Daily Archives: February 21, 2012

New Irish Music: Third Smoke.

  By Lisa McInerney | February 21, 2012 - 6:30 pm | Music, Music Videos
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♫ Hungry ears/one look at you and we can’t help but leer at your/Hungry ears… ♫ Ok, so our profound lack of lyrical dexterity is why us Culchies never quite took off as a travelling minstrel show. We’ve accepted this, so instead we’re happy to sate your aural appetite by bigging up the musical talents of our fellow countrymen. Today, we’ve got a medley of fresh ingredients for those ravenous organs of yours. Yes, the ones on your head. Pay attention! Dundalk’s Third Smoke are a foursome of bucks who haven’t so much rewritten the rule book as never realised it was there in the first place. Debut EP Tell A Friend is all raucous rock, stompalong beats and shoutalong choruses, and the lads flaunt a flair for harmony and a raspy passion that seems almost rude in such wee gasuns. Whichever blues brother frontman Hugh borrowed that pair of … There’s more →

Movie Review: The Muppets

  By Lisa McInerney | February 21, 2012 - 3:00 pm | Movies & TV
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Like Billy from The Commitments, I’ve never been shy about telling people that Animal from The Muppets has been a personal influence. Why wouldn’t he be? He’s impulse personified (muppetified?), an exploding bass drum of colour, noise and silly string. I wish life had more Animal. I wish The Muppets had more Animal. Because this is the problem with The Muppets. There just aren’t enough of the Muppets in it. I’m not fond of starting reviews with criticism, but the overwhelming echo once I’d finished watching The Muppets movie was that I was a little… well, underwhelmed. Which is odd, because The Muppets is a joy to watch. It’s funny, clever, and moving, and its musical numbers will bore into your brain like a zombie weevil wearing tap shoes. But I was still left wondering whether such a premise as the Muppets bursting back onto our screens had been exploited … There’s more →

Events: Kitty, Daisy and Lewis to play Whelan’s

  By Sinead Keogh | February 21, 2012 - 12:00 pm | Gigs, Music
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Sunday May 6th will see siblings Kitty, Daisy and Lewis take to the stage at Whelan’s. The trio released LP ‘Smoking in Heaven’ last year featuring their signature multi-instrumentalist skills from harmonica to trombone to ukulele to lap steel and everything in between. Tunes included ‘Messing With My Life’ which is vaguely reminiscent of ‘Naive’ by The Kooks and ‘I’m So Sorry’ which has a must-see video, particularly at the 2.40 minute mark:

Musiclover’s App: WholeWorldBand

  By Sinead Keogh | February 21, 2012 - 9:00 am | Gadgets, Gigs, Music
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If you’re a musician or a vocalist and you’re heading down to the RDS at the weekend for The Music Show then we’ve just heard about a really cool thing that you’ll want to get in on. The WholeWorldBand app will be on-hand accepting contributions to tracks by Cathy Davey, Gemma Hayes and Liam O’Maonlai. The app, which launches in a couple of weeks, allows users to originate a track, add themselves to a performance by a well-known artist or band by playing along with them, or even substitute themselves in for any member of a band. WholeWorldBand also allows musicians to record and film while playing or sing along to any track on the menu using the mic and camera on their iPhone or iPad and upload the result to Facebook or YouTube. Using WholeWorldBand, musicians will be able to upload their own original tracks and earn money when other users download … There’s more →