PlayRewind

Full oxegen line up

Here you go boys and girls the whole nine yards.

FRIDAY 11TH JULY 08
Main Stage: Kings of Leon, Interpol, Editors, Paddy Casey, The Coronas and Amy Macdonald.
O2 Stage: Groove Armada, The Go! Team, Ben Folds, dEUS, Sugababes and Future Kings of Spain.
Green Room: Bell X1, Mundy, Aslan and Captain
Pet Sounds: Cat Power, Aphex Twin, Tricky, Battles and God Is An Astronaut
New Band Stage/Futures: White Denim, Friendly Fires, The Metros, Noah & The Whale, Sparkadia, Bryn Christopher, Liam Finn and Leopold.
Dance Stage: Calvin Harris, Unkle, Annie Mac, MSTRKRFT, Koze, Kosheen and Burn

A touch of Vertigo

Vertigo Smyth is a shinny lad with glasses, and when I saw him, he was in need of a touch from the barber’s razor. Now being a blinding bean poll myself I’m not normally one for name calling but it’s almost inconceivable that the sound he creates came from such scant a frame. I was at Java Coffee shop last Wednesday for the Galway launch of “Future Happiness” EP. It was shaping up to be a pleasant affair, I got coffee and pie and saw a two young fellas warm up the gathering bodies with a blend of witty and energised songs followed by soft trance inducing (but that could have been the pie) ballads. Like I said pleasant.
When Vertigo finally got around to tuning up this guitar, banjo and ukulele I thought I knew where the night was going. It was going to be one of those soft strumming sessions laced with craic that happen in the back of pubs, coffee shops, any grassy area, house party or street corner near a supply of Buckfast that seem to pop up around Galway all the time. That would have been pleasant. But nobody soft strums a banjo and with a voice as clear and powerful as Vertigo’s pleasant was left at the door.

Muse in Marley.

Muse are to play Marlay Park on August 13th. Tickets go on sale 9am this Saturday, April 19th and will set you back €70.70. Kasabian will support on the night. Should be good.

Metallica to play Marley Park.

Metallica are going to rock the hell outa Marlay Park on August 20. Their first in since 2006.
Tenacious D are the warm up act and I really hope they are better than the last time I saw em doing all that The Pick of Destiny muck. Still even if the corpse of Joe Dolan was the warm up the gods of hard rock never disappoint .Tickets  are on sale April 18 priced €74.50.

Horray.

HORRAY.

Picnic Time!

Sex Pistols, Sigur Ros, Grinderman, Franz Ferdinand, George Clinton & The P-Funk Allstars, My Bloody Valentine, Goldfrapp, Christy Moore, Wilco, The Gossip, Duffy, Underworld, Tinariwen, CSS, Tindersticks, New Young Pony Club, Josh Ritter, Lisa Hannigan, Cathy Davey, That Petrol Emotion, The Breeders, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Sinead O'Connor, Henry Rollings, The Waterboys, The Roots, Kila, Micah P Hinson, Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), Hayseed Dixie, Candi Staton, Juana Molina, Turin Brakes, Faust, Midnight Juggernauts, Tartit, Hadouken!, Silver Apples, Mark Geary, Teitur, Blitzen Trapper, Absentee, Balanescu Quartet, Lou Rhodes, Adrian Crowley, One Day International, The Yard Dogs, Tobias Froberg, Boss Volenti, Dawn Landes, Constantines, Yacht, Lionheart Brothers, Large Mound, Emmy the Great, Foals, Kormac & the BSQ Band, Jape, Noisettes, Dublin Gospel Choir.

The list comes form here. The ones in bold have gotten me all giddy.

Lee Scratch Perry, The Orb, Gemma Hayes, Bloc Party, James, David Kitt, Human League, Rodrigo y Gabriela and Fatboy Slim are also tipped to play. Now if they could steal The Prodigy for a set we would be rightly sorted.

The fun runs from the 29th to the 31st of Aug

The Only Problem With Ghundi Is Their Name Doesn't Work Well Into A Title

I went out on Sunday night to see Only Fumes and Corpses expecting to receive an aural pummelling form Galway’s favourite angry men and expecting ’em blow the crowd away. I got what I expected. I was not expecting Ghundi, a four piece who have just released their first EP 3196ep. It’s a cheap looking thing for €3 which usually means a band is unsure of the quality of their work or they know its crap. From the confidence and competence of the gig they don’t seem like a band unsure of themselves and from the material they played they shouldn’t be worried about the quality. I suppose I’m going the long way around to saying these guys bloody rock. I got a distinctly Suicidal Tendencies  vibe from some the songs in both style and lyrical delivery, which is never a bad thing.
They hammered out the songs at break-neck pace so much that vocalist Kollin Finnerty had to pause for breath, just as well then the whole EP is only about 14 min long or he may have needed a respirator by the end. A bass heavy and hard edged sound that never descends in pointless noise and shouty-chanty lyrical delivery which avoids the oi oi oi school of thought, Ghundi have a clear notion of what they want to do and the talent and style to pull it off. Sanity Clause and Soundtrack To a Riot are the high points and sure to become crowd favourites for their chunky grinding riff (Sanity Clause) and mental/genius direction change (Soundtrack To a Riot).
Quality.myspace

New Republic

Republic of Loose are putting the finishing touches to their third album which is scheduled release in late Spring. The first single "Go SteadyWith It” is set for April and the band are shooting the video around now.
The Album is going to have a live feel, "We've gone back to being a band in a room, listening to American soul, jazz, rock and hip-hop" so says Brez.

In other Loose news the lads will play with Sinead O'Connor at the Meteor awards on February 15th.
The song they will do is Curtis Mayfield's brooding 'We People Who Are Darker Than Blue' which will be a tribute to Ronnie Drew. Should be good.

IM BACKING DRY COUNTY BUT BOOKIES BACK DELORENTOS FOR CHOICE

The Choice award is in its 3rd year and was set up to heap praise and cash (€10,000) on the lucky Irish artist who’s album impressed its panel of critics. It does not go on sales, focusing instead on the music so it says. I can't imagine what they think the rest of us focus on before buying an album but then again looking at the charts most weeks one could be forgiven for wondering! Anyway the reason I am (sorta) talking about the Choice Awards is because the crop deemed worthy of a crack at the prize have just been announced. The short List is as follows;
Adrian Crowley "Long Distance Swimmer" (Tin Angel)
http://www.myspace.com/adriancrowley
Cathy Davey "Tales Of Silversleeve" (EMI)
http://www.myspace.com/cathydavey
Delorentos "In Love With Detail" (Cottage)
http://www.delorentos.net
Dry County "Unexpected Falls" (Lazybird)
http://www.myspace.com/drycounty05
The Flaws "Achieving Vagueness" (Arrivals)
http://www.theflaws.com
David Geraghty "Kill Your Darlings" (Decal)
http://www.davidgeraghty.com
Kila "Gambler's Ballet" (Kila Records)
http://www.kila.ie
Roisin Murphy "Overpowered" (EMI)
http://roisin.paperheads.co.uk/
Stanley Super 800 "Louder & Clearer" (Sofa)
http://www.stanleysuper800.com
Super Extra Bonus Party "Super Extra Bonus Party" (Alphabet Set)
http://www.superextrabonusparty.com/

The Thrills and Paddy Casey are noticeable by their absence.