Reader’s Wives are a band that I’ve a great deal of respect for. Not only are they a very talented bunch, but they’re also one of the hardest working bands that I know of. Their EP ‘Secrecy and Sex’ was great. Five tracks that didn’t take themselves too seriously, yet oozing with an Irish quality that I haven’t heard in quite some time.
Last Friday Team Culch settled into a three hour drive to Sligo for a music festival and I found myself with a grá for a bit of tra. Epic levels of tra. Christy Moore levels of tra. McGrattan’s bar had an 90s night the other week to celebrate their 21st birthday and Italia 90 was queued up for the big screen, which put Joxer Goes to Stuttgart in mind and nothing would do but to hear it, it and Delerium Tremens and … Ordinary Man. Ordinary Man, you see, is about losing your job and trying to provide and all of those things that are the front of everyone’s mind this past while. The idea that Christy Moore was due a resurgence in popularity swung through my mind, and then I had a horrifying thought. I was recently invited to The Script and I cried off with the excuse ‘Nooo, … There’s more
As far as I can tell this has nothing to do with Bad Santa. Which is a shame, because not only was Bad Santa a pretty excellent film, but also I like the idea of starting off a franchise — something you could line up against your Date Movies and Epic Movies and Superhero Movies and whatnot. An opposing front. Think about it: Bad Civil Engineer! Bad Tax Underwriter! Bad Prie… weeell, maybe there’s a line. But the principle stands. (Actually, has there ever been a Movie Movie? I don’t mean to harp on here, but these abominations need to be taken down one way or another, and metahumour’s metakiss of metadeath might be just the way to do it. Like, not just some cheap fourth-wall-breaking effort — really hammer down into the old continental philosophy. Go the distance. Crack out the Deleuze and let fly. I digress, I digress.) … There’s more
Fox Jaw Bounty Hunters first came to my attention with the raucous self -titled EP way back in 2007. They were making music unlike most in Ireland at the time and it was a refreshing blast of cheeky, heavy rock. This was my favourite from the EP: Almost 4 years on, and they could not be sounding more different. Their latest offering ‘The Devil in Music’ is a far sleeker affair than anything that they have produced to date. There is a Southern American twinge to their sound now, that I have not heard before. Their music would be comfortable sitting on any New Orleans based soundtrack (the first that springs to mind is True Blood), and this is no bad thing. The music has a deep growl, and dirty backdrop and you can almost imagine the wildness and humidity of New Orleans, and the polarised and confused religious fundamentalism … There’s more
Something that Ireland should be immensely proud of, is the talent that exists in our music video scene. There have been some quite significant developments in recent years with some individuals making quite a name for themselves, and I have been increasingly impressed by our output. In particular, our indie scene regularly manages to produce some astounding content, more often than not on shoe-string budgets. One such video has been brought to my attention this week, and has been getting some superb exposure internationally (including the mighty Pitchfork!), clocking up over 40,000 views since I last checked. To boot, it’s a pretty savage track.
Attention all budding photographers! This is a pretty nice competition, with a great prize. So get snapping! Ireland’s biggest surf and music festival, Sea Sessions, returns to Donegal from 24th – 26th June 2011 bringing world class surfers and live music entertainment to the shores of Bundoran. Brand new this year is the Relentless Energy Extreme Photography Competition, organised by festival sponsor Relentless Energy Drink. Ireland’s amateur and professional photographers are invited to submit their extreme sports photography by email, with the top 10 finalists work being showcased at this year’s Sea Sessions Festival. The competition will be judged by world renowned surf photographer and filmmaker, Mickey Smith, director of the multi-award winning surf film Dark Side of the Lens. Entrants are briefed to deliver an image based around any action sport that tells a story of “No Half Measures”, an ethos at the very core of the Relentless Energy … There’s more
