nessymon.com

Category: Music Review

  • Futures Apart: Andrew’s Pride

    futures apartSo seemingly out of nowhere, Futures Apart launched their debut single ‘Andrew’s Pride’ last week. Is it any good? well yeah, it is.

    The Wexford band have produced a great piece of electro-rock, which they cleverly call futuromatic. With TimO’Donovan (Neosupervital) on production duties, it’s hardly surprising that this track is a catchy affair.

    ‘Andrew’s Pride’ starts with a manic build up before settling in to 21st century Duran Duran style. (Think Planet Earth before they got too poppy) The overall sound is quite familiar because of these influences but the injection of originality pushes Futures Apart into a class apart. Good musicianship, a memorable voice, a couple of really clever breaks in the song and great overall production make this a great debut.

    They know how they want to sound and already have a great image. I’m impressed.  These guys could be huge.. Tipped!

  • Train at Vicar St

    I saw Train on Monday in Vicar St, one of the best gigs I’ve ever been to. You can read the review on Goldenplec. Here’s the photo of the audience frontman Pat Monahan took during If It’s Love. I’m sitting on the balcony.

    Train Picture by Pat Monahan
    Audience at Train gig in Vicar St by Pat Monahan

  • Arthur’s Day at The Village

    TYSo Arthursday seems to have become a Hallmark-esque event in a bid to make the Irish population drink even more and try to forget about the dire state of the nation. In a lot of ways, I can’t stand the commercialism but in others, well if you can go to the Village for a tenner and see the likes of Kelis, Tinie Tempah, Example and Ty all then I’m all for it.

    Thanks to some unforeseen circumstances, I actually missed Kelis in the Village. Ah well what are you going to do? Nothing! I only really wanted to see Example. He has produced some of the best pop music in the UK in recent times.

    First up was Tinie Tempah, who’s hip hop stylings immediately grabbed the audience. 400 Dubliners singing ‘Pass Out’ in a London accent is a big on the weird side though. The audience loved him, shouting his refrains back at the stage. Soundwise as was the story throughout the whole night, you can’t really go too wrong with a left and right output from a DJ mixer and a mic to plug in. I’d go see Tinie Tempah for his own full set, overall I was pleasantly surprised.

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  • Babybeef Album Review

    babybeef

    Babybeef is the solo electronic project by Sarah Carroll Kelly, a Dublin based multi instrumentalist and performance artist.

    Starting with the current single ‘Music’ it sets the tone for the rest of the album. This is an 80’s tinged electro pop song with a big bass sound and clever hooks.

    Throughout the album, you can pin point certain influences and sounds from the 80s. A Bronski Beat style refrain, A-ha and Jermaine Stewart style rhythm, this doesn’t take away from the album but adds to make them more accessible to the new listener. Add a dash of Daft Punk and you’re laughing.

    Carroll Kelly does a good job with this debut of showing us what she has to offer. Stand out tracks have to be ‘I’m OK’, an understated track with nice vocal background harmonies, ‘Wait’, a midtempo track which showcases Carroll Kelly’s vocals.

    One track that must be mentioned on this album is the Babybeef cover of ‘Thunderstruck’, inspired choice. Thick synth bass sounds galore. I reckon this is what Kate Bush would sound like if she was into electro.

    Great introduction to Babybeef , A slightly wider pop mix on these tracks might make it more appealing to the masses but definitely a great start.

    Babybeef is released through After the Quake Records