Tag Archives: music

10552498_677344755667381_4138605973625323595_n

Grim Pickinz – troublesome tunes from Dublin and the UK

01. Kynz-Illa from Dublin and DateOne from Peterborough are the constituent parts of Amsterdam-based project GRIM PICKINZ.

02. December of 2014 saw the duo release The Troublesome Sound E.P. independently, and they’ve since been regulars both around Amsterdam’s venues and on guest appearances for Irish rappers and producers.

03. The remastered edition of their extended-player is available for streaming in the widget above, and for download from their newly-setup Bandcamp. Kynz-Illa is also streaming his instrumentals (and licensing them to interested musical parties) from his own new Bandcamp.

04. Comes to Broadsheet offices Karl’s den via the recommendation of Limerick beat dons The Unscene.

Thoughts: Heavy-hitting boom-bap for those partial to same, topped off by deft Dub-accented wordplay.

GRIM PICKINZ

Screenshot (126)

Cork beatmaker Jar Jar Jr.’s tunes have taken off in a big way online, as we highlighted briefly in a recent YMLT.

We probably should have included this, uploaded way back last year, and arguably the best of the multiple fan-edited animation videos utilising his music. YouTuber SwaggerLikeUz has a few of these, old-timey cartoon lip-syncs.

Here, Jar Jar’s use of DOOM’s Gazzillion Ear vocal track is looped back into the MC’s own breakfast-cereal aesthetic, as Daniel Dumile’s pseudo-namesake appears among the cast of the original Fantastic Four animated series.

To say nothing of Jar’s ridiculously pretty beat. Just something to check out if you haven’t already.

Jar Jar Jr.

Print

The IMRO Live Music Venue of the Year Award nominees were released yesterday, with the live award-ceremony happening on February 21st at the organisation’s Dublin headquarters. Musical guests: Overhead, the Albatross and Soulé, with more TBC.

One overall winner is totted up from votes from the national shortlists, while Hot Press readers/digital subs also get a shout in on the Hot Press Venue of the Year award via the mag’s Readers’ Poll.

Writes Liza Geddes:

More than 11,500 IMRO members considered hundreds of venues across the country for the shortlist. Venues were judged on their commitment to providing the core elements that make for a great live music venue – atmosphere, sound and lighting, staging, diversity of programming and importantly, the staff and management of each venue. IMRO members also voted on Ireland’s music festivals, delivering a shortlist of their top ten festivals.

Live music venues and festivals play a vital role in the music industry in Ireland, giving international and homegrown artists a platform to engage with fans and build new audiences. They also play a central role in urban and rural communities across the country, providing a social gathering space for varied audiences, and contributing hugely to the domestic economy.

See the shortlists, get to voting for your favourite local venue, and chuck votes in for half-remembered non-local gaffs at the voting page.

IMRO

ddr_week15_sat

ddr_week15_sun

Dublin Digital Radio keeps on slowly breathing fresh air onto the Irish (digital) airwaves, with an eclectic selection of live shows from their studio at the Jigsaw arts space and pre-tapes pulled in from around the country.

Streaming above: a selection of the station’s finest few hours this week. Also above: the schedule for the weekend. Get in.

DDR member Cormac writes:

A new week of shows here at DDR. Some highlights included Denise & Leg’s Dublin Punk Radio, last Saturday Staxx Lyrical had Ballymun hip-hop group 5th Element in studio, and Emma Cawley’s show “XXX” looks at Gqom, electronic music from South Africa, with an interview with label manager Craig Pugnetti.

For the weekend ahead some show highlights to keep an eye out for include the Wino Boys’ show “Wah Wah Wadio” on Saturday. While on Sunday we have a new show called “Mullin’ it Over: Obama: A Retrospective” which takes a look back at the highs and lows of his presidency. At 8pm Major Problems boss Barry Redsetta is back on the airwaves, which is not to be missed!

Listen in live, or on-demand.

13680053_10154408564767948_7411035116189775769_o

GUILTY OPTICS – “Downstroke wizardry”

What you may need to know…

01. Last time we checked in with GUILTY OPTICS (their all-caps, not your writer’s), they’d just released their first single in a while, ahead of completing work on their debut album.

02. While we await more news/noise on this topic, the band are currently planning more national touring in 2017.

03. Streaming above is And So It Goes, the follow-up to last year’s streaming single The Kayapo Ghosts, premiered last week at The Thin Air after a prolonged wait, judging by the given upload date on the band’s Soundcloud.

04. Headlining a gig at the Tivoli Backstage tomorrow night at 8pm. We covered the other two veteran bands on the bill this week, also – Ten Past Seven and Elk supporting.

Thoughts: Punky, angular noises, delivered with earnestness and aplomb. Grand.

GUILTY OPTICS

Elk

Elk – pop/hardcore/punk from Cork

What you may need to know…

01. Returning from a prolonged hiatus are Leeside live faves of the mid-late aughts, pop/heft outfit Elk.

02. Releasing debut album We Should Start Our Own Gang in early 2009, the lads went quiet shortly thereafter, re-emerging live periodically, including for the launch of a split 7″ single with Crayonsmith in 2011. It’s been a busy few years, with the boys keeping the fires burning in, offhand, No Spill Blood, Hands Up Who Wants to Die, All Tvvins and Guilty Optics.

03. That long-player of theirs is streaming above, and available for free download via Bandcamp.

04. Elk return on Saturday night at Tivoli Backstage in Dublin, supporting GUILTY OPTICS alongside Ten Past Seven. Ridiculous lineup.

Thoughts: Straightforward pop lurches into dreamy sounds, lurches back out into heft and distortion. Something for everyone, and a welcome return.

Elk

Lords-Of-Strut City Spectacular

We’re out of punny headlines featuring the word “Quarter”, so we’ll get straight to it: acrobats/performance messers Lords of Strut have been added to Quarter Block Party in Cork, the weekend after next.

And will perform in a bistro!

Famous Séamus (above holding Seantastic) will back in town on Saturday February 4 at 7pm, and are cooking up a storm. To wit:

What if Lords of Strut were not the dancing acrobatic legends we know today, but were two unknown brothers working for their uncle Tony, in his Bistro on North Main Street? The brothers spend each day of their week serving Tony’s customers, while they dream of becoming the greatest dancers that ever lived…

The fantastic comedy duo Lords of Strut have devised a site-specific show set in Tony’s Bistro, North Main Street. Lords of Strut will be serving a high energy, spandex fueled, comedic soap opera. Heavily peppered with hilarious dance routines and spicy melodrama; take a seat and have a full helping of Strut!

QBP info and tickets

14956535_1370853049622039_70804907789853291_n

We interrupt our regularly-scheduled posting for some reader-generated content, this time from Copenhagen-based Irishman Richard Farrell.

Ploughing a furrow in blues, soul and other musical traditions, he’s doing some of his faves inbetween the serious business of assembling his band’s second record.

He writes:

Currently I’m writing and organising music for my next album in an awe inspiring artist residency in the south of France outside of Carcassonne called La Muse.

Each week I am recording some of my favourite songs in an acapella style. Above is a version of an old blues and gospel song,’Angels Singin’, by The Reverend Gary Davis recorded in the cavernous hallways at La Muse….

Richard Farrell and the Last Tribe

12219514_983660951693623_664630387164329104_n

I Have a Tribe – crooning, low-key indie from Dublin

What you may need to know…

01. Patrick O’Laoghaire is the man behind I Have a Tribe, releasing the project’s debut album Beneath a Yellow Moon last year via Groenland Records.

02. Taken from the same LP is new single After We Meet, newly re-recorded with the addition of backing vocals from Mary-Kate Geraghty, TAFKA MayKay of Fight Like Apes.

03. Streaming above is the video for the single, with visuals by Arbutus Yarns/This Ain’t No Disco man Myles O’Reilly.

04. He’ll be playing Whelan’s in Dublin on Friday March 3rd, in support of the new release.

Thoughts: Textured and interesting, definitely feeling the benefit of a sonic revamp, yet comforting and reassuring.

I Have a Tribe

DDR-wkend-21-22-jan-2017

Broadcasting upstarts Dublin Digital Radio have been quick on the uptake of independent and alternative sounds around the country, as of late, with an expanding programming lineup. This week’s highlights are available to stream above and another packed weekend awaits adventurous listeners.

DDR member Cathy Flynn writes:

It’s been another full week of radio at DDR. Gib Cassidy’s Elastic Witch went out on Monday, a mix of alternative electronic synth sounds. Also on Monday was The Other Show, a wonderful selection of folky sounds. And be sure to check out Shivers’ rundown of the best in new releases and reissues of 2016.

Other highlights this week include Emma Cawley’s “XXX”, this week focusing on South Africa and the Gqom Oh! electronic label, which is well worth tuning into this Thursday 7 – 8 pm. On Friday at 10pm, District Magazine hook up with Dublin’s Soft Boy Records for a show. Saturday has some hip hop vibes courtesy of Staxx Lyrical, and on Sunday go off the beaten track with a selection of interesting, ambient songs from Bandcloud.

Tune in live or peruse the archive here.