last time I saw them but it was good to hear them again.  As with the first time- its the tunes with the keyboard that really standout and the ones without are good but not spectacular.  Still looking forward to some new tunes by them.

Was surprised as well to hear Wintersleep on during the intermissions- always a good sign I think when the soundguy chooses some good tunes.  Another group to catch if you can…although I won’t be shelling out the money to see them as support for Editors.

Local Natives were up and what I liked from the start was the two drummer setup- one guy fulltime at the back on a full kit and a drum with cymbal setup at the front next to the keyboardist-sweet!  I always think that extra percussion can really make a live performance so much better and it was definitely the case here- they played a relatively short set of ten tunes but what tunes they were!

Not every one hit the spot but there were enough in there to showcase their harmonies, excellent percussion and an overall great vibe.  Highlights for me were Cards & Quarters, Wide, Stranger, and the crowd pleaser Airplane.  Above all though, Sun Hands was the standout and a great tune to end the gig with!    No encore and unfortunately I was too slow to get an EP as they sold out rather quickly- had a chat with them instead and their album will be released in Europe at the end of the month.  They are really sound guys and are definitely  a group to catch if you can!  Somehow I think we will be hearing a lot more about them in the months to come and seeing them back in Dublin fairly soon.

Full set list:

World
Camera
Warning Sign
Cards & Quarters
Wide
Cubism
Stranger
Airplanes
Who Knows
Sun Hands

As I don’t have the EP, have a listen to Sun Hands from the excellent Aquarium Drunkard session.

Sun Hands

Knut,

Yeah I can contact them- will have a look at their various sites to see who is best to contact.  Loney Dear might recognize my pic on MySpace which could be a good/bad thing after all the mails I sent asking them about their tours!  Wasn’t into them until I saw them live & they definitely had my attention then!  Will have a look at the form letter but may have to stray a bit since we will be suggesting they do the work together and won’t necessarily be picking their own collaborators.  Know they are touring with Asobi Seksu but don’t think they have the right sound for this- saw them live in Feb and more shoegaze…very loud as well since it was one of the bands around the time my tinnitus started!

Will look at contacts anyway this eve.

Tim

Freelance Whales

Freelance Whales have been on my ears for the last few weeks but with all the gigs recently only getting around to them now.  No matter since I think we will be hearing quite a bit more from them!

Similar to quite a few groups that I like in that they seem to use any old instrument lying around and that is where the magic lies in creating an unusual sound.  Generator 2nd Floor is a harmonious, driving, syncopated tune that will not just have the toe tapping and the head nodding but it may even get you dancing with a bit of glee!  Ghosting is a bit quieter but has the same excellent harmonies and instrumentation.

There is not a huge amount of information out there on them but no surprise that I came across them on the excellent RCRD LBL…which means that I won’t be rehosting the tunes so click here now to get them!  Check out their MySpace on where to get their lp Weathervanes.

For the one-clickers here is a live and more acoustic performance…

Generator 2nd Floor

Joe Gideon & The Shark- Crawdaddy Sept 2009

A free night and no determined plan as to which gig to catch…being on a guest list did help so thanks State.ie!

Actually arrived late in the hopes of missing The Mighty Steph– no offence to him since he does have a good voice but I have seen him far too many times for comfort at this stage.  Alas, things were running late so caught most of his set again.  Couple of new tunes, mostly old tunes…no new words to describe him so enough said.

Had a listen to a couple of Gemma Ray tunes the previous night and when she came out on stage I thought she was at odds to her sound- dressed in an immaculate white dress with a little flower pattern in the middle does not bring to mind somebody with a moody dark reverb sound!  Twas a nice dress though and with her hair up she had a stage presence which was certainly augmented by her voice- maybe not as catchy as I had hoped but she still belted out some good tunes.  She had a two microphone setup and I think it worked best when she was using the one with the reverb sound- really lended an ethereal quality to her voice and enhanced the distorted sound of her guitar.  In the last tune she had some looping which I thought was particularly effective so a shame it wasn’t used more often during the set.

Joe Gideon & The Shark (aka Gideon Joel Seifert and younger sister Viva Seifert) were up and again I had only heard a couple of their tunes the night before so not much expectation and plenty of surprises.  The main vocals came from Joe and were along the lines of spoken word which to be honest isn’t really my cup of tea…and it didn’t help that his regular speaking voice reminds me of Steve Coogan which once in your head is a difficult thought to dispel.

What kept my attention on stage though was the flair from The Shark- completely arresting and I simply could not keep my eyes off of her!  She is unquestionably attractive but that wasn’t what kept my eyes there- her ability to play every instrument around her:  the drums in front, the keyboard at the side, the xylophone on the other side…and whatever else was in reach of her sticks was astounding.  At one stage she had her foot on the bass drum, one hand on the keyboard and the other on the xylophone while singing and looping at the same time!  Her looping in particular made for one hell of a sound which not only augmented Joe but sometimes stole his thunder- delicious layers of her backing vocals, drums and synth all rolled into one great vibe.   I was not surprised when looking at their history then that she competed at the Barcelona Olympic Games in 92 as a rhythmic gymnast.

It didn’t end there though- when she played she was quite dramatic with the hair flics, the poses with her arms held aloft and and most of all…her SMILES!  Simply infectious and it looked like she was having such a blast up there making the music for the tunes that she was lost in herself.

Alas I had to run before the set finished as the last bus home was beckoning- it was probably just as well that the track they were playing at that moment was a little less intense for The Shark so it made it that bit easier on me.

So overall, if you have a chance to catch Gemma Ray- Do.  If you have a chance to catch Joe Gideon & The Shark- then that is a definite must!

Tartufi

Just a quick one for that Friday afternoon buzz- Tartufi won’t exactly be tripping off the tongue but your ears will be mesmerized so be careful of tripping all the same!

Some damn catchy tunes with falsetto vocals, harmonies, driving percussion and excellent instrumentation with quite an array of different sounds.   Have a listen below and you will not be disappointed!

Not that much information around for them but it looks like they will be touring in the UK and Europe in late October/early November and I am hoping they will be hitting these shores since this would definitely be group to catch live!

Tartufi – Fear Of Tall Giraffes, Fear Of Some Birds

Fleet Week