Cancelled: Randy Newman at Vicar Street

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo! Not one, but two Randy Newman shows have been cancelled. They were due to take place next week, but due to illness Randy has been forced to cut his European tour short. He claims he'll be back, but I'm just saddened by this. I was so looking forward to it.

No definite dates have been re-announced, so you'll have to get a refund on your tickets. These are available from point of purchase.

'Short People' live at Jazzfest 2008 (this is what we're missing out on):

Download: Gramercy Arms - Looking at the Sun

Gramercy Arms are a collective made up of members from a number of bands. To say supergroup would dim their brilliance. Supergroups usually suck the big one. Gramercy Arms don't. The band is made up of members of Guided By Voices, Luna, Joan as Police Woman, Dead Air and The Dambuilders. So a talented posse, no doubt.

Their self-titled debut album is out on November 18th, and has the following tracklisting:
01 Automatic
02 Looking At The Sun
03 Nothing I Can Do
04 Since Last September
05 Fakin’
06 Wander On
07 Shining Bright
08 Automaton
09 I Believe
10 Moving Slow

Download:
Gramercy Arms - 'Looking at the Sun'

For more info:
http://www.gramercyarms.co.uk/

Live: Stereophonics at the Academy

A surprise announcement - Stereophonics are due to play an intimate date at Dublin's Academy next Friday, the 7th of November. This is to coincide with the release of their Greatest Hits record A Decade in the Sun. Are they really only getting around to releasing that now?

Tickets go on sale this Friday, and are €33.60. They are limited to 4 for person to stop touting, but for an intimate gig like this, they'll sell out really quick and some pricks will be trying to flog them off at 200 euro each or so.

Watch 'Dakota' at the RDS last year:

Album News: Lily Allen It's not Me, It's You Tracklist

Not too much to say, but a tracklist has been announced for the new Lily Allen record It's Not Me, It's You:

'Everyone's At It'
'The Fear'
'It's Not Fair'
'22'
'I Could Say'
'Go Back To The Start'
'Never Gonna Happen'
'Fuck You'
'Who'd've Known'
'Chinese'
'Him'
'He Wasn't There'

Live: Take That at Croke Park

So much for the four U2 dates at Croker next year. It'll have to be three now, unless Bono gets some sort of special dispensation from the Pope. Or less the government do yet another u-turn.

British pop group Take That (minus Robbie) are the first act to be announced for Croke Park 2009. You can also count on Kilkenny being in the hurling final too. So two acts announced.

Tickets for Take That cost from €59.50 to €79.50 and go on sale Thursday week at 9 a.m.

Watch 'Rule the World' (I actually like this song):

Download: Donny Hue - Good Time Happening

To promote his upcoming album Donny Hue is currently on tour of West Coast USA with the Colors. The album is called Tell Tall Tales, a title which I like a lot. The album itself should be decent too, as evidenced by first single 'Good Time Happening'.

Donny himself says of the album: "I picked these songs up while on the move....on a train, a bicycle, a plane....however you see fit. They come from certain sights and sounds that never leave you alone, that creep up and tap you on the shoulder every now and then, eager for attention. Maybe these aren't meant to be tales, or even songs, but pictures of someplace that I've been or seen. It doesn't matter where they take you, or if they got you where you were going, but at least, even for a moment or so, you saw 'em."

Sounds interesting, and if it's all as good as the single, it certainly will be.

Download:
Donny Hue - 'Good Time Happening'

Watch the video for 'Good Time Happening':



Visit his myspace for more details:
http://www.myspace.com/donnyhueandthecolors

Album Review: Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - Cardinology

I am a Ryan Adams fanboy. I'm not afraid to admit it. Thus I should lap up everything he does. This, however, is not always the case. I find that Ryan Adams fans fall into three categories. There's the first who love the more radio-friendly stuff such as Gold and Easy Tiger. Then the second category has the more country David Ryan Adams (the people who probably loved Whiskeytown in their heyday). They count Jacksonville City Nights and Heartbreaker as their favourites. The third category love the dirty Ryan Adams, the rockier fella who storms off the stage at any and every opportunity. They're usually fans of 29 and Rock N Roll.

That said, not everyone fits into a particular category. Ryan does have loads of other records, EPs, and Sad Dracula-type releases. Many of us DRA fans fall into a few of these categories, or straddle two. And then do real music fans want to categorize themselves? Such as emo or goth or whatever. Anyhow, the point I really want to make is that the newest Ryan Adams & The Cardinals record falls into the first category more or less. It's an extension of Easy Tiger and the Follow the Lights EP. Although probably not as good as either.

There are some great songs on here, but none are up there with Ryan's best. 'Cobwebs', 'Fix It' and 'Sinking Ships' are all very good songs, and on tenth listen sound much better. But all of these songs are so much better live. If you've seen any of the videos on youtube or downloaded any of his recent shows from archive.org, you'll hear how much better the Cardinals are live. The Cardinals are a live band. But this never transfers over to the records.

There's no sense of urgency. It's all too easy 'Go Easy', 'Let Us Down Easy'. Where's the live Ryan? The man who makes interesting records under the guise of Were Wolph? The only song that even hints at this is 'Magick', which is a good attempt, but at the same time is a poor man's 'Halloweenhead'.

The album isn't a failure though. It's probably Adams' most consistent record. It's not all over the place. If mid-tempo country-rock is what you're looking for, Cardinology has it in bucketloads. 'Natural Ghost' may well be the worst thing he's released in years, but songs like 'Crossed Out Name' and 'Evergreen' more than make up for that.

It's not a bad album. It may well be one of the top 25 records I've heard this year. It's just that Ryan Adams and the Cardinals are capable of much more. So much more.

If that 20:20 Box Set ever gets released, you'll see what I mean. Destroyer, Suicide Handbook, 48 Hours all so good. All so unreleased. Come on Lost Highway. Don't leave us hanging.

Album News: Andrew Bird - Noble Beast

You know it's getting near Christmas when...

No, not the hour going back. Nor when Christmas songs start being played in shops. That happens in September nowadays, doesn't it?

It's when you know of more than one definite release date for an album coming out the following year. Santa, I can't wait to see you!

Andrew Bird's next album, Noble Bird has a January 23rd release date in Ireland (27th in the US).

Tracklist:
1. "Oh No"
2. "Masterswarm"
3. "Fitz and the Dizzyspells"
4. "Effigy"
5. "Tenuousness"
6. "Nomenclature"
7. "Not a Robot, But a Ghost"
8. "Anonanimal"
9. "Natural Disaster"
10. "Confess"
11. "Souverian"
12. "On Ho!"

Watch 'Masterswam':

Interesting Article: Jim Carroll on White Hinterland

Great article from Jim Carroll on his blog On the Record today about getting yourself out there in the music business, and how 18 people went to see White Hinterland in CrawDaddy last week. Which is a shame. I hadn't heard of her until Jim's article, but so far I'm liking what I hear. And maybe next time she comes to visit, I may be the nineteenth. Oh yeah, White Hinterland is a she, the same way as Bright Eyes is a he.

Check out Jim's excellent piece here:
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/ontherecord/2008/10/28/this-is-what-the-future-of-the-music-business-looks-like

and while you're at it, download two songs from White Hinterland, below.

Download:
White Hinterland - 'Chant De Grillon'
White Hinterland - 'Dreaming of the Plum Trees'

And since she's probably not returning for a while, buy a record here:
http://www.deadoceans.com/artist.php?name=whitehinterland

Watch: Kanye West - Robocop

Another week, another new track from the new Kanye West album 808's and Heartbreak. Will we hear it all before its release? Possibly.


But as for now, here's 'Robocop':

Album News: Common - Universal mind Control

Finally, a release date for an album that was meant to be here months ago. Common's follow-up to Finding Forever (which wasn't a patch on Be), will be released December 9th, and will be called Universal Mind Control.

As you can see from the tracklist, Kanye, Cee-Lo, and Pharrell all appear. Strangely enough, all are known by their first names. When I say "Ronan", people just think "Ronan Keating". That's never good.

Tracklist:
"Universal Mind Control"
"Punch Drunk Love" featuring Kanye West
"Make My Day" featuring Cee-Lo Green
"Sex 4 Sugar"
"Announcement" featuring Pharrell Williams
"Gladiator"
"Changes"
"Inhale"
"What a World"
"Everywhere"

'Real People' on Letterman: