Swear I'm not Paul: 08/02/2009

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Friday, February 13, 2009

Live: Nick Cave and more at Oxegen 2009

Fantastic news for fans who gambled on the roulette of buying early bird tickets for Oxegen 2009, because some damn good acts have been added to the lineup for this year's festival.

Razorlight, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Pete Doherty, Elbow, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Ting Tings, White Lies, Fight Like Apes, Pendulum and Jason Mraz have all been added to the bill (no individual days confirmed yet).

It will be Pete Doherty solo rather than with Babyshambles, so that should be a treat for Irish fans of his (and Pat Kenny). Hopefully Fight Like Apes will play on the main stage as the token Irish act, and as a result gather a few new followers - the ones who never leave the pit all day.

But that's still months away. For now, watch Alan Carr and Lily Allen doing their take on the Cadbury ad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWEOHd9JNmk

Unfortunately I can't embed this, but it really is worth the click-through.

Download: Pterodactyl - First Daze



This band's name would be impossible to spell if it weren't for my fascination with dinosaurs when I was little. I almost bordered on Ross Gellar geekishness about those dinosaurs. I had dinosaur everything. And then Jurassic Park came. OH MY GOD!

Thus last weekend, I had to get the Guardian just for its dinosaur supplement. I've never lost it. But it had pictures of furry velicoraptors. Furry ones?

Anyhow, Pterodactyl are another Brooklyn band, but a very intersting art-rock one. They will release Worldwide on April 21st of this year, and I'm lucky enough to have a download of one of the tracks from it. It's going to be exciting.

Download:
Pterodactyl - 'First Daze'

Tracklist:
Rising & Shining
First Daze
February
Share the Shade
Old Clouds
Easy Pieces
Alex
Lawrence
No Sugar
Ghost Facts
December
One with Everyone

More info:
http://pterodactyl.info

Blogs What I Like: Twecipe



Best use of the internet I've seen in ages: Niall Harbison's fantastic Twecipe website which creates recipes for you from the leftovers in your fridge. Just send @twecipe your ingredients, and wait for a recipe. Simple. It's like Ready Steady Cook without Ainslie!

Check out the website here:
http://twecipe.com/
And follow, tweet here:
@twecipe

Watch: Mick Flannery - Safety Rope

Professionally recorded video of one of last year's standout Irish artists, Mick Flannery performing 'Safety Rope' at Cork's Opera House.

Thanks to EMI Ireland for pointing me in the direction of the video. It's a stellar performance, and really makes me want to go see him when he returns to Dublin.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Stream: War Child - Heroes compilation

War Child Heroes album cover

Cover compilation in aid of War Child, set to be released on February 24th. Some fantastic artists on here, and some strange covers. All are worth a listen. You can stream 15 of them on the myspace page for the album, here:
http://uk.myspace.com/warchildheroes

Tracklist:
01 Beck: "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" (Bob Dylan cover)
02 The Kooks: "Victoria" (Kinks cover)
03 The Hold Steady: "Atlantic City" (Bruce Springsteen cover)
04 Hot Chip: "Transmission" (Joy Division cover)
05 Lily Allen ft. Mick Jones: "Straight to Hell" (Clash cover)
06 Yeah Yeah Yeahs: "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" (Ramones cover)
07 Franz Ferdinand: "Call Me" (Blondie cover)
08 Duffy: "Live and Let Die" (Paul McCartney cover)
09 Estelle: "Superstition" (Stevie Wonder cover)
10 Rufus Wainwright: "Wonderful / Song for Children" (Brian Wilson covers)
11 Scissor Sisters: "Do the Strand" (Roxy Music cover)
12 Peaches: "Search and Destroy" (The Stooges cover)
13 Adam Cohen: "Take This Waltz" (Leonard Cohen cover)
14 Elbow: "Running to Stand Still" (U2 cover)
15 The Like: "You Belong to Me" (Elvis Costello cover)
16 TV on the Radio: "'Heroes'" (David Bowie cover)

Watch: Peter Doherty Late Late Show interview

Enough has been said about this already, but it's finally up on YouTube. Priceless.

PART 1:


PART 2:

Watch: Jaoquin Phoenix on Letterman

Interview with Letterman about Joaquin's recent move to music, and his upcoming music career. It's a harrowing watch, like Man on Wire, you don't know when exactly he's going to fall. Or a bit like Pat Kenny and Peter Doherty. (see above)

Do you believe he's moved to music? Is this real?



Here's another interview he did recently:
http://www.collider.com/entertainment/interviews/article.asp/aid/10776/tcid/1

Blogs What I Like: Mandy Moore's Photoblog

Mandy Moore's Blog

Why do I like it? Loads of pics of her and David Ryan Adams - to whom she's now engaged, or so says Perez! The blog itself is interesting enough, and shows her going places with him as well as recording her new album. The album is due in May and will be called Amanda Leigh. Confirmed tracks for the album are "Everblue", "Nothing Everything", "I Could Break Your Heart Any Day of the Week", and "Song About Home". It'll be good too, you mark my words.

Check out her photoblog here:
http://mandymoore.typepad.com/

Live Review: Mark Dignam at Whelan's by 2UIBestow

Check out Peter's live review of what sounds like an amazing gig last Sunday night at Dublin's Whelan's.

"Mark Dignam's friends Glen Hansard of The Swell Season and Liam O'Maonlai from The Hothouse Flowers were the special guests for Mark's first headline gig at home in about 6 years. Glen arrived on stage, checked the guitar amp which wasn't working, then sat at the front on the stage about 4 feet from me and sang completely acoustically. It was amazing to be so near to such a talent and Oscar winner!"
[Read more...]

Live: Starsailor at the Academy

Don't you know you've got
your daddy's eyes?
Your daddy was an alcoholic.

Remember them? Maybe you still love them. Either way, Starsailor are to play Dublin's Academy in support of their new album All the Plans. The album will be released on March 6th, with the gig a month later, April 16th, giving fans time to learn all the lyrics.

Tickets cost €25, and are on sale now.

Relive it all:

Download: Sam Bisbee and Leona Naess - Never Fall in Love

It's nearly here. The one day of the year you're obliged to be romantic. Never mind the fact that I'm romantic at other times in the year. None of that matters if I don't go all out for Valentine's Day.

As a special Valentine's present for all my romantic readers, here's a treat from Sam Bisbee and Leona Naess. Sam releases his fourth album Son of a Math Teacher today.

Download:
Sam Bisbee and Leona Naess - 'Never Fall in Love'

More info:
http://www.myspace.com/sambisbee

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Album Cover: Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown

Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown

Some are saying the artwork is a rip-off of Blur's Think Tank, others say it's My Chemical Romance's My Sweet Revenge.

Maybe it's just a Banksy rip-off?

The album will be released in May, and is in three parts, or 'Acts':

Act 1: Heroes and Cons
1. 21st Century Breakdown
2. Know Your Enemy
3. Viva la Gloria
4. Before the Lobotomy
5. Christian's Inferno
6. Last Night on Earth
Act 2: Charlatans and Saints
7. March of the Dogs
8. Death of a Nation
9. Resurrection
10. The Living Dead
Act 3: Horseshoes and Handgrenades
TBC

Stream: The Hold Steady - Atlantic City

World exclusive stream on SPIN of The Hold Steady's cover of Bruce Springsteen's 'Atlantic City' from the upcoming Warchild benefit album Heroes.

Stream it here:
http://spin.com/articles/exclusive-song-hold-steady-cover-springsteen

Watch:


Oh and is that video deliberately called 'Atlantic Citay'?

TV Review: RTE International Soccer - Brazil v Italy

RTE Sport

Can anyone explain to me why oh why Irish broadcaster RTÉ wasted money on showing the international soccer friendly Italy vs Brazil from the Emirates Stadium in London last night? I get the idea that Italy are one of Ireland's opponents in the qualifiers for World Cup 2008, but friendlies usually are quite meaningless - just ask Martin O'Neill. This friendly however was a complete money spinner.

Did anyone in Ireland actually watch the game? I wonder what the viewership for this was. Probably not a patch on Fair City, and rightly so. Who doesn't love da' City? I only know of one person who watched this game, and all they could say was how the Irish analysts claimed that "on this evidence Italy wouldn't be too much of a challenge for Ireland". Well I hate to admit it, but Keith Andrews and Kevin Doyle are no Ronaldinho and Robinho.

RTÉ would have been much better off if they had have shown Ireland U-21s against Germany. The future of the Irish soccer team. Instead, we all flicked over to watch Boys and Girls Alone on Channel 4. Now there's an interesting show.

Setlist: Glen Hansard, Whelan's, 08 February 2009

Thanks again to Peter from 2UIBestow for the setlist.

Glen came onstage before the main star, Mark Dignam, but had some technical difficulties with the guitar so sat on the stage and acoustically sang the following without a mic:

Leave,
Plaeau,
Ghost,
Finally,
Back Broke,
Revelate
Raglan Road.

Peter said the gig was lovely, and was like the Whelan's of old.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Bizarre: Middle Ages twitter

Click to enlarge.


Enough said...

Free Download: The Damnwells - One Last Century



From 20 mins ago, the new Damnwells album has been available for free download from Paste Magazine.

A few words regarding this free record.

I suppose the hardest thing to explain to people is why I’m giving this record away. “You’re just going to give it away?” seems antithetical to the human brain. “Is this just a bunch of b-sides or something? Some ‘give away’ material you don’t mind releasing into the ether?” No. Quite the contrary. I have never worked so hard or put so much of myself into a collection of recorded songs. It is for just this reason that I want to give it away. To me it makes perfect sense. I just want people to hear this music, and I don’t want them to have to enter into some kind of contractual agreement with a third party to do so. Download the record, copy it and give it to your friends, lovers, and enemies. Whatever. It’s so hard these days just to get the actual music into people’s houses and cars, let alone their ears. Besides, I know everyone’s broke, maybe I can supply the soundtrack. So, I just want to give this music away because I want people to hear it. I should have done this years ago. I’m starting over.

Enjoy,

Alex Dezen


Just enter in your email address and you can get the album for free:
http://www.pastemagazine.com/action/register_and_download/the_damnwells_one_last_century

Album News: Dave Matthews Band - EP

Possible speculation from someone who boards over at www.antsmarching.org, and claims to have some knowledge of the upcoming album release, plus news of an EP release.

Allegedly, the new album, due April (that much is official, everything else is speculation) will include songs called 'Skworm' and 'Garden Horse'.

In addition, June will see the release of an EP with 'Sugar Will', '#27', 'Cornbread', 'Sister', and 'Idea of You'.

It's probably lies, but we can only hope.

Watch 'The Idea of You':

Album News: Justin Townes Earle - Midnight at the Movies



Justin releases a lot of albums. And with each one I think he's getting closer and closer to emulating his dad. The album is due out in March, and will feature plenty of slow jams. Perfect for a late spring evening. This probably would've been the alt-country record of the year, if it weren't for Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit.

Tracklist:
1. Midnight At The Movies
2. What I Mean To You
3. They Killed John Henry
4. Mama's Eyes
5. Dirty Rag
6. Can't Hardly Wait
7. Black Eyed Suzy
8. Poor Fool
9. Halfway to Jackson
10. Someday I'll Be Forgiven For This
11. Walk Out
12. Here We Go Again

Download:
Justin Townes Earle - 'Mama's Eyes'

More info/buy:
http://www.bloodshotrecords.com/artist/justin-townes-earle

Download: Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career

Unfortunately not the entire album for download, but the title track from the upcoming Camera Obscura record My Maudlin Career. The album is set to be released April 20th on 4AD Records.

Download:
Camera Obscura - 'My Maudlin Career'

You can also follow them on twitter, here:
http://twitter.com/camera_obscura_

Live: Dirty Projectors at CrawDaddy

I don't know much about Dirty Projectors (yes I'm admitting a gap in my knowledge of the music world! Shock!), but from the song with David Byrne that opens the excellent Dark Was the Night compilation, I think I might like to go and see them.

They play CrawDaddy on March 28th, with tickets costing €17 on sale now.

'Rise Above' live:

Monday, February 9, 2009

Watch: Peter Doherty on the Late Late Show

Yeah, he's going as Peter these days. Probably so when the Sun newpsaper types "Pete Doherty" into their scandal database (I assume they have one), that no articles linking him with either drugs or Kate Moss will pop up. Now it's all about the music.

But God knows what Friday night's Late Late Show was. Very strange. My mother told me she wouldn't watch it, and instead flicked over. I wonder did he turn off many other viewers. For me though, the whole thing was weird. He would've been more suited to Ryan Tubridy, or even though I don't like her show one bit, Lucy Kennedy. Or if only a Podge and Rodge Special. Imagine the brilliance of that. However, his performance on Friday night was lifeless and lacklustre. Maybe he needs the drugs back. Actually scratch that, we just need someone other than Pat Kenny doing the hosting. But please God, anyone but Daithi O'Shea

Stream: U2 - No Line on the Horizon clips



A U2 song being premiered on the Irish news? What next. Brian Dobson becoming a roadie for Aslan? A Seoige girlband? The All-Ireland Talent Show? Oh wait, that last one is true. Although if the KT Tunstall/Howie Day-aping fiddler is the best talent the country has, I don't know what the future of Ireland holds. He's all style and no substance. Well that's based on the track I heard last night.

Anyhow, U2 are the present of Irish music, and have been for years. And now you can hear snippets of the new album.

You can stream 30 second clips of all the songs on WalMart's page:
http://mp3.walmart.com/store/artist?artistId=323502&albumId=103573620&tab=albumDetailsTab

And download the 30 second clips here:
http://drop.io/u2nloth

Blogs What I Like: Road Crew Comic



I'm a big fan of online comics. I used to waste so much time in work looking at them instead of being productive. XKCD, PBF, anything with initials usually does it for me. But one that has been brought to my attention recently, is the excellently-drawn Road Crew Comic. It's updated 5 times a week (a bit like this blog), and is all about music.

Check it out here:
http://roadcrewcomic.com/

And the archives here:
http://www.roadcrewcomic.com/?page_id=40