Category Archives: Music

Every kind of sound imaginable.

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The Sunshine Factory – releasing new single Cruelest Animal

What you may need to know…

01. Leeside neo-psychedelia five-piece The Sunshine Factory are on a roll after less than a year together.

02. In that short span of time, they’ve put together their first demo cassette, sold out hometown shows, and gone on Irish tour with UK psych legends The Telescopes.

03. Streaming above is their FIFA Records debut, a newly gussied-up take on early track Cruelest Animal.

04. They’re launching the aforementioned tomorrow night at DeBarra’s in Clonakilty and Saturday night at the Crane Lane in Cork.

VERDICT: Dreamy, hazey psych-pop perfect for the humid, dead air of the end of the summer. Grand.

The Sunshine Factory

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From top: Ken Griffin (left), with bandmate John Rauchenberger); Mike McGrath Bryan

Ken Griffin, guitarist, singer and songwriter, has had somewhat of a renaissance in recent years, with new project August Wells recording and touring regularly.

He had a long shadow to escape, as one of the members of Dublin dream-poppers Rollerskate Skinny, subsequently decamping to New York to form bands like Kid Silver.

With new album Madness is the Mercy out now via FIFA Records, and ahead of the usual host of touring engagements this autumn/winter, Ken has a chat with Mike McGrath-Bryan, who mans the ‘sheet music desk.

Mike McGrath-Bryan: “So, the new album is out now. Give us some insight into writing/assembling the songs, and the recording/other processes of the record.”

Ken Griffin: “I usually have about 30 or 40 songs at different stages of completion at any given time. John and I will work a few days a week on the ones I feel are closest. Then I take them home, complete the lyrics and structures, and write some simple brass and string lines. Half this album was recorded live in a studio called Strange Weather in Brooklyn. The other half was recorded in our own home studio. The live songs were recorded with an eight-piece band, more often than not using the first take.”

Mike: “You’ve worked very closely with Cork-based label FIFA (Frank and Walters, Fight Like Apes, Whipping Boy) since the project’s emergence, how have Eddie (Kiely, label boss) and crew have been to work with?”

Ken: “They have been fantastic. When you work with people like Eddie, who has a great love of our music, it makes you want to work harder in turn for them. It’s been maybe the best experience I have had with someone in the music business in my 25 years of recording.”

Mike: “Your emergence is of particular interest to Irish music followers considering your past endeavours – Rollerskate Skinny, and more. How has the reaction been from longtime fans, gig-goers, press, etc.?”

Ken: “I have been surprised at how many of the people who liked Rollerskate Skinny love August Wells. But it seems like August Wells is stepping out of that shadow, and developing its own audience. In fact I remember at a gig in Cork, a guy had come to see August Wells and really liked it, then I met him at another of our gigs and he said, “Hey, I listened to your old band Rollerskate Skinny, god, I thought it was awful” (laughs). So I suppose if you like August Wells and have not heard Rollerskate Skinny, it might not be to your liking. I don’t know, i am an artist who moves forward, its not for me to judge.”

Mike: “What are your recollections of the time, and what say you to how Rollerskate Skinny is remembered, the all-time Irish lists, reissues, etc.?”

Ken: “It’s nice that people still talk about an album I made 20 years ago. I have no nostalgia about the nineties. As an artist, by the time something comes out, you have usually moved on to the next thing, and the next thing is often somewhat of a reaction to the last thing I have done. It’s always about the excitement of the latest ideas, they are the ones going around and around in my head, being altered and considered and worked on. I am very grateful and moved when anybody anywhere likes my work.”

Mike: “You are now based in New York, where Kid Silver and later August Wells were started. How did the initial change of scenery from Ireland and the UK, to New York change your mindset and creative process to begin with, and does it have an effect now?”

Ken: “It’s hard to quantify, I have lived half my life in New York, and I have now made five albums here. I write as directly from my life as I can, so I suppose my environment then effects the work greatly. When I got here first, I got stolen by the New York night. In a way it was so stimulating, I needed to disappear for a while. Actually maybe I didn’t need to, i just did. I think Rollerskate Skinny’s songs were more fantastical, and the type of writing i wanted to do required more living, more experience, and on a deep level I knew that.”

Mike: “How did yourself and John (Rauchenberger, August Wells collaborator) meet, and how did the project come together?”

Ken: “Through mutual friends. I heard him playing piano, I was intrigued by his unconventional style. We began playing together, and our sound developed very quickly, and there was something unforced and believable about it that satisfied me.”

Mike: Returning to the Irish scene on the regular with the beginning of the August Wells project, how do you think things have changed in the past few decades, what’s stayed the same, and which artists do you like at present?

Ken: There’s so many more venues and festivals to play. You can spend three weeks touring Ireland now. It’s so different for me now, back then, everyone was just chasing after a record deal, and some idea of success. For me now it’s very simple, I really love to play live, I love writing songs, the recording process is and always will be a baffling chore. Nowadays you can do things on a smaller level, far easier than ever before. You can record and release albums without involving a whole army of people. Ireland seems a lot more comfortable with itself, and its been a joy to experience.

Mike: What’s up next for the band now that the record is out?

Ken: “We are planning to tour Italy, Germany and Denmark in October. We are doing a lot of shows around New York, playing a few with Declan O’Rourke, he’s my cousin. Hopefully a couple more tours of Ireland in the next six months. We already have a group of new songs for our next record. We try not to stop, we try to be living, daily working artists.”

August Wells’ new LP, Madness is the Mercy, is available now through the usual digital platforms, with Irish launch shows in the pipeline.

For more info on August Wells, go here.

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Tenro – new single from electronic power-duo

What you may need to know…

01. Tenro ply an oddly trippy, contemplative ambient electronica, busy, yet sparse.

02. Comprised of Marc Aubele (Nanu Nanu, Bell x1) and Brian Conniffe (Catscars, Nurse With Wound), the duo have been slowly working on their debut full-length inbetween live appearances and cryptic social media postings.

03. Streaming above is single Vimana, replete with suitably psychedelic (and possibly not for the light-sensitive) visual accompaniment.

04. The duo’s debut album comes out through Little Gem Records next month.

VERDICT: Fragments of recognisable musical reference points abound, but escape the grasp as quickly as the next one appears. These lads aren’t for pigeonholing, and all the better for it.

Tenro

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SKYMAS – new single ‘No Easy Way Out’

What you may need to know…

01. SKYMAS are a Belfast electronic/rock duo comprised of Martin Corrigan and Nick Todd.

02. Emerging in 2013, the band have slowly been releasing a series of singles that have begun to bring them to the attention of Northern music media, including The Thin Air, who’ve called them “an act that aim straight for the sonic jugular”.

03. Above is streaming audio of the new single, as premiered on TTA’s website.

04. Available for download now via Amazon Music, with another single and attendant live engagements to follow later this year.

VERDICT: Like early Therapy?’s big-beat moments, welded to the grooves, riffs and rhetoric of Nine Inch Nails. For those who are so inclined.

SKYMAS

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Windings – new single and album release date announced

What you may need to know…

01. Last time we stopped in with Windings, they’d just released the first single from their upcoming album.

02. The band’s leanings toward a more foreboding mood continue with You’re Dead, albeit taking a step back from the madness unleashed by previous single Helicopters.

03. Streaming above is the accompanying video clip, produced by Stephen Boland.

04. Full-length Be Honest and Fear Not has just been announced for a September 30th release via Out on a Limb Records. A launch tour is to be announced shortly to accompany same.

VERDICT: Soaked in keyboards and chorus pedal, You’re Dead scares up tension and uneasy memories with the most unlikely tools. A journey hopefully extended by the new long-player.

Windings

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Danny Deepo – releases new album ‘Sounds from a Living Planet’

What you may need to know…

01. Limrock-resident turntablist and sonic explorer Danny Deepo released new full-length Sounds from a Living Planet last week via Bandcamp.

02. One of the foundations of Irish skratch and general weirdo beats, he co-founded the Galway Community Skratch Games along with Deviant, Jimmy Penguin and Mikey Fingers, then all collaborating as Vince MackMahon.

03. He’s manipulated decks for a number of groupings and bands, but has been exceptionally busy as a solo producer in recent years, with two albums and an E.P. to his name since the beginning of 2015.

04. Sounds from a Living Planet is streaming above in its entirety and available for download in the widget above.

VERDICT: Drawing samples and sounds from all over the world, and melding them via sampling and turntablism, Danny Deepo’s expositions journey from beats into psychedelia and experimentation.

Danny Deepo

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABz2m0olmPg

In case you haven’t seen it yet, this viral commercial for KENZO perfume – directed by the mighty Spike Jonze and starring apparently possessed actress Margaret Qualley – has very little to do with perfume.

You may recall Spike Jonze’ video for Fatboy Slim’s ‘Weapon of Choice’ featuring Chistopher Walken.

This one has a similarly spacious interior set, subtle camerawork and a rather excellent original track by Sam Spiegel & Ape Drums feat. Assassin – Mutant Brain.

Full screen and volume up highly recommended.

It’s good and twitchy.

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Hope is Noise – Cork alt-rock veterans release fifth album

What you may need to know…

01. The last time we stopped in with Hope is Noise, the lads were getting ready for their fifth full-length.

02. The story of Hope is Noise is a remarkable one, of four lads that got together in secondary school, and after years of touring, labels, UK/US press, and the usual passage of life like relationships and families, are still together eighteen years later, being conferred godfather status in the Cork scene as a result. A documentary on same is currently in post-production.

03. Streaming above is the aforementioned full-length, entitled Demons. A concept piece, each tune deals with a different worry or recurring thought. Available for download now, and on CD from next week at gigs and in Leeside institution PLUGD Records.

04. The band launch the record on October 8th in the Pine Lodge, Myrtleville, Co. Cork on October 8th, with the usual bus/ticket package for city folk. Joining them will be the returning Ten Past Seven, hardcore brow-beaters Horse, and new band Onkalo. Closer to home, they’ll be playing City Hall as part of the Great Irish Beer Festival from the 22nd to the 24th.

Verdict: Over the years, the lads have alternated between polished alt-rock and feral post-hardcore broadsides, and Demons sees them reconcile these urges to immediate and impactful effect.

Hope is Noise

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From top: Catherine Harris White; Mike McGrath Bryan

Catherine Harris-White, classically-trained singer and composer, formerly of Sub Pop-signed soul outfit THEESatisfaction, currently performs solo under the pseudonym of SassyBlack, a purveyor of what she calls “electronic, psychedelic soul” and “hologram funk”.

Before her only Irish appearance on her current European tour next Saturday at AMP in Cork, and in the first of a new arts interview series, Catherine tells Mike McGrath Bryan, from the ‘sheet’s music desk, about her new album, the creative process, and more.

Mike McGrath Bryan: “You’re just off the back of the release of your debut solo album No More Weak Dates, back in May. How have you found the reaction to it thus far?

Catherine Harris White: “The response for my album has been really positive. People seem to really dig it, as well as relate to it, which is what I really wanted for the record. It was a new experience to create an album on my own and I’m enjoying the fruits of my labor.

Mike: There’ve been comparisons made in certain quarters with yourself and some of the greats: Ella, Erykah Badu, etc. and there are certainly cases to be made for same. But your production and songcraft is so out there, so sci-fi, in places. How do you handle all the heady talk, first off, and can you go a little into detail on fitting that classic jazz/soul voice into your own soundscape?

Catherine: Those are some great comparisons, and I am honored by them. I love space. I love to explore sounds and their meanings. I find it comical when listeners are overwhelmed by my compositions. It makes me giggle because I got them to feel an emotion, and maybe some discomfort that in the end most really enjoy. I am here to entrance, to bring you on a journey. I’m a story teller, so whether through production or my vocal expression, a story will be communicated. That’s what SassyBlack is here for.

As for my vocalizing, it’s really easy for me to sing over my production. The melody, beat and lyrics come together pretty much simultaneously. Jazz is one of the freest expressions I have. The variation of styles within it ranging from bebop to swing to straight ahead to free jazz itself, is inspiring and leaves space for my voice to truly thrive.

Mike: Your previous outfit, THEESatisfaction, and your work with Shabazz Palaces, all released on Sub Pop. How did it all come to pass, and compare/contrast working with the (relative) security of a label and releasing independently?

Catherine: Working w/ Sub Pop was something celestial. It still feels like a dream. They noticed the group because of all the work THEESatisfaction was doing. We were just making that much noise in Seattle, people couldn’t ignore it. Shabazz & THEESat made space for a lot of similar sounding groups that were pushing the envelope in the city and Sub Pop recognized it.

While I do miss working with a label, the adrenaline rush of making what you have work is refreshing. It keeps me going because I have to keep going, there’s no other option. If I want to reach a certain level in my career I have to make it happen because no one else is going to do it for me. It helps to keep my eternal flame fueled and lit.

Mike: Moving into assuming the name SassyBlack, what were the biggest changes for you, working solo and independently, both in terms of creativity/”the process”, and in terms of logistics with recording/touring?

Catherine: The biggest change for me was trusting myself. I am used to bouncing my ideas off of someone else, looking for some sort of confirmation that I am doing the right thing. Working on my own, there is not much room for self doubt, so I trust my instincts. If the music feels good today and tomorrow and a week from now and it makes me feel a special joy, I know that song is worth focusing on. Especially if I hear it and forgot I made the song, that’s when I know it’s right.

Recording is much easier. I have been in studios recording since I was 14 when I was in choir, so I am very familiar with how to create the feeling I want. Touring is waaayy easier. It’s just me right now. Me and my laptop and controller. I should give them some names by now, maybe Gina & Maxine. They are sassy like me, and need to be treated a certain way to perform at their top levels. So I try to speak kindly to them and make sure they have time to rest.

Mike: The album was preceded by a few EPs and a single in the years prior, including a diversified Christmas EP entitled Blackest Winter. How was it to take ideas and concepts and put them out there in more concise packages on an ongoing basis, compared to the established album cycles?

Catherine: I want to be a perfectionist but something between my Leo and Virgo self will not allow that. So I spend a lot of time creating (music, writings, hats) and they don’t go anywhere but to a folder or a playlist on my phone. The projects I have released are a small portion of the works I create which I think it the case with a lot of musicians. Honestly I want to & will be releasing more music throughout a 12 month span. I have so many feelings and situations I am working through, and I’m constantly changing, so I feel like my music should reflect that.

Mike: No More Weak Dates, as mentioned, released earlier in the year, and was entirely self-produced, composed and performed. What was the process of doing so like, and how do you direct someone in mixing and mastering your work after being so involved up to that point?

Catherine: It was a very interactive, vulnerable experience. I had never worked with my mixing engineer Sam Anderson before. We had played festivals and shows around the city together in our respective bands in the past but never hung out or anything like that. He reached out to me about singing on a song and I dug his vibe, so I asked if he would mix what was then a small EP. He agreed and the EP grew into an album.

My creative process has been so private, almost too private because then I wouldn’t share it or play my music for anyone. Music is a spiritual and intimate experience for me so to share that is to share my rawest self, flaws and all. When working with Sam, we both had to be patient to learn how to communicate with one another. Listening was a must. Also we had to become friends. He knows me in a special way, because he has heard my music in its purest form and was open to it, and I allowed space in my spirit for his criticism and opinions on my soul.

Mike: New Boo came with an accompanying short film, can you take us a little through the concept and production?

Catherine: I was blessed to work with a few kind folks who believed in my sound and visual. Melany Bell, Joey Dunn & Dave Wilson are special, patient people. It came together incredibly organically. Dave, Joey and I got together with some rough ideas Dave had for the song and we brainstormed. Once we had the idea of compiling many dating interactions into one experience at a friends event, things began to fall into place with ease. I did all the casting to match the personas we discussed. The process and short are a new space for me which I will continue to venture into.

Mike: You’re heading on your first European excursion this autumn, including a Cork stop – what are your thoughts before heading out on the road?

Catherine: I am excited and nervous. My career as SassyBlack has me traveling often on my own and I love it. It’s also reaffirming. I work really hard and feeling that people see my work is inspiring. I’m actually on the plane to Berlin right now, thinking about the beginning of this grand adventure. I’m really excited to see what the audiences will be like.

SassyBlack plays the AMP Venue in Cork on Saturday September 10th as part of The Sudden Club, with support from Lakerama, and DJ sets from Stevie G and Caoilian Sherlock. Tickets on sale now.

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GRIT – new demo out via Distr-Oi! Records

What you may need to know…

01. Hailing from Dublin, GRIT deliver seething female-fronted Oi! punk.

02. Consisting of members of RATS BLOOD and Burnchurch, the band debuted this past July at a gig in Grangegorman, followed by the digital self-release of their eponymously-titled demo.

03. The demo is streaming above in its entirety, available for streaming and download.

04. Sligo-based label and distro Distr-Oi! (an imprint of metal label Distro-y) have just announced the band will be releasing the demo on vinyl later on this year.

VERDICT: Challenging the predominantly male narrative of Oi!/punk in general, GRIT’s visceral disgust at the state of Irish society is not so much a breath of fresh air as a much-needed fist to the face.

GRIT