Review: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah @ The Pavilion, Cork

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Jan 282012

Prior to arriving at the Pavilion for the sold-out second gig of a 20-date European tour for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah I had been reading this article about what it apparently takes to be a rock star: $100,000 in your first year as a band could see you achieve goals such as being mentored by former British rock stars, posing for photo shoots and hanging out with models. I would hazard a guess that none of the five members of CYHSY have ever thought of those achievements as goals. Yet they arrive onstage at the overflowing Pavilion to rapturous roars of approval – it’s their first visit to the city. Five years after their self-titled debut album, you could have been forgiven for thinking people had forgotten the Brooklyn band; after all, they were the epitome of a blogger’s band. But young and old, bearded and clean-shaven have turned out in their droves for CYHSY.

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Cloud Castle Lake - 'Another Girl' (video)

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Jan 272012

There’s so little Cloud Castle Lake music available online that I was delighted to see they were recording something for Quompilation #2. It’s a cover of the Jacques Greene song ‘Another Girl’. I hadn’t heard the original so it’s totally new to me. The Dublin group showcase all their talents for the song – the harmonies abound throughout and everything is restrained for so long until it all comes to the fore. James, one-quarter of Cloud Castle Lake, made a video for ‘Another Girl’. Think of it as a warning on how not to eat food, particularly an orange. It made me cringe – it’s not pretty. You can stream Quompilation #2 below. It is launched tonight in the Crawdaddy in Dublin. More info here.

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Somadrone - 'Reckoning'

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Jan 272012

Somadrone‘s new track could easily be confused with Jape. That’s not a bad thing; Jape’s latest album is the best thing he’s ever done and is rightly up for the Choice Prize next month. ‘Reckoning’ is all about the funky bass, which loops throughout the track. Everything else takes a backseat (as a former bass wannabee this is as it should be) and the vocals are close to indistinguishable – you really have to listen. Neil O’Connor voice is what really brought Jape to mind. If you hear it without knowing it’s Somadrone you would assume it’s a Richie Egan’s voice – and you’d probably be proclaiming it as excellent. It is. Somadrone’s doing a brief tour in February, taking in Dublin, Belfast and Cork. The band are coming to the Triskel in Cork on February 4, bringing Magic Pockets and STRAWK along with them – more here. Nialler 9 has the Skinny (Wolves) on the other gigs and a little bit more about the sound: “It’s full on electronic pop.” Listen to ‘Reckoning’ below and download it for free. (Warning: it’s a huge file so you may just want to stream it.)

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Stream: REID - Diptera

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Jan 262012

Cork producer REID, first name Eoghan, is ready to go with his second single proper, Diptera, on February 20. Made up of two tracks, ‘Diptera’ and ‘Fall’, it will be released on Blah Blah Blah Records across all good online retailers such as iTunes. (Get his first single from iTunes.)Both tracks featured on his debut release, a five-track EP, which came out last summer. That he had such quality tracks ready to go so early in his career is amazing. ‘Diptera’ follows a loud/quiet dynamic, evidenced by the Soundcloud below. I’ve listened to it plenty of times at this stage, both in its early phase and its latest phase, and still when those full-on electronica attacks come they sound as exciting as the first time. ‘Fall’, meanwhile, is more chilled out, helped along by pounding drums right from the off. There’s so much hidden within each song. Listen to both ‘Diptera’ and ‘Fall’ below and buy them on February 20. REID told me last week he was working on some new tracks. Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long. He’s also playing the Lightbox tour, which is coming to seven cities around Ireland next month and which needs funding. Help out – you won’t regret it.

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Introducing: Sad Soul Circus

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Jan 252012

Sad Soul Circus is 19-year-old Cork-based producer Finn Yowell – add him to the list of amazing electronica artists that have emerged from the city over the past 18 months and that’s one mighty impressive list: REID, Toby Kaar, Replete and Bantum to name just a handful.

Yowell was born in New York, moved to Waterford and last September moved on to Cork to study film at college. “I started playing trad music when I was a kid, then taught myself some drums and guitar for a few years,” he told me. “I only started messing about with Ableton about seven months ago when I heard some stuff like Gold Panda and Venetian Snares. My bud was doing sound engineering so he showed me some basics. I was actually in a band with him and my girlfriend and that’s where the name Sad Soul Circus comes from. We used to play acoustic originals and covers but ended up on the session instead of practicing so it gradually fell apart. I still get stick for recycling the name though.” Yowell has a music video for ‘Waves’, which you can listen to below, planned for February 1. “I’d like to have an eight-or nine- track album by autumn,” he says. I also asked him what his goals with Sad Soul Circus are. Yowell says he wants to do more DJing, which he has dabbled in in the past, “although this time with actual music and not your generic 4/4 four-chord Basshunter or whatever I used to play. I would like to play some nice underground clubs with some other artists in the same genres, Toby Kaar, Mmoths, SertOne etc. But basically my main goal is for people to hear my music and hopefully enjoy it.”

Sad Soul Circus only has one track under his belt so far – ‘Waves’ – but when it’s this good, it doesn’t need anything to back it up. For four-and-a-half minutes Sad Soul Circus will make everything outside seem better. ‘Waves’ washes over you (I’m really, really sorry), is chilled (Yowell himself says it’s chillwave) and lures you in with its repetitive structure – you’ll never want to turn it off. Listen to ‘Waves’ below and download it for free from Bandcamp.

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The Cast Of Cheers - 'Family' (video, Jape remix)

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Jan 252012

And so it begins. The Cast Of Cheers – made up of Conor and Neil on guitars and vocals, John on bass and Kev, the drums – had an amazing 2010: debut album Chariot was released on Bandcamp very early in the year and has had over 150,000 downloads to date. (It’s since been taken down.) The Dublin four-piece since got signed, went away to London to record an album produced by former Clor member Luke Smith and will release it this year. ‘Family’ debuted on the Zane Lowe show a few weeks back and will be released on February 20 in England (presumably February 17 in Ireland) on Schoolboy Error/Co-operative Music. Above is the first step on a giant ladder for the group, a video produced by Russell Weekes. You’ll probably want to be sitting down for it – it will disorientate you. Made up of 5,000 photographs, it’s two-and-a-half minutes of blink-and-you’ll-miss-something brilliance. Also, check out this amazing Flux video of ‘Family’. My 10 favourite shots of the video are explained after the jump, where you can also listen to the brilliant Jape remix.

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MMOTHS - 'Heart'

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Jan 242012

This is just such beautiful music. If you’ve been following any Irish music coverage over the past year you’ll have heard of MMOTHS (formerly Moths) AKA Jack Colleran. ‘Heart’ is taken the eletronica artist’s first official EP release – he did only finish his Leaving Certificate last year, after all. ‘Heart’ should also sound familiar to many of MMOTHS fans; it’s previous incarnation was ‘<3′, but us oldies don’t get text-speak so Jack’s spelled it out for us. The main difference, as you soon discover, is the added vocals, courtesy of Sarah from Keep Shelly In Athens, who also featured on the latest, amazing Solar Bears track ‘Alpha People‘. Despite the vocals, which suit the track perfectly, it’s the interlude that will wash over you and soundtrack your dreams. You can listen to ‘Heart’ below, via Soundcloud, then download it for free after the jump. The tracklisting for the self-titled EP is also after the jump.

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Arctic Monkeys - 'You And I' (video featuring Richard Hawley)

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Jan 232012

Arctic Monkeys are the coolest band in the world. In the video for ‘Black Treacle‘ (out today) b-side ‘You And I’, the group are joined by Richard Hawley, who played guitar on All Saints’ version of ‘Under The Bridge‘. He’s also done some good things with music though, so don’t hold it against him (I kind of do, though). The video for ‘You And I’ features Hawley recording his vocals, much to the Monkeys’ delight. It also features the best haircuts in music, some ultra cool shots of Jamie driving in the desert sun and cigarette smoke. The song, meanwhile, is as heavy as anything Arctic Monkeys have done in the past. Hawley’s vocals are perfectly suited to the balls-to-thefloor guitars. With the guitar-wankery solos thrown in there too, ‘You And I’ is instantly one of my favourite Arctic Monkeys b-side. Almost better than the real thing. Now, I need to go to the hairdressers and buy a bottle of gel. Excuse me.

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Introducing: Kayfabe

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Jan 232012

When you really like a band, eagerly awaiting new music from them, a sideproject can catch you unawares. As a huge Arctic Monkeys fan, I was initially disappointed to hear that singer Alex Turner was doing something called Last Shadow Puppets. It worked out – I love their album – but I was sad I had to wait for new Monkeys music. I experienced similar emotions this morning when I heard about Kayfabe, a collaboration between Paul Melia and Niall Corway, of electronica duo Nouveanoise, who released one of my favourite songs – and my favourite EP – of 2011. I thought Sequence Consequence was a massive step up for Nouveaunoise and that they would build on it this year. There’s a slight sidestep from Nouveaunoise to Kayfabe. They’re only one song into their career with ‘Bicycle Day In The Cosmos’, which debuted last week. Expertly produced (wouldn’t expect anything less from Niall), it’s a pop song in every sense of the word, right down to the uplifting chorus: “There’s beauty in my heart, there’s beauty in my soul.” If nothing else, the track will put a smile on your face, warm your heart and make you forget about the troubles of the world. For four minutes anyway. Expect to hear more tunes from Kayfabe over the course of 2012.

There’s no great secret behind the collaboration, Niall says: “Me and Paul grew up together in Enniscrone and we were about the only two people who had a serious interest in producing music that we knew of (twas Sligo afterall) and we’ve always been in contact since, and we’ve always wanted to do something together.” Niall also dampened my fears about the future of Nouveaunoise. He and Conor have plenty of songs ready to go – they’re just waiting for the right time. “The new tunes are the best we’ve ever done and we want to get them out there hitting the biggest audience possible,” he says. I wouldn’t doubt him.

Listen to ‘Bicycle Day In The Cosmos’ below, and download it from Bandcamp for free.

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Lisa Hannigan - 'What'll I Do' (video)

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Jan 202012

Yet another wonderful video from Lisa Hannigan. After the colour frenzy of ‘Knots’ and the water-filled tub of ‘Little Bird’, ‘What’ll I Do’ ratchets up the fun once more. When they were thinking up video ideas for Passenger, Hannigan’s second album, which is also up for the Choice Prize, she must have thought of the things she really wanted to do when she was a child. “I want to get covered in paint while I play a ukelele!” “I want to sing a song on a rollercoaster!” ‘What’ll I Do’ looks really joyous – Hannigan has a smile that could melt a thousand hearts. Try to watch it without a smile breaking out across your face. The video was produced by Feenish productions. Hannigan gave a little more info on the video on Facebook: “I went on that rollercoaster 18 times in a row (and then we used the first take). Also, I LOST MY HAT ON TAKE 3!”

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