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Hi folks,
Our latest signing R.S.A.G. has been rocking Irish/UK/French crowds with his one man live show.
Here's some details and reviews on the his debut album.
If you'd like to buy the double album 'Organic Sampler' roll here : http://www.psychonavigation.com/organicsampler.html
Hope to see you at one of his forthcoming gigs!
Peace
Psychonavigation
RSAG (aka Jeremy Hickey) is a multi-instrumentalist who records, performs and produces all his own material. The 'Organic Sampler', is musically many steps further and sideways, and the genesis of the new visual experience - sound and vision hand in hand - is a multi-media rock and roll cornucopia; the future is here - look and listen.
Live RSAG plays drums / percussion and sings. The backing tracks are recorded in his studio. Visually, he has created a virtual band which is projected on a screen behind him. Think of Joy Division, Talking Heads, Fela Kuti, New York Rockers, ESG with the visual impact of the Gorillaz.
But rather than the use of animation, he aspires to a sort of shadowplay; a show of silhouettes of himself, which he utilises on disc. Think of what DJ Shadow done on his live tour of The Private Press. The impact that visual representation can have on a live show. This is so much more than just music, it is a friendly, full-sensory virus with no known cure. Get the illness soon, you deserve it. http://www.myspace.com/rarelyseenaboveground
R.S.A.G. Reviews / Quotes:
Well grounded
CD CHOICE: R.S.A.G., Organic Sampler, Psychonavigation
*****
You may well wonder why a solo project from the former drummer with Kilkenny band Blue Ghost demands your attention. You've got other things to do, people to see and starry Next Big Things to check out. You don't really have time for a bloody drummer from the Marble City. Sure, he could be the new Phil Collins for all you know.
The first track on Jeremy Hickey's latest release as R.S.A.G (as in Rarely Seen Above Ground) is called Counting Down , and it lasts for just under two minutes. You can spare two minutes, can't you? That's the same time you'd probably spend waiting for a bus or stuck in your car on the road into town. Yeah, you can spare it.
By the time Counting Down has finished pounding and pumping an exotic and mesmeric tattoo into your ears in the nicest and funkiest way possible, you'll be hankering to hear more. Take your time - you're going to be coming back again and again to this album in the weeks ahead.
There are many elements which make Organic Sampler such a wow. Hickey's sense of scale and ambition is remarkable, and each track leaps out of its skin because the producer won't settle for the mundane. Here's someone who is determined to get what he hears in his head down on disc.
His grooves are extraordinary, a heavyweight percussive storm conducted by the lightest and finest of touches. Hickey's David Byrne-like yelp gives the album a touch of the Talking Heads, but there's nothing wrong with that.
Put all this together and you have tunes that are compelling, dramatic and exciting. Every track clicks into its stride, makes for the higher ground and hits the target. Other albums may shout about their merits, but Hickey is one worth listening out for.
www.myspace.com/rarelyseenaboveground
JIM CARROLL
Download tracks: Counting Down, The Climb, Moving Image
© 2008 The Irish Times
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R.S.A.G. (His “Organic Sampler” album will rock your world) Jim Carroll (Irishtimes.com)
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http://entertainment.ie/album-review...mpler/6001.htm
R.S.A.G. - Organic Sampler
A few years ago, Jeremy Hickey was merely the modest sticksman in Kilkenny band Blue Ghost (no, you won't have heard of them). These days, if the rumours are to be believed, he's one of the most innovative and astonishing Irish musicians around. The fact that he performs solo with a 'virtual band' projected onto a screen, Gorillaz-style, doesn't harm his reputation as a trendsetter-of-sorts; but then again, neither does his debut solo offering under his Rarely Seen Above Ground pseudonym.
Comprised of two discs – the main album and a bonus disc containing mostly instrumental doodles – Organic Sampler is, quite simply, an extraordinary record. The depth of scope and enterprise is palpable on every track; from the powerful, bleak opener Counting Down to the trim groove of Talk Back Crawl Back and the lithe squall of The Climb, there's a sense that Hickey is constantly striving to create something never heard by human ears before. While he doesn't quite succeed on that front – his influences (primarily Joy Division and Talking Heads) are paraded audaciously, though never derivatively – there's a magic about Organic Sampler that means every listen will unearth new surprises.
Which also means that there's a wide range of styles on display here, to keep interest afloat: experimental, disordered jazz cabaret (Days Go By) and sinister voodoo-style fuzziness (The Climb) lay side-by-side with animated, hypnotic pop (It Over) and songs that recall a trippy tour of a morgue during the witching hour (Stick To Your Line). Such a mixed bag could easily turn up catastrophic results, but the whirlwind of solos and styles somehow works cohesively. It's more than a little premature to call Hickey a visionary, but this is undoubtedly a wondrous debut album.
Review by Lauren Murphy
Hotpress Magazine
R.S.A.G 'Organic Sampler' [Psychonavigation Records] 3.5 / 5.0
Kilkenny drummer gets spasmodic on us
R.S.A.G. (Rarely Seen Above Ground) is the musical alter ego of Kilkenny native Jeremy Hickey. The former Blue Ghost stickman's most recent guise sees the multi-instrumentalist take a turn down Talking Heads alley,with spasmodic,slinky sounds aplenty. Organic Sampler is an extremely textured record bursting with drum fills galore and mad-as-a-bag-of-hammers vocals. It all works really well though (particulary on 'Counting Down' and 'Bad Seed' ) and will probably ensure that Jeremy won't be underground for much longer. EDWIN MCFEE
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Sunday Tribune Newspaper : 28th September 2008
RSAG
Organic Sampler
(Psychonavigation Records)
4/5
It's a brave man who releases a double album as his debut, and R.S.A.G. (Rarely Seen Above Ground) aka Jeremy Hickey is just that. Having stunned Irish festival-goers with an ambitious live show that sees him drumming in front of screens showing pre-recorded footage of his instrumental accompaniment, the Kilkenny man unleashes 17 tracks across two CDs. With drums the foundation to every song, the music remains unclassifiable. On the first disc, the songs are more structured; on the bonus disc, it's a little looser. Mazes of bass jams, resourceful rhythms and malleable vocals create an intriguing, occasionally creepy, whirlpool of sound. The production is shaky, but it's a hugely promising piece of work. Download : ‘Days Go By’, ‘Tell it Like It Is’, ‘It Over’
Una Mullaly
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"One of the best acts by far I saw at the Electric Picnic was R.S.A.G. He blew me away…"
Irish Times Sept 2008
The Star Newspaper October 10th
Multi-talented Jeremy Hickey is a future of rock 'n' roll that comprises of the best bits of Talking Heads and Joy Division blended with new bits all of his own. And we mean all his own - he plays every instrument and what's more he does so extremely well. This is utterly fabulous.
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Road Records (Album Of The Week) For The Third Consecutive Week!!
‘This is probably one of the most unique and diverse collections from an Irish artist that we have heard all year and one that is well worthy of your attention’
Full Review:
Rarely seen above ground is better known to his friends as Jeremy Hickey, an Irish born multi instrumentalist and this here is his debut album for the Psychonavigation label. Hickey records, performs and produces pretty much everything on the album. Its hard to believe this is all the work of just one man as the album features pretty much all live instruments with just the most subtle hint of electronic trickery. The album has been meticulously constructed to form one very funky collection of new wave and punk funk sounds. You will hear influences from the likes of Joy Division, The Cure, Talking Heads, New Order, Pere Ubu, Liquid Liquid, ESG and a heap more. Its got the early punk funk rumblings of talking heads blended with the slightly darker elements of early joy division and bass heavy new wave sounds. At times you can almost imagine peter hook jamming with early talking heads infused with the post punk edge of gang of four. The percussive element to the album is simply outstanding as hickey makes his way around a drumkit like a man with six arms. The second CD sees the album mellow out just a touch with lots more electronic effects coming into the mix and slightly more emphasis on the punk funk side of things. This is probably one of the most unique and diverse collections from an Irish artist that we have heard all year and one that is well worthy of your attention. Basically if you like choppy angular bass, rhythmic percussion, new wave, post punk and a bit of delicate electronic pop then this collection will keep you happy for a very long time. The album comes in a lovely card pullout sleeve
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Make no mistake, it's real 'album of the year' territory.
Cian O’Ciobhain (Radio Na Gaeltactha)
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State.ie Magazine
In terms of today's Irish music scene,there's the mainstream,the underground and the really underground.From the latter,please welcome Rarely Seen Above Ground,aka Jeremy Hickey.If the thought of a one man band consisting of a drummer and some backing tracks sounds a bit like hard work,well it ain't no walk in the park,but buried deep in this debut double album is something quite special.
The opening couple of tracks actually throw you of guard a little,pitching RSAG more as some '80s goth obsessive than anything else,but gradually the record opens up a whole range of influences. That initial impression never really shifts (New Model Army spring to mind for some reason) but extra shades creep in - a touch of Talking Heads here,some African riffs there. Unsurprisingly,it's heavy on the percussion,but there are some lovely touches of instrumentation.
Around the middle of record one,Organic Sampler nearly takes off,bringing all those different strands together on the fantastic 'Good Times'. We say nearly because there is one glitch holding the record back - the production. Granted that this has probably been turned out on a shoe-string,but it's hard not to feel that with the right budget and resources,this could have gone to another level altogether. All of which is probably getting ahead of ourselves,as this will surely find it's way into the hands of remixers all over the place. It deserves to too,for as raw material goes,this is solid gold. - Phil Udell
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Analogue Magazine
October 9th, 2008
The first time I saw R.S.A.G (Jeremy Hickey) play live I was unexpectedly impressed by his frenetic percussive barrages and the set-up of his one-man performances. Against a backdrop of silhouetted band members all played by Hickey himself, he galloped throughout his performance seemingly uninhibited by fatigue and in fact building up to an energetic peak of an arms all-a-blur climax to his set.
So when I got his new release, Organic Sampler I was a little apprehensive as to whether I would find it as good without the visual spectacle of Hickey’s energetic performances to accompany the sound.
Hickey is at his best in this album when he is indulging in a heavy bass and dominant percussion tripping over it in the foreground. This is nicely complimented by his sometimes guttural voice which rather then acting as the leading melody in the track instead forms another layer within the song, much in the same vein as Damo Suzuki’s outlandish vocals complimented the music of Can rather then overpowering it.
This is best showed on tracks such as Bad Seed, Days Go By and Stick to your Line which unsurprisingly are the ones recognisable from his live sets. But thankfully, it’s also been instilled into a good number of the other tracks on the album.
Tracks like Its Over and The Climb though seemed to lack this subversive edge that Hickey is so great at gilding his tracks with and scooped a small lull in the album for me.
But compensation comes in the form of the two last songs on the album, building to form a great finale.
The album also comes with a bonus disc (R.S.A.G’s previous album) which although not reaching the heights of Organic Sampler, has one of my favourite tracks Moon Movin’ The Oceans on it among others that are well worth a listen.
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http://www.nialler9.com/blog/2008/09...ganic-sampler/
I’ve been keeping my eyes and ears out for former Blue Ghost drummer Jeremy Hickey over the last two years. This Friday he will release a debut album The Organic Sampler under his Rarely Seen Above Ground moniker. Those of you who have witnessed Jeremy’s incendiary live show will know what to expect – a one man band in the form of a drummer, percussion and singer who performs with the aid of self-created backing tracks and silhouetted visuals.
At times he sounds like Talking Heads, one of his many influences. His music is psychedelic, heavy on the percussion, brimming with bassline and filled with drum rolls galore. Get caught up in the maelstrom of his ebullient, textured album, because you know this Kilkenny man isn’t going underground for much longer. Plus, Matt Vinyl likes it so that’s good enough for me.
http://mattvinyl.blogspot.com/
Following receipt of the RSAG album, Organic Sampler, and having listened to it a number of times, I can now tell you what I initially suspected about it. It’s brilliant. It has the same edginess to it that the live shows do. It’s the bee’s knees and the dog’s bollocks all mixed in together and appearing as one giant mutated organic form. It reminds me of Talking Heads in places, Was Not Was in other places and like stuff I’ve never heard at all, in other places.
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Roisin Dubh (An Taobh Tuathail Vol II Launch Night)
By12.10, the Róisín Dubh is half-full, and Rarely Seen Above Ground – aka Jeremy Hickey – has just begun lashing into the drum kit at the front of the stage. His entire body is consumed by rhythm, and he growls, yelps and hollers his vocals into the microphone just over his shoulder. For the third time tonight a backing track proves vital, but of all three bands RSAG has put it to the best use. While many acts will use a drum machine or backing track to replace the drummer and play other instruments live, RSAG has done the opposite: guitarist and bassist are relegated to simple rock riffage on the projector screen behind him, and the live drums and vocals take centre stage. He’s taken control of the room in no time, with every member of the steadily growing audience enthralled by his soulful, fitful rhythms. I haven’t seen a live act this exciting in a very long time, and I think a roomful of exuberant, dancing Galwegians would agree.
Yvonne Ryan .Saturday, 16 August 2008
http://redtrackmusic.com/joomred/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=144&Itemid=70
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