One reader, many wives
Robotnik and The Dark Prince of Pop
We had a rather busy evening last night on the indie hour – not only were we joined by Alastair from Le Galaxie and Ian and Adam from Various Production, we also had the pleasure of an in studio visit from Reader’s Wives aka Niall James Holohan aka The Dark Prince of Pop and his friend in musical mischief Robotnik.
Niall James Holohan talked us through the debut Reader’s Wives album, which the band are launching upstairs in Whelan’s this Saturday night. Robotnik plays in the band alongside former Happy Ganger Ben Kritikos and a host of other beautiful people, whom Niall talked about during our chinwag.
We heard Advertising Heroin and Victor’s Mother Juliet from Reader’s Wives’ album (oooh apostrophes!) and Niall sang Sexually Attracted to Myself live in the studio for us. Robotnik was surprisingly quiet for the duration of Niall’s interview, although he did sing some harmony for the live track. Perhaps he was saving himself for the Robotnik visit on the indie hour coming up on April 24th. Nice.
We spoke to Alastair from Le Galaxie about their gig in The Sugar Club tonight as part of the IMRO showcase series. Drop Le Galaxie an email at legalaxie[at]gmail[dot]com to get your hands on some free tickets for the show tonight.
We finished up the show with a chat from London’s Various Production who are playing in The Vaults tonight with Kode 9 at a Foggy Notions and Kaboogie! night. It’s 15 euro in and promises to be a bassy night. See you down there after 10pm.
We started the show with the nialler9 recommended track which was Robotnik’s People Walk Away, the first single taken from his debut album Pleasant Square to be released on May 10th. We heard Le Galaxie from Le Galaxie, and we finished the show with Hater from Various Production’s 2006 The World Is Gone LP.
So here it is – the mp3 of our Reader’s Wives, Le Galaxie and Various Production extravaganza. Enjoy.
If you could zoom into this pic, you would see that I am wearing my Well Done Fillet badge. And a threadless t-shirt. Internet.
MP3
Reader’s Wives Thursday 27th of March
Reader’s Wives tonight…
Do tune in at 9pm this evening to 103.2 Dublin City FM when we will be joined in studio by Reader’s Wives.
We will also be talking to Le Galaxie about their up-coming IMRO showcase and having a listen to a tune from their latest EP.
We will also be joined by Various Productions over the phone from London to tell us about their gig with Kode 9 tomorrow night in The Vaults in Dublin. Head to their myspace to have a listen to their Adele remix. Nice.
Chequerboard’s Penny Black
Chequerboard’s Ornithopter collage on old vinyl record jacket
Last Thursday we were joined on the indie hour by Chequerboard, also known as John Lambert. We spoke about his record Penny Black which was released in February on Lazybird Records.
Although I had mentally drilled myself before the show to not call the album Penny Lane, that was of course one of the first things I said in the interview. Not a good start so. We recovered fairly quickly though, and myself and John had a relaxed chat on a rainy night which lent itself well to the tracks from Penny Black that we heard on the show.
We listened to Toy Winds, Ornithopter and Konichiwa and John told us about the accompanying themes to the album, about his music fellowship in the Model Arts & Niland Gallery in Sligo, and about the stunning artwork connected to the tracks which can be viewed on his website.
The album itself has received glowing reviews already, and I’ll add to those by saying that one of the best things about this record is its subtlety. At first listen, it may not grab every listener, because its charm is of the understated kind, and it takes a few listens for the full complexity of John’s work to take hold of you. It’s a record to be listened to on your own, and should be allowed some time to get under your skin. Once you’ve done that, I think you’ll find that you have a record to return to over and over again. You can buy it through Road Record’s excellent website here.
We started this show with Jape’s Floating (probably the 8 millionth time I’ve played that song over the last four years but it really is one of my favourite songs of all time), nialler9 recommended the xxxChange remix of Santogold’s Les Artistes, and we finished off with The Hare from The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock who are releasing their debut album on the 6th of May.
And so, with apologies for the delay in posting, here is the mp3 of our chat with Chequerboard. I hope you enjoy it.
MP3
Chequerboard Thursday 20th March
Chequerboard tonight
Do tune in this evening from 9pm to 103.2 Dublin City FM when we will be joined in studio by Chequerboard a.k.a. John Lambert.
We’ll also be playing through a few of our favourite tracks this week, Mary Healy will be with us for the gig guide and nialler9 has a great track to recommend this week…
If you don’t catch us live on air, the mp3 podcast of the show will be up on this very blog in but a few days.
Until 9pm so…
The Holy Roman Army and the joys of live radio
Laura and Chris Coffey from The Holy Roman Army by Ian Oliver
Last Thursday, we were indeed joined on the indie hour by Dublin based (but from Carlow really) The Holy Roman Army. Laura and Chris Coffey made their way down to our East Wall Road studios to talk about tracks taken from their forthcoming debut album.
The album is still in the production stages, and so that meant we would be playing the tracks on the show from a CDR. I’m always a bit nervous using CDRs on the show, because radio station CD players can be slightly…diva-ish. They’re used a million times a day and are most probably abused a bit, so they can be a bit funny about CDRs sometimes. Most Thursdays, they’re fine though.
Not so on the night The Holy Roman Army came down with their CDR of four tracks for an exclusive play through on the show. The cd just. wouldn’t. play. Gagh! I had about eight cds in my bag, which I played on Thursday night to make up the hour. Thank goodness for The Jimmy Cake and their twenty minute songs.
I met up with The Holy Roman Army this evening in their home studio (and Chris’ actual home) for a proper chat about their impending album and what it’s like to be in a band with your big brother/little sister.
The mp3 below is the interview with Laura and Chris. I’ve decided to leave last week’s show in the ether of radiowave land, seeing as I got a bit flustered and said ‘Fuck!’ on the radio when the CDR wouldn’t play. Not very professional.
The Holy Roman Army are playing upstairs in Whelan’s on Friday the 18th of April. After hearing their tracks on myspace, I am really looking forward to hearing their album, which they are aiming to release late in the summer of this year. I expect it to do rather well, and think it should help to bring some more attention to the ever growing and ever improving electronica scene in the country.
The tracks on the mp3 below are, in the following order, Elegy, How The Light Gets In, Lastwood and Dublin In The Deadlight.
Keep an eye on The Holy Roman Army’s myspace page for when they’ll be playing near you and when you’ll be able to get your hands on a copy of their debut album.
Download away!
MP3
The Holy Roman Army Tuesday March 19th
The Holy Roman Army tonight…
Laura from The Holy Roman Army
Do tune in this evening at 9pm to 103.2 Dublin City FM when we shall be joined on the indie hour by The Holy Roman Army.
We’ll be playing a few of our favourite tunes as well as the nialler9 weekly recommended track.
Don’t fret if you will not be at home to listen to the show on the old wireless, as the mp3 of our chat with The Holy Roman Army will be available for download on this very blog in a few days.
My rhymes are bottomless…
Bret and Jermaine of Flight of the Conchords
Danny over at Speaker Speaker left a comment on the Labryinth post I put up asking if I’d seen the Flight of the Conchords’ song Bowie’s In Space. I haven’t heard that song but I have heard this one:
If you’ve yet to be welcomed into the world of New Zealand’s ‘fourth most popular digi-folk paradists’ then head over to youtube to watch some vids or get your paws on copies of the hilarious TV series. Brilliant.
Bobby’s back…
Hi-Fi Popcorn, an excellent blog which rather naughtily went missing for a few months last year, is back with a beauty of an interview.
Hi-Fi Popcorn brings you Ms Lynch, aka Shane Lynch’s two sisters from B*witched.
Head here to have a good read…
I’m sure the girls are trying to get away from the denim thing but I have to remind you of this video:
I love when the fiddly oirish bit kicks in. Class.
Carly Sings for us…
Aoife Mc and Carly Sings by Ian Oliver
So that picture of myself and Carly Sings looks a bit staged and cheesy. Oooh, we’re sharing the music etc. But actually what was happening is that I hadn’t heard Carly’s mastered version of her debut album The Glove Thief, and we were listening through the tracks to pick the ones to play on the show. And then Ian came out of nowhere and took our picture. Photographers are so sneaky.
I first heard Carly Sings when she performed an opening set for the excellent Halfset in The Sugar Club before Christmas. Shy songwriter she is not. She plays alone live, accompanying herself with a guitar. It’s not just her powerful voice that attracts, but also her composure and confidence on stage, especially when she sings the occasional rather shocking lyric. I heard that she was working with Stephen Shannon from Experimental Audio on an album, and I was looking forward to hearing the songs with full arrangements, and to see what the end result would be.
Carly came down to the studio on Thursday with rough mastered versions of her album, for an exclusive pre-view (or pre-listen) of the album which will be released in late March, early April. We talked about Carly’s very short but rich musical journey to date, about working with producers, being in love with synths and writing silly but sincere lyrics in French. Mon petite pois, indeed. We listened to The Only Human Left, L’Amour, George Emerson, and (my personal favourite) Eyes Closed from the album The Glove Thief.
We started the show with Crayonsmith’s Lost In The Forest, the first single taken from his second album White Wonder which will be released on 4th April on Out On A Limb Records. Lost In The Forest was released yesterday the 7th of March with a shindig in Whelan’s with support from Somadrone. Head to Crayonsmith’s myspace for details of his up-coming Irish tour.
Nialler9 recommended Time to Pretend from New York’s indie pagans MGMT, who are playing in The Academy in Dublin tonight. Looking forward to hearing Oracular Spectacular live. And it will be my first gig in The Academy (formerly known as Spirit).
We finished up the show with a quick chat from Phil Udell, editor of State Magazine, a.k.a. Ireland’s new music payload. He told us where the idea for the magazine came from, the process of getting it all together over the last couple of years, and rounding up some of the best new talents in music journalism.
We finished the show with Haunted Candle from The Jimmy Cake’s brilliant Spectre & Crown, which will be released in April of this year. The Jimmy Cake are featured in the first issue of State magazine, which should be on a shop shelf near you. Something that Phil made a point of was that Irish bands will be featured in the magazine, but not in a tokenistic way. Instead, State propose to treat Irish bands with the respect they deserve, and to actually write proper articles about them. Cool.
Here’s more of Carly Sings:
Check out the collection on Ian Oliver’s flickr page.
And here is the Carly Sings mp3.
MP3
Carly Sings Thursday 6th of March
For Friday…
Here are two of my favourite things:
Charlie Brown and Hey Ya!
Thank you Chelsea. You know who you are.
The mp3 of the show last night with the pretty amazing Carly Sings is on the way…
The Indie Hour 