Top Ten Gigs Of The Year - Limerick 2010

10. Speakeasy Jazz: The Freeform Foundation - Shannon Rowing Club (January)
This was our first chance encounter with the Freeform Foundation, who blazed a hole through January 2010 at the popular Speakeasy Jazz gig, their lose-flowing and eclectic rhythms washing away the cobwebs of the New Year. Superb

9. Word of Mouth Presents: O Emperor, Sons of Noel and Adrian and Alessi's Ark - Dolan's Upstairs (January)
A new tour showcase that trundled through Limerick in January, and returns in Jan '11. This gig was special for our first opportunity to breathlessly witness the live brilliance of O Emperor, whose musical tastes belie their tender years. Smashing stuff.

8. Tommy Tiernan - Thomond Park (June)
An incredible gig from the top Irish comedian of this and any year - this Thomond Suite gig was centre piece of his World Tour of Limerick series which saw the funnyman play eight gigs in eight days around the city and county. 600 people laughed, very hard.

7. Bump Muzik Festival - Clonlara (June)
Limerick's own - very special - boutique festival on the shores of the River Shannon at the Angler's Rest in Clonlara. Organised by Viva, Double Bass and Secret Stash, the finest local and international DJs bumped and grinded at this amazing location. Set to return in 2011 at a new location. We can't wait.

6. UnFringed Festival (January)
Limerick's 13th UnFringed Festival was reduced this year to five days but the programme didn't lack in depth, with 16 distinct productions being packed into the festival line-up. Superbly eclectic, and returns for an amazing 14th year in January 2011.

5. Two Door Cinema Club - Dolan's Warehouse (March)
We approached this one with trepidation; lots of hype had built up this quirky, electro-pop driven Norn' Irish trio. As it turned out, the hype was justified - a packed Warehouse danced and waved glow sticks and we left happy.

4. Bell X1 - St. John's Church (November)
The finest, most stunningly atmospheric venue in the city provided one of the best gigs of the year - a stripped back and acoustic Bell X1 playing a selection of new songs and greatest hits to a rapt capacity audience. Had the X-factor.

3. And So I Watch You From Afar - Baker Place (February)
We knew they were special (if you haven't heard their clarion call self-titled debut, get it now) but we didn't know quite how good they were live. A rammed Baker Place was treated to a smashing set of balls-out, instrumental rock and roll. Crowd surfing, moshing and grins ear to ear. Wow.

2. Villagers - St. John's Church (December)
Would have been gig of the year but for a pair of grinning, plastic bag wearing rappers. Conor O'Brien returned to Limerick 18 months since his first Villagers gig, and blew a full St. John's Church away. The album of the year also, in our book.

1. The Rubberbandits - Electric Picnic (September)
It could have been any of a number of 'Bandits 2010 gigs in top spot; the mystery Christmas gig; a UL Rag Week stormer in the Stables; a triumphant Warehouse/Panic gig in September (very special); the A Conversation With gig in Daghdha; or the recent spate of three sold-out gigs in two days in the Warehouse (an amazing feat in these times). Let's face it, 2010 was the year of the Rubberbandits, and nothing captured their seizing of the zeitgeist - ahead of Horse Outside, Republic of Telly etc - than the duo's amazing gig in the Little Big Tent at Electric Picnic on the Friday of the three day festival. Nearly 2,000 people bounced, sang along and worshipped at the feet of the 'Bandits as they threw it down royally - performing the gig of the weekend at the Stradbally fest. Quite simply our favourite music moment of 2010.

The Rubberbandits aim for Christmas number one

IN AN unlikely but hilarious turn of events, Limerick's dastardly, comedic-rap plastic bag wearing duo, The Rubberbandits, have seen their odds of beating the X-Factor and securing a Christmas no.1 slashed by Paddy Power bookmakers.

Paddy Power have made The Rubberbandits 5/4 to pip the X Factor winner to the post with their new single ‘Horse Outside’, which has clocked up an amazing quarter of a million views on YouTube in just over 48 hours.

The single is also riding high in the Itunes download charts - a best estimate was put at it being number one over the weekend - but punters seeking to secure a Christmas number one spot for the Limerick duo are being urged to wait until after December 19 to buy the song, when the sales that go toward the official Christmas top spot are measured.

The 'Bandits debuted their hilarious video for 'Horse Outside' - previously 'Amanda's Wedding' - on the RTE's Republic of Telly on Wednesday night, posting the uncensored video on You Tube not long after the show aired. Between then and this Friday afternoon, the video has been seen by more than 253,000 people.

The hip-hop duo have had an amazing year so far and are to return to Limerick in December to play two Christmas shows in Dolan's - both of which are now sold out, we are told.

For more on this story, see Tuesday's Limerick Chronicle.

Northside Learning Hub and Sunday Times Host Leviathan Political Cabaret

THE THOMONDGATE based Northside Learning Hub are to co-host the city’s second Leviathan Political Cabaret event this Wednesday. The event is being held in association with the Sunday Times and takes place in Dolan’s Warehouse.
Late Late Show band leader Paddy Cullivan (of The Camembert Quartet fame) will host the evening of musical satire and lively discussion, with a debate to be held under the heading “Is Music Worth Paying For?”, to form the central part of the evening.
Among the panel to discuss this topic are Spin South West DJ Michelle McMahon, Mick Dolan of Dolan’s Warehouse, Kathleen Turner of the ICO, Alan Owens of the Limerick Leader and Chronicle, David O’Connell, principal of Limerick School of Music, James Blake of the Brad Pitt Light Orchestra and the Learning Hub and David O’Donovan of Eightball.ie and the Limerick Event Guide.
This event is to mark the launch of the Learning Hub’s brand new Music Hub at Kileely House, which will house a fully equipped recording studio and music rehearsal space.
For more information see here. Please come out and support this event if you can.

OOAL Drop Split 7" Single This Sunday In Dolan's

HUGELY POPULAR local record label Out On A Limb Records are gearing up to “drop” a new split 7” vinyl single release from two of the countries most exciting up and coming bands, Ennis band C!ties and Dublin’s Guilty Optics, and celebrate by holding a special launch party Upstairs in Dolan’s this Sunday.
The launch party, which will feature both of the bands present on the superb new single, will also feature the excellent Jogging, who released one of the best Irish records of the year with the blistering "Minutes", and Baby Blue Eyes (featuring ex members of Limerick band Hatch 77 and Scott from Sea Dog).
C!ties, a young instrumental trio from Ennis Co. Clare, have been regualr visitors to Limerick on and off for the last 18 months and incorporate a wide range of styles, chiefly thumping electro-rock.
Their self produced EP, released in November 2008, impressed many and bolstered the young band’s reputation. The band present their wide-eyed and giddy slab of instrumentalism with “Krakatoa” on this single release, OOAL’s second split release.

Guilty Optics, on the other hand, formed more recently - in 2008 - and feature Alan Finnerty, Peter Lee and Ruadhan O’Meara and have a particular type of melodic rock’n’roll that is starting to gain them a wider reputation and offer the shuddering “White Teeth” on this single, recorded using vintage analogue equipment.

OOAL, home to Windings, Crayonsmith and more, has been noted in the past for discovering new acts, and this spilt release is no different.
Ciaran Ryan of the label says they are “delighted” to be doing a split 7" with both bands.
“Both bands played OOAL shows during our label tour in February and we were mightly impressed,” says Ciaran.
“They are two of the most exciting newish bands in the country, and sound completely different to each other, so it made perfect sense for us to throw them on a single together,” he adds.

The OOAL launch party takes place at 6pm this Sunday Upstairs in Dolan’s and it is a free show. The 7” will be available to buy at the gig and selected independent record stores. Each comes with a unique downloadable code. For more see here.

Album Review - Robert Plant 'A Band Of Joy'

Robert Plant
‘Band of Joy’
(Decca/Universal)

I, FOR one, am glad Robert Plant turned down a reported $200 million offer to reform Led Zeppelin following their reunion gig in 2007.
If the seminal rock band had reformed, we might not have seen the release of two of the finest albums produced in the intervening period - Plant’s album Raising Sand, released in 2007 with Alison Krauss, and his latest offering, the new release Band of Joy.

Raising Sand went on to win six Grammy Awards, including Grammy for Album of the Year in 2009, and was a masterpiece, Krauss’s delicate and hushed voice intertwining perfectly with Plant’s gruff, often falsetto, timbre.
This album picks up where that left off, but finds Plant with a new band of collaborators, including Nashville legend and guitarist Buddy Miller, multi-instrumentalist Darrell Scott - both of whose fingerprints are heavily featured on this album - and country singer-songwriter Patty Griffin, who manages to avoid merely copying Krauss and brings her own individualism to the project.
Band of Joy takes its title from Plant’s first group, formed in the ‘60s, and his decision to resurrect the name burns with symbolism, the former Led Zep frontman allowing the first rate musicians he has assembled to steer him back to his roots, as it were.

The album opens with to the throbbing, groaning guitar lines on an incredibly diverse interpretation of Los Lobos's 'Angel Dance' - a delicate banjo the perfect counterpoint to Plant’s dulcet tones, and the Southern blues of Miller’s guitars.
The bluegrass, brush-drum tones of ‘House of Cards’ follows, the perfect vehicle to demonstrate Plant’s vocals as they twist and turn with Griffin’s softer tones.
The slow-building exhalation of blues-rock that is Low's 'Silver Rider' is one of the most intoxicating offerings on the album, while the upbeat, chugging snarl of the Beatles-influenced ‘You Can’t Buy My Love’ is an eye-opener.
The beautiful swoon of The Kelly Brothers' Sixties soul classic 'Falling In Love Again' and the deliciously vibrant ‘The Only Sound That Matters’, provide a nice balance to the feedback drenched ‘Monkey’, the standout track on the album.
This is a majestic offering from one of rock’s most royal members; a comprehensive reworking of some old standards and classic tunes that is varied, rich and vibrant.
Truly a thing of joy.
RATING 4/5

Album review - Supermodel Twins 'Raincloud Free'

Supermodel Twins
‘Raincloud Free’
(Gohan Records)

IF EVER there was a more appropriate album title, we haven’t heard better than the much anticipated debut from local power-popsters, Supermodel Twins.
‘Raincloud Free’, unlike other obscure monikers we have heard in the past, does exactly what it says on the tin; delivering a blistering, 11-track, 35-minute collection of upbeat pop-rock songs in the mould of Weezer, Nada Surf et al, with a Beach Boys-meets Green Day dash thrown into the mix.

The album will certainly brighten up your day and take your attention away from the deluge currently falling outside your window.
This is undoubtedly the album’s strength and sees the Limerick five-piece wear their hearts on their sleeves, unashamedly allowing the above influences to ring clear on the album, avoiding any kind of pretension at trying anything other than blasting out good solid pop songs.
Produced under the expert gaze of The Cranberries’ axe-man Noel Hogan, the glossy sheen on this album add greatly to the wholesome sound - a testament to Hogan’s growing production skills.

However, and we offer this by way of constructive criticism, where the album falls down is its reluctance to vary from its obvious formula, sticking rigidly to a heavily Weezer-influenced sound, all American-twang vocals and loud guitars.
Simply put, Raincloud Free is inhibited by its style and lack of originality, but, it is fun, and there are some really decent pop songs on offer here.
The first couple of tracks set the scene and surprisingly, offer some deliciously off-kilter and quite subversive lyrics buried within the seemingly saccharine melodies; on opener While You Were Out, the singer details snooping around said girl’s apartment; on the superb One Step Behind, reminiscent of early Foo Fighters material, a song which boasts taut melodies and coruscating guitars, we hear elements of the same theme, “everywhere you go, I’ll be there / always one step behind”.
The toned down and more reflective My Girl presents engaging melodies a la Fountains of Wayne and shows more depth, as does the excellent Bruises, popping with handclaps and effervescent melodies.

However things start to unravel on the ill-advised and poppy ‘Hilary’, which includes the following lyric: “ever since I saw you in that movie / where you tried to hide your boobies”, and so on.
The zingy melody of Footprints In The Snow and soft-core rock of Modern Day Robin Hood are better, but overall this album’s lack of scope and depth proves its undoing.

Pity, cause there is some serious potential here.
RATING 3/5

Album review - Halves "It Goes, It Goes (Forever and Ever)"

Halves
'It Goes, It Goes (Forever and Ever)'
(Hateistheenemy)

TO SIMPLY label this album from Dublin trio Halves as “cinematic” would be vaguely correct, but simplistic.
While the superb opening track Land/Sea/People might indeed be at home on a Cameron Crowe or Nick Cave soundtrack, the sheer depth and variety on this album makes it too difficult to pigeon-hole into one genre.
Indeed, it would also be simplistic to simply class this highly-awaited debut album from the band as “post-rock”, but there are undoubted elements of this multi-faceted genre on what is a genuinely haunting and spine-tingling album.
The scale of the instrumentalism - deep, dark drums, soaring guitars, bouncy melodions, rich and vibrant cellos and haunting violins - present on this album is astounding, while the pacing and narrative structure are adhered to cleverly without becoming overly rigid.
This is a brooding, grandiose and epic album, but unlike the raucous noise of the undoubted influence of Scottish post-rock specialists Mogwai, there are also tender, heartbreaking vocals on It Goes, It Goes, some from vocalist Tim Czerniak and some from the haunting Amy Millan (of Stars fame) on the superb I Raise Bears and the criminally underrated Katie Kim on the unfolding rhythm of Growing & Glow.
With this release, recorded live on tape in Montreal’s Hotel2Tango studios, the Dublin trio (Brian Cash, Tim and Elis Czerniak) end a five year wait for their debut album, preceded as it was by two well received EPs.
Halves live show has long been lauded, correctly, for being a dramatic mix of sweeping visuals, guitars and live drums, but on this record they have managed the seemingly impossible; an ability to conjure up a sweeping visual vista in the listener’s mind, simply by allowing the strength and epic nature of their music to spark the imagination.
Quite simply, a brilliant record, made to be listened to again and again.
RATING 5/5