Gig of the Week: Vernon Jane launch their incredible new single in Whelan’s TONIGHT!

We’ve been big fans of Dublin 7 piece Vernon Jane since the bands inception. Their debut EP, “The Inner Workings Of A Damaged Nobody”, released last year showed a group getting really comfortable flexing their creative muscles and showed off some very impressive songwriting chops.

A year on and Vernon Jane have come out with what could be one of the definitive songs of 2017. ‘Fuck Me’ is a 4:58 belter that climbs to an electrifying peak. Lead singer Emily O’Conner let’s loose in a tirade of built up frustrations challenging the perception of gender roles in todays society.

Check out the stunning video for the track from Paperbag Animator above.

Vernon Jane will be launching the single tonight in Whelan’s with a brilliant lineup of support acts including Wastefellow, SpudGun and Bokito as well as an art exhibition paired with the show. They’ve also got some interesting surprises lined up by the looks of things. Tickets to the show are only €8 and are available at WAV tickets and on the door. Doors are at 7pm with music kicking off at 8pm.

Keep up to date with Vernon Jane on:
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REVIEW: Thundercat melts everyone’s minds in Vicar Street

Thundercat, real name Stephen Bruner, has only recently started to surface as a mainstream artist in his own right. The 32 year old bassist has had a long and illustrious career as a session player and producer though, with a long list of collaborators including Flying Lotus, Kendrick Lamar, Kamasi Washington, Taylor McFerrin, Childish Gambino & Suicidal Tendencies. Lamar even described Thundercat as being the creative epicentre of his 2015 Grammy award winning album ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’.

His third album ‘Drunk’ was released earlier this month to critical acclaim and featured many high profile collaborations from the likes of Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, Kendrick Lamar, Wiz Khalifa, and Pharrell. The sold out crowd here tonight seem like a mix of die hard fans and curious friends brought along for the ride.

Supporting tonight are Fehdah featuring Loah who provide a beautiful start to the evening with their unique brand of Afro-Caribbean Neo-Soul. Single ‘Like No Other’ is a particular highlight, illuminating the the full creative range of their collective talents.

The band have so much groove together and the music is really interesting. Elements of Funk, Soul, Hip-Hop, R & B & Afrobeat are all mixed in with a healthy dose of clapping rhythms, tribal chants and carefully considered pop melodies. Be sure to check them out soon.

Next up is the main event and Thundercat strides on to the stage flanked by keyboardist Dennis Hamm and drummer Justin Brown to an erruption of screams and applause. The trio waste no time at all, kicking straight into ‘Rabbit Ho’. Brown’s energy seems unlimited, the rapid spitfire of his beats leaning in to Drum & Bass territory, he continues this trend throughout the set without even breaking a sweat. A wild, chaotic middle section falls effortlessly back in to the groove of the final verse.

It’s a small setup for a world tour but if you closed you eyes you wouldn’t believe there were only 3 musicians on stage. The group fills up every corner of the sonic spectrum. Thundercat’s high soulful voice juxtaposes perfectly with the beefy low end of his 6 string Ibanez bass.

In ‘Where The Giants Roam / Field of the Nephilim’, Thundercat adds in the type of mental fret dancing solos normally reserved for a song’s crescendo right in the middle, making you wonder how they can up the intensity later in the piece. The answer is, with ease. It’s a wonder to behold!

The onstage communication is subtle but effective, with seemingly unstoppable waves of music breaking at what would seem like random points save for a couple of winks and nods. As they blast into standout track ‘Them Changes’ the crowd go crazy and the show really hits it’s stride. Thundercat’s voice has an insane range and effectively emotes pain, joy, love & fear with equal perfection. In ‘Is It Love?’ he tells us ‘Everyday is like a dream to me’. Well thank you for sharing that feeling with us!

At the end of the show the impossible happened. AN ACTUAL SURPRISE ENCORE! The lights came on, background music too, people even left. The super fans old an new still shouting for ‘ONE MORE TUNE’ were rewarded with ‘The Turn Down’. Thundercat sings the opening verse asking ‘Is this where we belong?’. One thing’s for sure, Dublin certainly thinks so…

Icelandic songstress JFDR hits Dublin tomorrow night with support from Paddy Hanna & Dunny

One of Iceland’s most promising new artists will be hitting Dublin’s Sugar Club tomorrow night. 22 year old songstress Jófríður Ákadóttir is far from a new name on the Nordic island, having spent her teen fronting bands such as Pascal Pinon , Samaris and GANGLY. Björk even named her as one of her influences last year. This new venture is her first solo endevour under the moniker JFDR.

A few minutes into listening to JDFR it becomes apparent that all of this fanfare is well deserved. Her solo debut Brazil a haunting piece of work dominated by Jófríður’s beautifuly fragile voice. This gig promises to be a special night and a chance to catch JFDR on a small stage before she outgrows them completely, which will probably be very soon.

Support on the night comes from Paddy Hannah and Meltybrains? member Dunny. Tickets are €12.50 and are available from The Sugar Club website here.

Stream JFDR’s debut album Brazil below.

Keep up to date with JFDR on:
FACEBOOK//TWITTER//INSTAGRAM//SOUNDCLOUD

Space Jam – The Comet is Coming and Yonen take over The Sugar Club

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.

Keep up to date with The Comet is Coming on:
FACEBOOK//TWITTER//WEB//INSTAGRAM

Keep up to date with Yonen on:
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PREMIERE: Irish instrumentalist math wizards Yonen release new track, ‘Tokyo’, ahead of UK Tour.

Following in the footsteps of And So I Watch You From Afar, Adebisi Shank, The Redkneck Manifesto, God is an Astronaut and joining the plethora of great instrumental music coming from this island are Yonen.

Yonen are 4 piece instrumental math rock band from Dublin. ‘Tokyo’ is their first official single but they’re no strangers to the live scene having already supported heavyweights such as Toe, TTNG, Overhead the Albatross, and Poly-Math to name but a few.

‘Tokyo’ is being released on the eve of a six date UK Tour this February with one man band/loop pedal purveyor Steve Strong.
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 Three Trapped Tigers recent efforts, but a lot more jazzy.

Guitarist Cian Finlay told us a little bit about the writing process:

Our songs take place in hyperbolic and fantastical settings. Though Tokyo is a non fictional city, the song is merely capturing the inscape of the word “Tokyo” as an abstract – i.e. what images your mind conjures when you hear the word “Tokyo”.
(PS we’ve never been there so it’s all a lie. Shhhh!)

We see Tokyo as bustling with activity, strobing with vibrant colours, and hinting at a quirky cultural undercurrent. The protagonist (the listener) traverses the city throughout the track, beginning in the suburbs and making their way through to the center. The bustling busy ride patterns increase in activity on the journey in. The vibrant colourful synth tone gradually increases in sustain until exploding into an entirely new palette of colour (harmony).

Then the protagonist is introduced to the cultural quirks through the 8 bit production atop the cheeky melody. As our songs are experimental, it helps to have a well defined narrative of environment during the writing process to keep our piece coherent and consistent. Or, we could just get a singer.

Fun fact: In the first main melody, every mini phrase comprises of 4 notes. (…except for the 5th group…)

Fun fact: the synth tone is actually a bass running through a Zoom B3 Multi Effects Unit. Nice tone Bro.

Fun fact: The two guitarist mixed and produced the song together, and somehow are still friends.

There seems to be some big plans ahead for the single. Alongside the supporting tour of the UK, there will be both a full length animated music video and an interactive game released by the animation/programming team of Ross Ryder and Joey Breslin. These have been designed within the video game engine ‘Unity’ and also feature as the center-piece in the bands live show. The few sneak peeks they’ve given us of the project look very promising.

No Irish dates have been announced yet, but expect to see Yonen on the summer festival circuit later this year.

Keep up to date with Yonen on:
FACEBOOK//TWITTER//INSTAGRAM//WEB//BANDCAMP//YOUTUBE//SOUNDCLOUD

REVIEW: Cory Henry and the Funk Apostles in The Sugar Club

The Sugar Club is packed to capacity as Cory Henry and his band take to the stage. The Snarky Puppy keyboardist needs no introduction and his fans have come out in droves to see what his solo side project has to offer.

From the moment the first song begins it’s clear that this will be a night to remember. Cory is a masterful bandleader, taking time to step out of the limelight. While the band members rip it up with extended solos, Cory struts around the stage egging each of them on. Shouting, instructing “Hit me on the one.” Bham! “Hit me on the two.”…Bham! “Hit me on the three”……Bham! “Take it back home.”

When it’s his time to shine, he goes into a trance like state. He stares straight ahead, not even glancing at the keys as he plays incredibly complicated improvisational pieces. “Was that alright?” Cory asks, “YEAAAAH!” we reply.

Funk is music that is innately fun. The audience and the performers share the thrill of taking risks, laughing when it doesn’t work and cheering when it does. If there was a single word to describe this show, that’d be it. FUN! My highlight of the night was the dark, brooding, bass heavy cover of Prince’s “1999”, with it’s slow build eventually erupting into a massive crescendo. Incredible stuff. Soulful backing singers, walking baselines, syncopated guitar and insane drum groove. These guys had it all.

The shouts of “ONE MORE TUNE” threatened to bring the house down and they graced our ears with one more dose of musical medicine. Afterwards Cory stood by the exit meeting fans and thanking anyone who said hello. This is a man who truly appreciates his fans. I’d highly reccomend checking him out next itme he hits our shores.

A special mention to the band and their great hats!

Keep up to date with Cory Henry on:
FACEBOOK//TWITTER//WEBSITE

Revenue Killed the Radio Star

It’s been a long grieving process since learning of TXFM’s imminent demise in March. It’s been a slow wind down since then, with the station recently cutting it’s eclectic range of night time shows and now unfortunately it’s all coming to an end. At 7pm today the station will go off the air and Dublin’s alternative leaning listeners will be left with nowhere on the airwaves to call home.

TXFM is of course a rebranding of it’s previous guise, Phantom FM. I managed to find Phantom in it’s pirate days once or twice, but mainly it was elusive mythical thing. I can still remember how excited I was when it started up legitimately in 2006. I used to have to tape tinfoil to my walls and aerial to get the station in my bedroom on the Meath/Westmeath border!

Phantom introduced me to music from all over the world that I almost certainly wouldn’t have come across on my own. More importantly it connected me to the Irish music industry that I didn’t even know existed. My experience with bands spanned to a few local acts. I assumed that if you wanted a career in music you needed to go to London, LA, New York or one of those cool places. Phantom totally changed this view. I’d tune in to I-CON with Cathal Funge and soak up all the amazing Irish talent like a sponge.

On December 30th 2009 I entered a competition on that very show to win the top 10 Irish albums of the year and won! I was so excited. There were albums from And So I Watch You From Afar, Super Extra Bonus Party, Hunter Gatherer, Jape, Herm and lots more. I poured through the linear notes, researched the indie labels and members other projects and that was it. I fell down the rabbit hole. I was hooked.

That chance competition win revealed to me the industry that I find myself working in today. Right at a time when I was deciding what I wanted to do with my life. I will be forever grateful for that.

In 2014 the upsetting news emerged that Phantom was shutting down. I was gutted. Soon enough though, we all found out that a lot of the crew would be opening a new station, TXFM, following the same ethos. We we’re saved from the abyss! The blow was well and truly softened.

Years of enjoyment followed. I continued listening and learning over the last few years, getting to know the presenters and winning a really ridiculous amount of concert tickets. Cathal, Claire, Joe and Kelly- Anne became an important part of my life. Tuning the dial to 105.2 felt like coming home. It kept me going through secondary school, college, long drives and traffic jams. I can’t count the number of times I arrived home and stayed in the car to hear the end of the song playing.

TXFM was also never afraid to take risks. This was best illustrated recently by the 1991 special the station did on the 25th anniversary of Nirvana’s Nevermind. The station spent the entire day acting like it was 1991. They had old news reports, they ran phone in competitions and read everyones texts and emails as letters. It was easily the most entertaining day of radio I’ve ever listened to. You can listen back to the whole thing on their website here(Thursday September 25th). Hurry though, I’m not sure how long it’ll be live.

Another great example is Cathal Funge’s PPI Award winning documentary Left of the Dial, chronicling alternative radios tumultuous past in Ireland. Grab it here while you still can.
You have to ask why such quality radio needs to rely on advertising revenue to survive. Surely RTE or the Arts Council should have some responsibility to cater to for listeners that don’t want to listen to the same old mainstream drivel. A man can dream I suppose.

The closure of TXFM is a massive loss to the Irish music fans and an especially large loss for the bands, artists and labels it so consistently supported. Anyone who isn’t feeling a sting today might not realise what we’ve lost until it’s gone. But it’s not all bad. For 10 years the crew of Phantom and TXFM we’re a shining light in the otherwise too often bleak landscape of primetime Irish radio. In the words of Joe Donnelly, don’t be sorry it’s over, be glad that it happened.

To the amazing crew of the station I can only say so long, farewell & thank you so much for everything.

P.S TXFM is archived all the way back to May 6th 2014 on their website. Listen while you can and let’s pray someone will be backing it up somewhere!

REVIEW: Harbouring Oceans in The Workmans Club

It’s been just over 6 months since Harbouring Oceans debut single release ‘Enso’ (you can see what we had to say about it here), and since then the band have been taking the their time, building their fanbase and really working on their craft. That work is all starting to pay off!

Halfway through their set it’s clear that the band already have the guts of a very strong album. Not only that, but they are TIGHT! Like really tight, their songs are full of ridiculous rhythmic stops and stabs alongside drastic yet fluid dynamic changes.

I’m not quite sure how to define this, there are elements of pop, rock, jazz, R&B, country and a dollop of funk. Some of the vocal harmonies are straight out of backstreet boys territory (in a good way though!). This is pop-rock with real substance.

Anthemic at its core, sometimes uplifting, sometimes heart wrenching, these songs are built to be replayed. It’s only after multiple listens that you get to fully appreciate everything that’s going on in these skillfully layered compositions. Watch out, when they release a full long player you won’t be able to escape it.

Keep up to date with Harbouring Oceans on:
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LISTEN: James Vincent McMorrow returns with funk infused track ‘Rising Water’

James Vincent McMorrow is back with his first release since 2014’s ‘Post Tropical’. The Dublin singer songwriter turned globetrotting performer/producer has continued the trend of changing things up with each release. ‘Rising Water’ kicks off with a deliciously funky electric piano line and builds the groove from there that takes us right through to the finish line.

It’s the first track to come from his forthcoming third album ‘We Move’ due out on September 2nd. Production on the record was split between James and Grammy nominated Drake producer Nineteen85. In a post on his Facebook page James explained a bit about the direction of the new record:

“I’ve started writing this letter about 8 times now, I haven’t gotten past half way yet. Because I do want to explain the record that I’ve made to anyone who’s reading this. But more than wanting to explain it, I really really really don’t want to explain it at all… Does that make sense? Probably not…

In the past I would have gone into crazy detail about each and every aspect of it. But everything about this record is different. So I need to do everything different.

The only thing I want to say right now is this. I’m not the most confident person. It’s something I’ve struggled with all my life. All of my musical heroes put themselves out there on records in such a candid black and white way, which just felt like something that was a world away for me. Every time I’ve made an album before this one, I’ve worked so hard to shroud the thing in metaphor and imagery, until I’m so blurred in the picture that even I can barely see myself in it. And I’m eternally proud of those albums, but I always wished I’d been strong enough to put myself out there on the line. I was taking safe roads because honestly I was terrified.

In every part of this new album I see myself. I hear it in every lyric and every note. And it’s still terrifying. But it’s exactly what I needed to make. Because I can’t be the person I want to be, or the musician I want to be, unless I pursue what I hear without hesitation.

When I was first starting work on this album I wrote 2 things on a page. I still have the page. The first was ‘We move. Or we don’t. We change. Or we stay the same’. Which kind of became the anchor of the entire record, and was where I found the title.

And the second was ‘There is no reason why dancing and heavyheartedness need to be mutually exclusive things’. Which also definitely applies.

James”

Keep up to date with James Vincent McMorrow on:
Facebook//Twitter//Spotify//Website

LISTEN: New single ‘Matty Rusko’ from Galway’s Race the Flux

Galway band Race the Flux continue on their steady climb to the world stage today with the release of their new single ‘Matty Rusko’.

Our first introduction to Race the Flux came in the form of their 2013 Mini Album ‘Dutch Buffalo’, a no holds barred teeth-gritting-head-banging blend of electronic post rock goodness. While it’s a brilliant record that really has stood the test of time, it did lean heavily on their influences. The stand out track definitely has to be ‘Can I?’

For the follow up to ‘Dutch Buffalo’ they enlisted the help of Belfast producer and ex Oppenheimer axeman Rocky O’Reilly in Start Together Studios. Rocky is the man responsible for capturing And So I Watch You From Afar’s blistering live sound and translating it to record.

The difference in production and the progression in the bands songwriting ability was glaringly obvious on last years followup EP ‘Olympians’. There was a real breadth of different styles and dynamic shifts squeezed in to such a small amount of time and songs. ‘Olympians’ really sees Race the Flux coming into their own, shedding their more obvious influences and finding their sound. Check out ‘Olympus Mons’ for a great example of this.

‘Matty Rusko’ is another creative and sonic leap for the band, featuring math rock rhythms juxtaposed with Joe Padfield’s anthemic orating and some really interesting interplay between guitars and bass. This song promises to be a big one for them and will hopefully help to secure them some bigger slots on this summers festival circuit. Having made their Electric Picnic debut last year on the Electric Arena Stage, they’ve now also been longlisted for the Glastonbury Emerging Talent competition. Luckily, you can catch them sooner and closer than that! They’ll be playing 2 dates in Dublin and Cork over the next 2 months with support from Dublin grunge duo Pranks. There’s also a London headliner thrown in for good measure! Details for the shows are below.

Keep up to date with Race the Flux on:
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