We Are Trees Video

 AIMR's dedication to We Are Trees continues as we bring you the fantastic video for "Sunrise Sunset" taken from their Boyfriend EP.  


We Are Trees from High/Low Film on Vimeo.

We Are Trees "Afraid of Love" Teaser

The "Boyfriend" EP by We Are Trees, was one of our favourite international releases of 2010. So we were delighted to find new track "Afraid of Love" on  hypem.com.  "Afraid of Love" is yet another bedroom ephemeral gem by James Nee and company. Listen for yourself on the link below and be sure to check out We Are Trees bandcamp to hear the EP in full.

 http://hypem.com/#!/item/18qd3/We+Are+Trees+-+afraid+of+love

http://wearetrees.bandcamp.com/album/boyfriend

Calico Jak: Ever Seen A Match Burn Twice?

Ever Seen a Match Burn Twice the debut album by Calico Jak, brainchild of singer songwriter Eoin Mac Ionmhain, who has previously released material with Patrick Freyne and his Bad Intentions, His latest offering has a more robust sound, which saw it duly considered on the Digital Socket Awards long list for Best Album. The album is built on dark matter, calling on the claustrophobia of Radiohead and the specter of Jeff Buckley's posthumous Sketches For My Sweetheart the Drunk, Marilyn Manson and Alice in Chains.

Opening with Blurry a sparse eerie track, Eoin Mac Ionmhain's vocals grab you instantly. Firstly for their uncanny likeness to Jeff Buckley and secondly for the amount of emotion they convey.  Shaving Cut is the standout track on the album with a good chorus and splashes of horror movie music in the background. The guitar playing is notable, especially on the skewed solo.  Vampire Love however, is disjointed and overlong.
The first single from the album LostMmt2s see's Eoin Mac Ionmhain's vocal delivered in full on metal falsetto with a high-pitched singalong chorus of "On me, on me"

Title track Ever Seen a Match Burn Twice? is a slow burning mid tempo track. The choruses eerie vocal "I'll never forget who you are and what you did to me" however, is its only highlight. Tore Down features some pretty good lead guitar and once again showcases Eoin Mac Ionmhain's vocal abilities. The intro to Little Miss Mary is one of the musical highlights, as Calico Jak have produced a riff, which wouldn't sound out-of-place on a Strokes album. While the addition of simple organ, horn and bell melodies to  bleak acoustic guitar led album closer "Your Not The One" make it one of the most believable performances on the album.

Throughout the album Eoin Mac Ionmhain's voice moves from Jeff Buckley to Layne Staley to Jesse Hughes and back again with ease. Whether this is to be regarded as simple aping or a unique ability is purly down to the ears of the individual listener. However it is safe to say that this album will appeal predominantly to fans of darker grunge acts.

http://calicojak.bandcamp.com/album/ever-seen-a-match-burn-twice 

Review: Digital Socket Awards

Cast of Cheers, Adebisi Shank and Villagers were the big winners at the first annual Digital Socket Awards in The Grand Social last night with each picking up several awards. Other winners included Solar Bears (Best Hip Hop) Cathy Davey (Best Pop) and And So I Watch You From Afar (Best EP). Performances on the night came from Groom, Meljoann and Ham Sandwich.  Perhaps controversially none of the performing acts won an award on the night.

The biggest talking point however was the comedy stylings of MC Garreth Stack whose brand of comedy offended many nominees with good reason, mostly because his curt witticisms where so close to the bone that undoubtedly, many of them where in fact true.  His attempt to do a "Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes" worked perfectly as he too was lucky to leave alive. Ham Sandwich, who received most of the Stack's diatribes-to their credit-took it on the chin with a smile, in public at least.

Nay McArdle from Harmless Noise kicked of the night by introducing Groom a groovy genre splitting seven piece band. Their music is lively and multifaceted with continuous mood swings. They are influenced by Elvis Costello, Blur, Neil Young and Ben Folds' Five with a dose of Morricone on the side. Their songs are more like movements from a classic piece than singularities. They bleed into one another, the last note from one song, being the first note from the next. The Hispanic rockabilly of "Doorways" and the clippity-clop percussion of single "Golden Age" the undoubted highlights of their set. A heavily out of key vocal, on an otherwise excellent cover of Wings "Jet" However, was an unfortunate moment of mediocrity for Groom.

The first award of the night was Best EP received by And So I watch You From Afar next up Aoife from Sweet Oblivion presented a rather drunk Cast of Cheers with Best Indie act. While Nialler9 presented Best Design to Adebisi Shank.  Stephen from 4fortyfour delivered the best introduction to an award of the evening before present Best Newcomer to Cast of Cheers. Mike from Drop D presented Adebisi Shank with Best Rock, their second award of the night.

Then Meljoann took to the stage and made me want to die!!! For the first five minutes I thought her act was a joke or some form of electronica take on Spinal Tap and I was waiting for a punchline to walk onto stage. But then, much to my dismay I realised she was deadly serious. Meljoann is the worst thing to happen to dance music since Kevin & Perry sampled their parents love making. There is no interaction or attempts at interaction between her and the crowd.  She nervously mumbles her inaudible lines, always looking at the ground while her band mate hides behind the stage curtain. The beats are plodding repetitive and mind numbingly boring.

At this point I choose to stare at Neil Hannon, who was sat with his arms crossed angrily, staring at the floor trying to block it all out. I tried to use telepathy to get Neil Hannon to come over and punch me, which would surely make this all stop, but alas no luck. Neil Hannon and I however, were not alone in our disdain for Meljoann's disjointed, stream of consciousness, basic beat, electronica. Is it really to much to expect a chorus?

There was an en mass exodus to the bar and the smoking area. 5 people in lone-wolfpacks at the front of the room were enjoying this performance.  I counted them twice, just to make sure nobody was having an epileptic fit. It's not often that you hear something that's only fit for a torture chamber. George Bush would have relished a weapon like this.

Followed the musical travesty the night thankfully got back to the awards Chris from AU Magazine presented Best Video to The Ambiance Affair. Carl from Those Geese Were Stupefied presented Best Pop to Cathy Davey, much to the pleasure of the onlooking Neil Hannon. Nay from Harmless Noise returned to the stage to present Best Photographer to Loreanna Rushe. Villagers won their first award of the night for Best Folk. Golden Plec's, Vanessa Monaghan presented a chuffed Donal Dineen with Best Radio for the Small Hours. Solar Bears received the award for Best Hip Hop before RTE presented Cast of Cheers with the Outstanding Award 2010.

Unsurprisingly Garreth Stack was otherwise engaged when Ham Sandwich took to the stage, for a mostly emphatic point proving performance. Niamh looked extremely sexy in a figure-hugging white dress with black polka dots she controled the stage, her voice a cross between Deborah Harry and Sonya Aurora Madan. Ham Sandwich are at there best when they unleash the unison vocals of Podge and Niamh and the songs are driven by dirty distorted guitars. And at their worst with the limp politeness of The Naturist.  New single Ants  and The Fog were amongst the highlights of their set. Of course it wouldn't be a Ham Sandwich gig without a comedy moment delivered by Podge. This came when he called on the crowd to "unleash" their "inner gorilla" 

The night concluded with the final 3 awards. Unsurprisingly, due to the number of nominations their acts received for tonight's awards Richter Collective won Best Label. Their marquee act Adebisi Shank won Best Album and last but not least Villagers won Best Song for The Meaning of the Ritual.

Awake Young Soldiers "When Leo Met Cherry" EP

Having previously enjoyed the military precision and Hole tinged bombast of songs such as "Mary Jane" by Angry Young Soldiers. we where truly looking forward to their latest EP "When Leo Met Cherry" only to find nothing much to get excited about, on the first listen. Gone is the edgy folk menace of "Mary Jane" the excellent female vocals and the gritty guitar sound, replaced by somber lighter sounds. It's only after repeated listening that the songwriting peeps through. 

The influence of Mumford and Sons casts a long shadow over "Slowly Sadly" a song which contains two good hooks but yet strangely lacks any umph for over a minute. It's only when the singalong refrain of "Can you see what we can see Can you see what we can not" arrives that it comes to life. If only this song had started and continued on this heading, a good song could have easily become an excellent one. Certainly the chorus deserves a song with a better arrangement. 

It's a similar situation on Joe Panama the verses glide past unnoticed, until another catchy chorus arrives.  Once again we have to question the arrangement, as a top notch instrumental section is grossly underused. It's becoming very clear that Angry Young Soldiers are a good band in dire need of an experienced producer.  

We can have no such complaints about behold. This song is perfectly weighted from beginning to end. Starting off with eerie Jeff Buckley chords, it slowly builds with gentle keys and brushstrokes adding texture. There's even hints of Coldplay's early triumphs on the dreamy guitar breaks.

Final song Check Point continues on a trajectory somewhere between Coldplay and Mumford and Sons. Once again a beautiful instrumental section arrives and you think, why wasn't this the intro!!! Check Point builds into a long whigout of crashing drums until a Cribs style guitar riff guides us home.

Unfortunately for Awake Young Soldiers. is was more like an awkward blind date than love at first sight When Leo Met Cherry.

http://awakeyoungsoldiers.bandcamp.com/

Daniel Prendiville: Happy Days in the Gulag

Happy Days in the Gulag is the latest release by Northern Ireland artist Daniel Prendiville. The 17 tracks opus contains an overwhelming amount of juxtaposed influences, from both World-Music and Electronica. Particularly 80's avant garde new wave artists such Ultravox and The Human League. The Germanic work of The Thin White Duke and Kraftwerk also comes into consideration. But does it work? More often than not the answer, unfortunately is no.  The songs, repeatedly feel like they may have been cobbled together from samples on free Cd's, from music magazines such as Computer Music and Musictech, and that there has been no attempt to push any synthesizer, beyond its preset capabilities.

Following a seventeen second intro I'll Visit You in Prison is the first track proper on the album. Its a track steeped in 80's synth pop influences, Prendiville's vocal is delivered in a  Phillip Oakey style. The music is pitched somewhere between Gorillaz "Dare" and Human League's "Love Reaction" but fails to capture the glory of either.  Charisma Transplant's meandering spoken-word social commentary is best avoided, as while Prendiville has the verbose vocabulary required to create such poetry, he is unable to engage the listener in a positive manner like John Cooper Clarke for instance.

Lucky Doppelgangers is the albums highlight to date.  Its a far more believable stab at an Ultravox style track and with a hint of Bowie magic on the chorus refrains, its one of the more memorable moments on the album as a whole.  While a world-music poetry intro, is the only thing that stops Humourlesque from being a chilled out electro winner.  Things continue in this positive vein with ambient offering Sentimental Hospital an instrumental track, in the style perfected by Bowie and Eno on side B of Heroes and Low.

Finally with Oh Mammy Look, the pomp and circumstance has been ditched and Prendiville has delivered a slick, catchy, pop song.  However there is a problem, you can't help but notice that the melody bares more than a passing resemblance to "Smooth Operator" by Sade.  A Simon Gallop style bassline can't prevent Stop-Go Guy being another instantly forgettable stab at 80's electro pop. All previous good work however, unravels instantly, with more tedious spoken-word on the self indulgent Entertaining the Masseuse.

Entertaining the Masseuse.is followed by the ambient night terrors of Memory Foam Pillow a completely self indulgent and pointless display of bedroom musicology. And this reviewer is beginning to feel like a cross between Phil Connors and Hans Moleman, and for my troubles, things only get worse, on the truly laughable Me and My Cyberlord. itunes assures us that its post punk but that's frankly, insulting to post punk.

At least Greenland is a song with an assessable theme and hence a purpose for existing.  It essentially apes a Talking Heads style song with an added distorted bassline. Only it lacks the brilliance of David Byrne. Hurray for  Mechanical Imperfect a mini stroke of genius, by comparison to it predecessors. The bass and  guitar playing is good and interact well in a slice of modern gothic rock. Fake Psychedelia continues this upward trend. Its a decent "Virgin Suicides" era Air style, organ led instrumental with funky bass and long hanging chords, with other instruments making neat cameos. WhileTitle Track is a ballad filled with pleasant piano stabs.

Final track Lufthansa Terminal is like a TV theme for a rugged late-night 80's private-eye or cop show, like The Equalizer or The Midnight Caller.  The title is very apt, for anybody that listens to Happy Days in the Gulag as far as Lufthansa Terminal, and I doubt there will be many, will need a long, long, holiday, because it is such an unrewarding, tiresome and joyless listen.
 

Duncan Maitland Tour Details

Former Picturehouse main man and Pugwash collaborator Duncan Maitland announces tour to coincide with the release of new single "Terry The Toad" taken from his award winning album "Lullabies for the 21st Century" The tour includes several stops in Ireland Spain Belgium Scotland and England.

Saturday January 22nd - The Pint, Eden Quay, Dublin, IE
With No Roller and Leaving Las Vegas
Thursday February 3rd - Colegio De Abogados, Bibao, Spain
With Barry O’Brien (Slumberjet)  
Friday February 4th - Pazo Da Cultura, Galicia, Spain
With Barry O’Brien (Slumberjet)
Saturday February 5th - Madrid TBC, Spain 
With Barry O’Brien (Slumberjet)
Saturday February 12th - Nighthawks, Leeson Street, Dublin, IE
Wednesday February 23rd - Crane Lane Theatre, Cork, IE
Support act to be confirmed
Thursday March 10th – Chapter One, Cavan, IE
With Anny Celsi & Nelson Bragg & The Wags
www.chapteronecafe.ie
 Friday March 11 – Harrison's, Dundalk, IE 
With Anny Celsi & Nelson Bragg
 Monday March 14th – The Bay, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
With Anny Celsi & Nelson Bragg
 Tuesday March 15th – Venue TBC, Coatsbridge, Scotland, UK
With Anny Celsi & Nelson Bragg
 Thursday March 17th - Dubh-Linn, Aarschott, Belgium
 Wednesday March 23th – The Beehive, Swindon, UK
With Anny Celsi & Nelson Bragg
www.bee-hive.co.uk
 Thursday March 24th – Venue TBC, Brighton, England, UK
With Anny Celsi & Nelson Bragg
 Friday March 25th - House Concert, Brighton, England, UK
With Anny Celsi & Nelson Bragg
 Saturday March 26th – The Jenny Lind Inn, Hastings, England, UK
With Anny Celsi & Nelson Bragg
www.jennylindhastings.co.uk
 Sunday March 27th – The Green Note, London, England, UK
With Anny Celsi & Nelson Bragg
Advance Tickets for The Green Note: www.wegottickets.com/event/104323