Going to see Jape for the first time in a while is always an interesting proposition, seeing as the lineup can often be entirely different from the previous occasion. Such is the case tonight – they’re still a trio, albeit with a different drummer from the Ocean Of Frequency tour, and Richie Egan is still front and centre of course, with Glenn Keating still his right hand man but things have still been rejigged, with Egan now on bass and sampler rather than guitar and keys, and Keating on electronic percussion and sequencer. It’s an interesting adjustment and seems to…
-
-
How do you follow up not one, but two Choice Music Prize winning albums? This is a dilemma that so far no one has ever had to face other than Jape’s Richie Egan. He’s Ireland’s answer to PJ Harvey in that respect, although even she didn’t win her two Mercury Prizes with two consecutive albums. First properly establishing himself with 2008’s Ritual, still a bona fide Irish classic and arguably Egan’s first solidly consistent piece of work, having benefitted from the success of minor hit single ‘Floating’ to show him which direction to settle on, 2011’s Ocean Of Frequency was…
-
Some bands have one album in their discography that will simply never be bettered and will always slightly overshadow all subsequent releases. The Dodos are one of those bands. After debuting with the pretty solid Beware Of The Maniacs, the duo came to most people’s attention with second album Visiter, an hour long indie folk odyssey, characterised by Meric Long’s intricate yet sometimes ramshackle finger picking and honey-like voice accompanied by Logan Kroeber’s frantic percussion, performed as if by a man with at least 3 arms. Wonderfully melodic, occasionally chaotic, it was the overlooked gem of 2008. They followed it…
-
Another Mogwai release, another excellent title. Following on from solid yet divisive 8th studio album Rave Tapes, released earlier this year, Music Industry 3. Fashion Industry 1. is a short collection of remixes and unreleased tracks recorded in the same sessions, and if Rave Tapes‘ surprisingly restrained nature was main the reason for such divided opinion, then that shouldn’t be an issue here. Lead track ‘Teenage Exorcists’ includes vocals, a secret weapon Mogwai tend to unleash sparingly but effectively, and in fact it instantly establishes itself as one of the finest vocal tracks in their catalogue. While their vocals often…
-
1979 was the peak year for post-punk. Picking up the torch from the already stale and fast dying punk scene, adopting its spirit but injecting it with a new sense of invention, artistry and a range of eclectic influences in place of punk’s self inflicted limitations, there were genre defining debuts from Joy Division and Gang Of Four, as well as classic follow ups from the likes of Wire and Public Image Ltd among many others. The Fall even released not only their first but also their second album that year, featuring two almost entirely different lineups, immediately starting as…
-
Shellac don’t operate like a normal band. Releasing albums every seven years in between Steve Albini and Bob Weston’s day jobs as recording engineers; no fanfare, no previews or singles; no accompanying tour. One thing they can be relied on for, however, is their consistency. You could essentially arrange Shellac’s discography into any order and it would be difficult for a newcomer to work out the correct sequence. This is no bad thing – no one wants to hear a Shellac album that doesn’t sound like Shellac – it’s a testament to how consistently strong they’ve been over the last…
-
It was only this August that we finally saw the release of This Is The Third Album Of A Band Called Adebisi Shank, a whole four years after its predecessor, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. But barely a month later, the band made the shock announcement that they were calling it a day and that their pair of album launch shows in Whelan’s would in fact double up as farewell shows. The outpouring of love in the Irish music press since the announcement has highlighted just how much this band has meant to music fans in Ireland in the last…