Video: The Radioactive Grandma - Another Wasted Line

Another Wasted Line is the first official video release from The Radioactive Grandma's award winning, self titled debut album. The animated video sees the band rocking out in the desert and driving motorcycles and falling to earth without a parachute.

Review: You Kiss By The Book – Family Tree

Naturally enough when a band takes its name from a Shakespearian sonnet you’d expect a certain lyrical sophistication and a heightened sense of narrative to traverse their material; doubly so when you discover that the band fashion alternative country/folk songs. Band leader Simon Dowling is by no means Ireland’s answer to Richie Edwards; but he does have a knack of building intimate, yet aloof stories, layered with shards of regret, love and listlessness.

Ironically it’s Dowling’s Adam Green-esque speak-sing vocals which simultaneously make and derail the album. At times Dowling struggles a tad too much to reach certain notes at vital times, whilst elsewhere his deadpan style is charmingly frank.

Opening track Railroad has a jittery, ramshackle quality to it which permeates much of the album. Can’t Go Back disappoints, save its beautiful string outro. It’s such a shame that one of the albums highlights is so fleeting. I Was A Miner on the other hand is a more consistent affair driven by a smart melodic bassline, mimicked by fiddle and embellished upon by the clever use of mallets.  

Dowling exposes himself the most on title track Family Tree which returns the narrative to the railroad theme once again. The track grows dark, as Dowling reflects on life stuck in a “dead end job” with no way out in sight. Things get darker still as a barbershop backing vocal merrily chirps, Dowling reflects “The last lifejacket was wasted on me.” The addition of Hammond organ complements Dowling’s morose tones perfectly on When We Got To The Border which concludes proceedings on a suitably dour note.

 

Overall ‘Family Tree’ is a little too rough around the edges to really engage long-term thanks to a lack of attention to detail especially on Dowling’s vocals. However there is enough quality present to indicate that You Kiss By The Book are more than capable of ironing out the kinks in the future.

Review: The Stunning – Vicar St. 14/12/2012

A night of festive nostalgia for fans of The Stunning as the Galway/Donegal band performed their seminal Irish album ‘Paradise In The Picturehouse’ in its entirety in Vicar St. some 22 years after its original release.

‘Paradise In The Picturehouse’ went straight to No.1 in 1990 and eventually went platinum in Ireland; a significant and laudable achievement for any home-grown band.  But would nostalgia be tempered by the disappointment of modern tastes? Far from it, The Stunning were eagerly received by a buoyant, moshing crowd, who roared them on from first to last.

The Stunning cleverly brought the crowd back to the late ‘80s with a video intro that featured Zig and Zag learning German, Charlie Haughey’s infamous “tighten our belts” speech and archive footage of the band’s first television appearance. But the biggest Cheer was reserved for Ray Houghton’s winning goal against England. Before the band finally took to the stage as Gay Byrne introduced them on to The Late Late Show to rapturous applause.

There would be no easy way out sample solutions for The Stunning, where necessary the band’s ranks swelled from 5 to as many as 8, with the addition of brass and accordion to the line-up. Ensuring at all times that there was an authentic feel to the songs. Songs such as Half Past Two and Brewing Up A Storm were gleefully received by the crowd, but lesser known songs such as Romeo’s On Fire and Girl With The Curl were just as potent. A solo performance of An Empty Feeling by Steve Wall brought the first part of the show to an end.

A mini trad session would see Steve Wall mock jig his way back on stage before Joe Wall would quip “I’d like to thank the lads for putting the session back into the recession.” The second part of the show would be a post-Paradise greatest hits selection, including a breath-taking version of Tightrope Walker; which morphed into Serious Moonlight style white soul funk-fest.

Cries of “We want more” were answered as the band returned for a 3 song encore beginning with a sing-along version of The Walls track Carrying The Fire; followed by an outstanding rendition of Bob Dylan’s Like A Rolling Stone. A second outing of Brewing Up A Storm set the mosh-pit into overdrive and brought the night to a triumphant close.

The joyous reaction of the crowd was mirrored by the band throughout the performance, so much so, that new material seems a realistic prospect for a band who are obviously enjoying it more the second time round.

Video: This Club - Up

As you would expect by now This Club's latest single Up is a radio friendly mixture of synth disco with a pretty nifty bassline. It's by no means their finest single to date, but what really lets it down is its truly awful video.

Video: Funso - Take Some Time ft. Leiko

It's been a good week for hip hop in Ireland this week and Funzo's latest track is the icing on the cake. Let Me Take Some Time ft. Leiko is a smooth piece of music from the first beat until the last and you can't help but be drawn in by it's grove.

Video: Campaign LK - Exactly How You Feel

The latest track from Campaign LK is a rousing and timely call to rise against the system and claim back the streets from the age of austerity.

Video: The Original Rudeboys - Blue Eyes

We normally wouldn't pay too much attention to The Original Rudeboys around these parts but following their thoroughly commendable stance against Chris Brown and violence towards women in general we thought it was time we did. Here's their latest video Blue Eyes which sees the band follow through with their beliefs in song.