in a remarkable example of synchronicity or serendipity or something else, i picked up the event guide last night in town and saw an ad for the Kilkenny Roots festival over the May Bank Holiday weekend. BOTH micah p hinson and the czars are playing, plus Son Volt and Ray LaMontague and a ton of country yahoos. Guess thats the May weekend sorted

Yeah I interviewed The Waifs as part of that Festival. Looks good.

speaking of Laura Viers, did anyone go to her gig @ the Douglas Hyde gallery in Trinity? It was SO good, heard her show at Whelan's previous to that wasn't great. Probably because no one ever shuts he f**k up in that venue. Oh, another nomination: Dresden Dolls SO GOOOOOOD. And for oldies, but not forgotties: Mission Of Burma The Fall

The Fall are brilliant, but Mark E. Smith is too grumpy to be famous, which is one reason he's great.

yeah! I interviewed him once, and felt like such an asshole because he was just like "f**k off kid" and rubbished every question I asked. 15 minutes yielded about 30 words. I do like the way he doesn't give a f**k and STILL manages to be so respected and influential. The Fall are one of those secretly influential bands. I remember when I was younger reading Melody Maker and the NME, and they'd list THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BANDS EVER, and it was always groups like f**kin Captain Beefheart and the Fall, and I'd be thinking "who are these bands!", mainly because I was stuck in a Nirvana-shaped hole... Isn't it strange how the REALLY, truly influential bands people cite are never the incredibly successful ones (Melvins, The Fall, Muddy Waters, New York Dolls). Maybe it's because they're too 'out there', or maybe the people citing them are just trying to be cool and obscure...

The Arcade Fire The Earlies Lali Puna Giddy Motors Olivia Tremor Control The Pines

Do the Arcade Fire really qualify? They're very new and on the up and up, no? My overall pick would probably be Alexisonfire

The Arcade Fire are definitely on their way up, but they're still pretty much completely unknown here, only starting to break into MTV2, not prominent on the charts etc, They definitely deserve more. Oh Jim Carrol (Irish Times - The Ticket) thinks "Annie" should be more well known, he gave her an amazing review. Got the album full of hope, dude let me down big time! Not so hot, well not my type of thing anyway. My pick would be M83 not sure how well known they are, because i just got turned on, but very very good,

did I already say Magic Numbers? They're excellente.

the reason why i said the arcade fire was excactly what darragh said, theyre hardly known over here, and it looks like their european tour might be bypassing us. the only airplay theyre really getting is their video on MTV2, but not much on the irish radio station. they are an amazing band and really deserve far more recognition than theyre getting, or theyll fade into the background with all the other great bands, letting the f**king kaiser chiefs and the killers take all the glory for m.o.r pop songs. (rant over....sorry!!)

they won't 'fade into the background' for YOU if you listen to and like them, that's why I don't mind bands I like not being splashed all over the place. It doesn't concern me if the music is there to listen to. Popularity is irrelevant

but if a band dont get decent airplay etc, they may not get the chance to make a second record (arcade fire are a bad example here as they undoubteldly will) and also you may never get a chance to see them play live, I suppose what im trying to say is that popularity is only irrelevant to the past, not the future

i get what you mean, alot of the bands we already know and have heard are because the majority of us are people who are in love with music and cant get enough of it. with the internet making it easier to access these bands, such as those from america, canada, and most of europe and also by going on recommendation of our peers or family. i think the point of this thread is not for band to be 'more well known' in a general sense, but as people who write on this board are clearly interested in music, its more of an issue of bands that you might not have heard of, but really should listen to. one point became clear to me recently.... myself and my friend happened to be at that interpol gig in spirit, suprised to see it half empty. ive been to see them a good few times since then, travelling around to see them. im going to the gig on the 6th, but my friend decided he isnt. why? clearly because he thinks the hype surrounding them is ridculous! and has completely gone off them. i think thats a bit silly, if you love a band and believe in them, clearly if they get popular you should be proud as everyone else sees what you see in them! to me his ignorance is pure musical snobbery. wanting to be elite and the only one who loves them, as such. thinking your 'cool' and itelligent by liking only underground bands, and the minute they get sucessful you abandon them. does anyone else agree with this? its it right to be an elitist when it come to bands?!!!!

Mammon, I agree, its daft and snobbishly elitist to adandon a band just because they've become popular. Either you like them or you don't, its should be just a case of an honest response to what you hear, rather than being into a band because of any kind of agenda. However.. What sometimes happens is you get into a band and you've been listening to their album for a few months so now, as with most records, you feel the need to give listening to their album a break for a while. Its sometimes at that point that the band "breaks" and gets mainstream acceptance and lots airplay and exposure. Just when you don't feel like listening to them, they're suddenly everywhere! On the radio, on MTV, your friends are constantly playing when you go round to their place. It can kinda turn you off the band a bit, familiarity breeds contempt as they say. Admittedly, this really only tends to happen with bands I wasn't really into enough to class them alongside my all time faves.

The problem i find with Bands suddenly becoming mainstream popular, is that while i always wanted to see them make it big, i miss the intimicy of the gigs before they made it big, and i suppose i miss the feeling of being in on something great that alot of other people are interested in ( because they dont know it yet ). This sometimes means that ill stop going to their gigs (at least as frequently as i used to )as I dont believe that they can ever achieve the joy and fun that the pre success days brought. But that doesnt mean that i stop listening to their music or that i suddenly think their a crap band. Someone above mentioned the "kaiser chiefs and the killers take all the glory", in fairness early fans of the killers would have been sitting here this time last year complaining that some other band was getting the media attention and the killers were being ignored. this happens to every band at some stage, same as the frames and snowpatrol have come in for the same criticism

why? - oaklandazulasylum - best album of last few years if you ask me http://www.anticon.com/why-darla.mp3 http://www.anticon.com/why-earlywhitney.mp3