The CLUAS Archive: 1998 - 2011

Entries for January 2008

29
Posted in: Blogs, Sound Waves
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29

One of the newer pleasures of being a music lover is following in greater detail the goings-on in the business side of the industry. Who'd have thought that record company execs, with their end-of-the-world-is-nigh public statements and their loveably deluded sense of what their target punter might actually like to consume, would be such gas fun to watch? And often just as entertaining as their employees, pop stars?

But there they are, jumping from the arts to the business to the news sections of our press like clowns working a children's party. Meanwhile, the likes of Jim Carroll keep a Skibbereen Eagle-eye on the evil empire's every move and interpret it for our entertainment. It's great stuff altogether.

MIDEMAnyway, this week Guy Hands (we can't read that name without thinking of Guy Smiley, greatest gameshow host EVER) and his colleagues have gathered in Cannes, conference capital of France, for the annual MIDEM music industry conference. As the event's brochure succinctly puts it, "delegates from the recording, publishing, live, digital, mobile and branding sectors will gather in Cannes to do deals, network, learn and check out new talent."

Jim recently gave a typically perceptive commentary on what may go down on the business side of things. But that last part of the event description above, the bit about 'new talent', made us very curious. What exactly will the music executives be listening to? And are these the acts they are no doubt plotting (with a mad cackle and hand-rubbing gesture) to foist upon our daytime airwaves and commercial breaks in 2008?

Yael NaimWell, the concert programme features an admirable geographical spread of pop, rock, electronica, classical and jazz acts. Irish and UK music fans will recognise the names of Richard Hawley and Reverend And The Makers, playing in a special British showcase concert. Despite the welcome development of Music From Ireland, the brandname for the Irish contingent at this year's SXSW festival, there's no Irish showcase concert at this year's MIDEM.

But if we were to pick one act from the line-up who's probably going to receive a massive corporate push to global stardom out of the MIDEM, it'd have to be Yael Naim (left). The Franco-Israeli chanteuse's photo is splashed all over today's Paris papers (yes, even edging out the Sarko/Carla photo-romance) as being the smash hit of the conference.

Our regular readers will remember that we featured her back in November 2007 and asserted that her marketing-friendly single 'New Soul' would be the soundtrack to ads the world over. We thought this happy-clappy new age folk-pop tune would be ideal for a bank or building society, but we understand that Apple have picked it as the jingle for their new MacBook Air.

The track is taken from Naim's eponymous debut album, and both have been chart-toppers in France. While she can certainly write catchy choons, she tends to spoil it all with her innate drippiness: 'New Soul' sounds great on first listen but quickly gets all icky and naff, especially on the fade-out when she gurgles and babbles like an infant. Perhaps that's a shout-out to France's lucrative infant demographic.

Still, there's little doubt that the song and its photogenic singer will be hugely successful worldwide in 2008. The music execs are no fools. Here's the video for 'New Soul':


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28

The first Irish band to announce a French show for 2008 are... [drum roll] ...The Dubliners, playing the Olympia in Paris on Saint Patrick's night.

But the second Irish* act to confirm a Paris gig are the reformed My Bloody Valentine (right), who have just announced a concert at the Zénith on 9 July.

The Zénith is a 6,000+ capacity indoor venue at the north-eastern edge of the city. As Kevin Shields and co. are something of a cult band here in France too, and given the likelihood of MBV trips to Paris by eager Irish and UK fans, we reckon this'll sell out toot sweet.

Tickets have just gone on sale and cost €42.80 from FNAC (in French) and the French equivalent of 'usual outlets'.

Start planning your summer holidays, MBV fans!

*The FNAC site calls them 'irlandais', so that settles that, then.


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25

'Un vague à l'âme' say the French in their wonderfully poetic way with expressions of feelings. A vagueness in the soul? Or a wave, like a spell of bad weather or the sea breaking on the shores of the soul? Anyway, it's what the French call the blues - not the type of music, but the type of feeling.

Jeanne MoreauThere's a Parisian way for everything, including feeling blue. After work you wander round town, listlessly down some boulevard or other. In a café or brasserie, tourists speak slow, loud English to streetwise waiters and you hope they don't recognise you as one of them.

The metro is full of tired, sad-eyed office workers going home; the Parisian working rhythm is metro-boulot-dodo (metro-job-sleep). In each station, drunks bed down on benches. Everyone seems down on their luck, daydreaming.

A famous scene in Louis Malle's 'Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud' (Lift To The Scaffold) captures the vague à l'âme perfectly. You may know it: Jeanne Moreau traipses along la rue, dawdling in front of shop windows and weaving around strolling couples. The soundtrack - sad, worn-out trumpeting - is by Miles Davis, from the period when he held court in Saint-Germain, once the jazz strip of Paris but now a rosary of boutique after boutique.

Both the film and soundtrack are marvellous. Here's the scene we were talking about:


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24

The enthusiasm of the volunteers was the first thing that struck us on arrival last night at the Good Luck Beijing Weighlifting Inviational Tournament, a trial run for the Olympic event. We and our tickets and bags were greeted and checked at the entrance to the venue, the gymnasium of the Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics, by a gang of bilingual student looking volunteers wrapped up in large blue coats against the biting winter wind.
 
You couldn’t get this customer-driven dedication to service – “good evening, may I see your ticket please” “enjoy the competition” – if you paid someone in China. I never got not even a grumpy greeting in Chinese from the cashiers in our local state-owned supermarket.
 
The venue looked great. All shades of blue, with the flags of the competing countries hung nicely from the roof. The toilets were conveniently located and immaculately clean. There were attendants going around at the breaks with baskets offering drinks and snacks. Everyone wore neat tags with photograph and title. Inside the venue the volunteer helpers had smileys on the sleeve of their three stripe white-black tracksuits.
 
There were hitches. Several lifters had to take a second shot after a mix up among stewards over timing and the sequencing of the competitors. Olympic officials in uniform chino pants and blue blazers conferred amongst each other while a bilingual Chinese announcer explained results and decisions, on two occasions sending the lifter back to the changing rooms because he was called too early. Frustrating indeed for anyone who's gotten themselves psyched up to lift 220 kilos.
 
The medals presentation was as finely choreographed as the rest of the show. Riverdance-sounding Irish airs filled the hall while the attendants got the podium ready. Clean-cut boys in immaculate white penguin suits led a procession of flags while very pretty girls moved on to the stage to present bouquets of flowers. That was a bit surreal, enormous 140kg weightlifters in lycra receiving little bouquets. There was something of a First Holy Communion outfit about the attendants while university president Li Wie presented the bronze to local man Gao Le, silver to Poland’s Grzegorz Kleszcz and gold, by a mile, to Matthias Steiner from Germany. He put 423kg into the air last night, in three lifts.
 
The fans were well behaved, mobiles seemed powered off and aside from good humoured cheer most noise seemed to come from the plastic multi-coloured hands on a stick which clap when you turn a swivel. They were handed out by Bank Of China, a sponsor. It was a pleasant evening and a good demostration that Beijing is ready for the Olympic games. We were 30 minutes late arriving though. Taxis were impossible to find near the office in Sanlitun and the local roads looked like noisy parking lots, hence a 25 minute walk to Dongzhimen subway station, 40 minute subway ride and 20 minute taxi ride to the venue. Great venues, lousy traffic. Good luck Beijing.

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24

Sound Waves wishes to congratulate Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, who are nominated in the Best Original Song Oscar category for 'Falling Slowly' from 'Once'. It is a remarkable acheivement and, win or lose, places Hansard and Markéta in the company of previous winners such as Bob Dylan, Randy Newman and Bruce Springsteen. It's often said that we are a nation of begrudgers but when an Irish artist makes a breakthrough like this the right and proper thing to do is acknowledge it. Sound Waves will be watching the Oscars on the 24th February, fingers crossed, and will have a bottle of champagne on ice to celebrate in the event that 'Falling Slowly' takes the gong.


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24

Surf Movie producers Globe have partnered with DJ Sasha to produce a tripping new surf DVD for watching during or after an all night party. The video is entitled, "New Emissions of Light & Sound', and features shots of Taj, CJ, Damien and other rad surfers hitting the lip.


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23

A review of the album 'No Shouts, No Calls' by Electrelane

Electrelane No Shouts No Calls

Review Snapshot: The final offering from the superb quartet, departing to focus on their private lives while leaving us begging for more. Who said life was fair? Better put this one on repeat and start praying their "hiatus" is just a phase...

The Cluas Verdict? 9 out of 10

Full Review:
Within a week of what I will admit was constant rotation, I knew this album going to be a favourite of mine. It has the components I’m completely biased towards – an all-girl band, organ, pretty songs – precisely my bag. But that was only the beginning. Repeatedly pinned down by comparisons to the Organ, Sleater-Kinney, and a host of other female groups, Electrelane don’t have a definitive list of influences, and more to the point, a list of comparable bands. I’m a fan of good song writing, be it simple or otherwise, but it is the former that always leaves the more lasting impression, wondering just how it is a band does it. And I have wondered extensively how it is Electrelane does it.

“No Shouts, No Calls” is what became the originally Brighton-based band’s final album, announcing “indefinite hiatus” in November 2007 – a dark day in this reviewer’s diary. Released in May last year, it is their least experimental, displaying singer and keyboardist Verity Susman’s instinctive tendency towards memorable hooks and melodies, with just a bit more user-friendly song structure than seen in previous releases. Their previous album, Axes (2005), indulged the band’s desire for extended jam sessions and generous, yet melodic, instrumental rambles.

This time, however, you’ll find clear-cut single material in the form of  “To the East”, though with the odd throwback to the constraint-defying compositions of yore, in “Five” and “Between the Wolf and the Dog”. Some melodies here are at first, a little better hidden than others, but a little bit of digging will go a long way. Before long, and after the more immediate effects of opener “The Greater Times” and ukulele-based “Cut and Run” start to fade, fragments of songs that once seemed intangible will be circulating in your mind all day long – and I speak from experience. Of course, no review could be complete without special mention to the unnaturally beautiful “In Berlin”, a personal favourite. Combining icy guitars with the warmest of choral arrangements of Verity’s voice, complete with strings, spot-on harmonies, and all the right chord changes, it’s like the soundtrack for a sad dream. “Saturday” and “Sea” are similarly flawless examples of how together the band create something more perfect than the sum of its parts. It’s an idea often applied to other collective masters of the song-writing craft, but the aesthetic and atmosphere Electrelane synergistically create, is definitely all their own, and the element I admire most.

Although they have gone their separate ways, and the live experience no longer possible for the unlucky late convert, there is a substantial back catalogue from their short life to keep any fellow enthusiasts enthralled. “Singles, B-sides and Live” (2005) is a must.

In short, Electrelane can do no wrong by me, and if you like all-girl bands, organs and pretty songs, listen to “No Shouts, No Calls” which has left this reviewer - and I can’t credit for this one - Electre-fied! Ahem.

Christine Cooke

 To buy a new or (very reasonably priced) 2nd hand copy of this album on Amazon just click here.


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23

A review of the album "Let Me Introduce My Friends" by I'm From Barcelona

Im From Barcelona Let Me Introduce My FriendsReview Snapshot: Let me introduce bubble indie-pop at its finest, complete with kazoos and treehouses. Though the lyrics of this album (originally released in 2006) may be quite cringeworthy at times, the Swedish happy vibes make this a vibrant album to dance around the bedroom to.

The Cluas Verdict? 7 out of 10

Full Review:
Remember the time when you would spend a full day eating tubes of Frosties, packets of Meanies, bags and bags of ten penny-sweets and Woppa Bars until your tongue turned red? Well, now imagine you had gathered up a group of your hyper sugar-happy mates and decided to make an album: the result would be very close to the colourful, huggy, snuggly, bubble-gum indiepop album "Let Me Introduce My Friends," by I'm From Barcelona.

Don't be fooled – this band is not in the least bit Spanish (and would sound silly being Spanish anyway, with member names like Frida Öhnell and Cornelia Norgren). Instead, their name is an ode to Fawlty Towers' Manuel, who claimed to be from Barcelona.

The 29-strong Swedish group mixes and mashes banjos with kazoos and trumpets lending an oomph to the general frolics provided by their debut album. It's not often that making an album with your friends works, but lead singer Emanuel Lundgren proves that a few happy-go-lucky songs about treehouses, chicken pox, and stamp-collecting can enthuse his Swedish mates so much that they go and do harmonies and fluffy 'oohs' and 'aahs.'

Why would you not want to spend your day swinging your hips and jumping about on a bed of lollipops and whipped cream, singing lyrics like "Feeling like a tape recorder / stuck between rewind and forward"; "I have built a treehouse / Nobody can see us / it's a you and me house"; and "Damn! Oversleeping again / Damn! I can't believe I did it once again"?

While the album can be too childish (aka Europop) at times, it does bring out wee fairy-like thoughts from within your regular serious Radio head, and brings you back to those sweets-filled days.

Niamh Madden


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23

A review of the album 'I'll Tear My Own Walls Down' by 'Bill Coleman'

Bill Coleman Tear My Own Walls Down

Review Snapshot: I’m not going to blame my lengthy absence from this site on this album. That would be slightly harsh. It most certainly did not fill me full of inspiration and enthusiasm for writing though. An insipid debut effort.

The Cluas Verdict? 3 out of 10

Full Review:
Bill Coleman is an Irish singer-songwriter. Yes, another one. This, his debut, is a typically unoriginal effort. Coleman’s voice appears sweet but by the third track will simply irritate the listener. His lyrics are that of a bored 14 year old who thinks he can be the next great poet. The songs limp by. I despair.

‘Say It Like You Mean It’ starts off with simple and such catchy pop riffs that one could mistake it for being Rilo Kiley for a moment. However, Coleman’s voice combined with lyrics such as “I want you to want me, and I want to want to want you back” ruin any chances I thought I had of finding a gem on this album.

‘The Pull Of The Pint’ is the standout track on this album. It’s a simple track in which Coleman ditches the annoying whine from his voice. But it’s not enough to redeem this album.

I don’t know what it is about singer-songwriters that annoys me so much. I hate trash metal for example, but those bands don’t annoy me nearly as much. These guys go through a break-up and decide that the only way to get over her is to pick up a guitar. They exorcise their demons by exposing the public to their uninventive playing and awful lyrics. Their existence simply riles me. 

It’s not necessarily a bad record, just utterly mediocre and forgetful, like so, so many.

Garret Cleland


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Nuggets from our archive

2001 - Early career profile of Damien Rice, written by Sinead Ward. This insightful profile was written before Damien broke internationally with the release of his debut album 'O'. This profile continues to attract hundreds of visits every month, it being linked to from Damien Rice's Wikipedia page.