Monthly Archives: September 2011

Dancing at the Zombie Zoo

This weekend, the streets of Limerick will be filled with hundreds of revellers dressed in shabby clothing and wearing badly-applied makeup. What makes this weekend different to others, however, is that everyone’s going to be dressing as zombies on the occasion of the city’s first celebration of these ghoulish spirits. The Outbreak Zombie Festival runs from today until Sunday and will feature a host of events around the city. These include film screenings, band performances, flashmobs and even parades. The festival is a non-profit event and its proceeds will benefit a local charity named the Cliona Ring Foundation. This organisation assists families with children who require long-term treatment for serious illness. The event is bound to attract interest from all over Ireland and you can find more information about the festival at their site

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Le Côté Obscur de la Lune

The 20th birthday re-release of Nirvana’s Nevermind wasn’t the only major reissue this week. An album that originally appeared in 1973 and has become one of rock music’s most famous works has also been repackaged in a variety of specially priced editions to commemorate it’s, er, 38th anniversary. Hey, the music industry is feeling the pinch more than most and it could be a lot worse by 2013. Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon arrived towards the latter half of rock’s second decade but, more significantly, during the first decade of the rock album. From the outset, rock music was all about the 7″. Albums were merely a collection of half a dozen singles padded out with inferior material. It wasn’t until the mid-sixties that the rock album became a consistent collection of original songs that could be listened to from beginning to end. Artists like Bob Dylan, The Beatles and even The Beach Boys released records that put popular music on a par with such supposedly more worthy styles as classical and jazz. In addition, the likes of Pet Sounds and, particularly, Sgt Pepper contained songs that were held together by a common theme in a similar fashion to such works as Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and the thematic LPs that Frank Sinatra released on Capitol during the 1950s

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Back in the Night

The second episode of the current season of Later with Jools Holland would appear to be a slight improvement on last week’s opener. I’m mostly looking forward to seeing Wilko Johnson, the founding member of Dr. Feelgood and amateur astronomer. Johnson can be seen at his best in Julien Temple’s Feelgood documentary, Oil City Confidential, which you should check out if you haven’t already. His bluesy take on One After 909 is from a tribute to Let It Be put out by Mojo magazine last year. I’m not terribly familiar with the English singer, James Morrison, though his version of the Kings of Leon track isn’t too bad. I fast-forwarded through Snow Patrol’s performance last week and this week I’ll be skipping past Kasabian. You may choose to do the same with their rather ineffective attempt at a ska favourite. Emeli Sandé was a guest last week and she joins one of this week’s performers below on a track named The Underdog Law. He goes by the moniker of Wretch 32, the pseudonym of a London rapper named Jermaine Scott. The African country of Mali has produced such renowned musicians as Ali Farka Touré, Salif Keita and Tinariwen and today’s show features another. Fatoumata Diawara was born in the Ivory Coast to parents from Mali and has just released her debut album on World Circuit Records. The title track of her previously released EP is available as a free download from Bandcamp. Neil Finn from New Zealand has found success as a member of Split Enz, Crowded House and as a solo artist. His latest project is called Pajama Club and includes his wife Sharon amongst its members. Two of the songs from their eponymous debut can be downloaded for free from their site. Later with Jools Holland goes out every Tuesday and Friday on BBC Two

One After 909 (Beatles cover) – Wilko Johnson

Sex On Fire (Kings of Leon cover) – James Morrison

Too Much Too Young (Specials cover) – Kasabian

The Underdog Law – Wretch 32 & Emeli Sandé

Kanou – Fatoumata Diawara

From a Friend to a Friend – Pajama Club

Clockwise from top left: Wilko Johnson; Kasabian; Fatoumata Diawara; James Morrison; Pajama Club; Wretch 32

Stupid & Contagious

The recent demise of R.E.M. and the continuing irrelevance of U2 marks a significant shift in the careers of two of rock music’s most commercially and critically successful bands. In an age when even the most obscure indie band can use the vast expanses of the internet and modern media to build up a significant following, it’s hard to believe that both R.E.M. and U2 both took over a decade before they achieved international fame. They built up that success through college radio airplay, the help of specialist music publications and constant touring at small and medium-sized venues predominantly throughout the USA. Even though there are currently so-called music fans who aren’t sure whether Arcade Fire is a person or a band, the Canadian outfit has achieved their success more quickly than R.E.M. or U2. It is almost certain that bands like The Go-Betweens and The Pixies would have reached a wider audience if they had come along in the last decade. However, an album released twenty years ago today managed to bridge the gap between indie obscurity and chart success, though the medium that helped propel them to stardom was the music video

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Life’s Rich Pageant

Yesterday, R.E.M. announced that they were disbanding after over three decades of music-making. I’m a big fan of the first half of their career, though not so much the last fifteen years. That period coincided with the departure of drummer Bill Berry and, for me, I feel the band should have gone their separate ways then as well. Nevertheless, I still count albums such as Murmer, Reckoning, Document and Green amongst my favourites by a band that I saw twice in concert. The first time was Slane in 1995 in a rather eccentric lineup that also included Sharon Shannon and Oasis. They were much better three years later at Lansdowne Road when they were ably supported by The Divine Comedy. Today, I revisit a post I wrote two years ago in response to one I’d just read in another blog. The files associated with the original post are no longer available, so here’s the post in its entirety along with three covers performed by R.E.M. This one goes out to John, Dan and Erin, three friends of mine who’ll be listening to some R.E.M. over the next few days

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Hats Off To Jools Holland

Later with Jools Holland returns to BBC Two tonight for its 39th season. The next two months will see six different acts per week performing ‘live’ on the show. Each show will feature some emerging acts, a number of established ones, and a few in between. It gets off to an inauspicious start tonight as the six guests pushing new product are not so well known. This is illustrated by the fact that Northern Ireland’s Snow Patrol are the main band on the programme. I’ve never understood their popularity or success and yet they are about to release their sixth studio album, Fallen Empires. Their downbeat take on INXS’s New Sensation is taken from the Late Night Tales compilation that they compiled. The Duke Spirit from London should be a better proposition as they promote Bruiser, their third studio album. Their version of the Sham 69 anthem was part of a series of songs released by bands to celebrate 50 Years of Doc Martens. From Sweden, Little Dragon also release their third long player, Ritual Union. Looking Glass appears on Machine Dreams from 2009. Soulful Scottish singer Emeli Sandé is about to release her debut album, Our Version of Events. Trombone Shorty is from New Orleans and For True is his seventh studio album. On Your Way Down is from his previous effort, Backatown, and features Lenny Kravitz on vocals. Legendary cult figure Roy Harper is by far the most experienced musician on this week’s show. The 70-year-old English songwriter was immortalised in song in 1970 when Led Zeppelin included a track called Hats Off to (Roy) Harper on their third album. Five years later, Harper sang lead vocals on Have a Cigar from Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here. He also released one of his most famous songs in 1975. When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease takes a nostalgic look back at a sportsman’s final moments. It’s a rather lengthy track and this may explain why he doesn’t appear on Songs of Love & Loss, a double set that combines 23 tracks from almost a dozen of his previous releases. A 30-minute Later Live will be broadcast every Tuesday at 10.00pm on BBC Two, with an extended show every Friday night

New Sensation (INXS cover) – Snow Patrol

If The Kids Are United (Sham 69 cover) – The Duke Spirit

Looking Glass – Little Dragon

When You Are Near – Emeli Sandé

On Your Way Down – Trombone Shorty

When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease – Roy Harper

Clockwise from top left: Roy Harper; Emeli Sandé; Trombone Shorty; Little Dragon; Snow Patrol; The Duke Spirit

Supermarket Checkout Blues

A few months ago, the Irish government announced the implementation of a new employment scheme named JobBridge. As its name suggests, the scheme provides a link between unemployment and permanent employment and offers people out of work the chance to gain experience in the workplace and give them a better chance of future employment. The main criteria for jobseekers are that they are unemployed and seeking work, are receiving specific social welfare payments, and have been signing on for at least three months. The internship lasts for either six or nine months and the successful applicants will receive a payment of €50 on top of their social welfare payments. This extra payment is paid by the government and not by the employer. The rate of social welfare is €188 per week, though this drops to €100 or €150 for those between the ages of 18 and 24

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The Return of Autumn Leaves

It’s that time of year again when the leaves start falling from the trees and turn from green to brown on the ground. The temperature and the amount of daily sunshine also drop, which means it’s not much of a change from the previous season here in Ireland. I’m sure most people count summer or even spring as their favourite time of year, but I’ve always preferred these three months just before December. In particular, I’m quite fond of those days when the sky is blue, the sun is shining and the air is crisp and fresh. I also like traipsing through the leaf-strewn streets and strolling around Limerick’s People’s Park. Here are a few autumnal tunes I’ll be listening to as I wander around the city over the coming months

Harvest Moon (Neil Young cover) – Nils Lofgren

An Earlier Autumn – The Field Mice

Autumn Air – The Very Most

Fallen Leaves – Teenage Fanclub

Dead Leaves & The Dirty Ground (White Stripes cover) – Cat Power

Autumngirlsoup – Kirsty MacColl

Autumn Rendez-vous – Françoise Hardy

Autumn Leaves – Vashti Bunyan

Autumn Almanac – The Kinks

My Autumn’s Done Come – Lee Hazlewood