I'm off to see Placebo tonight so I thought I'd post a classic video to get in the mood.
Placebo - Pure Morning
Wednesday 16 December 2009
Placebo Tonight!
Thursday 10 December 2009
We're a Godless Army.
In true Cowboy X style (i.e. a couple of months after the song was released natch') the brand spanking new video for Analogue Droids has finally been unleashed upon the world... or more specifically, premiered on RTE's new music show "When Under Ether" ( Tuesdays @ 11.50pm) which is attempting to fill void left by the excellent Nightshift, which disappeared when Channel 6 went tits up sometime last year, but which does a pretty good job of the whole thing.
Here is the video in question...
anyone else reckon they must have had some EPIC light sabre fights inbetween takes with all those awesome lazer deelys?
Friday 4 December 2009
New Live Talulah Does The Hula Choons Alert.
Happiness Machine favourites and personal chums Talulah Does The Hula have posted some new choons up on the ol' myspaz page which you may find quite rather pleasing to the ears...
The girls did a 2FM session there a couple of nights ago (which I missed due to being in the throes of a massive essay for college... boo) and recorded live versions of so far un-released but firm live favourites "Secret Lovers" and "Hells Bells" along with newer choon "Lovesick Losers".
The girlies (and guy) will be playing out the year at the Phantom New Years Ball at The Academy, Middle Abbey Street on the 31st of December (obv') so make sure to check em' out if you haven't so far this year!
Tuesday 1 December 2009
Monday 30 November 2009
The Moment When R n B ate itself.
"Put that girl in my kitchen
Lock you up, knock you up"
Lock you up, knock you up"
I am genuinely reeling from this discovery ladies and gentlemen. I really did think that nothing could truely top the dizzy heights of turd-dom set by Jeremih's recent hit "Birthday Sex"...
But no, oh no, we did not count on the astounding subtlty of the great R. Kelly to come and completely dis-regard and obliterate the good name of metaphor for years to come.
Mr. Kelly has clearly decided there is no need for such faffing about and that it is far more important to cut down on the crap and get down to business...
Amazing.
Mr. Kelly has clearly decided there is no need for such faffing about and that it is far more important to cut down on the crap and get down to business...
Amazing.
Friday 27 November 2009
Ballroom of Romance - Joycut, Clockwork Noise
Ballroom of Romance presents Joycut, Clockwork Noise, The Walpurgis Family and Pearse McGloughlin. Tonight in The Lower Deck in Portabello. Adm €10. Doors at 8.30. Free Mp3 compilation with admission. If a sexy women standing in front of a flag with a hula hoop doesn't get you there maybe the read more will.
Monday 16 November 2009
Two Door Cinema Club - I Can Talk
'I Can Talk' is the new single from Northern Irish trio Two Door Cinema Club, whose expertly formed indie floor fillers are establishing as one of this years bands to watch. The track is officially realeased on November 23rd.
Tuesday 10 November 2009
Cymbals Eat Guitars - Saturday 14 November Crawdaddy Dublin
Its a rare breed of band that can create sweeping soundscapes while retaining the essence of an indie-pop song but Cymbals Eat Guitars fuse together delay soaked guitars with electric piano, brass and xylophones to do just that. Receiving plaudits from NME and a recommendation from Pitchfork for their debut album 'Why are there Mountains?' the New York groups star is on the rise. The band have crossed the channel for a few solo shows after touring with Wilco and The Flaming Lips. First stop is Crawdaddy in Dublin this Saturday 14th followed by Auntie Annie's in Belfast on Sunday.
Tickets for Crawdaddy are €12 and are available from the usual outlets. Doors at 8.
'What's most admirable about this sophisticated self-released debut is Cymbals Eat Guitars' willingness to think big with gestures that shouldn't fly in the hands of a young band, instrumentally or thematically.' - Pitchfork.com
Wednesday 4 November 2009
the greatest electropop song of the last 10 years finally gets it's own video.
At the request of Tim Sinnot of Ranticular.com, I promise to attempt a full review of the new album by the end of tomorrow.
Hurrah!
Wednesday 28 October 2009
Acapella Storm
Ok I know it may seem like I'm posting a lot of videos but if you watch this video from the beginning to just after 2 minutes in and don't want to keep watching then I will eat my hat (and think that you have no taste in music).
Who knew a Concept Album about Cricket would work so well?
Duckworth Lewis Method - Meeting Mr. Miandad
Tuesday 27 October 2009
...and the curse of the X Factor is broken with one EPIC performance.
After the recent shambolic performances from so-called "musical legends" such as Whitney Houston and Robbie Williams these past couple of weeks on the X Factor, it was a genuinely pleasant surprise and downright relief to hear an astoundingly breathtaking performance courtesy of Tesco Soul favourite, Michael Buble on last Sunday's results show.
Buble completely OWNED the X Factor stage with a rousingly Bond-style arrangement of Julie London's classic tear jerker "Cry Me A River" and utterly wiped the floor with any of the young upstarts attempting the obligatory (and typically chronic) "Big Band" night...
Epic stuff.
Watch out for the classic comment from Dermot O' Leary at the end...
Thursday 22 October 2009
Clockwork Apple Present: Something To Do On Saturday
For those of you who haven't heard me going on about this, the lovely people at Clockwork Apple (they put on gigs you know) have put together a marvellous line up to entertain you this Saturday 24th upstairs in Whelans. Kicking the night off are Powered by Springs. Followed by Clockwork Noise(my band) who will be debuting a few new tracks which I'm rather excited about.
And then finally, fresh from their appearance at Electric Picnic and having just released their debut album 'With All Your Friends', 8 ball will be taking the stage with their brand of quirky electro indie, (I was going to put outlook is good or some other magic 8 ball related joke here but decided against it).
Doors at 8. Admission €10.
Hope to see you down there!
Wednesday 21 October 2009
Extremely Bizarre But Awesome Marina and the Diamonds Video.
Anybody know how they did the whole paper arms and legs thing? Amazing.
Sunday 11 October 2009
Thursday 8 October 2009
New Talulah Does The Hula Official Video Alert.
Typical. You wait for one Talulah Does The Hula video to come along and two come along in one week...
Hot on the heels of the unofficial video for "Brick For A Brain" that came out earlier this week, now comes the official video for recent single "Bad Boyfriend" that was shot earlier this summer.
Bad Boyfriend - Talulah Does The Hula from jessie ward on
They're so damn pretty aren't they?
I'd hate them if they didn't also happen to be really lovely people and possess the uncanny knack for making catchy pop choons... *sigh*
Wednesday 7 October 2009
New Cowboy X Choons Alert / Shameless Plug
After a painfully long (for me) few months tucked away in the studio, Cowboy X have FINALLY announced the release of their brand new EP "Analogue Droids"
Friday 2 October 2009
There's Always Some Fat Guy In Your Way.
In the world of Happiness Machine favourites Talulah Does The Hula, there is only one other song that i love more than "Those Girls"...
...and that song is "Brick For A Brain".
The very first Talulah track i ever heard, it contains the immortal lyric "Move ahead can't move ahead, there's always some fat guy in your way"... and I think we can all relate to that really can't we? Anyhoo, much to my delight I have just discovered a new unofficial video that the girls have thrown together to accompany the demo, made up of retro clips and footage and the like. Rather jolly don't you think?
Check out their myspace as the girls have some upcoming gigs this month (including a slot on this year's Hard Working Class Heroes Festival) and as always are well worth checking out:)
Tuesday 29 September 2009
Best Just To Avoid Looking AJ's Balding Head.
This is the new Backstreet Boys choon...
Despite the video encompassing a bizarre mixture of True Blood and the JLS "Beat Again" video and AJ's balding head, its nice to see the lads abandon the mature but crashingly dull man band sound with hook-less ballads like Inconsolable and Unbreakable (basically anything ending in "-able") and instead embracing the euro pop boy band fromage of old...
YOU KNOW YOU LOVE IT.
Sunday 27 September 2009
Tuesday 22 September 2009
Review - 500 Days of Summer
'This is not a love story, this is a story about love'. Its rare that a tag line really summarises the feeling of a film accurately but this line describes this film perfectly. Our hero and hopeless Romantic Tom(Gordon Levitt)works in a greeting cards company writing slogans. Growing up with the messages of Joy Division and The Smiths Tom believes there is a one true love for every person and when free-spirit Summer (Zoe Deschanel) joins the company as his bosses new secretary they bond over music and start what can only be described as a romantic entanglement.
Pros:
- Gordon Levitt is extremely likeable as Tom playing a character that any guy can relate to and any girl can feel sympathy for
- Good soundtrack featuring tracks by The Smiths, Regina Spektor, Doves, Feist and a variety of other alternative hits.
- Mark Webb provides us with some very nice shots and transitions
- The films non-chronological timeline keeps you interested and avoids the common rom-com predictablity
- By eschewing the stereotypical storyline about unrequited love becoming requited and everyone living happily ever after, the film gets to takes a fresh look at what happens after the initial sparks
- Zoe Deschanel is very very pretty
Cons:
- Although initially likeable as an always in a good mood free-spirit, Summers indecisiveness can prove frustrating and doesn't leave you with much sympathy for the character
- By revealing the end at the beginning the film suffers from a lack of a climax and fizzles out rather than bangs
- Not necessarily a major con as the film is most definitely based on the story of the two main characters but I felt like some of the supporting characters could have done with a bit more fleshing out
It seems that unconventional indie romantic comedies have been popping up a lot more recently and with that one could expect a lapse in quality however 500 Days of Summer strives to keep the bar high and succeeds. It portrays all stages of a relationship perfectly from the naiveity and innocence of the new couple right down to the bikering and petty fighting of a pairing whose sun has already set. As is the case with most romantic comedies it may not leave you with much food for thought, but at least it leaves you with a smile on your face.
Score: 4 out of 5
If You Enjoyed: Nick and Norah's infinite playlist, Juno, High Fidelity, Almost Famous
Tuesday 15 September 2009
The New Dolly Rockers Choon: Considerably Better Than Their Current One.
The Dolly Rockers are a rather jolly new all girl trio who tasted fame briefly during the boot camp/judges houses stages of X Factor 2006 where they were, quite frankly, a bit lame really...
But sure they were only babies then. Nowadays they've re-invented themselves as somewhat of an antidote to the sudden influx of overly coiffed UK girl bands such as The Saturdays, Girls Can't Catch, Bubble G and Louis Walsh's as yet unnamed (and crashingly dull) forthcoming new girlband. Their current extremely witty and cutting debut single Gold Digger rode surprisingly high in the charts recently but still in my opinion suffered a little from not really having much a tune to speak of. However their next single Boys Will Be Boys rectifies that issue more than sufficiently while still maintaining the refreshingly sharp lyrics and pointedly English accents.
P.S. When listening to this choon, does anyone else get the urge to sing "they're so FUCKING boring" as opposed to the original lyric "they're so FRICKIN' boring"?
Just me then?
Ok.
Monday 14 September 2009
Things I Learned On Tuesday Night.
Ok, first of all my apologies at only getting around to writing up a round up the events that occurred on Tuesday, 8th of September in the Old Crown Public House, otherwise known as the 2009 Twenty Quid Music Prize, now but I was combatting a lack of internet until Friday, and a lack of arsed-ness til just now...
However, I shall not leave you in the dark any longer. Here is a quick round up/blow by blow account of interesting stuff that happened/that I learned/that left me thinking wtf?!/etc...
- Peter Robinson, though he is my idol, is still at heart a somewhat opportunistic git who will have no qualms about making you look like an absolute tit in front of legendary pop producer/general all round genius Richard X.
- Before launching into a detailed, mainly negative critique of a pop song produced by Richard X, please make sure you are not ACTUALLY babbling away to Richard X himself as you are doing it... *cringe*
(The girl in the middle is the above mentioned research scientist... what a legend.)
Monday 7 September 2009
Its Only Pop Music But I Like It.
Happiness Machine readers may remember me giving a cryptic clue a couple of weeks ago to something very cool and pop related that I will be taking part in tomorrow night. Make no mistake people, this is nothing short of epic...
my whole life has been leading up to this point...
Loyal subjects, I have chosen to be part of the prestigious (prestigious? really?... - Ed) ok maybe not prestigious but certainly supremely awesome judging panel for...
the 2009 Popjustice 20 Quid Music Prize!!!!!
Yes readers, tomorrow night I shall be in the presence of the great Peter Robinson and 34 other assorted die hard pop fans such as myself in a random pub in London for a night of pop, booze and over-priced pub grub... but mostly pop.
Forget the Mercury Music Prize people! In these troubled times, debating the merits of Bat for Lashes sophmore effort over Florence and the Machine patchy debut is not nearly as life affirming as arguing the toss about whether JLS's Beat Again is a pile of poo or a modern pop triumph!!!
Anyways, I must leave you now as my internet is about to run out in the hostel... Expect a full report on the night's proceedings when I return! its gonna be a good un'!
Tuesday 1 September 2009
Picks of the Picnic
For those of you heading to Stradbally this weekend I thought I'd put together a quick list of what I think you should be going to see with a track from each to get you in the mood. This is only a small cross-section of what I hope to see over the weekend but it'll hopefully give a taste of what's to come.
Click below to get the track list
*Note - Tracks removed due to DMCA complaint
Jeffrey Lewis comes to EP with his brand of lo-fi anti-folk. Although he doesn't possess the strongest voice his poignant, introspective and sometimes extremely funny lyrics make this an act not to miss. He also throws a bit of art into the middle of his shows.
Black Ghosts - Any Way You Choose to Give It (Boy 8 Bit Remix)
I know its technically not a Boy 8 bit song but it gives you a taste of the bit crunched sound he'll be displaying.
Dark Room Notes - Shake Shake My Ceiling
Dark Melodic Electro-Indie from this Dublin four piece. Catch them on Friday or Saturday in this Thisispopbaby area/tent.
Japanese Popstars - Delboys Revenge
Having only heard this track fairly recently it has taken up residency on my iPod. This is the what I will be going crazy to at 1 in the morning in the Little Big Tent.
Villagers - Meaning of the Ritual
Ex-Immediate Conor O Brien will take to the stage in the body and sound on friday evening. Whether it is an acoustic or full band set make sure you don't miss this (but if you do they're also playing on sunday on the Crawdaddy stage round 1.10
Saturday:
Lisa Hannigan - I Don't Know
This is the 'hit' song from her debut offering 'Sea Sew'. Get down to the main stage to see the full breadth of this songwriters talent before she blows up even more.
The XX - Crystalised
A lesson in minimalist indie songwriting. Everyone take notes.
Jape - Phil Lynott
Cracking tune from 'Ritual'. All that needs to be said is 'Look. at. the. fucking. moon'
Explosions in the Sky - Catastrophe and The Cure
Delay drenched guitars combine with powerful drumming to write moving instrumental music that could soundtrack your life.
Marina and The Diamonds - The Shampain Sleeper
If you haven't heard of her yet your missing out. Steadily gaining in popularity this half-greek songstress writes quirky piano pop with a smidge of synthy-electro bleeps thrown in for good measure.
Sunday:
Basement Jaxx - Raindrops
New single from a duo who just can't seem to write a bad song. Vocodered brilliance throughout.
Two Door Cinema Club - Something Good Can Work
This three piece from Northern Ireland came to my attention through a friend and it baffles me that they aren't huge already. One of the catchiest indie-pop songs I've heard in a long time.
Florence and The Machince - Cosmic Love
Possibly the artist I'm most excited about this weekend, Florence and The Machine take to the stage in electric arena round 17.15. Having slowly been gathering interest from the media, realeasing an excellent debut album and having a song (this one in fact) soundtrack an O2 ad, Florence Welsh's star is most definitely on the rise.
The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt.1
This song has a soft spot in my heart as its the song that introduced me to the Floaty-pop-noises of The Flaming Lips. Will Wayne Coyne zorb his way around the crowd? I'll just have to go down and find out.
Passion Pit - Moths Wings
One of my top picks from the groups debut album 'Manners'. I hope they can live up to my expectations live.
The full Stage Times are available in PDF here – Friday Saturday Sunday
Monday 31 August 2009
More Recommended Forthcoming Pop Choons #736453: Now With Added Reality TV.
Well, well, well... look who has crawled out from underneath the pop woodwork after a quiet period of post reality TV reflection...
Some may remember The Ordinary Boys (no? Ok.)from 2 or 3 years back when lead singer Preston (in a last ditch attempt to save the band from being dropped) somewhat ill-advisedly entered the Celebrity Big Brother of 2006, fell in love with love-able dimbat/Paris Hilton look-a-like Chantelle Houghton whom he soon married, and was suddenly thrown into a world of Heat magazine covers and OK! wedding photo deals before dumping the above mentioned dimbat in order to return to the fiance he left her for in the first place. The Ordinary Boys themselves did experience a brief re-heating of their chart success in the wake of CBB publicity and subsequent tabloid whore-dom of their outspoken and mis-guidedly cocky frontman. However, this success was short lived, particularly in the aftermath of the messy divorce that followed between Chantelle and Preston approxiamately 5 minutes after they married.
Now after a couple of years away from the media spotlight, Preston appears to have ditched the lame and anodyne "ska" band of old and is attempting to launch a solo career. Taking on a new image which seems to resemble what the love child of a young Morrissey and Frankmusik would look like, he is also venturing down the ol' electropop route which can only be a good thing in my opinion! His forthcoming debut single "Dressed To Kill" (which is out this month) takes the best part of Siouxie and the Banshees "Happy House" and weaves it into a dark but playful pop song about a ruthless maneater with plenty of cheesy vampire metaphors and such to boot. I think its damn catchy too! Pity about the unfortunate Lost Boys inspired video... I am still unclear as to whether it is SUPPOSED to look quite eighties and cheap just to add to the hammy-ness of it all. Although Preston's own views on the video would suggest otherwise in this extremely good interview on Popjustice.com. Here is the video...
Sunday 30 August 2009
Hello Daddy! Hello Mom!
There is to be a new film biopic released in 2010, telling the story of the hugely influential teenage all girl punk band The Runaways entitled... "The Runaways".
Clever title, that.
The band's brief but glitteringly tempestuous time in the spotlight spawned the future careers the likes of Joan Jett (the band's ferocious rhythm guitarist) Cherie Currie (the band's barely legal but awesomely bad ass front woman) and have continued to influence bands to this day such as Hole and The Donnas as well as pave the way for other successful female led rock acts over the last 3 decades... their influence on late seventies feathered hair cuts also must not be overlooked.
The band went through several line up changes during their 4 year career, going through bassists in particular like Spinal Tap go through drummers... However Currie and Jett, alongside lead guitarist Lita Ford and the late but great Sandy West on drums are considered to be the definitive line up overall.
Some may already be aware that Kristen Stewart of Twilight fame (bleh) will portraying Joan Jett (who is herself executive producer of the film)but some may be surprised to find that the vaguely interesting but by no means bad ass Dakota Fanning of Various Other Non-Badass Film Roles fame will be rocking out on screen in a corset and stockings as the 16 year old, drug addled Cherie Currie. Hmmm...
Well, I guess we'll have to wait another few months or so to find out how that casting works out! In the meantime lets have a look see at the original grrrls doing their thang on a Japanese TV special from 1977...
Tuesday 25 August 2009
Friday 21 August 2009
Thursday 20 August 2009
Best Radio 1 Live Lounge Cover In AGES.
...and no I am not biased because it involves HER.
In other news, the original version of this song (by X Factor rejects/phenomenally popular new boyband JLS) is, along with 11 other songs, going to be part of something really, exceptionally cool that I will be taking part in on the 8th of September... I'm still not entirely sure whether I'm allowed to reveal what it is just yet but when I do Happiness Machine readers will be the first to know!!
Friday 14 August 2009
Sunday 9 August 2009
Friday 7 August 2009
More Recommended Forthcoming Pop Choons #37465
Have a look see at this here band from Denmark known as "Private"...
As you can see, nice Adam's Family/The Horrors style goth look going on, moody expressions, hailing from Scandinavia, home of various goth / metal bands and the like...
Now lets a have a listen to their forthcoming single, "My Secret Lover" which is out next month...
Weren't expecting that were you?
This song is quite clearly the best song Prince never wrote featuring a young Michael Jackson and N Sync on vocals... plus extra points for the synchonized side to side dance moves and effective use of keytars. Epic win.
Wednesday 5 August 2009
Review: Lisa Hannigan - Sea Sew
Lisa Hannigan - Sea Sew
This is the first album I've reviewed here on The Happiness Machine so it may take a while to settle on a consistent format but for the moment I'm going to work from the outside in and look at cover art then go through the tracklist.
Thursday 30 July 2009
U2 - Set List Croke Park 27th August 2009
I was originally going to do a review but a lot of time has passed and I've done nothing so instead here's the set list.
Set List:
Breathe
No Line on the Horizon
Magnificent
Get on your Boots
Beautiful Day
New Years Day
Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (Moving on Up)
Stay (Faraway, So Close) - Acoustic
Unknown Caller
Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll go crazy if I don't go crazy tonight (Remix)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Pride (In the name of love)
MLK
Walk On
Message from Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Where the streets have no name
One
Bad
Encore:
Ultraviolet
With or Without You
Moment of Surrender
Monday 27 July 2009
It's songs like these that make you feel like you never want the summer to end...
This has been out for about a month now but I've only recently come to realise what a TUUUNE it is...
There is an official video for it... but it's not suitable for the kiddies cos it's got boobies in it.
*all the men suddenly clear the room & leg it to the nearest computer*
Can't wait for Electric Picnic!
Friday 24 July 2009
Wednesday 22 July 2009
Beastie Boy's Adam Yauch Has Cancer
In what will come as a disappointment to any Beastie Boys expecting a tour after the upcoming release of Hot Sauce Committee Pt 1., they may have to wait as Adam Yauch has been diagnosed with cancer. It seems to be treatable so don't panic just yet but it will be a set back for the group who have cancelled all upcoming tour dates. See the message from the band in full below.
Tuesday 21 July 2009
Forcing pop music down the throats of people who wouldn't normally know anything about it.
In what I'm hoping will become a weekly feature on this blog, I will be plucking one or two soon to be released pop choons that people who mostly keep their nose out of the charts or the radio will probably never stumble upon themselves...
The aim of this venture being that these particular people might discover something they wouldn't normally listen to, either out of musical snobbery or just purely being unaware of the music's existance in the first place.
First up is Mini Viva with their forthcoming debut single "Left My Heart In Tokyo". This all-girl duo are the brainchild of the infamous Xenomania, the production team most notably associated with Girls Aloud. These girls were also highly rated in the radar section of this week's NME (although this is probably due to the fact that it was temporarily hi-jacked by Popjustice editor and cut throat pop music aficianado Peter Robinson. Genius.) "Left My Heart In Tokyo" is a deliciously hooky and kooky pop ditty which I do hope will be afforded some decent chart success alongside the usual, more forgettable chart fodder!
People should really use more celestes these days.
Here is legendary composer John Williams filmed discussing the various themes from the Harry Potter score.
It would be supremely awesome if he came back to do the score for the final films.
It has been confirmed that he may return to score the final films pending his schedule so fingers crossed... He has been the only composer to truly capture the magic within the films.
Legend.
Thursday 9 July 2009
Review - !!! (Chk Chk Chk) at Whelans
Whelans was turned into a sweat box yesterday night when Brooklyn dance punk band '!!!' (Pronounced Chk Chk Chk) packed the venue on one of the first dates of their european tour.
Monday 6 July 2009
Wednesday 1 July 2009
Glastonbury Pics
Over at Boston.com they have some pretty amazing photos of Glastonbury and you can view them here.
Friday 26 June 2009
Thursday 25 June 2009
Wednesday 24 June 2009
Tim Burton achieves new levels of creepiness... Hurrah!
I have just stumbled upon some pictures on the Guardian website from the forthcoming live action Alice in Wonderland movie as directed by Tim Burton and it looks AMAZING...
...don't you think?
Sunday 21 June 2009
The Most Unlikely Shakespeare Sister Cover You'll Hear All Year.
If you cast your mind back to about 18 years ago you may remember this little early nineties ditty...
Yes, I know... its quite insane isn't it? It's still quite a stirring song though when you remove the video from your head. Ham Sandwich have obviously thought the same thing as they have done a rather lovely cover of it for the recent Sparks N Mind charity album in aid of Irish Depression charity Aware. The best bit is definitely when guitarist/vocalist Podge McNamee sucker punches the listener in the face with the "you better hope and pray" bit... cracking stuff.
Here is a performance of said cover filmed last week in Tower Records for the launch of the album.
The rest of the album contains some nifty covers by the likes of Cowboy X, Le Galaxie and Lisa Hannigan amongst others and only a tenner so well worth buying.
Friday 19 June 2009
Dirty Epics Get Raw!
Like me you may be following The Raw Sessions on RTE 2 at the moment - a sort of alternative X Factor where a select group of up and coming Irish bands are sent into various studios to write and record a song from scratch, with the winning bands going forward into a live grand final to become Sony Ericssion Artist of the Year in the Button Factory on the 26th June. I think this has been an inspired idea and while some of the songs have been a bit hit and miss, there have been a few diamonds in the rough such as the entry from garage punk rockers Dirty Epics. Their track "White Out" is a pulsing,synth driven guitar rock anthem,the sound of which i can only hope will have a significant influence on their next album.
Click here to have a listen to the track in question.
Click here to have a listen to the track in question.
Songs I Really Shouldn't Like #67534
Remember dance group Cascada? The staple of all anti-social twats who play the music on their phones OUT LOUD on the bus...
Well, this is their new single "Evacuate The Dancefloor".
One could initially dismiss this as a complete Lady GaGa rip-off, which it kind of is...
But then again, if it WAS actually by Lady GaGa, wouldn't we all be saying how freaking awesome/catchy it is?
Excuse me while I go get my groove on!
Tuesday 16 June 2009
This Appeals to Me
This greatly appeals to my inner nerd and the psychologist in me (Although I suppose they are both technically nerdy pursuits).
Please Investigate it here
Monday 15 June 2009
Thursday 11 June 2009
New 'Talulah Does The Hula' Choons...
Sunny, 60's inspired indie poppers Talulah Does The Hula have just posted up a couple of new choons on their myspace... The choons in question, 'Bad Boyfriend' and 'Those Girls', will be released as a double A-side on physical and digital formats (i shall be acquiring both... natch') on Friday 26th of June with a launch gig in The Twisted Pepper on Middle Abbey Street the night before that. I shall be there myself if anyone wants to join me!
I personally would like to wish Talulah the best of luck with single as they're lovely girls (and guy) and myself and Chris had a great time playing with them last month supporting Cowboy X. Plus its also just really important to keep supporting our homegrown talent, of which we have lots!
See ya at the front! x
I personally would like to wish Talulah the best of luck with single as they're lovely girls (and guy) and myself and Chris had a great time playing with them last month supporting Cowboy X. Plus its also just really important to keep supporting our homegrown talent, of which we have lots!
See ya at the front! x
Monday 8 June 2009
Little Boots - 'Hands': THE ULTIMATE REVIEW.
So this is it people. The mothership has landed. the Little Boots album has finally leaked into the hands of the common folk after being kept under the best lock and key since the "Who killed JR?" storyline.
But seriously though, if you're anything like me you'll know that to finally hear this album in full is like climaxing after the world's longest foreplay session... (1 year to be exact) but has it all been worth the wait? Worth all that torture of dangling limited edition 7" singles and 'US only' EPs in front of our noses while scouring the Hypemachine for some semblance of an mp3 that WASN'T the five hundredth remix of Meddle or New In Town? In the words of Lil Mama on America's Best Dance Crew, did Ms. Victoria Hesketh 'bring it'?? well, in a lot of ways she has... but is it enough? and so, here is my ultimate, no holds barred, track by track analysis of the entire album from start to finish...
TRUST NO OTHER REVIEW!
*deep breath* here we go...
Thursday 4 June 2009
Video: Fight Like Apes - Something Global
Directed by Eoghan Kidney, the video aimed to splice together over a hundred different cameras worth of fan footage and professional video camera shots to create a music video. The video was shot in Whelans and You can see the result below. The video also has an appearance by me as one of the mask wearing suit people in the background.
Fight Like Apes - Something Global from ξοgΙιαη κιdηεγ on Vimeo.
Thursday 28 May 2009
Extreme Sheepherding
Ok I know this is not music related and I don't plan to make a habit of these kind of posts but I just thought this was too good to pass up.
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