Albums Of 2007

Tis the season of good will & best of the year, so im jumping on the bandwagon to give my 2 cents.

1. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible


2. Black Francis - BlueFinger


3. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank


4. Super Furry Animals - Hey Venus!


5. Battles - Mirrored


6. Manic Street Preachers - Send away The Tigers


7. Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare


8. Polyphonic Spree - The Fragile Army


9. Thurston Moore- Trees Outside The Academy


10. LCD Soundsystem - 45:33

Honourable Mentions:

• Radiohead- In Rainbows


• Holy Fuck - LP


• 65daysofstatic - The Destruction of Small Ideas


• Art Brut - It's a Bit Complicated

45:33

Anyway on to music, LCD Soundsystem - 45:33 is just brilliant, i didn't really like them before this but listening to this album has retroactively made me appreciate their earlier work, i don't know how it just has. Very much recommended.
Also 45:33 is not the running time(although its very close to that) 45 & 33 represent the two most common rpm of records(if you don't know what a record is I'm not going pointing it out to you.)



p.s. check out the beatspeakie [karenpeakie], its an art blog, but don't worry its not shit.

For Cathal

who doesn't seem to understand that in the middle of my exams i should be allowed to not post for a week, those artists and their lack of exams, its like preparing them for later life and their lack of jobs.


That'll get me a smack.

Video of the Day

Battles - Tonto
Great song, Great Video.

Study Music

Its that time of year again, christmas, bringer of presents and exams.
So whilst I read up on hoare triples and Loop Invariants i keep myself calm and focused by listening to some Nick Drake, Joy Division & LCD Soundsystem.
The latter have really gained my respect since i started listening to 45:33.

And when im not studying im playing this Simple yet addictive game.

Manics @ The Ambassador, Friday 30th

I got to go to this on a spare ticket so i was well excited, i only found out last wednesaday. A great gig by a band consistently show why theyve been playing for over 16 years, their first dublin gig was in 1991 and was attended by a crowd of 20.

They Opened with Motorcycle emptiness and continued in style playing some stuff that i hadn't heard them do before, Slash n Burn, roses in the hospital & Yes. A false start on your love alone, starting motown junk with a cover of the cult's She Sells Sanctuary & nice two song acoustic interlude by james dean bradfield made it fell like one of the more cosy and friendly gigs ive been to.

Nicky wire was also nice enough to tell us that he co-wrote your love alone with richie on a spritual level. Great gig, and that has no almost defiently rounded off my gigs of 2007, roll on british sea power in january.

When all else fails, there's always music.....

I stole the above motto from the Music Advice Centre, its something ive always agreed with but never seen so eloquently phrased before. I've been feeling quite depressed & mopey lately, with exams looming and the realisation that most of the people i started college with have graduated and gone on to better things. I was in such a state that i didn't even want to listen to any music, it just all seemed a bit stale and boring. This was a sad state of affairs that had to be rectified. Firstly there was a big clean-up of my zen, which ive realised should be an on-going process at the best of times, and an expansion of my music collection.
Ive encountered some new stuff that is amazing and some old stuff i couldn't believe id neglected for so long. So ive compiled a list of whats been cheering me up lately, i do like compiling lists. Feel free to add your own.

The New:
Holy Fuck - LP
Karate - Pockets
Karate - Some Boots
Bloc Party - A Weekened in the City -(technically new to me)

The Not quite new:
British Sea Power - Open Season
Battles - Mirrored
Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antartica
The Young Knives - Voices of Animals & Men

The Revisted:
The Lemonheads - It's A shame About Ray
The Smiths - Strangeway's Here we Come
Echo & The bunnymen - Porcupine
--------
Music is a beautiful thing, it accompanies us across our journey of life wherever that may be, keep it fresh and it will always appear beautiful, let it become stale and you may lose it forever.
Feel free to visit my Last.fm, its where i get much of my recommendations.

An Evening in The Bernard Shaw

Last night I was at an art exhibition in the Bernard Shaw, it was mostly stuff by Chris Judge, from The Chalets & Warlords of Pez. The whole thing kicked off at 8, and when i arrived at Half past the rumored free wine was nowhere to be seen. However after a few drinks, including the always ill-advised but fun-at-the-time Pitcher of buckfast, that is unique to the bernard shaw, and i only had half of one, the place became very crowded and it was time to head on to Backlash@Pod, which is always a good night out.
All in all it was a good night of drinking, excellent tunes, the ocassional drunken chat/rant, & one Disappering portion of curry chips, Im still stumped by that one.
The Bodytonic Boys do know how to lay on a thursday night. Even if there are alot of trendy people there.

New Mighty Boosh Tonight

But im going out, so im gonna watch it in advance, through the wonder's of the internet. Id advise you all to do the same.It's All up on the BBC boosh site, Enjoy

Or for those of you who must watch it on tv, BBC3 10:30pm Tonight

A Few Cover Versions

Keeping with my new found theme of cover versions.

Kate Nash - Fluroescent Adolescent
I've been listening to a bit of kate nash lately and came across this cover that she performed live on Jo Whiley’s Live Lounge. Still prefer the Arctic Monkeys doing it but this ain't bad.[Mp3]
Thanks to Hypeful for the Link.
Kate has also been doing a cover of Cold War Kids - Hang Me Out To Dry, but i haven't been able to find anything other than bad videos of it.

Arctic Monkeys - You Know I'm No Good/Diamonds Are Forever
A band known for doing some good covers, their version of this Amy Winehouse tune is no exception. [Mp3]
And of course their cover of Diamonds are Forever @ Glastonbury wasn't too bad either[Mp3]

Radiohead - The Headmaster Ritual

One of my favourite bands covering one of my favourite songs by another of my favourie bands. It's a Smiths song for those of you who aren't such musical nerds as myself.

British Sea Power are coming to Dublin

Whelans, Wexford Street, January 18th 2008
Tickets on Sale Thursday 14th November 2007, €17.50

These four guys from brighton have had a very underrated career, 2003's debut album "The Decline of British Sea Power" is a blindingly good album, their second album "Open Season" isn't as striking at first but grows on you. And now with the third album "Do You Like Rock Music?" on the way on january 14th we can expect alot of the newer stuff at the gig. But lets hope they don't go leaving out the oldies.
If you must have a recommendation it's got to be the first album because it will just hit you straight awya.
Anyway heres hoping it doesn't sell out before I get my first paycheck on friday. And I hope to see some of you there.

Also big thanks to Timo for the recommendation in the first place. One of the first things he said to me when he got back from Oz was, "British sea power are an amazing band", now lets see if he's right about the national.

Gig of 2007

I do love almost every gig i go to but there are always those few unforgettable shows that you have to rave about. And this year provided many great performances that i was lucky enough to witness. Such as:
-
Arcade fire on the first night of their european tour in the big top, a cold night and a long walk, but my god, a fantastic gig, made all the sweeter by it being my first time seeing them (not through lack of trying though)
-
Super furry animals on fine form yet again in vicar street, touring the new album hey venus which has only grown on me more quickly since their live renditions.
-
65daysofstatic in crawdaddy, i hadn't heard of them until two days before the gig and cathal told me i just had to go, and as a man who happened to have €15 or so to spare at the time, who was i to say no. A very cool gig and it really opened my eyes to a genre of music id always kind of respected but never fully gotten before.
-
Rider's on the storm made their way to castlebar of all places for a one night stand that won't be forgotten in a hurry. They played a blinding set, with only one noteable abscence), and with 2 of them doing this for as long as they have, they don't seemed to have been phased by it much. But the highlight of that night was getting to meet the band afterwards, i even shook hands with ray & robbie.
-
And of course the Electric picnic produced many fine performances yet again. !!! played an amazing set, a very lively and energetic band perfect pick-up feel good music. Modest mouse played to a packed out tent, and even with the sound problems it was great. Sonic youth proved to me live and in person why theyve been able to keep doing what they do for as long as they have, the same energy and ability that they had 20 years ago. and just before i had a chance to relax, iggy & the stooges took the stage by storm shortly before inviting us up there

But all in all my gig of 2007 has to go to:
George Clinton & the p-funk all-stars, Tripod, 5th July

• Over 4 hours of funk, a truly relgious experience with dr. funkenstein. I was only a casual listener of funk before, some funkadelic & a little parliament , but i became fully converted at this gig. Ive since been collecting as many funkadelic albums as i can afford in glorious vinyl form. Maggot brain can only really release it's fully brilliance when performed live, an essential song for an music fan.

And that was my 2007 in gigs, i may squeeze in one or two more between here and january but they would need to be very very amazing to knock george off the top spot. 2007 was a year unlike most others before it, in that i didn't spend my birthday at a gig. But hey, maybe 23 doesn't deserve a gig. Let's hope 24 does.

Sony Walkman Ad

I love a good ad and this one is no exception.


I love how the whole thing is orchestrated so well together, and being a drummer its always good to see that many drummers playing together.
Beautiful

My First Web Page

After many many years of enjoying the internet, im finally going to contribute with a site of my own doing. It's part of a project for my web multimedia class, but as i kind of have free reign to do as i please im going to use the site for the swimming & waterpolo club in college(im the men's captain this year), two birds with one stone ehh.
Im kind of excited about it, i should really be going to bed soon but i can't stop tweaking things on the site. I've spent years wondering how Donal and Cathal were able to do stuff and now i can finally contribute my own(albeit amateur) content to the web. And hopefully it might be a bit useful too.

What next?

Right im trying to be all grown up and sensible and stuff now.
Ive got a driving licence, so what's next a credit card? uit college and get a proper job/go on the dole??
Any idea's?

New job = Money

I start into the glorious world of Smyth's Toys on Wednesday.
Finally ill be able to buy things other than food.
I need to get me some new music and a few dvd's.
And gig tickets must be purchased, after the super furries and Arcade Fire i've developed a taste for gigs again, missed out on way too many over the summer.