Happy New Year etc
nialler9 December podcast – spot the Irish bands!
Don’t know about you, but I shall be spending tonight in the company of friends, playing a game of poker and enjoying a good bottle of whiskey. Or two.
Last Thursday, I had the pleasure of playing some of my favourite Irish tracks of the past year. I didn’t have enough time in my one hour indie hour to play all of them but got through a good few anyway. That podcast will be up on this blog in 2008.
In the meantime, you can have a listen to the December nialler9 podcast, which I’ve been presenting since March of 2007, and have had lots of fun doing so. The December podcast is made up of the winners of Best Irish eps of 2007, and a few of the tracks on this podcast overlapped onto the indie hour last week.
Happy New Year to you, and thank you for visiting this blog and downloading the podcast in the last year, it’s been a pleasure for me, and hope you got some fun out of it too. See you on the flipside of 2007.
MP3
The Minutes the Thursday before Christmas, and all through the station, nothing was stirring, not even a mic…
Shane, Tom and Mark of The Minutes by Conor McCarthy
Well, that’s not strictly true. Having The Minutes in to the Dublin City FM studios meant there was plenty stirring, as the lads brought along with them a bit of banter and a whole lot of Christmas craic. Ho ho ho!
I first heard of The Minutes after this year’s Hard Working Class Heroes festival, when a friend recommended that I go see them. Now, unfortunately I didn’t make it to their set, but I did download their track Harmonic from the HWCH site, and invited them on the show.
Shane, Mark and Tom came down and were the first studio guests to stand up through out the entire interview. That was their choice, and facilitated by our fancy new microphones which Santa delivered to our East Wall Road premises earlier this year.
They spoke about life in a previous band and what they learned from that, about playing great support slots, about creating a big sound with only the three of them and about the recording of their tracks down in Grouse Lodge under the supervision of Gareth Mannix.
We played through three of their tracks, only one of which is over 3 minutes and 11 seconds long, an epic at 4 minutes. The lads also recommended These Roads from Channel One, an Irish band that they respect and predict great things for in 2008.
We started the show with The Jimmy Cake, who played a Christmas show in Whelan’s on the 23rd of December. The track was untitled when four of The Jimmy Cake came to visit us a few months back, and nameless as it is, it’s one of my favourite of the album which I was delighted to get a preview of. Looking forward to the release of that in 2008.
Nialler9 recommended Have You Seen In Your Dreams from Miracle Fortress’ album Five Roses, a band whom we both saw support Final Fantasy in Vicar Street last month. We finished up the show with Sarsparilla’s Rowboat Cop from the album Karahee, and also Xmas Number One from the awesome Vinny Club. Mary Healy joined us for the gig guide, and Ian Oliver was there to take the pics of The Minutes, which will be up on this blog for your viewing pleasure soon.
So here it is, a late Christmas gift for your ipod. Apologies for taking so long with this one, but you know what Christmas is like. I got a ukulele for Christmas and have been trying to learn it since Christmas morning. Time consuming little lovable guitar thing that it is. I intend to learn lots of The Band and Beirut on it in 2008. Huzzah!
MP3
The Minutes last Thursday 20th December
Tonight…
Yikes. I haven’t posted last week’s mp3 yet. I’ve been so wrapped up in Christmas, with all the Celebration chocolates, pudding and port, that I’ve neglected my mp3 blog. God help us, everyone.
Tune in tonight from 9 to 10pm on 103.2fm when I’ll be playing through some of my favourite Irish tracks of the last year. And I’ll get the mp3 from last week with The Minutes up here asap.
Last minute christmas pressies
DVDs are acceptable Christmas presents, aren’t they? If you agree, here are a few that might fit into your friends’ stockings and are all available in Tower Records.
Hedwig & The Angry Inch
Directed by John Cameron Mitchell, who also plays the main character Hedwig, this is the definitive DVD for all of us out there who love tragedy with kickass soundtracks. Telling the story of Hedwig, a transexual who escapes from East Berlin through a doomed marriage to a US soldier, and how Hedwig overcomes the physical and emotional pain of a botched sex operation by resorting to the powers of punk rock. It’s one of my favourite films of all time.
SCRATCH
This documentary, released back in 2002, is a must have for anyone interested in DJing – but not the wedding Grease medley type DJs. With interviews from DJ pioneers such as Mix Master Mike from the Beastie Boys, Jurassic 5’s Cut Chemist & NuMark, DJ Q-bert, DJ Krush, and loads more, it gives an extensive insight into the history of scratching and indeed hip hop itself. Highly enjoyable viewing, even if it doesn’t have this amazing clip of these two young trail blazers:
Unbelievable!
Footloose
Well, come on, it’s brilliant, innit? It has one of the most hilraious scenes of all time, wherein Kevin Bacon lets go of his anger and frustration by having a major dance session in an abandoned warehouse. Ahhh the 80s.
These DVDs should all be available for reasonable retailing in Tower Records. I’m off to buy some last minute pressies myself before the show this evening.
The Minutes tonight
The Minutes by Conor McCarthy – mind, they look dangerous.
Do tune in this evening at 9pm to 103.2 Dublin City FM, when we shall be joined by The Minutes.
Remember you can get us live on-line if you’ve gone home for Christmas.
Until 9pm so…
Messiah J & The Expert
Messiah J, Twiddler and The Expert by Ian Oliver
Apologies for the delay in this post. I’ve been partaking in merriment consisting of a couple of Christmas parties, with all the mulled wine and mince pies that entails, and have only just resurfaced, already looking forward to my annual January detox. My kidneys are sore and I think my liver wants to emigrate to Jamaica.
We were joined by John, Paul and Cian on the show last week, who told us about what we have to hear, about hip hop in Ireland, Ryanair and polite hip hop lyrics that don’t focus on women’s posteriors. Messiah J & The Expert, with bass player Twiddler in tow, talked us through a few tracks from their 2006 album Now This I Have To Hear, as well as filling us in on their much anticipated follow up album, due to be released sometime in 2008. We heard FR112 and they also played a live version of Abandon Ship, both of which are on Now This I Have To Hear. We also listened to Superfamous Supertune, which is available via their website – all you have to do is join their mailing list and you’ll be sent the tune as a welcome present. Sweet!
We also spoke to Rupert from BATS, who released their debut EP Cruel Sea Scientist last Saturday in The Lower Deck in Dublin. We listened to These Ones Lay Eggs from the EP, a track which also features on the December Nialler9 podcast up on the blog now, with myself talking you through the winners of the nialler9 public poll for Best Irish EPs. The EP is available from Tower Records, City Discs, Road Records and Plugd Records in Cork, as well as on-line via Richter Collective.
We started the show with Story of Hair’s Udder, from their EP Ho!Ho!Ho! Stamp, released over the weekend in Radio City in Dublin. Nialler recommended Sunrise, taken from the debut full length All Hour Cymbals from New York’s Yeasayer, who may make it over to our shores in the new year when they hit a few venues in the UK.
The Lovely Mary Healy was with us over the phone for the gig guide, but unfortunately O2 must not have been tuning in as we lost her quite a bit, which made for not as informative gig guide as Mary usually delivers. I used to edit out any mistakes from the shows before I posted them here – mainly because the mistakes were invariably made by myself and I’m very vain – but I’ve stopped doing that and leave them in their organic state. So that explains Mary cutting in and out. In case you were wondering.
Ian Oliver was there as always and took some great pics of Messiah J & The Expert. I was in The Ambassador the following night, where they, along with Super Extra Bonus Party, were supporting Delorentos. I had come from a day long Christmas party and was rather inebriated so the air guitar was out in full force, even for the hip hop. All three bands played formidable sets; it was my first time seeing Delorentos, and I was suitably impressed by their tight set, as well as the amount of fans in the audience singing along to every word. Great to see an independent band proving that it is possible to be a commercial success without major label clout, in so far as nearly selling out The Ambassador is an indication to that. Here’s a pic from the night taken by Miss Lili, who’s rather handy with an auld camera.
Jaysus lads, we’ve packed The Ambassador! (unoffical quote – this may or may not be what he’s thinking)
So here it is – Messiah J & The Expert on the indie hour on Dublin City FM. Enjoy.
MP3
Messiah J & The Expert Thursday 13th December
So long, and thanks for all the fish
Another pressie, which doesn’t even require you to leave your house, and you may still possibly have time to order it from the BBC webshop in time for Christfest.
It’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Collector’s Edition CD, which contains both of the original radio series, first broadcast in 1978, plus Douglas Adams’s Guide to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It’s narrated by the original Voice, Peter Jones, and has interviews with cast members and the late Douglas Adams himself.
I got The Complete Radio Series from Santa last year, and it has kept me amused throughout 2007. I reckon The Collector’s Edition is a better bet, as it appears to have more stuff but is £10 cheaper.
If you know someone who loves the books, this is a great pressie as it is how the story of the celestial guidebook, Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect and Zaphod Beeblebrox was first told.
The Flaws and Miriam Ingram last Thursday
Dane from The Flaws by Ian Olvier
Last Thursday we were joined on the indie hour by Dane from The Flaws, who took some time out of recording with the rest of the band to tell us a little bit about the past year for this lot from Co Monaghan.
It has indeed been a great year for them, seeing their debut album Achieving Vagueness receive a Best Irish Album nomination at the upcoming Meteor Awards, as well as Best Irish Band.
We spoke about the recording of Achieving Vagueness, about how the lads found their sound, but also a little about their nomination to the corporate award ceremony that is the Meteor’s and the fact that they are one of very few independent bands and artists that have made the shortlist.
We also spoke to Miriam Ingram over the telemephone about the release of Trampolonica, which is a remix album of her own debut album Trampoline, which was released to much glee last October. She told us about the process of recording this remix album working with some of the premier Irish electronic artists, what is was like to hear the remixes for the first time, as well as about her progress on recording album number two.
We started the show with Lovely Allen by Holy Fuck, from their fabtastic album LP. Nialler9 recommended These Lay Waters from Adrian Crowley’s stunning album Long Distance Swimmer, which is to be released this Sunday the 16th December in Whelan’s. We listened to the original version of Inhale from Miriam Ingram’s Trampoline, and heard the Ian McDonnell remix of the same track to end the show.
Here is the mp3, and apologies for the delay.
MP3
The Flaws and Miriam Ingram Thursday 6th December
Bring The Toys!
I really must learn how to make posters smaller.
Head down to The Bernard Shaw this Thursday night for what promises to be a cracking night in aid of Temple Street & Crumlin Children’s Hospital.
The only pub in Dublin that boasts a tuck shop in the beer garden, this Thursday is your opportunity to see some of our best homegrown DJs battle it up in the name of yuletide and giving.
Neon Love a.k.a Miss Marcos and Speakertreatz vs Rock Jihad start off the night at 8pm, Large Mound Mobile Rock Disco vs Al Keegan are at 9pm, Jim Carroll vs Mark Kavanagh are at 10pm, with the night finishing up at 11pm with Richie Jape vs Johnny Moy.
So head down to The Bernard Shaw this Thursday, just before Portobello Bridge on the way to Rathmines, and don’t forget to bring a toy.
The Flaws mp3 will be up in a few hours – apologies for the delay. I’ve been shopping.
The Indie Hour 