Two Door Cinema Club win Choice Music Prize Album of the Year 2010



Two Door Cinema Club celebrate winning the Choice Music Prize Album of the Year 2010



Massive kudos to Two Door Cinema Club who were last night announced as the winner of the Choice Music Prize – Irish Album of the Year 2010 for the album Tourist History (Kitsune). 

There, I said it. Although quite shocked at the event in Vicar Street, I have had some time to reflect on the outcome, and would not bedrudge the lads their success one bit. And a great gesture by donating the 10,000 cash prize to charity. Impressive.

We saw Two Door play in Dolan's early last year, before Tourist History had ever been released or even included on an ad for a mobile phone company, and they were amazing. A crowd full of revved up teenagers brandishing glow-sticks danced their socks off through the electric set, and it seemed that the lads were definitely not destined for flash in the pan status.

Sure, the album is not as delicate as Villagers/McMorrow, as completely jaw dropping as Halves or as woozily rocky as O Emperor - but it is a complete package, a sugar-rush of effective tunes that have marked TDCC out from the start as ones to watch.

The usual naysaying has begun already after the event - and I feel for the likely runners-up Villagers and James Vincent McMorrow (by all accounts in the final three along with the Bangor electro-poppers), but then this award has NEVER been predictable, has always kept people guessing, and in recent years has already rewarded the ever-so-slightly left of centre of the Irish music scene (Adrian Crowley, Jape and Super Extra Bonus Party spring to mind). I think this award is likely to propell TDCC to bigger and better things, and their acoustic set last night was a joy to behold, showing the young trio to be real musicians.

That said, Conor J. O'Brien must be gutted. After missing out on the Mercury Music Prize (which insiders believed he had a great chance of winning), many felt (this writer included) that the Choice was a formality, a done deal. Not so. Conor is gracious enough and talented enough to take it on the chin, and is clearly destined for great things himself. If there was an award for best performance on the night, Villagers would have strolled out the door and down the street with it. Not to be, however.

Another great night at Vicar Street, with great performances all round, showing the current healthy state of the Irish music scene - if it was a little reliant on the Dublin music scene. Waterford's O Emperor very  nearly stole the show on the night, and the lads enjoyed themselves afterward, but were very gracious in defeat too.

Look forward to next year.





Villagers on shortlist for Mercury Music Prize

WE ARE delighted to receive the news that Conor J. O'Brien - now better known as leader of Dublin band Villagers - has been nominated for a Mercury Music Prize for his superb, sparkling debut album Becoming a Jackal.

The shortlist was revealed in London earlier today and the winning album will be announced on 7 September.

The full list is:

Biffy Clyro “Only Revolutions” (14th Floor)

Corinne Bailey Rae “The Sea” (EMI)

Dizzee Rascal “Tongue N’ Cheek” (Dirtee Stank)

Kit Downes Trio “Golden’ (Basho)

Foals “Total Life Forever” (Transgressive)

I Am Kloot “Sky At Night (Shepherd Moon/EMI)

Laura Marling “I Speak Because I Can” (Virgin)

Mumford And Sons “Sigh No More” (Island)

Paul Weller “Wake Up The Nation” (Island)

Villagers “Becoming A Jackal” (Domino)

Wild Beasts “Two Dancers” (Domino)

The xx “xx” (XL)

A lot of great albums on there, particularly I Am Kloot and Laura Marling's offerings, which are both enrapturing. The Foals album, I thought, failed to hit the heights of their debut Antidotes, while Paul Weller's inclusion is frankly bizarre. Dizzee and The XX have immediately been installed as favourites, and after last year's Speech Debelle debacle, it is thought that the judges will be under pressure to reward a popular winner. Therefore keep an eye on Mumford and Sons, but our money is on Villagers, simply because it is one of our favourite albums, full stop. Review below from when it was released, if you need a refresher. We know that plans are afoot to bring Villagers back to Limerick also, so stay tuned here for updates..

Villagers

‘Becoming A Jackal’

(Domino)

RARELY has an Irish album release been accompanied with such universal expectation. Likewise, it is rare that such expectation is accompanied by a fulfilment of potential.This is the exception to the rule.

Villagers - essentially Conor J. O’Brien - finally release debut album Becoming A Jackal after whetting many appetites with the superb Hollow Kind EP, released in February of last year.The first Irish act signed to trendy UK record label Domino (home to Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys etc), this is an album that began life as a nameless collection of musical poems, but has become a heart-wrenching, melodic odyssey that should see O’Brien become the biggest act to come out of Ireland in many moons.

O’Brien was once in The Immediate, who imploded just as rave reviews began to see them appear set for stardom, and then spent the latter part of the last two years touring as Cathy Davey’s guitarist - notably standing out in her shows. But O’Brien was always meant for bigger and better things, such is the vividness of his lyrics, and the epic soaring scale of his vocals and musicianship (he recorded this album largely by himself with the help of producer Tommy McLaughlin).

This is quite simply a stunning album, one that will inevitably see the Dubliner compared to Eliot Smith or Conor Oberst, but there is more of a older-style feel to his debut, epic at times, subtle in others, not unlike Neil Young’s Harvest in that sense, for example.

Indeed, on the superb title track and first single, O’Brien channels Simon and Garfunkel in a song with off-kilter rhythms and popping bass lines, mixed in with soaring harmonies. It is something of a relief in the middle of two dark and subversive songs - the eerie I Saw The Dead and the unsettling and up-tempo Ship of Promises.The Meaning of the Ritual follows, one of two songs included here that was also on the EP (the other being Pieces, in which O’Brien moves from slow, Burt-Bacarach croon to a wild, howling, finish - think Radiohead recreating the Beatles’ orchestral antics on A Day In The Life), and has been tweaked to include some impressive horn sections.

But it is the gentle lullaby of Home that is the centre-piece of this album, and shows a lighter, more playful side of the musician. The Crosby, Stills and Nash-esque The Pact is another standout, as is the subtle Set The Tigers Free.Subtle is a defining word for this album, one that crawls under your skin, O’Brien’s lyrical abilities literally eye-opening in scale.

Quite simply, this is the finest Irish album released in many years.

RATING: 5/5

Album review - Villagers 'Becoming A Jackal'

Villagers
‘Becoming A Jackal’
(Domino)

RARELY has an Irish album release been accompanied with such universal expectation. Likewise, it is rare that such expectation is accompanied by a fulfilment of potential.
This is the exception to the rule.
Villagers - essentially Conor J. O’Brien - finally release debut album Becoming A Jackal after whetting many appetites with the superb Hollow Kind EP, released in February of last year.
The first Irish act signed to trendy UK record label Domino (home to Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys etc), this is an album that began life as a nameless collection of musical poems, but has become a heart-wrenching, melodic odyssey that should see O’Brien become the biggest act to come out of Ireland in many moons.
O’Brien was once in The Immediate, who imploded just as rave reviews began to see them appear set for stardom, and then spent the latter part of the last two years touring as Cathy Davey’s guitarist - notably standing out in her shows. But O’Brien was always meant for bigger and better things, such is the vividness of his lyrics, and the epic soaring scale of his vocals and musicianship (he recorded this album largely by himself with the help of producer Tommy McLaughlin).
This is quite simply a stunning album, one that will inevitably see the Dubliner compared to Eliot Smith or Conor Oberst, but there is more of a older-style feel to his debut, epic at times, subtle in others, not unlike Neil Young’s Harvest in that sense, for example.
Indeed, on the superb title track and first single, O’Brien channels Simon and Garfunkel in a song with off-kilter rhythms and popping bass lines, mixed in with soaring harmonies. It is something of a relief in the middle of two dark and subversive songs - the eerie I Saw The Dead and the unsettling and up-tempo Ship of Promises.
The Meaning of the Ritual follows, one of two songs included here that was also on the EP (the other being Pieces, in which O’Brien moves from slow, Burt-Bacarach croon to a wild, howling, finish - think Radiohead recreating the Beatles’ orchestral antics on A Day In The Life), and has been tweaked to include some impressive horn sections.
But it is the gentle lullaby of Home that is the centre-piece of this album, and shows a lighter, more playful side of the musician. The Crosby, Stills and Nash-esque The Pact is another standout, as is the subtle Set The Tigers Free.
Subtle is a defining word for this album, one that crawls under your skin, O’Brien’s lyrical abilities literally eye-opening in scale.
Quite simply, this is the finest Irish album released in many years.
RATING: 5/5

Interview with Conor O'Brien of Villagers

Raging I missed this gig in Dolan's on Sunday night, looking forward to seeing Villagers soon. Interview with Conor O'Brien below.



THERE IS a point about half-way through the second song on the Villagers ‘Hollow Kind’ EP when Conor O’Brien sings ‘For a long, long time, I’ve been in pieces”. If ever there was less-opaque lyric in a song, this might be it.
The song moves from slow, Burt-Bacarach croon to a wild finish - think Radiohead recreating the Beatles’ orchestral antics on A Day In The Life - as O’Brien bangs the piano and literally howls at the moon.
Now, it might not be fair to read too much into such a seemingly transparent theme as the one named above, so it is important to tread softly.
O’Brien essentially is Villagers, a name he adopted for his latest vehicle after the band he was in - The Immediate - broke up in 2007. It is widely accepted that the band broke up just as they were about to take off. He speaks to the Limerick Leader from RTE, where Villagers are recording a live 2FM session.
O’Brien wrote, recorded, sang and played all of the instruments on the songs on the Hollow Kind EP and seems to have a revolving cast of players when Villagers play live, as they will this month, embarking on a small Irish tour.
On the cover of the EP, O’Brien explained that he hopes to “breath new life into these compositions on stages throughout the land”.
“I like the idea of the songs taking their own form, depending on who is playing,” agrees Conor. “For instance today, I have a friend David, who plays keys but who only plays with us sometimes and has never played with Danny, who is playing bass - so today is kind of a new band and that is really interesting, it is sounding different again.
That is the exciting thing really, not trapping it too much, trying to let it go on its own course.” The obvious conclusion is that this way of working is a reaction to the demise of The Immediate, O’Brien keeping things loose and fresh rather than the opposite.
“I suppose, I don’t know,” he says, almost sighing at the notion.
“That makes sense because there is no way this band can break up, it is completely based around the songs, it is not about a group of people necessarily.
It is about the group of people performing at that time but it is very much of the now - if you had a gig it mightn't be the same a few weeks down the line - so the only way that could ever break up would be if I decide to stop writing. I guess it is less susceptible to ending, then yeah.”
There is a lyrical richness to the songs O’Brien has recorded, Down Under The Sea and The Meaning Of The Ritual and the aforementioned For A Long, Long Time, I’ve Been in Pieces sticking out particularly, folk-centered soul songs surrounded by epic pop arrangements.
O’Brien released the EP earlier in the year, after a building of hype in the Irish music scene saw Villagers become one of the hotly-tipped bands of the year.
As he has spent some of the intervening period since The Immediate split as Cathy Davey’s guitarist - and still currently is, helping to record her third album this summer - one wonders what he makes of this hype as he steps out of the shadow.
“Em, ehh, I don't know,” he mutters. “Well if you thought about it too much you wouldn't write good songs - I'm happy that my mum gets to read about in the paper, you know? It makes them think you are doing something with your life,” he laughs.
With an album due to be recorded in August - he says it might be called Becoming A Jackal - upcoming tours of the UK with Bell X1, Conor’s mum will be reading a lot more about her son. But he seems happy, the way he is working clearly quite interesting and innovative, far from the sentiment of being “in pieces”.
“Yeah it is, I think we have cracked on something that is a bit more open and exciting and not as serious. I don't know, I don't really like the idea of taking it too seriously, I prefer letting it happen itself.”

Currently on rotation

Currently on a loop on the headphones, in no particular order..

Jape - Ritual (see review in previous post re Choice Award)

David Kitt - The Nightsaver (superb new album from Kittser - sounds more like his Spilly Walker project than his previous output, some lovely quirky electro sounds running through it)

Villagers EP - Conor O'Brien's (formerly of the Immediate) new guise, the EP certainly lives up to all the hype..

Halfset - Another Way of Being There/Dramanalog (Listening to both of Halfset's albums, they're playing in the Belltable on Saurday, only a fool would miss it...)

Noel Gallagher - The Dreams We Have as Children (LIVE cd, free with yesterday's Sunday Times, recorded at the Royal Albert Hall for the Teenage Cancer Trust - old songs, B-Sides, Beatles' tunes, two duets with Paul Weller - and an unbelievable version of Slide Away - listened to this walking into work this morning, helped lift my depression no end!)