Hotpress Live Music Venue of The Year – Vote For Cyprus Avenue

Hey blog fans,

I ask little of you guys in return for your entertainment, and my hard work (ha) on noteswithnocommas, but now, I call in the favors. Hotpress and IMRO have released the shortlist for their Music Venue of The Year awards. As most of you know, I’ve spent the last few years in Cork, and found a second home in Cyprus Avenue. The venue is amazing, and gets some of the best bands in the country, if not the world, to come to the Lee-side to play.  The rest of the list isn’t great to be honest, and it’d be great to see the nod going to the peoples republic. SO, if you all have a minute to spare, can you pop over and tick a box.

So Steve, what do I do I hear you ask. Well….

1) Go to Hot Press and register an account, through the following link:
http://www.hotpress.com/registration/reg_details.php?product_name=Subscription+hotpress.com&rtype=vote

2) Log in to your newly created account.

3) hit the following link:
http://www.hotpress.com/vote/vote.php?id=4821512&action=view4) Vote for Cyprus Avenue from the list.

Thanks a million for aking the time, and hopefully we’ll get a result. Voting is closing soon, so speed is of the essence.For more details on Cyprus Avenue, see here.

Soundtrack To Your Life

Ok, so this was doing the rounds a while ago, just a fun little timewaster. Stick your mp3 player on shuffle, and let it create the soundtrack to the movie of your life. Some odd results may be thrown up. If you want to try it out, a blank list is below the click for more, stick it in the comments or on your own blog, but let me know. Here we go,

Opening Credits:
Lemon Tree – Fools Garden. (Forgot I even had this song, good credits though)

Waking Up:
Mr. Brightside – The Killers (Going well so far)

First Day At School:
Heaven’s Wall – The Devlins (Has that Irish school feeling about it alright)

Falling in Love:
I Hope That I Don’t Fall In Love With You – Tom Waits (I am not joking here)

Breaking Up:
We Can Run Away Now They Are All Dead And Gone – Snow Patrol (Good thing Pam is a witness)

Prom:
Yr Manged Heart – Gossip(Guess I ain’t taking that break up too wel)

Life’s Okay:
Hey Mama – Kanye West (Haven’t ever heard this song before, but it fits-ish)

Mental Breakdown:
Lose You – Pete Yorn (Ha)

Driving:
Monster – The Automatic (Great song, apt name…)

Flashback:
Bridge Over Troubled Water – Johnny Cash (Great Song)

Getting Back Together:
Happiness – Jack L (I like this song, but its about breaking up. And I don’t know a Genevieve)

Wedding:
Boxing Champ – Kaiser Cheifs (A rather nice song, but for a wedding?)

Birth of a Child:
One Vision – Queen (Nice)

Final Battle:
Hello, Goodbye – The Beatles (iTunes is screwing me now)

Death Scene:
Fake Plastic Trees – Radiohead (Good save Jobs)

Funeral Song:
One Minute To Midnight – Justice (Tanfastic)

End Credits:
Limited Edition – Snow Patrol

All in all a decent list. But where did the wedding song, and my final battle come from. Still I got a good run with falling in love, breaking up and prom. And I really like my end credits song too. So it balances.

Songs Of The Week

Ok, some tunes which I have been listening to this week include:

Kings of Leon, Sex on Fire. I may have a copy of the album that has been floain on the internet. Its good. Very good. Can’t wait to buy it.

Flobots, Handlebars. Nice buildey rap song, in the vein of Messiah J who I have also been listening to lately. Check them out i Whelans this weekend, on Sunday, for 20 notes, tickets here

Glasvegas, Geraldine. See review a few posts lower.

And an oldie, but one that is stuck in my head:

Men At Work singer Colin Hay does Overkill. Might remember it from Scrubs, or the original Men At Work version. Yes, they did more than just I Come From A Land Down Underrrrr.

Thats it for now, might try to make this a regular feature though…

Getting My Goat

From Eoghan at Casa Casey-Courtney:

This meme is called Getting Your Goat and the rules are simple;

1. List two things that irritate you for a reason, which you should give, and two things that irritate you for no good reason,
2. Give credit to the person who tagged you,
3. Link your answers to the original blog - http://casacaseycourtney.wordpress.com,
4. Tag four new people to participate.

Eoghan’s dslike of Irish Rail is one I share, and have mentioned previouly here, and I aso find the drink legislation worrysome, but I don’t so much notice the grasping world, or Sports Commentators. As for driving and skinny jeans, meh, I have no strong feelings, but Casey makes some good points.

So, lets try this out:

For Reason

Repeats on Dave

Why have a channel which has my favourite programmes on it, only to have it constantly running repeats. I don’t mean the idea of repeats in themselves, but why oh why do they show the same episode of Top Gear in ten different time sots over a day. Dave, sort it out.

Repets in general are fine, but the Sky News/Dave/Living practice of making 40 mins of programming and stretching that out to fill a schedule are a little funking mental to be honest.

Young Baltic Fleeto Gang (Or gangs in general)

Unknown to me until earlier today, this gang have taken a Glasvegas song, Stabbed, about being set upon by the gang on a night, and having to run for your life, and put i on their bebo page as an anthem. Leave them rude messages here: Young Baltic Fleeto

Why do small groups of young people, or older people have to act in such an antisocial way? Surely they have the ability to achieve even the smallest positive thing in their lives, and not have to rely on this kind of action to justfy their pathetic existence. I’m a big guy, over 6 foot tall, and almost as wide, but late in the evening, when confronted by a gang of 4 foot pipsqueaks, I turn down the iPod volume, draw up to full height and get ready to bolt.

For No Reason

Fergus Findlay

Just saw him on Questions and Answers, and he annoys me for no reason. He couldn’t read Lisbon Treaty, didn’t find the consolidated treaty interesting or exciting, has that wired beard/monk-ish head on him. Everytime I see him, I get a little more angry at this man.

Theseseseseseseses

Yeah, I had the long summer to write 12,000 words for my thesis. Yeah, I bit off more than I could chew. Yeah, I am now banging it out. But its getting on my goat a bit at this stage.No more details, my external may find this site.

Right, there we go.

So who wants to take up the mantle? I do not know a huge number of bloggers, so anyone who happens upon this is free to take up the challenge, just follow the rules above, and link me back too.

Glasvegas

Ok, so at the risk of this turning into a music blog, I recently got a copy of the Glasvegas album, released on September 8th. I had heard about them on the Guardian Music Weekly Podcast, and liked some of the snippets of songs like Geraldine that Paul played.

First impressions, I really like it. Its a difficult one to describe, the total sound. Its just huge. Its reverb, circling notes and guitars clanging in the nicest possible way, and sound like they are bing played a million miles away, but with some kind of ghostly clarity. This might be twee, but it almost sounds bagpipey, the melody melts and blends, so that it complements the more defined vocal and rythm sections. Pounding drums and crashing symbols make up the final sound, and to be honest, rather than sounding like a fire in a music shop, it really works, all the layers are more than a sum of their parts.

The opener Flowers and Football Tops, which is written from the point of view of a father reflecting on the murder of his son, is simply magnificent and, I can only imagine, it captures the inability to understand, and the distracted though process. (I dare anyone to listen all the way through without feeling moved). This is followed up by Geraldine, another beautiful song this time about a “social worker” who describes herself as a guardian angel. Other standouts for me at least are Daddy’s Gone, Go Square Go and S.A.D. Light.

Stabbed is one which will stick in the listeners head most though, using Beethoven as the backdrop to retell a story of confrontation with a gang, the Young Baltic Fleeto, and maybe a knife. Allen doesn’t sing, he bitterly recites the lyrics, “No cavalry could ever save me/I’m gonna get stabbed”, before deciding to run rather than fight. Its a raw song, and one that shows the fear of knife crime in a way that other songwriters just can’t seem to grasp.

I suppose that is the best way of describing Glasvegas, they are raw band. Allen sings every lyric in a broad Glasgow accent, which lends greater meaning to the emotion he is conveying. Emotion and fragility comes through what some have described as a wall of sound tracing its roots back to Phil Spector, Elvis, the Jesus and Mary Chain. These guys mean business too, an estimated 100,000 sales in the first three days of release, and already talking about their next record, a Christmas one no less.

Glasvegas are a definate must have for music fans this September. I fear the album might be marmite, some will love it, some will hate it, but for god sake, do yourself a favour and listen to it.

Snow Patrol – A Hundred Million Suns

Tracklisting released for A Hundred Million Suns:

If There’s a Rocket Tie Me To It
Crack The Shutters Open
Take Back The City
Lifeboats
The Golden Floor
Please Just Take These Photos From my Hands
Set Down Your Glass
The Planets Bend Between Us
Engines
Disaster Button
The Lightning Strike
(i)What if This Storm Ends?
(ii)Sunlight Through The Flags
(iii)Daybreak

Also, first single Take Back The City will be released in October, but you can hear it on Zane Lowe’s BBC show pod-thingy from tomorrow morning, and a little snippet is on the Snow Patrol website. Sounds very Hands Open-ey, with a dash of old school stuff I was hoping for. Very excited…..

Evan Bayh? Obama’s VP – NEVER MIND

According to Time, Evan Bayh is the VP on the Change ticket. (See here) Who I hear you ask?

From Wiki:

“Birch Evans Bayh III (commonly known as Evan Bayh) (pronounced /ˈbaɪ/, like “bye”) (born December 26, 1955) is an American politician who has served as the junior U.S. Senator from Indiana since 1999 and earlier served as Governor of Indiana. He is a member of the Democratic Party.”

He was in favour of the Iraq War at the outset, but seems to have altered his status, and voted against Ashcroft for AG, Rice for State, and Roberts for Chief Justice. He is pro-choice, strong on education, and has good public healthcare platform, having introduced the Medicare Prescription Drug Emergency Guarantee Act of 2006. He has a decent national security and foreign relations background, he served on the Armed Services Committee and the Select Intelligence Committee.

So, will he get the nod, only time will tell. I might be another blogger who has jumped the gun based on Time Magazine.

Scratch that, its been announced. Joe Biden, as expected in wider circles gets the pick. How this goes, who knows. I would have preferred Bayh to be honest, but the choice is made, and failing a Santos/McGarry style meltdown, I think its safely decided. See Obama’s site here for more details.

Bloc Party, Intimacy – Reviewed

Yesterday, Thursday 20th August, Bloc Party released their new album, Intimacy, on the internet. The writing has been on the wall for a new sound from Bloc Party since the controversial single Flux and follow up Mercury in the same vein, which saw the band going in a more electro direction. Lead singer Kele made media comments which had several including NME guessing that this new sound was causing friction in the band, and may prove harmful to their continuation. Flux was said to draw inspiration from emerging music from JUSTICE among others, with Kele complaining that in order to have credibility bands had to play guitars, when he preferred messing about with synths and keys Little wonder that fans and industry alike were expecting something new and different from the Bloc Party boys.

Intimacy does not fail to deliver, the remixed layered sounds are front and centre in opener Ares, a soaring intro bleeds into a more familiar Bloc Party guitar track, and that unmistakable voice behind it all. Mercury finds its home as second track, followed by Halo, both of which continue the frantic pace of Ares, as if trying to prove that this new sound can sustain, while being familiar. Biko is a more reflective sound, more familiar to fans of Silent Alarm, with a quiet melodic riff playing under those considered lyrics. The respite does not last long, and Trojan Horse is straight back into the high energy sample filled “new” sound. Signs is a weak track relatively, but in a album I found this enjoyable, thats not a bad thing. One Month off is a catchy number, with a great crunchy bassline, Zepherus has an almost ethereal feel, probably due to the samples used near the middle of the track, which I shall leave for you to discover. Better Than Heaven and Ion Square close out the album, and reflect a more comfortable sound.

Two things to get out of the way, while these guys are making music in a different way, the Bloc Party elements are there front and centre. Little flourishes are different, but the atmosphere created by the album is still the same as one might get from Silent Alarm or A Weekend In The City. Also, these criticisms of an electro shift for this predominantly indie band are very much without foundation, tracks like Luno, She’s Hearing Voices, The Prayer and On are the precoursers of this album, and lets not forget the hugely popular Silent Alarm [Re-Mixed]. Bloc Party have always had this edge to their music, and don’t deserve much of the purist criticism.The handling of this album by Jacknife Lee and Paul Epworth has been excellent, the production vaues being clear despite the assault of sounds on, for example, Trojan Horse.

In all, this album was well worth the wait. While the eventual announcement was odd, and there is still more from this project to hear, on October 27th when the CD is released, this is a definite must as an antidote to a pretty lackluster summer of music. My verdict is a definite buy, but be sure to purchase the CD/Download combo. The reason, as good as this is, it does have that unfinished air about the album, that polish that previous releases had.

Buy it now at the Bloc Party webstore

Music Coming Soon…

There appears to be  flurry of activity coming up in the music world. Some of my favourite bands and acts will be releasing new albums over the next few weeks, and I want to give you a run down of those that I think will be worth a listen.

Bloc Party (Myspace) will be dropping “Intimacy” this week, with new tracks like Trojan Horse already leaking. I am guessing that this is a rush job for some reason, but I quite like this new sound, as seen on Flux in the past. Whether all Bloc Party fans agree is another thing.

Jack L (Myspace) is set to release his new album, “Burn On” in early October. I heard some songs from it at the Vicar Street show last March, and they sound great. There is a song on there called Great Wall of China, and maybe we’ll get an album release of Stardust… Just read this is an album of Randy Newman covers, with an original album coming later in the year. Theres a sample of new single, “I Think It’s Going To Rain Today” on his website, at www.jacklukeman.com. He is also playing two gigs on the 9th and 10th of October to herald the new album.

Snow Patrol (Myspace) are set to release “A Hundred Million Suns” in the very near future, having been recording for the last number of months. How will it sound? Who knows. I am hoping for some return to roots tracks that would not have been out of place on When This Is All Over, or Songs For Polar Bears.

Dirty Epics (Myspace) are keeping us waiting for “Straight In, No Kissin”, and I am still looking forward to it, even after an Oxegen set that I didn’t find totally riveting, there seemed to be something missing. Hopefully the chunky punk sound of Pony and The One will feature heavily.

Kings Of Leon (Myspace) will be flogging “Only By The Night” on September 23rd. Pre-released track Crawl sounds good.

And also worth a look, and in your local record shop/itunes now are the following:

The Script (Myspace) I know it ain’t cool or clever to suggest the number one album, but these guys make good music, not just disposable pop crap. Songs like Before The Worst, and The End are well written and considered, and I find them so catchy. And I knew about them when there were just playing support gigs to Newton Faulkner

Codes (Myspace) My favourite “doom rock” band. WTF is doom rock? I think Metro Dublin has been sniffing the glue. Anyways, get out and buy This Is Goodbye. Now.

Viva La Vida i quite good, and I have enjoyed We Started Nothing and Oracular Spectacular, but I am really looking forward to some new decent music at long last. Roll on he next few weeks.

Ireland In August

Given that tonight is the subject of a severe weather warning, I thought I’d share some photos from a recent late night trip to Newcastlewest. Pam and I left Dublin late on Thursday night, after she finished work, hoping to avoid the Bank Holiday Friday traffic. We arrived into Newcastlewest just as the river, the Arra, burst its banks. We had just driven into town when the water came up on the Kerry side of the town, and had figured out a way around back through Limerick side, when the town flooded there too.

Anyway, a few hours later, and a couple of pics, we were rescued by Pam’s uncle Garry, who brought us out recently dried back roads. So here’s some photos: