State Magazine Issue 3

JU N E 2008

€ 5.50

/ £4.10

State.ie

republic of loose Funk Soul Brothers & Sisters

I RELAN D’S N EW MUSIC PAYLOAD

Hide & Seek with

mick jagger 12 Rounds In The Studio with

the national Billy Bragg Madonna Jamie Lidell Public Enemy

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger!

Neon Neon Death Cab For Cutie Daniel Lanois

music is my radar:

Johnny Vegas incoming:

Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip Adam & The Ants Halves and the best reviews in

albums, books, games & dvds 1

G E M M A H AY E S P H O T O G R A P H E D F OR S TAT E B Y RO G E R WO OL M A N

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ALBUMS BOOKS GAMES DVDS

gemma hayes The Ballyporeen-born singer on how losing a record deal was the best thing that ever happened her, working with My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields and why she’s not chasing success any more.

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mick jagger Scorsese and the Stones: a knight’s tale.

incoming

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Say hello to Lykke Li, The Vinny Club and Fleet Foxes; say goodbye to Bertie. Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip on the power of YouTube; Dan Hegarty on Kurt Cobain and his trainers; Adam & The Ants, Guillemots and Manic Street Preachers.

music is my radar

Love, hate and soul music with the Loose crew.

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38

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47

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68 44

anger management

the national Ahead of their three night stand in Dublin, the New York-based quintet face up to life in the spotlight.

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Your complete guide to what’s out there. Albums: Madonna plays it stylish but safe, Cajun Dance Party do neither on their debut. DVD: Dexter and the serial thriller. TV: the write to strike. Books: Juan Gabriel Vasquez’s second novel is a powerful, compelling narrative. Games: the return of Gran Turismo.

Bodily functions, baby wipes and smug bastards‌ our festival hell.

daniel lanois The French-Canadian waxes metaphysical on the essence of art and recalls some of the classic albums he’s produced, from Dylan to U2.

Guatemala: into the unknown in Central America.

input

billy bragg I’m Not Bored With The USA: Billy Bragg talks love and justice

Your net worth.

holidays by mistake

music & video games Once the preserve of the nerdy teenager, the video game is now the new medium by which bands can break through to the mainstream.

Ring in the new year: clubbing Persian style.

blog standard

neon neon Detroit Mock City: Gruff Rhys and Boom Bip go back to the future.

Johnny Vegas: friend of The Bluebells on lap dancing and deceased Beatles.

circuit breakers

republic of loose

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hope Fugazi, Jape, Mexican Pets and more look back at how independent promoter Hope put Ireland onto the punk and hardcore map.

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jamie lidell “Volcanic joy spew� and puns galore: the world according to new soul king Jamie Lidell.

96 54

death cab for cutie Turning Phil Collins into a font god, Death Cab For Cutie show off their inner nerd.

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fence collective Adrian Crowley reports from Scotland on one of the most unique festivals in the world.

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public enemy Hank Schlockee on changing the face of hip-hop and giving black America a soundtrack and a voice.

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Editors: John Walshe, Phil Udell (editorial@state.ie) Art Director: Simon Roche

Editors’ letter

Publisher: Roger Woolman Web Editor/Staff Writer: Niall Byrne (niall@state.ie) Advertising Manager: Susan Maher (susan@state.ie) Operations Manager: Arlene O’Meara Marketing/Distribution Manager: Alan O’Dwyer Contributors: Dan Hegarty, Tanya Sweeney, John Joe Worrall, Maia Dunphy, Saoirse Patterson, Dave Donnelly, Jennifer Gannon, Martin Elneff, Ciara O’Brien, Shane Galvin, Martin McIver, David O Mahony, Durell Connor, Ciarán Ryan, Tony Jessen, Jenna Wolf, David McLaughlin, Jeff Weiss, Pete Ruotolo,Kara Manning, Sinead Gleeson, Johnnie Craig, Bobby Ahern, Cian Traynor, Louise Healy, Leslie King, Paul Byrne, Joe Cross, Chris Russell, Phil Bergan, Tia Clarke, Sean Feeny, Elaine O’Neil, Shane Culloty, Jonathon Rothwell, Angharad Williams, Pamela Halton, Paula Shields Photographers: Richard Gilligan, Lili Forberg, Marcelo Biglia, Scott ‘n’ Goulden, Zoran Orlic, Liam Sweeney, Loreana Rush, Feargal Ward State is published monthly by State Magazine Ltd, 4th Floor, Equity House, 16-17 Upper Ormond Quay, Dublin 7.

Tel: (01) 888 0660 Email: info@state.ie Website: www.state.ie Printed by Future Print Distributed in Ireland by EM News Distribution, Clonshaugh, Dublin 5, and RMG Chart Entertainment Ltd, 2 Carriglea, Naas Road, Dublin 12, and in Northern Ireland, by EM News Distribution (NI) Ltd. ISSN 2009-0897.

All materials © State Magazine 2008. All rights reserved.

Reproduction of any part of the magazine without the written permission of the publishers is strictly prohibited. Although State Magazine has endeavoured to ensure that all information is correct, prices and details may be subject to change. The opinions expressed are those of the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of State Magazine Ltd.

contributor vs

Dan Hegarty Dan is a Radio Presenter on RTE 2fm. Over the years he’s championed acts like Saul Williams, Fight Like Apes, and Buck 65. Despite popular belief, he doesn’t lead a double life as a centre-forward for Liverpool, although many have mistaken him for the mighty Peter Crouch.

Rock, paper or scissors?

Paper

contributor

David McLaughlin David lives life like it’s a montage, pushing himself to the limit through 25-hour days in which no challenge is too tough: or so the inspirational soundtrack rock on his iPod tells him. He happened into music journalism while figuring out what to do with his future and is still figuring.

Rock, paper or scissors?

Rock

Result: Dan Wins

Little did we know when we started to put issue 3 of State together that it would turn out to almost be our great American music special. Not that a glance at the fine list of names we have gathered for you this month would necessarily give the game away, but take a closer look at the stories and a theme starts to emerge.

Our cover star, Gemma Hayes, has found herself a resident of LA, where she sat down, took stock of a career heading down unexpected and not exactly welcome avenues and came back on her own terms, arguably stronger than ever. Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones have, it’s safe to say, been through their career crises by now and have returned to the US to work with Martin Scorsese on their latest concert movie. Paul Byrne went to Berlin and London to catch up with the elusive Jagger.

The story of ‘80s gig promoters Hope is one of the most fascinating in recent Irish musical history but has gone largely untold. We speak to Niall McGuirk about how a lad of 16 years old managed to persuade some of the most seminal US punk and hardcore bands of the era, including Fugazi and Green Day, to play gigs all over the country and sleep on people’s sofas.

The National, meanwhile, reflect on their rapid ascent and the problems they’ve faced ever since. Elsewhere, it’s the influence of black American music that is felt most keenly. Billy Bragg tells us why he’s made his first soul record, Madonna goes urban and the extraordinary Republic Of Loose reflect on how a band from Dublin have become so immersed in modern r‘n’b. We also talk to Hank Shocklee about how Public Enemy defined hip-hop for a generation with It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back.

While Daniel Lanois may be French-Canadian, his production work has contributed to some of the finest American albums of the last decades, including seminal work by Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris and the Neville Brothers. In a fascinating interview, Lanois talks to State about his own music, his brand new DVD and a lifetime of experience in the studio.

As ever, though, that’s not all. Adrian Crowley reports back from the Fence Collective’s fifth Homegame festival in Scotland, a haven for all things lo-fi; Johnnie Craig experiences New Year’s Eve Persian style and David McLaughlin reflects on the new major players in the music industry: video games. Throw in Neon Neon, Death Cab For Cutie, Jamie Lidell and Johnny Vegas, plus our usual comprehensive review section, and there you have it. Get in touch (www.state.ie) and we’ll see you on June 5. ~ John Walshe and Phil Udell State Editors

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my inspiration The Courteeners

On a flat roof there’s a boy leaning against the wall of rain aerial held high calling come on thunder come on thunder James Sometimes

Photography by Deirdre O’Callaghan Words and music by Tim Booth/Lawrence Gott/James Glennie Published by Blue Mountain Music Ltd

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Incoming

Ease Yourself In

they might be giants:

Lykke Li

You have to envy the Swedes.

While we are drip fed a succession of plastic poppettes or wannabe soul divas, they get the likes of 22-year-old Lykke Li. Mixing electro and indie in with her knack

for penning a fine pop tune, her debut album was produced by Bjorn of Peter, Bjorn and John fame, and she’s been hanging out with The Concretes and Robyn.

50 words on…

Listen: ‘Little Bit’ (Youth Novels, LL Recordings) Click: www.lykkeli.com

come in your time’s up: welcome to the dole queue

Dr Who Not that we wish to succumb to the hype, but it’s pretty good isn’t it? One thing though, the apparently inspired casting of Catherine Tate seems to be running aground as she turns every episode into an opportunity to recreate one of her characters, which has already become deeply annoying.

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The mother of all out-of-control recording sessions, Chinese Democracy has been “in the pipeline” for 14 years now but, according to various sources, an end is in sight. The record has allegedly been delivered to long-suffering label, Geffen, and the band (Axl and the triple guitar dream team of Robin Finck, Ron Thal and Richard Fortus, plus some other blokes) have hired new management. Again. More bizarrely, Dr Pepper has offered everyone in America a free can of the popular soft drink if the album appears this year, everyone except Slash and Buckethead.

The good news for seasoned Rose watchers is that although the latest March release date has come and gone, the singer and record company are now involved in a row about rights and money, and Finck has already quit.

axl by camera press / paolo battigelli

Guns N’ Roses

Incoming

Dan Le Sac Race!

dls vs sp by lili forberg

In an age where artists’ biographies manufacture Myspace success and champion supposed webcam gigs watched by trillions, it’s refreshing to hear electro/ hip-hop duo Dan le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip didn’t get to where they’re at with major dollars pumping into their bank accounts.

Rather, it was a natural combination of hard work, constant live shows and a bit of luck along the way. When ‘Thou Shalt Always Kill’ became the most requested track ever on London radio station XFM’s Xposure show, the duo capitalised on the interest with an equally arresting video. So began the rise of Dan le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip, with MySpace and Youtube leading the way forward.

“Getting our video the front page of YouTube, rocketed us internationally.

We were already building our fanbase over here [UK and Ireland], but that gave us an instant fanbase all over the world,” explains Pip. To put it in perspective, the video now has 1.3 million views.

Compounding their initial attention with festival dates has worked wonders for them, as Dan explains: “It’s mad, because when we were booked for Coachella, we were still an unsigned band!”

The debut album Angles is being released this month through small UK indie label Sunday Best and the duo are happy to have travelled the scrupulous independent route. “We were always looking for the deal that let us make the

album we wanted to make and obviously, the more money you ask for, the more the label ask of you,” explains Dan. “It’s not the time to take lots of money off a record label. If you want to be able to develop and do stuff, don’t take loads of cash, because you want them to spend that cash on the things you need, whether that be something for the live show, or an ad put somewhere. If that’s what’s going to benefit you, that’s where the money should go, not into your pocket. We’re

making a living live so we’re lucky.”

With so much talk of record label doom and gloom, Dan and Pip are happy to play their own game. “It’s a difficult time because the industry is evolving but it’s survived so long,” says Dan. “People aren’t going to stop making music. The way people pay for music might change, the way people receive music might change but it’s not going to go away. We’ve just got to be a bit smarter now. I think it’s a good thing the process is a bit harder.”

the departed:

Bertie Ahern

And like that... he was gone! Bertie Ahern’s Keyser Söze-like exit from Irish political life came as a shock to most. The ‘Teflon Taoiseach’ had managed to dodge every

controversial bullet fired in his direction, but finally the mounting pressure from the Mahon Tribunal told. The question now to be asked is what will his legacy be?

A respected diplomat, his role in the Peace Process should not be underestimated. In addition, many would argue it was his policies whilst in government that nurtured Ireland’s Celtic Tiger economy.

Others would point to undeclared payments, suspicious loans and the still unanswered Tribunal questions which have left a stain on Irish politics.

But love him or loathe him, Irish politics will be a duller place without Bertie. And who can forget that yellow suit?

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Incoming they might be giants:

The Vinny Club

Despite providing bass frequencies for noise rock terrorisers Adebisi Shank, Vinny McCreith also dabbles in a distinct brand of electronic music inspired by the soundtracks to vintage cartridge games. Initially made for friends to be used in a barter system (one Moro bar equals one tape), The Vinny Club is releasing a nine-track album Rocky IV Reckyrd this month to stave off aunties’ career questions at family functions. The album was inspired by Stallone’s fourth outing in the boxing series and

features song titles which reference the film: ‘Drago’s Revenge’, ‘Whatever He Hits He Destroys’ and ‘Duke (Throw the Damn Towel)’. At just 25 minutes, Vinny describes it as “The Reign in Blood of pop” (Slayer’s Reign in Blood album clocks in at 29 minutes). It’s a thrilling mix of drum machines, Gameboy samples and vintage synth sounds.

Listen: ‘It’s Not You It’s OF’ Click: www.myspace.com/thevinnyclub

100 albums to avoid before you die

50 words on…

No. 3 The Prodigy: Fat of the Land (xl)

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Don’t download: ‘Climbatize’ If you hate this, don’t listen to: Throbbing Gristle, Bowery Electric, Bomb the Bass

The Onion Embracing the new internet age with gusto, The Onion has continued to draw on the rich source of US news for its unerringly accurate and brilliant satire. Need more information on how China celebrated its status as the world’s number one air polluter? Get it round the clock at www.theonion.com

vc by loreana rushe

The audio equivalent of a difficult Guinness shit, for the those who haven’t listened back to it, or for those who still have this on their ‘to do’ list, Fat of the Land might seem like one of the most important albums of the late ‘90s. It’s not. It’s an overworked, overwrought, uber-selling disaster. Forget about the usual stick used to beat it with – the admittedly woeful nine minutes and five seconds of ‘Narayan’, featuring

the son of the bird from The Parent Trap – if you still want to respect The Prodigy at all, stay well away from the blurry crab that graces the cover of this album. Actually, crabs… Guinness shits… this whole album is a mix of tunes that resemble horrible things that can happen to the human body.

‘Serial Thrilla’ = the runs, ‘Mindfields’ = absinthe hangover and, State will say this with confidence, the ‘Fuel My Fire’ L7 cover = the fanny fart of megalomaniac dance rock that the Prodge specialised in way back when.

“Inhale… you’re the victim”: couldn’t have said it better, lads. Absolute dirt.

Incoming my roots are showing: shane galvin

Adam & The Ants

Enjoy JAGERMEISTER Sensibly Visit

camera press/robert matheu

“Ridicule is nothing to be scared of”. Perhaps this is an obvious statement from a man sporting an Antplaster from cheek to blushered cheek, a man who proudly dances in a bizarre Vogue-like fashion with Diana Dors.

But apart from being a great bold lyric, that line is a manifesto for the best pop music, the best art, culture and everything else that means anything. I realise that now. In 1981, it was just a line in a catchy song that made me shake my various limbs in the random manner that children attempting to dance do.

It would be churlish to dismiss the importance of the visual impact of Adam & the Ants. I still remember being confused but strangely drawn to the swashbuckling dandy pirate highwayman.

This was an era where Top Of The Pops was a weekly appointment and the singular way of seeing what your favourite pop stars looked like. And Adam & The Ants looked odd and otherworldly – an enigmatic vision from a long forgotten past yet also somehow strangely futuristic: at least, they did to a five-year-old who also enjoyed the music of Shakin’ Stevens and Bucks Fizz.

Adam Ant was aware of the power of the music video (still a novel way of promoting records) and took advantage of using those three minutes to create his own epic mini-films. That is a large part of why Adam & The Ants have left an indelible impression on people of a certain age.

However, it wouldn’t have worked if Adam & his Antfriends didn’t have the songs to back it up. And fortunately, the songs were magnificent: perfect nuggets of pop that shone amidst the shit filling up the charts. ‘Antmusic’, ‘Zerox’, ‘Stand & Deliver’, ‘Prince Charming’, ‘Dog Eat Dog’ - all worthy evidence to prove that nothing beats pop at its ludicrous best.

There are so few names in the pantheon of pop music that successfully created stupidly brilliant hit records while looking idiotically tremendous – David Bowie, Marc Bolan, Adam Ant, Prince, but little since then. Artists now are too smart, too controlled, too afraid of ridicule and failure to dress up and ignore the naysayers.

Forget the later mentalism, the dodgy Live Aid appearance, the slick ‘90s records and the terrible films. Instead, remember Adam Ant freeze-framed, revolvers aloft, all cheekbones and cheeky charm, demanding you hand over your gold and silver.

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Incoming from our foreign correspondent: Jonathon Rothwell in

Stockholm Crossover-achiever Adam Tensta

Many Stockholmers go to great lengths to distance themselves from appearing stereotypically Swedish. If 90% of the population are born blonde and blue eyed, it can be hard to stand out.

It can be hard to feel that little different, that little bit special. Being viewed by the world as beautiful has its drawbacks… apparently. And so, when it comes to music scenes, fashion and fashion sense, or lack thereof, are intrinsically a part of any sub-culture. More often than not, what you look like, or more importantly what you don’t look like, subtly delineates what you listen to.

Just as important to any scene is where you actually hang out. In Stockholm, the stereotypically beautiful people - the blondes - hang out in the south of the city in a district called Stureplan. Clichéd house music, fake tits and over priced cocktails seem to be de rigueur. The queues are long, the door policy strict, the people beautiful and, it almost goes without saying, the atmosphere is totally and utterly shit. The working class and the immigrants live on the outskirts of the city in government built tenement blocks. It’s hardly mid ‘90s LA but the uneasy relationship between immigrants and native Swedes is tangible.

The best hip-hop and rap originates from

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these suburbs, their unique perspective fuelled perhaps by being marginalised.

Adam Tensta comes from such a background. His recent single ‘They Wanna Know’ has been shuffling up the charts and now somewhat ironically, his music can be heard everywhere from the immigrant hub of hip-hop Mosebacke to the trendy clubs in Stureplan. In short, he’s done what every artist wants to do: he has crossed over. Whether he can maintain keeping it ‘real’ in the face of all this recent success remains to be seen.

It’s an uneasy relationship but ultimately a necessary one. Tensta and his closest female predecessor Robyn have a canny knack of drawing attention

50 words on…

Des Bishop Jumps Around Bishop has combined his love of hiphop and passion for the Irish language by recording a new version of House Of Pain’s ‘Jump Around’, as Gaeilge.

‘Léimigí Thart!’ is available on www. desbishop.com and is sure to get you hopping, even if you aren’t a native speaker or rap fan.

to and toying with people’s notions of stereotypes. The latter’s ‘Konichiwa Bitches’ is a succinct tongue-in-cheek example of this. Both artists borrow heavily from electronica, a genre that has meandered into the Swedish mainstream.

SoFo (an area stupidly renamed after SoHo) has tons of galleries and chilled out coffee shops immersed in the genre.

Eletropop outfit Zeigeist have been consistently compared to The Knife but their latest release, The Jade Hotel, shows much greater diversity. Coming from a performance background, their live shows are unlike anything you’ve witnessed and come strongly recommended.

The smaller, more underground indie and rock gigs take place in Medborgplatsen and Mariatorget. Leading the way are the shouty Love is All, who perform regularly here. Hästpojken are rowdy upstarts or perhaps that’s what they would like us to believe, but their song ‘Shane McGowan’ is energetic and catchy and they’re worth keeping an eye out for. Shoe gazers The Radio Dept., who appeared on the Marie Antoinette soundtrack, might be a bit heavy for some but the wistful, escapism of another up-and-coming group, The Embassy, is a welcome antidote to the live scene.

Sveavagen is the gay-friendly part of the city. Here, the clubbing scene consists of over-the-top Eurotrash but come on, what else did you expect?

Incoming they might be giants: lonely charts club: where did you go to my lovely

Halves

After arousing interest last year with their debut EP, Dublin seven-piece Halves will follow that release with a seven-track EP, Haunt Me When I’m Drowsy, on May 17 in Ireland and early June in the UK and Europe. Where the first EP hinted at the span and soar of their music, the new one exceeds and establishes a richer palette of instrumentation with guitar, electronics,

cello and strings, layered beautifully alongside lifting vocals. Halves will be the only unsigned band playing at the first ever Transmission Festival (July 4-6) in a fortress in the Austrian Alps, alongside Cornelius, Efterklang, Tindersticks, Spiritualized, Milosh and Mogwai.

Listen: ‘May Your Enemies Never Find Happiness’

The Artist: Will.I.Am featuring Cheryl Cole The Single: ‘Heartbreaker’ The Lowdown: Having come to prominence as part of Black Eyed Peas, Will.I.Am is carving out new careers all over the place: as an actor, producer, fashion boss and solo artist. The European version of this track was rerecorded to feature Cheryl Cole, in her first non-Girls Aloud appearance.

The Chart Position: 49 (w/e 10/4)

Click: www.myspace.com/ahomeforhalves

The Album - Out now

www.theageoftheunderstatement.com www.dominorecordco.com

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Incoming

Reinventing Guillemots

In these days of uncertain futures, the one thing musicians are supposed not to do is mess with their audience’s heads by jumping between styles and genres. No-one, it is clear, has told this to the Guillemots’ Ffyfe Dangerfield, as new album Red finds them coming across as virtually a different band to the one that first broke through two years ago.

“I think we wanted to surprise people a bit,” he confesses.

“We have very short attention spans as people and we like to keep ourselves interested. The vast majority of people just perceive you by your albums, but our B-sides are just as important to us as a band. For people who have heard those things, Red won’t come as much of a surprise.”

One area that the Guillemots have dived into, both as musicians and listeners, urban r’n’b, is surely the most creatively bankrupt medium around?

“The last few records that I’ve heard by Timbaland sound like he’s just raking in the cash”, agrees Ffyfe, “but that was no different to Motown, which was the ultimate production line.

Those tracks are held up now as the paragon of integrity but they’re not. It doesn’t really matter if someone’s a nice bloke or a complete bastard if they’ve made a beautiful record. You want to feel that you’re listening to stuff that was made with integrity but there are songs that I love that I have no idea about, they could be complete cash cows, as long as they sound good.”

The influence is clear on Red, if a little skewed. “The idea was never to sound like those records,” Fyfe notes. “It was more a wonder how those records could sound so great with so little substance. They’re not about writing a great song, they’re about making people dance. At one point, we met this guy called Jimmy Douglas who was going to work with us but it didn’t work out.

We asked him how he got his records sounding so great and he went, “BFD. BFD man. Big Fucking Drums’. It’s a programme on his computer.”

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Whatever their love of pop, Dangerfield and Co. want to infiltrate the mainstream on their own terms. “We redid ‘Annie, Let’s Not Wait’ and it got played all over the radio, but we all thought it was so shit compared to the original, it didn’t make us feel good,” he admits. “With ‘Get Over It’, we worked really hard to make it an extreme sounding record and that’s exactly the same version that got played on the radio. That feels really good. We always wanted this album to be heard but not end up sounding like FM rock. If we’ve managed to do that without compromising, that’s brilliant.”

50 words on…

Pitchfork.TV Pitchfork’s newly launched sister video site contains an impressive array of content. Music videos, TV shows, live sessions and the highlight, ‘One week only’ - music documentaries not found anywhere else for free on the interweb. So far, films on The Pixies (loudQUIETloud) and Mike Mills’ film on Air have been featured. http://pitchfork.tv/

Incoming They Got The Beat

Alphabeat are proof positive that pop music doesn’t have to be dumb. Having released a platinum-selling album at home in Denmark, the six-piece (three of whom are named Anders) have relocated to London to have a crack at the UK and Ireland, while fighting the good fight to rescue pop music from a world of songwriting committees and button pushers.

“We are not the band to just push the button,” agrees Troels Hansen, drummer. “We take the songs and rehearse them like any normal indie rock band, practice and practice and practice: do it the hard way. After playing together for five years, we know how to work the songs. Me and Anders have got that good Ringo and McCartney combination of drums and bass.”

The band certainly make great records, from ‘Fascination’ to new single ’10,000 Nights’ and their cover of ‘Public Image Ltd’, yet what has seemingly got most people interested is the fact that they’re a proper band and not manufactured puppets.

“Some manufactured pop can be really good,” argues the drummer, “some really bad. We’re trying to show that you can play pop music just by being a band. You don’t have to have people writing your stuff. We’ve always been a great live band: people go ‘what the fuck was that? I didn’t expect that’. People don’t think you can play pop live, that it has to be on playback. We hate doing playback gigs.”

“The thing about songwriters,” adds Anders, “is that If you have a really talented singer but she can’t write songs, then it’s a good thing that it’s manufactured. It works both ways. Elvis never wrote his songs.”

So Alphabeat are not just another pop band but, as it turns out, purveyors of ‘wonky pop’. Sorry, come again?

“We’ve actually tried to make a small video clip thing where we tried to explain what it is, but we kind of didn’t really get it ourselves either,” says Troels sheepishly. “It’s just a word that came to us. Our manager said we needed a name for this tour and he once said our sound was really wonky, so we put that in front of pop. We’re trying to show that pop can be lots of other things to what you see on TV. We can play it live, we can produce it ourselves: all of us are nerds, sitting at home in front of our computers trying to make music...” He pauses for breath, allowing his fellow band mate to leap in. “ ...and that’s wonky.”

Alphabeat play Whelans, Dublin on May 19

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Incoming they might be giants:

Fleet Foxes

If the idea of a band from Seattle on the Sub Pop label conjures all sorts of images, mainly of long hair, checked shirts and big shorts, then fear not: Fleet Foxes are here to engage, rather than bruise, your intellect. For a start, Classic Sub-Poppers Tad never cited baroque pop as an influence. That might sound a little precious for a rock band and in truth, Fleet Foxes could

50 words on…

never be accused of cutting loose, but they do bring a range of impeccable ‘60s and ‘70s references to the table, from the expected (Beach Boys, Dylan) to the left field (Steeleye Span, Marvin Gaye).

Listen: ‘Drops In The River’ (Sun Giant, Sub Pop) Click: www.myspace.com/fleetfoxes See: Whelans, Dublin, June 14

insane in the membrane: great hip-hop lyrics of our age

No. 3: 50 Cent “I Got the magic stick, I’m the love doctor” – ‘Candy Shop’

Old Skool Choons For those wishing to step back into early ‘90s dance culture, head to www.ravegenerator.com. Create your very own classic dance masterpieces by choosing from a variety of beats, breaks, stomping bass samples and infectious keyboard riffs. The real fun comes from adding screaming crowds, whistles and “drop the bass” lyrics.

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“In the South of France, baby, St Tropez/ Get a tan? I’m already black/ Rich? I’m already that/ Gangsta, get a gat/ Hit a head in a hat.”

– ‘I Get Money’ “Look girl I ain’t gonna lie, I’ll tell you how I feel / They should hand cuff your big ass to the treadmill.”

– ‘Fat Bitch’

average white band: not awful, just ordinary

A^[ZHiV\Z

Manic Street Preachers

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In 2004, the Manic Street Preachers released a tenth-anniversary edition of their masterpiece, The Holy Bible. A shockingly dark creation of punk-rock discontent, based on the troubled thoughts of lyricist Richie Edwards, it served as a reminder of the band’s achievements, and the emotional intensity they once displayed.

In light of Edward’s disappearance and presumed suicide, it feels unfair to compare the old incarnation of the band with the new. But nevertheless, every Manics release is preceded by a fanfare of speculation on whether or not it might mark a return to form or musical innovation.

Their most recent effort, Send Away The Tigers, anticipated these comparisons by using the striking mock-Cyrillic script of The Holy Bible’s artwork, suggesting they might revisit their compelling past. Unfortunately, Tigers turned out to be about as compelling as lint, an album of sanitised Dad-rock, plodding swagger and awkward lyrics. And worse, even with the references to their past and the ever-present political posturing, it seemed that the once-sincere Manics didn’t care to be taken seriously anymore. They described themselves as a “rock’n’roll experience” and mimicked Queen’s musical bombast. Nicky Wire’s inflammatory rhetoric seemed pettier than ever: deriding Arcade Fire for their apparent poshness, mocking Snow Patrol as Britain’s “biggest divide”. The lyrics, too, seemed irony-free. “This one’s for the freaks” sang Bradfield on ‘Underdogs’, as though they were still playing to some cultural underclass.

It wasn’t always this way. Even in their most accessible and commercially successful phase, when the clash with their original incarnation was most apparent, the band had some damn good tunes. No one can deny that Everything Must Go was a worthy follow-up to The Holy Bible: an effort to process the tragedy of their lost member, with songs so fine, no one cared that it was arena rock. Their next four albums all failed to recreate this triumph, instead giving us an unsteady mix of the bland and the beautiful and yet each one was greeted with buzz and chart success.

2004’s Lifeblood came closest to their past best. Songs like ‘1985’ and ‘Empty Souls’ indicated that the Manics had finally learned to play gentle, understated pop - which only makes the humourless pomp of Tigers all the more frustrating. The band can hardly be blamed for going mainstream, but just because they pretend they’re still innovating, doesn’t mean we have to.

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GOAL PO BOX 19 DUN LAOGHAIRE CO DUBLIN PH: (01) 2809779 WWW.GOAL.IE 14

Incoming dan hegarty

show time

Pimp My Shoe

It’s the classic tale of boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, boy tragically dies, and his name is immortalised in a runner. Hang on, that doesn’t sound right?

A few weeks ago, I mentioned on my show that you’ll soon be able to buy Kurt Cobain-themed Converse. To say that the response that I received was negative would be a slight understatement.

The limited edition runners are being launched later this year as part of Converse’s 100th anniversary. They feature lyrics, sketches and writings by Cobain, some of which are taken from his Journals (published in 2002).

The general consensus that I’ve come across is that this is disrespectful to Kurt’s memory and legacy. While the Cobain/ Converse alliance does bother people, the bulk of the criticism seems to be directed at Courtney Love (now there’s something new!).

Doing anything with the art or name of a departed icon is always a risky proposition: look at the reaction that some posthumous album releases receive. When it comes to someone like Kurt Cobain, this sense of protection/ possession is even greater. But whether you like it or not, the name Kurt Cobain

has become a brand in itself, much like Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison in decades past.

“Kurt Cobain would have never in his life (or death) endorsed a product like this” was one of many comments that I encountered. But the thing that bothers me is how does anyone know what he would or would have endorsed if he were still alive?

Admittedly, the idea of a Kurt Cobain Converse runner does sound a bit tacky, but if it’s a way that some kid hears about Cobain and the music he made with Nirvana, that can’t be all bad. It doesn’t seem so long ago that I discovered The Velvet Underground through ‘Venus In Furs’ being used on what I think was a car commercial. My point being, the music and song stayed with me, the product hasn’t.

There’s always the other argument: some people are going to think Cobain Converse are cool. You could use that old saying ‘there’s no accounting for taste’, and while some of the styles don’t look so bad, the whole idea seems so wrong!

I’ve nothing against Converse as a brand (in fact All-Stars are the only runners I wear), I think what sums it up for me is ‘how far is too far?’, and have we passed that point already? 70% of the contents of the With The Lights Out box-set was wasted on me, and yes, we’ve most definitely passed the ‘too far’ point quite some time ago.

Much has been made of the fact that Cobain wore Converse throughout much of his life. Even more has been made that he died wearing, if not a pair of Converse, something very like them. Should this have been a factor in whether this deal should have been done? Possibly, but as fans, it’s out of our hands, and in reality none of our business.

This debate, as with many Cobain/ Nirvana/Courtney Love related topics will (pardon the pun) keep running. As for me, I’ll keep it simple: I’ll stick on In Utero while I’m lacing up my battered old purple Converse All-Stars.

Tune into Dan Hegarty’s Alternative To Sleep on

Rachel Unthank and the Winterset Upstairs at Whelans, Dublin, May 4; Black Box, Belfast, May 6 If Unthank was from the US and not Northumberland, everybody would be gushing over her stark take on traditional music. As it is, the world is starting to take notice.

Saul Williams The Button Factory, Dublin, May 12; Cypress Avenue, Cork, May 13; and Roísín Dubh, Galway, May 14 A Poet, MC, Actor and a genuine, talented inspiration, Saul will be taking his Niggy Tardust character on the road this May. Expect thought-provoking lyrics and a barrage of thumping beats.

The Hold Steady Academy, Dublin, May 13; Spring & Airbreak, Belfast, May 14 Having become 2007’s surprise ‘old band find new audience’, The Hold Steady are wasting no time consolidating their position with a new record due later in the summer.

Battles, Redneck Manifesto, Chromehoof Vicar St, Dublin, May 15 Whether you go to hear ‘Atlas’ or to see John Stanier pound his high cymbal, a trip to a Battles show is always worth it. Add them to a rare live outing from Dublin heroes The Redneck Manifesto and London’s Chromehoof and you’ve got an unmissable rock show.

Fighting With Wire Nationwide, May 22-31 Derry’s Fighting With Wire have quietly been making a name for themselves as one of the acts to watch this year, including the small matter of signing a deal with Atlantic Records.

These Irish dates are only part of a huge European tour.

Evan Dando Belfast, Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, May 21-25 Back in fashion (again) after the re-release of It’s A Shame About Ray, Dando may never have risen to the heights that many predicted but neither has he sunk to the depths that suggested themselves either. The entire ‘...

Ray’ album will make an appearance, with hopefully some other stuff to fill the time.

RTE 2fm, weeknights from midnight to 2am.

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Johnny Vegas

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Music is my Radar The outspoken comedian on the poetry of Paul Heaton, how George Harrison ruined a lapdance adventure in Los Angeles and why Amy Winehouse is a “delight”.

As told to Maia Dunphy ~ Photography by Liam Sweeney

In a roundabout way, music got me into comedy: well, a musician at least. I had moved to Glasgow to work in King Tuts, the music venue, and a comedy slot came up. I probaby wouldn’t have got it but for the fact that my mate, Bobby Bluebell from The Bluebells, rang the venue about 20 times a day for a week using different accents and saying, “Is it true Johnny Vegas is playing soon?” That’s what swung it. I think they were wondering where all these people had got to when I did my first set.

If I had to pick a musical hero, it would be Paul Heaton from The Beautiful South.

The man’s a poet: every one of his songs is like a mini Ken Loach film. I once did a play inspired by the lyrics of ‘Woman In The Wall’. Not many songs you could do that with. But I think it’s genius that he puts his lyrics to catchy tunes, as it’s a way to reach a much wider audience. They say you should never meet your heroes but I met Paul and he was a gentleman.

I was never really one for going to gigs, growing up (the first gig I ever went to was Voice of the Beehive so maybe that’s why…). If I liked a band, I’d buy the album and listen to it in the comfort of my own home.

But the first gig I ever went to where I really got it was The Wonderstuff: it was brilliant and I suddenly understood what people meant when they said “It’s even better live”. Having said that, I’m still not much of a live gig goer, but I do remember that one as being great!

I did go to an Amy Winehouse show recently, though, and afterwards she fussed over everyone, making sure we all had a drink and were being looked after, and her parents and aunties and uncles were all there. She was a delight, despite what the press would like us to think.

As a comedian, people assume you love comedy records and parodies, but they are my absolute pet hate. I find them really lazy. A lot of the time, people read songs, books or poems and think “I could write that”, but really they couldn’t. With parody records, most people probably could!

I was in the States when George Harrison died, and nobody mourns like the Yanks.

We were walking down Sunset Strip and there were hundreds of people out in the street – most of them in tears - playing ‘Here Comes the Sun’ on guitars. Trouble was, the majority of them couldn’t play, or sing for that matter, and they were randomly plucking strings and creating a general wailing sound. It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. I had to keep my head down and pretend I was shaking because I was so upset. That night, we went to a lapdancing club as my mate had never been to one. The poor bastard probably never went to one again, as when he went in for a private dance, the girl stuck her boobs in his face and said “Isn’t it terrible about George Harrison?” All he could think of to say was “Yes. He’s a cultural icon and will be greatly missed.” Went in for a lapdance and came out thinking of a dead Beatle!

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Mick Jagger

King Of The Stones Age Words by Paul Byrne

roger woolman

Mick Jagger is a hard man to pin down. Berlin was tough, but at least there, Jagger was willing to sit still for a few minutes and answer some questions. In London, two months later, he was back in moving target mode once again, that trademark smile promising much and delivering, well, even fewer minutes than he gave in Berlin.

Not that State was all that surprised. The last time we were supposed to talk to Mick Jagger - for the 2001 WWII thriller, Enigma, produced by his company, Jagged Films – he cancelled at the 11th hour, apparently in a huff over leading lady Kate Winslet pulling out of press duties as the collapse of her first marriage suddenly hit the morning papers.

Then again, this is a man who has spent the last 46 years learning how to hog the spotlight whilst simultaneously dodging the question.

In Berlin, back in February, it was easier. This was the very first unveiling of the Martin Scorsese-directed concert film Shine A Light, the curtain-raiser on the 58th Berlin International Film Festival, and the fabled New York director was there, alongside Mick, Keith, Charlie and Ron. As ever, Mick was in his element. “I’m just happy Marty’s finally made a movie that doesn’t feature ‘Gimme Shelter’,” he quipped, once safely inside the Grand Hyatt Hotel after the foursome had lined up on the red carpet alongside Scorsese for the paparazzi.

Given that when it comes to Rolling Stones concert films, there’s been four other theatrical releases already - including the Maysles brothers’ seminal Gimme Shelter (1970) and Jean-Luc Godard’s impressionistic Sympathy For The Devil (1969) - along with a host of TV specials and video releases, does Jagger think Shine A Light is the definitive record of the band in their natural habitat?

“There’s no way anyone could fully capture The Stones,” he

says, with a shrug of the shoulders. “The most you can hope for is a clear and honest snapshot”.

That would certainly seem to have been Martin Scorsese’s intention, the film opening with the diminutive New Yorker’s exasperated attempts to get a straight answer from Jagger on any front. Our boy isn’t quite Chuck Berry, but he certainly knows how to create a whirlwind of uncertainty for the director. Which is, you suspect, just how Jagger likes it.

The setlist for the show – actually recorded over two nights at Gotham’s intimate Beacon Theatre in October 2006, one of the nights a birthday bash for Bill Clinton – isn’t decided by Jagger until the last minute, literally, if the film is to be believed: we see Scorsese being handed the crucial piece of paper just as the band crank into their first song.

For The Stones, Shine A Light comes hot on the heels of last year’s 4-DVD boxed set, The Biggest Bang, charting the band’s 2005-2006 A Bigger Bang world tour. Which follows on from 2003’s 4-DVD boxed set, Four Flicks, charting their 2002-2003 Licks tour. Plus, there’s last year’s double-CD retrospective, Rolled Gold+: The Very Best Of The Rolling Stones (staggeringly, the band’s 22nd compilation).

For Mick, there’s also the little matter of his not-so-wildlysuccessful solo efforts, The Very Best Of Mick Jagger hitting a lowly 57 in the UK charts and the even-lowlier 77 spot on the US charts after its release last October.

Which leads me to ask the man himself, given such a seemingly constant repackaging and revisiting of his past, does it ever begin to feel like – to paraphrase the great Spinal Tap – “too much fucking retrospective”?

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“Sure, that’s something you have to fight though,” he nods.

“This music just has a life of its own, and we can either be a part of that, or try and ignore it. We choose to be part of it really, because it is a part of us, after all. The trick is to have a little fun with it, to keep on moving forward with it.”

Right. The expectations for Shine A Light were high. Here was the Mount Rushmore of rock’n’roll bands being caught on camera by perhaps our most rock’n’roll director, Scorsese in turn employing an army of legendary cinematographers – including Oscar winner Robert Richardson, Declan Quinn and Gimme Shelter’s Albert Maysles – to try and do justice to his legendary subjects.

Who knows, he may have even considered getting David Attenborough in for a little narration too, just to let the uninitiated know just how much of musical, financial, spiritual and medical phenomenon The Rolling Stones are today.

Truth be told though, Scorsese seems to spend most of Shine A Light running for cover, and you’d be hard-pushed to tell that this was from the same man who gave us The Last Waltz and No Direction Home. Or who worked as a wide-eyed young editor on Woodstock.

There are humorous moments, most of them found in the archive footage – Jagger being interviewed two years into the band’s career, and asserting, when asked how long the band will survive, “I think we’re pretty well set up for at least another year” – or in Charlie Watts’ trademark bemused reaction to just

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Mick Jagger

about everything. And in full flight – as on ‘Tumblin’ Dice’ and The Temptations’ ‘Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)’ – The Stones are still truly magical.

It’s just that there isn’t quite enough magic here to sustain two hours, and having guests such as Jack White (looking suitably pale and nervous) and Christina Aguilera (a girl who’s got the chops and the legs, but hardly the street cred) smells like a ploy to attract the young.

The legendary Buddy Guy, meanwhile, nearly walks away with the show, and does walk away with Keith’s guitar, the Human Riff insisting the Chicago bluesman take it as a gift when their cover of Muddy Waters’ ‘Champagne & Reefer’ comes to a rousing close.

Jagger, naturally, sees it all a little differently.

“We had a blast playing those two shows,” he states, “and you can see that up there on the screen. We’re very comfortable playing to big crowds, but there’s something about a small venue that just raises our game a little…”

Even when that small crowd is packed with people who have stock portfolios and a house in the country?

“Hey, we can all get the blues…”

So, which turns Jagger on the most – playing to two million on a beach in Rio de Janeiro in 2006, or playing to 200 blues fans at The Crawdaddy back in 1963?

“They’re both a thrill, you know,” he answers. “Right down to each individual that you’re playing to, every gig has its own unique kick. I would throw myself completely into every gig, no matter how big or small. The difference with a small venue is that

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Mick Jagger

“This music just has a life of its own, and we can either be a part of that, or try and ignore it. We choose to be part of it really, because it is a part of us, after all. The trick is to have a little fun with it, to keep on moving forward with it.”

the crowd can see the fear in your eyes…”

A small crowd can also see that little bit more clearly that Jagger has still got the lips, and, more astoundingly - given that the man will be 65 in July - he’s still got those snake hips.

Just as good with business as he is with rock’n’roll, it’s perhaps unsurprising then that Jagger has more than his fair share of contradictions. Finding himself being voted the fourth sexiest man of all time by a 2002 VH1 poll one year, and then the next, hitting No. 83 in a Channel Four poll of 100 Worst Britons.

This is the man who, along with Keith Richards, is responsible for 14 of Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time, but he’s also the man who, along with that little homage monkey Dave Stewart, penned 1987’s ‘Let’s Work’, quite possibly the dumbest single of the entire 1980s, apart from Ultravox’s ‘Vienna’, of course.

This is the guy who complains about the man coming on the radio and telling him how white his shirts can be, but who, at the same time, is happy to sing a ditty in praise of Rice Krispies (look it up on YouTube; it’s hilarious), and, three decades later, allow Snickers to use ‘Satisfaction’ as its theme tune (Jagger and Richards reportedly getting $2.8million of the $4million from that 1991 deal).

His personal fortune is said to be currently far north of £250million, the notoriously penny-pinching Jagger admitting that he decided early on to get involved with music “just because I wanted the bread. It’s true. I looked around and this seemed like the only way to get the kind of bread I wanted”. Mission accomplished.

Perhaps that’s why Jagger’s willing to admit that he’s “conservative with a small ‘c’”. Certainly, Keith seemed to feel his partner in so many crimes was something with a small ‘c’ when Jagger accepted a CBE in 2003, being knighted by sworn Stones’ fan, Prince Charles. The United Press International noted that, unlike other knighted rock stars, Jagger had no “known record of charitable work or public services”. The eternallybemused Charlie Watts was moved enough to quip, “Anybody else would be lynched: 18 wives and 20 children, and he’s knighted;

22

fantastic!”.

For his part, Richards didn’t want to take to the stage with someone wearing a “coronet and sporting the old ermine”.

He’s the man who, of course, is lucky to be here, for many different reasons, the latest being a recently-revealed plot by the Hells Angels to murder Jagger in 1969. None too pleased that Jagger had turned down their services after their somewhat heavy-handed techniques saw black teenager Meredith Hunter stabbed to death at the The Stones’ Altamont Free Concert on December 6, 1969, those loveable Angels abandoned their mission to kill Mick only when their boat to his Long Island home ran into a storm.

“What can I say?” smiles Jagger now. “This is a tough line of work to be in. I’m just so glad I didn’t know about it at the time…”

Finally, that Stones’ anthem that sticks it to the Man, the boss, the lover who doesn’t love you, the car, the house, the bus ride home you can’t afford: ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’. We’re guessing that doesn’t apply to Mick Jagger.

“Oh, none of us always get what we want,” he smiles. “The world just isn’t built that way…”

So, when was the last time Mick Jagger didn’t get what he wanted?

There’s a pause. And then a smile.

“I’ll have to get back to you on that one…”

Whelan’s | Sun May 11th | €13

An evening with

NO SUPPORT

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Words by Jennifer Gannon Photography by Richard Gilligan

Republic of Loose are tired.

Scattered around the luxurious environs of a well known Dublin nightclub, various members of the band stretch and yawn: having literally put their latest album to bed a mere hours ago, the general consensus seems to be that they are eager to follow it there. Examining their tonsils in the mirrored pillars, sinking into the velvet booths, they sigh, sip coffee and they wait. Then they wait some more. Welcome to the exciting world of rock ‘n’ roll. The reality, the routine, the monotony: isn’t it closer to the soul destroying ‘bank job’ which they scathingly admonish in their latest single ‘I Like Music’?

Scraggly and surprisingly jovial frontman Mik Pyro laughs, “Well, I suppose you could say that really, but it’s a decision that everyone has to make, what are you going to pick? Are you just going to spend your whole life doing something that makes you sick? Or are you going to push the boat out and challenge yourself, do something strange and suffer the consequences, revel in the consequences?”

The dichotomy of reveling in and suffering the effects of affirmative action is something that the band has been experiencing ever since their formation. Since they exploded onto the Irish music scene in 2003, with their swagger and surliness, they made it clear that they didn’t want to belong to any scene or try to fit in with the meek and mild troubadours or the post-rockpet-rock bedroom boys. This seemed to raise the ire of many an indie-kid, but with two bone-fide smash hit singles (‘Come Back Girl’, ‘You Know It’) under their belts and two successful albums, why should they care?

It’s easy to dismiss Republic Of Loose as fluorescent clad greasy chancers, peddling their facsimile funk to commercial radio marketing executives, playing jester to crowds of boozed-up idiots who describe the band as “ledges” on their Bebo pages, who hoot and punch the air whenever Pyro mentions “the laydeez”.

Republic Of Loose

The People’s Republic

It’s easy to despair at their very existence. How can they take themselves seriously? Do they take themselves seriously?

You have to wonder, with a frontman as intelligent and articulate as Pyro, is the excessive behaviour, salt-of-the-earth attitude and chewing-gum tunes all a pose? Is this what Irish pop dreams are made of? An empty gale and bluster of plastic machismo stretched over some funky bass-lines and infectious hooks? Is this the art posturing Ireland truly deserves? To quote Jonatton Yeah, the preposterous editor in Chris Morris’s caustic satire Nathan Barley: “Stupid people think it’s cool. Smart people think it’s a joke; also cool.”

Pyro frowns and exhales noisily at the very mention of the word “irony”.

“These days you have to do everything in a removed way, where you don’t really engage with it, you observe it from an ironic safe distance where you understand it but don’t absorb it,” he observes. “If you look at say, Calvin Harris or Beck, if he does an R‘n’B song, everyone thinks it’s cool because it’s done with ironic distance. Whereas, we physically embroil ourselves in this shit, there is no room for irony because we love this kind of music so much, we’re in it.

“When Rory Gallagher heard the blues on the radio, he didn’t have any sense of ludicrousness about the fact that he wanted to play it, he just heard beautiful music and started playing it,” he continues, obviously irritated. “Nobody said to Rory, ‘What are ye doin’? Jesus Christ, you’re from Cork, give it up, stop trying to play the blues’. I think with us it’s mainly because what we’re doing sounds more contemporary: it’s not influenced by American music from 40 years ago, it’s influenced by contemporary American music. People get freaked out: they don’t understand what we’re trying to do. We confuse people.”

Pyro has a point. Isn’t every current band and artist born

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Republic Of Loose

“If you look at say, Calvin Harris or Beck, if he does an R‘n’B song, everyone thinks it’s cool because it’s done with ironic distance. Whereas, we physically embroil ourselves in this shit, there is no room for irony because we love this kind of music so much, we’re in it.”

suckling on the teat of pop culture? Isn’t that what is so liberating about creating art in modern times, that everyone is essentially rummaging through the same musical dustbin and making off with the best bits. It would seem that some established artists get an easier ride than others.

In this post-modern pastiche world, how authentic can any artist/band be? Jack White is no more a poor, down-South Depression era bluegrass singer than Pyro is the modern mutant hybrid of Chuck Jones and Prince. Maybe the difficulty people have with Republic Of Loose is that not only has the wizard been revealed from behind the curtain, but he’s jigging into your face, frothing at the mouth, asking what your problem is.

Bass player Ben mulls over this conundrum before proclaiming, “Maybe we piss people off because it makes them question their own aesthetic values. There seems to be an unwillingness in bands or a fear about engaging with contemporary, modern stuff rather than stuff that’s traditional, music that’s safely revered. There are no risks taken when you cite Marvin Gaye as an influence as opposed to say Lil’ Wayne.”

With their third album, Vol IV Johnny Pyro and the Dance of Death, set for imminent release, Pyro feels this attitude is no longer a concern: “I think we’ve become part of the furniture now. After two albums I think we’ve proved ourselves. People sometimes get confused with what we’re about. We do it deliberately to obfuscate what we’re trying to do. We’re shadow boxing, messing with people’s brains. Y’know, they are saying who’s this scruffy mofo: they sound like Outkast but he looks like a homeless dude? It’s fucking around with people’s expectations or limited expectations, but on this album it’ll become a lot clearer what we’re about. It’s more of a manifesto.”

This bold statement indicates that the band are possibly moving forward from their customary wry lyrics and trying to 26

actually express something that elicits more than a guffaw or the scratch of a head?

“The last album didn’t portray anything lyrically,” Pyro admits. “It was basically all about the sound of it. I was trying to write poetry. I was reading a lot of post-modern poetry, just trying to find things that sit well with the meter. On this album, I’m trying to address more of the explicit identity issues what being a human being living in modern Ireland is like. This album lyrically is more explicit and linear.”

It’s an album that tackles notions of Irishness, on the furious, expletive riddled diatribe, ‘IRISH’: depression, despair and battles with the demon drink. But it’s not all disillusionment and darkness. Pyro still has an ear for a catchy tune, even if the subject matter isn’t so sweet: look no further than the contagious sermon on modern living that is ‘Go Steady With It’.

It’s just as exhaustive musically, encompassing everything from hair metal to Latin rock, to their familiar take on ‘80s soul, which is no mean feat. Obviously, a labour of love then?

“It was like birthing a deformed child,” Ben cackles, before Pyro interjects sincerely, “The last two albums were a learning curve. We’re coming into our own,” he states. “We’re not joining the dots anymore. We’ve developed a larger facility to basically engage with any type of music. The only limitations we have are trying to cram all our ideas into one cohesive project. When people first hear it, they’ll probably go ‘what the fuck are they trying to do here? They’re trying to do too much stuff at the same time’. But people who understand music, the lineage of music, will love it.”

Endeavoring to do too much simultaneously seems to be The Loose’s trademark but when it sounds as fun as dancing yourself dizzy to Sly, skinning up to the Stones or wailing along to some Teddy Riley R‘n’B schmaltz, it’s hard not to crack a smile, swallow the cynicism and enjoy the ride.

Vol IV Johnny Pyro and the Dance of Evil is released on May 2.

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Acceptable In The â&#x20AC;&#x2122;80s

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Neon Neon

Words by Niall Byrne

State

America during the 1980s: the sheen, the glamour, the haircuts, Members Only jackets, the ankle socks, the leg warmers, the Brat Pack, the cocaine, the dancing, Men At Work, A-Ha, Corey Hart and The Thompson Twins. One man who encapsulated the glory and the tumble of the decade was flamboyant car manufacturer and entrepreneur John Delorean, known for manufacturing the DeLorean DMC-12 sports car, a visionary vehicle with a permanent place in popular culture, thanks to its appearance in Back to the Future. The car featured gull-wing doors and stainless steel body. No other car suited the personality of its maker quite as much as the DMC. The ‘80s was to be John Delorean’s most prolific period.

In-between establishing a doomed car manufacturing plant in Belfast, alleged financial irregularities, US governmental entrapment involving cocaine and many more accusations, DeLorean lived a life of luxury, hung out with celebrities, threw pool parties, redesigned his own chin, divorced a supermodel and spent abundantly.

When LA electronic producer Bryan Hollon (Boom Bip) and Welsh rocker Gruff Rhys (of Super Furry Animals) teamed up for their ‘80s inspired project Neon Neon, Delorean (who died in 2005) became the centrepiece of what was to become the album Stainless Style. “We came across a picture of the Delorean car and it just seemed to symbolically fit what what we were doing,” Bryan explains. “That put us on a whole creative course on the story of Delorean.”

Hollon and Rhys are clearly comfortable exploring unknown territory together. They first met when Boom Bip supported Super Furry Animals on their 2003 North American tour. The first date on the tour was coincidentally in Detroit, the birthplace of John Delorean. Gruff cites his Neon Neon experience as “amazing and very eye-opening” while Bryan extols his partner’s gift for melody: “He came up with some amazing hooks and things that fit in perfectly. It was very inspiring, completely invaluable.”

Gruff reckons Delorean’s life can be seen as a cautionary American dream, representing “things that have become culturally dominant, like the rise and rise of celebrity culture and concepts like product placement, which he pioneered. He also made a lot of mistakes for us to avoid.”

With lyrics focusing on Delorean, Gruff tells State how the music follows a similar arc from ‘70s italo-disco to ‘80s synth-pop.

“A lot of the record is inspired by music made on the cusp on the ‘80s; bands like The Cars, Buggles and the dawn of the video age,” he notes. “It’s a whole kind of Bret Easton Ellis, bleak 1980s’ landscape going on and there’s certain touchstones musically, like Jan Hammer and Prince.”

The album is a pleasant surprise for those familiar with Gruff and Boom Bip’s respective discographies. Their previous collaboration on Boom Bip’s album Blue Eyed In The Red Room,

Neon Neon

entitled ‘Do’s and Don’ts’ was a lot more consistent with expectations. With Stainless Style, however, the duo deliberately tried to avoid conventions, as Bryan explains: “I put together some tracks in Los Angeles and a lot of them were falling into the same category, this real polished shiny synth-pop feel. We wanted to do something that sounded completely different from what people expected of us.”

This led to an unorthodox method of working against their musical instincts. “We had some moments where we went in too much of a tasteful direction and we had to put those tracks to the side because they were too pretty, too melodic and they didn’t fit within the theme,” adds Bryan.

Stainless Style is brimming with suitable guest stars like MC Spank Rock, Har Mar Superstar, Fatlip, Cate le Bon and Fab Moretti of The Strokes. The Magic Numbers lend a choral magnificence to the redemptive dirge of the title track, while Yo Majesty turn the grimey hip-hop of ‘Sweat Shop’ into something seedy, to the surprise of Gruff: “I started writing a song about working conditions in car factories and Yo Majesty came onboard and completely sexualised the lyrics, which I could never have done! The song’s completely changed.”

Another standout, ‘I Told Her on Alderaan’, complete with Star Wars planetary reference, concerns Delorean’s licentious ways. “We’ve figured it out as a dream sequence where Delorean is having love affairs and can’t handle the guilt. He’s tossing and turning at night and he’s dreaming of aspects of Star Wars movies, seeing various girlfriends: he’s driving his car as silver pylons glisten in the sun,” explains Gruff.

The most bizarre Delorean tale appears on ‘Luxury Pool’, based on Delorean’s louche baptism. “After he was involved in the cocaine bust and he got off on entrapment, he wanted to clean up his image with the public, so he decided to hold this really elaborate party at a mansion in the Hollywood Hills for his baptism,” recounts Bryan. “It was very extravagant and he was quoted as saying ‘Nothing is too good for Jesus’. It was completely ridiculous with cameras all around – a real media affair.”

Stainless Style has garnered attention from the Delorean community, who are extremely enthusiastic about Neon Neon.

“We played in LA and three Delorean cars turned up outside the venue,“ Gruff laughs. Bryan elaborates, “The president of the DMC Club of Southern California was there. He was full of compliments after the show. In fact, he said he wanted to sell the album in his Delorean shop, where he sells parts for the car. They sell t-shirts that say ‘Made in Belfast’ and pins and buttons. He said the album would make a perfect addition and he could sell quite a few of them!” Stainless Style so admirably charts the story of a man in a distinctive decade, that it would be a shame if it was only popular in Delorean subculture.

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State

Music and Video Games

From Grand Theft Auto to Guitar Hero, video games are fast becoming the place to hear new music. But what does this mean for artists, record labels and games themselves?

The Song Remains The Game Words by David McLaughlin

You’re roaring down Times Square in a hulking SUV, zipping in and out of traffic, trying to outrun the cops on your Extraordinary pre-sales and feverish tail. There are drugs and weapons in the vehicle and you’re wanted for murder.

Your heart’s working double time and adrenaline is oozing through your veins as the stereo pumps rock’n’roll, drowning out the bustling city streets. It’s the most fun you’ve ever had in your life and it’s only a computer game…

Now that Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto IV is finally in the public domain, millions of gamers around the world are experiencing that very feeling, losing countless hours of their lives and possibly even a relationship or two. That addictive hold the modern games industry has on its market isn’t lost on power players within the music business and portends of major implications for the future as the two increasingly bleed into one another.

While the old guard of the music industry struggle to dam the flood of changes brought about by new media and web 2.0 successes such as MySpace, artists’ sales are plummeting across the board. Illegal downloads continue to rise and consumers are voting with their feet, as music bosses chase their tails in search of fresh ways to promote new artists. In contrast, the gaming industry is booming.

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excitement for a title such as GTA IV is proof that in many ways, games are the new rock’n’roll and more people than ever are playing.

According to Steve Schnur, Worldwide Executive of Music and Marketing at EA (Electronic Arts), games are “where nearly everyone now discovers new music”. It is a difficult assertion to deny when presented with some illuminating facts.

“A recent poll of gamers aged 13 to 32 revealed that 55% learned about a new artist after hearing a song in a video game,” Schnur begins. “Over one third downloaded a song because they heard it in a game. More than 20% purchased that artist’s CD. Now, consider that an average of 2.5 people play each game sold. Each game is played an average of 50 hours per player. On the game software, songs rotate and are identified on screen at least twice per each hour of play. In North America, our Madden ’08 game sold more than seven million units. That means that any given song in that game was heard and identified over 1 billion times.”

Up against figures like that, airplay and video rotation (for the elite, lucky few

who command it) simply can’t compete.

Ailing trade in the music industry, thanks to a collective, stubborn refusal to rethink archaic business models in an era of everevolving technologies, means registers are singing for the likes of savvy, forwardthinking games companies like EA and Rockstar.

Seven years ago,

EA cottoned onto the growing importance of music in their titles, setting up the EA Trax initiative under Schnur’s command. EA Trax sought artists to license in their games and set the industry standard for cross-promotional opportunities that is now being fully utilised thanks to next generation hardware and software.

Strengthening their position as pioneers in the field, six months ago Schnur announced they were branching out further still with a ‘full-service music company’, Artwerk.

“Artwerk is ‘Music 2.0’,” says Schnur, forebodingly. “We can now directly sign, launch and grow our own unique roster.

It’s not a record label but an aggressively proactive publisher that delivers master recordings, film and TV synch deals,

State

Music and Video Games

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State

Music and Video Games

“Imagine a world where 80% of the global population can be instantaneously exposed to new music via videogames, with the power to purchase literally at their fingertips. Within the next five years, our ability to expose and discover music of every genre will be beyond anything the industry or the consumer has ever known before.”

Steve Schnur, Worldwide Executive of Music and Marketing at Electronic Arts

advertising placement, distribution and beyond. The Artwerk roster is already everything a forward-thinking label should be: diverse, unafraid, ferociously independent…and growing. Artwerk is a vision of music, games and global digital entertainment all coming together like never before.”

The ground-breaking work of Artwerk is a far cry from the days of crudely rendered blips and beeps in early games such as Pong, Space Invaders and Tetris but is also an important indication of how seriously developers now think about the use of music in their titles.

Hiroyuki Kobayashi is the producer of the hit Devil May Cry franchise and shares Schnur’s view that the marriage of music and gaming is of vital importance to the gamer’s overall pleasure and experience. For the series’ most recent instalment, Devil May Cry 4, Kobayashi secured the signature of Japanese rock band L’arc-En-Ciel to write an exclusive theme song, ‘Drink It Down’.

“L’arc-En-Ciel are one of the most popular groups in Japan and Devil May Cry is one of the biggest games franchises,” he says. “So I knew they would be a big attraction to an audience who are not even gamers. Their involvement meant we were able to capture that new audience

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and bring a lot of music fans to the game.”

According to the latest VGChartz figures, Devil May Cry 4 is now the ninth Playstation 3 title to break the one million sales milestone, shipping 1.09 million, and currently sitting at just under the million mark on its Xbox 360 debut. If Steve Schnur’s assessment is correct, that means L’arc-En-Ciel will be heard one billion times (for the first time in many cases) by innumerable gamers around the world.

Encouraged by the success of such forward-thinking, mutually beneficial relationships, it is no surprise that such synch deals with games are now something managers, PR agents and pluggers at publishing companies actively, aggressively pursue.

Toby Kidd works as press agent for London-based PR Company Destiny Media and he recognises the value of promoting bands through games.

“It is important in targeting certain demographics, especially those younger age groups who, due to the internet and changing trends, are increasingly less likely to buy magazines or listen to radio,” he reasons. “I also see computer games as another outlet for extreme or alternative music, which might not get covered in mainstream media. Ever since the BitMap Bros used ‘Megablast’ by Bomb The Bass

as the theme music to Xenon 2, it changed people’s attitude about how important the crossover could be. Now you have labels like Moving Shadow releasing whole albums for games with exclusive tracks.”

The promotional muscle of gaming is perhaps best exemplified by the uber-popular Activision series Guitar Hero. With a combined 14 million sales around the world, it is now a major cultural phenomenon that can even boast a satirical send-up on gross-out animated comedy South Park, such is its ubiquity.

Guitarist with UK punk band Gallows, Laurent Barnard describes his band’s appearance on the latest instalment, Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock, as their proudest moment thus far. And this is a band who include sold-out tours, prestigious awards hauls and magazine covers on their list of achievements. It’s indicative of a generation of music fans’ attitude towards the credibility and kudos of an in-game tie-in.

The mammoth success of the Guitar Hero series is good news for Downpatrick rockers The Answer, who will have their 2005 release ‘Never Too Late’ featured on the forthcoming Guitar Hero IV (due in

State

Music and Video Games

Page 31: Former Poison frontman Bret Michaels gets the digital treatment in Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock; This page: Devil May Cry 4 featured Japanese rockers L’arc-En-Ciel on its soundtrack; Grand Theft Auto IV, the daddy of them all.

October this year), alongside big-hitters like Kiss, Aerosmith and Mötley Crüe.

The Answer’s guitarist Paul Mahon is understandably excited about the greater exposure the game will offer and the potential knock-on effect when they release their second album later this year.

“This will be a whole new level for us,” he beams. “On the first album, we really struggled to get things on the radio.

Any records we sold, we did through hard work and touring. But CDs are dying and the single is dead, so it’s hard for bands now unless you have a lot of money to promote yourself. So with things like game synchs and the likes of MySpace, it will hopefully result in a change for the better for the artist.”

Whether that artist-favouring change manifests itself remains to be seen while the music industry continues its current flux, but for a generation raised on digital media, games may indeed become the number one source for discovery of new music as the old guard get lost in the shuffle.

Steve Schnur recalls an epiphany he had while employed at the programming department of MTV in 1981 that should be of great concern to any music industry bigwigs still intent on ignoring new media.

“I remember attending a focus group in which a 15-year-old was asked about videos compared to songs on the radio. His comment back was, ‘A song only becomes real to me when I see it.’ I still think about the implications of that kid’s statement.

You should, too. We are now continuing a trend already in motion for 20-plus years, a trend already indelibly ingrained in future generations. These are generations raised on video games as a major entertainment source in their lives. These are generations who will be raised on discovering music through these games. For these generations, the song may only become real to them when they ‘play it’.

“The teens of today are the first generation to have fully grown up with digital technology. That means they’ve never known a world without computers, internet or cell phones. Digital technology has radically affected their identities, their social interaction, and their total navigation of day-to-day life. The Digital Generation is now is 88 million strong and growing. And they can’t imagine their lives without videogames.”

With the likes of Schnur’s burgeoning Artwerk label changing the landscape of how that generation consumes its music, it begs serious questions about the future of record labels and raises doubts about

the very foundations the music industry is built on.

As games and hardware become more interactive, more consumer-oriented and games companies solidify their role as go-to sources for cutting edge music, could we be on the brink of a major power struggle between the two entertainment industry giants? No question, says Schnur.

“The next generation of hardware will absolutely re-set the bar for both entertainment and technology in our lifetimes,” he believes. “But what will iPhone 2, Blackberry 10K, PlayStation4 and the Xbox 5000 bring? All these future devices will be complete home and mobile entertainment supercomputers that represent digital technology beyond anything we have ever experienced.

“Imagine a world where 80% of the global population can be instantaneously exposed to new music via videogames, with the power to purchase literally at their fingertips. Within the next five years, our ability to expose and discover music of every genre will be beyond anything the industry or the consumer has ever known before. 35 years after those first electronic blips of Pong, videogames – and the music we can deliver within them – have become the most essential new cultural force of our time.”

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State

Into The West

Billy Bragg has been many things down the years – folk singer, pop star, political commentator – yet it’s safe to say that he’s never been thought of as a soul singer. Until now that is, and the release of Mr Love & Justice, which turns out to be the great American soul and roots album that few thought he could or would make. For Bragg, however, it’s not such a strange move.

“That side of me has always been there”, he tells State. “The two pillars on which my songwriting has been built are Bridge Over Troubled Water and Tamla Motown Chartbusters Vol 3. They’re the two albums that I taped when I was 12 years old and spent the whole year dreaming that I was either the only living boy in New York or Junior Walker’s roadrunner. In the past I’ve signified that with the sparing use of a Hammond organ and finally I’ve let it have its head. Partly, it’s because I’m on an American label called Anti Records and when I was talking to them in 2006, the guy who runs it mentioned he was doing an album with Mavis Staples, produced by Ry Cooder. This thing stuck in my mind and I started writing songs for this album that never got used. I thought, ‘waste not, want not’.”

While those who have seen him as a stereotypical left wing protest singer might be surprised by his musical gravitation across the Atlantic, Bragg has always enjoyed a far warmer relationship with the US than you might imagine.

“Generally, the things I’ve had the problems with have been either in the White House or down on Wall Street”, he agrees.

“The actual people themselves, and I speak as someone who’s had the privilege to travel and meet them, I know they’re not a bunch of right wing dickheads. The vast majority are as appalled by George Bush as we are, they just don’t get to manifest that on this

Billy Bragg

Words by Phil Udell

side of the Atlantic. My relationship has not been that knee jerk, anti-American: I’ve always had a lot of respect for the people and their culture.”

To look West is a marked change in tack for the singer, who’s most recent creative outing was the book The Progressive Patriot, a detailed examination of the concept of Englishness. For Billy, that process helped him prepare to move in a new direction.

“One of the reasons that there are a lot of love songs and not the belligerent stuff that people might associate with me is a result of the book,” he admits. “It stopped me writing more songs about Englishness in a specific sense, although that has always informed what I do. I felt confident that I didn’t need to piss on those particular posts on this album, which enabled me to move towards that more soulful singer songwriter vibe. I’ve been listening to a lot of Ray Lamontagne and he made me go back to people like Fred Neil. That’s always been there. My voice seems to be improving with age and I’m as surprised by that as anybody.

That’s enabled me to make a less shouty and more sung record. In the gospel tradition, there are some incredibly raw voices and I’ve gone that way.”

Billy’s recorded output has not been the most prolific of late, with only two new solo albums in 14 years. Did he ever worry he was getting sucked into a Stone Roses style void?

“No”, he avows, “because I was putting out all the time. I was writing anti-war songs and putting them for free download. I was doing shows and road testing the new songs. Not even the songs as such, more the ideas behind them, that cynicism is the true

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State

Billy Bragg

“A lot of the new generation of singer songwriters have got something to say other than the old tired messages of Britpop. Oasis never seemed to say anything apart from, ‘I’m great, you’re shit, do you like my socks?’”

enemy for those who want to make a better society. It’s behind conservatism and behind capitalism. I was biding my time and thinking about how to make this album, so it was much more focused, because on the last album I was still trying to work out what kind of band The Blokes were, so I could try and write for them. I tried a bit of everything and had a lot of fun doing it but it didn’t have a focus. In 2006, we did Patti Smith’s Meltdown [festival] just with acoustic instruments and it really worked, so the first week of recording this album, we left all the electric guitars behind and that really set the tone for the record.”

Of late, he has found himself working with two of his great musical heroes. Firstly, English folk legend, Martin Carthy, a contemporary of Dylan, Richard Thompson and Paul Simon, as part of the Imagined Village project.

“Just to be working with people like that is great,” he says.

“Martin was a huge help when I was writing the book because I was looking at a period when he was amazingly active. When Bob Dylan and Paul Simon came to England, he was there.”

Then there was former Clash guitarist Mick Jones, who became part of Billy’s Jail Guitar Doors charity, providing guitars in prisons.

“I’m an old Clash fan and everybody knows that,” he says, “and I’m sure that everybody’s bored of all us 50-year-old geezers talking about how great they were, but when you set up a charity to take guitars into prison, you do it in honour of Joe Strummer and name it after an old Clash B-side. When the first person who puts his hand in his pocket is Mick Jones, you feel justified in being an old Clash fan. He has really helped me connect with the goodwill that exists towards The Clash. All over Christmas, the fifth anniversary of Joe’s death, bands from around the world

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did tribute gigs for Joe and raised money for this charity. Mick’s involvement has given Jail Guitar Doors a huge boost.”

It’s not just his peers who have been beating a path to his door either, as he has found himself being declared a formative influence by the likes of Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly (aka Sam Duckworth) and Kate Nash. Billy, for one, is delighted.

“A lot of the new generation of singer songwriters have got something to say other than the old tired messages of Britpop.

Oasis never seemed to say anything apart from, ‘I’m great, you’re shit, do you like my socks?’ Then you find someone like Sam addressing the war, Jamie T being really gobby with it, or Kate, who’s writing songs about relationships from her own point of view. She doesn’t conform. I don’t think you’ll ever see her on the cover of GQ. She’s an incredibly strong woman. I was so proud of her when she picked up her Brit and said, ‘thanks, but female is not a genre’. To be name-checked by artists of that stature and that suss, I’m really, really proud. They have something to say, like I did. It’s great to work with them and to see how they’re dealing with it all. Any lessons that I’ve picked up in my 25 years of doing this, I’m more than happy to pass on.”

Of course, these artists have taken a very different route to the one that Billy took when he was their age. He’s cautious as to the results of the new media.

“Obviously, the internet has provided a lot of opportunities for new bands but we do have to be careful that the people who provide the content get rewarded for it,” he warns. “Dot com startups don’t make the kind of money that they do on the back of free content. It’s an argument that needs to be made and a principle that needs to be established for the sake of these young artists. In 10 years time, I still want there to be the ability to do what I’ve done, which is make a living from what they love doing. How brilliant is that? Everything else is just icing on the cake.”

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Circuit Breakers

Eastern Promise

Words by Johnnie Craig ~ Photography by Scott N’ Goulden

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Belly dancing and cream cakes: State helps to celebrate the Persian New Year

You can just imagine the gossip-mongering; “Did you hear, there’s While it would be an exaggeration another one of those mad parties going on… some place off the Naas Road in Dublin 22, it’s all that thump-thumpthump music and strange dancing. Oh, and there’s there’s the usual gang of young fellas, all dressed in white, sitting in a group, passing around some substance or other.”

Well, it’s perfectly true: it’s a party in an upstairs room at the Red Cow Complex: it’s a Persian New Year celebration, where a DJ is providing floor-filling dance music, and a group of smartly-attired young men are indeed passing something around – they’re sharing a freshly peeled orange.

This is Dublin’s own version of Nowruz (‘New day’ in Old Persian), a celebration marking the first day of spring and the beginning of the Iranian calendar – and, before you ask, it’s now the year 2567. As religious ceremonies go, it’s a bit of a curiosity in Ireland, as it predates anything on our Christian calendar, having been celebrated by Persians for at least 3,000 years.

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to say that the Red Cow has been transformed for the occasion, it’s at least unusual to see the traditional, ornately decorated ‘Haft Sin’ table set up just inside the doorway of the function room; it comprises seven symbolic foodstuffs, all of which begin with the letter ‘s’ in Persian, signifying ‘the seven creations and holy immortals’ protecting them.

From the word go, it looks like a party that caters for the finer senses. All around the hall, there’s an alluring fragrance of musk and chocolate.

The event’s poster advertises an 8.30pm start and State duly arrives on the dot, only to find the party is already well underway: the floor is reverberating with beats, kaleidoscopic lights illuminate the faces of happy revellers on the dancefloor, while the tables lining the room are adorned with fresh fruit and cakes. We are warmly welcomed and shown to a corner table festooned with such culinary delights: within minutes, a woman from another table arrives offering a tray of

]

similar goodies, her smile and generosity a warm invitation to join in the festivities.

Even an event like this, because it’s in a venue like this, could always look like a typical Irish wedding reception or 21st birthday party, but the vibe is entirely different. For one thing, people are dancing, laughing and making merry before more than a few drops of alcohol have been consumed. For another, the music may be loud, but it’s getting everyone from toddlers to dodderers on to the dance-floor. The difference is that it’s a divine mixture of western dance beats and traditional Persian music, whose appeal transgresses the generations amongst tonight’s guests; to preserve authenticity, the discs are being expertly spun by the Iranian-born, Swedish-based DJ Crush.

The atmosphere is very much that of a close family celebration; there are many families here but there are also introductory handshakes and kisses aplenty going on all around the room, as Ireland’s disparate Persian community finds a focal point.

On the floor, State watches entranced as the men dance energetically, using mainly their hands and shoulders, while the women counter using their entire physique: young teenagers are dancing alongside their elders without the remotest self-consciousness or embarrassment. On the sidelines, many non-Persian Irish guests look on shyly, a little intimidated by the styles. It’ll be a couple more visits to the bar before they’ll brave the floor.

The event’s organiser, Sam Tamaddon, a young Tehran native who moved to Ireland eight years ago, is buzzing all over the room, ensuring everyone has a good time. While there are 300 guests here, Sam hoped more of Ireland’s 2,000-plus Persian community would come but he’s not

disappointed. “Once they hear from their friends and family that it was a great party and was organised by a Persian, we’ll have a bigger party next year,” he enthuses. “I’m not doing this for profit: I want to start proper Persian nights. The problem is that the age-group of most Persian people here is 30-35: they have families, If they were in their 20s, I could do this once a month.”

Nevertheless, when even the elderly are creating mayhem on the dance-floor, this style of event must surely have a future beyond the confines of the Persian community. So how is Nowruz celebrated at home?

“We do parties here, we do mega parties over there,” he explains. That doesn’t fit with many people’s expectations of a Muslim country, State suggests, and he agrees. “What you hear from the media is not true at all. I’ve a good few friends who love to go to Iran and I’ve brought them Swedish, German, Irish friends - and they love it.”

A straw poll taken before tonight indicates that many people think ‘desert’, ‘austerity’ and ‘terrorist’ when you mention Iran. In fact, it’s one of the world’s richest countries in terms of wealth and agriculture. Mention the country’s ultra-conservative President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Sam says emphatically, “we don’t like him either.”

Iran has a rich and vibrant culture, cuisine to dine out for and it’s drop-dead

gorgeous to look at – and when you see how generous, warm and familyorientated Persian people are close up, you wonder just how Iran ended up being ranked as being the country to have ‘the most negative influence on the world’ in a BBC poll earlier this year. Its music is pretty spectacular too.

There a huge cheer as DJ Crush makes an introduction in Persian, and an excitable Circus Maximus forms around the dance-floor. Enter an extraordinary belly-dancer, a mesmeric vision of exotic perfection: flowing black hair, a torso which performs muscular miracles before our eyes and a figure magnetic to virtually all male gazes in the room. As she makes her way from table to table, stopping to dance with some young girls for a time, one lad takes it upon himself to showboat in front of her. He’s all hands, shoulders and bravado as he moves in a manner which, to the untrained eye, could look like a mating ritual. This isn’t lost on his Polish girlfriend either, and she maintains an unflinching stare at her man’s profile until the belly-dancer moves elsewhere, at which point she issues the cosmic dancer with a swift kick to his shin.

“She’s half-English, half Persian,” Sam says of the belly-dancer. “I knew she was good but not that good…”

There’s a brief swap-over at the decks

as Crush makes way for Italian “easy house music” DJ, Dr Flamer who, ironically, contrives to calm things down on the dance-floor. As soon as his two flesh-baring dancing girls begin gyrating at the front corners of the stage, in a style which is more Tallaght than Tehran, it becomes a polite spectator sport for the guests.

Soon, however, cheesy house mash-ups of Donna Summer and Gloria Estefan ensue, encouraging an all-age conga to snake around the room, finally summoning Irish partygoers to the dance-floor.

It’s noticeable, even at this late hour, how young Persian men aren’t falling around drunk. One particular guy’s dancing would ordinarily suggest intoxication but he’s had little more stimulating than a cream bun and a cucumber from his table’s fruit bowl: he’s simply having fun.

“We drink to enjoy, not to get sick,” Sam smiles. “The young people respect their elders, that’s the main thing. I wouldn’t misbehave in front of my dad. I wouldn’t disrespect him at all.”

Looking around the room as we depart, Sam’s last comment says it all about tonight: enjoyment, love, respect, family, all the ingredients required for a special occasion. It’d be another cultural step forward for Ireland if Sam Tamaddon and his friends could successfully put on a Persian-themed night more than once annually. Happy New Year.

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State

Daniel Lanois

Confessions Of The Quiet Man Words by John Walshe Photography by Feargal Ward

One of the most famous and sought-after producers in the world, French-Candian Daniel Lanois is also the unlikely star of a new film, Here Is What Is, a lovingly created 86minute documentary that charts the recording of his third album of the same name.

“Am I self-promoting? Absolutely, I’m self-promoting,” guffaws Lanois, sitting in the bar of the Shelbourne Hotel, his home from home while working on the new U2 album. “I’m trying to stay alive here, but I’m not John Wayne, I’m not trying to be an actor. I’m just trying to say a few things about my work and to have it so that people can appreciate how the hands move, how we do it, what are the underlying philosophies.”

He later confesses that “it was weird looking at myself on film. I thought I was ugly. It was tough, man. I’ve grown a goatee since,” he laughs, “because the camera loves contrast.”

Always renowned for leaping through a myriad of musical hoops, Here Is What Is is arguably Lanois’ most eclectic collection yet, jumping from jazz to rock, blues to gospel, classical to country, sometimes in the course of the same song.

“It’s a travel film,” explains Lanois. “It goes through five cities, so I think I can get away with it being eclectic based on the fact that we were moving around for a year.”

The idea for the film came from Lanois’ friend, Adam Samuels, who suggested that filming his recording sessions might shake things up in the studio and “get me off the usual journey I go on”.

Another friend, Adam Vollick, provided all the camera-work, as Lanois didn’t want an entire crew intruding on his studio setup. “Adam became a member of the orchestra,” he grins, “a fly on the wall, and we started to enjoy the process of filming. Whenever the musical performances unfolded, we wanted to make sure the camera was there: we never did extra takes for the camera.”

He’s extremely happy with the result: “I like the way that he amplifies certain kinds of details. He’s not constantly on my mug.

He moves around and you can see a little bit of the gear and the hardware as he’s moving. I like that. It gives a song a chance to have its mystery and be presented nicely.”

According to Lanois, there is a recurring theme of ‘hands’ throughout the film, which opens with a close-up shot of the fingers of Canadian musical legend Garth Hudson tinkling the ivories. “Even if somebody said to me, ‘Lanois, you made a crap film’, from the bottom of your heart, you’d have to be a vicious human being to say ‘I don’t wanna watch Garth Hudson play for three minutes’: it’s that beautiful and special.

“I know it may not be a very popular pop idea but I like the fact that musicians have devoted years to their craft,” he explains further. “I want to see The Edge moving his fingers, I want to see Garth Hudson, and I want to see that in myself too. I look back at my pedal steel guitar playing and I think, ‘Lanois put in the time’.”

One of the most memorable snippets from a film full of them is when Lanois describes his beloved pedal steel guitar as his personal “church in a suitcase”.

“I love that term,” he smiles broadly. “It’s a great description.

It’s an instrument that I’ve been playing since I was a kid. It takes me to a sacred place. It calms me down, basically, in this fast world, to be able to come back to that old friend. Nothing much has changed about that old friend: I open the box, it says ‘hi, I’m still here’ and we pick up where we left off.

“There’s something fantastic that happens with that instrument. It’s like singing in a choral group, where you have harmonic interplay, because it’s often a three or four note phrase that keeps moving. There’s something very beautiful in its simplicity, that one note talks to the other and that becomes what I then respond to and inspires me to make the next move. In order to get to that place, I can’t be in a hurry. I have to play it well. It is an unchanged and never-changing piece of gear, and it takes me to

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that place, whether I’ve got it upstairs in the Shelbourne or in my front room in my house in Toronto.”

It’s not just on the pedal steel that the producer proves his worth as a musician: in one memorable scene, he uses the entire sound-desk as an instrument while mixing.

“It’s something I discovered when I was a kid, when I first got into the recording world. My first console didn’t have faders, it just had big buttons. It was a very elementary one. I found that I started turning the knobs with my fingers in a musical way, because I was a musician first, and I actually had a talent for moving the controls and treating the thing like a musical instrument. I still do it that way.”

He’s still decidedly old-school when it comes to mixing, preferring the route of fingers and feel to computer programs.

“Computer mixing is like standing back to have sex: oh, I see, there’s a couple of wrinkles on the blanket. When you’re doing the business, you’re not thinking about that,” he chortles.

Lanois has always worked this way, since he and his brother Bob set up their first studio in the basement of their mother’s house in Toronto as teenagers and business started to snowball.

“I never wanted to be a record producer. I didn’t even know what that was,” he recalls. “I was just trying to stay alive. One day I picked up one of the records I’d worked on and they had me down as producer, and I thought, ‘I guess, maybe that’s what I am.”

Meeting Brian Eno, his partner in crime on much of his work, including the U2 albums, was “pivotal” for Lanois, giving him the courage to “just do what you love”.

“He had been to art school and had been exposed to the 42

Daniel Lanois

urban crossroads of the world and I had not,” he explains. “I was a sheltered person, essentially, just trying to make a living in my mom’s basement.”

Eno is one of the star turns in the film of Here Is What Is, providing unexpected moments of real hilarity.

“He’s fantastically eccentric,” Lanois enthuses. “Just to give you an example, the U2 studio is really great. It’s just been redecorated, but the lighting hasn’t been finely tuned yet. They’ve got some contemporary ceiling lighting with the new generation bulbs, the longer-lasting ones, but they’re a little hard on the eyes. So on the way to work, he stopped into a film supply shop and picked up a bunch of gels, and he must have spent two hours hanging up gels in the studio. He had the assistants up on ladders.

But it made a difference: people walked in and they felt better and they looked better because they didn’t have this harsh light beaming down on them. So his eccentricities are still alive. He’s a cottage industry person: he just loves to do something beautiful with available tools. We could sit at this table here and he’d turn that napkin into a butterfly.”

One of the film and album’s key moments involves Eno waxing lyrical about the essence of art, where he informs us that “beautiful things grow out of shit”.

“He talks about how creativity belongs to anybody,” explains Lanois. “You just have to have an idea and believe in yourself, and how the tiniest seed in the right environment can become the most beautiful forest. It’s actually touching to hear him, and the sincerity of it.”

It’s the assertion that there’s no gap between people who make music or art and those who don’t: it’s just about doing it.

“Isn’t that the ultimate punk statement?” Lanois grins animatedly. “You could pick up a guitar and say what you need to say, you don’t need to know everything about it: three chords, that’s enough, off we go. That’s great to hear.”

State

While it’s true that anyone can be a musician, does it bother the Canadian that he’s far better known for his production work than his own music?

“Obviously, I’m well-known as a producer because some of the records I’ve made became massively successful, household names. I’ll stand up and accept the fact that I do what I do and I am what I am,” he stresses. “Yes, I have devoted a lifetime to the studio and I have made records that people know, and I’m fine with that. But I can play the hell out of that pedal steel guitar and I’ll be happy to go to Temple Bar and do it, and if anyone wants to turn up and watch me or hear me, I’m OK with it.

“The fact is, I’m not a powerhouse singer but that doesn’t mean I have an empty head. It doesn’t mean I can’t deliver a lyric that won’t have this kind of salt in it.”

One of the songs on the new album, ‘I’m Not Fighting Any More’, is a perfect example: a powerful, inspiring song, it sits amongst the best Lanois has penned and one which he humbly admits he’s “quite proud of”.

“Funny enough, the subject matter came up in the U2 studio yesterday, when we were deconstructing one of the songs we’re working on with Bono and he said, ‘I think what it’s about is moving into another chapter’. It doesn’t mean to say that you’ve not loved where you’ve just come from, it’s that a new window has opened and you see another place to go to. That’s what ‘Not Fighting Any More’ is about.

“There’s gonna come a point in everybody’s life where they’re gonna say, ‘I’m not doing this any more but I see what I need to do now. I’ve lived enough life and I know where I need to go’, whether it be ‘that’s the woman I wanna be with’, or spiritually.”

It transpires that he’s quite disparaging of his own singing talents, which State feels is unfair in the extreme. His voice has deepened and become more rounded with age, so much so that on Here Is What Is, he sometimes sounds like an old school crooner.

“I’m afraid to say this ‘cos you might put it in print. But whether I like it or not, and maybe it’s because I’m French, but I have a little Charles Asnavour in me ,” he smiles, breaking into song in the style of the famous old Gallic crooner. “I used to run from the French-man in me, but on the Gainsbourg scale, that’s OK. It’s actually what I like the most about French music: the old stuff. I don’t want a French rocker, I want the poet in my French part.”

Whether it’s his French or Canadian heritage, or the musical life experience that has seen him traverse the globe several times over, Lanois is quietly confident in his own abilities, however, and comfortable with his limitations.

“Bono can hit the big notes. He hits the top B and he breaks my heart when he does it,” he admits. “I don’t hit the top B: but it doesn’t mean that I can’t hit a top B lyrically or hit a top B on my pedal steel guitar. I’ve learned to love what I do and who I am as a human being and an artist, and if I can operate within what it is that I do best, then I’m happy to come to the table and have a nice night with listeners. Am I a stadium act? I don’t think so. But could we have a great night in a two thousand seater theatre? I think so.”

Here is What Is CD out now on Red Floor Records (www.redfloorrecords.com).

The DVD is released on Friday, May 30, in Ireland. There are two special Irish

Daniel Lanois

[

Daniel Lanois reflects on some of the greatest albums he’s produced.

]

U2 Achtung Baby (Island, 1991) “Achtung Baby, I think, is a sonic tour de force... I think the Achtung Baby record is pivotal in the sense that it’s the record that I did more playing on than the earlier U2 records I worked on, and my personality was able to enter the U2 work at that point. It has some sounds on it that had never been heard before. We were all very hungry for innovation, new sounds. We’re still that way these days: we never lose that appetite. But at that time, between The Edge, Eno, myself and Flood, we were really pushing the envelope and it shows. That record is a fascinating architecture.”

Bob Dylan Time Out Of Mind (Columbia, 1997) “I love Time Out Of Mind for its incredible depth of field... It’s not only powerful poetically, it’s powerful sonically... Bob wrote some powerful lyrics and I think, from the bottom of my heart, it’s one of the classics.

And it happened fast: there’s no evidence of suture.”

Brian Eno Apollo (EG, 1983) “It has two standout tracks, one called ‘An Ending Ascent’, which is one of the most beautiful things you’ve ever heard. It’s like a hymn: it’s some of Brian Eno’s finest work. The other is ‘Deep Blue Day’, which people might be familiar with from the toilet bowl scene in Trainspotting: that’s my ultimate destiny, kissing the white Cadillac.”

Emmylou Harris Wrecking Ball (Electra, 1995) “Since I was a kid, I was dreaming about coming up with that sound that Phil Spector used to come up with, like The Crystals’ ‘Then He Kissed Me’. You listen to that record and you want to be in love, you want to go dancing and you want to feel that rock ‘n’ roll culture exploding. It’s got that sexuality on it...Early on with that Emmylou Harris record, I hit on The Crystals’ sound....I heard it in the cans, ran into the control room, saying ‘don’t change anything. That’s the sound of Wrecking Ball’.”

Neville Brothers Yellow Moon (A&M, 1989) “That record was pivotal, because Bob Dylan paid a visit a week later and I played him ‘God On Our Side’. He couldn’t get over it. He said, ‘You’ve really made a record here’. I said, ‘Bob, do you think it’s too long?’ because we did this free time legato version. He said, ‘That song could never be long enough’. That song probably holds up thematically today as well as it did back then.”

screenings, followed by a live performance at the IFI, Dublin on Saturday, May 31, and Town Hall Theatre, Galway, on June 1.

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Words by Tanya Sweeney

The National

No Country For Old Men

Depending on who you ask, The National’s fourth studio album Boxer sounds like a lot of different things: a less morose Tindersticks, a more virile Springsteen, a multi-layered and imposing masterpiece on a par with Arcade Fire’s Funeral or - in the slightly unjust words of one blinkered blogger - a poor man’s Interpol. What it doesn’t sound like, however, is a band in the throes of a creative cul-de-sac. Due in part to Matt Berninger’s sage, sometimes ominous delivery, the twin viscous guitars, the odd orchestral flourish and poised and measured song-writing, Boxer has been roundly hailed as a majestic triumph and an exponential leap forward for the Brooklyn quintet. Yet a new DVD directed by French film-maker Vincent Moon, a behind-the-scenes documentary entitled A Skin, A Night, featuring the band on tour and in the studio, reveals an act undergoing a difficult and uncertain creative process.

A label spokesman sums it up thus: “A Skin, A Night is less a movie about The National than a movie about how music is made today: not with classic rock bravado, or debauched indulgence, but through novelistic attention to detail, a collective implosion of personality, and worried, worried nights.”

“It does!” agrees guitarist Aaron Dessner. “It does shows how frustrating a time it was, that we were sort of shooting in the dark. The song-writing is a real collaborative effort with no real leader. The way it works is that some write more than others, and sometimes the spinal versions are hard to uncover. With Boxer, we were struggling and searching for the right idea. Matt, in particular, had a bad time. We were a band trying to do a decent thing, but we didn’t want to push something out just because we had a deadline or for any financial motivation.”

One person who remained upbeat throughout was friend Sufjan Stevens, who also performed on the album. “I think he felt, from an outside perspective, the fact that it was going to

be difficult was a good thing,” notes Dessner. “He could tell we couldn’t see it or we’d become very frustrated and I think he had a sense that this was good. That this was the band growing.”

In the end, the band had to relinquish the album and send it out into the universe, a wrenching experience indeed, but one that paid off handsomely when Boxer was positively showered with superlatives upon release.

“I didn’t see it coming, to be honest,” admits Dessner, referring to the critical acclaim. “By the end of Boxer, I was really at a loss. I certainly couldn’t listen to the album, simply because the process was so hard. In the end, we sort of just...ran out of time. It was a shock to see how successful it was.... I think it’s hard not to hear the struggle on the album.”

By Dessner’s admission, A Skin, A Night – which includes a bonus CD, The Virginia EP – is not your commonor-garden music documentary. For a start, the project is very much French filmmaker Vincent Moon’s baby. The Virginia EP that accompanies the DVD is comprised largely of previously unreleased tracks, discarded sketches from the Boxer sessions, live tracks, B-Sides and a glorious cover of Caroline Martin’s ‘Without Permission’. One gets the immediate impression that this is a band hoping to upkeep some sort of creative momentum.

“Well, it’s less an economic thing,” surmises Dessner. “It’s just that Vincent made this film and we wanted it to have an audio element to it as well, as it makes it that bit more interesting, right?”

Nowadays, the band members enjoy a rather exalted position

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The National

“I’d rather do three nights at the Olympia than graduate onto a bigger venue.

Maybe we’re on the cusp of something bigger, and it would be strange. In terms of success, we’re comfortable and happy where we are. It’s not a massive enterprise by any means… I mean we still carry our own gear!”

as overlords of the Brooklyn scene. Dessner has kept an ear cocked to local up-and-comers, citing Yeasayer and Dirty Projectors as the next things to watch from the white-hot borough. Although perceived mainly as a Brooklyn act, the band does in fact boast roots in the ruddy-faced Midwest, who regard every Ohio show as a sort of homecoming, despite the fact that they see themselves as a New York band.

In truth, The National are in a No Man’s Land of sorts, and not just geographically. Already well able to sell-out mid-sized venues, the quintet are starting to dip their toe in the arena realm.

Predictably, their career trajectory is being likened to that of friends like Arcade Fire.

“That would be astonishing and we’d be grateful to get to that point,” says Dessner. “They’ve reached a rare point where they’re as big as they want to be and have the choices to do things. In a way, we’re also in a unique spot: we never thought we’d ever get to do something like play three shows at the Olympia, because for our first show in Dublin, there were 30 people there.

“It’s hard to predict what way it will go now,” he adds.

“Personally, I love playing venues the size of the Olympia...in fact, I wish they were even smaller. I’d rather do three nights at the Olympia than graduate onto a bigger venue. Maybe we’re on the cusp of something bigger, and it would be strange.

“In terms of success, we’re comfortable and happy where we are. It’s not a massive enterprise by any means...I mean we still carry our own gear! I prefer that DIY feeling and I’m still very superstitious about handing over aspects of what we do to other people.”

Despite such reservations, The National migrated from Dessner’s own label (Brassland Recordings) to Beggar’s Banquet in 2004. While the band have grown in scope and ambition over the years, Dessner has still managed to keep a creative toehold on Brassland, which is “in a growing phase”. Brassland is set to release 5-6 albums over the coming year, including Clogs (featuring Padma Newsome and Aaron’s brother and fellow National

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member Bryce), and Nico Muhly (“this amazing composer”).

With a high-profile arena tour with REM (and Modest Mouse) on the slate for the summer, it appears that The National are poised to move further away from their underground origins. Not even the band themselves could have predicted that they would one day count Michael Stipe among their followers, not least because it started life ostensibly as a way for its members to let off steam after they clocked out from their day jobs.

“Michael Stipe saw us at Oxegen: I think we were doing ‘Fake Empire’ and he was at the side of the stage with Bono’s wife,” recalls Dessner. “It turned out he was a big fan of Boxer. A few weeks later, he showed up at our show with Mike Mills in London.

I heard that before they offered us the slot, they were asking around, ‘Are The National nice people?’”

So does he feel as though such a gargantuan tour may affect the next creative chapter for the band in any way?

“I feel like the way we make music is accidental, it doesn’t really change no matter who you end up playing with,” he notes.

“Personally I’m not a fan of big productions, so I don’t think we’ll take on that aesthetic or that we’ll turn into a mainstream rock outfit. Growing up, I wasn’t so much into Smashing Pumpkins or Pearl Jam...I was more into The Cure, Pavement or Sebadoh.

“We are in the middle of the writing process for the next album and it’s slow,” he concludes. “I feel like Boxer was quite contemplative and meditative and we’re now in a very different mood. Right now, I honestly can’t say how it will go, other than we feel really productive and have lots of ideas. I have no clue how the album will sound...maybe very energetic, but who knows?”

A Skin, A Night is out on May 23 and The National play Dublin’s Olympia Theatre on May 13, 14 and 15.

Blog Standard The tracks and artists being noticed online this month

by Niall Byrne

the antagonistic ‘California Dreamer’, are being passed around servers right now. The album is out on June 17. http://tinyurl.com/6byegg

Egoeccentric’s Hangover Mixes State loves mixtapes, especially when it allows us to delve into the record collection of our favourite musicians. Irish music bloggers Egoeccentric have been delivering hangover mixes to get you through the day after the night before, with exclusive picks from Crayonsmith, Delorentos, Hooray For Humans, Butterfly Explosion and French alt-rockers, Papier Tigre. A nice soundtrack to explaining to your boss why you just threw up on your new shirt.

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http://tinyurl.com/6hzxym

The Rub Hip-Hop Mixes ’79 to ’99 You can’t get much more comprehensive than this! Brooklyn’s The Rub have compiled mix after mix of quality hip-hop, one for each year from 1979 to 1999. The sheer breadth of tunes on display here is impressive and at 21 volumes, it’ll keep you bumpin’ for a long, long time. From the early cuts featuring Funky 4 + 1, Sugarhill Gang and Kurtis Blow, up to pre-millennium jams from Missy Elliott (above), Mos Def, Dr, Dre, Jay-Z and Mobb Deep, you need these mixes.

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blog of the month Gorilla vs Bear http://gorillavsbear.blogspot.com Daily hunts for new indie music on the blogosphere will inevitably pass through this site, one of the best music blogs on the net by internet miles.

http://tinyurl.com/4n5ctn

Quiet Village An obscure band who have found an obscure and intrigued audience through music blogs, the UK’s Quiet Village produce cinematic tunes which hark back to ‘60s Italian film soundtracks, disco, soul and eh...easy listening. Indeed, their Silent Movie album resembles nothing more than the soundtrack to some forgotten New York arthouse flick. A little bit cheesy, a little bit vintage, a little bit modern; Quiet Village are all these things and still manage to make it work.

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http://tinyurl.com/554c8u

State Mix: DJ Half Dutch Hey! State’s got a blog too! We have no qualms about highlighting this mix by DJ Half Dutch, currently available on our site, as it’s so freakin’ good. Get this 27 minute mix of jumpjive, rhythm ‘n’ blues, reggae, ska, funk and Latin music, taking in Ella Fitzgerald, Pharoahe Monch, Jimmy Reed, The Dynamics and loads more.

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http://tinyurl.com/6cctcp

New Wolf Parade Material Fans anticipating a follow-up to 2006’s Apologies To The Queen Mary have finally had their appetites sated this month after a couple of tracks from the Montreal band’s forthcoming album, with an as-yet unconfirmed title of Kissing the Beehive, were leaked onto the web. The tracks, a slightly macabre ‘Call It A Ritual’ and

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Run by Chris Cantalini from Dallas, Texas, with help from two friends, David and Garrison, Gorilla vs Bear is the barometer of what’s going on in US indie circles, regularly impressing readers and pissing off fellow-bloggers by consistently being the first to highlight bands you’ll be listening to in the coming months. In fact, Chris is so influential that at SXSW this year, acts which came with the GvsB stamp of approval played to packed venues and received mucho attention in the aftermath. GvsB even ran their own party at the festival, which featured Holy Fuck and White Denim.

Acts which have been on the receiving end of Chris’ attention include Tapes ‘n’ Tapes, High Places, Lykke Li, El Guincho and St. Vincent. A true tastemaker.

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Hope Promotions

Green Day’s Irish debut, having Fugazi stay at your mum’s, legal battles with the Jesuits: all in a day’s work for Ireland’s original independent promoters, Hope.

Hey Hope, Let’s Go! Words by Phil Udell Photography by Ricky Adam & George Curran

To meet Niall McGuirk now, you’d be hard pressed to guess that he was part of something revolutionary, if we could book anywhere where kids something that helped change the entire music scene in Ireland. As the driving force behind Hope Promotions (although he would modestly claim to have been just a part of it), McGuirk helped some of the finest US and European bands play alongside their Irish counterparts for the best part of 15 years.

“There were a few venues on the local scene”, he remembers of the preHope days, as State meets him in a Dublin vegetarian restaurant,” but they were very well established and as a kid, they were pretty hard to get into because of the licensing laws. Very few bands came over to Ireland, so they were generally used by local bands. The bigger name bands would play places like the SFX and those gigs were expensive enough. The bands that I was into weren’t coming over so I started writing to them saying, why don’t you come to Ireland and they’d say that no-one had asked them before. That was how it started.”

Sounds easy enough, but take into account that McGuirk was 16 at the time.

“The first band we picked up were The Membranes. They said they’d come, so we took out the Hot Press Yearbook and went through venue after venue, seeing

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could go. We got a place called New Books for a Monday night and that was it. It wasn’t a grand plan, we just started with The Membranes and then people started ringing me for gigs. We didn’t bring bands over, they brought themselves and we just helped them along the way.”

Hope grew in numbers (including Niall’s future wife Miriam) and their philosophy became more definite. “We all paid into the gigs. It meant we didn’t have a guest list but also that we were part of it as well. It seemed the right way to do it, it made sense, there was no expectation of getting something back – you just did it to help out.”

A large part of it was also making sure that Hope was a national concern, not just Dublin. “We used to try and get bands over on a Thursday ferry on the weekend special and get them gigs on every day before they went back on Tuesday. We’d try and get them into Trinity College on a Friday lunchtime, pay them some money and try them in other places around the country.”

As their reputation grew, Hope became the Irish promoter of choice for more and more international bands, including Nomeansno, NOFX, Babes In

Toyland, MDC and Spermbirds. They also staged Green Day’s Irish debut on a Sunday afternoon gig at The Attic (now The White Horse) in 1991. It wasn’t quite the legendary event it could have been, with Hope losing £50 on the gig.

“I was in town doing some last minute Christmas shopping”, remembers Pete Murphy, now of EMI. “I knew Niall was organising an afternoon gig for this band on Lookout Records, called Green Day. I knew their first couple of records, and I’d always support the Hope gigs when I could, so I took some time out to pop in and catch the show. Armed as ever with my trusty walkman recorder I headed in and, along with, I guess, 25 other people, caught a great gig. I still have that tape somewhere.”

If one band became inexorably linked with Hope, it was Fugazi.

“People in England were telling us that there wasn’t much in Ireland”, says Ian Mackaye of the band. “They said we’d lose money and there weren’t any gigs but we were just blown away. We had such a good time. At that time, Fugazi had come straight out of the DC underground.

We did three months touring in Europe

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Stiff Little Fingers

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with no record out. We existed as part of a community that supported each other based on ideals. We were always looking for like-minded people but it wasn’t hard because they were contacting us.

If people came to us, they were on the right wavelength because we weren’t on anybody else’s radar.”

Ian remembers their first visit well, even if it was for dubious reasons. “At our first gig in McGonagle’s I was so sick that I had to do the show sitting down. We missed the ferry and had to load all the gear in through the crowd, which was insane. I couldn’t really sing. I think Guy sang ‘Waiting Room’ that night, which was really unusual. We stayed at Niall’s parents’ house.” He laughs. “I think we missed the ferry three times. I don’t think we made it easy for Niall.”

For McGuirk, the success of bands like Green Day brought a noticeable change, as the US punk they had championed slowly began to move from the underground to the mainstream.

“It felt for a while that bands had more expectations. The demands were small but they were enough. They wouldn’t get involved in conversations with us, whereas we were trying to create a community that these people were coming

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Hope Promotions

into. We wanted them to be involved in it and there were bands coming in who would barely talk to us. That’s not to say that they didn’t deserve the treatment that they were looking for: they just weren’t going to get it from us.”

Hope weren’t removed from staging larger gigs, however. When Fugazi asked to come back to Dublin in the summer of 1992, Niall realised that the potential for a major event was on the cards. Using the events office at Trinity College as a way in, Hope put together a benefit for AIDS awareness organisation, Act Up, at the SFX, also featuring Chumbawamba and Dublin band In Motion. It was not their easiest gig.

“We were told that the Jesuits, who owned the SFX, got in touch and said that they’d got a copy of the ticket (which featured a variety of AIDS-related information), that it went against their thinking and that we’d have to cancel the gig. This was two weeks beforehand so we offered not to distribute the tickets anymore and we finally asked Trinity College to send a solicitor’s letter. That sorted it all out,” Niall recalls. “The other side of the story, rumours that we were hearing, was that another promoter was trying to pull the gig. I still don’t really know. Either way, we were up against someone bigger than us. There were 1,200 people at the gig so it was a success but a

Previous page: Fugazi in Kilkenny, 1999. This page: My Name Is Satan in Belfast and Kerosene 454 in Dublin. Opposite page: Therapy play the New Inn

major headache.”

For all the hassles, the SFX show has gone down in legend. “Strangely, we had two concerts in the same day”, says Chumbawamba’s Boff from his home in Leeds, “starting with an afternoon show at Dublin’s Trinity College, outside in the courtyard. We were fascinated by the James Joyce sculpture and the blue plaque commemorating Phil Lynott, right there in the city centre.”

The gig itself is still clear in his mind.

“Fugazi were on storming form that night, and the whole gig had the air of specialness about it. Seeing as how Alice (Nutter, Chumbawamba vocalist) regularly gatecrashed the stage dressed as a whiskeyswigging nun, we decided Dublin would be the perfect place to go one step further and, in the spirit of the night, she took to the stage brandishing a huge bagful of condoms. These were thrown out into the audience as part of our support for Act Up’s safe-sex message. Strangely, a friend of ours from Leeds was at the concert, and caught one of the condoms. He later claimed to have met a girl and used the condom, which broke... and consequently now has an Irish daughter. Really.”

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Hope Promotions

Despite attracting acts of this stature, the Hope gigs failed to make much of an impact in the mainstream media. “There was no relationship with the media because it wouldn’t have been a two way thing”, agrees Niall. “If people wanted to come to our gigs and be part of what we were doing, then they could pay in and be part of it. Maybe now, looking back, we might have got more people to the gigs if we’d used the media but it wasn’t part of our lives. None of us read the newspapers, none of us read Hot Press or wanted to get on TV.” Journalist Jim Carroll sees it slightly differently. “I wouldn’t even say that it was a case of the media not paying it any attention: they just didn’t know what the fuck was going on. You have to remember that back then, underground music wasn’t being covered in The Irish Times or the Independent, it was the Event Guide and fanzines, that was about it. There was no way that the stuff they were doing was going to be covered anywhere but in the alternative press, which was pretty small. Hope used the original peer-to-peer advertising.”

For Hope, that advertising came primarily in the form of REACT, McGuirk’s fanzine. “I bought my records at that time from Freebird Records on the quays”, recalls Foggy Notions’ Leagues O’Toole.

“That’s where I first picked up REACT. I loved it instantly. This was back when fanzine culture was still hugely influential, particular for music fans. Thinking back, it’s amazing how much time we spend on design and photography and production and fancy printing and free CDs and DVDs, and this yoke was literally a photocopied folded-over A4 sheet. Yet, I have to say, this was more vital and exciting and stimulating than any other publication I’ve ever read.”

The Hope story would continue to run until the late ‘90s, albeit with a brief hiatus, before returning as the Hope Collective and more of a group outlook. Talking to people about those years now, it’s striking what an impact it had.

“From the smallest stuff to the bigger stuff”, says Jill Hahn of the Mexican Pets, “everything Hope did showed the hallmarks of scruples and honest belief. It wasn’t just a face they put on to gain ‘cred’

looked after us. That was the first time I’d seen him in years but it didn’t matter once a punk rocker, always a punk rocker.

Nothing had changed.”

For all the international aspect, perhaps Hope’s most lasting legacy

with the audience. They showed that you don’t have to be competitive, back-stab or talk shit about others to do stuff.”

“They put on so many shows all the time that it’s amazing to think of it now”, agrees Jim Carroll. “For the time, they were very professional, even if they were a serious underground operation. From my point of view, they were the only game in town. There was a political edge to the whole thing. They didn’t hit you over the head with it but there was a lot of information going round.

“The bands have the power”, he continues. “That’s something that people should remember when they give out about ticket prices, about promoter options, it comes down to the bands. It was always the same. Back when Niall was doing it, he went to the bands directly and they liked him so they dealt with him.

The ticket prices for his shows were low because that was what he was about, love and respect. That hasn’t been kept on.”

That respect is still evident. Paul Morley from Manchester band The Slum Turkeys remembers his first meeting with Niall: “He was carrying a plastic bag, like all fanzine editors. We hadn’t slept on the ferry and he’d arranged [a gig in] Charlie’s for the afternoon. I was knackered, but I had some glucose drink and we played for over an hour. I’d never met such a keen audience.”

Sean Forbes of Rough Trade Records, who played Hope shows with Thatcher On Acid and Watt Tyler, echoes the sentiment.

“Five years ago, I went to play in Dublin.

Another promoter organised it and make a big mess of it. No guitar amp, no place to sleep, no lift to Belfast for the other gig and basically no clue. Niall stepped in, he didn’t have to. He welcomed us into his house, despite having 625 children, and

is its impact on the Irish music scene.

“Most of my favourite Irish bands stem from that period”, says Leagues O’Toole.

“In Motion, Wormhole, Pet Lamb, Cuinas, Groundswell, Dog Day, Pan’s Apprentice, The Idiots, The Grown Ups, Luggage, Jam Jar Jail, Joan of Arse, Tucker Suite, The Golden Mile, Monomer, Decal... to name a few.”

Jape’s Richie Egan is certain of one outcome: “The Redneck Manifesto wouldn’t exist today if it wasn’t for Hope, no doubt. I remember when Niall McGuirk rang my gaff. I was in a band called Blackbelt Jones, a punk pop band.

He asked me if we wanted to play this charity gig and I was jumping around the room because we were going to do a Hope gig. Niall Byrne saw us at that gig and we all started meeting again and again. It felt great to be a part of it. If you’re informed by that world as a teenager, that shit stays with you. I really feel that it shaped me.”

Paul Timoney, whose U:mack promoters followed in their footsteps, agrees. “So many great American bands like Black Flag, Husker Du and The Minutemen toured Europe but didn’t come to Ireland, even though many of them wanted to come here. Jello Biafra once told me The Dead Kennedys really wanted to come to Ireland but couldn’t find a suitable Irish promoter to work with. I think that Hope really changed that.”

“The legacy probably lies with the musicians who are still there and the musicians they inspired” concludes Leagues, “the kids who went to a Hope gig and had a positive experience and formed a band. Whether you are aware of it or not, Hope is ingrained in Irish music culture.”

Finishing his scrambled tofu, Niall McGuirk sums up 15 years with a quiet pride: “There always seem to be somebody that you meet who was at the gigs who has something to say about them. I suppose we were putting on gigs with good bands and people just appreciated it.”

For more information on Hope contact niall@thumped.com and for more of Leagues O’Tooles memories of Hope see www.state.ie

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Jamie Lidell

It’s Jim’s Life, But Not As We Know It! Words by Niall Byrne

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Jamie Lidell has a whole lotta love to give. The Cambridgeborn singer describes the positivity in his music as a “volcanic joy-spew” and likens his gigs to “a crazy psychedic fantasy film” that he’s starring in. Jamie (or Jim as his new album titles him) is cheery, cheeky and charming all at once. Throughout State’s conversation with the singer, he continually drops puns referring to Leuven in Belgium, where he is rehearsing for his upcoming tour. ‘Whole Lot of Leuven’, ‘You’ve Lost That Leuven Feeling’, ‘I’ve Been Leuven You’, ‘I’m Leuven It’ - he would probably go on long after State has hung up the phone and tottered home to bed if you let him.

Lidell has found himself lauded as a 21st century Marvin Gaye thanks to 2005’s Multiply and his current album Jim, which takes his remit further into sunny soul territory. He wasn’t always so pop-focused: he produced two albums of electro alongside Cristian Vogel under the moniker Super Collider, as well as some abrasive electro under his own name on 2000’s debut Muddlin’ Gear. When he switched it up for Multiply, it surprised everyone, including his label, Warp Records: “It shocked them a bit. I became somewhat of a Warp golden boy so they gave me carte blanche on this one.”

Recorded in LA, Berlin and Lidell’s new home of Paris, Jim is the most blissful and funky 38 minutes of music you’re likely to hear in 2008. An uplifting and soulful album dominated by Lidell’s gliding voice, it was partly inspired by another distinctive singer, Canadian indie hitmaker Feist. Lidell was credited with “energy arrangement” on her most recent album The Reminder, which is a fitting description of his edifying presence, which he describes as “taking balls of energy and pushing them around, hitting people at the right moment”.

“You’ve got to remain invisible, but be present when people need a bit of encouragement,” he explains. “A vibesman. You’ve got to let the magic come out: sometimes you’ve got to coax it out and sometimes it needs a Caesarean!”

The tipping point for Jim’s commerciality came after the the positive reaction to Multiply, as Lidell puts it so eloquently, “Multiply was like a foot on my arse. It was sprung and ready to push me forward down the slippery slope of pop stardom into a golden pool of plenty. It stood me at the crossroads. There were signs to funk, synths, pop, banging techno and retirement. I sort of chose funk, pop, joy and gold.”

Jim is a decidely poppier affair which leaves behind the electronic and vocal tricks Lidell has become known for in favour of a more straight-edged yet equally enthralling direction. State is curious whether it was a natural progression or a deliberate decision.

“Kind of both really,” Jamie muses.”The natural progression from Multiply was, ‘Hey, you’re in a good position now to do

Jamie Lidell

another pop record and focus in on the new exposure you’ve got as a result’. It’s really important to be aware of what you’re doing as a business-person as well as a musician in this day and age. I want to keep doing music and I realised I was doing something a little bit more commercial so I thought, why not? I’ll have a go. It’s not wrong, it’s not a sin. It would be a sin if it was music I didn’t like, so I was really concerned I was making pop music I liked, which is a fun challenge.”

Lidell hooked up once again with his “songsmiths”, Mocky and Gonzalez, two Canadian musicians he met while living in Berlin. He credits them with the ability to “focus my crazy farreaching mayhem into palatable songs”. He is particularly close to Mocky, describing their relationship as “a great little antagonistic pairing”.

“Musically, I don’t have much grounding in theory or straightup harmony, whereas he [Mocky] does,” he explains further. “I just come in and go ‘Yeah, it’s gonna be like this!’ and he’ll go, ‘Oh, that’s interesting because you’ve done a flat nine over the five chord on the way to the suspended four, which is a really cool trick that was used back in the day by Bille Holiday’. I’m like ‘OK, it felt right!’”

Lidell’s live show previously consisted of just Jamie and some vocal looping hardware he made himself. He would freestyle, loosely following an established harmony from one of his songs. Then he’d sample his singing and build up layers of sound until a song was happening.

It was breathtaking to hear and never rehearsed. For the purposes of touring Jim, Lidell has replaced the experimentation with a live band comprised of seasoned players like Alex Acuna (who played with Elvis and Weather Report) and a former Raylette (Ray Charles’ backing singers). He describes the live band arrangement as “a cooking process. Reduction, salting, preparation, marinade – that kind of thing. Stewing in your own funk.”

With a less alternative, Warp fanboy-friendly live show, the “sweaty boys in the front-row” at gigs may now be replaced by “the kiddies and the old people”, but Lidell is still trying to walk the tightrope between credible mainstream singer and experimental soul scientist. ”I’m not just a singer. I don’t want to be a frontman,” Lidell says.”So I’m kind of straddling that at the moment, like how much techno to bring out in the show but still reach out to people, make them feel there’s a warm connection. I’m thinking about the younger audience as well, I want to make them think “WOW! This is fresh”, not just ‘Here’s another singer..’ ” Jamie Lidell plays The Academy on May 3.

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Death Cab For Cutie

Chapter & Hearse Words by Kara Manning

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Death Cab For Cutie’s bassist Nick Harmer and his bandmates have a business proposition for Phil Collins. They’d like to create a font of Phil’s loopy, distinctive handwriting and call the letterforms But Seriously, vaulting the drummer-turned-singer to typographical star status. The idea dawned on the guys – dead sober – when camped out in the late Ahmet Ertegun’s office in March, promoting Death Cab For Cutie’s new album Narrow Stairs, their second for Atlantic Records. Spotting a framed note from Collins in Ertegun’s old corporate digs, kept spookily intact as if the label’s deceased co-founder might return, Harmer said that the band had “a moment” when they realised that it was the same script scrawled across No Jacket Required.

“We’ll get pegged as dorks or geeks,” admits Harmer, laughing. “But our love for Phil goes deep.”

The surreal perks of being on a major label still cheer the once-indie Seattle rockers, who released five albums on Barsuk Records before signing with Atlantic in 2004. As the bearded bass guitarist shows off Ertegun’s suite, he confesses that he, singer/ songwriter Ben Gibbard, guitarist/producer Chris Walla and drummer Jason McGerr had thoroughly investigated the office, like kids let loose in a classic rock candy shop, ogling the Grammy statuettes and photographs of Ahmet taken with pals like Stevie Nicks.

Curiously, in the spirit of ‘70s rock, the band’s rambling ‘I Will Possess Your Heart’ – all eight minutes of the first single from Narrow Stairs – would easily fit between Fleetwood Mac or Traffic. There’s a raw, retro nerve to Narrow Stairs, a sound that Harmer says was a deliberate choice when they returned after an 18-month hiatus (“the longest break we’ve had in the history of the band”).

“It was a reaction to how we recorded Plans,” says Harmer, “which was a very microscopic process for us– there were never more than two of us tracking at once. There was this weird brickand-mortar sense of how that record was pieced together.”

It was McGerr who pointed out to his bandmates that since Death Cab For Cutie spent nearly all of their time performing live, why were they approaching their recording process in the opposite way?

“He was right,” Harmer continues. “We decided that we wanted to go back to analogue tape, have some real physical and technical limitations to what we could do – capture [the] spirit and energy that we brought live. We were also listening to Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky record – which was recorded that way – and that had a big impact.”

The eleven tracks on Narrow Stairs, winnowed down from Gibbard’s 30 demos, are thematically close-knit and far from slick: a studio error prompted producer Walla to take a razor to ‘Pity

Death Cab For Cutie

and Fear’, hence its screeching dead stop. Harmer shies from any notion that Narrow Stairs is a concept album, but concedes that a vexed-in-love vein pulses through each track. Clamorous, tumbling discursions colour songs like the lyrically biting ‘Cath’ and the oddly explosive opener ‘Bixby Canyon Road’. In fact, the latter track set the tone for what Harmer calls the “risks and chances” that the band embarked on for Narrow Stairs. “‘Bixby Canyon Bridge’ is the most deliberate production call on the record,” says Harmer, settled on Ertegun’s couch. “The intro of the song is very much a Death Cab For Cutie record, until there’s that deliberate cut and a massive, significant landscape change when the rest of the band kicks in. We really wanted it to take a hard turn for people.”

During their Seattle recording sessions, a Death Cab “democracy” determined which of Gibbard’s songs were retained, though Harmer admits band members campaigned for personal favourites. In particular, he wanted to save ‘Your New Twin Sized Bed’ from being “ditched”. He struggled with a bassline and other ideas until the track fell together during an impromptu jam with McGerr and Gibbard.

“There were lots of songs that were saved or moved into new realms, based off some combination of us making a suggestion or tweak,” Harmer explains. “I don’t want that to sound like I’m diminishing the quality of where they were to begin with from Ben. But that’s honestly a testament to how good the core and kernel of each song was: they were allowed to hang around, gestate, and shift just enough that they ended up breaking open wide to something better and more beautiful for all of us.”

Harmer admits that the band is a little backwards thinking when it comes to the rapidly shifting digital landscape that has left the record industry consumptive and coughing. While they don’t foresee a back-to-indie move on the horizon (“we don’t have the financial infrastructure of a band like Radiohead”), Harmer feels that Death Cab are in a good place, thanks to the autonomy they retain.

“We’re still involved in every aspect of our business,” says Harmer,” from where our T-shirts are manufactured, the inks we use on [them] and the paper stock that our album gets printed on. We’ve never given that up. Part of that is that we realise our journey through the major label system is not the end of our career. It’s just a moment in our career. Who knows how it will all come out, when everything is said and done. I’ve always felt that this is a really fun experiment, but also kind of necessary as part of the journey.”

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Homegame Festival

Singer-Songwriter Adrian Crowley reports on The Fence Collective’s fifth Homegame Festival in Fife, Scotland.

Don’t Fence Me In Words by Adrian Crowley Photography by Calum Gordon

Across from the house of shells next to the old cemetery, on the road to Pittenweem, there stands The Hew Scott Museum), I was greeted by the heavy swell Hall. Topped by a spire centuries old, it overlooks Anstruther beach and the harbour beyond. The gate is open, the door ajar and inside there is a cluster of silent people sitting on the floor, attentively observing a bespectacled man playing a miniature keyboard with his toes. This is year five of The Fence Collective’s weekend ‘Homegame’ festival in the seaside town of Anstruther in the East Neuk of Fife, Scotland.

It’s Saturday around midday and Little Pebble is singing a song about girls.

As he sits, picking out arpeggios on an acoustic guitar, he plays sub bass notes on a miniature keyboard on the parquet floor, while holding a tiny red plastic toy dumbbell in between the toes of his right foot.

Down by the harbour, an intrepid great black-backed seagull is waiting for its chance to snatch a chip, which has fallen beside a couple from Kent, who sit examining the festival programme, opposite what’s reputed to be the best fish and chip shop in the United Kingdom.

Just yesterday, as I stepped off an ancient double decker bus (that could have been highjacked from a British Transport

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from The Firth of Forth, as it swirled along the sea wall and the stiff cold wind blasted up John’s Street. The tide was coming in and as I rested my guitar case against the stone, I looked down into Cellardyke harbour. Before taking the path to James Yorkston’s house (where there is a bed for me for the weekend), I remembered that this is where they found that swan (infected with bird flu virus) that almost stopped the festival a couple of years ago.

In need of some fresh air to expel the travel sickness, I took a stroll down to the food co-op and bought vegan friendly red wine, white lilies and a scotch egg (for James, his wife Linda and myself, in that order).

Across the street, up the hill at Chalmer’s Brae by the Ship Tavern in the Erskine Hall, King Creosote amusedly tugs at his short beard as he mans the sound desk. It’s Saturday afternoon and HMS Ginafore sits alone on a stage in a room with impossibly orange walls.

Behind her is a giant backdrop made by kids, a countryside scene with sheep and clouds made from aero beads stuck on

paper. Along the walls are signs reminding you of the rules of the sandpit and an event board belonging to the ‘East Neuk Kids After School Club’.

HMS Ginafore (nee Jenny Gordon) works as a curator in the Anstruther Fisheries Museum by day and is probably the most reluctant and self-effacing of the Fence performers. She introduces a song to the packed hall with a story about a burly Swedish man she met recently, who told her about the forced power cuts in the town where he was from, a governmental tactic that was meant to help rescue the dwindling birth rate: “Power cut John/ He always sleeps with the lights on”.

Apparently, in a nearby village there is a fisherman’s chapel which contains a plaque paying homage to the unearthly voice of her great-great-grandmother.

Jenny’s mum runs the festival soup kitchen upstairs from the Hew Scott Hall.

The first time I met her was three years ago as she filled my bowl with lentils and coriander. “Hello dear, I’m Mama Casino.

Would you like some bread with that?” I had just played my first ever Homegame set and was going through some kind of epiphany. It took me about a year and a half to realise her real name was Elizabeth.

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Homegame Festival

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Later, in the woody interior of the Hew Scott Hall, it’s as if someone’s library had been invaded by a bunch of folk anarchists. Having defenestrated all the books, they install speakers and a microphone.

Rob St John is playing: his voice is sweet and his charm fills the room. He warns people to be vigilant if they are approached by anyone trying to sell them an Indian Harmonium, “particularly in the Falkirk area”. The poor guy was the victim of thievery whilst on tour last week.

It appears that I’m scheduled to play at precisely the same time as King Creosote. This is slightly worrying. Ten minutes before I’m due to go on, Johnny (Pictish Trail) tells me the sound engineer had to go elsewhere. So, along with James Yorkston and Reuben Taylor, we set up the stage area and check microphones. I’m deliberating whether or not to do a couple of songs on the old piano that nestles in the corner.

When I turn around and check the clock on the wall, the room is full and I start to sing. I finish the set with two piano songs. One is brand new. It’s one of my favourite sets in a while.

While Eagleowl are setting up to play, someone is going around the room with a tray of cookies in the shape of an owl’s face for 50p each. I buy one and eat it. Meanwhile in Legends, the other venue, I’m missing my friend Jeremy Radway’s (aka ‘Player Piano’) set. James, Linda and I

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Homegame Festival

walk back to Cellardyke, where James and I sit up late listening to music. He drinks a glass of whisky; I drink red wine.

Sunday morning isn’t really Sunday morning at all, I realise, as I walk towards the Erskine Hall. The music is in full swing already. The clocks have changed and I’ve lost an hour.

Kenny is doing a solo King Creosote set to kick off the day’s performances. He’s calling on the audience sitting on the floor to do the ‘bum shuffle’ to make space for the people crammed in the lobby. HMS Ginafore is sitting at the door, sleepily checking wristbands, and Johnny Pictish Trail is making a beeline towards me. “Hey pal, will you do a set in a while? Gordon (Lone Pigeon) can’t make it.” I agree but I’m afraid to say breakfast conspires against us and I miss the slot.

A last minute set by The Three Craws follows. They do a clutch of songs written by Lone Pigeon (Kenny’s little brother). The band is made up by a Fence triumvirate of Kenny, James and Johnny.

As I enter the hall, my clothes still reeking of a harbour side greasy spoon, Johnny has found some giant drumsticks, probably from some kind of kids’ climbing frame, and he’s thwacking a tom drum as he sings a verse of a Joy Division song: ‘Atmosphere’, I think. It’s an amazing set.

Emma Pollock (Delgados) plays, and her little son is in the audience.

James Yorkston has just finished

King Creosote; the excitable punters of Scotland and James Yorkston and HMS Ginafore’s Mum

recording a new album and sings some of the new songs live for the first time.

Former Beta Band man, Steve Mason (aka King Biscuit Time) plays. I manage to watch Candythief, Jo Rohna (aka Jo Foster) and then Jo whispers ‘secret gig’ to me and along with Gordon, about 10 of us sneak upstairs into a room with a piano.

Sitting on the platform in Leuchars station waiting for the train to Edinburgh, I’m thinking about the party last night in ‘Casa Casino’, HMS Ginafore’s parents’ house: how everyone there was given a percussion instrument to bash and what an infernal racket it must have sounded like to anyone passing down ‘Toolbooth Wynd’, the laneway outside the kitchen.

As the train lurches and clicks its way to Waverley Station, there’s a tune in my head from last night’s secret gig in the lowlit room upstairs in the Hew Scott Hall, when Jo Foster and Lone Pigeon made up a song on the spot and sang it to my face as I sat grinning by the piano. I tried to take photographs but they came out all blurry.

As I’m waiting to board the plane to Dublin, I’m thinking about the first time I ever made the long and lonely journey to Fife to play at Homegame 2 and how I almost decided to stay at home instead.

What a klutz I would have been.

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gemma hayes

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Losing a record deal. Relocating the passion.

Writing an album with Kevin Shields.

Chasing the moany holes.

Words by John Walshe ~ Photography by Roger Woolman

Losing a record deal used to mean the end of the road for artists. Financing an album and corresponding tour independently was just a bridge too far. Nowadays though, next 61

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record labels are like buses: you get off one and wait for the next one to come along. Or if you’re Gemma Hayes, you decide to forget about major labels forever and go the DIY route.

“After the second album, I got dropped and instead of going into this ‘poor me’ mode, I thought, ‘I’ll just go in and make an album straight away’, just plough into music,” Gemma avows.

Indeed, sitting opposite State in a city centre photo studio, prior to getting snapped for the cover of this very magazine, Hayes looks anything but devastated by the loss of her recording contract. If anything, she’s more relaxed than at any time we’ve ever seen her.

Gemma is about to release her third album, Hollow Of The Morning, a beautifully haunting and yet confident record: certainly not the work of somebody who’s reeling from self-doubt.

“When I started to write for this album, there was nobody there telling me it was shit or that it could sound better if I did this, that and the other. There was nothing to fight against, which was great,” she enthuses.

Following the release of her second album, 2005’s The Roads Don’t Love You, changes at her label, Source, meant that she was “losing any connection” with anyone at the record company.

Following an intensive talks process, Gemma parted company with the label.

“My ego was really bruised,” she admits with a rueful smile.

“I didn’t believe it. I was wondering how I was going to live: would I have to start all over again? But creatively, I was really excited about the idea of not having those people constantly there criticising: ‘you could do better’, ‘you could make it cleaner’, ‘you could look better’, ‘you could sound more like this person, because they’re making loads of money’. That constant thing that gets inside and starts to create self-doubt was gone.”

Ultimately, Hayes feels that not being tied to a label is “the best thing that happened to me, because the industry is in chaos at the moment. I’ve had friends who have been out on the road and they’ve had to cancel their tour because the label has decided it was costing too much money. It’s not a good place to be at the moment.”

Renewed, reinvigorated and refreshed, Gemma Hayes is enjoying life as an independent artist, releasing The Hollow Of Morning on her own label: “I’m going to put it up on my website to sell. I’m also going to put a few CDs into the shops but more than anything, it’s going to be available as a download. I’ve never done this before so it’s really interesting.”

Like starting her own cottage industry?

“Yeah, like homemade organic jam or something,” she giggles.

“I should put a little gingham on the CD. But it’s mad because I’ve had to learn so much stuff, like just learning where to get CDs duplicated. But you get so much more of a sense of satisfaction because you’re part of every single thing. I always was, but I always felt like I had to fight for things. Now, I can just make the decision, phone somebody and it’s done.”

So these are exciting times, then?

“Calm times, actually,” she avows. “It could be because I’m a bit older but I just want to make music now. That blind ambition is gone and it’s OK that it’s gone. But what’s replaced it is this absolute joy in music again, regardless of success. Because nobody knows what’s going to make it. Nobody knows what’s in store.”

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Surely this is quite a change of mindset for any performer, not to crave success and adulation. Presumably, when Gemma started out in the music business, success would have been one of her prime motivations?

“Absolutely,” she admits. “You’re young, courageous and stupid. I wanted to take over the world, but then it changes.”

It’s a common misconception that the young Hayes was instantly snapped up by the recording industry very early in her career. The truth, however, is that the Tipperary-born songwriter spent years honing her craft on stages all over the country. At one point, she was almost a fixture on the stage in Whelan’s, supporting a huge proportion of the artists who walked through the doors of the venerable old venue. When she signed with the ultra-hip Source label (the home of Air and UNKLE), it must have seemed that all her dreams were coming true. Indeed, for a while following the release of her debut, 2002’s Night On My Side, it looked like that was going to be the case, as Gemma enjoyed massive critical acclaim and even a Mercury Music Prize nomination. Was it a massive disappointment that her career got to a certain level but never took off into the stratosphere?

“It was,” she confesses. “It was a disappointment, to be really honest. It was frustrating because there were a lot of mistakes made, business-wise: silly things that had a huge impact.”

Following the gruelling tour and promotional schedule around Night On My Side, Gemma found herself physically, mentally and emotionally burnt out.

“I was so exhausted,” she recalls. “I wanted to be successful but I didn’t actually understand how much work was involved. In fact, I thought once you were successful, that you didn’t need to do anything anymore. But it’s the opposite, so it was a lot of hard work and then it just stopped. That was really tough and I was disappointed.

“But everything’s a learning experience, isn’t it? After the first album, instead of going ‘That was the industry side of it so I’ll just go back and play my music’, I blamed everything on the music. I found it really hard to write, because every time I tried to write, I’d associate it with all that chaos, all that pressure and all that disappointment. So it took ages. But eventually I got into it again and I did write songs for the second album.”

Relocating to LA, where she still lives, Gemma found a new creative zeal for her sophomore effort: “Everybody kept talking about Los Angeles and all the musicians there and how amazing they are. The old school people I liked, people like Joni Mitchell and Crosby, Stills and Nash, there seems to be a period in all their careers where they went to LA, and I just thought, this is cool, let’s do it.”

At one point, she even considered doing a duet with Michael McDonald but she eventually “buckled and chickened out”.

“When I was there, I had this idea to make a super-sunshine album and have it super-clean and really polished, so it wasn’t like it just got polished ‘cos I wasn’t looking,” she grins. “I remember saying to Joe Chester about getting Michael McDonald to come in: we planned the whole thing, right down to the video where we’d be driving along the Pacific Coast highway in a car with the topdown, singing.

“But then reality hits,” she sighs, “and I started thinking ‘what if I can’t pull it off?’ I started getting serious once I was in the

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Gemma Hayes

“It could be because I’m a bit older but I just want to make music now. That blind ambition is gone and it’s OK that it’s gone.

But what’s replaced it is this absolute joy in music again, regardless of success.”

studio, so I feel production-wise, it fell between two ideas. But at the same time, I don’t regret it, because you tend to learn the most from the mistakes you make.”

Gemma has certainly learned a lot from all her musical experiences to date, resulting in her most confident and accomplished album so far. So how does Hollow... fit in with what she’s done before?

“I dunno. What I’ve done before is in the past. I don’t know if it’s important that it fits in,” she muses. “It’s just where my head is at now. I think it connects to the first album a bit. I always thought the first album was a hard album: it wasn’t accessible. People used to say to me that it was a grower and I’m hearing that a lot now.

The second album was a little easier, production-wise, a little softer and, dare I say, middle of the road. So, I think this connects a little more to the first album but it’s different.”

Different it most certainly is. The title, The Hollow Of Morning, is taken from a poem by Samuel Menashe about that time when you’ve just woken up and everything seems at peace, before realisation and everyday life comes crashing in with a bang.

“It’s that moment where everything is suspended and anything is possible,” Gemma notes.” You’re not even in the real world, you’re just coming into it. It’s as if there’s space, everything is empty and nothing has come in to fill it yet, so it’s that hollow.”

So why is that a good metaphor for the album?

“For me, the music that I love is the music that takes me out of my head, takes me out of my thoughts and worries, and puts

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Gemma Hayes

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me in a place where things are OK, or a place where I feel things as opposed to think things,” she notes. “I suppose I was trying to make an album that stops people from thinking and they just feel, so your head hasn’t kicked in: it’s just melodies and moods.

A lot of the songs aren’t very structured in a traditional sense, so the whole thing was just to get people to feel and to switch their minds off. So when I was reading that poem by Samuel Menashe, I just saw that line, ‘The Hollow Of Morning’, it just jumped out at me and I thought, ‘I’ll steal that’.

“I hope the album helps people to switch off,” she continues.

“I don’t think it’s an easy album. I’ve given it to friends and they come back saying ‘It’s not instant’. It’s just something that you play in the background. But I can’t second guess what people want and when I try to, I fail miserably, so the best thing to do is just to do what feels right and hope it sticks.”

Gemma Hayes

[

While the name on the outside of the box says Gemma Hayes, The Hollow Of Morning was recorded by a veritable who’s who of Irish music.

]

A lot of the themes appear very personal: relationships, loves lost and a sense of confusion with the world around her spring up again and again. So are these songs autobiographical or does Hayes populate her songs with invented characters?

“I do put characters into some of the songs but that’s so I can get more perspective,” she notes. “It’s kind of like when you’re helping somebody else out with a problem and you can totally help them because you see the situation clearer, but once it’s about yourself, you can’t. It’s the same with songs. Sometimes I picture me not being involved, and that way I can sing about it and explain it so much better. But at the same time, that’s only a trick so I can sing about it. Ultimately, it comes down to what I think, what I feel.”

One of the album’s standouts, ‘Chasing Dragons’ is a case in point, a song that’s filled with enough real yearning for a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel, with our heroine seemingly lamenting the fact that somebody she loves is having an affair of their own, with heroin. State wondered if Hayes’ dragons are purely metaphorical or if these drug-tinged images come from personal experience?

“It’s absolutely a metaphor,” she stresses. “It’s about longing for something so much that it stops becoming a longing, it becomes a pain, and it becomes something you can’t live without. Then, all of a sudden, the only thing you can see is this thing that’s not there that you need. The whole reason why chasing dragons came into my head is because I was singing about somebody who at the time had a drug problem.”

‘Home’ is another highlight, with Gemma searching for her place in the world. Considering she spends her time between LA and Ireland, where is home now?

“It’s in my head,” she chuckles. “That’s the only place I can have it right now because physically I’m still living out of a suitcase. Home is a state of mind. With some people, when you meet them, you feel at home: they put you in a mindset where you feel safe and you feel like you’ve come back to some place that is all-accepting. You can get that around certain people or a place can make you feel in your head that you’re home: like I get when I land in Ireland. Even if it’s pissing rain and I’m whinging about it, I still feel like I’m home.”

For someone who lives in the sunshine state, these new songs don’t sound like they’re from LA. “Most of the songs were

Paul Noonan The BellX1 frontman is also a fine drummer, most recently touring as a sticksmith with Cathy Davey. “I wish to God I could clone Paul Noonan ‘cos he’s such a unique drummer,” Gemma laments. “He plays the drums like a guitar. He’s not just locked into a rhythm: he swims around it and really gets into the songs and he can hit light when you need him to or hard when it’s required. He’s just really, really special as a drummer. I was so glad when he was able to come back in and play on the album.”

David Odlum The former Frames guitarist is a much sought after producer and a close friend. Gemma initially asked him if he had three weeks spare to record the album, which ended up taking a year. “There were a few times when he was literally hitting his head against the wall, going ‘when is this going to end?’” Gemma recalls, “‘cos I kept changing the songs, re-recording them, writing a new lyric and then re-recording the whole part.” Odlum also played keyboards on the album and his brother Karl played bass.

Joe Chester The Dublin singer has just released his second album, The Tiny Pieces Left Behind. “Joe is a friend and I love his style of playing,” Gemma notes. “He’s a real melodic singer – he did a lot of the backing vocals – and he just brings so much colour to it.”

Kevin Shields The My Bloody Valentine main-man plays on two of the album’s highlights, ‘In Over My Head’ and ‘This Is What You Do’. See separate panel.

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State

written in winter so that must have something to do with it,” she laughs.

So does she ever see herself writing happy, summery pop songs?

“No,” she laughs. “I’ll leave that to someone else. I’m after the moany holes.”

Is she exorcising demons then? Does she write when she’s pissed off?

“Not really,” Gemma avows. “I just think it’s easier to tap into the chaos that’s in your head ‘cos it needs to leave, so it’s easy to get that out. So once I try to write, I go into things about chaos, frustration, unanswered questions. ‘Where have you gone?’ ‘Why is it like this?’ All that stuff that’s normally in there seems to be the first thing that jumps out onto the page.”

She freely admits that Hollow… is far from immediate, but for the Gemma Hayes of 2008, it’s not about getting lots of daytime radio play or having hit singles, which is a brave move in this modern world where everything, including music, seems to be all about instant gratification.

“I just refuse to work that way,” she stresses. “Even the whole big idea of success: it’s becoming less and less about that for me now. I just want to make music that keeps me sane. I’m creative and I’m doing things that I like, working with people who I like, and it would be great if it was successful, but it’s definitely not even in my top five objectives.”

For now, she’s just happy to be making music again, touring with a band made up of Joe Chester on guitar, Karl Odlum on bass and Binzer Brennan on drums.

We Need To Talk About Kevin...

The Hollow Of Morning is released on May 2.

]

My Bloody Valentine supremo Kevin Shields is probably the least likely collaborator on The Hollow Of Morning, more generally associated with the sonic assault of MBV or Primal Scream than acoustic soul-searching.

However, Shields’ appearance on Hollow... is just one part of a wonderful musical collaboration.

66

“Maybe I’m really getting old in my head but it’s just about having a bit of fun,” she smiles. “I want to get up there, be able to close my eyes and sing away.”

“I was doing a bunch of acoustic shows in London two years ago and I had said to my manager, ‘wouldn’t it be amazing to get Kevin Shields up to play a couple of songs’, ‘cos it was near where he lives. But I didn’t think he’d be into an acoustic show,” Gemma notes.

Unbeknown to Gemma, her manager called Shields, who loved the idea. “I would never have associated him with acoustic music,” she admits, “but he turned up and we played a Gillian Welsh song and then he asked me if I wanted to make an album together. So we started writing songs.

“He was working on mastering all the My Bloody Valentine stuff and I was doing my album in Los Angeles, France and Kerry, but we managed to come together in little odd times and we’ve got 15 songs, so now we just need to finish them off and record them.”

So what is it like?

“It’s quite dark. There are certainly no happy songs. But the music is really beautiful,” Gemma explains. “It’s everything I love about his music.

The way we work, I’d write the song and he’d tear it apart, so it’s got some structure to it. I don’t even know when we’re going to finish it, ‘cos we’ve got to get a band together. But I really hope we get to do it.”

So is Gemma a big fan of MBV? “Even now, Loveless still stands the test of time,” she enthuses. “It’s beautiful and original and it does stir something in you, and that’s what it’s all about, doing something that stirs people. Whether it’s good or bad, happy or sad, it doesn’t matter, as long as it makes them feel something.”

kevin shields by joshua kessler/retna ltd.

[

Gemma Hayes

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67

Holidays By Mistake

Guatemala

[

Cobble-stoned streets, Mayan pyramids, jungle canyons and active volcanoes: the pearl of Central America.

“Yes chica. Is very safe. You not think is safe? Here, you wanna light cigarette, yes yes?” tour guide said, as he almost flowing volcanic lava, that’s what they’ll thrust State into the flaming lava. We had already diced with death for over an hour on a local chicken bus (called that because of the driver’s proclivity with dodging oncoming traffic or the fact that they carry forms of livestock and humans together, we still can’t tell) as it teetered one wheel precariously off the cliff edge into a ridiculously deep abyss below. Now standing just inches away from a bubbling molten river of ash on the top of a volcano, State finds itself thinking, ‘Where are the men in the white coats and why are they not looking for this guy because he is clearly nuts?’

In any other country in Central America, or anywhere else in the world, for that matter, tours scaling active, raging volcanoes are banned: for obvious reasons.

But here in Guatemala, you take your life in your own hands. And it’s not because the people here have some sick innate sense of schadenfreude: they are just so poor, they need the tourism. And if that means standing inches away from free-

68

Words by Louise Healy Photography by Paul Kelly

do. It really is the stuff crazy dreams are made of.

Get There British Airways fly directly to Guatemala city from London.

Look Around Guatemala is roughly the size of England, but with a helping hand from State, we reckon you can see all the main sights, outdoor attractions and still party like mad, all in the space of a two-week holiday.

Antigua, its cultural capital, is one of the most enigmatic places State has visited. Nestled between three volcanoes, it is full of old cobble-stoned streets, lined with brightly coloured shops, surrounded by ochre-coloured religious buildings, virtually untouched since the 1600s.

One of the best times to visit Antigua is in Semana Santa (Holy week), when hundreds of people clad in purple robes accompany the most revered sculptural images from the city’s churches in daily

]

street processions glorifying Christ’s crucifixion. A cloud of incense rests above the streets, which are covered in alfombras (carpets) of flower petals and sawdust.

In Antigua, attend some Spanish classes, stroll around the streets, visiting the Parque Central and the surrounding Palacio de los Capitanes, the old headquarters of the Spanish colonial government, La Merced, Antigua’s best example of baroque finery in a colonial church, and then dance the night away in one of Antigua’s famous salsa bars.

Then get out. Head to the hills-- it’s the only way to see the true beauty that Guatemala has to offer. Lanquin, about six hours from Antigua, is a nature lover’s paradise. As you reach the last leg of the journey on the local micro (basically, a Hiace van full with cattle and locals and kids who like to dangle off the roof) you’ll find yourself traversing down deep gorges of stunningly green countryside and steep meandering dirt tracks.

Stay at El Retiro, a self-styled ecofriendly establishment at the top of the hills, overlooking a huge river that’s good for swimming and tubing. So fond are they of international integration that the Dutch owners only allow a maximum of 15 people from any one country at a given time, so its ‘bye bye’ to those big rowdy groups of annoying backpackers that can be seen en masse in places like Guatemala City.

At Retiro, head to the Lanquin caves where, with a guide, you can explore the famous caves, swimming by candlelight and diving off cliff-edge waterfalls into pools of crystal clear water. After that, trek along the local road, stopping at intervals to jump 15 metres off the roadside bridge into the river below. Burning with adrenaline, you should begin the hike to Semuc Champey, famed by locals as the eighth wonder of the world for its spectacular rock pools, the Rio Cahabon, and a natural limestone bridge that measures 300 metres. After cooling off, trek to the mountain-top for some breathtaking views.

You will fall in love with El Retiro and most definitely want to stay on longer, but

www.paulkellyphotographer.com.

Fake being a local around the world

Making time Get in the mood or simply be an armchair traveller

style eatery has a varied menu, ranging from salads and sandwiches to grilled meats. Go for the speciality caldo real, the chicken soup, as a starter (€1.50)

remember to bring adequate money: the nearest ATM is two hours away.

Next, cruise the three hour bus ride to Flores. Don’t be put off by the stinky buses: it’s your only way of getting around the country so suck it up and revel in primitivism.

From Flores, take a sunrise trip to the ancient Mayan ruins at Tikal, the towering pyramids made by the ancient Mayan people dating back to 700 BC. This does mean getting up at the ungodly hour of 3am. Trust State when we say ‘do not go on a bender the night before’, thinking it will be a funny experience to go trekking inebriated in the middle of the night. Fun it is not. After a two hour hike, you can sit on top of one of the famous pyramids and watch the sun spectacularly rise over the green canopy of the jungle below.

Eat Desayuno Chapin (Guatemalan breakfast) is a big affair here with eggs, beans, tortillas and fried plantains. If like us here at State, you have been on the road for a while and positively wretch at the thought of having to consume any more plantain, here’s some helpful tips. In Antigua, The Black Cat hostel, parallel to the central park, is a place travellers come to get their fix of the best bagels and milkshakes (for about €2).

For an evening meal, head to La Fonda de la Calle Real on Calle Poniente. This colonial

Drink Antigua’s mayor went on a futile little rampage back in 2001 and 2002, trying to close down many bars in an attempt to smarten up the city’s image. Suffice to say this didn’t last long and since then, hip and trendy salsa-styled bars have happily sprung up ten-fold.

To start any night out, head to Onis, a quirky little watering hole overlooking the illuminated ruins of San Agustin church. It is a travellers’ haunt but there’s no denying its great atmosphere and even better price menu. On Thursdays, from 7pm to 10pm, women can down vodka, gin or rum for just €0.20! If loose women aren’t your thing, hop along to Sky Bar with its rooftop terrace, which attracts an eclectic mix of locals, aged travellers and language students. After a few tipples here, head to La Chimena for a real party atmosphere.

Listen Keep an ear to the ground for under-theradar gigs and impromptu acts that are happening regularly. State managed to catch a one off-gig by legendary drummer and pianist, Ignacio Perez Borell of Buena Vista Social Club fame, in an Antiguan hotel.

Party Party Guatemala is all about salsa so head to Torero’s, where emboldened salsalovers sweat it out until the early hours.

Salsa Buena and Latinos are also good spots to learn salsa in a real Guatemalan environment, where you won’t be too intimidated by the Dirty Dancing salsa fanatics surrounding you. Hotel Sin Ventura is also a good spot for a more general Latino niteclub vibe.

Get this album The most admired rock singer in Guatemala is Ricardo Arjona (that’s him above, as you may have guessed). Love him or hate him, you’ll be listening to him everywhere you go, so check out his most famed album, Adentro.

Watch this music video Marimba Chapinlandia in Antigua, November 2007: the quintessential traditional Guatemalan folk music video.

Download this single Viento en Contra’s ‘20 Candelas’.

Rent this film La Hija de la Puma (The Daughter of Puma) directed by Ulf Hultberg.

Read this book Miguel Angel Asturias is Guatemala’s most famous export, winning the Nobel Prize for literature in 1967. Read his disparaging account of Latin American dictators in El Senor Presidente. Also try out poet, Luis Cardoza y Aragon and Augusto Monterroso, master of short stories.

Drink this Aguardiente is a sugarcane firewater that should be viewed with the same respect as Poitin: it will blow your mind. Ponche is also a national favourite, made from pineapple or coconut juice and rum and usually served hot.

Eat this You can’t survive a holiday in Guatemala without trying the national staple – the plato tipico – meat or chicken, rice, beans, cheese, salad and tortillas.

69

State

Public Enemy

It was twenty years ago today… How Public Enemy re-wrote the book on hip-hop.

A Nation Once Again

Words by Shane Galvin

Every decade or so, a band arrives with the sole objective of crashing the party and most of the time, I’m editing the lyrics and leaving a mess with absolute disregard for everyone else. The Velvet Underground did it in the ‘60s, The Sex Pistols in the ‘70s. Public Enemy took on the role in the ‘80s, not just redefining hip-hop but redefining what music could do. Public Enemy’s music was constructed from a barrage of noises, creating a full-on sonic onslaught. And although Flava Flav and Chuck D may have been the public face and voice of PE, it was production team, The Bomb Squad (led by Hank Shocklee) that were responsible for the chaotic wall of sound.

“Public Enemy is punk,” Shocklee enthuses. “I wanted Public Enemy to be the worst group because to me, you’re either the greatest or the worst to get attention.

All this other stuff in the middle, that’s wack to me. We went into the studio with an attitude of ‘Fuck everybody. We’re gonna fuckin’ do something that’s gonna make everybody hate us’.”

Public Enemy, and particularly Chuck D, are acclaimed for their political observations on everything from the emergency services to the prison system. However, Hank thinks this is given too much emphasis.

“Chuck gets credit for social commentary, which I think is a bit overrated,” he notes. “I hear writers dissect what he said and I’d be amazed because,

70

taking lyrics from three different songs. I’d slap them together and these guys would give them a meaning that had nothing to do with it at all. Chuck was like an abstract artist. He is an artist by trade - he draws, and from that he developed that style, very Picasso-ish.”

Their debut album, Yo! Bumrush The Show made an instant impact but it was their sophomore effort, 1988’s It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back that proved PE were an unstoppable force. It Takes A Nation… is a cathartic blast of truth, urgency and undiluted anger. Unlike most hip-hop today, It Takes A Nation… has a loose, live-sounding feel. Hank confirms that this was no accident.

“There are things in there I know are deliberately wrong,” he asserts. “I hate when I hear records today and everything is in its own space. A band is like a restaurant: everything is not in its own space. That would make for boredom to me and I did not want boredom in the Public Enemy process.”

Shocklee’s creative cut-andpaste technique is one of the hallmarks of the sound of It Takes A Nation…. The album is littered with snatches of classic records, including Queen, Isaac Hayes, Stevie Wonder and Bob Marley. Shocklee admits Public Enemy

are partly responsible for the change in the sampling laws.

“I wouldn’t be talking to you now if those rules (today’s sampling laws) were in place then. We couldn’t do It Takes A Nation...,” he admits. “Those records are impossible to do today. I guess that’s what makes them rare but it’s also killing the creative spirit. When we was doing it, there was no rules. There was nobody in the company even monitoring these things.”

There may be a pile of James Brown samples on It Takes A Nation… and you can certainly trace a line from Funkadelic or The Last Poets to PE, but they were far more than the sum of their parts.

“Public Enemy is based after a lot of jazz records,” Shocklee notes. “Their approach is totally jazz. There’s no regard for musical structures. Originality to me is when something is inspired by something

State

Public Enemy

Soundtrack 08 takes place at the Pod complex, Dublin, from May 25-June 2, featuring everything from hip-hop through indie and onto folk. See www.pod.ie for more details.

Spiritualized Having been to hell and back Jason Pierce has once again poured his demons into his music, describing new album, Songs From A&E, as “the work of the devil, with a little guidance from me”.

Buffalo Tom Buffalo Tom always seemed to be the classic American alternative rock band that got away, never quite tortured enough to win over the masses. However, commercial ascent’s loss has been longevity’s gain and they return to Dublin, 14 years after they last played on the night that Kurt Cobain died.

Beth Rowley Given the year that’s in it, it would be strange to find a new British female vocalist who wasn’t a soul siren, yet Rowley fits awkwardly into the mould, far more ensconced in the blues tradition than her contemporaries.

Bon Iver If the sound of one man, living alone in a forest cabin in the winter sounds like the ideal inspiration for an album, then say hello to Bon Iver, aka Justin Vernon.

but comes out totally differently than that thing it was inspired by. People don’t know what the inspiration was for Public Enemy records and I love that. You’re not supposed to know.”

Shocklee talks excitedly about his upcoming projects – a forthcoming Bomb Squad album, Destruction Version 2.2, and an audio-visual project called Shocktronica. The Bomb Squad are also touring with Public Enemy to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of It Takes A Nation…

He continues in his astonishing rambling style about his work with the

Red Bull Academy, his love for genre-less music, his production for LL Cool J and Slick Rick, his excitement about new dubstep artists like Benga, Skream and Mala, while also informing State that his iPod contains Abba, Kool & The Gang and The Village People. One can’t help wonder what Public Enemy would have sounded like if ‘Bring The Noise’ had been built on a Village People sample. Somehow, we still reckon it would have been awesome.

Sons & Daughters As influenced by dark Scottish folk music as they are by the scuzzed up sounds of The

Public Enemy perform It Takes A Nation Of Millions

Cramps, Glasgow’s Sons & Daughters are a

To Hold Us Back as part of Soundtrack 08 at Dublin

unique, fiery proposition.

Tripod, May 25th.

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State reviews & previews

albums For her last album with Warner, Madonna brings it bang up to date... nearly. Hard Candy leaves us impressed but wanting more. Plus, Robotnik rise to the challenge, Santogold doesn’t, and Beck, Air and The Lemonheads get the reissue treatment.

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{

★★★★★ ★★★★ ★★★ ★★ ★

digital Gnarls Barkley’s latest backwards step, Bodytonic’s foray into the world of podcasting, Cat Power goes acoustic and the sound of two dads hanging out.

88

dvd The best of US imports with Dexter and Prison Break boxed up and ready to go; nostalgia with Indiana Jones, Taxi and Family Ties; PS...don’t bother. Plus, the latest music DVDs doing the rounds.

90

tv Maia Dunphy explains just why your favourite show may be disappearing for a few weeks around now or, even worse perhaps, suddenly become rubbish.

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books Columbian writer, Juan Gabriel Vasquez’s second novel, The Informers, is a beautifully written examination of the power of words, both spoken and written. Also, Tony Jessen advises on the books to watch out for over the coming weeks, from rude and raw fashion to chefs with attitude.

94

For too long one of Cork’s best kept secrets, Fred are preparing themselves for an assault on the national consciousness. Third album Go God Go is a fine place to start, a melting pot of happy-go-lucky pop tunes and weirder, darker influences.

games Arguably the greatest racing series of them all, Gran Turismo, makes its PS3 debut, albeit only in prologue form, while we also run the rule over the latest DS titles worthy of your attention and your wallet.

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3HARPEN YOUR PENCILS GET OUT THAT OLD NOTEBOOK AND PERFECT THE LOOK OF A HACK FOR WE HAVE A RATHER BRILLIANT¨

(EINEKEN 'REEN %NERGY 2EVIEW #OMPETITION EXCLUSIVE TO US HERE AT 3TATE 7ITH THE TH (EINEKEN 'REEN %NERGY &ESTIVAL JUST A FEW DAYS AWAY

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Albums

Madonna

illustration by nathalie nystad

Hard Candy

(warner)

Love or loathe Madonna, she’s hard to ignore.

Media circus to one side, she’s managed to maintain an incredible sureness of musical touch since rescuing her career nosedive with Ray Of Light. Even a second dip in the form of the sorely underrated American Life was somehow circumnavigated, with the result that a new Madonna record in 2008 is greeted as far more of a going concern than any of her ‘80s’ contemporaries, her last for Warners to boot.

Hard Candy takes about 90 seconds to nail its colours firmly to the mast. By that point in ‘Candy Shop’, Madonna has already talked about taking it to the dance-floor and the dominant production of Timbaland / Pharrell / Danja has taken hold. Over its 12 tracks, the album won’t deviate much from this blueprint. Like Confessions On A Dance Floor (which sold eight million) and unlike American Life (which didn’t), Hard Candy isn’t a record about taking chances, instead being all about aligning its author with the biggest global genre of the new century.

‘Candy Shop’ proves to be a faltering start, all style but far lighter on content then it needs to be. The album really kicks off with ‘4 Minutes’, proof that this concept is only really going to work when Madonna meets her producers headon and keeps her own identity amongst the whistles and bells. ‘Give It 2 Me’ follows and throws the first real curveball, matching a lolloping ska beat to a clarion of nu-rave keyboards and a great pop tune. Take out the grating Timbaland middle eight and it would be virtually perfect. It’s a theme that runs through the whole record: it succeeds largely despite of the big name production and guests, rather than because of it.

At Hard Candy’s heart is some of the simplest, purest pop she’s come up with since the days of ‘Holiday’ and ‘Borderline’. ‘Heartbeat’, ‘Incredible’, ‘Dance Tonight’ and ‘The Beat Goes On’ are all as lightweight in content as their titles imply but they have a spirit that is hard to deny.

‘Miles Away’ is an elder, more streetwise musical cousin of ‘La Isla Bonita’, betraying perhaps the influence of Madonna’s latest, and oddest, muse Gogol Bordello, while ‘The Devil Wouldn’t Know You’ is the big ballad, urban style.

Not that all concerned don’t drop the ball on occasion: ‘She’s Not Me’ is a dreary attempt to update the Chic school of funk with terrible lyrics (“She might make you breakfast and love you in the shower”) and ‘Voices’ closes proceedings on a bizarre note, pushing some analogy about walking the dog. Indeed, throughout the record, Madonna has very little to say, either about the state of the world or the state of her private life.

Those looking for an insight into what goes on behind closed doors will have to make do with “I guess we’re at our best when we’re miles away” and go back to buying the gossip rags.

So Madonna has managed the tricky feat of looking both to the past and, if not the future, at least the present. This particular musical pulse is beating for sure, but Hard Candy doesn’t quite have the feel of daring that her albums with Stuart Price, William Orbit or Mirwais Ahmadzai did: genuine collaborators rather than producers simply happy to work within their, and her, comfort zone. If she intends to open a new chapter on her amazing career, she’d be well advised to start pushing herself a bit more. ~ Phil Udell

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Albums Emergency

(dancetotheradio)

There’s a whiff of déjà vu about these five lads from Leeds: indeed, the more cynical amongst you may choose to draw parallels between their modus operandi and that of Arctic Monkeys.

Formed a mere stones throw from Alex Turner’s crew, they adopt a similarly inane moniker and capitalise on early, myspace-fuelled recognition to become one of those ‘next best thing’ outfits beloved of teen-zines. It seems unlikely, however, that the overtly derivative Pigeon Detectives will achieve the hallowed internet-to-main-stage apotheosis the Monkeys managed to pull off.

Listening to Emergency, the band’s second LP, following 2007’s Wait for Me, does little to assuage this suspicion, and one is left with the dispiriting sense that it has been conceived to appeal to a lucrative demographic of Arctic-acolytes.

Their sound is a fast paced clatter of unrelenting riffage and shouty-blokey harmonies married to lyrics that alternate between bruised, late-night confessionals and a breed of cocky triumphalism that calls to mind their demonstrative touring mentors Kaiser Chiefs: no surprise, given that Emergency was produced by Stephen Street, erstwhile knob-twiddler to The Smiths, who has recently lent his experience to both the Kaisers and Babyshambles.

The production, which frontloads Matt Bowman’s defiant vocals and the buzzy guitar work, is lean and unfussy, befitting of songs as short and spiky as their fans’ haircuts, the overall effect, one assumes, being to replicate the band’s allegedly formidable live sound. But it’s disposable stuff: competently wrought, yet blandly familiar, with no hint of invention to compel the listener to go back for seconds. ~ David O Mahony

Fred Go God Go

(rcm music)

The problem with the Irish music scene is a distinct lack of pop bands. We can’t even seem to produce a decent manufactured band, let alone a living, breathing real one. In the shape of Fred, however, we may just have our saviours. Not that it’s always been the case, as the five piece have been beavering away in the Cork scene for a while, displaying all the left-of-centre tendencies that we associate with the People’s Republic. Not that Go God Go (their third album) dispenses with those altogether, it just polishes them up and marries them to some lovely tunes. As combinations go, it’s a winner.

‘Skyscrapers’ sets the agenda straight from the off, depositing them into what is approaching Mika territory (no, wait), all falsetto vocals and a big, bold brass section. Neither is it just a one off, they repeat the trick on ‘Running’, ‘Good One’ (which features the coolest girl/boy vocal) and ‘Damn You Hollywood’. If they’ve managed to up the shiny content, Fred have also developed the

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darker side of their nature. They’re less quirky than before, more focused but still capable of stopping you in your tracks in one split second.

That really is the great thing about Go God Go: everything about it is better. A true case of a band stepping up their game. ~ Phil Udell

Lykke Li Youth Novels

(ll recordings)

Scandanavian Lykke Li Timotej Zachrisson has stirred up quite a buzz in the blogging world, thanks to good words bestowed on this, her debut album. The 21-year-old’s release Youth Novels debuted at number one in the Swedish album charts and she can currently be found on tour spreading her Björk-esque sound across the globe.

In this case, Lykke is definitely catching. It’s hard not to like her sickly sweet voice, which has something pure to it, and forms a perfect complement to the electro-pop beats created by producers Bjorn Yttling and Lasse Marten. Lead single ‘Little Bit’ is an instantly likeable syrupy electro hit, full of lustful lyrics dusted with metaphors, while album opener ‘Melodies & Desires’, by contrast, is full of catchy melodies and spokenword vocals. ‘Let It Fall’ is a gem, with infectious hooks and a happy-go-lucky sound, perfect for any sunny day.

It’s not all saccharine sweetness, though.

Those who can’t handle the happy, bouncy tracks should try darker songs like ‘Hanging High’, the funky ‘Breaking It Up’ or the chilled ‘My Love’.

Youth Novels is a definite highlight for 2008. It fills a gap in the electro world; well written lyrical pop which is equally pertinent at home or in a club. Best of all, there’s still room for growth in Lykke’s music, so it seems the best of her work will come with age. ~ Angharad Williams

Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip Angles

(sunday best)

“Thou shalt not put musicians and recording artists on ridiculous pedestals no matter how great they are”. Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip don’t believe in hype, which is funny considering they caused so much of it with the single ‘Thou

Shalt Always Kill’. The Essex duo are set to create even more with the release of their debut album Angles.

Inspired by electro hip-hop legends Stereo MCs, Le Sac proves his laptop talent across the 12-track album. His drum-driven electronic beats range from dirty to simple, and he even throws in a sampling of Radiohead’s ‘Planet Telex’ along the way.

Meanwhile, lyrical mastermind Pip squeezes his mighty messages in between. In tracks like ‘Letter From God To Man’, ‘Thou Shalt Always Kill’ and ‘Magician’s Assistant’, Pip focuses on important issues such as war, conformity and self-harm.

He is the perfect example of a modern-day poet: the thinking man’s Mike Skinner.

Pip has an unquestionable talent with words, but his MC skills could be tighter. On a number of tracks, he is out of synch with the beat, fighting against the flow. At other times, Le Sac experiments too much with the beat and it doesn’t work. Tracks like ‘Rapper’s Battle’ and ‘Fixed’ feel disjointed and messy as a result.

As Pip so eloquently puts it, there’s “more than one given angle to one given scene”. This album is not perfect, but for every off-beat mumbling, there are two insightful musings. As a package, it could do with some tightening up, but the lyrical genius inside more than makes up for its rough edges. ~ Elaine O’Neill

Peter Moren The Last Tycoon

(wichita)

There’s no doubt that Peter Moren has been blessed with a canny and crafty song-writing bent. As one third of Swedish indie outfit Peter Bjorn & John, he literally whistled his way into the big leagues with the incessantly catchy single ‘Young Folks’. Naturally, interest is piqued in his debut solo offering, not least because he has enlisted the services of The Concretes’ Daniel Varjo, solo artist Tobias Froberg and The Tiny’s string arranger Leo Svensson.

Of course, there is one predicament that befalls any band member who decides to make an off-shoot album: which creative ideas to siphon off for one’s own project, and which ones to throw back into the pot for the day job?

Alas, Moren seems to have fallen foul of this quandary...that, or his creative juices have finally reduced to a paltry trickle.

There are moments of genuine delicacy and introspection on The Last Tycoon, yet songs like ‘Le Petit Coeur’ and ‘I Don’t Gaze At The Sky For Long’ are gentle to the point of inoffensiveness. Elsewhere, ‘Tell Me In Time’ channels the Gallic charm of Serge Gainsbourg and his silver-tongued ilk, but the track stays in one gear, rendering it fairly mono-dimensional. Meanwhile, ‘Social Conscience’ and ‘This Is What I Came For’ are all-too-vague reminders of Moren’s cosy pop sensibility. His lackadaisical, bed-headed vocals may nicely undercut the cheerful tweeness of

marcus palmqvist

The Pigeon Detectives

Albums

[

Producer du jour Dangermouse helps to bring out the best in this southern garage boogie.

]

The Black Keys Attack And Release

(v2)

After years self-producing basement albums and exploring (apparently) every corner of the American song book, soul rocking duo The Black Keys finally reach out to a producer to help elevate their musical imaginations, and what a producer to work with. Dangermouse (Gorrillaz, Gnarls Barkley) helps blend a myriad of obvious musical references into a true original, whilst retaining a garage backbone.

Dan Auerbach’s vocals are heartfelt and soulful, and in every second of every song, you can hear a familiarity that will talk to almost every fan of music. Yet, with this massively eclectic influence base, they retain a nonerratic style that is both fresh and unique. With sounds as far removed as backwater American Gospel, Zeppelinesque riffage and the tremolo twangs of early rock & roll, it’s a wonder this album seamlessly connects the dots and conjures up such a consistent presence. Even what sounds like a cameo from Will Ferrell’s jazz flute playing Anchorman on the brilliantly lazy ‘Same Old Thing’ doesn’t distract from the homage being paid to music in general.

This album infuses all its elements with such skill that there is no doubt who this sounds like…The Black Keys!

So many albums drag their sorry arses over the finish line with a breathless and turgid filler-laden final lap, but this is patently not the case with Attack & Release. If anything, it gets better with every track, pacing itself perfectly for a podium finish. ~ Martin McIver

‘Young Folks’, but bereft of such a buoyant accompaniment, they simply sound underwhelming.

With nary a climax to be found on the entire album, it appears that The Last Tycoon is no more than a hazily touching record that’s dazzling in its mediocrity. Let’s see him whistle his way out of this one. ~ Tanya Sweeney

squelches and a club vibe.

None of this is the fault of Santogold. Her voice is strong and punk-influenced (Santogold used to front Philly punk band Stiffed). She easily adapts from singing to rapping from chorus to verse. It’s a case of too many producers (Freq Nasty, Disco D, Diplo and Switch all provide their services) spoiling what could have been an exhilarating debut. ~ Niall Byrne

Santogold Santogold

(atlantic)

Portishead If you been paying attention to the blogosphere in the last year, you will be aware of Brooklyn artist Santi White. Superior remixes from the latest and greatest DJs and producers, including Switch and XXXChange, have brought Santogold awareness and this debut should capitalise on the interest.

It should, but unfortunately, it doesn’t deliver.

Despite the perhaps obvious MIA comparisons, Santogold never matches the genre-clashing exhilaration of the London/Sri Lankan artist. The album has its foot firmly in new wave/post-punk, while hopping intermittently into electronic territory.

‘You’ll Find A Way’ pales in comparison to the Switch and Sinden remix, which is also included here. The same goes for single ‘LES Artistes’, which is exceeded by the XXXChange remix. The standout songs are those which mix up other influences: ‘Shove It’ contains dubby dancehall rhythms and a guest verse from MC Spank Rock, while ‘Creator’ excels with wobbling electro

Third

(universal island)

Released mere months after Massive Attack’s stunning debut Blue Lines, Portishead’s Dummy was pivotal in the development of the Bristol sound blueprint, uniting the dour, introverted electro hip-hop of the former with sometimes under-appreciated pop smarts and the alluring, angelic voice of reclusive front-woman Beth Gibbons. That was 14 years ago.

Having dispensed with just one studio album in the years since, Portishead’s 2005 revelation that they were working on new material caught many unawares. Far fewer were surprised when the project wound up taking three years to complete, and Third very clearly bears the burden of its troubled birth.

Clearly, the group’s working relationship has shifted considerably during their long hiatus.

Whereas aloof soul girl Gibbons once played the seductive foil to Geoff Barrow’s paranoiac introspection, she’s since become just as desolate and

insular. At times, this new focus works a charm, particularly in the Bond-theme-like melancholy of ‘Hunter,’ yet just as often, the lack of creative tension has tedious results, the seven-minute psychedelic dirge ‘Small’ and the cacophonous duelling bagpipe samples of ‘Magic Doors’ the most obvious examples.

Occasionally Third hints at the transcendence that has eluded trip-hop over the past decade.

‘Silence’ and ‘Plastic’ are tense, nervy, exhilarating affairs, hinging on brooding metallic basslines and stop-start jazzy beats respectively, while ‘We Carry On’ is a surprisingly catchy psychedelic garage rock pastiche. Still, Third never really overcomes the troubles that beset its creation, a middling effort that rarely captures the vibrancy that made the likes of ‘Glory Box’ and ‘All Mine’ so exciting. ~ Dave Donnelly

Crayonsmith White Wonder

(out on a limb)

As his chosen moniker might imply, Dubliner Ciaran Smith’s DIY debut album Stay Loose was the aural equivalent of a particularly gifted child’s early artwork: conceptually ambitious, overtly colourful, lovably smudged, but still very impressive to many beyond the confines of his immediate family.

White Wonder sees the more experienced Smith progressing logically to oil paintings, without being bullied by convention into colouring within the lines or compromising an iota of

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Albums

[

Guest vocalists Gemma Hayes and Ann Scott add warmth to Chester’s trademark shimmer.

]

Joe Chester The Tiny Pieces Left Behind

(upr)

More often than not, a simple mathematical equation stands fairly firm when it comes to music: one bloke plus one acoustic guitar equals monotony and mediocrity to the power of infinity. Yet just when you think that Ireland’s singer-songwriter set have run clean out of tricks, Joe Chester returns with a second album that manages to restore a modicum of faith in the format.

An often understated and overlooked presence on the domestic front, Chester released his debut A Murder Of Crows three years ago. Since then, he has been at the helm of production on a number of notable Irish albums.

Certainly, The Tiny Pieces Left Behind boasts the slick shimmer of a man with a fertile sonic knowledge. Chester’s songsmithery is certainly robust perhaps safe on occasion - but this is easily eclipsed by his consummately fresh and confident work behind the production desk. Impressive opener ‘Maybe This Is Not Love’ is a synth-gilded and virile beauty, while the more understated ‘The Bodies Start To Move’ is both butter-smooth and bewilderingly addictive.

Aided ably by drummer Binzer as well as vocalists Ann Scott and Gemma Hayes, Chester’s latest work is crammed with the sweetly-simplistic, robust pop-rock gems. Hayes’ contributions on tracks like ‘Something Is Better (Than Nothing At All)’, ‘The Right Place’ and ‘Fluorescent Light’ is particularly noteworthy, as her honeyed vocals really do bring warmth and life to the songs. In fact, the album sometimes bears the rich and sweetly intimate hallmarks of much of Hayes’ music.

In all, The Tiny Pieces Left Behind is a delight that should propel Chester towards his rightful spot at the upper echelons of our musical food chain.

Granted, it’s an album that hardly reinvents the wheel, but it does sound like an album that was a hell of a lot of fun to make… and one with plenty of heart. ~ Tanya Sweeney

The Notwist The Devil, You & Me

(city slang)

For a group around for so long (since 1989), it seems it has taken German outfit The Notwist six albums and the latter half of their career to

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find a definable sound. With various members involved in Lali Puna, Console, Sharon Stoned, 13&God and all sorts of other things, The Notwist is the mothership, the one where everything gets melded together into the most coherent of all their vehicles. Their last album, Neon Golden, certainly lived up to its name: an immensely rich tapestry of sonic layers and a stellar bunch of songs meant it was a unique album, which underachieved despite some strong singles and wonderful live performances.

The Devil, You & Me continues to mine the same rich thread but is a more subtle and less driving beast. Markus and Michael Acher and Martin Gretschmann (also known as DJ Console) are undoubtedly great innovators, always ahead of the pack (lest any newcomers assume they are copyists!). The Notwist and Lali Puna are a healthy and big influence on Amnesiac and In Rainbows era Radiohead (just listen to ‘Gravity’ and ‘On Planet Off’) and with Radiohead having shuffled their twist on this into the mainstream, there should be a larger audience for The Notwist this time around.

Underneath all the ambience and strings, however, beats a pop heart and rock rhythms and they keep their avant garde tendencies just about

in check. The standout is the quite gorgeous title track and The Devil, You & Me defines their sound more solidly than before, confirming that Neon Golden was no lone flash of brilliance. ~ Durell Connor

Robotnik Pleasant Square

(angry xmas shop)

How in the name of Greek buggery can one man go from sounding like the Beta Band to a Betamax and then on to new romanticism within the space of 15 songs? The route upon which Robotnik (aka the hugely exciting and quite hairy Chris Morrin) arrived at his sound must’ve been littered with one hell of an eclectic record collection and the fruits of his labour will hopefully find the enormous audience it deserves.

With the exception of the rather dull opening that is ‘Test 16:9’ and a somewhat flabby midsection, Morrin lays out an exciting manifesto.

His utter oddness of taste when it comes to songwriting leaves no room for boredom whatsoever: you go from three minutes of unpretentious joy on ‘Michael Grady Went To Mexico’ to the ugly yet gorgeous ‘The Master’.

pauline rowan

his fresh, wide-eyed creativity. With bandmates Ruadhan O’Meara and Ronan Jackson providing a formidable back-up, Smith experiments with bigger beats, samples and rhythms which, layered and occasionally messy as they are, never entirely smother the intricacies of his melodies.

From the fantastic, bombastic single ‘Lost In The Forest’, through the pounding menace of ‘Bad Days Move On’, to the chiming lullaby of ‘We Sleep’, it’s an accomplished gallery of experimental arrangements, challenging structures and, as the gorgeous chord changes on ‘All The Elders’ and ’16 Going On 63’ show, a connoisseur’s love of sublime pop.

Crayonsmith are shining knights in Ireland’s pop armour, with the style, talent and scope to perfect their art and one day produce a masterpiece. For now, this is quite, white wonderful enough. ~ Johnnie Craig

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Albums

[

It doesn’t sound particularly Cajun and you’d be hard-pressed to dance to their debut album.

]

Cajun Dance Party The Colourful Life

(xl recordings)

Cajun Dance Party? One question: who dances to this? The Colourful Life, the London quintet’s debut long-player, was produced by no less a figure than Suede’s one-time guitar-slinger Bernard Butler. So perhaps it’s Butler’s patronage that makes it so hard to comprehend just how ordinary Cajun Dance Party’s music is. Morrissey/Marr allegories have already been made between singer Danny Blumberg and guitarist Robbie Stern, an unfair burden to lump on any young band, yet truthfully Cajun Dance Party more closely resemble a baby-proofed version of The Kooks. Their indie pop is pleasant but completely vapid and struggles to distinguish itself among more varied and, it has to be said, fun contemporaries.

It’s easy to see why Butler was attracted to the group. Stern’s performance is at times mesmerising, exhibiting a wave of influences from The Beatles and Johnny Marr to James Dean Bradfield, while there are even hints of Slash in the wiry leads of ‘The Firework’ and single ‘Amylase.’ Yet he is light years ahead of his bandmates.

Blumberg’s bland public schoolboy vocals could take the edge off any song and the songwriting is equally as spotty. For every moment of pop gold like ‘No Joanna’ and ‘The Race,’ there are more like ‘Amylase,’ wherein Blumberg proudly boasts, “You’re the catalyst that makes things faster / Amylase will dry up the plaster”. Surely the most flagrant abuse of the rhyming dictionary this side of Be Here Now, and symptomatic of the halfformed nature of the album. ~ Dave Donnelly

You may at times be left with the impression that songs like ‘Lazyboy’ or ‘Piece of Mind’ could have done with a little more time or money thrown at them in the studio, but the raw ideas on display should leave anyone excited.

Looking deeper, were this an 11-song album with precise, unsentimental production, we may have had a more polished result but you’d suspect that’s not at all what Robotnik is aiming for. Jazzy singalong (is there such a thing? There is now!) comes in the shape of ‘Kill the Stubborn’; beautiful self-confidence rules on ‘A Secret Cake Experience’; in fact, there’s too much to talk about. Prepare to be jealous, the boy’s got talent. ~ John Joe Worrall

The Aftermath Friendlier Up Here

(live transmission)

with new wave and pop. The pace varies from uptempo three-minute wonders (‘Are You Not Wanting Me Yet?’) to spacey, tranced out jams that invoke images of black-lipsticked creatures of the night (‘I Wish My Love Would Die’, ‘Song Of A Graveyard’).

Produced by Karl Odlum (Jape, The Frames), the best aspect of the album is its textured instrumentation, which incorporates emotive strings, Gary Numan-esque synths and a bucket load of guitar licks.

However, Johnny Cronin’s vocals are spoiling the party. He could expect a call from Peter Murphy asking for his style back, and The Aftermath would be all the better for it. While Murphy’s overdramatic goth rock warbling worked in the context of the pioneering Bauhaus, Cronin’s out-of-place crooning verges on the pantomime and ruins an otherwise accomplished collection. ~ Saoirse Patterson

As the old adage goes, if at once you don’t succeed, try, try again. It’s certainly worked for the Cronin brothers, who have finally struck gold after years of toil on the UK live circuit. Since the pair formed The Aftermath with guitarist Justin McNabb and bassist Martin Gray, they’ve achieved considerable success in the Irish singles chart, and have build up a huge fanbase in the unlikely territory of Greece.

Their three hits; ‘Hollywood Remake’, ‘One Is Fun’ and ‘All I Want Is For You To Be Happy’ are included here, along with 11 other tunes that fuse elements of dense, riff-heavy classic rock

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Times New Viking Rip It Off

has been stuck at 11 for years.

Once you get past the sheer loud-bastard fuzziness, you realise Rip It Off has some absolutely fantastic tunes. Half the songs are less than two minutes long, and only one reaches three, but not one of them is worth skipping. There are a handful here that demand to be replayed as soon as they end: from the melancholic ‘Another Day’ to the thrilling ‘Faces on Fire’. The highlight is ‘DROP-OUT’, one addictive minute of pure happiness, a flashback to every great, lazy summer you’ve ever known.

The only downside is the album’s refusal to commit: one can’t help thinking it might be nice to hear the better songs recorded cleanly, to see them extended beyond a minute or two, and a lot of what’s here is simply too good to be hidden beneath a layer of noise.

But even though it might sometimes sound like a particularly joyous drunken message left on your phone, there’s no denying that it’s a damn satisfying listen. One of the most beautiful rackets made so far this year. ~ Shane Culloty

(matador)

First things first: if this review were to properly convey to you the sound of this album, it would have to be scribbled illegibly onto a torn piece of newspaper stolen from an angry tramp. This is the kind of noise Times New Viking make: not unlike the simple fun of Grand Pocket Orchestra, except that Fisher Price keyboard fell in a puddle, and those drums are cracked, and that little amp

dEus Vantage Point

(v2)

When State last encountered Tom Barman, dEus mainman, he was looking worse for wear at Electric Picnic, trying to find his way back to the tour-bus. Vantage Point sees Barman back on the right path, however. The fifth studio album

Albums from the greatest Belgian band in the world ever proves that Barman and his merry musical mob haven’t lost any of their creative zeal.

Recorded at the band’s Vantage Point studio in Antwerp in just three months – horrifically brief by their standards – the result is arguably the most immediate and cohesive dEus album to date. That’s not to say that it’s all anodyne, mono-textured Euro rock, far from it. Indeed, they skip from driving post-rock (‘Oh Your God’) to synth-driven electropop (‘Is A Robot’) without so much as a by-your-leave.

There’s also a pop element beating just below the surface, with the superb ‘Favourite Game’ (not a Cardigans cover), the gorgeously tender and criminally infectious ‘Smokers Reflect’ and particularly ‘The Architect’, which sounds like it could be an early ‘80s Depeche Mode out-take, and we mean that as a compliment. Elbow’s Guy Garvey contributes some achingly gorgeous vocals to hopelessly romantic ‘The Vanishing Of Maria Schneider’, while the metronomic ‘Slow’ (featuring The Knife’s Karin Dreijer Andersson) pulses along with just the right amount of pressure and paranoia.

Digital

In contrast, the closing ‘Popular Culture’ is amongst the most breezy and relaxed dEus have ever sounded, and the choral effect on the vocals makes it feel amongst the most timeless and classic tracks they’ve ever produced – which for the band who created ‘Hotel-lounge’ is some accolade. ~ John Walshe

Tokyo Police Club Elephant Shell

(saddle creek)

Like a virgin on prom night, Tokyo Police Club have been teasing the world of indie with lean EPs for two years, and anticipation has duly mounted for their debut album release. With their first effort, Lesson In Crime coming in at 16 minutes and Smith EP only scraping a blink-andyou’ll-miss-it eight, it’s not entirely surprising that this supposed long player consumes less than half an hour.

If their rock was garage on earlier material, it’s clearly moved upstairs to the penthouse suite: the raucous tone of hits like ‘Cheer It On’ has been replaced with radio-friendly polish to create

a collection of sanguine indie pop ditties.

And in terms of meaty, jangly gems, ‘Your English Is Good’ is the best of the bunch, closely followed by ‘In A Cave’ and ‘Tessellate’. At just over three minutes, ‘Your English…’ is the album’s longest track and since being released as a single last summer, it has become one of the Canadian quartet’s most loved songs. Indeed, its inclusion is a stroke of luck for fans, as the band have admitted they hadn’t initially mooted it as an album contender.

With Elephant Shell, the blossoming band have served up a picnic in the sunshine. However, frontman Dave Monks’ accented soprano vocal and the relentless chirpiness may have some praying for rain. ~ Saoirse Patterson

Paul Curreri The Velvet Rut

(tin angel records)

As far as throwing curveballs goes, ‘Mantra’, the opening track from Paul Curreri’s fifth studio outing The Velvet Rut, is right up there in sending you down the wrong alley: it’s all rolling delta-

~ Niall Byrne

Traders series of hip-hop, jazz and funk from the likes of DJ Kormac. http://www.bodytonicmusic.com/podcasts/

ephemeral songs and distinctive lazy springtime vibe, this is very much a purchase for the present.

Available on eMusic

David Murray

Gnarls Barkley ELPUOC DDO EHT

After pushing their second album release date, The Odd Couple, forward by a month due to pesky MP3 leaks, Cee-lo and Dangermouse have attempted to confuse people further by offering a free download of the album in exchange for a bit of easily-fakeable marketing data. The catch is the download is one 38-minute MP3 and it’s each song on the album reversed! http://fronttobackbacktofront.com/

Bodytonic Music Podcasts

Dublin’s premier dance promoter, Bodytonic have begun podcasting exclusive mixes from DJs at home and abroad. So far, there are mixes from DJ Yoda, Charles Webster, Unabomber, Jay Shepheard, Robert Hood. There’s also a Beat

26 Album Discography

Mad Decent

A real coup for eMusic, especially excitable if you’re into all things that Jazz, these 26 albums, recorded between 1986 and 1997, from Californian tenor saxophone/bass clarinet playing David Murray are available for download from the monthly subscription site. Supremely rare and out-of-print, these albums were recorded for Japanese label DIW. An MP3 may not be as thrilling as the vinyl version, but it’s the only way you’re going to hear this without investing serious time and effort.

Available on eMusic

Mad Decent Radio

Grab the latest and greatest club tunes before they hit the dance-floor from Mad Decent, the Diplo-owned label with an artist roster which includes Bonde do Role, Boy 8-Bit, Blaqstarr and DJ Sega. Highlights include the Mad Decent Radio podcast, especially the recent South Rakkas Crew mix and various re-fixes and re-edits on their blog. http://www.maddecent.com/blog/

Cat Power eMusic Session EP

High Places 03/07 — 09/07

Despite the MySpace assertion that they sound like “two dads hanging out”, Brooklyn twopiece Mary Pearson and Robert Barber, aka High Places, match parts of The Animal Collective discography for skewed weirdness. It’s infused by all sorts of creepy crawly noises, percussive touches with submerged, bubbly and naivesounding vocals. An eMusic-only release so far, 03/07 — 09/07 collects the duo’s recorded work from that six month period. Some songs have been released on 7-inch and compilations, while some of it’s exclusive to this album. With its

Originally recorded for KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic show, this acoustic session showcases Chan Marshall’s recent rebirth as a confident artist. Four tracks, two originals and two covers, are featured. From The Greatest, we get the piano-led title track, unadorned of other instrumentation and Marshall’s smoke-laden voice. ‘Good Woman’ from 2003’s You Are Free appears as a guitar version. Pre-dating the version of Hank Williams ‘Ramblin Man’ on this year’s Jukebox is a plaintive take of the song, while a cover of Otis Redding’s ‘Remember Me’ is the undisputed highlight.

Available on eMusic

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Albums blues and almost spoken-word mutterings, and could perhaps feature in the closing credits of a Coen Brothers movie, albeit a below-par one.

Yet, as the album progresses, it reverts to the finger-plucking-meets-Americana songwriting that Curreri has become synonymous with, tipping a hat in the direction of the likes of Ryan Adams and the new breed, but also acknowledging the influence of Island Records folkies of the ‘60s and ‘70s.

The Velvet Rut comes across as a series of half-baked ideas, lazily assembled by Curreri.

While that may have worked a treat for Devandra Banhart, Curreri doesn’t have the ammunition to carry off an album as patchy. Tellingly, it is some of the instrumental interludes that provide most relief on this record: the piano-grounded ‘Intermission For Beer’ may have pilfered from Nick Drake’s ‘Poor Boy’ but is still a nifty number, while the swinging acoustic blues of ‘Don’t Drink’ has a cheery disposition to it.

Curreri’s lyrics may contain a warm storytelling vibe to them, but your patience starts to wear with the narrator when he spouts line such as: “Patti Smith can kiss my ass and die/If you can’t make beautiful, make nice”.

Eight-minute closer ‘Freestylin’ Cross The Pond’ sums everything up: bloated and excessive, it may work if you’ve mastered improvisation, but sadly for Curreri, that’s not the case. ~ Ciarán Ryan

and soured the relationship with Warners subsidiary 679 to the point of parting ways.

On the evidence of This Is Not The World, it would appear that disappointment may just be the making of them. Self-released, it marks a return to their DIY roots in both tone and context, with the changes seemingly inspiring the Makem boys to dig out their old post-punk records again.

While a creative pole vault above their dour sophomore effort, it never quite reaches the dizzy heights of the no-filler debut, despite a generous sprinkling of stellar moments. The angular guitars of old are meatier now and streamlined; highlight ‘Think Twice’ being so joyously headfirst it’s almost like an indie Status Quo. Sounding box-fresh and re-energised, This Is Not The World is The Futureheads we once knew and loved and a welcome return to form from one of the UK’s most grossly underrated bands. ~ David McLaughlin

My Morning Jacket Evil Urges

(rough trade)

~ Cian Traynor

It seems Louisville’s My Morning Jacket are hell bent on continuing on the ride they started us on with 2005’s Z. Eclectic would not be an adequate word to describe the ambitious scope, amazingly contained on these mere 14 tracks. Evil Urges is not an easily digestible record, so we’ve broken it down into some tasty bite-size chunks.

The opening title track features some impressive breaking glass territory Prince-esque falsettos, while the majority of the album is made up of pared-down radio friendly alt. country like ‘Thank You Too’ or ‘Two Halves’. Then there’s the intimate lyrics and squelchy synths of ‘Touch Me I’m Going To Scream’, the unsettling ‘Highly Suspicious’, the raucous classic rock riot of ‘Aluminum Park’ and the lo-fi beats of ‘Smokin’ From Shootin’, where MMJ start to sound like a chilled Hot Chip. Phew.

My Morning Jacket have been quoted as noting that there are subtle similarities that run through the album, which will pop up with repeated listens. However, State isn’t quite sure anyone but the band themselves will be able to join up the fragmented dots on the epic Evil Urges. ~ Tia Clarke

The Futureheads This Is Not The World

(nul)

Good Tiger It may have taken a cover of Kate Bush’s ‘Hounds Of Love’ to wake the mainstream up to the distinctive charms of Sunderland’s finest but once the public were in the palm of their hand, The Futureheads royally blew it. Their zippy debut boasted more energy and invention than their peers combined but when new ears sought out the sequel, News And Tributes, they found a different band. With less pep than its predecessor and jazz tempos in place of their characteristic four-part harmonies, News And Tributes asked a lot of an audience wanting more quirky indie hits

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values provide a promising start for The Dynamics Of Alcatraz. However, by placing the stronger tracks first, any fluidity dries up quickly and the album’s flaws become increasingly distracting.

Apart from needlessly book-ending the tracks with atmospheric electronics (presumably intended as a conceptual thread), weak-sounding keys consistently build the songs up to grating crescendos. It’s moments like these that not only fail to set Good Tiger above the generic ‘adult orientated’ rock bands they aim to displace, but underlines them as a group who don’t yet know their strengths from their weaknesses.

There’s never a better success story than when DIY releases are heralded as untarnished gems, but this debut serves as a reminder that the right kind of record label can still play an important role for artists, much the same way a self-published author can benefit from an experienced editor. Had it been condensed to EP-length, the potential here would be far more evident but as it stands, this lacks bite. Ironically, it’s one of the abovementioned iffy lines that sums it up best: “It’s all been done so much better before”. Amen.

The Dynamics of Alcatraz

(fbiou)

We’ve all had uncomfortable encounters with the kind of angst-ridden poetry that teenagers write while holed up in their bedrooms. Unfortunately, even a fleeting glance at Good Tiger’s lyric sheet will prompt similar pangs of cringe-inducing discomfort. Thankfully, Dave Holland’s affinity for upbeat melodies manages to sweep lines such as “Brando, he died yesterday/ He was heavy but he ain’t my brother”, subtly under the carpet.

Decent pop-rock tunes and assured production

Sia Some People Have Real Problems

(hear music)

Don’t let the childlike artwork fool you. Although this is the third full length offering from the Aussie who is best known for her vocal work with Zero 7, her maturity shines through on this melancholic collection of songs. Her unique voice is a convincing tool, and on the opening ‘Little Black Sandals’, you get the feeling this record should be listened to in an open top classic car while driving into the unknown.

However, the following few tracks are unobtrusive, blending into each other as they fail to hold your attention. They’re pleasant, but you wish Sia could have done more. The experience finally picks up again with ‘The Girl You Lost to Cocaine.’

Despite the gloomy title, this is an upbeat serving

Albums

[

Canny Canadians create life-affirming pop, despite containing echoes of half a dozen other acts.

]

Born Ruffians ‘Red, Yellow and Blue’

(warp)

“I’m frustrated with myself but I can’t change/I don’t want to be me anymore” sings Born Ruffians’ Luke LaLonde. It’s apt because Red, Yellow and Blue is a frustrating album. Not because it’s difficult or unfocused or a bad record: it’s none of these things. In fact, it’s a smile-inducing album, crammed full of catchy pop songs.

No, the aforementioned frustration is borne out of Born Ruffians’ disinterest in being themselves. So, along the way, you get a bit of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! here, a chunk of Tapes ‘n Tapes there, some Modest Mouse and any number of other bands of recent years from that side of the pond.

Fortunately for Toronto’s Born Ruffians, their songs are cleverly-crafted and inventively arranged, which overcomes their similarity to other acts.

The record is littered with jittery Rockabilly-esque guitars, skittery singing and disjointed rhythms (the drumming is magnificent throughout). Album highlight, ‘In A Mirror’, wouldn’t sound out of place on the recent Vampire Weekend album with its odd structures and skat warbling, which evolves into a ghostly echo. ‘Hedonistic Me’ is less urgent than the majority of Red, Yellow and Blue but is no worse off for it with its laidback guitar riff and swooping backing vocals. The layered chanting of the cracking ‘Hummingbird’ and ‘I Need A Life’ add to an often anthemic quality. These are songs that will sound great in a field on a drunken summer afternoon sung along with thousands of other drunken people. ~ Shane Galvin

of drums and strut-your-stuff sarcastic lyrics.

‘Academia’ is another standout, enhanced by backing vocals by Beck, whose band provides the music for the entire album.

Her spine-tingling version of the Ray Davies’ penned ‘I Go To Sleep’ proves that his girl knows how to make a cover her own. Catchy percussion and tribal beats are again enlisted on ‘Playground’, where Sia digs that little deeper for the trip-hop sound that we all know her so well for.

Originality is difficult to come across these days so quality counts for a lot, which Sia has in buckets. This is a lady who can certainly hold her own over the likes of Adele and Duffy. ~ Pamela Halton

Jamie Lidell Jim

(warp)

No-one saw it coming. Mr Super Collider fancypants releasing a straight forward, non-smirking soul album? It had to be a post-modern art prank by those chaps in Warp, right? It was really Terence Trent D’arby messing around with Banksy, as a social commentary about the facile nature of the music industry, no? 2005’s Multiply left more than a few musos scratching their heads and wondering if it was still okay to like Jamie Lidell.

After the shock and awe had subsided, Multiply revealed itself as a sincere work of jazzy genius which had critics in such a sweat they were practically inventing new plaudits to throw at the gawky Brighton boy. Its follow-up, Jim, is an al-

bum that firmly establishes the notion that this is the artist he truly is, creating music he genuinely loves: no gimmicks, no persona just Jim. Opening with the sunshine blast of ‘Another Day’, complete with Bacharach parps and cute infusion of bird twitters acting like aural Prozac, it’s Lidell at his infectious best. High standards are quickly surpassed as he breaks out tracks as bizarre and diverse as the Moogie stomp of ‘Hurricane’, which sounds like Stereolab and Beck engaging in fisticuffs at the local hill-billy bar, or the smooth, sultry funk of ‘Green Light’. But it is on the plastic robo-soul of ‘Figured Me Out’, which mixes old school Jacko “oohs” and Discovery-era Daft Punk electro, where Lidell really excels.

On Jim, Lidell has created a space where he sounds comfortable. It is an album that revels in the idiosyncrasies of an uncompromisingly creative artist, who no longer has to conceal his pop dreams behind a knowing wink. ~ Jennifer Gannon

Martha Wainwright I Know You’re Married But I’ve Got (drowned in sound) Feelings Too There was much to love about Martha Wainwright’s 2005 self-titled debut: the naked vulnerability of songs like ‘Far Away’; the brash demon-baiting of ‘Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole’ (available for free download from her website, and strongly recommended); her occasional, completely inexplicable, appropriation of a thick Welsh accent. Yet for all its subtle and

not-so-subtle charm, Martha Wainwright was a little too raw for its own good, as often dreary as it was sublime.

I Know You’re Married But I’ve Got Feelings Too takes an entirely different tack. The semi-ironic self-deprecation that ran throughout Martha Wainwright is as prominent and as potent as ever, as demonstrated by the disarming title, but musically it’s far more ambitious. Wainwright’s penchant for bending notes and stretching melodies farther than they have any right to go is, if anything, more pronounced and the arrangements are more intricate than ever.

To say Wainwright is imitating the pomp rock of her brother Rufus would be unfair, but she’s clearly taken a few notes from his baroque playbook, judging by the plucked and bowed violins and choral vocals of opening track ‘Bleeding All Over You’ and the marching band-assisted ‘Hearts Club Band.’ She’s helped in part by a stellar line-up of guest musicians that includes her brother, mother Kate McGarrigle and The Who’s Pete Townshend, but there’s a real sense that Martha Wainwright has found her own voice, following a relatively generic debut, and in that there’s much cause for celebration. ~ Dave Donnelly

Mariah Carey E=MC2

(mercury records)

It’s taken three years, but the follow up to The Emancipation of Mimi has arrived. E=MC2 sticks

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Albums

[

A concept album about an astronaut’s last days it may be, but this ’70s homage is a real pop nugget.

]

Jim Noir Jim Noir

(my dad recordings)

If Jim Noir’s heart-melting 2005 debut Tower Of Love hooked you into his nostalgic ‘60s dreamworld, his self-titled follow up will charm you into skipping a further decade on with him.

The maestro himself may be be too young to have experienced the kitschy sounds he creates so brilliantly, but you can easily imagine his bedroom studio looking like the lounge quarters of Space 1999. His innate ability to perfectly conceptualise and, more importantly, realise ‘70s retrofuturist electro-guitar pop, conjures images of cream walls, lowlit Arco lamps and Nanna Ditzel furnishings, with the moon’s surface stretching silently and forbiddingly into darkness outside his window.

The concept behind Jim Noir is of a dying astronaut poignantly reassuring his loved ones that all will be well: but the songwriter’s claim that it’s, therefore, a sad record is delightfully wide of the mark. Having the dreamy rhythm of ‘All Right’ playing inside your spacesuit would tinge any hopeless float through the cosmos with optimism. Similarly, the romping ‘Happy Day Today’ could not hurtle you towards certain doom more joyfully. Back on earth, amongst the lava lamps and squiggly curtains, ‘Don’t You Worry’ so perfectly nails lounge-psychedelia, you can almost taste the chocolate fondue: even titles like ‘Good Old Vinyl’ and ‘Look Around You’ take the listener to a joyful, half-recalled childhood which betters anything you actually experienced.

From start to finish, Jim Noir is a starbound time capsule of stellar harmonies, twinkling chord changes and shimmering pop perfection; universal acclaim must surely follow now. ~ Johnnie Craig

~ Angharad Williams

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Rebecca Collins Chameleon Blues

(mutineer)

The fact that Tramore’s Rebecca Collins decided to call her debut album Chameleon Blues doesn’t bode well: prefixing the word ‘Blues’ with another noun and entitling a piece of music with the result is by now a tired and uninspired process.

While the folk/rock/blues/jazz blend in question is certainly singular in its charms, it too often becomes an exercise in patience.

Exactly half of the tracks here begin with a solo instrument (guitar, Rhodes or piano) accompanying a melancholic vocal, making for a pretty listen and thus probably realising its goal. But when Collins claims that the record’s theme is of “desire”, it’s unlikely that she was referring to the listener’s constant yearning for things to happen. The drumbeat which finally appears, 278 seconds into ‘Ghost Inside’ implies an impending deviation, but it instead decides to give the song a piggy-back ride to an undynamic conclusion, typifying proceedings.

Although there are some fleeting moments of excitement, such as the unexpected climax of ‘Kill For You’, the raging build-up in ‘Involved’ and the unbounded jitterbug pop that is ‘Lame Dog’, there’s also the likes of the title track’s indulgent improv. to contend with. This is still a promising beginning for Collins, but despite having been freely composed, meticulously orchestrated

and nicely produced (in Williamsburg, Brooklyn), her aural manifestation of the wee hours of the morning can only be paid the most dreaded of compliments... interesting. ~ Bobby Aherne

The Jane Bradfords The Jane Bradfords

(simple tapestry)

Built around the musical stream of consciousness of chief songwriter Deci Gallen, this young Belfast four-piece employ a juxtaposition of contradictions on their self-released debut album. Over chiming, hopeful melodies and bright synth lines, Gallen pitches his vocal to a droning baritone to create a shoegazing-electro rock record that can be simultaneously downbeat and enlivened.

It’s an intriguing prospect, which is sure to divide opinion, but either way there’s no denying the consummate songwriting on display in each song’s different character. The tone switches with ease from the Spiritualized-esque space rock of opener ‘The Pace That Kills’ and the jangly ‘Strategy’, which takes its cue from The Cure’s ‘Close To Me’, to the crisp electronica of the sole instrumental ‘Machine Murders Piano’.

An unfortunate consequence of Gallen’s bass vocal is that the lyrics are sometimes lost in a mumble. When they are distinguishable, the frequent repetition of a lyric several times in many of the songs can be monotonous.

simon king

to the sound which won Mariah three Grammy awards. Although this is more of a continuation than a follow-up, this album lacks development, something you’d expect after such an absence.

Once again, Mariah includes popular artists like Damien Marley and hip-hop high flyers T-Pain and Young Jeezy. Production too boasts a healthy cast, including Jermaine Dupri, Will.I.Am, longtime Mariah producer Bryan Michael Cox and Mariah herself as executive producer.

Those who love the earlier Mariah ballads will enjoy choice cuts like ‘I Wish You Well’, which features an appearance by her pastor, Bishop Clarence Keaton , or the heartbreak-fuelled ‘Thanx 4 Nothin’ and slow jam, ‘Bye Bye’. Catchy first single ‘Touch My Body’ is full of fun and flirtation and a return to Mariah style, while clubbers will love album opener ‘Migrate’ and ‘I’m That Chick’, and pop princesses will be feeling ‘I’ll Be Lovin’ U Long Time’’.

E=MC2 has less of the vocal gymnastics Mariah’s famous for. However, the odd highpitched squeal can be found in tracks like ‘For The Record’. There’s also a real low, however, on album closer, ‘Heat’, essentially a nursery rhyme, mixed with a cheap hip-hop beat.

All in all, however, E=MC2 is what Mariah does best: mainstream music with plenty of warbling.

Albums Whether American artist Jane Bradford inspired their name remains to be seen, but for the lady name-checked in ‘The Pace That Kills’, an ominous fate is in store; “Poor Jane Bradford, where she’s going, you never come back from, they say”.

Although flawed in places, once the creases are ironed out, the reservoir of talent evident across these 12 songs should produce some fantastic tunes from this young band yet. ~ Saoirse Patterson

Grow Up’ is guiltily enjoyable. Elsewhere though, ‘I Wish I Was In New Orleans’ is too irritatingly cutesy for its own good.

Musically, Anywhere... is warm and fuzzy in all the right places, not surprising considering the band was put together by producer David Sitek from TV On The Radio, even featuring David Bowie on backing vocals. However, the fact that we don’t hear Scarlett’s voice until a good way into the second track, ‘Town With No Cheer’ should set warning signs flashing: her voice just isn’t that good. Sure, she can hold a note, but so can a fair proportion of the punters in your local.

State has the distinct impression that were her vocal chords not attached to arguably the hottest A-list actress of her generation, this album would never have seen the light of day. The fact that her vocals are kept pretty low in the mix throughout suggests that Sitek is well aware of this too. ~ John Walshe

The Last Shadow Puppets The Age Of The Understatement (domino)

Scarlett Johansson Anywhere I Lay My Head

(warner)

When actors turn their hands to music, the results are usually embarrassing (Keanu Reeves, Don Johnson), but following Scarlett Johansson’s live appearance with The Jesus And Mary Chain at last year’s Coachella Festival and her decision to include mostly Tom Waits covers on her debut, hopes were high that Anywhere I Lay My Head would buck the trend. Alas, it doesn’t.

It’s not a terrible record: it’s just not particularly inspiring. Bizarrely, the only non-cover, Scarlett’s own ‘Song For Jo’, is arguably the best thing here, although her melancholic takes on ‘Fannin Street’ and ‘No One Knows I’m Gone’ don’t disgrace her and the ‘80s-tastic ‘I Don’t Want To

It was obvious when Arctic Monkeys initially hit the public consciousness three years ago that singer Alex Turner was no normal 19-yearold singer in a rock ‘n’ roll band. After just two Monkeys albums, Turner and his mate Miles Kane of The Rascals decided to work on an ambitious side-project, the kind normally reserved for established musicians with years of experience under their belts.

The Age Of The Understatement is no bedroom lo-fi indie affair, rather it’s an epic, cinematic album inspired by Scott Walker and David Bowie.

Suffused by grandiose orchestral swells and drama, it’s impressive in scope and execution.

The title track comes rushing out of the starting blocks with an explosive string motif by Owen Pallet, alongside galloping Spaghetti Western drums from James Ford, with Turner’s trademark sharp lyrics - “And she would throw a feather boa in the road / If she thought that it would set the scene.”

The album never matches this initial burst

of energy, though there are some outstanding fragments. The dizzying, swirling Mariachi outro of ‘Only The Truth’, the vocal duelling of Turner and Kane on ‘Separate And Ever Deadly’ and the James Bond stomp of ‘Meeting Place’.

Far away from the the mardy bums and fluorescent adolescents, this collection of baroque pop is more ambitious than it is exceptional. ~ Niall Byrne

The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock The Hare

(transduction)

The ability to throw pious points of reference like “god of power and might” as well as “I once was lost but now am found” into a record and come out the other end with any note of credit is not an easy task. But then The Spook and the Thirteenth Lock, as their name so keenly suggests, aren’t really ones for doing things the easy way.

Run through The Hare a few times and count the amount of different tags you have for them.

Heart-pounding Pogues-esque moments, My Bloody Valentine’s fuzzy logic, indie guitar crescendos and Nick Cave solitary confinement rock: it’s a fussy but satisfying mix.

The phrase “it’s the notes they don’t play” may be one of the great rock n’ roll wankisms but on ‘Christchurch, 6 Bells’, this non-wordcount conscious band prove to be the exception that proves the rule. It’s all gentle, echoing guitar, warm distortion and a tale of winter drunkenness: a pivotal moment on the record. ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ where the aforementioned piety appears doesn’t lead into white boy gospel: instead, it’s epic in the nicest possible way, a reflection on human frailty by the somewhat shakily-voiced lead singer Allen Blighe, who counts Italian folklore and Macedonian folk music among his influences.

Undoubtedly things get a little more slapdash as we move on and by the time album-closer ‘The Ragged Rock’ gets to the conclusion of its eight minutes you are tiring, but it doesn’t dampen the wonderful work that’s gone before. ~ John Joe Worrall

We’re blogging this!

brea souders

State.ie is your daily digital dose of State Magazine full of news, mp3s, reviews, interviews and giveaways.

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Reissues & Compilations

[

Genre-hopping, decade-defining album from the American maverick gets a welcome re-release.

]

Beck Odelay (Deluxe Edition)

(universal)

No other album encapsulates the American mid-’90s musical landscape more than Odelay. 12 years have passed since Beck Hansen’s second album was released, so this double CD package allows us to re-evaluate its revered status.

A commercial and critical success, Odelay mixes up slacker rap, schizoid alt-rock, archaic folk and blues into a playful pot of something unique to itself. Thanks to production by Dust Brothers and Hansen’s own flair for nuanced innovative sonics and nonsensical but entertaining vocals, Odelay never feels stale or out-dated, and the singles ‘Devil’s Haircut’, ‘The New Pollution’, ‘Jackass’ and ‘Where it’s At’ still shine.

The deluxe package is supplemented with a bonus CD of B-sides, a new scrawled-on cover and an introduction from Thurston Moore. Some of the extra songs are merely throwaway demos, some are worthwhile and known to Beck fans (‘Deadweight’, ‘Clock’, ‘Thunder Peel’) and the remixes from Aphex Twin and UNKLE are curious items only.

Songs like ‘Ramshackle’ and ‘Jackass’ suggest the nucleus of Sea Change introspection to follow and the absurdist style of Midnight Vultures is suggested on ‘The New Pollution’. Though Beck has refined his diverse output into cohesive eclecticism, with no album since he captured the zeitgeist so effectively. ~ Niall Byrne

Air Moon Safari 10th Anniversary Special Edition

(emi)

We should all celebrate the 10-year anniversary by dusting off our own albums and chilling out one more time. Why mess with perfection? ~ Elaine O’Neill

Die-hard Air fans will be clapping their hands in glee at the release of Moon Safari 10th Anniversary Special Edition. At the same time, the rest of us will wonder what more the Versailles virtuosos can add to the infectious arrangement.

The limited edition three-disc set includes the original masterpiece, a 10-track bonus disc and an hour-long documentary of the band’s first live tour. Three times the fun? Not quite.

Nobody can deny the importance of Moon Safari’s original release in 1998. With a luscious mix of sexy electro-pop, acoustic guitars and fauxstring arrangements, Nicolas Godin and JeanBenoît Dunckel defined a genre. Beth Hirsch’s haunting vocals were gently woven through the Burt Bacharach and Kraftwerk inspired creations.

Tracks like ‘Sexy Boy’, ‘Kelly Watch The Stars’ and ‘You Make It Easy’ thrilled a tired public, ready to chill out from all that Britpop bopping.

Sadly, the bonus album just can’t compete with the original. The 10 tracks include remixes, BBC and KCRW sessions, and a couple of demo tracks that never quite reach the standard or quality Moon Safari offered.

Following Air on their 1998 tour, the documentary merely emphasises the frustration Nicolas and JB experienced with early interviews and press junkets. The duo appear lost in translation for most of the off-stage footage, while on-stage shots are often replaced with still photographs of the night.

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As a reminder of one of the UK’s forgotten anti-heroes, this reissue is worth the effort alone but the scant disregard for quality control on the 29 bonus tracks make it something of a hardcore only necessity if you’re among the lucky few already clued in. ~ David McLaughlin

Hefner The Fidelity Wars

(belka)

Various Artists If Darren Hayman grew up in the US and had his band’s videos on MTV back in the mid ‘90s, chances are he would be revered as an untouchable indie demi-god of Rivers Cuomo-like proportions by now. As the Hefner man was an altogether more down-to-earth East Londoner, life didn’t quite turn out so glamorously and his band were criminally ignored for much of their tenure on the fringes of the UK indie scene. With some luck, this timely reissue of Hefner’s second album (with bonus tracks galore) will retrospectively redress the balance and maybe even charm some fresh converts to his new solo venture.

Originally released in 1998, The Fidelity Wars finds Hayman peeling the plaster on the fire and ire of a soul torn asunder by romantic misadventures. His brittle paeans to love lost on swooning heartbreakers like ‘We Were Meant To Be’ and ‘I Took Her Love For Granted’ (and those titles are just the iceberg’s tip) pick at the wounds and unabashedly spew with rage, cynical observation and life in all its stirring extremities. Sounding remarkably fresh a decade on, it’s testament to the purity and simplicity of the tunes and Hayman’s knack for memorable melodies amid the unsavoury details.

Real Authentic Reggae Volume One

(bbe)

With summer around the corner, there are few things that can get you in the mood for lazy days and sunshine like reggae. Compiled by Kiss FM DJ David Rodigan, Real Authentic Reggae Volume One should definitely make this summer’s playlist. Rodigan has a long history with Jamaican music, going back to his teenage years, and the experience he has built up over the past 30 years or so certainly translates into an excellent and well thought-out collection of tracks.

Rodigan has chosen classic bands alongside more recent reggae acts, blending the two almost seamlessly. The infectious lyrics of roots harmony group The Abyssinians and Slim Smith sit comfortably alongside British reggae singer Bitty McLean and the uplifting beats of Bushman.

Kicking off with Ernest Wilson’s ‘Truth & Rights’ and finishing with The African Brothers’ ‘Lead Us Father’, the 20-track album winds its way from mellow to frantic, all while barely breaking a sweat.

With such a wealth of tracks to choose from, it’s difficult to pick highlights from this album. If

Reissues & Compilations pushed to name names, however, The Abyssinians’ ‘Poor Jason Whyte’ and Winston Francis’ ‘Ten Times Sweeter’ would be among those where the repeat button on the CD player is in danger of wearing out, while the more recent hits such as ‘I Know’ by Bushman add a fresh dimension to the album.

From the obscure classics to the more recent, Real Authentic Reggae is an education, and will appeal to longtime fans and newcomers alike. A laid-back, chilled out soundtrack for the summer. ~ Ciara O’Brien

Iron Maiden Somewhere Back In Time

(emi)

As with many bands of their vintage, Iron Maiden are caught between a rock and a hard place, wishing to move forward creatively (which they’ve done with great success of late), whilst realising that the vast majority of their audience really just wants to hear the old stuff. So, having toured the first four albums a couple of years back, they’re off again with the next four and another compilation, taking in their first – and unarguably best – 10 years.

As a concept, it hangs together a little awkwardly, especially as it uses live tracks to replace the Paul Di’Anno originals and zig zags all over the place chronology-wise. Yet for anyone who cut their musical teeth on those early albums, especially The Number Of The Beast, Somewhere Back In Time has some essential moments. ‘Children Of The Damned’, ‘Run To The Hills’, ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’ and, of course, ‘The Number Of The Beast’ itself are all classics of the genre and even the less-loved stuff from Piece Of Mind and Somewhere In Time stands up well. It’s a shame that the live tracks and the material from the late ‘80s, when they began to slide into parody, take the sheen of the whole thing. ~ Phil Udell

Alabama 3 Hits and Exit Wounds

(one little indian)

You could be forgiven for thinking that songs written in the ’90s would sound a little stale to the ’00s ear, but then you’d listen to Alabama 3’s retrospective Hits and Exit Wounds and wonder how you could’ve been so wrong.

Returning their funky fusion to the masses, most tracks on the album hail from the widely acclaimed acid-house country classic Exile On Coldharbour Lane (1997). Buoyed by the international fame The Sopranos gave ‘Woke Up This Morning’, the band’s debut introduced a new flavour to the Britpop stereotype.

The sombre, ironic atmosphere of ‘U Don’t Danse To Tekno Anymore’ (sik) is probably more apt today than 10 years ago, while tracks like ‘Hypo Full Of Love’, ‘Mao Tse Tung Said’ and ‘Ain’t Goin’ To Goa’ prove that music this good never

goes out of fashion.

Tracks from La Peste (2000), Power In The Blood (2002), Outlaw (2005) and the recent M.O.R. (2007) are all revisited. As remixes of ‘Mansion On The Hill’ and the Aslan-starring ‘How Can I Protect You’ spruce up the old favourites.

‘Ska’d For Life’ is the baby track of the pack, making its first appearance: it’s a collaboration with Orbital, and offers a distinctly Madness-like sound, tinged with a dance beat and raspy lyrics.

As the album congas its way around a Brixton rave, it’s hard to imagine that some of the songs were written a decade apart. Alabama 3 have certainly picked 18 ripe cherries from their extensive collection: finding your favourite will be the toughest part. ~ Elaine O’Neill

The Lemonheads It’s A Shame About Ray Collector’s Edition

(warner)

Picking up the collector’s edition of The Lemonheads’ classic It’s a Shame About Ray made State feel like a teenager again. While Ray... hasn’t been re-mastered, the extra features include previously unreleased demos of tracks from their back catalogue, complete with cassette whisperings!

The original artwork remains, alongside detailed inlay notes highlighting the album’s significance, as well as a DVD of their earlier VHS release Two Weeks in Australia.

Extras aside, State has fallen in love with this record all over again, with its acoustic rock glory and smart sun-kissed songs. These guys laid down the gauntlet to the likes of Foo Fighters, perfecting the sound of teenage longing. The bongos and ‘ooh la’ refrain in ‘Kitchen’ descend into solid drums and bass, while Evan Dando & Co. produce a sound not unlike The Clash on ‘Ceiling Fan In My Spoon’. The standouts are ‘Confetti’, the title track, ‘Rudderless’ and ‘My Drug Buddy’. Despite the bands protestations, you can’t argue with the ubiquitous cover of the Simon and Garfunkel hit, ‘Mrs Robinson’. All in all, this is a classic album, and It’s A Shame... if you don’t already own a copy. ~ Pamela Halton

Jess Klein City Garden

(united for opportunity)

Famed for her gut-wrenchingly emotive voice, this New York singer-songwriter’s intense live shows have become a thing of legend. The massively talented redhead is currently on a US tour with her United for Opportunity labelmate, Damien Dempsey, before she takes a lap of the Dublin folk hero’s homeland.

Although her first album came out a decade ago, it was 2005’s Strawberry Lover that saw Klein become a globally acclaimed star. It still remains her most loved work in some quarters, but the following year’s collection, City Garden, with its searingly honest lyrics and previously unseen

blues influence, cemented her reputation as a world class roots star.

With her soulful, passionate voice up front in the mix, Klein uses her adroit range to invoke a lifetime’s worth of emotion on this, her sixth record. Across the 11 tracks, she growls, pleads, seduces and soothes to entice the listener into her world.

Flicking with ease from the gritty, PJ Harveyesque ‘Shell & Shore’ to sassy retro-pop (‘Make Love’), Klein peppers her folk-rock style with country, soul and pop, bringing to mind Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams and a more melodic Ani DiFranco.

The unrelenting sincerity, earnest honesty and innocent nicey nice-ness could have some digging out the Slipknot box set, though. Things veer dangerously into Joan ‘If God Was One Of Us’ Osbourne territory on ‘Holy Land’, while ‘Real Live Love’ is the perfect oestrogen-fuelled ‘womyn rock’ soundtrack to a bra-burning bonfire.

If you can indulge Klein these tendencies, City Garden makes for an enjoyable journey into modern American folk, which cherry picks from the genre’s heroines, past and present, while maintaining a clear voice of its own. ~ Saoirse Patterson

Various Artists Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump

(strut records)

After the success of the first Nigeria 70 collection released back in 2001, Strut Records has helped convert a new generation of African music fans, assisted by profile raising events such as Live 8. The label’s latest release, Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump is another classic collection. Compiled by Afro archivist Duncan Brooker and Strut Record’s Quinton Scott, it covers Afrobeat, Highlife and Afro Funk, jumping from juju legend Sir Shina Peters, to jazz-funk inspired Peter King in only a few tracks.

Starting off with Sir Shina Peters’ ‘Yabis’, you are quickly aware that this isn’t just a run-of-themill compilation, mixing Bola Johnson and the Faces, Chief Checker and The Immortals, with some real gems waiting to be discovered. Highlights include Ify Jerry Crusade’s catchy ‘Everybody Likes Something Good’, the upbeat ‘You Are My Heart’

by Rex Williams, and Peter King’s ‘African Dialects’. The 16-track compilation finishes up with the mellow ‘Happy Survival’ by Eddie Okwedy, neatly bringing Lagos Jump to a close.

Newcomers to Afro Funk might find some of these tracks are a little hard work, and they’re not for those with short attention spans: several tracks breach the five-minute mark and one stretches over twice that long. However, the diversity and freshness of the music ensures that most listeners will find themselves drawn back again and again. Funky, frantic and frenzied at times, Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump is a real experience for the uninitiated and an interesting compilation for long-time fans. ~ Ciara O’Brien

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TV DVD

[

As dark as a baboon’s bottom, this serial killer saga has enough twists, turns and black humour to hold the attention.

Dexter Season One Starring: Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter, Julie Benz, Eric King. Running Time: 700 minutes approx.

Extras: none.

Based on the novels of crime analyst Jeff Lindsay, Dexter follows the murders and mayhem of blood pattern analyst Dexter Morgan (Six Feet Under’s Hall), as he pits his wits against The Ice Truck Killer, who has a predilection for murdering Miami prostitutes, before completely draining them of blood, dismembering them and leaving the remains dotted around the Florida city.

Not your average, common-or-garden hero, Dexter has a dark secret of his own: he’s a serial killer himself. Dexter, however, operates to a strict moral code, handed down from his adopted father, allowing him only to execute those who deserve it and who have escaped the traditional justice system. The 12 episodes follow Dexter’s killing games with the Ice Truck Killer, while also managing to fit in a host of other sub-plots, some more successful than others, such as Dexter’s highly dysfunctional relationship with his girlfriend Rita (Benz), who is suffering serious psychological damage following spousal abuse.

Hall is perfect as the ethically suspect antihero, delivering his thoughts deadpan, via some perfectly scripted inner confessions. Some of the dialogue is as clunky as a giant Lego set, however, while the thespian skills of the ensemble cast are less than Shakespearean, with Carpenter (as Dexter’s adopted sister, Deborah) and King’s

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]

cartoonish hard-ass police sergeant guilty of hamming it up as if it was Carry On Killing. That said, the intricacies of the plot are generally enough to overlook the one-dimensional characterisation, at least most of the time.

The series is beautifully filmed, with the marinas, clubs and restaurants of Miami as important as the secondary characters at setting the scene: indeed, the food sequences alone were guilty of causing severe salivation in the State offices.

All 12 episodes are also liberally peppered with humour, although it’s generally as black as the space of Hades, while the viewer will need a sound stomach to sit through some of the more graphic scenes. For all its faults, Dexter makes compelling viewing, as you try to follow the trail of blood, endeavouring to work out the clues quicker than Dexter himself can do on-screen.

For Fans Of: CSI, Six Feet Under, Poirot. ~ John Walshe

Prison Break Season 3 Creator: Paul Scheuring. Starring: Wentworth Millar, Dominic Purcell, Robert Knepper, Wade Williams, Paul Adelstein.

Running Time: 550 minutes approx.

Extras: Breakout Episode Featurette, Making Of Episode 1, Director’s Takes, Between Takes.

By this stage, the plot is as convoluted and confusing as an FAI press conference. Most of the main characters from seasons one and two have ended up behind bars in the most notorious prison in Panama, including the wonderfully

villainous T.Bag (Knepper), the hammy former prison guard Brad Bellick (Williams), Secret Service agent-turned-rogue killer, Paul Kellerman (Adelstein) as well as brooding hero Michael Scofield (Millar), whose brother Lincoln Burrows (Purcell) is on the outside (a complete role reversal from Season One). Scofield and Burrows try to free themselves once and for all from the myriad corrupt forces intent on ensuring their everlasting misery, involving more escape plans, plot twists and coincidences than a John Irving novel.

Hokum, certainly, but well-made hokum and great fun, once you don’t think too much about it.

For Fans Of: 24, The Great Escape, conspiracy theories. ~ John Walshe

Indiana Jones Trilogy Director: Stephen Spielberg. Starring: Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Kate Capshaw.

Running Time: 344 minutes approx.

Extras: Absolutely loads.

Released to capitalise on the brand new Spielberg movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the first three movies were originally restored and remastered in 2003, but this is the first time the special editions have been available individually, and they look even better than they did when State was a lad. The big selling point here, however, is the extras, as anyone with an interest in action movies has doubtless seen all three movies numerous times. The bonus mate-

DVD TV Music DVDs The National: A Skin, A Night Director: Vincent Moon. Running Time: 61 Mins.

Extras: The Virginia EP

Ford and Connery in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

rial is seriously impressive, including the cast and crew of the Crystal Skull playing tribute to the original trilogy, a documentary on the films’ locations, as well as Spielberg, George Lucas and the writers discussing how they created one of the most iconic characters in film history.

For Fans Of: Star Wars, The DaVinci Code, classic action adventures. ~ John Walshe

Taxi Season One Director: James Burrows. Starring: Judd Hirsch, Danny DeVito, Tony Danza, Andy Kaufman.

Running Time: Approx. 276 minutes.

Extras: None.

The bell-bottoms, the tight shirts, the wing-tip collars, the non-PC humour, the iconic theme tune: Taxi follows the trials, tribulations and misadventures of a group of drivers at New York’s Sunshine Cab Company and their efforts to make it out of the garage, from Tony Banta’s (Danza) hopelessly aspiring boxer to Bobby Wheeler’s (Jeff Conaway) fledgling career as a thespian.

Only the older, cynical Alex Reiger (the excellently hangdog Hirsch) admits that driving the yellow cab is his career choice. Andy Kaufman is superb as the bumbling but big-hearted Latka, but the real star of the show is DeVito’s demented cab dispatcher, Louie De Palma, a fireball of aggressive humour – the scene when he tells Kaufman’s character to “cheer down” sums him up perfectly.

Almost 30 years after it first aired, Taxi still has the ability to draw belly-laughs, thanks to the quality of the writing.

For Fans Of: Cheers, Friends, Danny DeVito. ~ John Walshe

Family Ties Series One Starring: Michael J. Fox, Dick Sargent, Michael Gross, Tina Yothers Running Time: 507 minutes.

Extras: none

The popular US sitcom which ran for seven series from 1982 to 1989 gets the DVD treatment. It managed to tweak the standard sitcom format

by casting the parents of the family as former ‘60s hippies, now grown-up liberals who raise three conservative children. The lone male sibling Alex P. Keaton was played by Michael J. Fox, who quickly became the main focus of the show, leading to his role in the Back to The Future films.

His character was an aspirational, businessobsessed young man who alongside his sisters, the consumer-obsessed Mallory and the younger Jennifer, face problems and situations for the parents to admonish and for the siblings to learn from. Several guest stars impress, including Tom Hanks as a mysterious uncle who embezzles cash, and it occasionally tackles hard topics like teenage pregnancy, gun protection and globalisation from a family perspective.

The 22 episodes are light-hearted and entertaining enough to engage in several bouts of ‘80s nostalgia.

For Fans of: The Cosby Show, Diff’rent Strokes, Silver Spoons. ~ Niall Byrne

PS I Love You Director: Richard LaGravenese. Starring: Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler, Lisa Kudrow.

Running Time: 122 minutes.

Extras: Interview with Cecilia Ahern, James Blunt music video.

It’s the classic story: boy meets girl, boy marries girl, boy dies of a brain tumour and proceeds to help her overcome her grief from beyond the grave. Based on Cecilia Aherne’s debut novel, PS I Love You was never likely to be anything other than a piece of Hollywood fluff, but even on those terms the film is spectacularly slight. The whole Irish section of the movie sits uncomfortably with a domestic audience, although the scenes shot in Whelan’s do offer a brief flurry of excitement when a Revs poster hones into view. Perhaps Richard Curtis could have done something memorable with this but for now, PS I Love You is best avoided.

For fans of: 27 Dresses, Sleepless In Seattle, Notting Hill.

A collage of arty musings and rough-aroundthe-edges, fly-on-the-wall style film-making, this is Vincent Moon’s docu-diary of The National’s troubled recording of their fourth album, the masterful Boxer. The whole painful (and often extremely boring) studio process is made clear, alongside some insightful glimpses of the band, such as frontman Matt Beringer’s admission that he drinks a few glasses of wine before hitting the stage so he can forget there are a thousand strangers out there. Worth buying for the accompanying Virginia EP more than the film itself.

For Fans Of: Tindersticks, Scott Walker. ~ John Walshe

Fall Out Boy: **** Live In Phoenix Running Time: 156 mins Extras: Music videos, documentary, bonus CD.

Few bands have divided opinion of late as much as Fall Out Boy and their first live DVD won’t change that. If you love them, you’ll love this but it’s a school night so go and do your homework. If you find the whole thing baffling, this cavalcade of identikit US punk pop and images of screaming teenage girls will just further confuse the issue. The thing is, somewhere in FOB there’s a really interesting band waiting to break out. You just won’t find it here.

For fans of: My Chemical Romance, High School Musical. ~ Phil Udell

Bruce Springsteen: VH1 Storytellers Running Time: 98 minutes.

Extras: Audience Q&A session.

A chance to relive The Boss’ 2005 appearance on the VH1 special, where songwriters explain their art. “Talking about music is like talking about sex,” asserts Springsteen early on, and yet he still provides a fascinating analysis of how he crafts his songs, dissecting their makeup and meaning. The eight tracks cover his career up to Devils & Dust, from ‘Blinded By The Light’, through a beautiful piano-led ‘Thunder Road’ and up to ‘Jesus Was An Only Son’.

For Fans Of: Springsteen obviously, and anyone with an interest in songwriting. ~ John Walshe

~ Phil Udell

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TV It’s A Write Off Words by Maia Dunphy

A couple of months ago, the US writers’ one of the Desperate Housewives. Sure it’s strike was all we heard and read about, not just in TV columns but on the front pages themselves. Our favourite shows were being held to ransom, the Emmys were cancelled, the Oscars were threatened up until the eleventh hour, and everyone vaguely connected to the film and television industry, from dress designers to florists to people-who-rentchairs-to-big-events were panicking and talking about the loss of revenue.

Over here, let’s be honest, we didn’t care all that much about loss of revenue in Hollywood. We just scanned the photos of the picket lines to see if anyone famous had actually turned up. There was Sally Field – frankly we couldn’t care that much.

The papers said Gary Cole was there, and we all smiled and thought “what you talking ‘bout Willis?” but couldn’t see him; until we realised we were thinking of Gary Coleman. Jason Alexander of Seinfeld fame turned up – was he protesting on behalf of the writers’ guild or just trying to get his face on telly again? Oh hang on, there’s a genuinely famous person waving a placard:

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the least popular one, but even so. And she looks thinner than she does on the show, which is interesting. That small, vaguely Hispanic-looking girl could be Ugly Betty.

She looks better than she does on the show; now that is interesting. And is that George Clooney? No. No, it isn’t.

The faux camaraderie of the celebrity picketers made us smile too. The smiles were fake; after all, more money for the writers would inevitably mean less for the actors somewhere down the line. But no writers would mean no shows at all, so grabbing a placard and a baseball cap must have been the lesser of two evils.

Aside from celeb-spotting, however, we lost interest remarkably quickly on these shores. We just assumed it would all be sorted out, and come the new TV season, all of our favourite shows would be back. And some of them were... for a short time. But it is only now that we are really feeling the sting of the strike.

Like a delayed aftershock, it has hit us, and we are not happy. We expected the odd hiatus of a week or two but not the fractured and scattered schedules we have now. Our TV routines have been ruined!

Our usual Tuesday night date with the Desperate Housewives was shattered with nearly a month’s break. We momentarily forgot, sat down with our cup of tea and found Champions League for the third week running. After a few weeks with no Wisteria Lane, we’d forgotten where the sodding storyline left off, and it’s hard to maintain interest in a series with a month’s gap in between episodes. Sure, it’s back now, but we haven’t forgiven them. Plus we know we’re being drip-fed and it will be snatched away again soon. It’s the telly equivalent of taking a sweet out of a child’s mouth.

Big gaps also appeared in the running order of Lost, Prison Break and Brothers & Sisters. Actually, strike Brothers & Sisters from that list; they might have been on and I may just have slept through them.

Some shows have been shelved

TV Ones to Watch

altogether. The Bionic Woman (which was due to make that girl with the big jaw from Eastenders a huge star) is one such casualty. At least producers are blaming the strike. It may have been a convenient excuse. Or the big jaw.

Chuck, the brilliant new show that started last month on Virgin 1, is still incomplete and some episodes have been cancelled, which means it may never move to a channel where most of us can see it. Even more upsettingly, Family Guy has been axed and the list goes on.

A little bit like those emergency phone numbers that are set up after accidents, there are websites you can go to, to look up the fate of your favourite series.

Many may never be completed now. We will probably be thrown a few episodes here and there to try and hold our interest, but us series-fans have our routines and we are creatures of habit. We watch a show once a week for 10/13/20 episodes, silently rage when it’s over and wonder what to do with that hour of the week, get over it during the summer months, and then receive the box-set from a work colleague for Christmas. It’s the way it’s always been.

Well, this year the cycle has been well and truly broken and it’s only now that reality has hit home. But spare a thought for the Yanks. Not only have they lost or irreparably damaged some great series, they had them swiftly replaced with shows which required little or no writing. A back-to-back double series of Big Brother and the return of Gladiators, to name but two. Out with decent comedy,

It’s either a Desperate Housevives still, or a caption competition…

in with 15-minutes-of-fame seekers and steroid-ridden men and women bashing each other with giant Q-tips.

Over the last couple of months, I have used the extra time to catch up on series I missed out on before, via the power of the box-set. I have also been keeping an eye out for imminent non-US comedy (lest we get excited by a new US commission, only to have the writers decide to scribble up some new placards). The BBC have recently scored a hat trick with a trio of heavyweight comedy commissions.

Look out for sitcom stalwarts Caroline Quentin, Roger Lloyd-Pack and Jimmy Nail in new comedy later this year. More on those anon.

But a last word on the strike. Who will admit to thinking, “Why didn’t they just hire new writers? Hey, I’d give Lost a go, and give it the ending we’d all like to see”. Well, one celebrity website tried just that. Phil Magitti, editor of Postcards From The Pug Bus (southeastern Pennsylvania’s leading celebrity satire website) lost his writers to the strike, and had this to say; “Give me your pissed off, your demented, your celebrity obsessed, and your homeless writers looking for a break.

If they send it, we’ll post it; though we do reserve the right, of course, to edit for content, style, and the proper use of irony and coincidence”. Mr Magitti then added “I’m unsure as to why our writers joined the strike for higher wages anyway, as I’ve never paid them at all. I’ll offer to double it - two times bupkis is still bupkis.”

Entourage RTE 2, Monday, 10.55pm Season three hits RTE 2, which was in the can well before the strike, so you can rest assured all episodes are where they should be. The boys are back, and Vince’s biggest movie to date is about to hit screens: how will the posse deal with their buddy’s ascending star? By taking advantage of every opportunity, of course.

The Ultimate Guide to Everything RTE 2, Tuesday 10.55pm Mairead Farrell, (Ray D’Arcy show and The Panel regular) road tests self-help books so we can sit back and say “told you they don’t work”.

Pushing Up Daisies ITV, Saturday 9pm Finally, Anna Friel looks set to cast off the shackles of the ‘Brookside lezzer’ in this charming and quirky black comedy drama, starring as a girl brought back from the dead by the love of her life. More Brothers Grimm than classic love fairytale. Already two episodes in, but be warned, it may also fall foul of the strike, depending on how quickly the production catches up Stateside.

Hollywood Trials RTE 2, Thursday 9.30pm Series in which Irish personalities, ranging from ex-Fair City actors to Mikey Graham, head to Hollywood to try and make it big with the help of audition coaches and casting directors. The series is nearly over, but might be worth tuning in to the last couple of episodes to see if our Mikey is about to become the new Colin Farrell or will be dropping his CV into Supermac’s on his way home from the airport.

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Books Bogotá Standard Words by Paula Shields ~ Photography by Nina Subin

The Informers Juan Gabriel Vasquez

bloomsbury

‘Informer’ is a powerful, emotive, damning word, a cold, clear-cut label, affording no mitigating history, no excuses, no humanity to the perpetrator, whatever their motives.

Juan Gabriel Vasquez’s compelling second novel, newly translated into English by Anne McLean and set mainly in 1930s/40s and modern-day Colombia, is all about the power of words, spoken and written, and the complex impulses and frailties of human nature.

Unfolding in five acts, each moving easily between present and past, The Informers revolves around the relationship between a father and son of the same name, Gabriel Santoro, one a retired

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eminent professor of rhetoric in Bogotá, and the other a young non-fiction writer with his first book under his belt.

Herein lies the heart of the matter, a problematic mystery detonated in 1988 when the book, a biography of an old family friend, is published. A Life In Exile is the story of Sara Guterman, whose Jewish family took refuge in Bogotá as the Nazis came to power in her native Germany, an interesting, fairly innocuous account of the life and times of her parents, their friends and the guests who stayed in the ritzy hotel they ran in the capital.

Santoro Snr is strangely furious with the book, attacking it in a scathing magazine review and refusing to see his son for some three years, relenting only

when a serious health scare forces him to face his future (encroaching mortality) and his past. A phone call in April 1991 summons the younger Santoro to the elder’s apartment and sets off a series of events that will obliquely explain his father’s hidden history, and indeed Colombia’s, “a country of escapees”, in the late1930s and early 1940s.

As the title underlines, there are numerous informers in this rich wartime tale of friendships, both those that were betrayed and others that endured, from individuals like Angelina, the old Professor’s last lover, to the nameless multitudes who provided names for the notorious blacklists that dominated 1940s’ Colombia, on whose dubious authority, suspected sympathisers of the Nazis and their Italian and Japanese allies were interned in hotels, causing the destruction of countless individuals and their families.

Writers are of course informers too, after a fashion, as Vasquez warns the reader more than once, and Santoro is a fascinating study of the species: by his own admission, “driven… to violate secrets, reveal confidences, show interest in others the way a friend should when deep down, I’m just interviewing them just like a vulgar reporter”. With his deceased father by then in public disgrace, a son might reasonably want to make a public statement on his behalf, but it is equally true that he gets a second work of non-fiction, The Informers, out of his investigation of the past.

Raising questions about public and private knowledge, about remembering and forgetting, and how the present deals with the past, Vasquez eloquently evokes the moral confusion of World War II Colombia; the anti-semitism by no means confined to Germany at that time; the striking gains and losses of a life in exile; and the legacy of one generation to another, down to the casual violence of contemporary Colombia. A rich cast of characters and an intriguing, crafted narrative: heartily recommended.

Books

[

A preview of the month’s more interesting releases.

]

The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn: Colour Photographs from a Lost Age bbc books

By David Okuefuna In 1909, the millionaire French banker and philanthropist Albert Khan embarked on the hugely ambitious ‘Archive Of The Planet’ project, which aimed to create a colour photographic record of, and for, the people of the world. Khan’s enormous collection of 72,000 photos has remained relatively unheard of, and most have been unpublished, until now. This collection and the accompanying BBC TV series try to shine some light on these dazzling pictures.

Terryworld

By Gavin McInnes, Oliver Zahm taschen gmbh and Terry Richardson Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of Terry Richardson, from porn stars to hillbillies, pets, transsexuals, celebrities, and least of all himself. His work projects a world where taboos are null and void, and fashion finds sex a perfect fit. From Vogue to Vice, Terry has covered them all. If you like your fashion rude and raw, then keep your eyes peeled for this treasure.

Words by Tony Jessen

Assault of Reason

By Al Gore

bloomsbury

The author of highly acclaimed and best-selling book Earth In Balance, star of Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth, and of course, former Vice President of the United States, Al Gore delivers a book that looks at the foundations of American democracy and the misuse of fear and faith to shape the decision-making of the Bush administration.

Beijing Coma

By Ma Jian

chatto and windus

Dai Wei has been in a coma for almost a decade.

A medical student and pro-democracy protestor in Tiananmen Square during June 1989, he was struck by a soldier’s bullet and fell into a coma.

From his coma, Dai Wei can’t see or move but he can hear what’s happening in the world beyond: his mother’s struggle to keep him alive and the government’s attempts to suppress all memory of the Tiananmen massacre.

Sean Henry

By Tom Flynn

monograph on the artist and his work, with stunning photography from the artist’s own archives, as well as an insight into the processes and methods involved in their creation. Includes everything from the 10cm deep relief ‘Hotel Room’ to ‘Couple’, a 13m high, 18m wide bronze and steel sculpture, sited 250m off the coast, the first offshore artwork in the UK.

Gordon Ramsay’s Playing With Fire harper

By Gordon Ramsay With a total of 12 Michelin stars under his belt, and currently one of only three chefs in the UK whose restaurant is rated at 3 stars, Ramsay also found time to helm the BAFTA award-wining series Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, Hell’s Kitchen and The F-Word, as well as several best-selling cook-books. Now available in paperback, Playing With Fire is the amazing story of Gordon’s journey from sous-chef to superstar and the building of a business empire.

scala

Sean Henry by Tom Flynn is the first major

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Games Words by John Walshe

[

The Gran Turismo series makes its PS3 debut, but it’s only a prologue, with the real deal not arriving until 2009.

] release you could ask for after a particularly tough week in the office: there’s nothing like crushing homeless people’s heads in a vice-grips to help you get rid of all that pent-up rage, or maybe that’s just State. Indeed, Bloodshot lets you decide just how gory you want your murders to be, and then allows you to watch the results in bloody detail.

The game takes place in Metro City, surely the most terrifying lawless environment since Jericho or Bioshock, which is rendered in deliciously dark, dirty and grimy detail. The sound quality too is superb, helping to create a real sense of menace and tension, which is then only alleviated with some of the best scary jumps in a video game since the heyday of Silent Hill or the original Resident Evil. These frights are generally followed up with some of the goriest scenes ever committed to video game.

For those with strong stomachs or a particularly nasty sense of humour, Condemned 2 is terrifyingly good fun. If you’re even a little squeamish, however, avoid this like you would American Psycho.

Gran Turismo 5 Prologue PS3

(scee)

A prequel to Gran Turismo 5 proper, which isn’t due until 2009, this prologue still lets you get behind the wheel of 71 high performance cars, rendered in perfect detail, for some quality racing action around some of the world’s most famous tracks, including the Fuji Speedway, Daytona and the Eiger Nordwand.

The format is pretty similar to previous games, but the graphics have been upped a number of notches for the series’ next gen. debut, which also brings online racing to the GT format for the first time, with the ability to take on up to 16 other drivers a real bonus feature. There’s also the new Gran Turismo TV, which allows you to access a host of motoring programmes online, including the wonderful Top Gear. Other than that, however, it’s pretty much as-you-were, with the racing sequences handling similarly to the game’s previous incarnations. This is no bad thing, as Gran Turismo plays superbly, with the game’s many cars moving and reacting like their real-life counterparts (although State has never been behind the wheel of a Ferrari, we reckon this is just how it would drive).

The events are split into three grades, and the lowest, C Class, should prove a doddle, even for novice drivers – particularly with the addition of a speed guide for the tougher corners. For the hardcore race fanatic, you can switch off all the driving aids, tune your car to within an inch of

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its chassis and take on the computerised drivers or other humans, via the online and split-screen game modes.

Aside from normal races, there are a few other challenges, such as beating a target lap-time within a 10-minute window or overtaking all other drivers during one lap. That aside, it’s the usual mixture of winning races to earn credits, so you can buy more cars, thus allowing you to enter other events (some races require certain vehicle types to enter).

While it’s not going to rewrite the rule-book for racing titles, GT5 Prologue is visually stunning and will provide enough chicanes, hairpins and nerve-jangling racing for fans, until the fifth game proper releases next year.

Condemned 2: Bloodshot Xbox 360, PS3 A particularly gruesome horror sequel, Condemned 2 is also probably the best tension

Assassin’s Creed: Altair’s Chronicles DS

(ubisoft)

A prequel to the stunning Assassin’s Creed next gen. title, Altair’s Chronicles follows the early adventures of the hooded killer in the Holy Land in 1190AD as he bids to find the sacred Chalice.

Like its older sibling, the action is a mixture of exploration, combat and puzzle-solving, and the graphics are pretty good for the handheld console. The game utilises the DS’ dual-screen mainly on the mini-games, where you use the stylus to perform various tasks, such as removing a key from a bag without alerting its owner or hitting the right ‘pressure points’ during interrogations. The gameplay is generally of a high standard, although the camera angles can make the platforming overly difficult, but overall it’s a solid action adventure.

(sega)

Teenage Zombies DS

(ignition)

Subtitled ‘Invasion Of The Alien Brain Thingys’, one thing Teenage Zombies can’t be accused of is taking itself too seriously. A comic-book style side-scrolling platformer, the game also incorporates some fairly simple puzzle-solving, courtesy of the player’s ability to switch between the three zombie characters, each with their own strengths and special moves, from ‘Half-Pipe’, who can make it through the tightest of spots courtesy of his skateboard, to ‘Fins’, whose tentacle attack

Games tiring, very quickly.

The developers did try to incorporate a few new elements this time around: there’s a first person shooter mode, which adds nothing to the genre, and a new motion element, whereby you point your light gun at the edges of the screen to switch positions, which sounds easier than it is.

The graphics are solid, without showing off the PS3 to anything like the best of its ability, and the sound is pretty poor, but it’s the lack of variety in the gameplay that really makes TC4 play like something of an antique.

Nevess DS can hit three enemies at once. Not going to change the world of platformers, but good, old school fun nonetheless.

Time Crisis 4 PS3

(namco)

In these days of next generation gaming, you could be forgiven for thinking the days of the light gun shooter were numbered, and on the

evidence of Time Crisis 4, you’d probably be right. OK, so pointing your gun at the screen and blasting your way through legions of bad guys is good fun for, say, the first 10 minutes, but after that it all starts to get decidedly boring. Maybe we’re spoiled by the variation in gameplay in the top titles hitting the shelves today – the likes of Resistance, Bioshock, Ratchet & Clank – but the idea of shooting incessantly at wave after wave of enemies, for all its retro arcade chic, gets very

(ignition)

Nevess is a puzzle game with the simplest of premises: you’re given a mixture of seven different shapes, which you can twist, turn, flip and rotate, in order to manipulate them so that they fit a silhouette. But then, all the most addictive puzzlers come from the simplest of ideas (anyone for Tetris?), and this is no exception: State was up long into the night, muttering ‘just one more puzzle and then we’ll switch it off’.

Highly recommended.

Six of the Best Gaming highlights of the coming weeks. features fast-paced, pick-up-and-play action, involving strategic global domination and history’s most intrepid leaders, as well as a highly competitive multi-player experience.”

Sounds good.

more facts about the military giant and the rebels. Graphically, this looks stunning, while the soundtrack even features a new Korn tune, penned specially for the game.

R-Type Command

Rock Band

Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures

Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS, PC First it was Star Wars that got the Lego treatment and now it’s everyone’s favourite adventure-hunting archaeologist receiving a gaming makeover, and the results look superb. Offering a unique tongue-in-cheek take on the original trilogy of movies, Lego Indiana Jones recreates some of the most memorable celluloid scenes, including the boulder dash from the start of Raiders..., as well as allowing you to control more than 60 playable characters, from Jones Senior to Mola Ram. Sid Meier’s Civilization: Revolution

Xbox 360, PS3, DS The master of real time strategy, Sid Meier returns, with a new title developed solely for console and handheld gamers. According to 2K Games, “Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution

Xbox 360 Initially launching on the Xbox 360, with other formats coming later in the summer, Rock Band allows players to put together a four-piece outfit to take on the music world, mastering lead guitar, bass, drums and vocals. Promising to span all rock genres, the soundtrack includes everyone from The Rolling Stones to Radiohead, Muse and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, as well as offering more songs for download on a regular basis.

Haze

PS3 This hotly anticipated fist-person shooter, from the development team behind Timesplitters, is set in the year 2048, in a world where governments have outsourced military operations to private military corporations. Playing as rookie soldier Shane Carpenter, Haze promises a decent plot to complement the action, with Carpenter switching sides as he uncovers

PSP The classic side-scrolling shooter, which was as tough as old boots, gets reborn as a turn-based strategy title, as you play the last human commander, leading a small armada of spaceships into the heart of the alien Bydo empire. Low on fuel and forced to scavenge resources and equipment, you’ll have to keep your wits about you to stay alive.

Battle Of The Bands

Wii Featuring 150 tracks and five distinct musical styles: rock, funk/hip-hop, country, marching band and Latin, Battle Of The Bands combines fast-paced combat with customisable bands, where players take on the role of one of eleven musical outfits trying to topple the nefarious big boss, Mr Hong, and take control of the city of New Cadenza. Interestingly, the game features 30 tracks from the last four decades, all of which have been recorded in the five different styles.

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Anger Management

Festival Fever Words & Bile by Tanya Sweeney Illustration by Christian Kirkegaard

I might as well offer up the following disclaimer from the outset: I am a girl who likes her many creature comforts within arm’s reach. Although I concede that such curmudgeonly tendencies are hardly befitting of a music journalist, I admit that festivals and I make for quite unlikely bedfellows. The festival experience is becoming more convenient by the day: on-site launderettes, artisan food concessions and organic wine stalls are cropping up faster than you can say ‘Japanese Noodle Bar’. But alas, none of these gimmicks render me impervious to the rest of the dreaded experience: warm and overpriced beer, the prospect of hiking to every stage, the ridiculously forced jollity of the whole fucking thing.

In reality, festivals are little more than an endurance test, a way of calculating one’s pain threshold. The entire weekend revolves around addressing basic bodily needs: hunger, thirst, shelter. The less said about festival loos the better: I’d rather not be anywhere where baby wipes are a premium currency. Actual gig watching is lucky to come in a close fourth.

And that’s another thing – the quality of festival performances is scarcely worth the paper it’s written on.

Artists tend to wax evangelical about festival shows in interviews, but what they don’t tell you is that the festival circuit is just one seemingly interminable carousel for them. Often by the time they’ve reached Ireland, they’ve seen enough inflatable hammers and Che Guevara flags to last them a lifetime. What’s more, the sound quality of these shows is habitually dire: compound this with the rain and the crowds’ braying along to a given band’s one radio hit, and we’re talking an unfailingly below-par experience.

There is invariably a smug bastard or two who use the festival weekend to showcase their obscure, hard-won musical wisdom.

You’ll recognise their tiresome, competitive ilk from their claims that ‘you really should have seen (insert band name here)… best gig of the weekend’ and suchlike. Last year, if you recall, Final Fantasy and !!! were the names to drop. These folk also tend to surreptitiously eyeball your wristband, lest you are wearing a different colour and therefore ‘rank below them’. While you queue interminably for the aforementioned overpriced beer, these faux-party animal ponces are often tucking into a Marks & Spencer picnic basket in their Winnebago. Christ, gimme a Sawdoctors-chanting, GAA-jersey-wearing kid any day.

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Even one’s nearest and dearest aren’t immune to catching a bizarre strain of festival fever. They fall into two camps – the pal with the watertight itinerary (complete with scheduled piss breaks) or the lounger who barely makes it out of the car park (but claims to have had the best weekend ever). Some girls may also find themselves aligning with yet another festival subculture – those who dabble in sartorial one-upmanship. They are instantly recognisable from their designer wellies, painstakingly tousled haircut, and whatever Kate Moss is wearing in that week’s copy of Heat magazine.

Once, festivals and I were on amicable terms, albeit briefly. At the Reading festival in 1995, I vaguely recall enjoying the novelty of brushing one’s teeth with a water bottle and wrestling with a tent. By Friday afternoon, the fun was wearing thin: by the time headliners Smashing Pumpkins were about to hit the stage on Friday night, I was prepared to crawl back to Dublin on all fours.

Fast forward to last year’s Electric Picnic, and my anxieties have amplified thousandfold. After a weekend of seeing few bands (despite the noblest of intentions) and then drunkenly throwing up in a campsite ditch while other journalists looked on in wry amusement, I cursed the festival gods once more.

This year, I’m citing ‘irreconcilable differences’, and will be happy to receive all reports and colourful reviews from the festivals via text message, thank you very much. Naturally, I expect several messages informing me that My Bloody Valentine’s Electric Picnic appearance was transcendental, but such noserubbing is the price I’m willing to pay. Besides, that’s half the fun of actually going to the festival, right?

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