The JD Set 2011 : Tickets are free!

‘Free Gig’ I hear you exclaim? Not just any gig mind you. The Jack Daniels Set 2011. The gig, which is free to successful ticket applicants, will feature Neil Hannon, Cathy Davey and Jape. In an interesting twist they will be collaborating to re-imagine Vampire Weekend’s debut album. The gig is scheduled for Friday April 1st. Hannon, Davey and Vampire Weekend are three artists most beholden to me and the idea of this gig excites me greatly. Much love for Richie ‘Jape’ Egan too but the aforementioned are particular long-time squeezes of mine. Anyway enough of my rambling and to the knitty-gritty. We are lead to believe that tickets will be available via http://thejdset.ie from Feb 1st So we’ll hopefully see you there! Edit 03/02/11: With some confusion over how ticket allocation will work, here’s some clarification from the folks behind The JD Set: “There seemed to be a bit … There’s more

Culch.ie’s Albums of 2010

Every newspaper, magazine and website worth its weight in salt is currently counting down their top picks of 2010. And the music writers here at Culch.ie have decided to hop on this list-making bandwagon; sure if it’s good enough for Santy, it’s good enough for us. Forthwith, each writer gives us their top three choices of the year: Sweary’s Picks 1 – Been Listening – Johnny Flynn Yeah, like you’re surprised. Mr. Flynn’s second album, Been Listening is a triumph from start (the breezily addictive Kentucky Pill) to gentle crescendo (touching yarn The Prizefighter And The Heiress). Reconquering ground covered by debut A Larum, there’s nothing pretentiously risky in Been Listening; it’s the sound of an artist who’s confident about where he is, and good God, is this ever “nu-folk” at its best. Mournful without being mawkish, charming without being twee, it’s earthy and evocative and rousing, all melodies your … There’s more