Category: Music Review

The Hot Sprockets: Honeyskippin’ Review

Listening to The Hot Sprockets, it’s hard to make out where they are from, which in a universal world is great and what you’d want. Instead of sounding like they are from South Dublin, these guys sound like the are from the Deep South of the U.S.A. Over the past few years, avid connoisseurs of the Dublin scene will have no doubt seen the band, as they honed and perfected their sound. The culmination of that work is their debut record ‘Honeyskippin”.

Starting off is the current single Cruisin’, uptempo with a memorable ‘ooh ooh’ refrain and is a great introduction to the album. Recorded in Spain and produced by Boz Boorer, The Hot Sprockets have managed to capture a timeless sound, not entirely crystal clear with a nice vocal effect giving an old microphone feel.

The album is a definite how to in dirty country rock, that’s not saying it formulaic, it’s saying, The Hot Sprockets have taken classic structures, updated and given them the Sprocket treatment. What they’ve ended up with is a damn fine contemporary dirty rock album. (more…)

June 3, 2011
Morning Hush: Bare Hands Review

‘Bare Hands’ is the second single to be taken from the forthcoming album by Morning Hush. It’s the follow up to the Dublin quartet’s smashing debut ‘Romance’ to be taken from their debut album due to be released later this year.

It’s an indie track with some nice guitar sounds but doesn’t instantly have the same impact that ‘Romance’ had. It’s more of a grower. Where ‘Romance’ had a stomping chorus, ‘Bare Hands’ has a more melodic choral refrain.

Production on the track is slick and features some nice subtle harmonies. I really like the dirty synth sound at the start of the track, would love to hear more of that please. Overall its a decent track and shows us that the album should be of good quality. (more…)

June 2, 2011
Identity Parade: Six Shades of Blue E.P. Review

Identity Parade are back with a four track E.P. ‘Six Shades of Blue’. This is the first new music we’ve heard from the band since their self titled debut album which produced a trio of Top 30 Irish hits.

The title track opens proceedings. It’s a slow builder with nice string plucks and a bigger use of synth sounds than in previous recordings. Having recorded and produced the EP themselves, it seems like the band have updated themselves with an a very contemporary UK indie vibe which nods at some eighties vibes.

IDP seem to like the slow build ups. ‘Plagued’, again builds up slowly. When all the instrumentation comes in though, either the keys could be a little lower in the mix or the vocals a little louder. The keys seem to be tilted more to the left and this seems to overpower the vocals slightly. Not a bad track though. (more…)

June 1, 2011
Robyn G. Shiels: The Great Depression Review

With a title like the The Great Depression, thoughts of country music sung by a broken soul come to mind. Robyn G. Shiels‘ voice and sparse guitar and musical style, capture the vibe exquisitely. This automatically puts Shiels in the same ballpark as Ryan Bingham.

This five track shows Shiels as an honest performer and songwriter with a great command of how a song should be delivered. While there are points throughout the tracks where Shiels is accompanied by a band, he is never overpowered, his vocals always remaining centre of attention.

2012 sees the release of ‘Hello Death’ (he’s a cheery fellow isn’t he?), going on this, it should be an album to watch out for. (more…)

May 31, 2011