Irish music blog. Containing gig, live and concert reviews reviews; album reviews; setlists for recent Dublin shows; album news; and basically everything from the Irish music scene.
Showing posts with label Fight Like Apes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fight Like Apes. Show all posts
This year is yet another great year for smaller Irish festivals. Never mind the behemoths of Oxegen and Electric Picnic, it's at the lesser known events where the true talent emerges - especially of a local sort.
Le Cheile 2010 is set to be fantastic. It takes place from the 30th of July to the 2nd of August in Oldcastle, Co. Meath at three venues in the town: Caffrey's Redrooms, Creams Marquee, as well as the Oldcastle House Hotel.
The lineup itself looks amazing with headline shows from Mick Flannery, Jerry Fish, Jack L, Fight Like Apes, Noise Control, and Weapons Detector, as well as The Richter Collective presents Bats and Not Squares.
And that's not to mention the brilliant acts further down the bill like Henrietta Game, Planet Parade, Codes, Grand Pocket Orchestra, Jogging, Ollie Cole, John Shelly and the Creatures, and many, many more.
Some more excellent acts were added to the Electric Picnic lineup today. Firstly there's Mister E and his marvellous Eels. Eels are one of the most consistent bands around, and regularly release fantastic albums, such as this year's End Times and last year's Hombre Loco. It'll be great to hear some of the material from those at Stradbally this September.
Also added are our very own Fight Like Apes, Friendly Fires, The Fall, Bonobo, Channel One, Stonaway, and Laurent Gardner.
It's sure to be a great weekend. It takes place 3rd-5th of September, with tickets at €240 on sale now.
Anyone who was listening to John Barker's Totally Irish on Dublin's 98FM would have heard yours truly talking about O Emperor, I am Not Lefthanded, free music, as well as upcoming gigs. I promised to post links to all the free music (as well as the other stuff I covered), so here it is:
Cast of Cheers - Chariot - debut album of Bloc Party style rock from the Dublin band, made available for free, were due to play the Best of IMRO Showcase Tour last night, but pulled out due to concerns over the IMRO Licence, as “a show of solidarity in support of blogs, upcoming artists and artist-led labels.” Download
Holy Roman Army - Desecrations EP - excellent collection of five covers from the Carlow duo. Their version of Bon Iver's 'Skinny Love' is a standout. Download
Fight Like Apes - Live at Eurosonic - represented Ireland at the 2008 Eurosonic Festival, this year's representatives were And So I Watch You From Afar, Imelda May, Delorentos and Villagers. Download
Bill Coleman - Black and Red EP, Black and Green EP, Black and Blue EP, but you can also download his older material, like his excellent 2007 album I Tear My Own Walls Down. Download
Sacred Animals - Sacred Animals EP - Thanks to Peter at 2UIBestow for pointing me in the direction of the wonderful three song EP from up and coming Sacred Animals as well as the fact that Declan de Barra is offering up his past catalogue for free. Download
Declan de Barra - Song of a Thousand Birds his debut, he's working on a new album, A Fire to Scare the Sun, at the moment. de Barra also represented Ireland at last year's Eurosonic Festival. Download
Part Five, and the final part of my countdown of the Best 50 Irish Acts today. The only requirement for entry is that the artist must have played live or released something in the past twelve months.
10. Mick Flannery 'Tomorrow's Paper' from Corkonian Mick Flannery's second album 'White Lies' is about as good a singer-songwriter classic as you're likely to hear. In fact that whole album is utterly brilliant. A vast improvement on his debut Evening Train, he's an artist who keeps going from strength to strength. He tours endlessly around the country too, so be sure to catch him when and if you can.
9. Adrian Crowley Winner of this year's Choice Music Prize, Adrian Crowley is finally getting the adoration he deserves. His first album came out way back in 1999, but it seems like the 2010s will be his decade. My own favourite artist Ryan Adams loves him, and if that's not praise, he's due to appear high up on the bill at Electric Picnic 2010 as one of Ireland's biggest names.
8. The Swell Season/The Frames/Glen Hansard These are all lumped in together as they're whatever Glen Hansard decides to do after polishing his Oscar when he wakes up in the morning. He's focused mainly on the Swell Season in the past few years, but with the Frames still gigging (and also set to play this year's Electric Picnic), there would be no better time than 2010 for some new material from Ireland's greatest rock band. Until that happens, however, we still have Glen and Marketa churning out gorgeous duets, as well as reissues of the Frames' breakout albums to keep us going.
7. The Holy Roman Army Fellow Carlovians, the Holy Roman Army appeared on the scene last year with their amazing electronic record How the Light Gets In. Their song 'Stagger Gently Home' was a captivating track, and after appearing on Nialler9's MAP gained attention all over the world. They are similarly amazing live, and have really honed their live act since I first saw them early last year. They've also followed up that debut album with a fantastic covers EP, Desecrations, which can be downloaded for free here.
6. Oliver 'Ollie' Cole Ollie Cole is best known for being the frontman in Irish pop-rockers Turn. They made some incredible albums during their time together, with Forward being the standout. However, on his own, Cole is proving to be even better. He released his debut solo album We Albatri last month, and is one of the country's most charming live performers.
5. The Chapters The Chapters are a bunch of the most down-to-earth musicians in Irish music. After a rocky start with label bankruptcy and the like, the band finally signed with 3ú, who unleashed 'Videotapes' on the world last summer. Since then, the band has been engulfed in success, releasing the fantastic debut album Perfect Stranger, and going on to appear on radio on TV both here and across the pond. They're set to be one of the biggest draws at this year's Indie-pendence on the August Bank Holiday weekend.
4. The Divine Comedy/The Duckworth Lewis Method/Neil Hannon Like the Frames and the Swell Season for Glen Hansard, these two bands are Neil Hannon's babies. In 2009, Hannon joined forces with Pugwash's Thomas Walsh to record the greatest ever Irish concept album - about a fundamentally British game. It was one of the year's most captivating and charming albums, featuring the utterly brilliant 'Jiggery Pokery'. 2010 sees Hannon back in his old work clothes, with the Divine Comedy due to release their tenth album Bang Goes the Knighthood on May 31st.
3. James Vincent McMorrow In my review of James Vincent McMorrow's recent debut album Early in the Morning, I called it "the best album to come out of Ireland in a decade". Yes, it's that damn good. The songs from it have been used in an advert for Barnardos as well as on hit US television shows Grey's Anatomy and One Tree Hill. However, this is only the start for McMorrow, who will definitely be the breakout Irish star of 2010.
2. Bell x1 Bell x1 are my favourite live band. Any chance I can get to see them, I take it. Paul Noonan is a fantastic entertainer, and the band are always on form together. The public knows this too, and they easily could have played 365 days at the Olympia or Vicar Street last year. They've come a long way since the days of Juniper, and release wonderful singles as well as enchanting albums. They've also gained a huge following in the US, where they've appeared on primetime television shows - including many great live performances.
1. Fight Like Apes A bizarre bunch of folks, fronted by the brilliant vocalist MayKay, Fight Like Apes released one of the most-anticipated Irish albums of the 00s, And the Mystery of the Golden Medallion to much fanfare in 2008. It was every bit as good as expected, and was released worldwide last year. Their live show is even better, playing festivals all over Europe last summer, including a standout performance at Glastonbury. They represented Ireland at the Eurosonic Festival last January, which has just been released as the free album Live at Eurosonic. Download that fantastic set here. Ireland's greatest act right now.
When you get to interview a band you expect insightful answers and unique information that you're the first to find out. But when you interview Pockets from Fight Like Apes you get an entirely different kind of interview. Much more fun, and in no way serious. Damn entertaining though, and some of these answers are genius.
Firstly, thanks for taking the time out to do this. You worked your way up from releasing EPs to recording a full album,was there much difference in the processes? Absolutely. Both E.Ps. were extremely short. The album was slightly longer. That took a while. We had to figure out how many of the E.P songs we could use on the album. It was a complex equation: backlash - laziness = album you can get away with. We also produced the shit out of it as well. We recorded everything through gold amps and instead of microphones we just rubbed money over MayKay's mouth as she sang. It was amazing.
The songs on the EPs were revamped for the album itself, are you perfectionists like that? Sheer laziness again. Why write more songs when you already have so many to choose from? We did a lucky dip to see which songs would make the album. We´ll probably throw the ones that didn't make the cut on album number 2. We hate writing songs. It takes ages.
You released an EP in the US in 2009, what's your fanbase like over there? We're massive in the States. It's really weird to go from such humble beginnings on the mean streets of Castleknock to be selling out Madison Square Gardens to millions of screaming fans. If you ask 4 out of 5 major rock stars where they´d like to play before they die they´ll always say Madison Square Gardens. I asked MayKay, Tom, Adrian and they said the same thing. I think Bono prefers Fibber Magee's but he's a spa.
Are you aiming to crack the entire continent of America? Already did it. It was cool. We're focused more on cracking Glasgow. Extremely difficult city to get excited about anything other than football. Full of Scots.
And where do the names for those EPs come from? It's another equation we´ve been working on for a while. Daft pop culture reference + lots of words = wacky title = us being your new favourite band.
You played some new tunes at the Academy recently, will those make the new album? I hope so. God we don't want to write more. That´d take ages.
And what can you tell us about it [the new album]? It's going to an exploration of where we are as a band at the moment. A bit more sincere, a bit more in depth. A bit like a hotdog with sellotape on it. You can eat it in one go and enjoy it but it will stick with you for a while.
You play a lot of live shows, what do you do to make each one interesting? Sometimes we open with Something Global and sometimes we open with Digifucker. It really changes things up I feel. Sometimes Tom will tell us which song we're playing next, sometimes MayKay will veto it and throw a real spanner into the works. You never know what's gonna happen next. Its a real wacký rollercoaster.
You've toured with a fine selection of indie darlings, such as Los Campesinos and Kasabian (as well as bigger acts like the Prodigy), is there any band you'd love to tour with? I've always wanted to tour with D:ream. I heard that the keyboard player was in charge of the CERN project where they created a black hole in a laboratory. Apparently they´ve gone and built a 26 mile long tunnel underneath Europe and they fire protons along it to simulate the beginning of the universe. It was very dangerous stuff altogether. Apparently the world might have ended. I´d really love to pick his brain about this. I find it fascinating that a man that spent the mid nineties dancing in gold spandex on Top Of The Pops was put in charge of such a task. It gives me hope I suppose.
You've played Eurosonic and other festivals abroad, how do they differ from Oxegen and Electric Picnic? It takes ages to get there usually. I hate that.
Do you pay much attention to reviews? I know there was some furore over the Indo review of your album, but what about live reviews? Do you ever read those? My parents read our reviews. They like that sorta thing.
What is your favourite song that you have written? And one that you wished you had written? I don't really like our music. It reeks of effort. I watched this movie Capturing The Friedmans recently and the only music they had to pay for in the entire making of it was Happy Birthday when it was sung at this paedo's birthday party. The amount of bean the lad who wrote Happy Birthday must have at this stage. Can't believe it's still in copyright. I want that one.
Do you ever get confused with the actor who sang on Kanye West's 'Golddigger'? [Pockets is known to those aforementioned parents as James Fox] Eh no. He's black.
Now that the decade is over, can you tell me your favourite album of the 00s? And your favourite Irish album? [Spoiler Warning: An actual serious answer.] 'Apologies To The Queen Mary' by Wolf Parade. It's probably not my favourite but it's a good album nonetheless. Favourite Irish album is Giveamanakick "Is It Okay To Be Loud Jesus". I miss them. God bless them.
Do you have any resolutions for 2010? Gonna start working out. My figure has gone to shit over the last few years. I used to be a real piece of ass but these days i just feel bloated. I'm skipping meals and as a result I'm over eating when i get the chance. Sustained exercise is key really when you think about it. I´ll just feel better in myself if I shed a few pounds. Take a few notches off the old belt, get back to the original holes if you get my meaning. When I look at my high school photos I think to myself "who does this guy think he is?" and I get really jealous of him. Fuck. I'm sorry. I just get so frustrated sometimes.
This may be my favourite interview so far. Hilarious. Loved the D:Ream comment. Totally inspired. I'll post up news about the new album as soon as I get it.
Today is MayKay's Birthday (got to love Christmas Birthdays), so Fight Like Apes have released their Live at Eurosonic via Soundcloud for free download. So we're getting a present for her birthday. Excellent.
Tracklist: You Are The Hat Do You Karate? Digifucker Jake Summers I'm Beginning To Think You Prefer Beverly Hills 90210 To Me Knucklehead Lend Me Your Face Lumpy Dough Tie Me Up With Jackets Canhead Battlestations
I said it before - Sigur Rós won't match Agaetis Bryjun, well they didn't in the 00s anyway. But they did craft a magnificent selection of songs with Takk.... 'Hoppipolla' (translated: "hopping into puddles") is the best, a glorious uprising of a tune, that has been used to soundtrack hope in a lot of tv shows. No wonder tis album is called 'Thanks'.
39. Neil Diamond - 12 Songs (2005)
Not to be confused with the Randy Newman album of the same name, this return to form for Neil Diamond was as fun as Newman's best work. And with the helming of Rick Rubin, it was dark and gorgeous like Johnny Cash's American Recordings series. All the songs were penned by Diamond, there was no covers, and it showed how great a songwriter he is, and always was. The special edition duet with Brian Wilson, 'Delirious Love' was gorgeous too.
38. The Decemberists - Picaresque (2005)
The best work of Colin Meloy's super-twee outfit the Decemberists, Picaresque is a fascinating and enchanting record. From the opener, 'The Infanta' through 'Sixteen Military Wives' to the clever 'Of Angels and Angles', it's a bright shining album filled with fantastic melodies.
37. Alcest - Souvenirs d'un Autre Monde (2007)
Originally a black metal band, this was a huge departure from Alcest's previous work. They took all they learned from their aggressive EPs and toned it down into this gorgeous album. It's like the dirtiest soundtrack you've ever heard, but is irresistable in every way.
36. Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator) (2001)
Gillian Welch's third album is one of the best alt.country albums ever. It gets better and better with every listen. It's nigh on impossible to turn away from the charm of Welch's voice and the intricate guitar work of David Rawlings. Imagine if Ryan Adams had been female. This is what he'd be writing. Wonderful.
35. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)
This decade, was there a better nonsense lyric than "Her name is Yoshimi..."? If so, I can't recall it. This was Wayne Coyne's breakout album, and is also his best work. Forget about the aural nonsense of Zaireeka, this was what the Flaming Lips were destined to do. The most pyschadelic experience of the 00s, and a damn good album too.
34. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006)
What a debut. An overnight success, the Arctic Monkeys arrived with fantastically rocking singles. The riffs were addictive and the lyrics witty. All together, it was brilliant. Who hasn't bounded and jumped around to 'I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor'? Go on, admit it. You have, and you will again too.
33. Yeah Yeah Yeas - Fever to Tell (2003)
"They don't love you like I love you." It's true, Karen O. Not enough people love you. Well not on this side of the Atlantic anyway. It's a shame that Kate Nash and the like get airplay, but you'll never hear the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. A major injustice. I mean, you just can't argue with songs like 'Y Control' and 'Maps'.
32. Fight Like Apes - And the Mystery of the Golden Medallion (2008)
The best Irish debut of the decade, it heralded in a new age in Irish pop-rock. The music is glamourous and sexy, but packs a fierce punch. Clever and wry, it's the most fun anyone had in 2008. And when they quit the swearing, they got on the radio. 'Jake Summers' is one of the best singles this decade, and it's not even the best thing on here.
31. Kate Bush - Aerial (2005)
Double albums are tricky things. There's always one side that gets favoured over the other. But sometimes, like on here, that can be a good thing. The two discs are hugely different, allowing you to choose which ever one suits your particular mood. The first is a random collection of Bush oddities, and the second is a concept album centred around a birdsong suite. They are both amazing, and who else could get away with a song about a washing machine, or one which recited the numbers of Pi?
My end of decade lists continue. But each day, we get nearer and nearer my list of the best 100 albums or so of the 00s! As I'm busy typing that list, I've split this into two halves. The second half, i.e. the top ten, features some fine blurbs, in case you decide you might have to buy some of these half-albums. Also, I left off Ryan Adams' Love is Hell EPs, as they would've held the top two positions, and will be high up my album list, as one sole album.
20. Bright Eyes - Four Winds (2007) 19. The Tallest Man on Earth - The Tallest Man on Earth (2006) 18. Bon Iver - Blood Bank (2009) 17. Gemma Hayes - Work to a Calm (2001) 16. Gorillaz - Tomorrow Comes Today (2000) 15. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - IsIs (2007) 14. Ben Nichols - The Last Pale Light In the West (2009) 13. Mumford and Sons - Mumford and Sons (2008) 12. Jill Andrews - EP (2008) 11. Fleet Foxes - Sun Giant (2008)
10. Joanna Newsom - Joanna Newsom and the Ys Street Band (2007)
Not only is this Joanna Newsom's beautiful follow-up to Ys, but it's also the best named release of the decade. A genius titled EP which contains three gorgeous, encapsulating songs. She's a marvellously consistent artist, and I can't wait to see what the next decade has in store for her.
9. Iron and Wine - Woman King (2005)
Sam Beam is also one of the most consistent artists around, and Woman King may well be his finest ever release under the Iron and Wine moniker. He's also fantastic live, so if and when he does return, I advise you to go to see him.
8. The National - Cherry Tree (2004)
The Virginia EP narrowly missed the top twenty here, but this is their better short-length record. Cherry Tree signalled the brilliance that was yet to come from the National on their excellent Alligator and Boxer full lengths.
7. TV on the Radio - Young Liars (2003)
Another teaser EP, this one showed glimpses of what TV on the Radio would come to be. Even still, it's a fantastic release, and one any artist would be delighted to have in their canon. Check out the excellent 'Staring at the Sun' and the phenomenal 'Blind', a seven minute tune which feels like it ends too soon..
6. Richard Hawley - Richard Hawley (2001)
This decade has been Hawley's decade. He has stood out on his own. Previously a session musician, his self-titled EP, with songs like 'Naked in Pitsmoor' and 'Coming Home' showed that Hawley could be the Roy Orbison of the 00s.
5. The Gaslight Anthem - Senor and the Queen (2008)
A lot of these EPs are teasers that the best is yet to come from an artist, but Senor and the Queen contains a lot of the Gaslight Anthem's best work. Overall it's their best ever release, mainly because of the song 'Blue Jeans and White T-Shirts'.
4. Kings of Leon - Holy Roller Novocaine (2003)
They weren't always pop darlings, you know? Long ago, before X Factor wannabes sang their songs, Kings of Leon were a fantastic rock band, up there with the White Stripes and the Strokes. They weren't polished in any way. They were raw, and they rocked. Hard.
3. Bloc Party - Bloc Party (2004)
I first downloaded this in 2004, on a recommendation from NME before their debut album was released. It was incorrectly titled Banquet EP, but that is mainly the reason it was so good. That one song. 'Banquet'. Perhaps the best rock song to come out of England this decade. And that includes everything Pete Doherty was involved in too.
2. Fight Like Apes - How Am I Supposed to Kill You if You Have All the Guns?
The best EP to come out of Ireland this decade? Certainly. Might well be the best EP to come out of Ireland ever. It also had a more normal souning name than any of their other EPs. It quickly sold out everywhere, and a wave of hype followed the band everywhere. It was truly deserved, as no-one can argue with songs like 'Battlestations' and future single 'Jake Summers' He's the man...
1. Arcade Fire - Arcade Fire (2003)
This is what good EPs are all about. Also known as the Us Kids Know EP. It introduced the world to the fascinating Win Butler and Rene Chassagne, and contained no songs that would appear on their debut album Funeral. (Although 'No Cars Go' was later re-recorded for Neon Bible). It's the perfect EP, as its unique tracklist makes it worth owning, as much as a full-length album.
The nominees for the IMTV Video Music Awards have been announced, and they feature a fine selection of Irish talent.
1.BEST LIVE VIDEO LISA HANNIGAN - I DON’T KNOW LISA HANNIGAN - LILLE LADYDOLL – BUTTON THE BRILLIANT THINGS – RISE AND SO I WATCHED YOU FROM AFAR – SET GUITARS TO KILL
2.BEST DANCE VIDEO LE BIEN – HERE AND THERE NOISE CONTROL – ADDICTION DARK ROOM NOTES – LETS LIGHT FIRES ARVEEN & MISK - HELLS BELLS LE GALAXIE – YOU FEEL THE FIRE
3.BEST STYLED VIDEO DIRTY EPICS – COMING UP JULIE FEENEY – IMPOSSIBLY BEAUTIFUL LAURA IBIZOR - SHINE THE CORONAS – LISTEN DEAR THE BLIZZARDS – POSTCARDS
4.BEST SOLO MALE YNGVE WIELAND – LITTLE BOY PADRAIG RUHSE – GONNA BE A CHANGE JJ – PLAYING THE GAME PEARSE MCGLOUGHLIN – WAYS TO KILLS A WEREWOLF ENDA REILLY – MOL AN AIMSIRE
5.BEST SOLO FEMALE LISA HANNIGAN – LILLE JULIE FEENEY – LOVE IS A TRICKY THING WALLIS BIRD – HOME MISS PAULA FLYNN – HOLIDAY IN SWEDEN GEMMA HAYES – HOME
6.MOST ORIGINAL CONCEPT FOR VIDEO FIGHT LIKE APES – SOMETHING GLOBAL THE CHAPTERS – VIDEOTAPES HERM - HEADS GRAND POCKET ORCHESTRA – BALLET SHOES SEAN NEEDHAM - I’M NOT AFRAID
7. BEST PRODUCTION / SPECIAL EFFECTS SICKBOY – SILENCE IN CONVERSATION CAP PAS CAP – WE ARE MEN JAPE – FLOATING HAM SANDWICH – BROKEN GLASS 202′S - EASE MY MIND
8.BEST VIDEO BY A NEW COMER (public Vote) HOGAN – I WANT YOU HOARSEBOX – ALL I NEED NOW BATS – SHADOW FUCKING BOWLEGGED – RED LIGHT TALLULAH DOES THE HULA – BAD BOYFRIEND
9. DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR EOGHAN KIDNEY LORCAN FINNEGAN SIMON EUSTACE LINDSEY BYRNES WILL MCCONNELL
10. VIDEO OF THE YEAR 2009 DUCKWORTH LEWIS METHOD – MEETING MR MIANDAD FIGHT LIKE APES – TIE ME UP WITH JACKETS THE CORONAS – LISTEN DEAR THE BLIZZARDS – POSTCARDS VALERIE FRANCIS – PUNCHES
Watch the five nominees for Video of the Year 2009:
Except you can't embed the Blizzards - 'Postcards'. :(
As part of the Once a Month Club, Fight Like Apes will be playing the Academy on Thursday the 10th of September (that's next week folks), along with Bitches With Wolves, The Brilliant Things and the absolutely splendid Holy Roman Army.
Tickets are an excellent €5 and are on sale now from all ticketmaster outlets.
Here's some info on the splendid Once a Month Club: The Once A Month Club is brought to you by The Academy in association with FMC. Taking place on the second Thursday of every month the club has already presented some of Irelands best live acts including one of the last live outings in the capital by Limericks Giveamanakick.
Set up to provide Irelands rising talent with a platform to perform with a band who have a dedicated live following The Once A Month Club also benefits two very worthy causes - Special Olympics Ireland and Pieta House - Centre for the Prevention of Self-Harm or Suicide with all profits from the club being donated to the charities.
Bands who wish to be considered as part of future bills can apply via First Music Contact, Space 28, North Lotts, Dublin 1 or info@firstmusiccontact.com
Fight Like Apes descended on the Heineken Green Spheres stage yesterday and put on a powerful performance filled with some WWF-style chair antics. It had to be seen to be believed. Hopefully someone will put it up on youtube! Thanks to Ian for the set updates. Check out his Oxegen reviews here: http://healium.wordpress.com/
Setlist: Something Global Tie Me Up With Jackets Digifucker I’m Beginning to Think You Prefer Beverley Hills 90210 to Me Megameanie Lumpy Dough Recyclable Ass Snore Bore Whore Lend Me Your Face Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues (McLusky cover) Jake Summers Do You Karate? Battlestations
Fight Like Apes will be re-releasing their debut album And the Mystery of the Golden Medallion on July 17th. Not huge news in itself, as everyone should already have a copy of this stellar record. But it will be accompanied by a bonus disc of B-Sides and Remixes. This will include the brilliant 'Canhead' and Richie (Jape) Egan's remix of 'Battlestations'. I cannot wait to get my hands on this.
Bonus Disc tracklist: 'Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues' 'Knucklehead' 'Telephone The Real Ham Jackson' 'Canhead' 'This Is Like The Time Jody Didn’t Know What Cunnilingus Was' 'Snore Bore Whore (Spherical Mix)' 'Battlestations (Jape Remix)'.
Good news is that you can also get the bonus disc as a standalone purchase too. Although, having one copy of the album for home and one for the car could be a good idea either.
The official Choice Website hasn't been updated yet, but by now you should all know that Jape and Richie Egan took home the ten grand prize. Hopefully it'll put him back into the album charts too.
Last night's show was an extravaganza of music. Four of the ten acts did not perform due to other commitments (not sure why soundtrack maestro David Holmes didn't play, he was in attendance. I'm sure it was him I spotted!), but the six who did play showed while Ireland's music scene is so great in 2009.
Eventual winner Jape opened proceedings with 'Christopher and Anthony', the song with the truly infectious chorus that just won't leave your head. 'Graveyard' works so well in a live setting, and shows that he was a worthy winner of the award. Let's just hope he spends the money on musical equipment and nothing culinary!
Messiah J and the Expert were next up and came on early. Now I'm not usually a lover of hip-hop, but I must say I was really impressed by their performance. What makes them special for an Irish act is that they don't sound like a bunch of Irish yokels trying to rap, they actually sound like accomplished rappers. A real hip-hop group, which will no doubt be an inspiration for kids in the future. They've opened Ireland up to hip-hop.
One of the real highlights for me was the first chance to see Mick Flannery live. I wondered how his stripped back material would work in a live setting, and it was much better than I could have imagined. 'Wait Here' was so much darker live, and shows what a great storyteller Mick is. 'Tomorrow's Paper' was probably my favourite song of the evening. It was a stark contrast to 'Wait Here', and really makes me want to see him perform a full set.
I missed the start of Halfset due to bathroom commitments (if Oppenheimer can have commitments, why can't I be allowed to pee?). Their live set reminded me of the Postal Service, who I really adore. They're a proper band which I liked, none of this press play on the laptop nonsense that you get from some of those dancier artists.
R.S.A.G. was different to what I expected. Forget the new Bell x1 record, Jeremy Hickey is the man who really embodies Talking Heads. Well a Talking Heads with a lot more drumming. It was a great spectacle of a show, the full-on sights and sounds things you don't expect from a smaller less accomplished artist. He should be massive.
The night ended with a set from Fight Like Apes. As usual, it was a great set from one of Ireland's best young bands. I'm really excited to hear some new material from them and see where they go next, because at the moment it looks like they're really starting to take off. Thus it was great to see them in a venue like this before they move on to the Olympia and maybe even the O2.
It didn't take long for the winner to be announced, none of the dramatic pregnant pausing after "The winner is". Not begrudging Jape for winning (because the album is excellent), but it is a clever choice from the judges after the alienation some people felt with Super Extra Bonus Party last year. They were dead right.
It's on tonight, but there are still tickets on sale at €27. But good news to everyone who can't afford it, the whole thing will be on Today FM.
Here's the ten acts nominated: Fight Like Apes - Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion (Model Citizen) Mick Flannery - White Lies (EMI) Halfset - Another Way of Being There (Casino Gravity Records) Lisa Hannigan - Sea Sew (Self published) David Holmes - The Holy Pictures (Canderblinks) Jape - Ritual (Co-Op) Messiah J & The Expert - From The Word Go (Inaudible) Oppenheimer - Take The Whole Mid-Range And Boost It (Fantastic Plastic) R.S.A.G. - Organic Sampler (Psychonavigation) The Script - The Script (Sony Music)
My money is on either Fight Like Apes or R.S.A.G. I'd love to see the latter win.
Fight Like Apes – And the Mystery of the Golden Medallion
Every now and then someone comes along with the nugget “guitar bands are dead”. It’s probably best known as an infamous quote about the Beatles. I don’t think guitar bands will ever die out. Just like the way vinyl will stay around for a long time due to that warmth it gives. But if guitar bands did die out, then we shouldn’t worry. There are bands such as this, which don’t need guitar. They’ve got enough bells and whistles already.
And the Mystery of the Golden Medallion is Fight Like Apes’ full album debut. They already have received tonnes of hype for their first two EPs; hype which was very much well deserved. The hype machine has turned up again for this record. And rightly so: It’s fantastic. A lot of Irish acts are lauded just because of our innate patriotism: “burn everything British but the coal”. There are acts like the Delorentos and the Blizzards where it’s a case of the passport being more important than the music. However, with acts like Messiah J & the Expert and Fight Like Apes, there’s much more music than passport.
This album should be massive. It’s produced by the guy who produced Death cab for Cutie, and thanks to The OC, they’re massive. If there was a just world, Fight Like Apes would be appearing on bigger shows than The Cafe (granted that’s one of the better shows on RTE). They just need Stereogum or someone to pick up one of their songs, and then they’d be set. Watch the foreign plaudits roll in. Maybe next year’s Mercury Music Prize would do the same job...
It’d be hard to do a full track-by-track review of this record, as I don’t think even the English language has enough superlatives. ‘Something Global’ resonates with the line “give me my hook”, but I don’t think they need to ask, because there are hooks buried underneath hooks on this album. ‘Jake Summers’ has been reimagined for the album proper (given a more straight-forward sound than the EP version), but still retains the fantastic verse: “you’re like Kentucky Fried Chicken, but without the taste / Hey you, get some grace, you know you’re Driving Miss Daisy all over the place.”
Fight Like Apes aren’t afraid to name drop. Simple Kid, Gladstone, Little Beau Peep, Swear I’m Not Paul. Wait, scratch that last one. Maybe on the next record. They’re not afraid to f’ and blind’ either, but this is a PG blog, so maybe come back and visit after the watershed. There are wonderful lyrics sprinkled throughout the album: “I would cut you with glass / If you hadn’t got such a pretty ass“; “Mary had a little lamb / And it got fired...Humpty Dumpty had a bad fall / And he got fired...You’re so fired.” “You’re so informed / Yet you talk just like a lout / You say Yo La Tengo like you’re selling perfume / Like a brand new scent for modern man invented by cartoons”.
Even the songs that aren’t brilliant are still better than most anything on other albums. ‘Battlestations’ is among the weaker tracks here, but it’s still probably one of the best 200 songs of the year. Cut out the screaming, and it could’ve cracked the top 50. ‘Do You Karate?’ on the other hand, is probably one of the top 5 songs of the year. Remind me of this in December, when I go to make my list. Although with the regular rotation this is getting on my iPod, I doubt I’ll forget this song. Ever.
Truly one of the best albums of the year. Definitely the best Irish album of the year. Probably one of the best Irish albums ever. Yes, it is that good. Don’t tell me you haven’t bought it yet. Tut, tut, tut.
I had assumed that everyone had heard about the Entertainment.ie stream, but it seems they hadn't. Anyhow, in case you haven't heard, you can stream the Fight Like Apes album, , in its entirety here: http://entertainment.ie/fightlikeapes/
Fight Like Apes are on the up and up. They headline a sold-out Whelan's show in three weeks, and release album Fight Like Apes And The Mystery Of The Golden Medallion the same day. A busy time for the band!
Friday 26th September - Whelans, Dublin Saturday 27th September - Cypress Avenue, Cork Sunday 28th September - Roisin Dubh, Galway Monday 29th September - Dolan's, Limerick
Friday 10th October - Electric Avenue, Waterford Sunday 12th October - Spirit Store, Dundalk
Fight Like Apes And The Mystery Of The Golden Medallion tracklisting : 1. Something Global 2. Jake Summers 3. Tie Me Up With Jackets 4. Digifucker 5. Lend Me Your Face 6. Battlestations 7. Do You Karate? 8. Megameanie 9. I'm Beginning To Think You Prefer Beverley Hills 90210 To Me 10. Lumpy Dough 11. Recyclable Ass 12. Snore Bore Whore
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