CLUAS Irish Indie Music The Soap Box

Worst Irish Album Cover Ever?

aidan — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 08:23:10 GMT

At the risk of being wrongly accused of Glen-bashing, it has to be the cover of the new Swell Season album, something which looks like it's from a Wolfe Tones tribute to the fallen volunteers of 1916. Awful.

(I can't seem to insert the image but you can see it here: www.cluas.com/indie-music/Album_Rev...t-Joy.aspx)

Can anyone beat this?

U2 rebuild Berlin Wall

aidan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:13:58 GMT

Seriously: their free open-air concert in Berlin, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Wall, will be blocked off so that only a limited number of people can see it.

Satire is dead: www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontp...05145.html

The Immediate Split!

floodzer — Sun, 13 May 2007 01:38:47 GMT

How s**t is that? They were an excellent band, one of the most exciting things to come out of Ireland in a few years in my opinion.
Terrible pity.

Christmas FM Christmas Song Contest

Christmas FM — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:35:52 GMT

Attention bands / songwriters ! Get involved in a really fun way of helping out a great cause this Christmas!

Christmas FM Launches 2009 Irish Christmas Song Contest

Irish musicians called on to help support Dublin and Cork Simon Communities Christmas FM, Ireland’s only dedicated Christmas radio station today announced details of a nationwide competition to discover the next great Irish Christmas song. The charity radio station, which aims to raise €35,000 for the Simon Communities Dublin and Cork this year, has launched an appeal to Irish bands and songwriters to write a yuletide masterpiece that could appear on the station’s playlist alongside a host of classic Christmas themed hits.

“We are asking Ireland’s musicians to compete in the ultimate test of pop penmanship – the challenge of crafting a truly great Christmas single. Irish musicians have penned some of the most loved and famous Christmas tunes over the years and we are looking to find the next hit. So grab your guitar, a set of sleigh bells and get into the Christmas spirit early this year by writing a cracker of a song!” said Daragh O'Sullivan, Christmas FM’s Joint Program Director. Artists from around the country are asked to write and record their own Christmas compositions and submit them online through the Christmas FM website at www.christmasfm.ie/songcontest .

The closing date for the contest is November 16th 2009. A panel of leading Irish industry experts will choose a shortlist of the best entries which will be playlisted by the station during its first week of broadcast in December. Christmas FM listeners will then be asked to vote for their favourite song by text. The overall winner of the contest will be given the opportunity to professionally record the song and be playlisted on Christmas FM alongside their catalogue of classic Christmas hits. The winning entry will also be released online as a charity Christmas single with all proceeds being donated to The Simon Communities, Dublin and Cork.

Ireland’s favourite Christmas jukebox, Christmas FM will return this December in an expanded format, broadcasting throughout both Dublin and Cork. A dedicated charity radio station it aims to raise over €35,000 for the Simon Communities, Dublin and Cork this year through a combination of corporate sponsorship, texts and online donations. The station will begin broadcasting on Monday 30th November, and will continue on air 24 hours a day until 27th December 2009. Once more, well known current and ex radio personalities will volunteer their time to fill the presenting roles. In 2008, presenters from LM FM, East Coast FM, K FM, Dublin’s Country Mix, Ocean FM, 4FM, Northern Media Group, Shannonside and Northern Sound took part. For more details on the contest please visit www.christmasfm.ie

What you're listening to: Oct 09

aidan — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 08:27:31 GMT

Out of curiosity from all the praise it's been getting in the UK and Irish media, I've been listening to Madness's new album, 'The Liberty of Norton Fulgate'. I like it, though it strains a bit to be the Sgt Pepper/Penny Lane of its genre and city. (In particular, the title track that ends the album is a clear tilt at 'A Day In The Life'). If you're not into music of West Indies extraction then you might find it dragging a little by half-time, but otherwise it's quite rich in detail. if you know and love London then I imagine you'll get a real thrill from this album.

Here's the rather flat single, 'Forever Young', live on Jools Holland's show:

Jack White in TCD

jan — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:33:21 GMT

Someone did a verrrry good job of keeping this a secret - http://www.nme.com/news/the-white-stripes/47903

I'm sure it was infinitely more interesting than that report makes it sound. Anyone there?

CODES......

carry_grant — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 05:06:20 GMT

........are shite.

An Evening of Reading, Music & Conversation with Nick Cave

jan — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:53:35 GMT

Anyone at this?

A magical evening....marginally marred by some pretty dull questions from the audience and far too many 'Nick will ye sign me buke will ye' requests. The music, however, was breathtaking....from opening with West Country Girl to ending with Into My Arms via Tupelo and Red Right Hand...the timbre of Warren Ellis' spindly fingers, the groove laden tremor of Martyn Casey's bass and Nick Cave's bespoke brand of cool that can in an instant warm a stone from the inside out.

I'll do well to make it to a better gig this side of xmas

Radiohead: 'new album in 2010'

aidan — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:02:45 GMT

Ha! That principled stance didn't last long! Eejits.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/200...2010-album

Bands you've seen most often

PeterQuaife — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 01:26:16 GMT

With the Franks 20th anniversary gig just around the corner, it got me thinking about how many times I have seen them live, and what other bands i have seen most often

Frank and Walters: 17
Therapy?: 11
Hybrasil: 9
Ron Sexsmith: 8

what about the rest of ye?

PQ

Vampire Weekend: new song

aidan — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:49:32 GMT

Yikes - this is really poor stuff. They're playing in a little venue here in Paris in two weeks and after hearing this I don't think I'll go:

Finding old Albums

Idiot Kid — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:39:03 GMT

When I go running I normally do so by borrowing my wife's iPod Nano (despite the fact I hate all things Apple) as it's nice and compact and doesn't add any extra weight (my belly does that!).

Last weekend though, before I ran the half marathon I found a really old creative MP3 player that, when I charged it, I discovered was full of albums I don't listen to any more.

The most enlightening discovery on it was how good JJ72's eponymous debut album still sounds. Fair enough, not everybody likes balls out rock, but when the organisors have decided to make mile 8-9 almost vertical, balls out rock really helps you get through. And there are some really cracking tunes on there.

Anyway, has anyone else re-discovered any old records they don't listen to that much any more recently?

Streaming Gigs

PeterQuaife — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:53:51 GMT

Hello all

Was wondering if any of you know of any good streaming gig sites / archives? I would have been a regular viewer of FabChannel before its demise. I would have a nosey @ the following sites from time to time:

* Moshcam.com has a good archive of gigs from the Enmore and Metro in Sydney.
* KCRW.com/archives has a great 'in-studio' vault of sessions, both audio and video

any recommendations welcomed with open arms?

cheers

PQ

Nuggets from the CLUAS archive

eoghan — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 22:39:33 GMT

I just published a new page on the site listing 10 nuggets from the CLUAS archives, one from each year of operations. All part of our ongoing celebrations for hitting our 10 year milestone. Any suggestions for other nuggets to add to this list?

Cool bands on TV chat shows

aidan — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 00:04:59 GMT

While poking around YouTube for videos of bands I noticed that US chat shows (Letterman, Conan O'Brien and the like) seem to have a lot of performances by hip indie and alternative bands - Grizzly Bear (perhaps why they went top ten Stateside?), St Vincent, Andrew Bird and the like. If there are any American readers here, can you tell me if this perception is correct? I think it's great that such non-mainstream music gets mainstream air-time.

In Ireland, have there been any decent bands on the Late Late Show, version Tubridy? (I am in exile and far from the Late Late and Barry's tea and Club Orange and the like.

Here's Andrew Bird playing 'Plasticities' on David Letterman in 2007 - at the end it seems like Letterman genuinely got a kick out of the song and performance:

Polaris Music Prize shortlist

aidan — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:11:19 GMT

The shortlist for the Polaris prize, Canada's equivalent of the Mercury, Choice, etc, has just been announced. It's always a list that's worth checking out - they've been making fine music in Canada for the last few years.

Anyway, here's this year's shortlist: I only know Malajube, Metric and Patrick Watson - anyone have any tips on the others?

Elliott Brood, 'Mountain Meadows'
Fucked Up, 'The Chemistry of Common Life'
Great Lake Swimmers, 'Lost Channels'
Hey Rosetta!, 'Into Your Lungs (and around in your heart and on through your blood)'
K'naan, 'Troubadour'
Malajube, 'Labyrinthes'
Metric, 'Fantasies'
Joel Plaskett, 'Three'
Chad VanGaalen, 'Soft Airplane'
Patrick Watson, 'Wooden Arms'

Full details available on www.polarismusicprize.ca. The winner will be announced in September.

Discover Cork

PeterQuaife — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:29:56 GMT

Afternoon all

Off to Co Cork in a few weeks to see the Franks celebrate their 20th anniversary (!!), christ. We're heading into the city on the Saturday night. Anyone recommend a good bar for a few recovery stout and some good tunes? Have been to a few before, An Brog, Sine, Callanans...any ideas welcomed with open arms.

excellent

PQ

7 Worlds Collide - The Sun Came Out

floodzer — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:24:34 GMT

http://www.7worldscollide.com/7worldscollide/

No doubt most of us have heard about this album. I didnt realise that it was released already. Has anyone heard it? If so, what are your thoughts? I'll be purchasing it myself asap. I think it will be very interesting to see how certain individuals have got on in unfamiliar surroundings, out of their comfort zones and in some cases perhaps without being lead by their front men...

Duckworth Lewis Method

floodzer — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:57:24 GMT

Anybody heard these guys? Theyve had 2 singles that are regularly played on Phantom and I think they sound remarkably like other bands. When I first heard 'The Age of Revolution' I was sure it was Franz Ferdinand, and with 'The Sweet Spot' I could swear Im listening to QOTSA... Anybody else?

What you listening to...Sep 09

PeterQuaife — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 07:01:07 GMT

thought 'd resurrect this olden, yet golden thread:

moi? as its the day of my birth, many, many...many moons ago, the good lady wife (every day gets better) produced a couple of clinkers

brendan benson - my old familair friend...as ye were, a lovely record crammed with sweet melodies. even has a very 'spinal tap' guitar feel to kick start proceedings

beatles - 'white' album, remastered. indeed
PQ