Tag Archives: music

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The Mighty Stef – playing farewell gigs in May

Here’s what you may need to know…

1. The Mighty Stef are a band, led by namesake Stefan Murphy. But after four albums, two EPs and a decade of gigging, they’re about to call it a day, announcing their final live dates earlier this year before assuming other projects.

2. Most recent album Year of the Horse, released in September 2014, picked up critical plaudits, and distribution via London tastemakers Rough Trade. The entire Mighty Stef discography is streaming here, a patchwork of punk, alternative, and assorted influences that maps the changes the band has undergone over the years.

3. Onward and upward for the band, however: the titular Stef is working on the debut album of new project COUNT VASELINE, Gary Lonergan is developing a live set for his solo electronic compositions, while Daniel Fitzpatrick is recording solo material with Tom Cosgrave (The Minutes) and running O’Donoghue’s Open Mic, one of Dublin’s oldest open-mic nights.

4. The band wind it up at the Empire Music Hall in Belfast on May 12, and say their goodbyes to the city that inspired the band’s existence on May 13 at Dublin’s Button Factory.

Verdict: Come out and show support for one of Irish music’s most enduring fixtures before they head for pastures new.

The Mighty Stef

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Caoimhín O’Raghallaigh – playing Carlow and Cóbh this month

Here’s what you may need to know…

1. Plying his craft on a 10-string violin known as the hardanger d’amore, Caoimhín treads the world’s stages as part of a variety of duos, as well as with trad outfits The Gloaming and This Is How We Fly.

2. Among these stages have been the Sydney Opera House, London’s Royal Albert Hall, and the Lincoln Centre in New York..

3. O’Raghallaigh recently became the artist-in-residence at the National Concert Hall, Dublin and will be working with collaborators on monthly live shows ’til June. All the info here.

4. Among a spate of upcoming gigs with The Gloaming and his NCH residency are a smattering of once-offs, including a May 14 show in Visual Carlow with Iarla O’ Lionáird, and a solo show on May 23 at Cobh’s Sirius Arts Centre.

Verdict: A unique instrument with rich, droning tones is Caoimhín’s tool of trade, and his mastery of it is testament to a true artistic calling, as he, among others including his The Gloaming bandmates and contemporaries, write a new chapter in trad’s history.

Caoimhín O’Raghallaigh

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Land Lovers – Angeline

What you may need to know…

1. Dublin pop five-piece Land Lovers continue paying homage to the guitar pop of the ’50s and ’60s with upcoming third long-player The Rooks Have Returned.

2. Already firmly established as lynchpins of the city’s lo-fi/pop community, the band have also co-founded the Popical Island label and annual all-day gig, as well as circumnavigating the Irish festival scene and supporting Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, among others.

3. Streaming above is Angeline, the first single from the album, releasing May 13 via Popical Island.

4. The band launches the album at the Workman’s Club [Wellington Quay, Dublin 2] in Dublin on May 21, with Dinah Brand and Field Trip in support. Kickoff 8pm, €10 in or €15 including a copy of the new record.

Verdict: Taking a page straight out of a ’60s pop fanzine, Land Lovers add a thoroughly modern snark and a profound DIY sensibility to raucous early rock ‘n’ roll.

Land Lovers

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Hope is Noise – Bad Code

What you may need to know…

1. Hardy perennials of Cork’s DIY music community, four-piece Hope is Noise trade in noisy, heavy, hardcore-inflected, yet immediate and accessible alt-rock.

2. Last year celebrating ten years under their current moniker, the lads’ history extends all the way back to their secondary school days in the early ’90s, with the same core line-up remaining intact over the course of several bands over nearly 20 years. Eagle-eyed observers may remember them as The New Messiahs, among other names.

3. This year will see the release of fourth album Demons, and the completion of a documentary on their life and times both as a band, and as a group of lifelong friends.

4. Streaming above is Bad Code, a single taken from the upcoming album released back in November to coincide with their tenth-anniversary gig.

5. Next Friday, the band takes a rare sojourn to Waterford, where they play The Thirsty Scholar as part of the venue’s Voodoo Sessions. Kickoff at 9pm, support from The Smoking Giants.

Verdict: A furious, focused outfit that channels a wide range of influences, themes, and emotions into their music, and a formidable live proposition with a stage presence honed over the better part of two decades together.

Hope is Noise

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The Bonk – Ancestor

What you may need to know…

1. Emerging from jam sessions in Cork’s Big Skin studios, The Bonk derive their moniker from a colloquialism for complete mental and physical collapse.

2. The band is headed up by Waterford man and O Emperor guitarist Phil Christie, and features several of that band’s members. They made their debut appearance under the name earlier this year, at the Quarter Block Party festival.

3. Last week saw the release of debut single Ancestor as a free download from the band’s Bandcamp page, streaming above.

4. The band’s next live excursion is April 16 as part of Cork record shop/community centre/institution PLUGD Records‘ celebration of five years at their current home at the Triskel Arts Centre’s TDC venue.

5. Also appearing are the impossibly promising Barchester Chronicles, prolific troubadour Laurie Shaw, singer-songwriter Roslyn Steer, with Cork hip-hop icon Stevie G spinning discs in the shop (upstairs, 12-6) beforehand and in GULPD Cafe (downstairs) all night.

Verdict: A bit early at this stage for hyperbole, but what’s here reminds your writer of Captain Beefheart’s more focused moments – swaggering, confident grooving that doesn’t necessarily skimp on the psychedelia.

The Bonk

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Cian Nugent – Things Don’t Change That Fast

What you may need to know…

1. Finding his voice on third full-length Night Fiction, Dublin guitarist and composer Cian Nugent taps into his long-running appreciation for ’60s and ’70s singer-songwriters and the blues after stints with instrumental experimentation and psychedelia, both as a soloist and with accompaniment from his band The Cosmos.

2. Streaming above is Things Don’t Change That Fast, a moody, pensive rumination taken from the aforementioned long-player, released this past January.

3. A man of eclectic influences to say to least, from the aforementioned singer-songwriter oeuvre, to surf-rock, to jazz, Nugent has made a playlist for The Thin Air with some of the tracks he’s used as reference points on the new record.

4. Nugent plays Cobh’s Sirius Arts Centre on May 7, while their next Dublin show is Whelan’s on May 12, sharing a bill with Canadians Nap Eyes.

Verdict: Having been one of the most forward-thinking people in Irish music the past few years, Nugent has really come into his own on the new LP. Not all who wander (creatively or thematically) are lost.

Cian Nugent

THE BREAKFAST CLUB, Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, 1985. ©Universal Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Dublin-based remix artist/editor Steve Collender strikes again.

This time reimagining teen classic The Breakfast Club (1985) as a concept video for Arcade Fire’s We Used To Wait.

Footage from the movie is intercut with clips of the five actors in later life.

Sez Steve:

Fans of the movie know it’s all set on one day – March 24, which is next Thursday. I’ll be promoting it like mad in the run up to that day. Please take 5 minutes to watch and share it around if you enjoy!

So do that if you’re so inclined.

One of the gang already has:

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OUTSTANDING in any capacity.

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Slow Motion Heroes – At the End a Big Wave

What you may need to know…

01. Making no bones about their predilection for big, shiny pop, Slow Motion Heroes are a motley crew of various Cork heavy/noisy-music veterans, moonlighting as an indie-rock proposition.

02. Members of the band are/have been in a number of Leeside outfits, including Hope is Noise, El Bastardo, Rulers of the Planet and Cyclefly. This would be their ‘older and wiser’ effort.

03. Streaming in the widget above is At the End a Big Wave, rolled out ahead of debut album Hinterlands. Organs and big singalongs a go-go, as per expected, it’s one of the centrepieces of the record.

04. Hinterlands launched locally late last year, and sees a national release via FIFA Records on April 7th, with the usual slew of gigs to follow.

Verdict: Cork music heads initially took to the band because of its status as a supergroup, but its own merits have long since been proven over a series of EPs and singles. Hinterlands‘ national launch should hopefully lift the lid on one of the real capital’s best-kept secrets.

Slow Motion Heroes

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MMOTHS – Deu (from new album Luneworks)

What you may need to know…

01. Jack Colleran, aka MMOTHS, has been on the ascendant in Irish electronic music since his emergence in 2010. His self-titled debut EP was released in 2012, and led to support slots for the likes of At the Drive-In and Aphex Twin.

02. The 22-year-old wrote debut LP Luneworks while holed up in a room in Los Angeles for a month, staying isolated to ensure his complete engagement in the creative process, and taking inspiration from the city at night for his compositions.

03. Luneworks is now streaming in its entirety on culture site The Line of Best Fit, and the video for single Deu, released this past November, is streaming above. The album is also on iTunes/Apple Music and Spotify.

04. The album launches with a live excursion this Saturday at District 8 on Frances St. Dublin. Supports include Derry “tape throb” man The Cyclist, guitars/loops soloist Somerville and Dublin’s DJ Deece.

Verdict: Luneworks is an achievement to say the least, gently channeling shoegaze, various strains of electronica and the intangibles of change and strange environments to beautiful effect. Essential.

MMOTHS

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Imlé – Fún Orm

Here’s what you may need to know…

01. Decent Irish(-language) hip-hop brought to you by Imlé, a Gaelgeoir collective of musicians and creatives led by Raidió na Life/Wild Promises man Cian MacCárthaigh, and flanked by numerous guests and collaborators, including, on this track, Gaelgeoir wordsmith MC Muipéad.

02. Part of a resurgence of the mother tongue in Irish independent/contemporary music, it seems: as well as appearing on The Gloaming‘s reconstructed versions of trad standards, an Gaeilge can be heard these days in the works of bands like West Cork black-metallers Corr Mhóna, as well as via various compilation/rearrangement projects over the past few years.

03. Imlé formally kicked off last May at Féile na Bealtaine, and swiftly followed up with the launch of their debut single Pádraig. They’ve since appeared at Electric Picnic’s Puball Gaeilge stage. Not just dealing in hip-hop, either, as you may gather from listening to Pádraig, their work explores the contemporary music landscape.

04. 2016 looks to be a busy year for the boys, as they launch their debut full-length later this year, via Irish-language gatekeepers Gael Linn. Production comes from The Frames/Ham Sandwich desk-man Karl Odlum.

Verdict: Ceol den scoth. More contemporary music as Gaeilge, please (suggestions are more than welcome in the comments), and ways to put it into the curriculum, while we’re at it.

Imlé