An update on Gaggle, Valerie Francis, Lightspeed Champion and Marina and the Diamonds.

Since I'm impatiently awaiting the release of The Courteener's 'Falcon' and Laura Marlings 'I Speak Because I Can' I decided that it's the appropriate time to take a glance at the importance of the fear-inducing second album..

Similarly to my previous post concerning 5 Dublin Bands Worth Singing About I’m going to throw in some mentions of other bands that have been grabbing my attention lately, though not confined to the Dublin, or Irish, indie music scene.

Yes, I still live in the dark ages, emerging from my cave to run to the nearest music shop to buy the latest indie CD as opposed to downloading mp3’s. I just have to get the CD, with the booklet and plastic casing. I probably won’t ever get used to this modern music technology (temporarily ignore the fact I actually write for a music website) because mp3s just don’t seem real to me. An issue I have with CDs is how deceptive they can be. You wander in to your nearest music shop, and you see the CD in the shop looking so endearing. You sample 1 or 2 songs - it’s amazing! But then you bring it home and all hell breaks loose when you realise it’s not what you thought it was, much like a drunken night in Bangkok, I’d imagine. This is something I’m sure has happened to everyone at some stage (the decpetive albums, not Bangkok), not that it makes it any less irritating. Here are some prime examples: Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown...

Okay, so I’m not exactly a fan of rap music. I like Eminem and Jay-Z. That’s about as far as my knowledge of rap music expands. Surprise, surprise - I’m more partial to rock and indie music. However, when searching through linking MySpace profiles in a daze a few months ago I stumbled across London rapper Plan B’s profile. The first track I heard was ‘End Credits’ which features the electro duo Chase & Status. It’s the theme track to the recently released film ‘Harry Brown’ and is so, so catchy. Not to the stage of irritancy, more appreciation of it’s brilliance.  Here’s a taste of how great the lyrics are: “When the blood dries in my veins/and my heart feels no more pain/I know I’ll be on my way to heaven’s gate.” And that’s only a snapshot, ‘End Credits’ is without a doubt one of  my favourite songs of 2009. The video is also an intriguing affair. As expected, it features footage from the film Harry Brown (which, judging by the footage in the music video, is probably pretty good), with Plan B appearing in various different situations, one being in a police interview room and another in a pub surrounded by people who’ve been killed. At one stage he even levitates (yes, I know). If you look closely, Cook from Skins also makes an appearance!...

 I went to see Sam Taylor-Wood’s highly anticipated directorial debut in ‘Nowhere Boy’, a film depicting the teenage years of John Lennon.. In my infinite wisdom I overestimated the time the trailers would be on, so missed the first minute of the film, much to my annoyance. Set in Liverpool in the late 50s Lennon (Aaron Johnson) is torn between two very influential women in his life - his Aunt Mimi (Kristin Scott Thomas), who he lived with since childhood and his mother Julia (Anne-Marie Duff), who lived around the corner with her other children. His Aunt Mimi is a staunch, strict middle class woman with upper class aspirations. It’s noticeable that while Scouse accents are of course prevalent in the film Lennon’s Aunt Mimi never speaks with one. His mother Julia is a fun loving, creative and vivacious woman.

Having already read various books about Lennon’s life from many different angles I found it hard at times to not think “that never happened!” and “that character wasn’t really like that!”...

1. OrphanCode

OrphanCode closely rival A Lazarus Soul for the accolade of ‘my favourite Dublin band’. Their sound is very developed, free from beginner’s errors and undeniably catchy. If you have ears, and like music, then you’d be crazy not to like OrphanCode. If visual is more your forte, their video for “Last Dance” is very, very impressive. I’m eagerly awaiting the release of their debut LP, you should be too. Key Tracks: There Is a Light, No Armour. http://www.myspace.com/orphancode

2. Caruso Dubliners Caruso are a combination of folksy indie music, mainly acoustic and at times similar to REM (which is no mean feat) but are unmistakeable as Caruso chiefly due to the wavering vocals of front man Shane O Fearghail and an all over...