Last Tuesday the Sugar Club was the scene for a journey of musical discovery courtesy of London Psychedelic-Jazz trio The Comet is Coming, with support from Dublin instrumentalists Yonen.
The latter act took us on a tour of the cosmos with their intergalactic instrumentals complete with a live AV show that really set this apart from your usual fare. At times frantic, at others soothing and sad. At one point guitarist Alan Dooley is coaxing what sounds like whale song out of his six string.
Such was the nature of the music and the quiet attentiveness of the crowd that the guys often had to announce when a piece was finished with a quick ‘Thank You!’ which was met with stunned applause. This band makes incredibly complex music and they are tight as hell live. Catch them as soon as you can.
Headliners The Comet is Coming are hard to define. Take 1 part jazz, 1 part psychedelia. Mix with smooth Sax and bake at a high bpm for 2 hours. Drummer Betamax Killer’s rhythmic stabs drive the tracks ahead while Danalogue The Conqueror on keys and King Shabaka on sax add embellishments and flourishes along the way. Be assured that their songs are even better than their names!
In other tracks the sax is clearly in the lead, laying the rhythm down with honks and squeals for the drums to follow before exploding into section long solos.
The crowd were loving it. By the second song the band had half the seated crowd down on the dance floor and it wasn’t much longer until the other half followed. The sheer scope of influences on display made for such an eclectic set. Some songs were straight up funk, some like mental techno tunes and others still leaning towards industrial rock like a funked up Nine Inch Nails.
The Comet is Coming could be accused of being slightly all over the place at times but when they hit that sweet spot and all joined in on the same groove, which was often, you could absolutely lose yourself too it. These guys are an unstoppable force, highly recommended ear-candy.
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The track itself is a 6:55 odyssey, journeying through the streets of Tokyo and seeing the city through the imagination of minds that have never been there. The motif stays fairly similar throughout but is treated to a dizzying array of changes in dynamics and effects, reminiscent of some of 
Orchid Collective belted out tracks from their excellent Courage EP in the Marina Inn. The band started life out with a singer songwriter oriented sound but have since developed their arrangements to include a litany of guitar effects and metronome perfect polyrhythms.Distinct vocal harmonies feature throughout and the songs often swell to meteoric crescendos before easing back to earth. Expect to hear a lot more from this Dublin 4 piece.
After the church it was straight back out to the music trail to see Fangclub, the Dublin 3 piece who are making serious waves with their hard hitting grunge sound. These guys really know how to bring the noise, producing a wall of sound that hits you right in the chest. Talk about HEFT!
Sticking around after Fangclub we we stumbled across Damola, a young rapper out of Dublin and member of the Backshed Inc. collective. This guy had serious flow and an incredibly tight band. It’s great to see the Dublin rap scene flourishing and providing itself a voice. It’s even better that festivals like Other Voices are providing them platforms to be heard.
Soulé ended the first night with a set of R&B floorfillers. This girl oozes talent and is definitely one to watch. Her cover of Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Swimming Pools’ is pretty awesome too, check it out below.
Saturday got off to a groggy start, with a few visibly sore heads. The remedy came in the form of Dublin group Moon looks on, whose beautifully crafted original folk rock songs were complimented by some great piano and violin work. Lead singer Stephen Gormley has a great natural vibrato that really stretches his vocals out, remaining interesting throughout the entire set.
Armagh’s Jealous of the Birds hit the new and improved Dingle Brewing Company stage and blew us away. A little bit Lana Del Ray, a little bit Lorde. Their sparse use of instrumentation results in an atmospheric sound that can go from soft spoken to rocking out in the blink of an eye. The set was punctuated with covers of Nirvanas ‘Heart Shaped Box’ and Foster The Peoples ‘Pumped up Kicks’.
Malojian brought their Americana tinged alt-folk from Belfast to the Dingle District Courthouse. The venue was so packed we listened from around the corner until someone squeezed in to give us a look . Soothing vocals lyrically explored life’s difficulties with a sunny side up outlook. They informed us all they’d visited 4 provinces in 4 days, arriving in Dingle via Belfast, Mayo and Dublin .”We arrived at 3 in the morning, it was like dawn of the dead, but the party version!”
By far the biggest crowd of the weekend was for Dublin post rock wizards Overhead, the Albatross. They were down a member with pianist Dave away on backing duties with Kodaline, but you wouldn’t have noticed any dip in quality. They blew the crowd away with a blistering set of 3 songs, all the guys could fit into their 40 minute set(Their songs are looooooooong). If you want the full experience you can catch them tonight(Friday 09/12) in Vicar St with the mighty Bitch Falcon. There are still a few tickets available from Ticketmaster and if they don’t sell out, on the door.
First up were Dublin 3 piece Swords who stunned the crowd with a set of songs from their new album Tidal Waves. They seemed super confident and really comfortable with the new songs. Swords seem to have really settled on their sound.
Next up Stephen James Smith brought the goosebumps with some truly evocative poems out the back of Currans bar. He wasn’t one to hold the limelight though, passing around a book of quotes for people to choose from and then share with the group. He even managed to squeeze a song out of Ruby Sessions organiser Ger Murphy!
Thumper brought their bouncy, energetic, frantic and LOUD sound to Nellie Freds. This set was a lot of fun, a playful take on all of life’s little problems. After finishing a 2 – 3 minute song, they played the same song again way faster trying to beat yesterdays record of 44secs. 43! Yes! Pop melodies fed through an overdrive circuit. Class.
Æ Mak brought their impressive live set to the Other Room next. Full of infectious world rhythms and epic displays of choreographed interpretive dance, this was really a sight to behold. Check them out at the first chance you get.
The incomprehensible Meltybrains? brought their fantastic live show to the same venue next and really made an impression on the crowd. It feels a little like the secret is out about these guys and anyone not yet on board is eager to find out what all the fuss is about. The major highlight was the whole dingle crowd learning their signature dance during ‘The Vine’.
On the way out, the families and children of Dingle paraded around the town with homemade lanterns for the annual Festival of Light, ending at a beautiful Christmas tree where they hung their lanterns as decorations.
Things drew to a close with the 3rd night in St James Church featuring showstopping performances from Saint Sister, All Tvvins, Le Galaxie and Rusangano Family as well a suprise performance from Glen Hansard.
It’s been just over 6 months since 
