Category: Music Review

Little Comets: Live at Academy 2 – Review

Originally posted on Goldenplec.com – Little Comets at Academy 2, Dublin, April 20th 2013

It’s two years and two weeks since Little Comets last played Academy 2 and what a difference that has made. Last time, a very small crowd turned up to see the band play a fantastic show. This time, the venue is sold out.

Lights Camera Sundown are a four piece folk outfit who have been given the task of opening for Little Comets. The quirky band features guitar, cajon, autoharp, fiddle and male and female vocals. Despite not seeing their entire set, your scribe can you tell you these are an interesting bunch and feature excellent fiddle playing. Put seeing these guys on your to do list.

The venue fills up rather quickly before the Little Comets take to the stage. Without fuss, singer Rob Coles, introduces the band and the party begins. That’s what a Little Comets gig is really like, rhythmic catchy tunes that just make you want to dance, opening track ‘Tricolour’ sets the pace. The assembled audience is already dancing. The appeal of the Little Comets is shown in the crowd which is made up of people from their teens, to what seems, their forties, girls out with their friends, blokes out with their mates for the night, couples. They all have one thing in common, they sing every word of every song in unison.

Little Comets have been working as a trio since the departure of Mark Harle in 2011, drafting in Greenie for touring duties. Harle was a quite animated drummer but Greenie is solid, without frills, and fits into this role perfectly. They also have a clever and practical way of keeping extra percussive instruments/pots together, by tying them to pieces of rope which hang across the stage. Instead of having to look to the ground to get a tambourine, you just look up.

With two albums and a string of E.P.s under their belt, this really is like a greatest hits from Little Comets, with tracks from their debut, ‘In Search of Elusive Little Comets’, sitting well with those from their current, ‘Life is Elsewhere’, despite having slightly darker lyrics. ‘Violence Out Tonight’ is different with its stark barren sound scape and clever lyrics beautifully and sensitively dealing with rape issues. It gets the attention it deserves.

Onstage, the band are flawless, Rob Coles trademark vocals are backed up by Matt Hall on bass and Mickey Coles on guitar. While their sound has previously been described as kitchen sink indie (hey, they’ve got a pot on stage!), influences of ska and reggae can also been heard. Where Little Comets excel and what makes their live shows so special is the energy generated from their catchy chorus hooks they just make you want to sing. ‘One Night in October’, ‘Joanna’, ‘Jennifer’ and ‘Adultery’ are all more than familiar to the audience and even though a lot of them can’t see the band, it doesn’t take away from the fact that they are enjoying the music, they just can’t see the band.

That’s the problem with this venue, the stage is practically on the same level as the audience, if you’re not in the first couple of rows at the front of the stage, you’re destined to spend the night looking at the back of someone’s head. It’s a pity as the atmosphere is awesome and the band are simply superb.

Little Comets put on a show and a half with the biggest cheer of the night going to fan favourite ‘Dancing Song’. If there’s justice in this world they’ll be playing to much bigger audiences, they deserve to be heard.

April 26, 2013
Jameson St Patrick’s Live: Bombay Bicycle Club, Jape and The Cast of Cheers – Review

March 17 2013. Bombay Bicycle Club, Jape and The Cast of Cheers – Live at The Academy

I’ll be honest, for the past number of years, I’ve avoided the Dublin city centre on St Patrick’s Day. So when I got an invitation to Jameson Live, I was curious to see what was going on but slightly hesitant at the thoughts of facing St Patrick’s night in the city.

Heading into The Academy, where the event was taking place, it was quite apparent that this was an event, it wasn’t just a gig. The entrance had been transformed and walking down the hallway, myself and my companion were handed a drink and a burger token each. Nice touch. A pass to the cordoned off bar upstairs meant we got a nice seat on the balcony and a perfect view of the stage, which had been fantastically transformed for the night. A stone like wall with an embedded video screen behind where the band would play was flanked by wooden barrels on either side, very old school distillery. As the crowd waited for the first band to start. We were offered the aforementioned burgers, my meat eating companion is still talking about how good it was.

The Cast of Cheers were first up and it takes the crowd a couple of tracks to get into it with the band noting that the crowd were ‘a reserved bunch but a great bunch’. Throughout their set, the band show themselves to be competent musicians but Kevin Curran stands out as a potential drumming god. Alongside recent singles ‘Animals’ and ‘Trucks at night’ they play some new material with ‘Closest Friend You Have’ having an early eighties ska reggae feel. They finish their set with the title track from their album, ‘Family’. Good solid performance, looking forward to hearing more of their new material.

Jape are up next and add to what is gearing up to be a line up with extreme danceability. The audience are now well on course for a good night and ‘Movement’ immediately wins them over with it’s seriously contagious rhythm and refrains. In line with the day that’s in it, the three piece, lead by Richie Egan, have some green hats thrown in their direction, which are worn for a time. Jape are a solid act and have their stage show down to a fine art with the perfect balance of songs in the right place at the right time. ‘Floating’ grabs everyone’s attention but it’s understated intro but when the guitar lines kick in, the whole place kicks off. Finishing off the set with ‘The Oldest Mind’ and ‘Scorpio’, Jape leave the audience hanging, wanting more. Fantastic set from one of Ireland’s premier musical acts.

With two greats acts having already graced the Academy stage and a waiting audience already partying, Bombay Bicycle Club have big shoes to fill to continue the trend. I shouldn’t have worried, from the opening notes of ‘How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep’, the audience were in the palm of the London band’s palm. Live, the band’s numbers swell to six for certain songs, availing of extra keys/guitar and Amber Wilson’s vocals. Lead singer, Jack Steadman, has a certain look leading me to think that he went to public school and was always one of the good boys. It seems good boys can put on quite a show. Even for outsider who may not be acquainted with the band, and that can happen at events like this, Bombay Bicycle Club are immediately accessible. Even if you don’t know all their songs or lyrics, you can dance to the band, handy in converting new fans.

Having a back catalogue of three albums means BBC’s set is turned into something of a greatest hits, with songs from their first single, ‘Evening/Morning’ to last year’s ‘Beg’ getting an airing. It’s also a testament to how their career has progressed since their debut EP release in 2007.

Stand out tracks for this punter were ‘Lights Out, Words Gone’, with its slow disco feel and ‘Ivy and Gold’, and uptempo track which defies you not to move. The band themselves describe it best as they introduce it with ‘Are you ready for a hoedown?’ Dublin apparently was, as the crowd goes nuts. Like The Cast of Cheers, Bombay Bicycle Club take the opportunity to play some new material and promise that as soon as the album is done, they’ll be straight back to Ireland. ‘Carry Me’ is an uplifting dance track, putting BBC in a place where the have become indie music’s Faithless. More of

As Bombay Bicycle Club leave the stage, they’ve lived up to expectations and together with Jape and The Cast of Cheers have provided us with a great night’s entertainment. As an event, the Academy looked amazing, it was a well run event and the burger idea begs to question why more events don’t have food available, especially over the course of a long night. If Jameson continue to grow their ‘Live’ nights with events of this caliber, they’ll be known for more than their whiskey.

Thanks to Jameson and Burrell.ie for the passes and the photographs of the night.

March 21, 2013
Swim Deep: Live at Academy 2 – Review

This was originally published on Goldenplec.com

With a handful of singles and an album due in May, Birmingham’s Swim Deep made their way to Academy 2 on March 1st, for their debut Irish performance. The indie dream pop quartet have been steadily building a following in their native land, that seems to have spilled over to Ireland as a predominately teen audience waited in rows along the front of the stage.

First off though, were Fallen Rule, a four piece from Dublin, who themselves, have an album ready for release later this month. They put in a solid performance, with lead singer and guitarist, Scott Glennon, giving a little Liam G attitude and at one point, seemingly having a staring match with his microphone. He is forgiven though as he occasionally plays his guitar with a violin bow. Although the audience are there for Swim Deep, Fallen Rule do an excellent job of converting assembled and following a stage/audience chat, dedicated ‘Understand’ to a member of the front row. Fallen Rule set the stage well for the night, with a rock sound with folk and prog infusions and layered vocals, the album should be interesting.

Before Swim Deep touch their instruments, the four piece with their keyboard player, Johnny, take part in a pre gig hands in ritual. Going by the cheers from the audience, they are looking forward to the performance. Solid danceable beats with swirly guitar sounds fill the venue and leave us caught somewhere between the hippydom of the late sixties and showgazing sounds to get lost in.

B-Town’s finest do more than just stare at their effects pedals though and the audience react in unision to every rise and fall in their music, from standing still to jumping, hands in the air in an euphoric state.

Naturally, the singles immediately stand out from the set, with the bass line from ‘Honey’, shaking the venue to it’s foundations. There’s not a whole lot of talk between songs, the well rehearsed band going straight from one track to the next. The first notes of current single, ‘The Sea’, is greeted by shreiks from the audience. A seemingly slower start than the recorded version until the vocals kick in and the tempo picks up. A drum solo from Zach Robinson gets an extra cheer and cleverly kicks into the where the vocal hook is sung by Austin Williams. Alongside the band’s instrumentation, Williams’ voice makes them memorable with his ‘devil may care’ delivery. The audience love this track and going on their reaction could be one of the tracks of the year.

For a young band, they are on the right path to get converts to their sound and as they progress the standouts in their set will no doubt grow. Unfortunately knowledge of their bluesy Led Zeppelin cover ‘Down By The Seaside’ seems to have been lost on the audience, perhaps as it has slower tempoed intro to their own material.

As Swim Deep are about to end the evening with ‘King City’, Williams addresses the crowd saying ‘it could have been sh1t but you made it great.’ As the pounding drum beat of the track takes hold, a member of the audience takes the step forward onto the stage to dance with the band and shake their tambourine. Her innocent movements herald an onslaught of dancers and stage invaders and in seconds there are more audience members than band members onstage. This unfortunately but understandably cut ‘King City’ short as microphone stands were toppled and from clicks on the PA, it sounded like cables had been pulled.

Enter security and band crew to clear the stage. Williams takes to the mic and seems quite baffled by what just happened but declares that they’ve ‘started it so I guess we’ll finish it’. The band get a second attempt and get through ‘King City’ in full this time before the band thank the audience and leave the stage. As they do so, the band are engulfed by the female portion of the audience.

A good night’s entertainment and with this being Swim Deep’s first headline tour, a really jump off point. A Friday night, good music and stage invasions, rock n’roll eh? What more could you want.

March 6, 2013
Bastille: Bad Blood – Album Review

Over the course of the past year, London band, Bastille have released four singles and two mixtapes, in a calculated lead up to the release of their debut album, ‘Bad Blood’. Originally a solo project of front man by Dan Smith, the band play what can only be described as ‘pure 21st century pop’. Where many artists who use electronica and sample elements rely on them too much, Smith & Co. have subtly brought their songwriting and the strength of his vocals to the fore to produce radio friendly tracks which are a million miles away from the overproduced manufactured pap of today.

Kicking off the album is the current single ‘Pompeii’, layers of vocals open the track before stripping back to Smith’s voice before a sonic explosion of vocals, instrumentation and percussion lines run around your head like a prized fighter. Alongside this title, it seems the writer maybe influenced by history and myth with names like ‘Daniel In The Den’ and ‘Icarus’ and the latter having an Renaissance style a capella intro. Wherever it is Smith gets his inspiration from works and throughout he shows he has cleverly developed an accessible, storytelling writing style.

Bastille have carved out their own sound, fueled by the vocals and harmony lines but the instrumentation hasn’t been neglected. Throughout the album clever arrangements bring different instruments to the fore, strings on ‘Things we lost in the Fire’ and old analogue synth sound on ‘The Weight of Living’. The wall of sound created gives your ears a little party in your headphones.

With the singles, ‘Pompeii’, ‘Flaws’ , ‘Overjoyed’ and the title track ‘Bad Blood’, the album instantly packs punch and the majority is seriously danceable. ‘Oblivion’ though, gives a chance to show a more tender side to Bastille and without overpowering reaches the high notes with believable vulnerability. This is a definite contender for a future single. Indeed, the same could be said for ‘Icarus’ or ‘Laura Palmer’, a positively dramatic song which rises and falls before coming to an orchestrated conclusion.

Bastille have achieved quite a feat with this debut. They’ve produced songs with memorable hooks and refrains and incorporated classic production techniques to bring the out the best in each track. They’ve also shown us good songwriting shines though. Bastille have produced a classic pop album for a new generation.

This was also published on Goldenplec.com

March 1, 2013