Peter Doran, Sleepless Street

OK so maybe there’s one or two or even a few dozen out there and quite a lot of them do suck. Mullingar’s Peter Doran has many of the usual traits we’ve come to expect from our sacred singer-songwriter; mid-tempo songs, lyrics of love and heartbreak and the always metaphorically bleak strings. Here’s the thing though; it’s actually pretty good.

Yes the lyrics can get a bit too introspective at times but still individually there are some good songs on here and taken as a whole it’s a fine piece of work.

Hunter’s Sketchs kicks the album off on a rather strident note, Doran’s voice floating over a glam rock backing track that Marc Bolan would have been happy to shack his curly head to.  Sacred Place is more of the mid- tempo confessional – it even features the line “at first I must confess” – but is rescued by some fine vocals and a decent chorus.

Eternity is perhaps the highlight of the album as Doran laments that “everything gets swallowed…by this bottomless eternity” It may not be uplifting but we all like a bit of misery -or at least steely-eyed realism -every now and then. Regardless of subject matter it’s a fine song.

And that’s the point here really. We all shudder just a little when we hear the term singer-songwriter and are even more suspicous if Irish is thrown on the front but really it doesn’t matter how they are categorised as long the songs themselves are decent. It’s all we can ask as consumers really.

Sleepless Street is not without its flaws, a few of the lyrics could have done with a revision or two and Steeped In You does fall the wrong side of winsome folky for my liking but as second album’s go its got plenty of potential with his voice a mix of Damian Rice and Loudon Wainright perhaps the singer’s greatest strength.

Doran is as good an example as any that all those singer-songwriter ticks that have come to be so bloody tiresome are really the product of bad songwriters and that a good song regardless of subject matter or categorisation will always win out.

Drop-d rating: 7/10

Peter Doran

Lantlôs, .Neon

His rasping shriek is his contribution to this record with project head Herbst manning all instrumentation. Neige’s vocals and Herbst’s abilities all complement each to near flawless effect. Much like their brethren in Alcest, Lantlôs‘ .Neon is black metal with a post rock execution and vibe focusing on the atmospherics of it all. There’s even an accentuation of those shoegaze influences on .Neon which has permeated so much into Neige’s body of work in the past. The multitude of styles implemented means that black metal merely becomes the blueprint and eventual foundation for which the rest of the album is built upon.

Coma lays testament to this veritable diversity, bursting through the speakers with a heavy accessible pace but in an almost post hardcore-like riff, all topped by deafeningly cut-throat vocals. But it’s the opener, Minusmensch that sets the magnificent tone, as any album opener should. Then after leading into the towering and scaling aura of These Nights Were Ours, it becomes clear that .Neon is a waveringly cathartic record indeed.

It’s also a record that fully utilises the common art of the blastbeat. While in many extreme metal bands it can become tiring and clichéd, on .Neon it’s used ever tastefully and necessarily. Its lithe melding with softer edged influences like indie is seen on the cavorting melodies of Neige De Mars. That said, .Neon is at all times harrowing and dauntingly dark as well as lushly beautiful, perpetuated by the clean vocals wrapped in a bluesy vibe found on Pulse / Surreal. Similarly on the instrumental title track which just oozes despondency and is emblematic of .Neon as a strikingly emotive and superbly arranged record.

Drop-d Rating: 8/10

Lantlôs

What makes this a very impressive record the music aside is that he went to have the album mastered in the renowned studio Abbey Road in London and then discarded it as he wasn’t happy with the sound and remastered it himself. Some might describe that as a somewhat crazy move, however on numerous listens to the completed work I can honestly say that I have rarely heard a more “finished” record from a newcomer than I have heard on this album.

Having a background in sound engineering and music technology has most definitely worked in Madsen’s favour as from that very first listen I was very impressed with the musicianship which is evident in droves on this record. Making excellent use of piano, drums and violins the music can go from very soft and mellow to very dramatic in a matter of seconds. Add his strong vocals and it makes for a very tantalising mix.

There are fourteen songs on the album of which two are instrumental tracks and one of the songs is actually named Fourteen but funnily enough its placement is number 11. While, as mentioned, the music can change quite dramatically and without warning the same can’t be said of the lyrics. While the songs are well written there seems to be the theme of a relationship ending in every track on the album. I’m torn as to whether this is a good thing or not. The reason being that there are some very good lines and use language throughout and it does tie in with my initial thoughts of this being good to use in a musical.

Possibly my favourite lyric from the album would be from the song  And Then She Enters My Life, “My heads still filled with sodium soaked dreams”, which I take to mean he falls asleep crying of his lost love. There is also powerful lyrics in the final song Thinking of You where it does seem that he is finally moving on from the broken relationship and does make for hopeful ending to the album.

Standout song on the album would have to be The Falling Sky. While the theme of the broken relationship is present there is a very clever usage of the sound of raindrops in the background which totally compliments the musical instruments.  There is the interesting line “17552 hours since I kissed you on a Wednesday afternoon”, which is only just over two years but seems so much longer. Another song of note would be My Selfish Heart. Here Madsen is angry that he can’t move on from his broken heart. It is a song where the lyrics and the music are a perfect fit.

This is a debut release of an excellent standard and musically it will be very hard for Madsen to top with his next release. His vocals have a powerful clarity and I really do believe that this package would work wonders on the stage and would most definitely go see it should someone bring it to fruition. I would recommend this to anyone who likes dramatic music and it would definitely appeal to anyone who like the music from Andrew Llyod Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera. For a free download of the album and to read more about the project Jobe and to possibly buy a hard copy which includes photography of the local area all taken by Eoin Madsen click here.

Drop-d rating: 8.5/10

Jobe

The Fall's Mark E Smith

Formed in 1976, The Fall have been gigging for almost 35 years, have 28 studio albums (as well as countless live bootlegs) and continue to tour all over Europe and America today. They are spearheaded by Mark E Smith, a man so flawed he would have to be a genuine genius to have held on to his admiring fans for this long.

The late Tony Wilson, the man responsible for Manchester’s Hacienda, and creator of Factory Records (the label of Joy Division and The Happy Mondays, and also the subject of the film Twenty Four Hour Party People, in which Mark E Smith actually made a cameo) was also a massive Fall fan, and gave them some regional TV time in the North-West of the UK several months prior to their first album release.

Peel, too, gave the band pre-album exposure when he invited them to do a session for his BBC Radio One show in 1978. They went on to perform an astonishing 24 sessions for John before he passed away in 2004. Peel was also responsible for their first ever national TV appearance back in 1983 when they appeared on Channel 4’s The Tube.

Their song Touch Sensitive featured in an ad for Vauxhall Corsa in 1999, and Theme from Sparta FC was, until recently, the theme music for the BBC’s football results show Score. Smith even appeared on the show on one occasion to read out the classified football results. He also starred as Jesus in an episode of the BBC comedy Ideal and, despite sounding incoherent at the best of times, was invited to read a Christmas story in 2007 for the BBC Collective website (he read H. P. Lovecraft’s short story The Colour Out of Space). He is also the subject of an excellent BBC Documentary The Wonderful and Frightening world of Mark E Smith, which first aired in January 2005.

Smith has also featured on songs by Elastica, Mouse on Mars (with whom he also had a side project called Von Sudenfed), The Inspiral Carpets (in a song which made the top 20 in the UK), and most recently on the track Glitter Freeze by Gorillaz (which he performed with them at last years Glastonbury).

Mark E Smith

Amongst the bands who claimed to be directly influenced by The Fall are Pavement, Nirvana, The Happy Mondays, LCD Soundsystem, Faith No More and, surprisingly, Franz Ferdinand. The mighty Sonic Youth, meanwhile, covered three Fall songs and Victoria (a Kinks song that The Fall had previously released as a single) on their 1990 EP 4 tonna Brix.

On top of all this, The Fall are also amongst the first bands to try creative ideas such as performing with two drummers or two bass players, and are one of very few bands who move with the times. In the ‘70s their main influences were The Velvet Underground, Can and Captain Beefheart, and their sound was akin to Joy Division. During the ‘80s (arguably the bands worst creative phase, yet bizarrely the one which drew the most commercial acclaim) they had a B-52’s vibe going on, due largely to the central role given to Brix Smith, Mark’s wife at the time. In the ‘90s they both flirted with their older post-punk sound and evolved into a decent dance act, of sorts. And, since the turn of the millennium they are possibly louder and more consistent than ever. Their past two albums, in particular, have been met with widespread praise in most of the musical press (Imperial Wax Solvent, 2008 and Your Future, Our Clutter, 2010).

So with all this said, how can it be that the majority of people on the street have never even heard of The Fall, let alone one of their songs?

People are keen praise the evolution of Radiohead (and rightly so), commending their reluctance to stand still and simply cash in on their original sound by churning out album upon album of incredibly similar sounding music, like for example Green Day, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers or The Foo Fighters. That’s fair enough but even if The Fall don’t release another album, which barring the sudden death of Smith they almost certainly will, Radiohead would still have to undergo another host of new genre switches and keep going well beyond 2020 to catch up.

Yet where are The Falls share of the kudos?

They receive virtually no air time on radio or musical TV stations, even late at night, and as a result often play tiny venues in front of about 300 people, the majority of which are divorced, spectacle wearing males aged over 40 who come accompanied by their pale, spotty, chronic masturbating, virgin sons. How can this be? Why have The Fall never attained anything more than cult status?

Mark E Smith

Well, the trouble with The Fall is that it is so easy to not like them that most people can not be bothered trying. The front man is a needlessly aggressive, drug fuelled, belligerent old drunk who often appears incoherent, even on the albums. He is also notoriously difficult to interview and, so, often comes across as a bit of a dick. When John Peel died, for example, a clearly inebriated (or high, or both) Smith appeared on Newsnight alongside Michael Bradley of The Undertones and showed no emotion for Peels death, stating that they ‘were never friends’.

Another potential flaw for the fickle music fan might be the fact that the members change at a drop of a hat. When they released their first album, Live at the Witch Trials in January 1979, they had already undergone several member changes. By their third single in July of the same year, Smith was the only member of the original group remaining. Almost 40 people have gone on to be considered proper members of the group (this number varies from article to article depending on how loosely the writer is willing to use the term ‘member’), with countless others coming in for one-off sessions or shows. This, quite obviously, has a huge effect on the overall sound of the band and, as a result, you never quite know what you are going to get when you buy a new album. This has lead to a degree of inconsistency and, occasionally, bitter disappointment.

But although Smith, quite rightly, has a reputation as a serial sackist it must be said in his defence that the founder members actually quit one-by-one and two of their replacements, Craig Scanlon and Steve Hanley (who both joined in 1979), went on to play with the band for 16 and 19 years respectively. Meanwhile, Martin Brahar (one of the founding members), Karl Burns, Brix Smith, Ed Blaney and Spencer Birtwistle are amongst the names who have been part of the band on more than one occasion. Also, the current line-up (which includes Smiths new wife, Elana Poulou) has remained unchanged since 2007 and released two fantastic albums.

The core reason for The Fall not becoming a larger band than they are is, in fact, that Mark E Smith does not want it to happen. When they almost pushed through into a regular top 40 band during 1980s he quickly regressed to the old sound and lost all the new fans they had picked up. Even after all these years Mark would still consider it to be selling out if they were to be seen to be doing well. This is best exemplified by the 2004 release of 10,000 Fall Fans Can’t Be Wrong: The Best of The Fall, a double CD which, in my opinion, includes some of The Falls very worst work. I happen to know from personal experience that it is possible to put together a Fall compilation that will make any music fan with half an ear turn around and say ‘OK, I was wrong. They are a good band’ but this goes against everything The Fall stand for.

Perhaps it’s a good thing then, that The Fall are so massively underrated. If everyone liked them they would not be great anymore. How could they be? People are idiots, and the things they like are shit. There is no greater feeling for a real music fan than discovering a great band none of your friends have heard of. It is almost like you own them. They are all yours. I had the same feeling when I discovered The Pixies, a felling long since stolen from me. So, most Fall fans probably accept, perhaps even revel in, the fact that the majority of people won’t like the music even if they do hear it.

Long live The Fall.

Eels, Tomorrow Morning

While E’s music is often bleak and the subject matter generally terrifically heartbreaking, the music itself rarely slips the wrong side of maudlin and can be occasionally even upbeat. So after his “break-up album,” End Times, just where is E’s head at now?

Well it seems Everett is happy, in fact more than that he is in love again. This does not mean E’s gone all sunny pop on us in fact if anything the backing tracks for much of the songs here are as glum as anything he’s put down in his nine album career.

Musically it features much of the electronic sounds of his last couple of albums.  Baby Loves Me and The Man feature drum machines and synths,  I’m A Hummingbird and This Is Where It Gets Good are all electro violins and bear all the hallmarks of E at his gloomiest with talk-sung lyrics and a tempo to lull anyone into a fine sleep.

Lyrically it does represent something of a change though. Spectacular Girl is surely E at his most romantic, on This Is Where It Gets Good you can almost see E with a grin on his face as he delivers lines like “I can’t stop thinking about you getting out of your dress and this is where it gets good.” Almost.

Eels last album End Times was a maudlin masterpiece and it seems we all prefer to listen to such introspection. Misery does love company after all. So when it comes to the other side of the coin, the celebration of (one assumes) the beginning of a relationship, we are a bit more suspicious, after all isn’t all art pain and as such shouldn’t these sort of albums be nothing more than a sentimental soppy mess, the musical equivalent of a Richard Curtis film?

Mark ‘E’ Everett

Eels morose delivery saves the occasionally flowery lyrics from being dulled by their syrup but the album does lack the one standout track that would hold it all together. Oh So Lovely comes close though, while the strident gospel of Looking Up is E at his most carefree.

Tomorrow Morning is not without its flaws, the arrangements are a bit too sparse at times and the album could do with a quickened tempo here or there. Still, 18 years in and Mark Oliver Everett and Eels continue to release albums with a consistency of quality few artists out there can match.

Drop-d rating: 7/10

Eels

36 Crazyfists, Collisions And Castaways

Collisions And Castaways is their heaviest and most abrasive record to date, as well as their most expansive.

Criminally underrated guitarist and chief composer Steve Holt has valiantly spread his creative wings here, all made evident by opener In The Midnights. In all it has a more epic, for the want of a better word, vibe with creeping acoustics giving way to sprawling leads and an eventual barrage of riffs. Then by rolling into the ferocious and edgy Whitewater Collision And Castaways truly gets underway.

Similar to his comrade in Holt, vocalist Brock Lindow has upped his game delivering his finest performance yet being his most frenzied as well as most passionate. On predecessor The Tide And Its Takers he teased at the intensity and ferocity he was capable of but here it’s come full circle, all proven by Mercy And Grace. But melody and hooks haven’t been sacrificed for the sake of brutality.

Lead single Reviver has a colossal chorus destined for chaotic sing-alongs live, meanwhile Caving In Spiral tugs ruthlessly on the heartstrings. In some ways 36 Crazyfists exude an air of melancholy in tracks like the latter but it’s twisted and moulded into a wholly positive emotive affair.

Last two tracks The Deserter and Waterhaul II portray some more violent tumult and a return to visceral/melodic clashes. 36 Crazyfists have struck an assiduous balance and uncovered and laid claim to a familiar sound that they can call their own. Like Killswitch Engage and Lamb Of God before them they’ll be mimicked but it’s their sound now due to an arduous honing of the craft with each album. Collisions And Castaways is a triumph in a multitude of ways for them and should, if justice prevails finally, reap many rewards.

Drop- d Rating: 8/10

36 Crazyfists Myspace

Has EP delivered its finest line-up to date or has it simply maintained its incredibly consistent standard? We just can’t decide. Either way it’s still great.

Friday kicks off a positive plethora of fine names. From The Waterboys
- always a Celtic inflected treat – to the indie beats of Foals and the folk flavoured acoustic musings of Laura Marling it is filled with many  potential highlights of a weekend filled with musical treats.

Mark ‘E’ Everett

Chief among these is Mark ‘E’ Everett’s Eels. E has been blazing his own trail of electro-tinged guitar-based brilliance for nearly two decades now. His live set is not to be missed. Modest Mouse with their mix of blues, punk and occasional human screaming will be indie heaven while Friday’s headliners Roxy Music will no doubt close the opening day in fine glam rock style.

Saturday

Saturday demonstrates just why Stradbally hosts the finest musical-based festival in the land. With rock, pop, indie, hip-hop, rockabilly, dance and whatever it is you call the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble you won’t find this sort of eclectic musical smorgasbord anywhere else.
The likes of The Frames, Cathy Davey and Hot Chip will probably draw
the biggest crowds but chief among Saturday’s highlights, if not the best thing all weekend will be the return of author, poet, ex-junkie and all round genius Gil Scott Heron.

The singer and founding father of rap gave one of the best shows of the year in Tripod back in May. After surviving drug addiction, prison and illness he returned with a fine  new album, I’m New Here, ealrier in the year and has toured extensively since. His vocals, a little more lived in than during his 70s pomp, still carry as much  power as ever, plus he’s a damn funny comedian when he wants to be.

You would think few people in music could match Gil Scott Heron’s
back-story. While Steve Earle never helped get a civil right’s activist
honoured with his own day (Heron and Stevie Wonder successfully
lobbied for Martin Luther King Day), his story does come close. The
former heroin addict  ex-con turned star of The Wire will be playing
his brand of rockabilly to an eager crowd only some of which will be
there just to hear Galway Girl.
Saturday has a whole heap more including Kildare’s festival favourites
Funzo playing the Salty Dog at 2am but I’m running out of space so…

Sunday

Speaking of gigs in Tripod The Fall played there earlier in the year and were as grumpy and difficult as you expect Mark E Smith and hiswrinkled baby head to be.

Mark E Smith

Don’t expect a “Best Of” set. The Low Anthem are always worth a listen as are The National while Mumford  & Sons will be a ridiculously huge draw and play probably the most crowd pleasing set of the weekend. The RTE Concert Orchestra will also be making their EP debut early on Sunday morning and should be an early treat for hungover revelers in the Body & Soul area.

Massive Attack close out the festival, which may or may not be a good
thing. Brilliant in the right setting they will probably not get hordes of weary travelers singing in their wellies, but Sigur Ros pulled off a similar style of show a couple of years ago so who knows?

So there you go. Right now as I write the sun is shining outside and the promise of a fine musical symphony awaits. Now where is my festival hat?

Electric Picnic

Twilight, Monument To Time End

Calling Twilight just black metal would be inept as several doom and sludge influences interject themselves. First track The Cryptic Ascension is in fact unnervingly paced. Its dirty riffs slowly seethe from whatever mire they came from.

Follower, Fall Behind Eternity treads on similar ground but gathers more and more in the tempo.

When discussing a metal album of any sub-genre, words like ‘relentless’ get thrown around a lot. For Decaying Observer it rings wholly true and is, in fact ,a gross and horrid understatement that can only be fully understood when its hail of harrowing shrieks and buzzsaw riffing carnage is unleashed.

One of the most marvellous elements of Monument To Time End is its melding of varying vocal patterns from N. Imperial’s snarl to Aaron Turner’s hypnotic clean vocals. Furthermore, tracks 8,000 Years and Red Fields have an astonishingly towering presence, the former serving some blackened grandeur in its guitar work. The slower, broodier elements are then extolled again on The Catastrophe Exhibition while manic, angular riffs sway with the morose din.

Monument To Time End is nothing but devastating in its harsh but cathartic stampede. The band’s membership has been integral in this with the record showing that it exceeds the sum of its parts.

Drop-d Rating: 8/10

Twilight at Southern Lord Records

Would you ever consider a trip to the local charity shop as a way to save money? Despite a recent drop in donations charity shops continue to raise funds for valuable organisations and while plenty of people happily donate their old clothes many still wouldn’t dream of spending an afternoon browsing the rails for bargains.

In the UK Oxfam have been trying to change people’s perception of charity shops by launching the Sustain Me! campaign. Fashion photographer Rankin teamed up with Leading stylist Katie Shillingford to restyle clothes handpicked from Oxfam’s recycling plant to put together a fashion shoot featuring celebrities like Heidi Klum, Jaime Winstone, Cat Deeley and Natalie Imbruglia to prove that the clothes people threw away still had some life in them. According to Oxfam the shoot was about “persuading us that charity shopping is cool, not merely for fashion students, stylists and creative types, who have long used them for inspiration, but for everybody.”

Despite a recent drop in the amount of donations charity shops are still an important way to raise money for valuable organisations. Last August Arctic Monkeys released their single ‘Crying Lightning’ in 700 of Oxfam shops across Ireland and the UK with all proceeds going to the charity’s lifesaving work throughout Africa.

Tips for charity shop beginners:

1. Shop early in the week as most people donate on the weekends.

2. Learn to rummage. There’s no shame in getting stuck in.

3. Check out book sections. Books in pristine condition can always be sold on Amazon or ebay after you’ve read them.

4. Try not to look for anything specific. Murphy’s law dictates if you go in to a charity shop looking for something specific you won’t find it.

5. Some shops have specialist branches. Oxfam Home on Francis Street specialises in furniture. Most of it is in perfect condition, but if you’re a bit handy you can also fix up pieces to create something unique.

6. Ladies, don’t forget to check the men’s section for oversized knitwear or jackets.

7. Buy good quality stuff. Vests and plain tees are cheap enough in Penneys or Dunnes, the real bargains are the things you wouldn’t usually be able to afford.

8. Don’t be afraid to customise. If you find something you really love but it’s in the wrong colour you can always dye it.  New buttons or belts can also give cardigans a new lease of life.

9. Don’t try and haggle in charity shops. At the end of the day it’s all for a good cause.

What €20 will get you in a charity shop

Monsoon silk tunic bought for €8 in Barnardos Dun Laoghaire

River Island Sandals bought for €5 in the Irish Cancer Society shop on Camden Street. Brand new with an original price tag of €33

Black Fringing handbag bought for €5 in Barnardos Dun Laoghaire

Havainas flip flops bought for €2 in Oxfam in Dun Laoghaire

Cynic, Re-Traced EP

Nearly two years on Re-Traced sees Cynic distancing themselves more and more from their death metal beginnings with this EP. It features one new track along with four re-interpretations of songs from Traced In Air.

Space is charming yet paced in its oblique atmospherics which take the smoothest layers of The Space For This and give it a wholly unique new texture, including the use of many synths. Then the relaxed opening bars of Evolutionary become increasingly euphoric, meandering until its crescendo. Some of its earlier passages are exemplary of the many of the shoegaze influences that have permeated Re-Traced.

King causes some of the momentum to wane, but only partially. These re-imaginings don’t quite scale the same heights as their originals but offer up a lighter shade of versatility in Cynic’s palette. That shade is further perpetuated by Integral. It has stripped its original (Integral Birth) down an acoustic core where Paul Masvidal shines vocally.

But the highlight comes easily in the shape of fully new song Wheels Within Wheels. The track wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Traced In Air, trading elegant guitar work with cascading electronics while Sean Reinert’s drumming adds an air of fierceness to the proceedings, only for the guitars to provide an graceful fade into silence.

As an experimental piece of music Re-Traced is gorgeously arranged and nothing but welcomed. But how about a new album, sooner rather later?

Drop-d Rating: 7/10

Cynic