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  • Viva Brother: Famous First Words Review

    vivabrother-famousfirstwordsOver the past few months, boasty comments, mini feuds with rival bands and change of moniker have all kept Viva Brother‘s profile up. The self styled ‘Gritpop’ band have made enough noise about themselves, so much so that anything less than perfection was going to give them trouble.

    The album opens with ‘New Year’s Day’ and it does have a memorable opening and chorus. It soon becomes clear that ‘Viva Brother’ are a band you’re either going to love or hate.  Current single ‘Still Here’ follows and by the time we get to ‘David’, it seems with free downloads and previous releases, we’ve probably already heard the best tracks on the album.

    ‘Viva Brother’ are obviously a lads band, rooted in the Oasis vs Blur britpop era but their gritted up Oasis stylings and Lee Newell’s shouty vocals get a little tiresome, which is a pity since the band managed to deliver live. What’s missing here is the energy the band ooze on stage.

    Half way through the album, we get the pick me up of ‘Darling Buds Of May,’ which stands head and shoulders above the tracks either side of it. Unfortunately, the non singles become predictable, with guitar hooks and lyrics becoming formulaic. Pity, I was hoping for this to be good so I could see Newell stick up his two fingers at everyone. (more…)

  • Nessycast #6: Sean Hillen Interview

    Nessycast #6: Sean Hillen Interview

    Sean Hillen is a well known name on the Irish art scene. As an artist who photomontages and collages, his work brings together juxapositioned images and his projects the ‘Troubles’ and ‘Irelantis’ are probably his best known.

    Sean is currently holding a photography exhibition ‘Ghost Shops’ on the top floor of ‘Base Camp’ in Middle Abbey Street, Dublin, as part of the PhotoIreland Festival.

    I visited Sean and he gave me a grand tour of his exhibition.

  • The Franchise: A Season With The San Francisco Giants Episode One

    thefranchiseI love baseball! I got hooked when I spent a summer as an insomniac unable to sleep til 7am every morning. As San Francisco is such a fantastic place (yes I want to live there), I adopted the Giants. First thing I do every morning, if I haven’t seen or heard the previous night’s game, is check the result. Last night The Giants Beat LA 5-0. One of the horrible things about being over 5000 miles or 8170 kilometres from where your favourite sports team are is missing stuff like this on television. Thank goodness for the internet and for BWeezy’s beard!

  • Ben Glover: Trick of The Light Review

    BenGLover - Trick of the lightBen Glover is an interesting chappy, from Co. Antrim he headed off to Nashville two years ago. That had followed his release with ‘The Week The Clocks Changed’ which featured appearances by Jim Lauderdale and the legend that is, Vince Gill.

    ‘Trick of the Light’is the first single from his new album ‘Before The Birds’. The track has a slow upbuild led by Glover’s vocals accompanied by subtle guitars. Glover’s vocals remain the centre focus of the track with instrumentation remain subtle. Something about it reminds me of the aforementioned Vince Gill’s ‘I Still believe in you’. ‘Trick of The Light’ has a laid back feel, not a lazy one but it gives the impression that this is easy for Glover and shows an seasoned professional.

    The title of Glover’s album is taken from track 2 on the disc, ‘I Am With You’ where Glover continues with his laid back vibe. It’s easy to see Ryan Adams comparisons. Featuring piano, the track is spacious and Glover stretches his vocals a little giving enough here to look forward to the album.