First things first, Sound Waves was against the Lisbon Treaty and viewed the YES lobby as attempting nothing less than selling out the Irish People and the Irish Constitution of 1937. In fact, Sound Waves took the view that either the YES lobby did not understand the true implications of ratifying the treaty or they were lying through their teeth. How against are we ? Lets put it this way, in the 2009 local elections we will be voting for Sinn Fein and to be honest Sound Waves would not be a Sinn Fein supporter. Let me qualify that, we are going to vote Sinn Fein but only as long as they do not strike a vote transfer deal with anyone, individual or organisation that supported a YES vote for Lisbon, or alter their position on Lisbon.

I'm not sure when or where the penny dropped that the EU, after enlargement, was not some big Pro-Paddy love in but I suspect, intimations of it came when Dustin was being booed at the Semi Finals of the Eurovision in the former stronghold of the genocidal mass murderer Slobodan Milosovic, Belgrade. Friendly people the Serbians, as long as you don't live beside them, or near them, or anywhere that they can reach by tank. I guess Dustin got off light, a little booing is certainly better then being raped, shot in the back of the head and then dumped in an unmarked, mass grave. But hey, that was back in the 1990s. Now I'm not anti the former Eastern Bloc, I'm just pro democracy and human rights, issues that EU member states such as Poland and Romania have an, at times, less than firm grasp as may be seen with regard to their role in rendition, something that the EU itself rebuked them over.

But I am digressing. You see, I didn't understand why we would send Dustin or even why some Irish people expected that he might do reasonably well. It appeared to me that Europe in general would not get the joke in the same way that Italian game shows would be incomprehensible to us in Ireland. I just didn't expect the booing and neither did all those Irish people tuning in to see Dustin roasted live on air. Perhaps, just perhaps the penny dropped that the EU was not that friendly a place to be and that we need to hold on to our existing assets, such as a Constitution so robust and vital that it ensured through the legal action of Raymond Crotty that we got to vote on Lisbon in the first place, for dear life.

In one sense Dustin's Serbian adventure was a failure, but on another level, I suspect we owe the bird a debt of thanks.

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Being involved in writing about music has meant Key Notes reading a lot of books about music and musicians in particular.  Some biographies, such as Heavier than Heaven, are really interesting because they give you a genuine insight into the person, warts and all.  Then there are those, especially the ones written by big haired 80's rockers, that focus more on the protagonists ability to snort the GDP of a South American country than on the person behind the haircut.

Every now an then though, a work of genius comes along.  For Key Notes, that genius is Mark Oliver Everett, or E to his friends.  Having only a passing interest in Eels (Beautiful Freak and Electroshock Blues remained in their packaging until this weekend) this blogs curiosity was piqued when its friend Alison informed him that E was, in fact, the son of Hugh Everett, originator of the multiverse or 'many worlds' theory in physics.  Key Notes likes physics because, more than any other science, it allows scope for imagination. 

Last week, Key Notes went to Rome on holidays (nice history, horrible airport, people & traffic - CLUAS Verdict: 4 out of 10) and brought Things the Grandchildren Should Know with him.  However, as can happen, Euro 2008 (oh yeah, and culture and stuff) got in the way of actually reading the book, that is, until the plane journey home.  Upon reading that E's first physical contact with his dad was holding his cold, lifeless body at the age of 19, Key Notes was hooked and read the entire book during the 3 hour journey home.

I'm not going to spoil the book for those of you who haven't read it.  But for anyone who thinks they're having a tough time of it at the moment, think again.  How Everett has dealt with the amount of tragedy around him, particularly its timing, is almost beyond belief.  An inspiring read, so much so that Key Notes removed Beautiful Freak and Electroshock Blues from their plastic wrapping this weekend and was very well rewarded.  If you read one book this month, make it Things the Grandchildren Should Know.

And here's the song by the same name:

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Back in October last year I predicted that within 6 months the Irish Times would remove its insistence on payment being required to access the vast majority of its content. Well, 6 months came and went and there were no such changes on ireland.com.

However it might be that my prediction was about six months out as, in the last week, there has been indications that the Irish Times is getting ready to restructure its online services, allowing free access most of its articles. The sooner they do, the better for them. And Irish web surfers.

But what about that other Irish pay-to-view website, Hotpress.com? When will they also see the light and knock down what is becoming a more and more pointless pay-wall?

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June 21 is Fête de la Musique, France's annual national music day. Towns and villages around the country organise free open-air concerts, while many music venues also drop their cover charge for the night. On a less positive note, there are buskers nearly everywhere.

Thanks to the Dublin branch of Alliance Française, French ex-pats and Irish music fans can join the festivities.  Let's French is a concert series that features an interesting line-up of quality artists from various genres. We feel the organisers should have called it Let's France (slogan: put on your red shoes and dance les bleus), but maybe that's just the Bowie fan in us.

The festival, now in its third year, opens at The Village on the night of Fête de la Musique, with the Paris jazz of Les Grandes Bouches and an afrobeat DJ set from Babalonia Club. (Aside from Let's French, at Crawdaddy the same night you can see the brilliant Keren Ann, honorary Frenchwoman.)

The party doesn't stop when 21 June passes; Let's French continues until the start of July. You can swing, go-go and twist to the retro sounds of Amsterdam Boat Club, who'll be DJ-ing at The Palace on 26 June. Admission is free.

We've already told you about the Plastiscines/Lauren Guillery show at the Andrew's Lane Theatre on 27 June. Those hard rocking French girls will be joined by The Urges for what promises to be an excellent triple-bill.

The following night at A.L.T. it's the turn of French DJ foursome Birdy Nam Nam. They've got four turntables and two microphones; expect serious mixing and soundclashing and stuff.

The festival ends in chic fashion on 1 July at the National Concert Hall. Jeanne Cherhal performs in the chanson française style that's loved by Paris bobos: poetic lyrics + skiffly backing music. It's not really our thing, but maybe you'll like it.

If you're going along to any of the concerts, come back and give us your impressions. Here are les mademoiselles des Plastiscines with their single 'Loser'. Irish guys, start practising your French chat-up lines: they're sure to be ultra-impressed by your "Alors, tu viens ici souvent?", "Tu sais, tu te ressemble à ma mère!" and especially "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?" Then let us know if you figured out what "Mais dégage, espèce de salaud! Au secours!" means.

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If you want to see what's hot in guitar bodies and hear what sounds good in amps or grand pianos, then be in Shanghai in the second week of October. That's when Music China hits town, a giant opportunity to source, sell or promote instruments in the work shop of the world. As I've reported here before, China is the world's number one maker of musical instruments - in quantity terms no one beats China for making and exporting pianos, guitars and drum kits. But China's middle class is growing and government here is spending ever-more money on public education programmes. Both are reasons why there'll be no less than five national pavilions at this year's Music China, set for October 9 to 12, at the Shanghai Convention Centre. Oxford University Press are joining the British Pavilion - they want to sell score books - while the Spanish Guitar Mastercraftsman's Guild will be showing off classical strings at the Spanish Pavillion. There'll also be special stalls from the Czech Republic and Taiwan. An eclectic grouping indeed. And all hosted (though the hard nuts and bolts work is done by Frankfurt Messe) by the China Music Instruments Assocation, whose chief mandarin Wang Getian was good enough to give me an interview recently. I'm now keen to talk to someone from the Music Industries Association in the UK for an insight into what the British pavillion, which it leads, wants from the show. Keep you posted.

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What’s the penalty for treason? For your Paris correspondent, supporting the Netherlands in Euro 2008 rather than his host country, the sentence was an evening of sublime football and explosive joy. By contrast, it was the French team and followers who were condemned to hard labour.

(Should our Irish readers judge us harshly, we need only mention that Ireland turned its back on the whole of Europe yesterday. Are you even watching European football any more?)

Last night Holland beat France 4-1 and played with a hyper-intelligent swagger, to borrow the words of David Winner, whose fantastic book ‘Brilliant Orange’ explains how Total Football expresses the Dutch psyche. Quite simply, this tournament is now Holland’s to lose.

Of course, they may yet lose it, seeing as how they’ve blown their share of World Cups and European Championships in the past. Bearing in mind that the reigning champions are dour Greece, football can be a game where rock beats scissors.

Your blogger watched the match in Le Port d’Amsterdam, a Dutch bar in the 2^nd arrondissement (postal district) of Paris. At kick-off the tiny bar was packed, half French and half Dutch (with one Irishman in the latter camp). By the end, when Wesley Sneijder decided to run down the clock by scoring a sensational fourth Dutch goal, the place was nearly all orange. Needless to say, the atmosphere there was incredible. A Dutch news crew was on hand to film this cell of orange subversives; our readers in the Netherlands may have seen us up the front of the bar, deliriously happy.

Les bleus, meanwhile, must now defeat Italy on Tuesday night and hope that Romania don’t beat the Dutch. But at least their fans have character. 3-1 down, the French supporters in the bar started passionately singing ‘La Marseillaise’ to encourage their team. Most of them blame coach Raymond Domenech’s conservative tactics and team selection; veterans like Thuram and Makelele looked past it, while young stars like Benzema and Nasri sat out the game on the bench.

Le Port d’Amsterdam is named after a song in French by Jacques Brel, a Belgian. Apart from showing joyous football, the bar’s DJs play kitsch, good-time soul and disco every Saturday night. If you’re in the French capital and up for a party, with none of the self-consciousness of most Paris clubs, we heartily recommend it.

Here’s Brel singing ‘Le Port d’Amsterdam’. Allez les oranges! Hup Holland!

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Talking with a friend doing business in Tianjin, host of several Olympics events (including soccer) this August, it's clear there's plenty of scams doing the rounds in the run up to the Games. In Tianjin foreign companies are targeted by scam Olympic-related events, says Juan Silvestre, who consults for companies like Airbus, investing in the industrial town a two hour train ride east of Beijing. He references a soccer tournament for foreign firms in Tianjin whose organizers disappeared after collecting participation fees and sponsorship. “It’s very common to be approached by people claiming special relations with government and Olympics.” Businesses, he said, are also often approached by local newspapers offering prominent coverage in reportage surrounding the Olympics in return for payment. 

Given the frequently cowboy nature of China's capitalism it's surprising there haven't been more scams. Unauthorised apparel bearing the logo of the Beijing Olympics is ubiquitous in Beijing. Enterprising businesspeople are all cashing in on the Olympic Games. A couple of foreign  businesspeople renting out apartments to Olympics visitors have been caught out by China's tightening of rules on getting Chinese visas. Beijing doesn't want anyone like pro-Tibetan or human rights advocates unfurling banners on Tienanmen Square. A Dutchman heading up the business has been left with a lot of real estate on his hands. But perhaps the hype about hotel rooms and homestay fortunes were all that hype: many visitors have been put off by China's new strict visa policies and the protests and counterprotests regarding China's policy on Tibet, earlier this year.

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Plaid (live in Crawdaddy, Dublin)

Review Snapshot: More dubstep than Double Figure, Plaid knocked out a short and surprising set. There were two schools of thought: the Disappointed (discussing the performance in the smoking area) and the Dancers (who made up the electric crowd in the venue). As a disappointed dancer, the gig lay somewhere in between for me...

The Cluas Verdict? 6 out of 10

Full Review:
Support act Sunken Foal opened the night of electronica. Featuring one half of Ambulance (Duncan Murphy), the duo soaked the venue with eerie church bells and sustained apocalyptic sounds. Imagine the haunting, sweeping discords of the Radiohead's Morning Bell/Amnesiac infused with deep synths that sound like bullfrogs - and you've almost got Sunken Foal. They drifted from darkness to more euphoric moments of harmony, and brought the crowd on an emotional journey with them. As my companion said to me of their sound, 'Oh my God. It's like Kermit on crack.'

And there were dancers. Funky, nutty, crunk-esque: watching them became more exciting than watching two guys twiddling knobs and clicking keyboards. There was the girl with twisty, staccato hip grooves; the red-bearded man doing the 6-step, and a smily Asian guy who swung his arms around like a schoolboy.

Plaid took to the stage and continued with the bell-like sound of Sunken Foal. The initial noises reminded me of a horror movie, and when the bass kicked in, it kicked in HARD. When you can feel the bass throbbing in your throat and shooting up and down your spine, you know it's just that little bit too loud. At times I liked the pain; other times I felt middle-aged ('Lord. It's shockin' loud isn't it?') The real disappointment was that the Plaid gig lacked visuals. This wouldn't be a problem if the two performers performed, but there was no action onstage at all - in fact the stage felt shockingly empty and boring. There are other rooms in Tripod that cater for this - but seeing Plaid up onstage - serious, dull, looking not dissimilar to two IT guys trying to fix some ill-behaving Macs - made you wonder where to look. The sound was filling, penetrating, disturbing, but without visuals it didn't make as much of an impact as it could have.

Unsurprisingly, the crowd consisted of the usual eighty-percent male electronica heads. This was grand for me and my female companion until we tried to move anywhere. We were frequently accosted by aforementioned men, which became an irritating distraction to the music. One man even tried to impress me by shouting spoken word lyrics in my ear while Plaid were dropping some serious breakcore.

What I was expecting from the night were the ambient subtleties of Double Figure: what we got instead was industrial, dark and almost frightening with noise. I remember feeling at one point that the entire crowd may have all been descending into some deep apocalypse of sound; and being dragged down to that was almost like a slow and expected death. Which of course, some people liked. The crowd were incredibly responsive - going out for a breather was a different story. Lots of people in the smoking area seemed disappointed in the music choice. 'I mean, they went dubstep on my ass!' one girl exclaimed. Though I'm a fan of dubstep, it just didn't do it for me at this gig.

I suppose the old maxim of having no expectations can be a good thing - at this gig I feel as though I came away with no sense of growth or enlightenment. My question is: Did anyone who enjoyed this gig more than me tap into something I didn't?

Niamh Madden

More ...

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Rouen-born singer Barth makes alt-pop that's as melodic as his full name, Barthélémy Corbelet.

His love of The Beatles is clear; not only does he write strong pop songs, but his voice is Lennon-esque. (The similarity is apparent on a marvellous 2006 single called 'The Last Wig'.)

Barth's third album, 'Cuchillo', blends la pop anglaise with pure Americana. First single 'Magic Wondermeal' is a languid country shuffle that fans of Beck's folkier moments should enjoy.

There's also a strong Ennio Morricone vibe throughout. Indeed, the album is named after a spaghetti western character, and Barth dresses up appropriately on the cover (right).

Just to mix things up even more, Barth even throws in a bit of ska on songs like 'Saliva On My Apple' and 'Dogs Slip Away'.

You can listen to Barth songs old and new on his MySpace page. No news of any live shows in Ireland, or in Paris for that matter.  

Here's his roadtrip video for the twang-tastic 'La Machoire Americaine':

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In our inaugural end of year review in 2007, Sound Waves made the point that it was Ireland's discovery as a big wave spot that kicked off the Celtic XXL revolution. A film that played a pivitol role in that advance, even though it did not feature the now famous Aileens, was 'ABC - A Blank Canvas' made by photographer / bodyboarder Mickey Smith. Charting a quest by a group of top notch boogers across a range of codenamed European spots, the filmmakers came across Aileens in County Clare, known already to a group of locals but unridden at the time, and set about a plan to surf it that would  lead to the Carve h2o project and a series of photo features in Surfing Magazine, Carve Magazine and Surfer Magazine as well as credits in the Irish Times. These features made the international reputation of the brilliant Mickey Smith, already a highly rated surf photographer, and placed Ireland on the big wave map in a way homegrown initiatives did not have the resources to do. Interestingly though, 'ABC' did not feature Aileens in the final cut as the boys did not have the resources at the time to get out to and into the wave itself. Anyway, here is the trailer for a surf movie that led a quantum shift in Irish Surf Culture.

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