Devil in the detail for Fox Jaw Bounty Hunters

THE opening strains of ‘Thread the Needle’, the first single from the much anticipated debut album from Limerick rock band Fox Jaw Bounty Hunters, rings with a chillingly dark tone, the newly expanded four piece cleverly employing an age-old musical structure to set the scene on their newly released single.
A dark, bluesy slice of harmonica driven rock that sends shivers up the spine, the single is cleverly intended to flag the thinking behind the upcoming album’s title, ‘The Devil in Music’.
When you find yourself discussing the historical roots of a chord structure in an interview, you know you are dealing with a level of thinking beyond the banal, crash-bam-wallop of some everyday rock bands.
It seems that the affecting opening note on ‘Thread the Needle’, as Fox Jaw drummer Shane Serrano explains, is a ‘tritone’ or augmented fourth, essentially a collection of notes or a musical interval that spans three whole tones. This tone has assumed a historical reference due to its supposed “evil” connotative meaning in Western culture, which saw it referred to as ‘diabolus in musica’ - or, you guessed it, the devil in music.
“On Thread the Needle, as soon as the full band kicks in, the first chord that is played is a ‘tritone’,” explains Shane, local rocker, filmmaker, magazine editor.
“That combination of notes, back in medieval days, because of how it sounded, got banned by the church, and was referred to as ‘diabolus in musica’. The chord also actually appears a few times across the album. Although it is also known as the ‘Devil’s Chord’, we thought that sounded a bit metal-tastic, so I guess the Devil in Music felt right,” he explains.
“That is one of the main reasons for choosing Thread the Needle as the first single, as a lead up introduction as to why the album is called The Devil in Music.”
The decision to stay away from metal territory suits the band’s style, which is evocative of the louche, scuzzy tones of Josh Homme’s Queens of the Stone Age, but contains elements of Woodstock-era Joe Cocker and other reference points.
The band impressed with their previous releases, the seductive, bluegrass-riddled ‘Homeward Bound and Gagged’, and more recently, with the bourbon soaked, ‘Congress of Oddities’, marking them as ‘ones to watch’ in several quarters, including these pages.
But there has been a delay with the release of this album, an intervening period of time that has convinced Serrano and his mates Ronan Mitchell and Morgan Nolan, who formed the energetic Fox Jaw from the ashes of previous local punk bands, Fun Bobby and Natweed, to recruit a fourth member, local bass player Sean O’Mahoney.
“When the album comes out and people hear it, if we were still a three piece trying to carry off what is going on in the album, you would sense that you weren’t doing it justice in a live scenario,” explains Serrano of the album, which was recorded with Irish super-producer Owen Lewis.
“We started recording in August. We set aside two weeks and it ended up taking five months,” laughs Serrano.
“Owen did our first EP so it kind of came full circle when we went back into the studio with him and started recording. He played a very big role and has a lot of ideas. He would stop us and make sure we were doing everything perfectly.”
“We went into do it as a three piece, but when you get into the studio you get carried away with layers and instrumentation and ideas, and that is why we have expanded to a four piece,” he adds.
The result promises to be very special indeed given the band’s previous offerings, but Shane says they will be keeping themselves grounded, walking rather than running, at least initially.
“We are taking the view that you shouldn’t do anything until you are 100 percent ready,” he says.
“Nearly everything is in place now and we have never invested as much time and money and blood sweat and tears into something before, so we have to give it as much as we can. You only release a first album once.”
Fox Jaw Bounty Hunters play in Baker Place on Saturday, February 12. Thread the Needle is out now, The Devil in Music will be released in March.

Limerick's 202s come home for a rare gig

IN our ‘Ten Best Irish Albums of 2009’ we ranked the self-titled debut album by 202s as one of our favourite of the year, noting that duo Mike Glennon and Steve Melling of the band “appeared as if out of thin air” in 2009 adding that as Melling was a Limerick man, we were claiming this band as one of our own.
Melling, speaking to us recently, confirmed in fact that both himself and Glennon are from Limerick, meaning one of the most exciting Irish bands to emerge last year are indeed one we can lay claim to in these parts.

The self titled debut album, released on hip French indie label ‘Le Son Du Maquis’, was described on these pages as “dark and brooding, with a nice dash of Primal Scream in places, boasting the best use of a harmonica we have heard in years”.
The album is a diverse and varied one boasting a plethora of influences, from the coarse rock of Beck to the shimmering electro-pop of Air, and is an impressive debut from 202s (there is no ‘The’, confusingly) that was extremely unlucky not to secure a Choice Music Prize nomination.

Glennon and Melling met in Ard Scoil Ris, playing together in several bands over the last decade, more latterly with band Long Lost Brother, who released a couple of singles, but ultimately didn’t suit the Limerick duo’s tastes.
A trip to Berlin in 2006 saw the duo take to busking to earn their crust, and their sojourn among the city’s Krautrock history influenced their tastes heavily. Kraftwerk and particularly David Bowie’s Berlin-era output impacted heavily on the album, and in April 2007, they began to form the foundation for 202s.

Interestingly, the band eschewed the normal route taken by bands these days, which largely consists of bashing a single together and heading out on tour, with little experience or depth. Instead, Glennon and Melling spent time in the studio with producer Stephen Shannon of Halfset, thrashing out a “body of work” before going on tour.
“A lot of bands tend to just write a single or EP and put it out and we didn't really want to fall into that,” explains Steve, who hails from Caherdavin, while Glennon hails from Westfields.
“We said right from the outset that our main aim was to create a body of work in the form of an album and see where it went from there. We had a lot of old demos and loops and stuff that we wanted to work out so we went into Stephen's studio in Crumlin and just got to work on developing those ideas. The initial tracks were pretty good, so we decided we would progress and concentrate on developing an album.”
He adds: “Every artist aspires to making an album and it was great to be able to get it done and get it out and heard”.

The result is superb, featuring Halfset drummer Cillian McDonnell and chanteuse Carly Sings on one of the few tracks with vocals, the rather excellent Who Cares About Sunshine. The album was finished towards the end of 2008, and 202s began to concern themselves with playing live, recruiting drummer Barry Smullen as third member, who slotted in perfectly.

The interest in 202s by the prestigious French label Le Son Du Maquis, home to A Certain Ratio, rounded things off nicely.
“We had four or five tracks recorded, so we decided to put them up on the Myspace page, and the label got in touch, they found us online,” explains Steve. “As soon as we had the album done they wanted us to send it to them - we sent them little snippets of tracks as we went along and every time we did they came back very positive so by the end of 2008 they were fully on board with it. A lot of good albums are made and they don't really get heard or even put out, so it was brilliant to have it come out on a label and be supported by them.”

The French label’s involvement certainly added a weight to the fledgling 202s, with festival slots, including one heralded appearance at Oxegen last summer, arriving in spades.
They plan to tour in France at some stage this year, but first up is a rare gig in their home town this Friday night, with the excellent Patrick Kelleher on support duties.
“Yeah it has been a while,” says Steve. “We were down twice last year (but) we wanted to go for something a bit different and mix it up this time. I haven't played in Baker's for a long time, so I'm looking forward to it.” He adds: “It is always good to go home and play a show”.

We couldn’t agree more.

202s and Patrick Kelleher play in Baker Place this Friday night.

Niall Quinn of The Hitchers reinvents himself as Theme Tune Boy

THE CHAMELEON-like Niall Quinn, former drummer with The Hitchers and late of local rock band The Pennywhores, has re-invented himself again, returning to Irish stages as frontman with his “Theme Tune Boy” moniker. The Hitchers, arguably one of the finest bands to emerge from the Limerick music scene, celebrated the 20th anniversary of their formation with their annual Christmas gig last December, a gig the punk-rock foursome have played every year since they formally disbanded in 2001.
From their beginnings playing a gig as a raw band in Limerick Youth Service in 1989, the band went on to bigger and better things; debut album 'It's All Fun and Games ‘Till Someone Loses an Eye' got rave reviews and was hailed by NME as “a work of lyrical genius”, while debut UK release 'Killed It With My Bare Hands' was heralded by BBC1 DJ John Peel, who continued to play the Limerick band’s single ‘Strachan’ right up until his untimely death.
This was the original Limerick rock group, formed as the Hogan brothers and Mr Lawler also started getting their act together and auditioned one Ms O’Riordan, but they decided to call it a day in 2001.
However, the band released a single, Austin Cusack, to coincide with their Christmas gig, and thinking about it now, Quinn says “if we had taken a longer look at it, we probably wouldn't have split up at all”.
“When we broke up we were of the opinion that it was not going to be practical to run this band, but nowadays with the internet and so on, I can record here, Andy (Gallagher) can record in France, Hoss (Carnage) can record in Dublin and we bring it all together.
It is possible we will do something again, I'd love to do something again, but it depends on what humour they are in when I meet up with them this week,” laughs Niall.
Looking back, the amusing Quinn clearly has fond memories of his time with The Hitchers, who also included Eric Fitzgerald.
“We had some great craic with it. In some ways I feel a bit like Johnny Giles about it, looking back on the Irish teams of the 60s and 70s - we had the players, but just didn't get the bounce of the ball, dodgy refs or whatever,” he laughs.
His former band aside, Quinn has re-invented himself with the moniker of Theme Tune Boy, enlisting the help of Dutch punk legends Cooper to fill the void of his former bandmates. The moniker was a necessary one, for obvious reasons.
“I have been working on a record under that name,” says Quinn, “I needed something else to go as, because if you do a Google search for Niall Quinn, the first 20 pages don't pertain to me at all. Even after the soccer player, there is a playwright called Niall Quinn, a racing driver and a singer songwriter from London as well,” he laughs.
The involvement of the Dutch punk band has “taken me out of my comfort zone”, he explains.
“I was going to do it all myself, because I am a bit of a jack of all, master of none when it comes to instruments, but a few mates of mine, including Cooper, heard the demos and were in the humour to help out. I am very happy with it.
To a degree you kind of have to give them the ball and let them run with it, which I found very threatening initially but now I am settling into it. It is comfortable and exciting that somebody else is taking a producer and arranger role on the thing, and you just have to roll with it a little bit.”
The first single from Quinn’s new solo offering was the short, frenetic burst called ‘Rose’, which clocked in at a mere 53-seconds, but was typically high-octane. The debut Theme Tune Boy album will be The Return of the Living Dead, but don’t expect Quinn to conform to anything resembling fashionable music.
“It is just me writing songs, there has never been a ten year plan. I just write and I am too long in the tooth to be trying to follow anything fashionable, so what is written is written basically,” he laughs.
The singer-former drummer will have his work cut out for him this Saturday night - and fans of the Hitchers should take note; not only will Niall Quinn take to the stage as Theme Tune Boy, his old bandmates will also regroup for the gig, and will be joined on the night by Cooper themselves. The Hitchers, Theme Tune Boy and Cooper play in Baker Place this Saturday night.

Baker Place fifth birthday celebrations begin this Wednesday

CHOICE MUSIC prize nominees And So I Watch You From Afar are to play a free gig in Baker Place this Thursday as part of the venue’s fifth birthday celebrations.
Baker’s are running five days of free gigs from Wednesday to Sunday this week to celebrate their fifth birthday, and the mighty Belfast band - who played 170-plus gigs in 2009 - headline proceedings on Thursday night, along with rockers Maslow and Cork band Hope is Noise.

Baker Place his firmly established itself as the premier alternative music venue in the city, boasting an upstairs live venue and the cavernous Underground downstairs club area, which regularly hosts premier DJs and live gigs.
Over the years Baker’s has played host to any number of top up and coming Irish bands, including Super Extra Bonus Party, Fight Like Apes, Messiah J and the Expert and The Infomatics - plus Limerick’s own Giveamanakick, while remaining fiercely loyal to the local Limerick music scene, where many of the current bands and artists have first cut their teeth on the live scene.

The venue is to host five consecutive nights of free gigs, beginning this Wednesday night with an acoustic night including Benoit, Paddy Mulcahy, Scully and the Misfits and the Built For Comfort. Thursday sees the aforementioned rock juggernaut of And So I Watch.. take to the stage, and Baker’s advise that interested parties “come early so you can get a good spot for the blood sweat and tears that will be unfolding”.



On Friday night popular local rockers The Fewer The Better (pic above) launch their new EP, with support from Jester, Odd Stocks Revival and Pet Hates, while local band Idle Hands will play their last ever gig in their current line-up on Saturday night, joined by I Caught Fire, Ka Tet and Brain.
Irish rap veteran Ri-Ra - formerly of ScaryEire - will perform live in Underground on Friday night while Sunday is the purview of the many metal bands that play regularly in the venue on a Sunday, including Clurichaun, Brigantia and Shardborne.
Fundraising for Serve, an initiative committed to tackling world poverty, will also take place over the course of the five nights.
(Interview below with And So I Watch You From Afar)

BELFAST four-piece And So I Watch You From Afar are a gargantuan rock outfit that released one of the finest albums of last year, deservedly securing a recent Choice Music Prize nomination for their self-titled debut.

The instrumental four-piece have also gained a warranted reputation as one the most exciting live bands currently on go around Ireland, a reputation built up from playing 170-plus gigs last year.

Their gig in Baker Place last year was an awesome experience; a sweaty extravangaza of powerhouse rock and innovative rhythms. The band return to Baker Place this Thursday to help the alternative music venue celebrate their fifth birthday with a free gig.

It wasn’t hard to persuade them, as drummer Chris Wee tells On the Beat that playing in Limerick is an exciting experience.

“The crowds in Limerick are mad, they really go for it,” laughs the drummer, speaking as the band finish a UK tour that saw them play to sell out crowds - an indication of their growing presence and profile.

“There are some places you can turn up to in England and they are a bit stagnant, you know? There is a bit of pretence about them, then you come down to places like Limerick and people are a lot hungrier for it, which certainly adds to our own energy,” says Chris.

“Energy” simply doesn’t really cut it for a band whose tagline is “we are the bull, you are the china shop”, and with songs like Set Guitars to Kill and Clench Fists, Grit Teeth...GO!, can whip an audience into a frenzy with their music, which clearly owes a debt to post-rock pioneers like Mogwai, but it is still staggeringly original and inventive, fusing dreamy melodies with balls-out rock and roll.

Instead, Chris and his fellow members - Rory Friers, Tony Wright and Jonathan Adger - perform a live set that is akin to say, going 14 rounds with Mike Tyson.

“Yeah, my arms can feel like that sometimes,” laughs Chris. “There have been a lot of energy drinks imbibed over the last year - we could do with not having so many. I think that is a good thing about touring so much because our sets are so high energy, it is all-out physical endurance for me and the other guys.”

He adds: “I love it. That is the way we like to play, especially with the live stuff. Obviously we have quiet songs like the Voiceless - but it is all about providing a show for people that they can really enjoy and engage with, and we like to be as mad as possible.”

The band have cemented a cast-iron tautness about the way they play, thanks to the incessant touring in 2009, which included shows at Pukkelpop in Belgium, Glastonbury, the Eurosonic Festival and a high-profile run of shows in Ulster Hall in Belfast.

They have no intention of resting on the laurels of critical acclaim and award nominations however, with the EP ‘Letters’ due out in February and a follow-up album due in the Autumn. “We are going to try and be as busy as we were before, but we are also going to try and get this album done. I think we have always believed in what we are doing and written what we wanted to write and people respect us for that. It is great to be acknowledged for that.”

And So I Watch You From Afar play in Baker Place this Thursday and admission is free.

Kiernan McMullan plays in Baker Place this Friday night

EXCITING young performer Kiernan McMullan takes to a Limerick stage this Friday night for the first time in many moons. It will also be the last gig for the foreseeable future for the Killaloe singer-songwriter, as he gears up to return to America, where he has spent the last year touring incessantly.

This might just be the hardest working young man around. Despite being signed to Brad Fischetti’s One Eleven (111) Records - an Orlando based record company with a Warner Music distribution deal - before he left these shores in November ‘08, McMullan grafted his way around the States, building his profile and playing whatever gigs he could get.

Forget glamour; Greyhound buses and hitch-hiking was the order of the day, before he eventually got himself a van and onto a couple of national tours.

“I did four national tours, two of which were package tours, which were good and meant I was getting on tours where the rooms were going to be full anyway, the other acts were drawing the people, was nice, because I was able to get a lot of CDs out,” explained Kiernan.

The graft was good for Kiernan it seems, no stranger to travelling, having spent time in various parts of the world before moving to Ireland about nine years ago, attending Villiers School in the city.

“It is amazing, you don't think you are able to do something until you have to do it. When I decided to go to America, at first the idea of hitch hiking and bussing seemed like a stupid idea. (But) I went and did it like that from the start and got the van and the tours - slowly but surely after the year and three months, my playing has got a whole better I think, more confident, and my ability to survive has improved,” he laughed.

The 23-year old first came to our attention several years ago with the release of his lo-fi debut ‘New Age Robin Hood’, before he upped his game on the Grouse Lodge recorded Perfect People Are Boring in 2008.

Now, he is set to release an acoustic EP, called The Best Part - the first of several changes for the young singer.

“I am still working with 111 Records, but I am leaving the label. I am starting my own label called About Sound Records, mainly as an outlet for my own stuff, but I would like to build it up over the next few years into a real label, one worth signing to.

“I wanted to have an acoustic EP so people could have the songs I have been playing live as well. There are six new songs. I am really happy with it.”

Before he goes again, catch Kiernan - along with David Hope and Adam Hourigan - in Baker Place this Friday night.

Interview with Oppenheimer's Shaun Robinson

IT IS hard not to feel like a bad omen when two days after On the Beat interviews Shaun Robinson - singer and drummer with Belfast indie-electropop duo Oppenheimer - the band announce they are to “take to the stage together for the last time” next weekend.
This is after a very pleasant half hour interview with the amenable Robinson, during which he makes no mention of the band splitting up, except for a number of pointed allusions - at least they look that way now - to the fact that they will have to “see what happens in the future” with regard to touring and recording in 2010.
So, Oppenheimer - also made up of guitar/synth player Rocky O’Reilly - are to split, but at least are to play one of their final gigs in Baker Place this Thursday night, giving the gig an extra edge for those who attend.
The band formed over five years ago as a result of a mutual love for ‘Moog’ synthesizers, and have released two albums, their 2006 self-titled debut and their Choice Music Prize nominated follow-up, Take the Whole Midrange and Boost It, one of the albums of 2008 in our opinion. Their music was/is beguiling; an exuberant and sweet concoction of synths, guitars, backing tracks and drums - a high-energy sugar rush of electro, indie and pop music.
The strange thing is, the band are calling it a day after a national tour with Bell X1 and two American tours that saw them open for the Presidents of the United States of America and OK Go, while their music has featured on shows such as Ugly Betty and Gossip Girl.
They also toured for five months with They Might Be Giants in 2007 and 2008, but it now seems the strain of touring was too much for Robinson, as a message on the band’s website says “the level of commitment, passion and drive” he can give to the band has changed.
“Shaun has realized that in order to fulfil his hopes and dreams he needs to take a new and different path in his life,” reads the statement.
Speaking to On the Beat last week, an upbeat Robinson said the band had had “another good year”, despite the announcement that was to come just days later.
“Yeah we have. We had quite a busy and a bit of a strange year,” he explained. “We toured with the Presidents for about a month - they are a bunch of really nice people. I got married in April, I married an American girl and Rocky and our sound-man came over for the wedding and we hit the road straight after that - literally I had a two day honeymoon and then it was into the back of the van to drive up to Rhode Island,” he added.
Although the ramifications of this trip might be clearer now, Robinson said that his new wife quite enjoyed this novel honeymoon experience.
“She didn't mind, she actually joined us for the first couple of nights and then went back to New York while I stayed on the road. That was a fantastic tour and we got to play places that we never have before. We ticked another state off the list - so we have now travelled through 46 of the 48 continental states. We've kept ourselves busy.”
Looking back to their formation, Oppenheimer started off as a simple set up; two musicians and one computer, plus loads of backing tracks.
“We started off in a spare room in Rocky’s house with an old vintage synth, playing along to a crappy drum beat that we programmed,” laughed Shaun.
“We were both interested in making wacky noises, but over the years it has moved away from that; Rocky is a big fan of heavier rock music, so it has a harder edge now that we have gone out and toured so much. There is a lot more stomping on distortion pedals than there was in the beginning.”
Looking to the future, Robinson is less effusive, understandably so given the announcement that the duo are to go their separate ways.
“You know what, it is all in the future, we are just going to have to see what happens,” he said. “Who knows what tomorrow holds? Walt Disney might ring up and say we are going to use your song for the theme tune to our new movie - and Rocky and I will have a money fight on a Caribbean island,” he laughed.
Whatever about Walt Disney and the future for this twosome; Limerick audiences have a chance to see Oppenheimer in Baker Place this Thursday night, probably and unfortunately for the last time.
For more see here. Doors at 9pm this Thursday in Baker Place.

What's on around the place tonight and the weekend..

FREE gig in Dolan's tonight as Live 95FM presenter Alan Jacques serves up three bands for your delectation..

Top of the bill is Dublin five-piece Heritage Centre, who are promoting their debut EP 'The City, The Tree and The Fox'. Haven't heard it yet (sitting on my desk at home) but their sound is described as somewhere between Weezer, Elliot Smith and Pavement. Now there's an eclectic bunch you wouldn't normally see in the same sentence.

Support from acoustic pop duo Star Crossed Enemies and Limerick's own Pio. Upstairs, Doors from 8pm.

Also tonight, American guitarist, composer and instrumentalist Gyan Riley takes to the stage in the Warehouse, a guest of Limerick Jazz Soc. Should be a good one. 8.30pm.

Out in UL, students from from the Irish Academy of Music are to play a 24-hour session this Thursday in order to raise funds for a fellow musician.
24 beats in a bar will begin at 10pm and the music won’t stop until 10pm on Friday. The 24-hour gig is in support of Luis Asturias, a Spanish musician who has lived in Ireland for the past 12 years.

Another FREE gig in Baker Place this Thursday as The Buzzmonkeys, Drumming Room and Hammered all play in the Tait Square venue.

Onwards:

Friday:

Baker's - Idle Hands/ Underground - Nu Killa Beats (9th Birthday)

Dolan's - Mark Geary (Upstairs - 18 bobs) / The Truth (Warehouse - 12 bobs)

The Club @ Au Bars - The Release Party (it's great fun - 11pm - 5 bobs)

LIT Millennium Theatre - Mundy (20 bobs - 8pm)

Trinity Rooms - The Block (9pm - free until 11pm - 8-10 bobs after)

Saturday:

Baker's - Built For Comfort, Beastmen (6 bobs) / Underground - Roots Factory - Brother Culture

Dolan's - Franz Ferdinand (Warehouse - sold out)

Trinity Rooms - Paul Webb, Mac 3, A2DF and Leon (9pm, free before 10pm, 10 bobs after)

Sunday:

Baker's - Bad Reputation present: Defect, 6 Feet Or Above Ground, Raised To The Ground

Trinity Rooms - I Love the 90s (Free before 11pm, 5 bobs after)

Best of 2008...

Haven't done much with the blog since I finished work on Christmas Eve, and since I'm not back in work until this coming Monday, I don't have much of a preview for this year worked up.. be patient, it's coming.. However, I have assembled a list of bests of from 2008, gigs, albums, dvds, books - you get the picture... Enjoy. Oh, and happy new year!

Ten Best Gigs of the Year:

10 The Brad Pitt Light Orchestra - Limerick City Gallery of Art (October 17): Theatrical and exciting ensemble - and one of Limerick’s best up and coming bands - performed in the Gallery’s main collection room. Priceless art and superb musicianship equals a winning combination.

9 Hot Chip - Trinity Rooms courtyard (May 13): Felix Martin and Al Doyle took control of the decks in a heaving courtyard on a balmy June night (the rain almost stayed away entirely). ‘Over and Over’ and ‘Ready for the Floor’ in particular, will live long in the memory.

8 Roisin Murphy - Dolan’s Warehouse (December 2): Dozens of costume changes, stunning visuals, a two hour set and the backing of a full band and even still Roisin Murphy’s star power shined through. Superb.

7 The Infomatics - Baker Place (April 4): Five-piece Irish hip-hop oufit launched their excellent debut album ‘Kill or Create’ in the Tait Square venue, and almost blew the roof off the place.

6 Dolan’s 10th Anniversary festival - Limerick Docks (May 2-4): Limerick joined the Irish festival circuit as Sharon Shannon, Shane McGowan, Mundy, The Zutons, Delorentos and The Sawdoctors arrived in town to celebrate ten years of music in the Warehouse. Abiding memory will be of three Ban-Gardai dancing to the Sawdoctors among thousands of happy fans.

5 Lisa Hannigan - Belltable (August 8): Jaw-dropping performance by Lisa and friends in the Belltable Arts Centre, the former Damien Rice collaborator’s first solo show in Limerick. A bunch of artists playing with broad smiles on their faces - and why not? Superb songs and a girl with talent to burn. Would go on to repeat the same magic in the Jean Monet theatre in UL in September.

4 Norman Jay - Augustinian Lane (September 27): This DJ - considered a legend in his field and the only DJ to receive a knighthood - played not one, but two gigs in the first Sol-sponsored End of Summer Carnival in September. It was the second, on a Saturday night in the laneway outside Mickey Martin’s that was the highlight, a ‘festival set’ that blew everyone away.

3 The Belltable Sessions (September 4) - Hard to pick one gig from the six that have taken place, but the third Belltable Sessions - and the last in the Belltable before the relocation to Red Cross Hall - was the moment the acoustic gig came of age. Featuring elegant harpist Sí, local rockers Walter Mitty and the Realists, Nick Carswell and the Elective Orchestra, and the excellent Juno Falls - all live and unplugged. Look forward to the new series in January.

2 The Swell Season - St. John’s Church (November 28): Almost the best gig of the year, just narrowly beaten. Nonetheless a superb gig by Oscar winners Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (plus band) in the atmospheric surroundings of St. John’s Church, surely the best indoor venue in the city. A two hour set - they played 20 songs, I counted - that contained songs from the movie, Frames songs and a solo-Hansard finale called ‘Limerick Town’ that brought the house down. Simply put, we demand more gigs of this standard in a venue that befits the strength of the music.

1 Brasilintime - Trinity Rooms courtyard (May 4): The second courtyard gig on this list was also the best of the year, hands down. Also the best outdoor venue in Limerick, hands down. Organised by local man done good, Brian Cross, the gig saw a mixture of beats, samples and breaks from world class DJs Madlib, J-Rocc and Nuts, who were joined by corsucating drumming from the legendary Tony Allen and Brazilians Conti and Paryhba that had the crowd whipped into a frenzy. We can’t wait for Summer ‘09 and a return to this courtyard.


Best Albums (Irish): Very difficult to narrow this list down from the minimum 15 albums that were all in contention. A bumper year for Irish music.

5 Rarely Seen Above Ground - Organic Sampler: A one man tour de force, Jeremy Hickey, presents a Talking Heads-esque offering that is as dark and multi-layered as it is disparate and imaginative.

4 Autamata - Colours of Sound: Multi-instrumentalist Ken McHugh’s impressive electro-pop album. Features guest vocals from Cathy Davey.

3 Halfset - Another Way of Being There: Beguiling album from Dublin collective Halfset. If you thought Dramanalog was good, wait until you hear this.

2 Jape - Ritual: Jape - aka Richie Egan - comes of age; rocky, dancey and witty in all the right places. A superb follow up to laid-back debut album 'The Monkeys in the Zoo Have More Fun Than Me'.

1 Lisa Hannigan - Sea Sew: Excellent solo debut from Damien Rice’s former muse, without a doubt the best Irish album of the year and a shoo-in for the Choice Music Prize. Subtle and tender, yet bursting with vitality and the sound of a bunch of musicians enjoying themselves.

(Honourable mentions: Colm Mac Con Iomaire - The Hare’s Corner; Messiah J and the Expert - From the Word Go; Armoured Bear - Honeycomb Moons; Fight Like Apes - ..and the Mystery of the Gold Medallion; Giveamanakick - Welcome to the Cusp; Chequerboard - Penny Black)

Best Albums (Rest): Two newcomers, one Mercury Prize winner and two of the most original bands in world music, almost impossible to choose between them.

5 TV on the Radio - Dear Science: If you manage to achieve the near-impossible and stop yourself from listening to opening track Halfway Home on an almost constant loop, you’ll discover an album that is inventive and surprising - and one that carries real weight.

4 Sigur Ros - Med Sud í Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust (or With a Buzz In Our Ears We Play Endlessly): The closest the Icelandic outfit have ever come to a pop or rock album. Superb and mystifying in equal portions.

3 Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid: This Mercury Prize winner pushed hard for the number one spot, just losing out to two exceptional albums. This album saw Guy Garvey and his mates finally receive deserved recognition after a decade in the wilderness.

2 Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago: A haunting album that stemmed from Justin Vernon’s sojourn to a deserted cabin, following the breakup of a relationship. Surprisingly uplifting.

1 Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes: What can we say? No contest, this is the best album of the year. An eye-opening pastoral folk-rock album, stuffed with Americana and the sort of intertwined harmonies that Messrs Crosby, Stills and Nash would be proud of. Simply superb.

(Honourable mentions: David Holmes - The Holy Pictures ; Last of the Shadow Puppets - The Age of the Understatement ; Joan as Policewoman - To Survive; Nick Cave - Dig, Lazarus Dig!!!; Glasvegas - Glasvegas; Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree)

Five of the worst (in no particular order):
The Script - The Script: Don’t make me laugh.
Snow Patrol - A Hundred Million Suns: Formulaic. Try something new, please.
Guns ‘n Roses - Chinese Democracy: How many years were we waiting for this again? Yawn. Razorlight - Slipway Fires: Someone arrest Johnny Borrell for crimes against music.
New Kids on the Block - The Block. Good lord, they must have been broke to even contemplate releasing this trash. Give me Boyzone, Take That or Westlife any day.

DVDS:

The Dark Knight: Sprawling and confusing, yet Heath Ledger’s stunning performance saves this movie.

The Wire: Best piece of advice this year? Buy the box set of all five series of this gripping and hard hitting television show, the fifth and final series of which finished this year. More addictive than caffeine and that is putting it mildly.

Band of Brothers: Technically not released this year but a collector’s edition was with all sorts of special features. Available in shops for just more than €30, a bargain.

Wall-E: Funny, moving, sad, vibrant - all about a robot that can’t speak. Would love to have heard that idea being pitched to movie executives.

Man On Wire: Dizzying (literally) documentary about Philippe Petit's 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of New York's World Trade Center. Try not to look down.

BOOKS:

Blade Runners, Deer Hunters and Blowing the Bloody Doors Off - Michael Deeley: British film-producer Michael Deeley tells a warts and all tale about his time in the film industry.

John Lennon, The Life - Philip Norman: Yoko Ono disapproves, so it’s a thumbs up from us.

Up Till Now - William Shatner: Hilarious autobiography that reveals the level of Shatner’s hugely inflated ego. The funniest book of the year.

Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets - David Simon: Written in 1991, but re-released this year as a result of the growing success of The Wire, the tv series which spawned from David Simon’s year on the streets of Baltimore with three police detectives. Eye-opening.

The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga: Brilliant debut novel by Adiga, dealing with poverty and injustice in India, which scooped the Man Booker Prize this year.

Living for the weekend

Loads happening at the weekend around town, here is a very quick run down, more detail to be had from the Limerick Leader website:

Fri:

Jack L in the Warehouse (not my cup of tea but the man can sing)

The Fewer The Better in Bakers (crash bang wallop, go on the lads)

Nu Killa Kru host an Xmas bash in the Underground

Sat:

Giveamanakick do Giveamanachristmas in Bakers (with Brian O'Brien of Roper fame)

Stone Roses Experience in the Warehouse

Sun:

Nick Carswell & The Elective Orchestra's Midwinter Xmas Xtravaganza, Upstairs in Dolan's (More detail on this to follow - free mulled wine and mince pies - I'm in)

In the meantime I'm off to Kings of Leon in the O2 tonight, woop! Pity about the name but I missed out on a media tour of the completely remodelled Point some time ago so can't wait to see if all the hype is justified. M83 play support (superb French electro-crazy outfit) and rumours still abound that U2 will feature at some point. Get in!