News: Stuart Cable found dead

Former Stereophonics drummer Stuart Cable was found dead this morning, according to police reports. A cause of death has not yet been confirmed, but police have said the death is not suspicious.

Cable, 40, had been the drummer in Welsh band Stereophonics from their foundation in 1992 to 2003 when he was sacked for spending too much time on his media career. In 2002, he began his television career with Cable TV on BBC Wales, before moving on to make Cable Connects and the radio show Cable Rock.

He started a new band, Killing for Company in 2008, and they supported the Who at their recent UK shows.

Watch 'Bartender and the Thief' at the V Festival in 2002:

Watch: Crystal Swing and Lily Allen - He Drinks Tequila

Ireland's internet sensations Crystal Swing invited Lily Allen on stage to sing 'He Drinks Tequila' with them at the Flat Lake Festival. Check it out below...

Download: Dave Matthews Band - Summer Tour 2010

Dave Matthews Band are currently on their last Summer Tour before they take a year off in 2011. The 2010 US Summer Tour has seen a lot of old songs coming back like 'Busted Stuff', 'Digging a Ditch', 'So Right', and 'Cry Freedom'. They also played 'Break For It', a new song which had been eagerly anticipated by hardcore fans. Have a listen to some of these tracks and many, many more below. (You can also download them if you so wish). Thanks to all the tapers for recording them. To download full shows of any of the gigs so far, check out the following thread on fan forum These Days Continue:
http://www.thesedayscontinue.org/showthread.php?t=203150

Dave Matthews Band Summer Tour 2010 by SwearImNotPaul

Setlist: Westlife, Croke Park, 5 June 2010

Westlife returned to Croke Park for a special one-off gig last night as part of their Where We Are Tour, with special support from our very own Jedward as well as X Factor sensations JLS. They'll be back in Ireland in July to play two nights at the Marquee in Cork, so if you missed last night's show, you can catch them down there next month.

Setlist:
* Where We Are
* What About Now
* When You're Looking Like That
* My Love
* Uptown Girl
* Swear It Again
* Mandy
* If I Let You Go/All Out of Love
---
* Shadows
* Home
* I'm Already There
* Reach Out
* I Gotta Feeling (Black Eyed Peas) >
* Halo (Beyonce) >
* The Boys Are Back In Town (Thin Lizzy) >
* Sex On Fire (Kings of Leon)
---
* What Makes a Man
* Flying Without Wings
* World of Our Own
---
* I'll See You Again
* You Raise Me Up

Watch 'Sex On Fire' at Croke Park:

Setlist: Snow Patrol, Ward Park, 5 June 2010

While Westlife were wowing fans south of the border last night, Snow Patrol were putting on a great show at Ward Park in Bangor. They played some of their recent tunes as well as new takes on oldies like 'Run' and 'Spitting Games'.

Setlist:
1. Open Your Eyes
2. Take Back The City
3. Chocolate
4. Hands Open
5. You Could Be Happy
6. Make This Go On Forever
7. What If This Storm Ends?
8. Shut Your Eyes
9. Spitting Games
10. Run
11. Big Broken
12. Set The Fire
13. Planets Bend Between Us
14. Chasing Cars
15. If There's A Rocket Tie Me To It
---
16. Just Say Yes
17. You're All I Have

Watch the band late yesterday evening:

Setlist: Band of Horses, Tripod, 4 June 2010

Band of Horses played at the Tripod on Friday night. It was packed to capacity, and a great chance to see the excellent American folk-rockers.

1. Laredo
2. NW Apt.
3. Is There A Ghost?
4. Ode to LRC
5. No One's Gonna Love You
6. The First Song
7. Compliments
8. The Great Salt Lake
9. Weed Party
10. Older
11. The Funeral
---
12. Our Swords


Watch Band of Horses - 'The Funeral' live at Tripod:

Setlist: Heathers, Whelan's, 3 June 2010

Heathers are really starting to gain a following, particularly thanks to the use of their song 'Remember When' for the new Discover Ireland advert. They played a packed Whelan's on Thursday night with support from the excellent We Cut Corners.

Setlist:
Remember When
Fire Ants
Reading in the Dark
The Sunset Tree (Mountain Goats Cover)
Waiter
Bloodpact
Moose
Home and Away
Halo (Beyonce cover)
Margie
Slices of Palama
(Mountain Goats cover)

Read a full review of the gig at GoldenPlec here:
http://www.goldenplec.com/2010/06/05/review-heather-whelans-june-3rd/

Watch a short clip of the girls playing 'The Sunset Tree' at Whelan's:

Download: How to Destroy Angels EP

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame has unleashed a new sideproject on the world. His bandmates in How to Destroy Angels are his wife Mariqueen Maandig and Nine Inch Nails producer Atticus Ross. The best part about it all is that the EP is available for free, and you don't even have to click through to anywhere. Download it below as 320kbos mp3s. Excellent. You can also upgrade to a Hi-Def version of the album for two dollars, which includes the video for 'The Space In Between'.

Tracklist:
1. "The Space in Between" 3:35
2. "Parasite" 5:05
3. "Fur-Lined" 4:00
4. "BBB" 3:31
5. "The Believers" 5:36
6. "A Drowning" 7:04

Album News: Ray LaMontagne - God Willin' & The Creek Don't Rise

Great news for Ray LaMontagne's many, many Irish fans. The 'Trouble' singer is back with his fourth album God Willin' & The Creek Don't Rise. It's credited to Ray LaMontagne and the Pariah Dogs, who consist of Jay Bellarose (drums), Jennifer Condos (bass), Patrick Warren (keyboard), Eric Heywood (guitar) and Greg Leisz (pedal steel guitar). It was recorded in two weeks in Ray's own studio at his house in the woods and is entirely self-produced. (Which marks a change from LaMontagne's usual producer Ethan Johns).

The album is slated for US release on August 17th, with the Irish release four days earlier.

Track listing:
1. Repo Man
2. New York City's Killing Me
3. God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise
4. Beg Steal Or Borrow
5. Are We Really Through
6. This Love Is Over
7. Old Before Your Time
8. For The Summer
9. Like Rock & Roll and Radio
10. The Devil's In The Jukebox

Album Review: Ryan Adams - Orion

If you follow the comings and goings of the maverick born David Ryan Adams, you'll probably have heard of his new metal-country album. "Oh Ryan..." Yeah, that's what it's called. It's a clever pun, and is a great title for the record. Not because you'll find yourself with your head in your hands after listening to it, but for the fact that it's sort of a sci-fi concept album. (Sort of - you can never make sweeping statements when Ryan Adams is concerned.)

I'm not sure if this was the proposed 2006 album Star Wars, but it does come from that time, and is produced by the man who helmed Easy Tiger, Jamie Candiloro, and is an album full of songs like 'Halloweenhead'. So if you thought that was the weak link on ET, stay away from this one. On the other hand, if you loved that tune and are looking for something louder and shoutier, Orion is definitely for you.

It's hard to know what to make of the record. It's nothing like Heartbreaker, Gold, or any of his previous releases. It is however, like some of the online stuff he streamed in 2006-2007 under various ridiculous monikers: Sad Dracula, Rhoda Ro, and Warren Peace. In actual fact, one of the songs here, 'Fire and Ice' was originally featured on a Warren Peace album (yeah, that name is another pun too). It was probably the best Warren Peace song too.

The songs are quick sub-three minute rock riots where Adams screams nonsense lyrics about galaxies, intergalactic wars, metal spiders, and all the rest of that stuff you'll find in a teenager's science fiction wet dream. It would be terrible only for the fact that it's actually great fun. It's hilarious, but also so much better than anything a teenager could concoct. Some of the riffs are among Adams' best guitarwork. 'Signal Fade' has a fantastic solo, and 'Disappyramid' is musically wonderful from the outset.

By now, you should have an inkling whether you want to hear this album or not. Unfortunately, only a limited number of vinyl copies were pressed, and it hasn't been released on CD. So you may have to find other means to get your hands on it. Have a look at eBay, I'm sure you can get really ripped off for a copy on there.

If you're in two minds about buying the record for a hiked-up price, then this should sway you. There's a song halfway through the album called 'Ghorgon, Master of War', and yes, it's every bit as good as it sounds.

Overall, this is actually worth listening to. It's not for everyone, and will probably only appeal to hardcore Ryan Adams fans. But it's great that's he's back releasing music. Hopefully that trend will continue and we'll get more unreleased albums, like Darkbreaker, or perhaps even that track-by-track cover album of the Strokes' Is This It. Maybe he'll go back into the studio and do something totally new. Nobody knows. I doubt he does himself. We'll just have to wait and see.

Setlist: Julie Feeney, NCH, 29 May 2010

Great review of Julie Feeney's National Concert Hall gig with full orchestra on May 29th over on Pensamiento Aleatorio, read it here. The orchestra was called "The Pages Orchestra" and they played the album in full as well as material from 13 Songs.

Setlist:
* Autopilot
* Monster
* Alien
* Grace
* Instrumental Interlude
* Valentine's Song
* Stay
* Nothing to Declare
* Knock Knock
* Wind Out Of My Sails
* Myth
* Excerpts from Songs from Liquid Days
* Fictitious Richard
* Mr. Roving Eye Guy
* Aching
* You Broke The Magic
* Life's Nudge
* Hallelujah
* One More Tune
---
* Love Is A Tricky Thing
* Impossibly Beautiful

Album Review: Villagers - Becoming a Jackal

Conor O'Brien is receiving a lot of hype from all directions. Critics are praising him everywhere. And justifiably so. His debut album as Villagers, Becoming a Jackal, is yet another reason why 2010 is turning out to be the best year for Irish music ever.

Since the dissolution of the Immediate a few years ago, you'd think that O'Brien may have gotten rusty, but if anything, his vocals have improved tenfold since then. His voice is glorious and soars on many of the tracks. 'I Saw the Dead' is a perfect album opener, with a wonderful entwining piano melody and enchanting vocals from O'Brien.

The album's highpoint is the title track, and the song which introduced him to the world on Later with Jools Holland a few weeks back. It's one of the songs of the year, regardless of nationality. But luckily for us, the album is full of gems. The first four songs are as good as any opening run in recent memory. 'Ship of Promises' could be a fantastic radio single, and if his new label Domino have the sense (which I imagine they do, they've done everything else perfectly up til now) then it will be all over the airwaves this summer.

'The Meaning of the Ritual' had been originally on last year's Hollow Kind EP, but has been spruced up for the full-length, and I must say the improvements have turned it into a better song. The album's guitarist Tommy McLaughlin was in charge of production duties, and this hands-on approach has really added a warmth to the album. This can be heard throughout, particularly in the breezy 'That Day'. It's also perfect for radio, as is 'Home' and 'The Pact'.

'Set the Tigers Free' is yet another highpoint, as is the growl of 'Pieces'. There's some more straightforward singer-songwriter tunes on here too, such as 'Twenty Seven Strangers' and the splendid closer 'To Be Counted Among Men'. In fact, there's not a weak point on the album. It's a perfectly well rounded record

Live: Oxegen 2010 Red Bull Music Academy Stage Full Lineup

The final lineup for the Red Bull Music Academy Stage at Oxegen 2010 has been announced, complete with daily breakdowns. This is good news for anyone who picked up a single day ticket, as you can now see who's playing on that respective day. In brilliant local news, Kildare's Planet Parade (one of my Irish Sounds of 2010) were added to the bill, and will take to the stage on Sunday. The Minutes on Saturday are also another great Irish act worth checking out.

Friday 9th July
Chipmunk
Tinie Tempah
Gabriella Cilmi
Darwin Deez
MemoryHouse
Colm K (FreeStyle MellowShip)
Andreya Triana
The Capitals

Saturday 10th July
The Drums
Dirty Projectors
Wild Beasts
Alex Metric
Jackmaster
Space Dimension Controller
Illum Sphere
The Minutes

Sunday 11th July
Broken Social Scene
Delphic
Jamie Lidell
Local Natives
Hudson Mohawke
Cecile
Robot Koch
Planet Parade

Setlist: I am Not Lefthanded, Whelan's, 1 June 2010

The excellent I am Not Lefthanded stopped off in Dublin on Tuesday night as part of their Time to Leave tour. Sadly, I missed the gig, but if you get a chance to see them around the country, I'd recommend checking them out. Not on the setlist is an acapella version of 'I Will Follow You into the Dark' which I hear was amazing.

Setlist:
Everybody Sleeps
The Place That Won't Take Me Back
Endline
Lifelines
Long Goodbyes
Persuade Yourself
Late Night Drive
New One
Boats, But Not the Ocean
---
I Will Follow You into the Dark

They play Baker Place in Limerick and the Stables in Mullingar on Saturday and Sunday night respectively.

Columns What I Like: Drowned in Dublin

Not quite a Blogs What I Like feature, but close enough. You're already probably an avid Drowned in Sound reader, and probably haven't failed to notice the new column in town. Niall Byrne, the curator of Ireland's Annual Best Music Blog nialler9, has started a new in-depth feature on Drowned in Sound.

It's called Drowned in Dublin, and features all the best new Irish music from the likes of the bigger names such as Heathers and Villagers, as well as collectives such as Popical Island and the Richter Collective, and then some lesser known artists such as MelJoann and Solar Bears.

Holding it all together is a wonderful Soundcloud playlist, which will probably get about a dozen listens from me over the weekend.

Drowned in Dublin playlist by Nialler9

Read the full article here:
http://drownedinsound.com/news/4140139-drowned-in-dublin-1

Stream: Tift Merritt - See You on the Moon

2008's Another Country was a decent country-pop record from Tift Merritt. For her new album, however, Merritt has taken out most of the pop and made a more straight-up country album. It's more of a throwback to her first and second albums, and is sure to please her early fans. See You on the Moon has just been released in America, and can be streamed in full on Merritt's official website. (The album cover isn't great though!)

Tracklist:
Mixtape
Engine To Turn
Things That Everybody Does, The
Six More Days of Rain
Feel Of The World (with Jim James)
Never Talk About It
All The Reasons We Don’T Have To Fight
Live Till You Die
Papercut
See You On the Moon
Danny’S Song
After Today
Bar With A TV On

Stream:
http://www.tiftmerritt.com/discography/see-you-on-the-moon/

Album News: Ryan Bingham - Junky Star

After getting my hands on new albums from Villagers, Divine Comedy, Drive-By Truckers, the National, the Hold Steady, and many more, I wasn't quite sure what to look forward to for the rest of 2010. Luckily, there's still a few more great albums on the way (Justin Townes Earle' Harlem River Blues, Drive-By Truckers Go Go Boots, and the new Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit record to name a few). So now I'm even more delighted that Academy Award winner Ryan Bingham is back with a new album in September.

It'll be under the moniker Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses, and is called Junky Star. It's due out in America on Lost Highway on September 7th, so expect it on the 4th in Ireland. It's produced by T-Bone Burnett, who was also responsible for that excellent Oscar winning song 'The Weary Kind'.

You can also hear two new songs from the album on Bingham's MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/ryanbingham

Album News: Guggenheim Grotto - The Universe is Laughing

The Guggenheim Grotto's last album (their second), Happy the Man, was one of my favourite Irish albums of 2008. It was a marvellous pop-rock record. So when I saw over on IndieLimerick that there was a new one imminent, I had to find out more.

The Universe is Laughing is the band's third full-length, and has been release online on their official website.

Tracklist:
1. Trust Me I’m A Thief
2. Map Of The Human Heart
3. Wings And Feathers
4. Never Before
5. Concentrate
6. Wisdom
7. Ruby Heart
8. The Spiegel Song
9. The Universe Is Laughing
10. Diamond.

Stream 'Wisdom':

More info/buy:
http://www.guggenheimgrotto.com/

Watch: Every Ireland World Cup Song Ever

With the 2010 World Cup starting next week in South Africa, most of Ireland's men will be tuned in to the telly cursing at the fact we're not there instead of France. If Thierry Henry gets a run-out at any time, the decibel level is sure to rise fivefold. But just imagine if we were there, then we'd have four weeks of having to listen to both our official and unofficial World Cup songs. The Irish have had some good teams over the ages, but not as many good World Cup anthems. Although you can't go wrong with 'Put 'Em Under Pressure'. Still a classic.

I'm probably missing a good few unofficial ones here, so if you know of any, leave a message in the comments and I'll try to add it. Also, some of these videos are terrible, but they're all that's available.

1988 - European Championships, West Germany
Ireland's first ever international football competition was also our first attempt at trying to create a soundtrack for a sporting event. The songs were the musical equivalent of a nil-all draw. Very uninspiring, and not something you want to go back and revisit very often.

Liam Harrison and the Goal Celebrities - 'Give it a Lash Jack'


Christy Moore - 'Joxer Goes to Stuttgart'


'Ooh Ahh Paul McGrath'


1990 World Cup, Italy
1990 was Ireland's best ever World Cup, not just on the field (Packie Bonner sand David O'Leary have been heroes ever since), but off it as well. One half of U2 (the less well-known half) took it upon themselves to turn a riff from the Horslips into an anthem. And it worked. We've been singing that one World Cup song ever since. Nobody has come close. Also, who can forget that Billy Joel cover by Memories? Oh dear Jesus. Allegedly Joel himself actually tried to sing some of the lyrics to it when he came to play Ireland later that year.

Adam Clayton & Larry Mullen - 'Put 'Em Under Pressure'


Memories - 'The Game'


'Jackie's Army'


'The Flame'


Penney's Winning Team - 'The Team That Jack Built'

1994 World Cup, USA
Amazingly, there are more videos from the batch of songs from the 1990 World Cup than the 1994 one. I could only find one, the awful 'Watch Your House for Ireland'. So if anyone knows where I can find a video or mp3 or anything of any of the others, let me know.

'Watch Your House for Ireland'


Joe O'Toole - We're going to America
The Mighty Quinn

2002 World Cup, Japan and South Korea
Ireland's most recent World Cup was probably the one with the worst song yet. I mean, it has Dustin and the bloke from Aslan, but even worse contains the line "Sayounara Connemara". I also remember there were other songs in 2002, but can't remember the names. Anyone care to jog my memory?

Irish Squad, Dustin, Nicky Byrne, Christy Dignam - 'Here Come the Good Times'


2010 World Cup, South Africa

This year to cash in on the World Cup, Shay Healy has teamed up with the Corrigan Brothers to release this ditty. Since Ireland aren't there, it's a tribute to England's best player, Wayne Rooney. Damn you Thierry Henry.

Corrigan Brothers & Shay Healy - 'Wayne Rooney is Our Hero'

Album News: Feeder - Renegades

After toying with the Renegades side-project, Feeder are back under their original moniker, and have chosen to call their new album Renegades instead. They had released an EP as Renegades, but their new full-length will be a Feeder record. The lead single from the album is 'Call Out', which comes out on June 14th, and had previously been a side-project tune. The album itself is due July 5th.

Feeder are due to play the Academy on August 19th.

Tracklist:
1. "White Lines"
2. "Call Out"
3. "Renegades"
4. "Sentimental"
5. "This Town"
6. "Down to the River"
7. "Home"
8. "Barking Dogs"
9. "City in a Rut"
10. "Left Foot Right"
11. "The End"
12. "Godhead"

Watch Feeder/Renegades 'Call Out' live:

Watch: The Tallest Man on Earth - Bob Dylan Covers

The Tallest Man on Earth has long been compared to Bob Dylan. At a show in Lincoln Hall, Chicago on May 28th, he didn't help himself move away from those comparisons. In fact, he's moved even closer, as he played a cover of Bob Dylan's 'I'll Keep it With Mine'. Not only that, he then followed it up with his take on 'The Man in Me' with Nathan Rathlieff.

You can catch the Tallest Man on Earth in Whelan's on June 10th.

Watch The Tallest Man on Earth - 'I'll Keep it With Mine':


Watch The Tallest Man on Earth - 'The Man in Me':

Setlist: Crowded House, Olympia Theatre, 30 May 2010

Crowded House always seem to be playing in Ireland. I don't think a year has gone by where I haven't posted a setlist from them. Luckily, each time they visit, they do really mix it up. At the Olympia on Sunday night they played a varied set, and had two wonderful covers.

1. Something So Strong
2. Saturday Sun
3. Private Universe
4. Fall At Your Feet
5. Even If
6. Say That Again
7. Either Side of the World
8. Kare Kare
9. Four Seasons in One Day
10. Heaven That I'm Making
11. Archer's Arrows
12. Money (That's What I Want) (Barrett Strong cover)
13. Nails in My Feet
14. Locked Out
15. Distant Sun
16. It's Only Natural
---
17. Fingers of Love
18. Weather With You
19. Once in a Lifetime (Talking Heads cover)
20. Better Be Home Soon
21. Twice if You're Lucky
22. Don't Dream It's Over

Watch 'Say That Again':

Setlist: Teenage Fanclub, The Academy, 30 May 2010

Teenage Fanclub stopped off at Dublin's Academy on their current tour and played a nice little set on Sunday night.

Setlist:
1. Start Again
2. Sometimes I Don't Need To Believe In Anything
3. The Past
4. It's All in My Mind
5. Don't Look Back
6. Verisimilitude
7. Baby Lee
8. Ain't That Enough
9. I Don't Want Control of You
10. The Concept
11. Everything Flows
12. Sparky's Dream
---
13. I Need Direction

Watch 'Spark's Dream':


'Everything Flows':

Live: Owl City at the Academy

After the success of their debut single 'Fireflies' synthpoppers Owl City seem to be everywhere. Great news for the fans: they'll be here in November. The one-man band is due to play the Academy on November 24th.

Tickets are priced €22.50 and go on sale this Friday. Their current single is 'Umbrella', have a listen to it below.