My Top 50 Albums of the Decade

50. Red, Yellow & Blue - Born Ruffians (2008)
49. Happy Birthday - Modeselektor (2007)
48. Shotter's Nation - Babyshambles (2007)
47. Airdrawndagger - Sasha (2002)
46. We Thrive on Big Cities - Director (2006)
45. The Reminder - Feist (2007)
44. Antidotes - Foals (2008)
43. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (2005)
42. Destroy Rock & Roll - Mylo (2004)
41. From Here We Go Sublime - The Field (2007)
40. This Gift - Sons & Daughters (2008)
39. O - Damien Rice (2002)
38. The Magic Numbers - The Magic Numbers (2005)
37. Organics Sampler - R.S.A.G. (2008)
36. Dear Science - TV on the Radio (2008)
35. The XX - The XX (2009)
34. Asa Breed - Matthew Dear (2007)
33. Fabric 36 - Ricardo Villalobos (2007)
32. Veckatimest - Grizzly Bear(2009)
31. The Warning - Hot Chip (2006)
30. A Certain Trigger - Maximo Park (2005)
29. Colour It In - The Maccabees (2007)
28. Kasabian - Kasabian (2004)
27. Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires (2008)
26. College Dropout - Kanye West (2004)
25. Tales of Silversleeve - Cathy Davey (2007)
24. Good News For People Who Love Bad News - Modest Mouse (2004)
23. Hot Fuss - The Killers (2004)
22. Power in Numbers - Jurassic 5 (2002)
21. Long Distance Swimmer - Adrian Crowley (2008)
20. Flock - Bell X1 (2005)
19. Simple Things - Zero 7 (2001)
18. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (2008)
17. Ritual - Jape (2008)
16. Saturdays = Youth - M83 (2008)
15. Untrue - Burial (2007)
14. Silent Alarm - Bloc Party (2005)
13. Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys (2006)
12. Aha Shake Hearbreak - Kings of Leon (2004)
11. Funeral - The Arcade Fire (2004)


10. Boxer - The National (2007)







9. Third - Portishead (2008)








8. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand (2004)






7. Original Pirate Material - The Streets (2002)







6. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (2008)








5. For Emma, Forever Ago - Bon Iver (2007)







4. Seldom Seen Kid - Elbow (2008)






3. Turn on the Bright Lights - Interpol (2002)







2. Sound of Silver - LCD Soundsystem (2007)








1. In Rainbows - Radiohead (2007)

The Joys of Irish Politics

BSITWT #84

Shakleton - 'Blood On My Hands' (Ricardo Villalobos Apocalypso Now Mix)

Video:

BSITWT #83

Animal Collective - 'Summertime Clothes'

http://www.myspace.com/animalcollective

Animal Collective - 'Summertime Clothes' video

Running in a forest in Winter - Brilliant

Follow it, change it, trust it, don't give it away too easily but put it into everything you do, get it pumping, keep your loved ones close to it, whether it's cold, warm or made of stone, take good care of it, it's the most important thing you will ever own.

BSITWT #82

Efterklang - 'Mirador'

Efterklang - 'Mirador' Video

BSITWT #81

Four Tet - 'Love Cry'

Available to buy here. Nice appetiser before Hebden's latest album There Is Love in You comes our way, it is due for release in January next year. You can preview some of the artwork for it at: www.fourtet.net.

Added bonus following on from Ferg's heads up on BSITWT #80: Four Tet - 'Love Cry' (Joy Orbison remix)

Feel Good Scene

BSITWT #80

Jose James - Blackmagic (Joy Orbison's recreation)

Something a bit more housey than we are used to here. Delightful though. Joy Orbison appear to be a bit of a hit at the moment. Watch this space

Breakestra and the Candidates

Two delightful little additions to my musical world have stumbled by me this evening. Having looked at an old copy of The Ticket's New Music section, I popped onto the Myspace of the Candidates. They are a group of youngsters from Dublin, but beyond that I don't know much about them. However, they are providing something very rare for an emerging Irish group- a blend of funk and soul that would be much more at home in black America, and which really gets one in the mood for a dance.

As it turns out, they are supporting Breakestra, a hip hop/soul act from the US that have done work no less than Chali 2na (or charlie tuna in English) of Jurassic 5ive (five in English) in the Button Factory soon. As I listen to their latest album Dawn til Dusk, I am loving it all! Their music has all the elements, a fantastically deep, rough vocal, a jazz flute, and the classic injection of brass required. This promises to be an ass shaker!!!

The Candidates and Breakestra play the Button Factory, Sat 28th Nov

The Candidates Myspace
Breakestra Myspace
Breakestra - Need a little love (rapidshare)

HOMELIGHTS Festival - Whelan's, Dublin. Friday 27 - Monday 30 November 2009

Taken from the HOMELIGHTS MySpace page:

HOMELIGHTS is a weekend of music & visuals co-curated by Irish recording artist Adrian Crowley and independent music promoters Foggy Notions. It is a sister festival to Adem’s HOMEFIRES in London and the Fence Collective’s HOMEGAME in Fife and draws upon the themes of community and artistic kinship.

The line-up features numerous artists who Adrian has forged friendships with on his musical travels during his five album career to date, including some of his Fence Collective compadres, as well as legendary folk artists such as Vashti Bunyan and Andy Irvine for whom he holds great admiration.

This inaugural event will also double as a celebration of Adrian’s freshly consummated relationship with influential Scottish independent record label Chemikal Underground who will release his beautiful conceived fifth album Season of the Sparks in November 2009.

A long the way there’ll be numerous surprises, impromptu collaborations and surprise guests. Tickets are on sale including including the excellent value weekend tickets available from www.tickets.ie

___________________________________

Friday Nov 27th. Upstairs @ Whelan's. 8pm
Adrian Crowley & Friends (solo performances & collaborations)
Tickets €12 incl booking fee
____________________________
Saturday Nov 28th. Whelan’s. 3pm – 10.30pm
Adrian Crowley (full band performance)
James Yorkston
Adem
Alasdair Roberts
& special guests tbc
Tickets €20 incl booking
____________________________
Sunday Nov 29th. Whelan’s. 3pm – 1.30am
Vashti Bunyan (full band performance)
Adrian Crowley (accompanied by Geese)
Andy Irvine (Planxty, Sweeney’s Men)
Minotaur Shock
Lord Cut-Glass (Chemikal Underground)
& full line-up tbc
Tickets €25 incl booking fee
______________________________
Monday Nov 30th. Whelan’s 8pm – 11pm
Dosh (Anticon)
Hulk (Osaka)
& special guests tbc
Tickets €15 incl booking fee
_______________________________
Limited number of weekend tickets available from www.tickets.ie priced €45 (incl booking fee)

http://www.myspace.com/homelightsfestival
http://www.myspace.com/foggynotions
http://www.myspace.com/adriancrowley

Filter - Irish Electronic Music Conference

Specifically aimed at Electronic music, Filter will bring together a host of Irelands DJ's, Producers and Music professionals to the Riverbank Arts Centre for a selection of talks and workshops covering topics relevant to Dj's and Producers within the Irish Electronic Music Scene.

Line-up /
DJ/Producer Mark Kavanagh,
DJ/Producer Orla Feeney
David Timpson - RTE Pulse Station Controller,
DJ Christian Homan (Twilight on Pulse),
Jack Fox – Press officer for RTE Pulse,
DJ/Producer Kid Handsome,
DJ/Producer Reuben Keeney
Label Boss Desy Balmer - Nice&Nasty / DXR
Label Boss Paul Newhouse - Redboxrecordz

11am
1 Hour Logic Audio Workshop with Jeff Timony AKA Kid Handsome

12pm
1 Hour Ableton Live performance workshop with Enda Rochford AKA Captain Random

1pm Lunch

2pm
Forum of Peers – Discussion of relevant topics for DJ's and Producers.
Featuring:
Mark Kavanagh, Desy Balmer, Orla Feeney, Paul Newhouse, David Timpson, Christian Homan, Jack Fox, Jeff Timony, Reuben Keeney,

3.30pm
Technical/Hardware Demonstrations from FUTURESOUNDS.IE, Barry Dempsey (Monad/Virtue Studios)
ITF Scratch mixing champion DJ Flip who will give a demonstration on various turntable techniques

THIS IS A FREE EVENT - HOWEVER , TICKETS MUST MUST BE ORDERED IN ADVANCE FROM THE RIVERBANK BOX OFFICE

EMAIL: boxoffice@riverbank.ie
Email your details and the details of any additional guests

http://www.riverbank.ie/

Train from Dublin to Newbridge departs Heuston at 10.15 arriving at 10.52 - €13*

*We go the extra mile for you here at BTBW.

Andrew Bird, Casino de Paris, 13.11.09

American troubled genius Andrew Bird brought his solo act to Paris last Friday to the delight of a sold out Casino de Paris. While there were many highlights, including the classic Imitosis, there was definitely a sense that Bird is at the end of a long, sleepless frenzied journey*. The sounds were great, his genius was obvious, but the energy did not seem to be there in his one-man violin/whistling/xylophone/guitar show. Although this comparison is harsh considering the talent of Owen Palett, Bird's show falls a long way short of Final Fantasy's equivalent. The encore really left us with a smile, as Ben Jaffe from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band (not sure where that is...) joined Bird on stage with his tuba for two barnstorming tracks. Here is one below:



*not only was there a sense, he actually said "I've been on the go for a long time and I need a break"

Grizzly Bear, Vicar St; Nov 1st

Sunday. You're tired, hungover and broke - Adrian Childs' flirtatious relationship with Lee Dixon on Match of the Day 2 should be the most complex thing you face all evening. Alas, one fateful sabbath, you're begrudgingly hauled through the curiously baltic microclimate that seperates Dublins 4 and 8 at the whim of a sadistic promoter. Lo and behold, your arsey Sunday mood is at once forgotten, and the rest of your evening is spent floating to the chimes of a gifted Brooklyn quartet.

Thus went Sunday last. Grizzly Bear were beautiful; every bit as harmonious, sparse and rich as their two classic records suggest. The broody Colorado was turned into an expansive epic; Two Weeks sounded like one of the best pop songs of the decade, and While You Wait For The Others swept you along its journey from a folky crusade into a harmonious show-stealer. The silent devotion was something to behold. A magical evening.

Secret Wars 2 - Bernard Shaw - 7 November 2009

Having introduced the infamous live street art battle to Dublin back in July, Secret Wars picks back up its pens for a very special battle! At 7pm on Friday 6th November, Secret Wars will be hosting a one off clash with the jumbo International's creative conference known as OFFSET in The Car Park of The Bernard Shaw. This event will see Secret Wars Dublin battling a team of guest artists chosen to represent OFFSET.

Visit www.secretwars.co.uk || www.iloveoffset.com

Lusine [LIVE] @ Lowerstate - 14 November 2009

www.lowerstate.ie

Perfection

Joy Division - Disorder

Really late and lazy review

Fabric had their 10th birthday recently, it was really tome, like.

Starting on Sat night and finishing early Monday morning, it was something to behold. BTBW saw Michael Mayer, Andrew Weatherall, Matthew Jonson, Ivan Smagghe, Steve Bug, and Ricardo Villalobos over a 24 hour period with a massive snooze in the middle somewhere. Highlight by a mile was Decompression by Jonson, although Villalobos' set full of evil gems was also great. Actually they were all great, God bless them. The people there are tossers though. Berlin pisses on London when it comes to that scene. Sorry....

Late Night Get Go

Late Night Get Go is a new music and comedy show on RTE. The first show was filmed live in The Good Bits (formerly Radiocity) on Store Street this evening. The revamped venue is a perfect location to show off some of the country best up-and-coming live acts. We will endeavour to let you know when the next filming is taking place and free tickets can be obtained by composing a simple email...details to follow when at hand.

On the bill this evening:

Cheap Freaks














Padraig Rushe

General Fiasco















Identity Parade

Bitches With Wolves







“Late Night Get Go is all about variety, giving viewers the chance to see the hottest new acts in music and comedy in a format that is fresh, energetic and original.”

BSITWT #79

Apparat - Silizium (Bus Remix) mp3

Finally

Hurrah! Channel One are finally releasing their debut album, Sound to Light, in a fortnight. The release is accompanied by a free gig in The Button Factory on Friday Nov 6th, where presumably the record will be available to buy.

We're giddy about this one - the Accelerate : Brake EP brought Irish electronic music to another level with its layers of wavey shoegaze, moody vocals and punchy beats. The new stuff sounded pretty brilliant at the DEAF fundraiser gig last month too; this could be one of the better Irish records this year.

BSITWT #78

Nosaj Thing - Fog.

I can't get over this track. Dineen has been championing this chap lately, the album "Drift" is one of the finest I've heard this yea, varying from the beatifully airy to the downright grimy. A exemplar to all those searching for the outer realms of the Pretty-Philthy spectrum.

Fresh Air, on the air

Donal Dineen's radio show takes on a fresh visage for November, with the invitation of a host of Irish artists to come on, have a bit of a chat, play a few tunes. It is basically like they call over to him for a cuppa tea but we get to listen in. Should be only lovely.

A reminder that the Small Hours airs Monday-Thursday, midnight-2am.

From Donal Dineen's blog:

FreshAir is a free music festival that will be transmitted directly into your ears via The Small Hours on Today FM. Donal Dineen has chosen his pick of the best new irish sound makers to take part in a month-long celebration of great new music, live on your radio.

For the month of November Donal will have a invited guest act live on air for The Small Hours to play live, chat to Donal and play a selection of their own favourite tunes, effectively curating the show for the night.

Lined up so far are Chequerboard, Jimmy Behan, 3epkano, Stefan Galt, Si Schroeder, Dark Room Notes, Beautiful Unit, Katie Kim, R.S.A.G., Good Time John, Patrick Kelleher, Valerie Francis, Sunken Foal, and Kevin Blake, and Thread Pulls.

Small Hours Interweb Page

BSITWT #77

Gold Panda - Mayuri

thanks to Mr Dineen for putting the panda into my life. Can't get enough

BSITWT #76

Radioslave - 'Koma Koma (Steve Lawler Remix) 320kbps

Intimidating. Taken from Fabric 48 - Radioslave.

Sideproject

Sideproject is a Cork based 5 piece. The band formed in early 2006 and have been producing high-quality experimental/post rock ever since. To date they have released two well received EPs Take Shelter From The Stars and Not Waving But Drowning. Having played on the bill with acts such as Fight Like Apes, Delorentos and, Ted Leo and The Pharmacists, the lads have garnered a deserved loyal following. They also featured as part of the Hard Working Class Heroes festival 2008 alongside the likes of Super Extra Bonus Party and the truly superb Chequerboard. The excellent 'Each Flame Concealed a Sinner' is amongst a number of tracks to sample on their MySpace page. With influences such as Efterklang, Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky, the lads could hardly go wrong. Best of all, I have the absolute pleasure of being a colleague of Alan and Mike. Treat yourself to a listen.

Sideproject - 'Outpatients'

An Troubadour

While i'm at it, here's the first part of RTE's Leargas tribute to Mic - Troubadour - screened around the time of the Skylarking release in 2003.

BSITWT #75

Dirty Projectors - Stillness is the move

Mic Christopher in Vienna, 2001

Just came across this live rendition of what many believe to be the late Mic Christopher's masterpiece, What A Curious Notion, filmed at a Vienna club in 2001. Always nice to see an initially uninterested crowd become so gripped by a man and his guitar. Typically for Mic, he forgets the name of the song...

This November marks 8 years since his untimely death in Groningen; he would have been 40 last month.

LCD Soundsystem - 45:33 (Remixes)

It's hard to believe that 45:33 has been with us since 2005. It still sounds as fresh and energising as when it first creeped into our lives. We now have an updated and remixed version released last month after having undergone a 2009 workout (ahem) from some of house and disco's finest. The original track placings have not been altered hugely. Have a listen.

Julian Plenti - The Academy - 1 December 2009

Ferg introduced us to Paul Banks' pseudonym Julian Plenti back in August. Now in support of his album Julian Plenti...is Skyscraper, Banks is playing selected dates in support of the release including a date at The Academy at beginning of December. Tickets(€33) are still on sale. Any other questions should be satisfied by a single click here.

Julian Plenti - 'Only If You Run'

DEAF 2009 - October 22-31

The programme for the Dublin Electronic Arts Festival is available here.

Some things of interest (I could have posted the entire line-up really):

Thurs 22nd-Sat 31st:Projector Collective present

ATOM: Meditations on the Disappearance of the Independent Record Shop
Filmbase, Curved Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2
Free 11am -8pm

Thurs 22nd-Sat 31st: Donal Dineen Mix Media installation (Irl)

Filmbase, Curved Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2
Free 11am -8pm

Thurs 22nd: Lunar Disko present DJ Jus-Ed

DJ Jus-Ed (Underground Quality – Connecticut, USA) + Dan Power (Electric Shock, Irl)
Kennedys, The Underground, Westland Row, Dublin 2

€10 11pm

Fri 23rd: I + E present Toshimaru Nakamura (Jap), Chip Shop Music

The Ireland Institute

8pm €10

Fri 23rd: u:mack present Modeselektor

Button Factory, Curved Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2

11pm €24 BUY TICKETS

Fri 23rd: Film Programme: Balkan Shorts, selected by Vladan Petkovic (Serbia)

Contemporary Music Centre, 19 Fishamble Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 8

Free 6pm -8pm

Sat 24th: ChoiceCuts present Hypnotic Brass Ensemble

Button Factory, Curved Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2.

8pm €20 BUY TICKETS

Sat 24th: Big Dish Go & Teknowarfare present

Surgeon (UK), Fran Hartnett (Live, Irl), Jamie Behan (Irl) + Conan O’Donnell (Irl)

Kennedy’s, The Underground, Westland Row, Dublin 2. 10pm €15

Sat 24th: DEAF presents Spilly Walker & Hunter-Gatherer

Filmbase, Curved Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2

8pm-10.30pm €8

Sat 24th: ’What We Do’ Irish label Showcase

Aciitone, D1 Recordings, Elevation, FVF, Mode Music, Nice & Nasty, Psychonavigation, SeedyR, Stereotonic

Pygmalion Bar, 59 South William Street, Dublin 2. 5pm - 3am Free.

Sun 25th: u:mack present Warp @ DEAF

Plaid (Live Classics Set), Clark (Live), Tim Exile (Live), Bibio (Laptop/ DJ), DJ N>E>D (Overkill)

Button Factory 8pm till late Tickets €25 BUY TICKETS

Sun 25th: Second Square to None present ‘Ten Second Rule Audio Recycling’.
Vince MakMahon (Irl), PushMoveClick (Irl), Ev Tiernan (Irl), Euphiophone (Irl), Melesta (Irl), Brown Cloud (Kachanski and Rory St John) (Irl), Dubreak (Irl), Fyed (Irl). Filmbase, Curved Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2. 2pm – 8pm Free

Fri 30th: Subject present

Donnacha Costello (Minimise / Look Long, Live, Irl), Jay Galligan (Test, Irl), Joe Morrissey [Subject, Irl] + Galactic Beat Club DJs & Enda Waldron

11pm POD, Harcourt Street, Dublin 2. €12/15

Sat 31st: DEAF Banter. 90’s v 00’s electronic music in Dublin with Francois, Sunil Sharpe, & Jim Carroll.

Twisted Pepper (The Mezz, Upstairs), 54 Middle Abbey, Dublin 1. 8.30pm – 10pm Free - capacity is limited- email your name to conor@bodytonicmusic.com