01. Beginning life in the Cork scene many moons ago as Wretch, post-metallers Rest have come a long way since making (expletive) of Fred Zeppelin’s and inspiring other local outfits to get it together.
02. Early signees to influential Limerick label Out on a Limb, they released debut album Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame in 2004, followed up by the Operation: Impending Doom extended-player in 2007. A protracted break was broken up by the release in 2013 of second full-length I Hold the Wolf, a joint release between OOAL and Cork’s PLUGD Records shop.
03. Streaming above in its entirety is Endanger Us, a document of the band’s release gig for Operation: Impending Doom at Cyprus Avenue. Released late last month, it marked the tenth anniversary of the show and came off the back of a surprise live appearance at Out on a Limb’s Xmas spectacular at Dolan’s.
04. Next up: Connolly’s of Leap on February 18th, where the band, alongside Hope is Noise, Horse, and The Liminals go under the hammers for a ruck. More info here.
Thoughts: Good to see these specialists in astral heft return to stage. They ought to be something else in the environs of Connolly’s.
Ireland travelled to Scotland on a weekend when Edinburgh was dry due to a public service employees strike…
Highlights were few and far between.
Edmund Van Esbeck, writing in the Irish Times said:
A few inches of woodwork was destiny’s determining factor at Murrayfield on Saturday. With six minutes remaining, Colin Patterson crossed for a try in the right corner to bring the scores at 11 points all. Ireland’s ace marksman,
Tony Ward took the conversion attempt and the ball followed an erratic path to the posts, struck the upright and fell the wrong side. Thus, it was that, for the first time in three quarters of a century, Ireland and Scotland played a draw with each side, scoring two tries and a penalty goal…..
Naive Ted – further teasings of The Minute Particulars?
What you may need to know…
01. Regular YMLT readers will be well-up on Naive Ted by now if they weren’t before. Lucha-masked weirdo beats king resident in Limrock.
02. Following up from 2015’s The Inevitable Heel Turn album this year will be The Minute Particulars, a series of collaborations and jams that, according to Ted’s representative Andy Connolly in last night’s Evening Echo, isn’t necessarily a formal album, either.
03. Streaming above is the found-footage vidjo for newly-released track Grind Manifest. This may or may not be part of the aforementioned project.
04. Naive Ted plays the Roundy in Cork tomorrow night at 10.45 as part of Quarter Block Party, triumphantly returning to a spot his performances have left worse for wear in the past.
Thoughts: The line between electronica and demented sound-art in Ted’s output continues to blur wildly.
01. Lerloons is a 23-year-old producer based between Galway and Dublin, specialising in lo-fi and ambient, flitting between samplers, synths, and old tape recorders.
02. Debut long-player GOODNIGHT was released in 2015, followed by last year’s full-length 24. Both are available for streaming and download via Bandcamp.
03. Streaming above is newest composition _m4ster-s1ave.ase, released yesterday via their Soundcloud.
04. They’ve also been busy working on soundtracks, yesterday releasing work done for brands at the Milano Fashion Film Festival.
Thoughts: In all of the comfort and familiarity of shards of chiptunes and ambience lies the uncertainty and discord of them falling apart, a line which Lerloons treads lightly.
Australian math-rock blog Fecking Bahamas, a long-term supporter of all manner of awkwardly-timed, noisy, proggy rock ‘n’ roll, has produced the fifth installment in its ongoing series of country/region-specific compilations. Number five? Ireland.
Behold, twenty-one tracks of homegrown noisemaking past, present and future, accompanied by artwork from New York-resident Limrocker Shane Harrington, and includes YMLT featurees CHANCER, Yonen, and Ganglions, as well as veterans like And So I Watch You From Afar, Ten Past Seven, The Redneck Manifesto. Also bundled in are contributions from defunct outfits like the sadly-missed Adebisi Shank.
More info and other compilations are available from the site, including a world-map of math-rock.
01. “Ian and Tom play music in a garage”. An unassuming bio for Dubland “sick-wave” duo NERVVS.
02. Self-releasing debut E.P. Death House in 2015 on download and limited-run CD, the band have since being gigging around Dublin with other noise and lo-fi acts.
03. Streaming above is Death is Yours, from brand-new extended-player A Mixtape of Love Vol.1, officially released yesterday after premiering in its entirety last month over at The Thin Air.
04. A debut full-length is in the works, apparently, as well as upcoming collaborative releases.
Thoughts: Good, nasty, and noisy, NERVVS lurch between the heft early grunge and the elasticity of post-hardcore with ease.
This Ain’t No Disco returns in March with its second episode, following the online resurrection of the cult RTÉ classic in December.
Writes the team responsible on Facebook:
“This time our journey/collaboration stretches from Dublin to New York City. At home, there’ll be more acoustic performances from kitchens and firesides across the country, and we’ll visit a new space to turn up the volume and art-attack some visuals. This ain’t no foolin’ around.”
The return of No Disco, helmed by Dónal Dineen and Myles O’Reilly, has seen its first episode rack up 179,000 views on Facebook Video alone since its debut.
01. While it may only have been a matter of time before an Irish band got around to using the word ‘chancer’ for a band name, it’s well-used on these Dublin math-rock boyos.
02. Beginning as a solo project for musician Dara Walsh, CHANCER has quickly expanded to a four-piece following debut single Whistler, with full-band rehearsal footage being posted to their Facebook.
03. Streaming above is the video for the band’s new single, Banger, available now from their Bandcamp. The tune premiered on UK math-rock blog Fecking Bahamas, where they also dropped the announcement of an upcoming Irish math compilation.
04. Wait for it at 3.46.
Thoughts: Lovely, awkward, loud, noisy math-rock, not dissimilar to early Adebisi Shank or parts of BATS’ sound, but with a more rough-hewn sense of humour in their aesthetic and references. Good tack.
Last week, we asked YOU to complete this sentence:
“The best Irish female voice by some distance is ________________________ particularly when performing____________________________”
At stake was our weekly €25 voucher for any of fourteen Golden Discs stores around the country, and as usual, the competition was stiff.
But as ever, there can only be one winner.
Iwerzon takes it, with a personal story on his favourite female Irish voice.
“The best Irish female voice by some distance is Eithne Ní Uallacháin, particularly when she performed from her album ‘Bilingua’ and in particular the tracks Lughnasa Damhsa, Senex Puer and the title track Bilingua.
Eithne, from the Cooley Peninsula Co. Louth, sadly passed away in 1999 and her family and musical comrades made sure this work in progress saw the light of day.
She was years ahead of her time which is very evident in this important recording, her use of a distinct traditional voice, and influences from other cultures and electronica makes its sound very current and hugely relevant. Please give it a listen if you get a chance.”
Other highlights from the running:
Leopold Gloom: “The best Irish female voice by some distance is Roisín Murphy, particularly when performing live as she is bloody brilliant. She’s arguably the best musician to come out of Ireland in the last two decades. Chameleon-like, electronica, pop, disco. Guilty of forgetting her sometimes.”
Specific Gravity: “The best Irish female voice by some distance is Katell Keineg, particularly when performing Gulf of Araby. Still remember seeing her on Nighthawks performing a cover of Quapelle Valley and being transfixed, even considering Shay’s bizarre set. And while she may be Breton-Welsh technically, her formative music years were spent here.”
Pat Walsh: “One of the best Irish female voices is that of Leslie Dowdall particularly when performing All I Wanted when she was with In Tuath Nua.”
Nigellicus: “Lovely choices here. The best Irish female voice by some distance is Mary Coughlan particularly when performing Double Cross.”
Penfold: “The best Irish female voice by some distance is Carol Keogh particularly when performing Out of This while part of Automata. A brilliant band, and amazing singer (also Cathy Davey on the first album, another fantastic voice).”
HyperGlobalCompuMegaNet: “The best Irish female voice by some distance isLisa Hanniganparticularly when performing. Rather than put in a song at the end I think a full-stop sums it up better.”
