BTBW March 30th

Beyond The Big Wave, Mondays 21h00 - 23h00, Belfield FM

on 89.9fm (for those in D4) and http://www.belfieldfm.ie/ (for the poormen)

His Name is Alive - Here Forever

Hauschka - Wonder

Junior Boys - Work

Andrew Bird - Imotosis (Four tet remix)

Daedalus - Fair Weather Friends

Telepathe - Chrome's On It

Brian Eno & David Byrne - Strange Overtones

Doves - Jetstream

The Doors - LA Woman

Broken Social Scene - Lover's Spit

Animal Collective - My Girls

Beirut - The Shrew

Boards of Canada - In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country. (I can't un-italicise this. Help me.)

Pantha du Prince - Steiner Im Flug

Audion - Billy Says Go

Moscow Olympics - Still

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Stay Alive

Dan Deacon - Snookered

Erlend Oye feat. Morgan Geist - Ghost Trains

Datasette - Elephant

Daft Punk - Make Love

Somadrone - Our ears were like canyons

The Whitest Boy Alive - Golden Cage

Broken Social Scene - Guilty Cubicles

BTBW - Monday, March 23rd - 89.9 Belfield Fm

Beyond The Big Wave, Mondays 21h00 - 23h00, Belfield FM

on 89.9fm (for those in South Dublin) and http://www.belfieldfm.ie/ (for all the povs)

Run_Return - Tributary

Telepathe - Chrome's On It

Doves - Jetstream

Animal Collective - My Girls

Beirut - The Shrew

Moscow Olympics - No Winter, No Autumn

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Stay Alive

Dan Deacon - Snookered

Datasette - Elephant

Pantha Du Prince - Steiner Im Flug

Efterklang – Cutting Ice to Snow

Chequerboard – Penny Black

Calexico - Attack, El Robot! Attack!

Fleetwood Mac - Albatross

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Zero

Telepathe - In your Line

Deep Red - Good to go

Junior Boys – Parallel Lines

Weird Tapes - Nightstalking

Russian Circles - Youngblood

Flying Lotus - Golden Circles

Hauschka - Wonder

Fairmont - All Good Things

Broken Social Scene - Guilty Cubicles

Nice

From Jim Carroll's blog:

And, to the most important question of all, just who might these Picnic acts be? Based on things falling off trucks, educated guesswork, good cop/bad cop conversations and getting handed a sheaf of print-outs at my Austin hotel which were destined for a UK booking agent, don’t be surprised if Fleet Foxes, Department of Eagles, Micachu & The Shapes, Orbital, Bon Iver, Okkervil River and The Prodigy end up on the bill.

By the way, I mentioned Green Day to Picnic booker Declan Forde and he guffawed loudly with laughter for several minutes. I think we can take that as a definite “no” .

Lovely Hurling.

Deep Red

Some members of Hercules and Love Affair, whose self-titled album treated the world to a rejuvenation of camp, funky disco, have come together for a side project. The group are called Deep Purple, and it follows in the vein of Hercules, if slightly more louche. There is an album to come soon, for now I can only come across the two songs on their MySpace below. Good to Go is delightfully sleazy. Keep an eye out, because this is gonna be big!!

Deep Red Myspace

RSAG Irish tour

Irish artist RSAG, enjoying much acclaim following his brilliantly original Organic Sampler album, plays a string of dates around the country in late April and early May. Here's the list:

	NUI, Maynooth	Dublin
21 Apr 2009 20:00	DCU	Dublin
22 Apr 2009 20:00	Dolan’s	Limerick
23 Apr 2009 20:00	Spirit Store	Dundalk
24 Apr 2009 20:00	Auntie Annie’s	Belfast
25 Apr 2009 20:00	Roisin Dubh	Galway
27 Apr 2009 20:00	UCD BALL	Dublin
29 Apr 2009 20:00	Cyprus Avenue	cork
30 Apr 2009 20:00	UL College Ball	Limerick
1 May 2009 20:00	Electric Avenue	Waterford
2 May 2009 20:00	Whelan’s	Dublin
7 May 2009 20:00	Belfast Queens University	Belfast
8 May 2009 20:00	Trinity Ball	Dublin
9 May 2009 20:00	Sligo / Venue TBA	Sligo

Russian Circles

Chicago band in the ilk of Mogwai and Pelican, Russian Circles have not achieved a massive amount of attention yet. Their first release was Enter in 2006, which I cannot get my hands on easily. Last year's Station has thankfully fallen my way in the last few weeks, and it is an addictive little one. Full of the epic crescendos and big big soundscapes that have made Mogwai famous, the Chicago boys certainly seem to have a lot to offer based on this short 6-track album. Campaign is a gloriously slow burning starter, flowing along with tepid guitar plucking which gently rises in intensity to leave us tapping our feet to a gorgeous riff, without ever delivering the massive noise we would expect from many bands of this ilk. Harper Lewis, Youngblood and Station are more aggressive affairs which show off the metal-inspired edge that RC clearly have in their repertoire. These songs get the blood boiling a little bit and definitely come with an emotional charge. You can almost picture a baddie running down an alley from a cop in a movie that will surely use these tracks in the near future. Verses and Xavii sound almost like tracks off the early soothing Sigur Ros album, (), really beautiful stuff.
Thanks to Euan for the tip-off. These guys rock, and with that range in their capability, I hope we'll see a bit more of them as time passes.

Russian Circles - Campaign

Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve

Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve have released the first volume in their Re-animations series. Containing all their re-animations to date, this is a thing of beauty. Tracks include: their sublime version of Midlake's "Roscoe" and recent re-working of "Ulysess" by regular collaborators, Franz Ferdinand. You'll be hard pressed to find someone who hasn't been rocked to the core by one of Erol's party centered sets so this is essential for all music fans. While BTWS' output is not of the dancefloor orientated variety, it is top-notch psychadelic stuff. The diversity of influences and depth of talent present in the soul of Alkan is just bewildering. He is joined by an equally talented(judging by his work) other half in Richard Norris. We had the pleasure of catching a snippet of a BTWS dj set at Fabric 12 months ago but were surprised by the small crowd in attendance in the top bar, their profile has increased substantially in that time and they would no doubt garner a bigger following now.

Available to buy now from Rough Trade and Phonica and all good record stores and download from iTunes.

The duo have composed a minimix for Annie Mac at Radio 1 to promote the beginning of the Re-animations series. It is a 5 minute riot crammed with 28 psychadelic tracks. Available to sample on their MySpace page, I will endeavour to find a download link and will post it up soon.

http://www.myspace.com/beyondthewizardssleeve

http://www.beyondthewizardssleeve.co.uk/

Ben Klock - FACT mix 31

Ben Klock is atop my list of must-sees this year. I haven't had the pleasure yet and, along with Marcel Dettmann, I hope to catch both at Airbound. That is if I still have money to my name come the summer. The link below is to an exclusive mix compiled for FACT magazine. There are some great tracks included from the upper echelons of techno hierarchy such as Regis, The Mole, Surgeon, Omar-S and Shed. There's also an interview with Klock, where he mentiones Dublin as one his favourite cities to rock alongside Rio and Sao Paolo...not bad eh.

Ben Klock - FACT mix 31

Tracklisting:

1. Function - Variance (Regis Edit) [Sandwell District]

2. Liquid Sky - The Darkness [Filtered Vision]

3. Shed - The Lower Upside Down (Surgeon Remix) [Ostgut Ton]

4. Norman Nodge - Man Made [MDR]

5. Bandalu - Episode 07 [Foundation Sound Works]

6. The Mole - Ain't The Way It's Supposed To Be [Wagon Repair]

7. Surgeon - Prowler [Counterbalance]

8. Omar-S - Busaru Beats [Sound Signature]

9. Ben Klock - Grip [Ostgut Ton]

10. Levon Vincent - Six Figures [Novel Sound]

11. Steffan Linzatti - See [Stockholm LTD]

12. Steve Stoll - Run in It B1 [Proper]

13. Norman Nodge - Rush [MDR]

14. Ben Klock - Before One [Ostgut Ton]

15. Booka Shade - Sweet Lies (Radio Slave Remix) [Get Physical]

16. Marcel Dettmann - Untitled [Unreleased]

17. Kink - Blue Print [Rush Hour]

18. Roman Lindau - Simplicity [Fachwork]

Junior Boys - Begone Dull Care

Canadian electro/pop duo Junior Boys have finally released the long-awaited follow to their classic album So this is Goodbye. While continuing the standard of the aforementioned was a nigh-on impossible task, Begone Dull Care does a damn good job trying. The subtle shift they have undergone over a two year period in which they have dabbled in mix CDs for Body Language amongst others and performed DJ sets (which were of a far higher quality than the average tripe on show at such charades) is certainly evident here. Louder, more extravagant synths, a faster pace and elements at times bordering on funk make this a more colourful work than the more industrial, austere yet utterly brilliant So this is Goodbye*. Parallel Lines is an absolute gem which will feature on playlists for months on end. All in all however I think despite the positives this is a step backwards in terms of sophistication and sheer quality from their previous work. Which means it is still better than most releases we will come across this year.


Junior Boys - Parallel Lines

*Thank you Cizzo

NATHAN FAKE @ LowerState, St Patrick's Day Special

There's not a lot I need to say about Nathan Fake, listen to his music and it will tell you all you need to know. Get your behind to The Cellar Underground on our national holiday. How often are you going to get Border Community goodness on a Tuesday in Galway. You have no excuses.

Tickets: E15 - available in advance from The Cellar Bar.

http://lowerstate.ie/

Nathan Fake - "The Sky Was Pink"(Holden Remix)

Youtube Goodness

Four Tet (live) - Andrews Lane - Sat 28th Feb

Cloudy recollection of this one, to say the least. It's getting silly - James Holden in Spy? Can't remember. Michael Mayer? Not a bean. Broken Social Scene last May? Hammered. Absolutely hammered. It has to stop.

Fortunately, despite the best efforts of an evening drinking whiskey and singing God Save the Queen at Croker, this one wasn't quite so bad. For this was a night too good to be forgotten; a late set from Four Tet to a sold out - and wildly giddy - Andrews Lane on a Saturday night should really do the trick. And it did. Lots. Hebdon performed every track from his Ringer Ep of last year*, together with a rapturously received smattering of his more organic stuff from Rounds and Everything Ecstatic (not sure if any Pause tunes surfaced - I refer you to the asterisk below). The contrast with my last Four Tet experience (at a largely distracted End in London last spring) was stark - he had us utterly gripped throughout. One got the sense that this was an artist at his peak; ten years of experimentalism, of folktronica, jazz fusions and abstract remixes giving way to a evening of joyous celebration and energy. Here's hoping the word spreads.

--------------------------

Someone got a very annoying video of Ringer that stops just before it gets going on 8 minutes. It's worth watching to see the guy dancing on stage at 7:30

*I think. I was locked.

GIG GUIDE: Peter Broderick

May is shaping up to be just yummy, with Deerhunter and Telepathe already pencilled in. Peter Broderick is a less obvious but equally important gig date to put down. Broderick is a pianist from Portland, Oregon based in Copenhagen. He makes music that should ideally be listened to as a lullaby, beautifully soothing harmonious solo piano. The guy is only 21 years of age and plays in the Efterklang band, which many people will know. A tribute to his talents is the list of acts he has played with live, including She and Him, and M. Ward. His 2007 album Docile is just a joy to listen to, with Moment getting a play on BTBW's radio show recently*. His 20080 album Float hasn't even made it our way yet, but judging from his MySpace it is equally lovely. This could be a grand little summer's evening gig altogether.

Peter Broderick - Moment

http://www.myspace.com/peterbroderick

Peter Broderick plays Whelan's Monday May 4th
*I know, what an honour

BSITWT#56

Calexico - Attack El Robot! Attack!

It's from 2003 but this trippy little gem off the Feast of Wire album by the Arizona ensemble only entered my little life this week.

GIG GUIDE: Telepathe

"Achingly hip" Brooklyn act Telepathe come to town with their faux-French swagger for a gig in Academy 2 (???) . The synthy pop and delightfully soothing voices of the DanceMother EP are going down a treat with us.

Here is In your line from their gig in Whelan's last October (which I am horrified to have just heard about - finger is clearly not on the pulse)




Telepathe play Academy 2 Tuesday May 19

http://www.myspace.com/telepathe

Jape wins Choice Music Prize

Thank fuck.

LIVE: Passion Pit, Hockey, Whelan's, March 1st

This one had all the characteristics to be the "I was there when they played at Whelan's" gig for 2009, following on from annyoing comments from hipsters who attended Fleet Foxes and The National inter alia at the hallowed venue in previous years. While this gig may not quite have lived up to that kind of billing, there was definitely a sense that we were witnessing something big in the making last Sunday night. Hockey opened the bill, bringing their own unique style, which might be described as "we look like Foals, but we're far happier, less indulgent, funkier, and our lead singer is a much friendlier guy". With these characteristics comes a lack of edge which will most likely make them less serious contenders than the Oxford crew. Lead vocal was scarily strong, at times leading one to wonder if it was indeed a CD playing. Belters such as Too Fake and Song Away had the room well and truly bouncing, although it must be admitted that among their extensive repertoire of, em, 6 songs, there are a feww fillers.

Very very strong support was then followed by a sublime show from Passion Pit, arguably this year's most touted group in the "blogosphere". A phenomenally idiosyncraticly high-pitched vocal from Michael Angelakos does tempt one to think they are a bit of a fad, but the lack of headbands and neon helped assuage our fears, as PP launched into their own brand of electro-nerdy-funk from the Chunk of Change EP. In all honesty Angelakos actually faltered at times as he seemed to struggle to continually keep at such a high pitch. Their synth man was the real hero for me, brimming with so much enthusiasm that at times it seemed his head would fall off from his bopping. Highlight of the night was the riveting rendition of Sleepyhead nearly took the roof off Whelan's to finish the main set. This was bizarrely followed by a fairly lame lead-vocal-does-solo-track-on-his-own to finish up. Robin Pecknold can sleep easily on that account.

Both these bands will definitely fly high this year and I have no doubt we will all be dancing our asses off all summer to tracks from both. As for it being the "I was there when they played Whelan's" gig, em, maybe. I was there though.
Here is Sleepyhead from Sunday night

Woodstock returns, maybe....

Rumours of a 40th anniversary Woodstock gig have taken off, with gigs planned for New York and Berlin in August. Read more here
Here's some fun from the original