The CLUAS Archive: 1998 - 2011

Entries for August 2008

31

Electric Picnic, Day Two (Stradbally, Co. Laois)

Review Snapshot: Good weather, good friends and good music all mix together to create almost the perfect festival Saturday.

The Cluas Verdict? 8 out of 10

Full Review:
Elbow live, Electric PicnicAs 2007 drew to a close, Cathy Davey’s second album ‘Tales of Silversleeve’ was opening doors and cementing her reputation as one of Ireland’s most talented emerging songwriters. Given that her songs have been played off the radio, it wouldn’t have been unreasonable to expect a good crowd for her mid-afternoon slot in the Crawdaddy tent, but having to close it before she even took to the stage must surely have been beyond her wildest expectations – even Guy Garvey and the rest of Elbow couldn’t wangle their way in. ‘The Collector’ and ‘Reuben’ opened the set and got the crowd dancing straight away. On occasion Davey’s aspirate vocal can get lost in a live setting but not today, she was note perfect and the mix was spot on. The set lagged a little in the middle as new material, book-ended by less popular album tracks, left some audience members eyeing up the exits. The opening beats of ‘Moving’ put paid to that though and the crowd were well and truly back on side. A clearly delighted Davey ended proceedings with the spine tingling ‘Sing for your Supper’ and every soul in the house sang along.

The Little Big Tent played host to a decidedly ebullient Ra Ra Riot who treated the modest, but wholly committed crowd, to a sufficiently pop filled forty minutes of material from their forthcoming debut ‘The Rhumb Line’. They were a long way from home in Syracuse, NY but seemed enamoured with their inaugural trip to Ireland and pledged a return later this year.

A hop, skip and jump over to a packed Electric Arena had us arrive just in time for the tail end of The Breeders set. ‘Cannonball’ followed by a cover of The Beatles ‘Happiness is a Warm Gun’, performed with Kim Deal’s customary wit, drew rapturous applause from the massive crowd.

Next up in the Electric Arena were the ever affable Elbow. The band took to the stage trumpets in hand and opened with a rousing rendition of ‘Starlings’ followed by ‘The Bones of You’ and ‘Mirrorball’ off their most recent album ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’. Guy Garvey’s smoke and whiskey voice soared as he turned himself, and the audience, inside out during both ‘Leaders of the Free World’ and ‘Grounds for Divorce’. Mancunian wit and everyman charm proved the order of the day as we were treated to tracks from across their impressive back catalogue, ‘Newborn’ and ‘Grace Under Pressure’ proving the most beguiling. The euphoric ‘One Day Like This’ was as cathartic as it was electric, with every voice in the place wrapped around the life affirming, smile inducing lyric. In a move reminiscent of their recent Vicar St gig, Mr. Garvey joined the great unwashed down the front where, hoist on a wave of good feeling, he led the crowd through the closing bars, gladdening hearts as he went.

Next it was back to the Little Big Tent where Dan Deacon was holding court and choreographing audience members into what seemed like the human embodiment of organised chaos. Performing from within the crowd for the duration of the set and bedecked in neon, he tore it up from the start, inciting near riotous levels of crowd interaction. There were human gauntlets, frenzied chasing and the instruction for ‘Silence like the Wind’ was to “dance like we’re in Jurassic Park, and hippy the shit out of it”. For sheer levels of mania, hilarity and shit hot beats, this set will be hard to beat over the course of the festival.

A passing glance at Grace Jones confirmed a number of things, 1. she’s mad as a box of frogs and 2. she’s in the kind of shape most nubile 20 something’s would be envious of. With a set drawing largely from her 1981 release ‘Nightclubbing’ she wowed the audience with her many costume changes and near yogic dance moves. A once off in every way.

A short stint with Underworld, essentially comprising of a brief exercise in glow stick cheerleading, was all we could stand before tripping over to the Crawdaddy Tent for a brief dalliance with Stuart Staples and the Tindersticks. Perfectly pitched and utterly decadent though they were, there was a tangible danger that we would end up written off for the night were we to stay in the red wine haze of such sonic treats as ‘Can Our Love…’.

Ferris Wheels, Carousels, Donal Dineen in Body and Soul and an epic 90 minutes of unadulterated fun in the Silent Disco saw the clock strike 4 and nightcaps under the shelter of a gazebo with friends old and new brought us to 6am when the sun came up and heads finally hit the hay.

Jan Ní Fhlanagáin

  • Check out as well CLUAS.com's reviews of Day 1 and Day 3 of Electric Picnic 2008.

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30

Electric Picnic, Day 1 (Stradbally, Co. Laois)

Review Snapshot:  A long yet rewarding first day of Electric Picnic highlighted the huge differences between the Irish new and old guards and everything from pies, ticker tape and Icelandic orchestral manoeuvers in the dark in between.

The Cluas Verdict? 7.5 out of 10

Full Review:
After an early start, repeated to-ing and fro-ing from car to campsite and prolonged tent pitching – it seems the term ‘four man tent’ refers to how many people it takes to erect the tent as opposed to how many people fit in it – Electric Picnic, day one, kicked off with an invitation to a mass orgy at the main stage from Ronan Ó Snodaigh of Kíla, “We’ve got 50 minutes to make love to you” and with that we were off.

Despite a relatively early slot at 4.30pm, Kíla pulled a large crowd and set about getting the party started. There were Brazilian carnival dancers, Cirque de Soleil type aerial acrobatics and a gospel choir, not to mention explosions of ticker tape! With its philosophy of living life to the full as your own self completely, ‘Leanfaidh Mé’, from their sophomore album ‘Tóg go Bog É’, proved a statement of intent for the weekend. From there it was straight into ‘Four Skinhead Reels’ and free-form ceilí dancing ensued as far as the eye could see. This was the perfect start to the picnic. Kíla’s inimitable energy and sheer force of being would leave no toe untapped and no heart unmoved.

Feeling sufficiently festive it was time for man of the moment Richie Egan and Jape. Two years ago he drew a modest crowd early in the day on a small stage curated by Damien Rice. This time around the Crawdaddy stage was packed to bursting with a swell of sweaty and swarthy revellers, a clear testament to the popularity of songs like ‘I Was A Man’, ‘Streetwise’ and ‘Floating’, all of which were met with frenzied applause, whopping and general limb flailing. Most encouraging of all was the airing of some new material in front of a festival crowd - a sure sign of an artist brimming with confidence. The set list was largely drawn from the brilliant ‘Ritual’ – a shoe-in for several album of the year accolades come December - and despite one or two technical hiccups, Mr. Egan had the crowd eating out of his hand from beginning to end. Highlights included an extended sample of ‘Put ‘em under Pressure’ tagged onto the end of ‘Streetwise’ and a rousing rendition of ‘Phil Lynott’.

Next up in the Crawdaddy tent was Christy Moore, but ten minutes was all this reviewer could stand. In much the same way as annoying backpacker types ‘DO’ Thailand/Cambodia/Chile/Argentina, the vast majority of people seemed to have come along just to tick Christy Moore off their ‘list of legends to see before they, or I, die’. Incessant chat, hustle and bustle proved too irritating to stand. More recent material was met with indifference and old favourites such as ‘City of Chicago’ and ‘North and South of the River’ sent the audience into sing-along overdrive to the point of drowning out the man himself.

As the light began to fade over the main stage, Allison Goldfrapp, donned in harlequin-esque garb, appeared to the strains of ‘Utopia’ from her debut album ‘Felt Mountain’. Her, at times, operatic voice was a stark reminder of just how versatile a performer she is. From there it was straight into lead single ‘A&E’ from most recent album ‘Seventh Tree’ and this set the tone for the next half hour of so. Although beautiful and expertly performed there was a danger that the whole set could descend into something much more suited to a marquee in the body and soul area. However as darkness fell and ‘Little Bird’ drew to a close, the bass was turned up and the synthesisers were unleashed. Chests thumped as crowd favourites from ‘Black Cherry’ and ‘Supernature’ came thick and fast, ratcheting up the energy levels and the complexity of the dance moves! A truly stonking ‘Strict Machine’ brought a slick, yet sublime, set to a close.

Having gorged on some of the gastronomic delights available from the likes of Pieminister and Diep Noodles, it was back to the main stage for Friday headliners Sigur Ros. Given the Icelanders predilection for album titles such as ( ) and songs named in an invented language, it’s a little difficult to give a comprehensive review of their set list!! They opened with the anthemic, ethereal and other-worldy ‘Svefn-g-Englar’ from their second album ‘Ágætis Byrjun’ which planted smiles squarely on most faces. Stars were shining brightly in the sky for stunning renditions of ‘Hoppípolla’ and ‘Glósóli’ from 2005’s ‘Takk’, pleasing the crowd no end. However, 90mins of blissed out, orchestral genius, proved a little too much to take. It was a set more suited to a marquee, post-midnight, drink in hand, bum on seat than an opening night, headline slot on the main stage. So with the strains of Amiina’s string arrangements ringing in our ears and sleep teasing our eyes, it was time to return to the welcome floatation of inflatable mattresses, where the distant thump of the dance tent rocked us to sleep.

Jan ní Fhlanagáin

  • Check out as well CLUAS.com's reviews of Day 2 and Day 3 of Electric Picnic 2008.

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28

There are probably lots of people making their way down to Stradbally this morning, hoping that the traffic jams for Electric Picnic won’t be as bad as in previous years. But what will they do if all that time spent in traffic today and coming home on Monday gets too much for them? Well, they could do worse than make their way down to Cois Fharraige, taking place next weekend (September 5 to 7) in Kilkee, Co. Clare. Cois Fharraige, of course, was the winner of “Best New Festival 2007″ at the Irish Festival Awards, and has been critically acclaimed for its original festival concept and line up.

Friday September 5
Friday night will see performances from Kanyu Tree, The Coronas, The Futureheads and The Zutons. The Zutons, of course, have enjoyed huge success since the release of their debut album Who Killed The Zutons. They have just released their third album, You Can Do Anything, and one can expect to hear songs such as Valerie, Why Wont You Give Me Your Love, as well as their new single Always Right Behind You.

Saturday September 6
Saturday sees a diverse range of bands strut their stuff along the western shore. 28 Costumes, The Broken Family Band, Simon & Oscar, Seasick Steve and Supergrass will ensure an action packed day. If only because the aforementioned Supergrass will be performing twice this week in The Academy it is undoubtedly Seasick Steve who will generate the most excitement following his stunning performance at this years Oxegen festival. For those of you not familiar with the man; he has built a reputation for himself thanks to his custom made stringed instruments that give him a unique style. Expect songs from the eagerly anticipated (rumoured to be released in September) follow up to Doghouse Music.

Sunday September 7
With no disrespect to Joe Brown, the man with more albums than Key Notes has had hot dinners (and if you know Key Notes, that's quite a few!); Sunday's headliners Travis will be the star attraction. Having burst unto the scene in 1999 with The Man Who,  containing songs such as Driftwood and Turn, the Scottish folk rockers flattered to deceive during the intervening years until the release of their critically acclaimed album The Boy With No Name last summer.  Well worth seeing if only for how appropriate it is that Why Does It Always Rain On Me? will bring to an end this year's Summer festivals.

There are still some tickets for Cois Fharraige available from here.


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28

Friday 19th
Bridge Bar: The Unwanted (Cathy Jordan & Seamie O'Dowd) 7.00pm

Jumping Jacks:  Donal Dineen 12.00pm

Paris
Belle & Sebastian (DJ Set) 11.30pm / David Kitt (DJ Set)  1.30am

Saturday 20th
Marquee:    Onya 12.00pm
                Stewart Agnew 1.15pm
                Ultan 2.30pm
                Juno Falls 3.45pm
                David Kitt 5.30pm
                Kila
7.15pm
                Republic of Loose 9.15pm
                Asian Dub Foundation 10.45pm

Bar Tent
:    Indoor Growers League, Mark Black,
                Modal Citizen Quartet etc.. All Day


Sunday 21st
Bridge Bar:   Sofa SundayAll Ireland Final 1.00pm
                 Model Citizen Quartet
                 D.J. Kid Cam Till late


Festival kicks off Friday in the Bridge Bar at 7.00pm with Cathy Jordan aka Dervish with her new band The Unwanted. Exclusive gig and were delighted to have her and her new band followed by Sligo man Samie O'dowd and his four piece rock outfit that is sure to blow you away.

Today FM's top indie D.J. Donal Dineen is kicking of in Jumping Jacks from 11pm.

Also in Paris Rich from Belle & Sebastian kicks off his D.J. set at 11.30pm followed by the illustrious David Kitt rocking into the night.

On Saturday the action moves to the Marquee. Bundoran local surf rock chick Onya kicks off the festival at 12.00.

Stewart Agnew hails from the spirit store in Dundalk with his Six piece folk and blues. He will ease us into the day followed closely by this years main stage electric picnic opener Ultan Conlon.

Fresh off his 2fFM Tour Juno Falls will shock and awe with his one man orchestra of sounds.

Kicking off his tour with this gig we are delighted to present David Kitt and then from 7.00pm till late we have four hours of dancing with Kila, Republic of Loose and Asian Dub Foundations only Irish gig.


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26

A review of the DownloadMusic.ie USB Compilation (Various artists)

Review Snapshot:  Possibly the most difficult album I’ve ever had to review for CLUAS, Downloadmusic.ie’s first ever USB Compilation Album also turned out to be one of the most rewarding, proving, for the most part, that Irish music is in good shape.

The Cluas Verdict? 7 out of 10

Full Review:
For me, great albums have always told a story; each song being delicately structured to fit snugly into the ebb and flow of the overall musical tapestry of the LP. My favourite albums generally come with memorable artwork, lyrics, out of focus photographs, scribbled drunken meanderings or multicoloured feathers. So to be presented with a compilation album on a USB key was always going to be a challenge.

How should I approach this; should I take it on a song by song basis? That’s not really going to result in an album review though is it? Plus, with 15 songs most of you would have stopped reading by the third song. No, I had to approach this one differently and so I took what appears to be the central theme of the compilation, namely the present and future of Irish music and considered how representative this album was.

For the most part this album achieves what it set out to. Bands like The Flaws, CODES and The Kinetiks, if attendance at their gigs is anything to go by, are certainly representative of Irish musical tastes. However, what lets the album down is its noble effort to shoehorn multiple genres of music onto the same compilation. Ro Tierney’s The Voice and Justin Manville’s Tonight, while both good songs in their own right, sound out of place on an album containing bands like Dirty Epics and Vesta Varro.

Stand out tracks are This is Goodbye (CODES), Letting Go (SUDDYN) and The Cure (Dirty Epics) and for very different reasons. This is Goodbye and The Cure both represent the current drive by Irish musicians towards musical landscaping; creating mountains of sound from the foundations of catchy melodies and lyrics. Letting Go on the other hand has an understated charm that’s reminiscent of Damien Rice’s O period (insert ‘he certainly milked that period’ joke here).

Of course, the upside of compilations is that there is generally something for everyone. Tracks I didn’t like, such as Manmade (The Radio) and Shadows (Roberta Howett) may well be other people’s favourites.

Overall, while the idea is commendable, perhaps having fewer genre’s on one album would make for a less disjointed listening experience. Despite that, those writing about the demise of quality Irish music should have a listen to this compilation because the future really is bright. 

Steven O'Rourke


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26

Can MGMT be influential? Already?!

This is by Empire of the Sun who are a collaboration between Sleepy Jackson (who made the rather wonderful Lovers) and PNAU (read more about them in a previous blog here).

An album is due soon and if it's as good as this lead-off single, we are in for a treat! Also reminiscent of Phoenix, I think? 


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25

All of us have people who teach us about music. Mat was one of those people for me and, upon the shocking news of his untimely death on Sunday morning, I present to you all some of the music that he led me to.

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22
Okkervil River 'The Stand Ins'
A review of the album 'The Stand Ins' by Okkervil River Review Snapshot:With their name lifted from a short story by a Russian writer and their albums to date smothered by literary referen...

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21
After a month of nothing, Beijing’s live rock music scene is back. Hopefully. Saturday night, August 23, “against many odds” say organisers, several of Beijing’s finest will take the stage at Dos Kolegas for a night titled the ‘Goodbye Summer Blowout.’ Dos Kolegas has been a ghost of its usual self the past month due to a blanket ban on live shows where drink is sold – a police precaution feared such alternative bars and tunes would be a magnet to pesky alternative types prone to protesting. It’s impressive that 2 Kolegas got the go ahead in advance of the Closing Ceremonies but then orgainsers behind the show is the irrepressible Tag Team Records blowout at 2 Kolegas. Bands to play: RandomK(e), Lonely China Day, Arrows Made of Desire, Fire Balloon. Another dynamo behind these gigs is percussionist and promoter Jon Campbell – he’s in both Black Cat Bone and Random K – whose YGTwo Productions brings a lot of gigs to China. There’s two more shows on August 30, one at Mao Live and the other at 2 Kolegas –the latter featuring blues stalwarts Black Cat Bone.

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Posted in: Blogs, Beijing Beat
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21

There’s no end to the number of newspapers and magazines in China I thought while picking up the People’s Railway Daily the other day on the 30 minute new bullet train from Tianjin to Beijing south station. It’s type face and design suggest it’s done as a contract publishing job by the People’s Daily for the country’s railway company, also a giant state-owned operation. The contents were dull: lots about engines, engine oil and soporific speeches by railway management officials.

There’s a lifestyle section though and I figured it’d be receptive to some tastily written public relations pieces for Beijing GAA Club (of which I'm media officer): a bunch of foreign men and women playing a funny kind of football in the Chinese capital would make for a nice light hearted lifestyle kind of piece. So back in the office I contacted the editorial department. When we finally ascertained who’d be in charge of the lifestyle pages – there were four journalists with claims to that – I got the distinct impression that what mattered most was not the quality of the words – my Chinese colleague was going to translate that – or the photos, but rather what kind of gift we’d be offering. After humming and hawing on the Chinese side we got to the nub: RMB200 (about EUR20) would get us the coverage, another 100 would get us more space.

Now that puts me in a dilemma: pay the cash and get coverage or be moralistic about it. PR companies in China as a rule slip RMB200 to journalists attending press conferences – they call it “travel allowance” and without it you’ll get no journalists (who have also expect a souvenir and a meal from publicity-mad western companies mad for market share here). But by handing over the cash like this you’ll get a bland reproduction of your press release. Chinese newspapers are a boring read because their wordy, flowery articles, devoid of detail or critical analysis have often been paid for. If noone reads the article why bother paying to place one in the first place. Our dilemma was however easily solved: Beijing GAA doesn’t have the money to pay for articles.  


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Nuggets from our archive

2002 - Interview with Rodrigo y Gabriela, by Cormac Looney. As with Damien Rice's profile, this interview was published before Rodrigo y Gabriela's career took off overseas. It too continues to attract considerable visits every month to the article from Wikipedia.