On The Record »

• Line-up for Body & Soul festival

  March 2, 2011 @ 3:49 pm | by Jim Carroll

  After a well-received (and award-winning) debut outing last year, the Body & Soul festival returns to Ballinlough Castle in Co Westmeath on June 18 and 19.

  OTR has learned that this year’s line-up will include Mount Kimbie, Plaid, The Field, Holy Fuck, Toro y Moi (you’ll find his swagged out remix of Tyler, The Creator’s “French” here) and the excellent Brandt Brauer Frick. More names, including a rake of Irish acts, are expected to be on the bill when it’s announced later this week.

  Limited early-bird weekend camping tickets at €99 a pop (plus ticket agency fees) are on sale until March 20

  Comments (10)

• The Far Side – playlist for March 1

  @ 10:02 am | by Jim Carroll

  As played on The Far Side, Phantom 105.2, Tuesday March 1.

  There seem to have some problems with the stream so bear with me while I find out what’s going on there.

  Next week, there’s a Mardi Gras special as the Far Side of NOLA hits the airwaves.

  Young the Giant “My Body” (Roadrunner)
  Hercules & Love Affair “Shelter” (Moshi Moshi)
  Poolside “Do You Believe?” (Future Classic)
  Factory Floor “Real Love (Optimo remix)” (Optimo Music)
  The Chain Gang Of 1974 “Hold On” (Modern Art)
  Computer Magic “Grand Junction” (Self release)
  Oberhofer “Awy Frm U” (Inflated)
  Colourmusic “Beard” (Memphis Industries)
  Icona Pop “Manners” (Neon Gold)
  13 & God “Old Age” (Anticon)
  1,2,3 “Riding Coat” (Frenchkiss)
  TV On the Radio “Will Do” (Interscope)
  Ill Blu “Meltdown” (Numbers)
  Bibio “Excuses” (Warp)
  Beardyman “Twist Your Ankal” (Sunday Best)
  Raekwon/Nas “Rich & Black” (Ice H20)
  Tyler, the Creator “French (Toro y Moi remix)” (Odd Future)
  Young Montana? “Bad Day” (Alpha Pup)
  ASKA “I’m A Hunter” (Manimal)
  Bobby “Sore Spores” (Partisan)
  Elis Regina “Roda” (Universal Brasil)
  Elizete Cardoso “E De Lei” (Copacabana)
  Tamba Trio “Mas Que Nada” (Talkin’ Loud)
  Os Mutantes “A Minha Menina” (Omplatten)
  Joao Gilberto “O Sapo” (Polygram)
  Feist “The Limit to Your Love” (Polydor)

  Comments (0)

• The business Banter – and OTR Presents 2012 gig

  March 1, 2011 @ 2:40 pm | by Jim Carroll

  The next to-do in the current Banter series is Young Guns Go For It – the good news about new Irish business in 2011. It happens in the Twisted Pepper, Dublin on Thursday March 10.

  The pitch: it’s the day after the TDs elected to the 31st Dail meet for the very first time but, as our new government prepare to take office against a backdrop of economic doom and gloom, life outside Leinster House for new, aspiring Irish businesses goes on as normal. The well-documented problems which businesses face on the ground won’t change overnight just because there’s a new man at the helm of the Department of the Taoiseach.

  But while these are tough times for business people like our three guests, this state of affairs has not stopped them – or hundreds like them – from giving it a go. Instead of expanding energy on giving out or planning a life abroad, they’re spending their time and energy working on nascent business ideas and seeing where it all goes from here.

  On the agenda: innovation, ideas, ingenuity, funding, optimism and the future.

  On the panel: Anne Bedos (Rothar.ie), Colin Harmon (Third Floor Espresso Coffee & Café), Al Coleman (Onlineadvertising.ie). Trying to avoid saying “going forward”: Jim Carroll

  Doors open at 7.30pm and the discussion gets underway at 8pm-ish. Admission is 5 euro in advance or 7 euro on the door. You can sign up to the invite list here.

  And don’t forget that the first of the OTR Presents 2012 gigs happens tomorrow night (Wednesday) in the main room of the Twisted Pepper. Daithi: kicks off the night at 8.30pm, The Kanyu Tree are on at 9.20pm and Jennifer Evans & The Ripe Intent will be onstage at 10.10pm-ish. Admission is a tenner on the door or you can purchase advance tickets here (no booking or ticket agency fees apply).

  Comments (2)

• What’s beyond the cloud for the record business?

  @ 9:47 am | by Jim Carroll

  No doubt, most OTR readers with a keen interest in the ins and outs of the music business have seen this chart, which details the massive changes in global record sales from 1973 to 2009, by now. That chart chronicling the so-called death of the music industry (someone needs to introduce the sub-editor to the live industry) then gave way to this chart and I’m sure there’s another chart in the works. Not forgetting, of course, this spreadsheet which shows what this means in terms of the money going into the act’s pocket.

  I wonder if I’m the only one who is all charted out at this stage. It’s not as if there’s anything new in the data or the analysis. We’ve known for ages that the CD boom was when the record industry made out like bandits and it was this boom which meant they didn’t take the arrival of tech and telecoms’ companies on the music patch all that seriously. Instead of meetings, they sent legal letters and we know how that one turned out. We also know that revenue from digital downloads is not enough to make up the losses from reduced physical sales because the business’ cost-base is too high. And we also know by now that streaming and cloud services are not bringing as much cash into the coffers as digital downloads. The bottom line is getting squeezed every which way.

  Now, if I know this and you know this, we can assume that the record industry also knows this. In fact, that line is a little facetious because I know from talking to folks who still work in the industry that they know all about the new world order. They’ll point to increasing revenues from YouTube and Spotify and talk about better deals for the labels with acts (read deals which are 360s with a smile). They’ll also mention sadly about more cutbacks and lay-offs. The labels, we know, are adjusting to the new reality.

  However, one thing we’ve learned again and again about the record industry over the last 15 years is that it’s prone to short-term thinking. All of its current woes come from wrongheaded decisions made in the 1990s to keep the CD boom going. Indeed, the labels could argue that the CD boom is still in train as nearly three-quarters of all music sales in the United States in 2010 were round plastic discs. Hell, there are probably some deluded executives in gold disc-bedecked offices wondering what everyone is on about and counting down the days to until their retirement. Crisis, what crisis?

  I wonder, though, if any record industry exec has begun to think about what comes after streaming and subscriptions. What’s beyond the cloud for the record industry? If there’s one thing we now know, it is that the tech sector are the ones who are calling the shots and further innovations are inevitable. Music may be moving to the cloud right now – though I hope there’s a back-up plan if something like this happens to your music collection – but there will be life beyond the cloud. If there’s to be a record industry 3.0, it will also need to be in that space. And the best time to start planning for changes is long before such obsolescence sets in. In other words, the planning needs to start now.

  But what will that future be? It’s doubtful that a post-cloud world will see a return to the dominance of physical products like of old. That game is over as it was once played so we’re unlikely to have a renaissance in record shops in 2025. While there is probably a lot of years and shekels for the business in the streaming and subscription model, that too will come to a close and it will be time to shuffle on. Perhaps it’s at this stage that we’ll see the record business as we’ve known it finally moving towards the exit door. Around then, we’ll probably see the final merge between the various middleman (records, publishing, live, management, agencies, catalogue and all other revenue streams yet to be invented) and a more streamlined model emerge. Or perhaps we can really look forward to a 78 RPM record revival.

  But if the record industry wants to have any relevance in that world, it needs to start working on its future gameplan now. It can’t do like it’s always done and start to panic when someone else has taken over its patch. That’s not going to wash any more. It’s time for the record business, if it’s serious about a long-term strategy, to start plotting and planning for what’s coming down the tracks.

  Comments (17)

• The people have spoken

  February 28, 2011 @ 9:58 am | by Jim Carroll

  That’s democracy. You cast your vote on a Friday and they count your vote and everyone else’s vote on a Saturday. There’s a different kind of democracy in some constituences like Wicklow and Laois-Offaly where they’re still counting your vote on Monday and may well be still at it a week from now in the case of the former. I know there’s an argument for electronic voting to speed this malarkey up, but I prefer my democracy to be slow-burning with a sideplate of drama. And boy, there was some drama this weekend.
  (more…)

  Comments (72)

• Meet your favourite new hip-hop crew

  February 25, 2011 @ 10:00 am | by Jim Carroll

  It was the music TV highlight of the year so far as Tyler, The Creator and Hodgy Beats started a riot on the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon show last week. Check it out below and you too will be shouting “wolf gang” at the screen – or muttering that it’s the end of civilisation as we know it.

  There’s a good chance you’ve not heard of Tyler, The Creator, Hodgy Beats and the Odd Future crew before now. Every so often, though, a bunch of kids come along to shake things up and now is time for the Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, to give them their full name, to shine.

  OFWGKTA are a gang of whipsmart, bratty, snotty teenage rappers, producers, skate kids, visual artists and mischief-makers from Los Angeles. Led by Tyler, the Creator, the Odd Future crew will remind some of trying to decipher what the Wu-Tang Clan were all about when they first appeared from Staten Island, but that comparison begins and ends there. Odd Future are a much different proposition to the Wu.

  Their gritty, grimey rhymes are probably going to alienate twice as many people as their sound attracts, but they don’t really give a damn if people find them to be objectionable. There’s a thrilling, unpredictable swagger to them which we haven’t experienced in hip-hop in yonks. Here’s a gang who clearly are doing this for their own amusement and are not adhering to any rulebook.

  But it will be interesting to see what happens now that the mainstream has come calling. XL boss Richard Russell has signed Tyler for an album (due in April) and their profile is already skyrocketing. Keeping things swagged out is going to get a little harder. And just where the hell is Earl?

  

  Comments (14)

• Now Playing – the best sounds of the week

  @ 9:00 am | by Jim Carroll

  The essential tunes on the OTR jukebox this week. Please feel free to add your own selections below.

  The Low Anthem “Smart Flesh” (Bella Union)

  The best album ever recorded in an abandoned pasta sauce factory in Rhode Island. Superior quality spooky folk-pop.

  ASKA “I’m A Hunter” (Manimal)

  Exceptional leftfield pop with a kooky atmospheric edge from Japanese-born, LA-based Aska Matsumiya’s forthcoming EP.

  Various “Bangs & Works Vol 1” (Planet Mu)

  The soundtrack to Chicago’s highly competitive footwork scene’s dance-offs with banging tunes from DJ Nate, Tha Pope, DJ Diamond and others.

  

  Julianna Barwick “The Magic Place” (Asthmatic Kitty)

  Dreamy, minimal vocal and synth layers make for a truly ethreal album from the Brooklyn-dwelling performer.

  Fitz & The Tantrums “Moneygrabber” (Dangerbird)

  Get going to a go-go with this sliver of punchy retro Sixties’ soul-pop from Michael Fitzpatrick and band.

  

  Comments (0)

• This week in The Ticket – and your plugs

  @ 7:55 am | by Jim Carroll

  Elbow: As Elbow limber up for world domination with new album “Build a Rocket Boys!”, they take tea with Lauren Murphy and talk about the new album, expectations and taking on the world. Elbow beverage factoid: they favour Earl Grey teabags if there’s a “T” in the day.

  Jamie XX: the dude who put a bass spin on Gil Scott-Heron’s “I’m New Here” album (and the BBC Newsnight theme tune) tells us how he did it.

  Animal Kingdom: David Michôd’s film has been a gong-winning sensation – from the grand jury prize at Sundance last year to the possibility of the Best Supporting Actress swag at the Oscars on Sunday – and now everyone else can find out why the Aussie’s psychological gangster thriller is gathering so much applause.

  Plus: reviews of music releases from Elbow (CD of the Week for “Build a Rocket Boys!”), Lykke Li, Beady Eye, Ron Sexsmith, “Rough Trade Shops Counter Culture 10″, Jessie Lea Mayfield, Mirrors, Charles Bradley, Malachai, Susan McKeown and more, plus new movies on release including Animal Kingdom, I Am Number Four, Howl, No Strings Attached, The Rite, Waste Land, West Is West and Drive Angry (which opens without a press screening so you know that probably means).

  All this and more in The Ticket, in print, online and the best of The Ticket on the app.

  The OTR plugs service is now open for business. Please feel free to plug and recommend stuff away to your heart’s content, but remember some simple rules: (a) declare an interest where one should be declared, (b) plugs are accepted on the whim of OTR and may be edited for length/clarity/common sense and (c) plugs which mention a commercial sponsor are really ads and will probably not be published in this slot. We got the radio shook like we got a gun.

  Comments (12)

• New Music – Icona Pop, Lost In the Trees, Friends

  February 24, 2011 @ 2:32 pm | by Jim Carroll

  The latest New Music selections from the On The Record column in tomorrow’s edition of The Ticket. All tips for future New Music picks welcome below.

  Icona Pop

  Dashing electropop from Swedish duo Caroline Hjelt and Aino Jawo who first tickled our fancy with their track “Manners” on a recent Kitsune compilation. New single “Still Don’t Know” is fresh, carefree and beautifully euphoric. You can colour us smitten.

  

  Lost In the Trees

  Lost In The Trees were once a solo play by Chapel Hill, North Carolina dude Ari Pick but he’s since brought a bunch of likeminded musicians into the frame. As evidenced by debut album “All Alone In An Empty House” for Anti, they’re all about elegant, evocative, emotional folk-pop with some fancy touches.

  Friends

  Prepare to meet your favourite new band. From New York, Friends already sound like the real deal with a lovely shimmering mix of Tom Tom Club-style swagger, far-out pop sheen and tropical grooves under the bonnet. Debut single “Friend Crush” is out next month on Lucky Number.

  Comments (0)

• Anyone buying or selling a ticket for LCD Soundsystem?

  @ 9:51 am | by Jim Carroll

  The story of LCD Soundsystem’s run-in with Ticketmaster ahead of their Last Ever Show at New York’s Madison Square Garden is a salutory reminder of the live industry’s enduring power plays. The gig sold out in jig-time, but the tickets got into the hands of touts and scalpers rather than Ordinary Decent Fans. Even James Murphy was fuming about this state of affairs, leading him to add a string of shows at NYC’s Terminal 5 in the hope of making things up to the fans.

  As Rob Cox notes, this is a story about supply, demand and price. “The quick sellout proves that demand for the tickets far outpaced supply. Higher resale prices corroborate this. On this level, the band simply misjudged interest and the price people — at least as represented by the resellers — would be willing to pay.”

  Aside from the supply and demand gigonomics, which means people outside the band’s orbit were dictating the ticket prices, Murphy also had an issue with TicketsNow. This is the Ticketmaster-affiliated secondary ticketing agency who are making out like bandits selling tickets for the show which Ticketmaster had already sold. It’s the same issue which Irish promoters are increasingly having with Get Me In, which is another Ticketmaster-affiliated secondary ticketing agency, as the ticketing mogul seeks to get two bites of the cherry and helps to keep the other ticket market humming. There hasn’t been too much discussion of the secondary ticketing market over here – mainly because the days of fast gig sell-outs are largely now a thing of the past – but it hasn’t gone away.

  However, the surprising issue to me in all of this is Murphy and LCD Soundsystem’s naivety about what has happened. You would think that an experienced band who’ve toured the world several times would know very well how an agency like Ticketmaster operate and how tickets for a gig like this get sold. It’s no secret that only a very small proportion of tickets for a hot gig actually go on sale to punters (this is something Murphy’s agent could have told him long before the show was set up) and, while it is touching to read Murphy say that the band didn’t think they’d be able to fill the venue, such self-effacement doesn’t wash when your fans can’t get tickets to the show.

  Then again, it’s handy for all concerned – bands, fans, agents and promoters – to have Ticketmaster as a whipping boy. The bucks are passed every which way. Time and time again, we see the ticketing mogul get kicked in the nuts over stories like this. Time and time again, the ticketing mogul sighs, counts the cash and passes the rebates back to the promoter. Ticketmaster takes the heat and everyone else gets on with the game while tut-tutting about Ticketmaster and saying “something has to be done”. Because Ticketmaster takes the heat, it can keep charging those wallet-gouging fees. Ticketmaster’s role as live industry whipping boy is why all-in ticket prices (where the ticket price quoted includes all charges and not just the “booking fee”) are unlikely to appear in the short to medium term. Why ‘fess up to the real costs when you can blame Ticketmaster for everything?

  Of course, there were options and alternatives for LCD Soundsystem if they seriously wanted to sell tickets for their Last Ever Show to Ordinary Decent Fans. Yes, these would require an investment of time, effort and initiative. Yes, it would be difficult for all concerned. But it didn’t happen so spare me the self-righteous hand-wringing. Leave that for the Green Party on Sunday morning. All involved here were adults and knew what they were doing. Next!

  Comments (12)

• The Far Side – playlist for February 22

  February 23, 2011 @ 2:00 pm | by Jim Carroll

  As played on The Far Side, Phantom 105.2, Tuesday February 22.

  Listen Again to The Far Side: you can listen back to a stream of last night’s show here

  Holy Ghost “Hold On” (DFA)
  Tune-Yards “Bizness” (4AD)
  Frankie & The Heartstrings “Ungrateful” (Wichita)
  Joy O “Jels” (Hotflush)
  Oneohtrix Point Never “Returnal” (Editions Mego)
  Lykke Li “I Follow Rivers (Tyler, The Creator remix)” (LL)
  Tyler, The Creator & Hodgy Beats “Sandwitches” (Odd Future)
  Fred the Godson “Too Fat” (Self release)
  Treefight for Sunlight “Riddles In Rhymes” (Bella Union)
  Friends “Friend Crush” (Lucky Number)
  Young Buffalo “Only We Can Keep You From Harm” (Young & Lost Club)
  The Low Anthem “Ghost Woman Blues” (Bella Union)
  The JBs “Gimme Some More” (People)
  Fitz & The Tantrums “Moneygrabber” (Dangerbird)
  Johnny Coles “Petits Machins” (Mainstream)
  Jamie XX “Far Nearer” (Numbers)
  Jamie Woon “Lady Luck” (Polydor)
  Dorian Concept “My Face Needs Food” (Ninja Tune)
  SertOne “Past Present Future” (Melted Music)
  James Blake “You Know Your Youth” (Atlas)
  Nicolas Jaar “Etre” (Circus Company)
  High Highs “Flowers Bloom” (Self release)
  Julian Lynch “Terra” (Underwater Peoples)
  Timber Timbre “Black Water” (Full Time Hobby)
  Chet Baker “Like Someone In Love” (Pacific Jazz)
  Balam Acab “See Birds (Moon)” (Tri-Angle)
  Massive Attack/Mad Professor “Radiation Ruling the Nation” (Virgin)

  Comments (11)

• Sufjan Stevens, Dublin, May

  @ 11:00 am | by Jim Carroll

  Yes, yes, yes, y’all, Sufjan is coming to town. He plays Dublin’s Olympia on May 17 and 18 with support from the excellent DM Stith. Tickets are €44.20 (standing and circle) and €39.20 (upper circle – ie the gods) and those prices do not include Ticketmaster fees. Tickets go on sale on Friday at 9am from usual outlets. There’s nothing else on Friday, is there?

  Comments (23)

• Forbidden Fruit hits town

  February 22, 2011 @ 7:15 pm | by Jim Carroll

  Thanks to a combination of a really pointless viral video which gave away all the details and the loose-fingered Twitter, most of the details about Forbidden Fruit, the new POD festival at Dublin’s IMMA on June 4 and 5, were already out in the wild long before the launch this evening.

  Anyway, the line-up for the two day bash is as follows:

  SATURDAY

  The Flaming Lips
  Wild Beasts
  Erol Alkan
  Jape
  Aeroplane
  Ham Sandwich
  Colourmusic

  SUNDAY

  Aphex Twin
  Battles
  Caribou
  Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip
  Jamie XX
  Kormac’s Band
  Solar Bears

  Other acts to be announced. Tickets are €49.50 (one day) or €90 (weekend) – plus Ticketmaster fees – and go on sale on Friday morning.

  There’s going to be a RAKE of new gig announcements and festival additions in the next fortnight (we will have a pretty damn good one in the morning for a start) so stay tuned and start counting your money.

  Comments (27)

• The randomiser is in the mood for mischief

  @ 9:38 am | by Jim Carroll

  Let’s party like it’s 1998: OTR is hearing word that The Kitchen is about to re-open for business. The club in the basement of Dublin’s Clarence Hotel was the only club in the western world which featured a moat running around the dancefloor (there was a club in a moat in Kinshasa but that’s another kettle of fish) so let’s hope Kitchen 2.0 brings that back. Speculation that club nights like Quadrophonic, Influx, Blue and Genius are also returning can be dismissed as a figment of my imagination.

  Time for some Banter: this week’s Banter session is 99 Channels: The State of Irish Television and will feature Patrick Freyne (TV critic, Sunday Tribune and Today FM’s Last Word), Vogue Williams (Fade Street), Derek O’Connor (scriptwriter – Celebrity Salon; Young, Dumb & Living Off Mum; Roy, Doris/Magee and Popcorn), Darren Smith (managing director Kite Entertainment – Celebrity Bainisteor, Anonymous, Just For Laughs, I Dare Ya etc) and myself yakking about the telly. It all happens on Thursday night from 8pm-ish in the Twisted Pepper. Full info here and there’s a handful of spaces still free on the invite list if you hurry.

  XL and proud: XL Records boss Richard Russell sets out his stall. Dude has just signed Tyler, the Creator so he’s definitely on a roll. And, well, XL is not EMI.

  New bands, there are apparently ways to make money online from your music! Might be a better idea to follow these guidelines rather than spending your days tweeting and emailing everyone about how great your tunes are. Or, better still, take a leaf from this marketing plan.

  More record label bosses chewing the fat: former Tommy Boy boss Tom Silverman gets pensive.

  Bringing together Irish and Icelandic artists and art activists, the Northern Lights Observatory bills itself “a cultural experiment in exceptional times” and hits Dublin next weekend. The main focus will be a Public Collaboratory (Sunday 1pm, City Hall, Dublin) which will feature Jon Gnarr (actor, comedian, mayor of Reykjavik and leader of the Best Party), Einar Orn Benediktsson (Reykjavik’s Minister for Culture and one-time Sugarcube) Bjarni S. Jonsson (co-founder Iceland’s Anthill and National Assembly), Kristin Gunnarsdóttir (Iceland Design Centre), Gudjon Mar Gudjonsson (Ministry of Ideas), Andri Snaer Magnason (writer, director and activist), Haraldur Jonsson (Icelandic Academy of the Arts) and Benedikt Jonsson (Icelandic ambassador to Ireland). “The Public Collaboratory invites you to investigate our cultural identity – to hear the Icelandic story, to explore what it means to be alive on these two islands right now and to share the possibilities of an inspiring future”. Admission is free, entry is on a first come, first served basis and you can register for the event here.

  Are we ready for the Digital Revolution (take 5,578)? News about the Digital Agenda meeting in Brussels next month featuring assorted tech bigwigs and European Commission lads and lasses knocking their heads together with a view to working together to put the interests of European citizens and businesses first. Yeah, right. One of the aims of the meeting? “The Commission intends to open up access to legal online content by simplifying copyright clearance, management and cross-border licensing.” IMRO and IRMA, watch yer house!

  Marble City marvels: a very tasty line-up for this year’s Kilkenny Rhythm & Roots Festival over the May Bank Holiday weekend (April 29 to May 2) with shows from John Grant, Timber Timbre (new album “Creep On, Creepin’ On” sounds quite remarkable on first listen), Beth Orton, Sam Amidon, Wilko Johnson, Drive-By Truckers, Mary Gauthier and many more.

  More rhythm and roots: what the new generation of cosmic cowboys are up to.

  How Charles Slomovitz feeds the Shazam machine. Great piece about how Shazam works which shows that, yes, there is a future for old-fashioned A&R (good news for some OTR readers that, especially the ones who haven’t yet worked out how to escape into management).

  All back to the Beatyard: another fabulous line-up for another wee festival happening over the May bank holiday weekend. Artists who will be playing at Dublin’s Twisted Pepper for this one include Modeselektor, Joy Orbison, Beardyman, Martyn (if you haven’t done so already, check out his rattling good collaboration with Mike Slott), Walls, Siriusmo and many more. There will also be a Banter session over the weekend with the creators of the Sonar festival.

  Bands and brands (sole music): we’ve written before about Converse moving into the music space with singles and recording studios and last week, they literally moved into the space with the news that they’re to sponsor London’s “iconic” 100 Club.

  And finally, some music. The best new album I’ve heard in ages is “w h o k i l l”, the forthcoming second album from Tune-Yards. An album with deep grooves, farside funk and idiosyncratic glee galore, it’s going to slay you, baby. Here’s the first track from it.

  

  Comments (34)

• Two gigs, a documentary and THAT album

  February 21, 2011 @ 10:00 am | by Jim Carroll

  There are some gigs which have the bang of an event gig to them long before you walk into the venue. These are the gigs which many of those in attendance hope beyond hope are going to be like those fabled event gigs of old. You know the list: The Strokes, Broken Social Scene or Sigur Ros at the TBMC; Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, The National (look, you weren’t at the Cobblestones’ gig, OK?) or Jeff Buckley at Whelan’s and, for the six older readers in the audience, Oasis, Suede or Beastie Boys at the Tivoli.

  You know the feeling too: the gig when the next big thing came to town, slayed everyone in the audience and sent them home sweatin’ and testifying about what they just saw. The gig you wish you’d been at instead of staying home and watching Celebrity Lumberjack Olympics. The gig which, 10 years from now, you will say you were at because the gig has become Irish indie rock’s equivalent of the GPO in 1916. The event gig which brings out the event junkies. The event gig which the vast majority of the audience will swear blind was the best thing they’ve ever seen. This old town, it seems, has a propensity for misrepresenting ordinary gigs as extraordinary nights out. Let’s be clear, Mona’s Irish debut at Whelan’s last Thursday night was not one of those gigs.
  (more…)

  Comments (49)

• The Ticket Album Club: Elvis Presley’s “Viva Elvis”

  February 18, 2011 @ 10:00 am | by Jim Carroll

  Once a month, The Ticket convenes the Album Club. A panel of guest critics gather to chew the cud over one album and today, it’s the turn of Ticket readers to air your views on the review and the album in question.

  The album up for review this time around is a brand new Elvis album. Yep, the King is back (again) and this time, it’s Cirque du Soleil not Col Parker who are calling the shots. It’s a bloody remix album and already, we can hear the ranks of Elvis purists puffing and fuming. What we get on “Viva Elvis” are original Elvis tunes like “Suspicious Minds”, “Love Me Tender” and “Heartbreak Hotel” given a fresh lick of paint. Sacrilege or scintillating? Well…

  Cue the Album Club reviewers. The folks stroking their chin on this occasion are yer man from the telly and wireless Ryan Tubridy, actress Evanna Lynch, scriptwriter and actor Mark O’Halloran and musician Sarah Carroll Kelly AKA Babybeef. Wearing the white jumpsuit: Daragh Downes

  You can read what they have to say over here, you can listen to the album over there and you can have a little conversation about said album below.

  Comments (18)

• Shit Robot goes live, says sorry, plots world domination

  @ 9:30 am | by Jim Carroll

  Never say never. Last year when The Ticket interviewed Marcus Lambkin, AKA Shit Robot, he was adamant that there would be no live show.

  People wanted Lambkin to start doing shows to promote his “From the Cradle to the Rave” debut album, but he was not interested.

  “I’m going to resist it for now because I think it would be very difficult to put together a live show for that record”, he said. “I couldn’t have the vocalists like Ian, Nancy or Alexis onstage every night for a start.

  “If I was going to do it, I’d want to do it right. I’m not going to stand up onstage with a laptop. That would be foolish.”

  Five months later and, yes, you’ve guessed it, Lambkin is about to start doing live shows. On The Record contacted him and asked him to explain himself.

  “I was under pressure to do a live show at the time, but as I said back then, I wouldn’t have the vocalists on stage, or it wouldn’t be like a conventional ‘band’ thing.

  “But then we started to think about things a little differently, different ways of bringing the show to life, but it still being Shit Robot. We decided to build something called The Shit Robot Show. It’s based on a large screen, with me inside it, kind of like a giant DJ booth, but with me playing some synths and hardware. We’ve got some of the vocalists appearing on the screen, and some pretty cool visuals for each track. It will hopefully be a good show, I’m excited about it.”

  Shit Robot’s first live show wll be at London’s Fabric on March 4 followed by some SXSW appearances. An Irish festival show is also likely this summer.

  Comments (4)

• Now Playing – the sounds of the week

  @ 8:30 am | by Jim Carroll

  The essential tunes on the OTE jukebox this week. Please feel free to add your own selections below.

  Tune-Yards “Bizness” (4AD)

  Cracking new tune with lots of Afro-funk-punk vigour from Merill Garbus’ forthcoming second album “w ho k i l l”. Download for free here.

  Tyler, The Creator “Yonkers” (XL)

  The Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All collective’s ringleader gets ready to rumble with a brilliantly oddball tune from his soon-come “Goblin” album. Some readers may find the video NSFW. Also check out Tyler and Odd Future comrade Hodgy Beats tearing The Jimmy Fallon Show apart the other night here.

  

  SBTRKT “Living Like I Do” (Young Turks)

  The new single from Aaron Jerome with Sampha providing the vocals has the parts to make for a buckwild crossover hit. SBTRKT plays the Twisted Pepper, Dublin on February 25, while Sampha also supports Glasser at Crawdaddy, Dublin the night before.

  Charles Bradley “No Time for Dreaming” (Dunham)

  Gritty, emotional debut album from the sixtysomething soul trooper who used to sing James Brown covers in a Brooklyn bar.

  

  Various “Trax Re-Edited” (Harmless)

  Marking the 25th birthday of the legendary Chicago house label with new takes on iconic tunes from Mark Broom, Swag, John Daly and others.

  Comments (18)

• This week in The Ticket – and your plugs

  @ 8:00 am | by Jim Carroll

  When Donald met Justin: as Justin Bieber completes his quest for world domination with the release of his Biebermovie Never Say Never, he even manages to draw Donald Clarke into his world. But what did Ireland’s grumpiest film critic (that’s Donald) make of the world’s most translucent teen (that’s Justin)?

  Le Corps Mince de Francoise: Finnish girl pop with a French name? Mais oui! Or, indeed, kyllä!

  Chapel Club: Lauren Murphy hears how one of her tops for 2011 are doing ahead of their Irish gigs next week,

  Plus: reviews of music releases from Jamie XX and Gil Scott-Heron (CD of the Week slot for the excellent “We’re New Here”), Nicolas Jaar, Papercuts, Yuck, Low Anthem, Claire Maguire, Brad Mehldau and more, plus new movies on the block including Big Mommas: LIke Fathers, Like Son, Paul, Confessions, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never and Inside Job.

  All this and more in The Ticket, in print, online and the best of The Ticket on the app.

  The OTR plugs service is now open for business. Please feel free to plug and recommend stuff away to your heart’s content, but remember some simple rules. Declare an interest where one should be declared. Plugs are accepted on the whim of OTR and may be edited for length/clarity/common sense. Plugs which mention a commercial sponsor are really ads and will probably not be published in this slot. Plugs which plug the same stuff every week will also be deleted – if people ain’t interested by now, you should really get the message. They get mad when they come to raid my pad and I’m out in the nine deuce Cad.

  Comments (1)

• New Music – K.Flay, SertOne, Young Buffalo

  February 17, 2011 @ 3:22 pm | by Jim Carroll

  The latest New Music selections from the On The Record column in tomorrow’s edition of The Ticket. All tips for future New Music picks welcome below.

  K.Flay

  The only hip-hop act to feature here so far with psychology and sociology degrees from Stanford University, Kristine Flaherty is a Chicago-born, San Francisco-based rapper, singer and beat-maker with a fine handle on infectious, booming, sharp, idiosyncratic tunes. Check out her debut EP, “Mashed Potatoes” mix-tape or collaboration with French duo SomethingALaMode (video follows) for more. Thanks to FO’C for the heads-up.

  

  SertOne

  Dastardly instrumental hip-hop beats with a big dollop of electronic sass and post-Dilla style from Portadown-born, Liverpool-based DJ and producer Gareth Bosco McAlinden. Debut EP “The View from Above” out now on the new Melted Music label. Also check out his rollicking Crystal Castles’ remix on his Soundcloud page. Cheers to Cathal from the Icon show on Phantom FM for the tip-off.

  Young Buffalo

  Debut single “Catapilah” will ensure an end for the Oxford, Mississipi trio’s best kept secret status. It’s a storming, rabble-rousing folky-pop slam-dunk with killer harmonies and rebel yells – album track “Three Deep” is just as good. Expect them to feature heavily in the SXSW 2011 despatches as the new Fleet Foxes/Local Natives.

  Comments (8)