Um.
Alan O’Reilly at Carlow Weather tweetz:
Before all the “Last day of Summer” tweets start, for Meteorological purposes, on the basis of air temperature, our seasons are: December to February – Winter, March to May – Spring, June to August – Summer and September to November – Autumn…
Any excuse.
The New Ravis – Baby It’s On You
Out of the west comes this pop/rock duo of Eoghan and Diarmuid who have penned a Spotify-friendly song about alienation and social isolation.
The Galway-based band have struck gold with the video thanks to director Shane Serrano of Crude Media and an incredibly empathetic performance by actress Emily Lohan.
A fine song with an important message and a crack video to boot? Sweet.
Nick says: The West’s awake.
David Hopkins – C’est La
Here’s one to be filed under ‘overlooked’.
The former Lir keyboardist last year released a solo album called ‘Overlook’ which flew under the radar round these parts.But it deserves wider recognition as it shows an artist who’s fully engaged with his muse.
C’est La is sung in French with a propulsive rhythm section, strings and synths.
The video by Yoshi Sodeoka is a psychedelic trip for the senses.
Nick says: Douze points from the Dublin jury.
David Crosby
‘The big one is streaming. That just killed us. The streaming companies are making billions of dollars. The numbers are right out there, in the public.
The three main record companies are making, I was told, $19 million a day, off of streaming, and the artists are getting shafted.
It’s as if you did your gig for month, and they paid you a nickel. They’re paying you, but not enough to live. It isn’t right.
And it’s very, very, very, very tough on young people who are trying to get in.
They snuck it past us.
What happened is that the streaming companies, when they developed their technology, went to the big record companies, they said, ]
“Hey, we need a different rate.What we’ll give you is no physical object. You don’t have to produce a physical object, so there’s less cost. You’re gonna like that. What we need is a better rate. We need a way where we can make the billions of dollars, instead of the artists making the billions of dollars. Okay?”
And the record companies said, “Sure, no problem. All you have to do is give us a piece of your company.”
And they did that. That’s how it went right around us. When we thought the music up.’
David Crosby.
Above from left: Chanel, Pixie Woo, Anziety and Regina George,
This afternoon.
The launch of Love Sensation, a music festival for the LGBT+ community and their allies at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham on August 17 and 18.
From Mother – the team behind the sold-out Block Party as part of Pride – the festival sees performances from Lily Allen, Clean Bandit, Gossip and Kelis with Panti Bliss as MC.
Tickets here
Vulpynes – Bitches Are Like Waves
For those about to rock we high-five you.
Irish punk duo Vulpynes prove that less is more on their third single which features on their EP Dye Me Red, due in September.
Drummer Kaz Millar (top right) and singer/guitarist Maeve Molly (left) dispense with the frills and just play head-down no-nonsense rock’n’roll.
And they do it very well.
Nick says: Put another dime in the jukebox.
Free tonight?
Rise up.
An ecelctic picnic at Thomas House, The Liberties, Dublin 8 with Jennifer Healy, Arlene Murray and Gerard Proudfoot on the decks.
Nifty posterage, in fairness.
Laoise – Seriously?
If you like your pop with a capital P then you’re going to love Laoise’s new single.
The 22-year-old Galwegian singer brings an infectious enthusiasm and charisma to this come hither ditty.
The video is also an hallucinogenic magic carpet ride.
Nick says: Laoise has a seriously bright future ahead of her.
Sunken buses?
No, silly.
Folklorist Terry Fagan writes:
Air Raid Shelters On Lower Gardiner Street, 1940s. I recorded some good stories of people living in the Dublin tenements during WW2. One man told me how he got locked up in prison for breaking a lock on an air raid shelter during a air raid alert.
Some flats complexes built 1939/ 40s had underground air raid shelters. Like St Mary’s Mansions on Railway Street are still there. I ran a youth club in that one, they are massive and go right around the complex. The flats were built after the knocking down of the houses of “Monto”….
Alternate history
With Monsieur Z, who writes:
What if the Irish Rebellion of 1798 succeeded in liberating Ireland from British Rule, and established a free Irish Republic with support from France?
FIGHT/Bagarre
Illustration: The United Irish Patriots of 1798
