Apes and Channers and Boners at the Electric Picnic
Some great Irish bands and old indie hour friends playing at the picnic this year to check out:
Friday
Simple Kid 19:45 – 20:45 Crawdaddy stage
Saturday
Super Extra Bonus Party 12 noon – 1pm Bodytonic arena
Channel One 1:00 – 1:30 Electric Arena (pictured above)
The Jimmy Cake 1:00 – 1:30 Foggy Notions
Jenny Lindfors 3pm Body and Soul Area
Fionn Regan 5:15 – 6:00 Crawdaddy Stage
Sunday
Dublin Gospel Choir 12:00 – 12:30 Main Stage
Fight Like Apes 12:30 – 1:00 Electric Arena
The Warlords of Pez 12:15 – 12:45 Crawdaddy Stage
Halves 12:30 – 1:00 Trends Lab
The Blood Red Mountain Band 23:00…. Village Hall
The only annoying thing is there’s a lot of clashing. And I don’t mean in a nu-rave type way. Let me know if you see any boo-boos in the times above.
I don’t know about you but I think I might try to tag along with Nialler…
One Day International last Thursday
God dammit. My flatmate has been playing Peter Gabriel’s Solsbury Hill over, and over, and over for the last week. It’s because it’s his girlfriend’s favourite song, and she lives in England. So it’s quite sweet, as he’s playing it because he misses her – I just wish it wasn’t Peter Gabriel. Gagh. Please hurry up and move to Dublin, bananna!
We had a rather rich tapestry of music on the indie hour last Thursday night. We had been scheduled to have Ilya K on the show with us, but the lads’ drummer broke his collarbone over the weekend, thus bringing them to cancel all of their up-coming Dublin shows – apart from their HWCH slot – and we figured it might be better to have them in for a chat once they’d gotten over the temporary loss of a band member!
Through the fault of a malfunctioning myspace message, I only found out about the cancellation at 10pm on Wednesday night. And so it was to my mobile phone to see who I might be able to round up for an interview at such short notice.
I got to the Cs in my phonebook and came across Cormac Curran – keyboardist of The Maladies – and remembered that One Day International were due for an invite on to the indie hour. Within half an hour, I’d confirmed with Cormac and Matt Lunson that the band would be able to come down to the show the following evening, and thus my broadcasting ass had been saved.
One Day International was an exciting project to hear about, as I have a huge amount of respect for the individuals who make up the group. Matt Lunson’s 2006 album Miss Vaughan still remains one of my favourite albums, and Cormac has always wooed audiences with his piano talents and (shamefully under-used) vocal ability. Teaming up with Danny Snow on bass, the supremely talented Eimear O’Grady on cello and Ross Turner – perhaps one of the best drummers in Dublin? – the group have been letting themselves mature in the studio and rehearsal rooms, before having a gig debut at the upcoming Hard Working Class Heroes festival this year.
Pictures of One Day International courtesy of White Noise Visuals.
The band came down to the studio and played three rather gorgeous tracks for us – I was disappointed that we couldn’t have more time with them actually, but there was a lot of music to get through! We started the show with The Jimmy Cake’s The Opposite of Addiction from their album Dublin Gone Everybody Dead, as they made a very welcome return to the live circuit after a brief hiatus by playing Crawdaddy the same night as the show (otherwise I would have been there) as well as next weekend’s (yay!) Electric Picnic. We also heard LPX’s Heartbeats and Knife Attacks from his mini-album Experiments in Dub and Hi-Fi, released on Saturday in the Boom Boom Room. Nialler9 recommended the blinking brilliant Fix Up Cognac by Sixfoot Apprentice, a mash-up of Milanese’s Caramel Cognac and Dizzee Rascal’s Fix Up Look Sharp.
We also spoke to Creator about the gig in The Village, supporting Kid 606 alongside Herv. Brought to us by Fire At Night Promotions, the gig was perhaps not as healthily attended as it could have been – it was up against the mighty Battles in Tripod after all. Kid 606 wasn’t as exciting and engaging as he was the last time I saw him, but there were plenty of good moments, and the support from Creator and Herv was more than complimentary to the set up the evening. Fire At Night are due to be bringing more gigs to a venue near you soon, so keep an eye out for them.
Check out this month’s Nialler9 podcast, now available for download. It’s an electric picnic special, and hopefully it’ll be of use to some of you festival goers, although I don’t think anyone needs any encouragement in the way of getting excited about the favourite weekend of the year for most!
Until then, here’s last week’s show – enjoy.
One Day International Thursday 23rd August 2007
Halves on the radio
Tune in this Thursday at 9pm to the indie hour 103.2 Dublin City Anna Livia FM, when we will be joined in studio by ambient electro heads Halves.
Remember you can also reach us live on the wonderful web through our live streaming.
The mp3 from last week’s show with One Day International and Creator will be available for download this evening – girl scout’s honour.
Gaggh, pre-picnic giddiness!
Super Extra Bonus Party at the Electric Picnic
Super Extra Bonus Party will be playing the Bodytonic tent down in Stradbally at 12 noon to one pm on Saturday. Bright and early in Bodytonic so! Congrats to the boys, they’ll be sure to wake us up and help us dance away the hangover. I’m psyched!
I am starting to get that kid-before-christmas style excitement about the picnic. Myself and Nialler are working on the August Nialler9 podcast, which is to be an Electric Picnic special, and I’d say it’ll be up on Nialler9 by Monday.
Last Thursday’s show with the lovely people of One Day International will be up on the blog shortly.
Kid 606, Herv and Creator ticket giveaway bonanza extravaganza
Sorry, got a bit carried away with the competition title.
Readers of this blog are getting a head start on the indie hour listeners on the Kid 606 ticket competition.
I have two pairs of tickets to give away, and I will start the competition early for one pair, saving another pair for the radio this evening.
Competition question is:
Name one of the labels that Kid 606 is signed to.
Tune in this evening at 9pm on 103.2fm and be sure to catch Kid 606 with support from Herv and Creator tomorrow night in The Village of Wexford Steet.
Post your answers in the comments here or email me your answers with your full name to maffimushkalla[at]hotmail[dot]com, if you please!
One Day International
Tune in this Thursday the 23rd of August when we will be joined by One Day International for a lovely live session to warm the cockles of your hearts as you stay home in preparation for the picnic.
We will also be talking to Creator about tunes and playing with Herv and Kid 606 this Friday night in the Village. We also have two pairs of tickets to give away for the gig, courtesy of the good people at Fire At Night promotions . You’ll have to answer a damn hard question though! Watch this space, or tune in tomorrow night for that.
So tune in at 9pm on 103.2fm tomorrow night, or if you’re further afield, you’ll catch us through the live live web web.
Until then my dears…
White Noise – scratching with vowels
Cian Sayles a.k.a. White Noise joined us last Thursday night for an illuminating hour, taking us through the history of Beatboxing.
I first heard of White Noise through Super Extra Bonus Party, as White Noise features on the track Super Noise from SEBP’s debut album.
Myself, the Lovely Mary Healy, and Ian Oliver all sat in the studio while I interviewed Cian with our mouths open in amazement – it just doesn’t corrulate with your brain seeing a fella producing the sounds of drums, turntables and blips and blops just by using his voice, lips and indeed, his adam’s apple.
It was one of those great shows where I actually forgot that I was on the radio. I was completely fascinated with what Cian was doing, and I also felt that he gave a really concise and clear explanation of what Beatboxing actually is. I’m sure the workshops that he does with kids and adults are really excellent, and have half a mind of seeing if I can join in on one, after finally getting over the embarrassment of saying “freestyle” – I’m just so not hip-hop.
White Noise told us about the international community of beatboxers, working with Vyvienne Long, his plans for an album, as well as explaining the techniques he uses and how he wants to bring beatboxing away from hip-hop and into other genres as well.
On the show, we also heard Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart in tribute to Tony Wilson who passed away on Friday the 10th of August. We heard I’ve Been Waiting from Rarely Seen Above Ground, and Nialler9 recommended Crystle Cat from Dan Deacon ahead of the Crawdaddy gig the following night.
We also listened to Jake Summers from Fight Like Apes who played a great set at Eurocultured in Smithfield on Saturday. I went down to Smithfield at about 5pm – there was a great buzz, with music on in Thomas Read’s as well as some break-dancers on the main stage. I just missed Lauren Guillery & The Claws before the music in Thomas Read’s took a bit of a break, so after Fight Like Apes played I wandered home, a bit knackered after the Dan Deacon night before, missing, among loads of others, Robotnik, The Amazing Few and The Show, who I’ve heard put on a rather delightful live eh show.
There was also some great live graffiti going on around the square:
I’m sure Eurocultured will be back next summer for a third installment of the mini-festival, so hopefully there’ll be at least a sliver of sunshine next year to greet them.
We finished up the show with the insanely catchy Boyz from M.I.A.’s Kala. It’s just ridiculously dance-worthy.
So here’s a bit of white noise – prepare to be amazed and informed.
MP3
White Noise Thursday 16th of August 2007
Dan Deacon changed my life
Well, okay – he may not have changed my life but he drastically improved my mood last Friday night in Dublin’s Crawdaddy.
The day had started off in truly shit form, involving financial troubles (of course) brought to head with a spectacularly unsuccessful conversation with a bank clerk.
Conversation went something like this:
Bank clerk: “I can’t give you any money. Your account is ridiculously overdrawn.”
Me: “Yeah, I know, but the thing is, I’ll be getting some cash in a few weeks but in the meantime I just need a few euro to get a few tins of beans and some cheap white bread, and a few packets of tobacco to keep me going.”
Bank clerk: “I can’t give you any money.”
Me: “Yeah, but, I mean, it’s just that I’m a bit stuck, and I know it’s not really up to yourself, like, but it’s just, you know…”
Bank clerk: “I can’t give you any money.”
Me: “Just a tenner?”
Bank clerk: “Get out.”
Bum.
Anyway, to my immense appreciation, our guest from last week’s show So Cow had kindly put me on the guestlist for the Foggy Notion’s late show in Crawdaddy on Friday night. With a terrifying hole in my pocket, I headed off to Crawdaddy for about midnight.
I arrived just in time to see So Cow taking to the stage, starting his set with a rendition of the opening track of his These Truly Are End Times album, Casablanca. He proceeded to play through much of the album, including League of Impressionable Teens, and the very sweet love song To Do List which goes like this:
“I’ve yet to wish death upon anyone/ I’ve yet to pull the wings off a fly / I’ve yet to put a cat in a washing machine / and I’ve yet to grow tired of your smile”
So Cow put in an excellent opening set for Dan Deacon. He had pre-recorded some rather hilarious between song banter, as opposed to having to do it live. It was just himself, his guitar, and backing tracks of himself to sing along with, and I really enjoyed it. The only thing was that I was worried that he might break his glasses, as they kept flying off his head when he got into a song. (It should be noted that I’m turning into a nanna.)
The same fears about Dan Deacon’s Timmy Malletesque specs were soon allayed as Baltimore’s finest started to set up his stage area. One of the first things I saw him do was duct tape his glasses to his head. I think that may have been the first incling I got that we were really in for something special.
Dan set up his stage – which was basically just a little table with all of his electronics and ipods and bananas and pedals duct taped on to it – on the dancefloor to the left of the stage in Crawdaddy. At this point, I went upstairs in Crawdaddy to get a good view of proceedings from the balcony. Incidentally, it seems that a lot of people think the balcony in Crawdaddy is for VIPs but I’ve never seen Glenda Gilson there, and actually it’s open for everyone to go upstairs most of the time, which can be great if you like to get a good view but are a bit pit-shy like myself.
Anyway, Dan started his set with a count-down from 35 (a bit tricky for the numerically dyslexic like myself) which really got everyone psyched up – as Dan had requested, we were counting down “sassy as fuck” and by the time we got to ‘ONE!’ the crowd packed in front of the stage surrounding Dan’s little electronic trolley just kicked off straight away. There was crowd surfing, body contorting dancing, pints flying in the air, all with Dan in the middle of it getting rubs on his wee bald head while the glasses stayed perfectly in place.
What followed was one of the most up-lifting and fun and brilliant and exciting and hilarious gigs I have ever been to. I only knew the song Crystle Cat and stuff from some videos that I’d seen on The New(ish) Journalism and the web before I went to see the show, but it didn’t matter at all – especially when Dan taught us a line of the song like ‘Silence like the window that takes me….ooooooooohhhh!’ At least that’s what I thought the words were at the time – it’s actually ‘Silence that the wind overtakes me’. Anyway, he taught us the line of the song and then told us we had to find a stranger next to us and sing that line of the song to them while looking them directly in the eye. I shared a wonderful moment with a stranger, while everyone around us did the same. Then there was the dance-off in the middle of the set, when Dan got everyone to make a big circle in the middle of the dancefloor, and during the following song we got some great moves from about eight audience members, who didn’t let Dan down by truly getting into the buzz of letting go and being as ridiculous as possible!
At no point during this gig did I start thinking about bills, financial stress, whether I’d turned the gas off at home or anything – it was one of those gigs where you are one hundred percent there, and loving every minute of it. Not to get too emotional about it, but it’s gigs like that that remind you life is cool, and music is cool, and it doesn’t matter if the bank won’t give you any money for tobacco, you can still go to gigs and not drink and have a blast, and forget about all of the stupid shit that isn’t even important anyway. Dan Deacon – thank you for reminding me of this on Friday night.
The picture at the top of this post is from Dan’s myspace, as I couldn’t find any pics on the web from the Crawdaddy gig. However, I do know that nialler will be putting up a few pics and perhaps a gig rundown as well on the blog tomorrow, so do have a look at nialler9 then to get some kind of an idea of what went on in Crawdaddy last Friday night. He’ll probably have more of an idea of the line-up and what Dan played too. I was too busy dancing like a possessed aerobics instructor to take note of the song titles! I do know that he played Crystle Cat, but did not play the favourite Wham City, which is apparently about the warehouse where Dan lives in Baltimore with an artists’ collective.
In the meantime, here’s a video from a performance at Pitchfork 2007:
He mentioned that he would come back to Dublin in October or November – definitely check him out. Dan will help you melt all your worries away, in an electronic-tinged mad affair of silly dancing and fucking deadly vibes!
The mp3 of last Thursday’s show with White Noise will be up tomorrow morning, in time for the Monday morning blues.
Eurocultured and Dan Deacon
We had a great night with human beatbox White Noise last night. It were brilliant. It’ll be up on this blog for your listening pleasure before the weekend is out if you didn’t catch it live.
The Eurocultured Festival is on in Smithfield in Dublin tomorrow – it should be a really good day out, and it is completely free. I went to it last year, and it was small and friendly, with a lovely little buzz around the square. There are lots of indie hour favourites playing throughout the day, as well as workshops, live art installations, cabaret and nice grub.
I’m off to see So Cow support Dan Deacon tonight in Crawdaddy – should be a cracker. Check out the videos on The New(ish) Journalism a few posts ago. And look at the rest of the New(ish) blog, it’s terribly droll – one of my favourites in fact.
I’ll be back with the white noise mp3 in a few.
White Noise this Thursday 16th August
Ah here, tune in this Thursday the 16th at 9pm to 103.2 Dublin City Anna Livia FM, when we will be joined by Beatboxer White Noise for a few live performances and a bit of banter.
If you’re further afield than Dublin, you can catch us on the Anna Livia website for some live-streaming .
If you’re looking for a gig to go to in Dublin this Thursday, Jeremy Hickey a.k.a. Rarely Seen Above Ground (see post below) is playing in The Sugar Club. He’s deadly, so if you’re not staying in to listen to the radio (ahem) head down to The Sugar Club for some drumming action.
Til Thursday then…
The Indie Hour 
