Live: Seth Lakeman to play The Academy

Former Mercury Prize nominee, and now UK top 10 albumer, Seth Lakeman announced details of his upcoming UK and Ireland tour today. And by UK and Ireland I mean lots of UK dates, one Belfast and one Dublin. So the "and Ireland" is just a minor P.S. down the bottom.

Anyhow, fiddler Lakeman (who I interviewed for my former website - lovely fella) plays tracks from his new album Poor Man's Heaven as well as his greatest hits collection at Dublin's Academy on 15th of November, and then in Spring & Airbrake, Belfast the following night.

Tickets for the Academy gig cost €30, and are on sale now.

Download: Mercury Rev 'Senses on Fire'

So, not only are Mercury Rev playing Kilkenny next month, they're following that by releasing not one, but two albums in September (the 29th to be exact!). The retail album Snowflake Midnight will be accompanied by another record, which will be given away free as a companion piece, called Strange Attractor. I've seen many strange tractors in my time, my Dad even more, so I'm looking forward to their accounts of the 1962 Fordson Supermajor... Oh wait, Strange Attractor! The other would be a Richie Kavanagh record probably.

Anyhow, 'Senses on Fire' is the first single from the proper album, Snowflake Midnight, and is available for download on A Reminder, here:
http://www.a-reminder.org/music/?p=1094

Live: Fleet Foxes play Whelan's

November 7th sees the return of US folkies Fleet Foxes to our nation's capital. Fleet Foxes already played Dublin this year, and the show was a sell-out success. They return to Vicar Street on November 7th, and tickets are on sale tomorrow (Tuesday 22nd), priced €21. Bargain.

After looking at On The Record, it seems we have similar content for this event. Well, that's just because the music is so good, it speaks for itself!

Watch the video for 'White Winter Hymnal' here, and tease yourself for the next four months!

Stream: Conor Oberst - Danny Callahan

No, it's nothing to do with 'Dani California' from the Red Hot Chili Peppers' double album Stadium Arcadium. My former editor hated that record, as did many other critics. Amazingly, it's the only RHCP album I actually like. 'Hey Cheetah' is a great song. I swear it is! (Oh, and that's the actor Dan Callahan, by the way)

Anyhow, 'Danny Callahan' is the lead single from Bright Eyes burning like fire himself Conor Oberst, and appears on his upcoming self-titled album along with The Mystic Valley Band. I previously reported about it here:
http://swearimnotpaul.blogspot.com/2008/06/album-news-conor-oberst-self-titled.html
and here:
http://swearimnotpaul.blogspot.com/2008/06/streaming-music-conor-oberst-two-songs.html

Anyhow, to give you a sneak peak of the record, you can listen to 'Danny Callahan' here. Just press play:

Album News: Parts & Labor - Receivers tracklist announced

Not too much in the way of news, but it gives me a chance to post that damn cool album art again!

01 Satellites
02 Nowheres Nigh
03 Mount Misery
04 Little Ones
05 The Ceasing Now
06 Wedding in a Wasteland
07 Prefix Free
08 Solemn Show World

Oh and I hear the new drummer is meant to be excellent. And ruuude too!

Album News: Ben Folds - Quest for Fire

It seems nobody knows what the hell the story is with allegedly leaked Ben Folds album Way to Normal. The 6 leaked tracks are really rough sounding, and the lyrics on them don't match up with the "proper" ones. Also, two other websites are adding even more layers to the story. Ben Folds' livejournal talks about his new album Quest for Fire, complete with the above coverart. What the hell?

In addition, the even weirder 24-hour BenWatch has been set up here:
http://acelze.googlepages.com/benwatch

I have not a clue what the story is with the album, but as soon as I hear the actual truth, I'll let you know. But while you wait, check out those two sites, especially the utterly bizarre BenWatch!

Stream: Vandevander - The Great State of Denial EP

I'm all for highlighting new music here, and especially stuff you can listen to online for free when you're meant to be working! Vandevander are a Tulsa, Oklahoma band, which means little to me, as the only things I know about Tulsa are that Garth Brooks is from there and it's the place Chandler had to go to in Friends after falling asleep at a meeting. So to stop yourself from falling asleep at work, stream Vandevander's second EP The Great State of Denial on their Myspace here:
http://www.myspace.com/vandevandermusic