State Magazine

Autechre – Oversteps

Darragh McCausland — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:46:36 +0000

Last year, Warp Records celebrated its 20th anniversary. One of the effects of this anniversary, apart from making many electronic music fans feel ancient, was a resurgent interest in the label’s back catalogue and, by extension, in the work of Autechre. Now reaching a milestone of their own with Oversteps, their tenth album no less, Autechre deserve such interest and then some. These guys are, after all, an act whose music has consistently been the most pure expression of Warp’s pioneering ethos throughout the years. And that is saying something when the old boys’ network consists of the likes of Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin.

Considering that it arrives at such a significant point in both the artists’ and the label’s history, it might not be a coincidence that Oversteps is an accessible entry point into a catalogue that, in the previous decade, took the faithful down some severely challenging paths (there is a turning point in Autechre’s career, somewhere around the release of Confield, when half their fanbase went screaming down to their nearest paracetamol stockists trailing headphones jacks, never to be seen again). Not only that, but on one level the album plays out like a synthesis of various periods of the duo’s career, such are its masterful shifts in style.

Opener ‘R Ess’ establishes the record’s somewhat reflective tone magnificently, fading so imperceptibly into existence from an implied deep-space distance that its first 30 seconds are near silent. It is a brilliant start to the album, and the sense of vastness sketched its beautiful receding trails of sound a timely reminder of Autechre’s quasi-miraculous capabilities as producers. From this staggeringly powerful opening movement, Oversteps arcs confidently through various familiar configurations of Autechre’s sound. In ‘Treale’, the rhythmically clear-cut (though still sliced to ribbons by other producers’ standards) mechanisms that carry the track judder and groove like Tri Repetetae’s epically deconstructed future hip-hop. Elsewhere, the troubled gamelan/harpsichord exuded by tracks like ‘See on See’ and ‘Known(1)’ echo the disquieting ambience of Quaristice and the stark, hissing progress of ‘Os Veix3’ is pure Version 3.0.

Although Oversteps throws many recognisable shapes across its course, it never feels like an exercise in nostalgia. The patterns may be familiar, but the overall mood they create is something a little unusual from Autechre. There is an underlying emotional tug that brings Aphex Twin’s Drukqs to mind. Here, as with that great album, the tag of ‘cold brilliance’ often attached to this sort of music is challenged by moving evidence of the humans at the controls.

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Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip – The Logic Of Chance

Louise McHenry — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 11:14:12 +0000

In 2007, Daniel Stephens and David Peter Meads (that’s Le Sac and Pip to you) first came to the attention of the public with ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill’, five minutes of alternative commandments to live by. Word spread through the medium of youtube, the video becoming that most important but slightly meaningless of words – an online ‘phenomenon’. Never destined to be anything more than a fringe pleasure due to their uncommercial collocation of informative spoken word and bleepy electro-hip-hop underlay, they released their debut Angles in 2008 to moderate interest.

After modest commercial success and a period of quiet, The Logic of Chance, is a somewhat surprising follow-up to the debut. But while the glitchy, leftfield antics of Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip might not be to everyone’s taste, there is definitely something worth investigating here. Spoken word has a tendency to be preachy and pretentious but Pip manages to keep his political leanings interesting and conversational. Inspiring is perhaps a step too far but it feels pleasantly educational without being forced.

A myriad of issues are covered here from Britain’s knife crime (‘Great Britain’) to youthful indiscretion (‘Get Better’) to domestic violence. Juxtaposed with the dreamy female vocals of the upside-down love story ‘Cauliflower’, the darkly ambient ‘Five Minutes’ presents a hard-hitting tale of emptiness and abuse, cliché-free. Call-to-arms, Stake a Claim is a power anthem for the disillusioned youth calling on people to get out there and make a stand. An inspiration to a protest march, a cry for dissolution of apathy, Pip outlines his manifesto: “I will not move, I will not change, I will not bend, I will not play their games.” In sharp contract, ‘The Beat’, is nothing but clubby, mindless fun. Dan Le Sac breaks away from his usual clipped beats and enjoys upbeat, party-house, reminiscent of French electro-house maestro Mr Oizo.

It’s been said that there is nothing on this album that compares to the initial hit of ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill’ – and it’s true. But this is a different piece of work. Concise – coming in at 45 minutes – with 11 solid tracks, The Logic of Chance, proves Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip are no novelty act. Initially it hits with minor appeal but repeated listens show just how good this intelligent, beat-heavy, hip-hop/poetry combo is.

State’s Dance & Electronic Roundup

Christian Lorenz — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:27:10 +0000

The girl from Rio goes ‘bah bah bah bah, bah bah bah bah baah baah baah baaaaah’ before the distorted Acid bass kicks in leaving no doubt that ‘Naked Mariokart’ by RSD is a certified rave monster. It’s only a little scat vocal sample with a whiff of Brazilian Bossa Nova about it, but boy, does it give this tune anthem potential. RSD is an alias for Bristol scene veteran Rob Smith who serves up two uncluttered mid-tempo mixes for the Black Box label. Part 2 is a bit more mellow with a reggaefied Bristol feel while Part 1 boasts that headbanger bassline that packs more energy into the ‘Kart’ than the relaxed tempo would suggest.

More carnage comes courtesy of fellow Bristolian Baobinga and his party banger ‘Ride It’ on Build Records. Get in the saddle, drop the needle straight after the first break and feel the rush of the high octane percussion knock the breath out of you. ‘Ride It’ is prime UK Funky with a nod to Brazilian Batucada and the percussion-crazy Go Go sound of US band Trouble Funk back in the ‘80s. The remix by Untold on the flip increases the warp factor by 11 which makes for a more insane, brain melting experience, but the original still does it better from the waist down.

It’s time to nice up the dance with ‘E10 Riddim’ by Rossi B and Luca on the Planet Mu label. This is one hell of a solid Funky rhythm that, as the London postcode in the name suggests, could very well have been tested at some shady East End afterhours parties before it got committed to vinyl. ‘E10 Riddim’ comes in both instrumental and vocal mixes. Check out the vocal version ‘Police Ar Come Run’ featuring Killa P, who adds that old skool rave feel, beaming you right back to the days of Shut Up And Dance and The Ragga Twins. ‘E10 Riddim’ is due out on 5th April.

If you really want to push it to fever pitch, try the aptly named ’Hyped Up EP’ by Monkey Steak on Steakhouse Records. The title track sees MC Zulu whipping up the crowd in hyped up Soca fashion. If you are not in the mood for Zulu’s chirpy party banter, try the instrumental mix, which is called ‘Bombeiros! ‘. ‘Haarlem Drift’ on the flip combines the booming bass drum and rolling snares of UK Funky with a hint of deep, Detroit style chords and ‘Tigris Rhythm’ combines Funky with Bollywood. A stonkingly good debut by Monkey Steak, aka Atki2 and Hanuman, who recently scored with ‘Tigerflower’ and ‘Bola’ respectively.

All Martyn fans out there should look out for two recent EPs with remixes. The first EP features a very Funky take on ‘Hear Me’, courtesy of Zomby. The second EP sees Berghain DJ Ben Klock turning ‘Is This Insanity?’ into a moody, atmospheric piece of strange beauty which slowly emerges into the light riding one of Ben’s trademark clockwork Techno rhythms.

by Christian Lorenz
www.tuneraker.com

Muse SXSW show to be streamed online

Patrick Conboy — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:00:16 +0000

Muse will play the most intimate performance of their curent tour tonight when they appear at Stubb’s of Austin, Texas as part of the South by Southwest festival. The opening act on the night will be Metric.

For anyone who didn’t make the journey this year, the good news is that the show will be streamed on the band’s MySpace page from Sunday, March 21st.

State @ SXSW 2010 – Day 1

Niall Byrne — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:31:56 +0000

The gauntlet has been thrown down. South by South West is upon us once again. Over a year, the impact of this massive music festival in Austin, Texas can diminish since your last visit, but oh lordy, make no mistake, Austin is the music town. Amongst 2,000 bands, 12,000 official attendees and the many more who lined the streets of Austin yesterday for Paddy’s Day, it was the kickoff for 96 hours of non-stop gig madness. Here’s a taster of highlights for day one:

The Morning Benders
The swooning San Franciscan classical indie-popsters thrilled a capacity crowd at Emo’s (really a big low-ceiling shed) at BrooklynVegan’s day party. Think Grizzly Bear jamming with Vampire Weekend. ‘Excuses’ was phenomenal and an extended a cappella middle lifted the song above all else in their set.

Frightened Rabbit
After falling in love with their new album The Winter Of Mixed Drinks album, I was really keen to see the Scots live. Unfortunately, due to gear problems at the Paste Magazine show, the big-sounding dynamics of the new album was forfeited for a quieter, more-acoustic show. It didn’t thump as much as it should have but the emotion was still there, with ‘Living in Colour’ and ‘Swim Until You Can’t See Land’.

Nice Nice
The first band up at the Warp showcase are about to deliver the superb Extra Wow album. Their set tonight bore no resemblance to the dizzying rhythms of that album and instead focused on a more freeform jam show where electronic drums, samplers and an echoplex gave them a layered and fractured pulse.

Pivot
With a new album on the way in June, this blog’s favourite Australians were in new-song mode and you’ll hear no complaints from me about that. The new songs are more dense, more intricate, more layered, darker, maybe even more experimental. Oh, yeh and Pivot now have vocals on every track and it sounds wonderful.

Villagers
Conor O’ Brien has the ability to make you want to write poetry. Such is his attention to songcraft and words that even hollering six-foot Texans can’t help but give the “this guy is incredible” speech to their mates. Stunningly good.

And So I Watch You From Afar
Amazingly good as always. Headbanging up front at the Irish showcase thanks to these guys. They put their everything into all their performances and did enough to grab the attention of 50 passers-by who watched them through the windows in awe on 6th Street. Even against all these bands playing at once, ASIWYFA dominated. Their basslines could be heard a block away – no joke.

Flying Lotus
Without a doubt, hands down, one of the best electronic music sets I’ve ever seen. Steven Ellison is rivalled only by fellow Brainfeeder and LA crew – Daedelus and Nosaj Thing in the performance stakes. Last night’s show was his first with live visuals and the flash-stutter effect of dots, limbs and obscure shapes was a winner.

Fly Lo’s music was already “next-level”, I think he may have just gone “next next-level” with the new material from Cosmogramma. Effortlessly mixing his unique and singular brand of whomping bass, intricate percussive rhythms and backsliding beats. What’s most impressive about him is his ability to turn the party out while still playing some of the most out-there music you’re ever likely to hear. Ellison himself has a jovial fellah, all smiles and laughter through – throwing shadow shapes, breaking poses and working between his AKAI and the mixer. His positivity was infectious, just like Daedelus. He aired plenty of his own productions taking in hip-hop, jungle, drum and bass, dubstep as well as re-interpreting tunes by Radiohead (Idioteque), Burial, J Dilla and Lil Wayne. He even managed to turn one of AFX’s Drukqs piano pieces into his own unique style. Absolutely breath-taking next next level stuff indeed.

More videos of Pivot and Villagers to follow.

Alex Chilton (1950-2010)

Niall Crumlish — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:26:34 +0000

Alex Chilton, who led Big Star in making three of the most unbelievably beautiful albums in rock’n’roll history, died on March 17th in New Orleans. He died of a heart attack, at 59.

It is hard to overstate his stature, or that of the band he founded in Memphis in 1971 with Andy Hummel, Jody Stephens and the late Chris (‘I Am The Cosmos’) Bell. They are certainly contenders for the title of the best band ever to make popular music.

I don’t have a licence to drive in my car / But I don’t really need one, ‘cos I’m a big star
‒ ‘O My Soul’, from Radio City, 1974

They were, of course, never big stars. The line in ‘O My Soul’ was written after the first album had flopped on a grand scale; Chilton already smelled commercial doom. (He was intermittently an ironist, and intermittently a Romantic of Byronic proportions.) Big Star recorded three proper albums, none of which sold more than a few thousand during the lifetime of the band. (They reformed in 1993 and released a fourth album, In Space, that doesn’t really count for all kinds of reasons.) They were the archetypal posthumously seminal band, becoming legends only long after they disbanded in despair in 1974.

Peter Buck said that Big Star “served as a Rosetta stone for a whole generation of musicians”. The Replacements paid homage with an eponymous song: “And children by the millions sing for Alex Chilton when he comes ’round / They sing “I’m in love, what’s that song? / I’m in love with that song.” Teenage Fanclub’s Bandwagonesque was famously all but a retread of Radio City, and it was the imprimatur of TFC that prompted my generation to rediscover them. (We read the reviews, we pretended we knew Radio City, we all sneaked off to buy it, and we all went ‘Wow’.) And it’s been said that if everyone who bought The Velvet Underground and Nico went on to start a band, then everyone who bought Big Star albums went on to be a rock journalist. Certainly, stiff whiskies will be swigged by Dublin hacks tonight.

So we’ve established that Big Star were influential. Every floppy-haired indie combo with a tune in its head and a pair of power chords to rub together has owed something to #1 Record or Radio City. ‘September Gurls’, ‘In The Street’ and ‘Back of a Car’ are the benchmark for punchy, soulful, taut power-pop. There is no fat and not a note wrong with them.

But I am not sitting here today with a hole in my stomach because a the author of some seminal academic works of popular culture is no longer with us. I and my hack friends are staring wearily into our single malts because Alex Chilton wrote songs that ignited every emotion and embroidered themselves into our lives.
We will only know just how ingrained in us these songs are in the coming days, now that we are conscious of our bond with them; so every time we unthinkingly hum a Chilton line or remember a perfect moment soundtracked by a song, as we do daily, we will get a little jolt.

I never hear the glistening opening chords of ‘Watch The Sunrise’ without thinking back to a night necking beers with my friends Nick and Lorraine in 1998 in Elliott Smith’s local in Brooklyn; we were there because #1 Record was on the jukebox. ‘Daisy Glaze’ reminds me of thundery afternoons in Malawi with no electricity, trying to work out the chords on an acoustic guitar, not very successfully I must admit. And the first gig I went to with my wife: Big Star in the Red Box in August 2001. I should probably mention that one.

For me, it was always the third album; the album that never really had a name, that didn’t come out till the band was long gone, Third or Femme Fatale, which most people ended up calling Sister Lovers. That record never, ever gets old. There are oceans in it. The songs are finely constructed to make you think that they are falling apart. I don’t know if the rumours about Chilton at the time are true; if he was drinking or on heroin or shooting horse tranquillizers into his eyeball. Sometimes, it sounds like all three at once.

I just know that the songs on Sister Lovers fall apart and come back together and all but disintegrate but don’t. You get vertigo from songs like ‘Holocaust’ and ‘Nightime’ and ‘Kanga Roo’, like you are with Chilton teetering on the edge of the world. And Chilton conducted it like a maestro. As Chris Roberts wrote about the Dexys’ ‘This is What She’s Like’, Sister Lovers is the kind of music that you make when you have done perfect pop as well as it can be done and you are moving on to a purer form of expression. It’s Picasso pop.

Sister Lovers is really tough in parts. It’s harrowing, and you know you are in trouble if you’re relating too closely to about half of the songs (‘Big Black Car’ – ‘Sunny day, highway / If it rains it’s all the same / I can’t feel a thing / I can’t feel a thing… Nothing can hurt me / Nothing can touch me / Why should I care?”).

But what rarely gets mentioned in discussions of Sister Lovers is that Chilton saved for this album his most simple and pure expressions of uncomplicated love; the kind of emotions we live to feel. ‘Blue Moon’ is the one that is on repeat play in my mind. “Morning comes and sleeping’s done / Birds sing outside / If demons come while you’re under / I’ll be a blue moon in the sky / Let me be your one light / And if you’d like a true heart / Take the time to show you’re mine / And I’ll be a blue moon in the dark”.

Songs like ‘Blue Moon’, ‘I’m in Love With a Girl’, ‘The Ballad of El Goodo’, ‘For You’ and ‘Take Care’ remind us how to live, which is as good a reason as any why Big Star are so important to us and why we are so very, very sad today. Alex Chilton is dead and that is a damn hard four words to write, but these songs are here forever.

Big Star – Thank You Friends from Derek Jenkins on Vimeo.

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Ellie Goulding – The Academy, Dublin

James Hendicott — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:04:35 +0000

She might be a mere 23 years old and technically still a mid-degree gap year student (can anyone really see her going back?), but Ellie Goulding is already a controversial topic at State HQ. The traditional “review up for grabs” email a week before tonight’s show was greeted with comments that ranged from “I don’t hate her, she just bores the bejaysus out of me” to “she’s good live, it’s not going to change the world but it’s sweet stuff”. After just two singles, that’s some array of feedback. As possibly the only remaining State member of staff yet to have formed an opinion on Ellie, I powered up YouTube and volunteered my services. After all, when you’re two singles down and already being hailed as the founder of a new genre (“posh pop”, apparently, though we’d still argue it’s just a very catchy, hook-ridden form of electro-pop), you’ve got to be worth a look, right?

Having been competently supported by Kildare’s Planet Parade – a band who pack far more of a punch live than on their debut album – Ellie takes to the stage with a smile of near disbelief, the chants of “Ellie, Ellie” already echoing around the Academy. Judging by the party atmosphere, much of tonight’s crowd has already been won over. So much so, in fact, that at times they becomes a bit of an annoyance. State takes no issue with enthusiasm but a few too many seem to be here to scream over the music rather than actually listen to it.

Still, in between the aural blasts there’s clearly something a little special going on here. While the singer’s weaker tracks are still come across as a bit of a dirge, Ellie’s stage show is never boring and packs enough variety and compelling pace changes to make for a lively night. You can almost sense when Goulding really believes in her own material: the drumsticks come out, the stage-strutting starts, or she eyes the stage side wings and croons, eyes locked shut, moves that invariably coincide with the set highlights. Towards the end of the evening, for example, the sense of climax really builds, especially when set highlight – the brilliantly delicate, drum-driven album track ‘Salt Skin’ – is immediately followed by early single ‘Under The Sheets’. In the latter, Goulding rants “We’re under the sheet, you’re killing me, like all the boys before, like all the boys, boys, boys, boys”, clutching at her heart and belting out the words with vocals that – unusually – seem stronger live than they do on record.

Sure, it’s a touch abrasive, but it’s also fist-pumpingly lively and infectious as hell, and the party that’s going on stage-front blends perfectly with Goulding’s enthusiastic drumming and confident stage presence. Fresh from supporting Passion Pit, she’s already developing the vibe of a seasoned pop star, pushing through an energetic and entertaining live performance, one that – fan of the album ‘Lights’ or not – is going a long way towards justifying the vocal support and mass marketing campaign.

Inevitable closer Starry Eyed – introduced by Goulding with a flashing gesture in front of her face – is an undeniably engaging moment, packing a punch that the radio track lacks. It has The Academy enraptured and sends the assembled throngs into the Sunday evening air with massive smiles on their faces. There’s no doubt Ellie Goulding is a competent live performer, though one whose still a track or two short of truly brilliant. If the final four or five tracks are anything to go by, though, that’s only a matter of time.

Photos: Damien McGlynn

The Waterboys Present: An Appointment with Mr Yeats -The Abbey Theatre, Dublin

James Masterson — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:05:16 +0000

Mike Scott, Steven Wickham and an international mix of talented musicians planted their roots firmly in the historic Abbey Theatre. The setting is apt as a conscious homage to the master poet William Butler Yeats. A selection from at least twenty five of Yeats’ poems and plays, spanning both famous and lesser known works, were put to music. There was a danger that such an evening could, in wicked irony, create a terrible beauty but fortunately that did not happen. Scott blended a pop, rock and folk sound to create a melee of noise that did the great man’s words justice.

The entrance was surreal – an almost overly extended delay of minutes in darkness and near silence, except for the atmospheric sound of crashing waves. Scott, the main focal point of tonight (it is after all Mike Scott’s Waterboys now) was clearly nervous on this the premier of five nights for this exclusive presentation. Apart from a few spinal tap moments he and the band succeeded in combining ‘high art’ with music. However, when Blaise Margail on trombone and Wickham on fiddle came out with masks from the Abbey costume cupboard the crowds’ nerves were set on edge – but they carried out their ritual dance and duelling instruments with flair. The staccato interpretation of ‘News for the Delphic Oracle’ sounded like something out of ‘Peter and the Wolf’ but again worked. Whilst ‘The Song of the Wandered Aengus’ a poem which was inspired by a Greek folk song, it sounded more like a throwback to an 80’s pop ballad – with slightly off kilter timing to make the lyrics fit the music.

Some of the night’s songs were a mix of plays – Kathleen Ni Houlihan blended with The Blood Bond – which hammered home tonight’s main timeless theme of Yeats work. The song this produced, ‘Let the Earth Bare Witness’, was one of only two songs on the night supported by background video footage: footage of Iranians wearing the ‘Sea of Green’ in protest last year which proved more powerful than any folk singers pre song tirade. ‘The Lake Isle Of Innisfree’ was given the less than predictable 12 bar blues interpretation, which got a laugh of recognition and the loudest clap thus far. Though two standing ovations and encores followed, climaxed of course with ‘The Whole Of The Moon’, dedicated to the man of the evening.

Due to demand, dates have now been added at the end of the year to Grand Canal Theatre in November. My own anxiety would be that this intimate performance would not transmit as well on a larger scale. If the set is as well orchestrated as last night, then they will overcome any problems.

Overall a great set, a resounding success and a brave move that deserves full praise.

Cork X South West festival lineup announced

Owen Pallett – Interview

Shane Culloty — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 09:15:15 +0000

Having already conquered hearts and minds across Ireland with his previous visits, Owen Pallett returns to Dublin this week to remind us how phenomenal he is. His new album, Heartland, is a spectacular achievement, the finest thing he’s done yet. Live, he’s a revelation, forcing you to forget whatever you thought you knew about solo performances, deftly using his many instruments and effects pedals to create a sound worthy of his talent. He’s come a long way, no longer the irreverent young Canadian famed for naming himself after a video game, or for playing with Arcade Fire – these days, he’s a vaunted composer and arranger, much in demand. Thankfully, he made time for an exchange with State ahead of his sold-out date tonight.

This is your first release and tour under your own name. Does that make it a bit more personal?
No, the change from Final Fantasy to Owen Pallett doesn’t seem personal, just false. I still think of music making as a “thing” as opposed to an “arm” or a “leg”. But it was easier than having a truckload of people having to swallow a new band name like “Astonishing Superqueers” or “The Plastronauts”.

Last time I saw you, you were astonishing hushed crowds in Union Chapel [in London]. I imagine a sold-out night at Whelan’s will be a big change from that. Do you approach these kinds of shows differently?
Change up the set list, sure. I love a church gig but there’s nothing like playing to a room full of Irish people with pints in their hands.

Do you ever see there being a day when you’ll bring a band on stage to play your songs?
It gets pretty lonely onstage by myself but I hate to be the person to be all: “No blue notes!” “No syncopation!” “No jamming!” “No cymbals!!” So the idea behind a full band is rosy, but probably not going to happen. I’m just not all that good at asserting myself in a humanistic way.

Some people have been quite devoted in piecing together the plotline of the record – did this surprise you?
No. I recognize that my artistic voice is somewhat idiosyncratic. In the past I’ve felt that my shows and my albums have leaned more toward to conceptual than the concrete. i.e. the show doesn’t sound as good as a Steely Dan show, but look! it’s live looping! Or: the album isn’t as head-turning as a Lil Wayne record, but look! it’s all string quartet. Not to disparage my earlier shows or albums. But with Heartland I was hoping to create a record that could be appreciated superficially—like, in a car, on the radio—and also could be taken apart and dissected. Something that went both ways. The narrative of the album is important, sure, important to me, but it’s not meant to be the spine of the record, just something that’s there and can be investigated.

At what point did you decide that you wanted to make a fully orchestral record, that Heartland would be on a larger scale than your previous work?
Pretty early on. Like, 2006. Seeing as I was working at realizing other people’s orchestral visions, but didn’t have an orchestral record of my own, it was pretty high on my list of necessaries. It took me much longer to figure out the way I was going to approach the orchestral writing. I flirted with a dozen different ideas before settling on the “endless metronomy” that I settled on.

How have those songs changed over time?
Everything’s always changing. I’m finding new ways of approaching even my oldest songs on a weekly basis.

You’re scoring a movie (the forthcoming Rabbit Hole) at the moment – how’s that going?
I got fired. There was schedule conflict. That is, I had told the producers I had to sign off around the time my record came out, but they were taking their time getting the final cut together and we couldn’t co-ordinate. The guy who did that Tom Ford movie is doing it now, he’s awesome and the movie is awesome and I’m sure it’ll end up looking and sounding fantastic.

How do you like being on Domino so far?
Great, they are very down-to-earth. I expressed to them over dinner a concern that I had that my record might not, sales-wise, live up to their expectations. Whatever they might have been. They looked at me straight in the face and said, “We don’t care how well your record sells. We just want you to continue making the music you make.” So, basically, it was love.

You’ve mentioned wanting to dabble with traditional pop song structure on the album, as can be heard on ‘Lewis Takes Off His Shirt’ and ‘The Great Elsewhere’. Where did that desire come from?
I don’t know where I mentioned this but I don’t typically seek to make my music more deviant than it’ll already inherently be, with my violin and Harmonizers and so forth.

Is there any aspect of the album that stands out for you, something tricky you feel you nailed, or any part you that you’re especially proud of?
I’m proud of the whole thing, and I’m just happy I finished it. It was a larger project than I anticipated. It… it weirds me out, still, to think of the 30 additional minutes of music that was recorded that I simply couldn’t finish, just cause it was too much, too much. The tracklisting for the album was very different when I wrote it. I was hoping to get a bunch of b-sides and EPs done too. But the reality of getting together an orchestral project of this magnitude on my own–even with the expert help of Mio and Rusty–was more than I could handle.

Lastly, what’s your favourite music of the year so far?
I’ve been listening to a bunch of records this year, taking some time off writing. My favourite song of the year is [Joanna Newsom's] ‘Good Intentions Paving Company’. I like listening to that record at 45 rpm, it’s mind-blowing. Album-wise, I’m really into the new Hot Chip… it’s the best feeling in the world when a band that you like becomes a band that you love. Also, Yellow Swans, ‘Chocolate Makes You Happy’, and Omarion. I’m surprising myself at how much I’m enjoying Justin Bieber. I haven’t heard a pop star sing with such a hard Canadian accent since Alanis. Looking forward to that album. I’ve been working with my computer, too, programming in Plogue Bidule and Max/MSP.

Owen Pallett plays Whelans Thursday night and Friday night – tickets are still available for the latter. Heartland is out now.

Fionn Regan – Vicar Street, Dublin

James Hendicott — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 10:00:00 +0000

When State met Fionn Regan a few weeks ago, we found him to be utterly and inarguably charming. Disarmingly so, in fact, though evidently not quite to the extent that he can sell out a sizable Dublin venue on the same day as a big Six Nations rugby match. Still, the two-thirds-full hall that greets openers ‘Danny and the Champions of the World’ is a hushed place, and Danny Wilson’s crew does little to wake them up. The Londoners have a hint of the upbeat, heart-strumming singer songwriter to them, despite having a sizable band on stage, and come across as earnest, catchy and upbeat, yet not particularly unique. It’s the kind of pop-tinged indie that you would see week in week out, but can still happily put down a pint or two in front of.

Especially, that is, when we’re waiting for Fionn Regan, who has no such originality issues. Over the past few years, Fionn’s become a well-deserved staple of the Irish music scene, and a man crammed with off-the-wall ideas who can be relied upon to produce. While his audience interaction is minimal – limited almost exclusively, in fact, to introducing the impressive musicians around him – his songs are playful and poetic, telling stories and taking the lyrically involved listener on a journey into the deep and colorful with every new chord. The story telling aspect of Regan’s performance is essential, and the crisp sound of this particular show – allowing the audience to pick out every word – is a key element. Fionn can happily flit from one track to the next much like an imaginative poet reading at a recital; one with a lively, geek-cool on-stage persona that’s almost as unique and enchanting as the bizarre metaphors he habitually reels out in interview.

While Fionn’s second album The Shadow of an Empire has failed to capture the sales figures – or perhaps even the public’s imagination – in the same way as his Mercury-nominated debut, as a live prospect it adds considerable weight. Faster tracks like ‘Protection Racket’ (missing the ‘reception bell’ live, but no worse for it) and the fantastically dark ‘Genocide Matinee’ are the on-stage highlights, pumping up the crowd in a way that his older and arguably subtler work struggles to match. As Fionn quick-fires his way through half a dozen tracks with barely a break, it’s hard to see how such an engaging character doesn’t win still more acclaim: he’s much like a Pete Doherty without the press-courting drug problem, and armed with an amply more engaging live show. Track after track of lyrics that could pass for competent short stories and a delivery that’s as oddball charismatic as they come are Regan’s key selling points: when he plays like he did tonight, song after gentle and engaging song, State could happily watch the Bray-native strum and shake his cymbals until the sun comes up.

Photo: Christine Redmond

Yeasayer – KB, Malmo & Vega, Copenhagen

Simon Roche — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:00:32 +0000

We took a little trip to keep up with Yeasayer’s tour as it hit Malmo and Copenhagen. A pleasant surprise was the support band, who happened to be one guy – and he was also manning the merch stand. Hush Hust – a tall and skinny, retiring, bearded type who, together with some backing tracks, treated us to songs of a most lurid and perverse nature – ‘Blood Sex’ and ‘Sex Party’ to name just two. Listening to his six songs was like spending a week watching some unusual homemade pornography, but immensely funny and entertaining. The main act did remark from the stage later on that the weirdest thing about the tour was sharing a bus with that guy.

Yeasayer came across a bit tired for a Thursday in Malmo, with an impressive yet small stage set-up which includes lighting plinths that support various keyboards and what looks like four huge lit-from-within teeth. They begin with a brooding version of ‘Children’, the opener from the new album, and it’s much more impressive live than on the album. There’s a big treat in ‘Wait For The Summer’ from their previous (and first) album and while some of the new songs are superb live ‘I Remember’, ‘Madder Red’ and the ‘80s disco-tastic ‘O.N.E.’ deserve special mention, they almost entirely eschew the first (and perhaps better) album. They managed to play the most amazing set with just this first album in Roskilde two years ago so the bizarre inclusion of just two of its songs (‘Sunrise’ came in the encore) beggared belief. We did, however, get ‘Tightrope’ from the Dark Was The Night compilation album, which was a real treat but after this the middle part of the set dipped badly. Weak new songs such as ‘Mondegreen’ and ‘Strange Reunion’ took up some good setlist space when a simple version of ‘2080’ would have brought the house down.

With the same set, the Copenhagen show on a quiet Monday night was a much more lively affair. A packed crowd and a now-visibly vibrant band happily intensified all the good bits. Hush Hush even ended up topless during his set. Great when they are good but a leaner, meaner set with a better mix from both albums could make a night with Yeasayer the party it deserves to be. While they are still leaving out songs like ‘2080’ some setlist editing is called for before people will lose themselves completely in the band’s company once more.

Photos by Jakob Bekker-Hansen

Win tickets to see The Jimmy Cake this weekend

Alan Reilly — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:32:34 +0000

The Jimmy Cake make a return to Whelan’s in Dublin this Saturday, March 20th, and we have 3 pairs of tickets to give away.

Simply email your name and full contact details to giveaway@state.ie by lunchtime on Friday 19th of March.

Best of luck.

Remember, you’re a Zomble.

The Body & Soul Solstice Gathering

Eleanor Fitzsimons — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:30:08 +0000

Oh, rejoice, ye who love to party for there’s a brand new festival in town. With the launch of their first stand alone festival, the team behind the wonderful Body & Soul area at Electric Picnic have taken a step closer to realising their dream of establishing a permanent festival space in Ireland. The Body and Soul Solstice Gathering is scheduled to take place over the weekend of June 19/ 20 amongst the labyrinthine stone-walled gardens and woodlands that grace the picturesque grounds of Ballinlough Castle in County Meath. Electric Picnic regulars will undoubtedly recognise the enchantment, atmosphere and meticulous attention to detail so characteristic of what has evolved at Stradbally.

For Avril Stanley, the driving force behind the dream, this new festival represents the realisation of a vision that dates back to a time long before her initial involvement with Electric Picnic. Thirteen years ago she organised a Samhain party for 300 people in Yosemite National Park, “As a culture we used to come together regularly to celebrate and I’ve always dreamed of connecting back to the Celtic calendar”, she says, “I want to achieve a re-enactment of a more poignant time when we were at one in the natural world, culturally and personally”.

The festival theme is Phoenix Rising. This takes into account the sense of collapse in Ireland and the prevailing uncertainty as to what comes next. The intention is to provide an opportunity for us to reflect on where we are and renew our flagging passion for life; to create a sense of community; and to recapturing our cultural identity, shared values and sense of fun. The team is not prescriptive about the content and character of their fledgling festival and the “Participate” section of the festival website (www.bodyandsoul.ie) invites members of the public to submit an idea or volunteer to help out. According to Avril this intentional blurring of the divide between audience and performer is aimed at people who have a lot of creative energy but no outlet to express it. She believes there is a great appetite for this, “We sit with that energy within us and never act on it. We are dealing with so much negativity right now and the feeling of helplessness that this engenders leads to revolution or apathy. We appear to have chosen the latter.” Avril is adamant that even tiny ripples can make a difference if we incorporate some positive energy into our everyday lives.

The practicalities dictate that this will be an intimate event. Just 1500 tickets are on sale to the general public through ticketmaster.ie and usual outlets. Once volunteers are included, the total number on site will be close to 1800. Avril sees her target audience as being discerning mid-twenties-plus, fun-loving people who love music and art but are also up to party and recapture the sense of freedom, playfulness and “irresponsibility” that they remember from their student days. Accompanied children are welcome and under-twelve’s attend free of charge. Revellers can take to their sleeping bags in either the general or quiet campsite; avail of yurt style boutique camping; or pull up in a camper van.

Musically the line-up is strong. In addition to featuring well established artists, a platform is provided for emerging artists. Events centre on a main stage and a party/electronic tent. Acts confirmed to date include US based dance-punk band, !!! (Chik, Chik, Chik); folktronica pioneer Kieran Hebden aka Four Tet; home-grown electronic hero Jape; founder of ambient legends The Orb, Dr. Alex Patterson; Crystal Fighters with their unique blend of traditional Basque folk music with churning basslines and catchy vocals; experimental folk band, Tunng; Rick Tomlinson’s Voice of the Seven Thunders; London based producer and solo artist, Gaudi; and Kormac’s Big Band, a 14-piece orchestra comprising of live turntables, samplers, drums, double bass, barbershop quartet, trumpet, clarinet, banjo and live visuals. More acts will be announced as the festival approaches.

A number of pop-up acts are also planned; a moonlit orchestra; a roaming samba band; impromptu theatre pieces. These will be programmed but won’t feel staged. There will also be a soul kids area organised by the team behind the popular Electric Picnic version; visual arts workshops; a healing area with hot tubs, Sufi dancing and yoga in the woodlands; late night cabarets; and a masquerade ball on Saturday night. In keeping with the traditional Celtic celebration of Solstice the weekend will draw to a close with a fire ceremony marking new beginnings and the continuous cycle of change. As Avril describes it, “the festival is about sustainability and environment but it’s also about having a party and blowing out the cobwebs and being who you want to be and rocking out and taking a chance.”

Promoting an embryonic festival in this current economic climate undoubtedly poses a challenge. Though excited to have a blank canvas to work on, Avril is quick to acknowledge that they can’t compete with the big promoters, “It’s not about headliners. We want to be unique, not boutique, and attract acts that fit the festival rather than the festival fitting the act.” The Electric Picnic connection is invaluable and Avril is certain that people who like the Body and Soul element will love the intimacy of this new festival. Inventiveness is born out of limitation and promotion will predominately be viral and word of mouth via facebook, twitter and www.bodyandsoul.ie. A carefully targeted poster campaign and competitively priced tickets – €99 for early bird, €109 for weekend camping and €55 for Sunday only – are also part of the mix.

Avril confirms that her team is still very much involved in Electric Picnic and will be doing something very different there this year, “We are constantly stretching the boundaries of what’s possible there”, she says. However, as Avril is keen to point out, “it’s one thing to be part of a sold-out festival and quite another going out alone. We feel courageous and audacious. We stand for this. We believe in this. We love this, and we think you will love it too.”

Ceol 2010 for Barnardos

Alan Reilly — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:42:42 +0000

Súil Siar is the latest compilation by a group of Irish acts, including Mundy, The Swell Season, The Coronas and Bell X1, and is produced by Seachtain na Gaeilge in aid of Barnardos.

The Irish language album “takes a look back at some of the hugely popular songs and artists that have translated their tunes for CEOL over the past five years, including: The Swell Season performing their Oscar winning song ‘Falling Slowly’; legendry Scottish singer-songwriter Eddi Reader with her hit ‘Perfect’ as well as The Coronas, Bell X1, Gemma Hayes, Luan Parle, Mundy, The Saw Doctors, Kíla and many more.”

All proceeds from the Seachtain Na Gaeilge’s Ceol 2010 album go to Barnardos to fund our Early Years programme, working on educational initiatives with some of the most vulnerable children in the country. Ceol ’10 available from all good music outlets and for download on iTunes, out now!

The White Stripes – Under Great Northern Lights

Sophie Elizabeth Smith — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:04:16 +0000

Emmett Malloy proffers a beguiling glimpse into the machinations of the ever-enigmatic, blues-inflected figureheads of the garage rock revival with Under Great White Northern Lights, a rock documentary that charts the White Stripes’ tour across Canada in the summer of 2007. Stopping in every territorial province and finishing with a tenth anniversary show in Nova Scotia, Jack and Meg White lay bare their persevering belief in the unfussy rusticity and spontaneous enchantment music can hold, presenting an assortment of unarranged concerts in improvised locations. Little to no prior notice is given for the gigs, staged in as unorthodox settings as bowling alleys, fishing boats, flour mills, public buses and, on one occasion, during a meeting of Inuit elders. What the duo evidently seek to demonstrate is the intimacy and magic that can be derived from a moment of music; a ‘one note show’ that lasts no more than a few seconds, guest vocals from a young boy on ‘The Wheels on the Bus’ during an impromptu set, a full-stage concert accompanied by bagpipes, fiddlers and tartan regalia.

The documentary is as heavily stylised as the band’s own image. Live performances and off-stage footage are presented as a striking series of shots, from the grainy black and white of film noir to highly saturated red film tints, to the Super 8 aesthetics of mumblecore. Yet such visually arresting and pointed composition is contrasted with the candid and uncontrived nature of both the interviews (conducted in a log cabin, Jack and Meg in the foreground, a suited interviewer lying hands clasped on a bed in the background) and the band’s live performances. Jack White’s stage presence is magnetic; his voice evokes bloodcurdling angst and anguish in every note as drenched in sweat and distortion he tears ferociously through songs. Jack acknowledges that because of their meticulously manufactured image, critics have dismissed their songs as being equally contrived and one-dimensional; he explains the dichotomy between the band’s premeditated aesthetic and their raw, instinctive musicality by quoting journalist Chuck Klosterman, who once wrote that the White Stripes were “simultaneously the most fake band in the world and the most real band in the world”.

Jack White is presented as unequivocally passionate; an artist constantly striving for perfection, never complacent. Small acts as self-flagellation- leaving his spare picks at the back of the stage rather than taping them to his microphone stand, using ancient guitars that, more often than not are out of tune, leaving just enough space between his microphone stand and piano that he has to run if he want to make a seamless segue- serve as self-imposed incentives to perform without compromise and press creativity. His refusal to use a setlist instils a sense of the innate authority of the songs and the endlessly exciting notion that every gig is a uniquely crafted special occasion, a musical adventure that could go anywhere.

Aside from the searing live performances, the most arresting element of Under Great White Northern Lights is the poignant portrayal of the relationship between Jack and his self-proclaimed “big sister” Meg. The latter, throughout the film, remains largely impenetrable, her input in interviews few and far between, her dialogue so soft and muted by shyness that it requires subtitles to be understood. Yet the couple’s onstage chemistry is potent, each one harnessing the other’s ability, intuitively interpreting each action. During the film, the most can be taken from the touching, unspoken actions shared between the ex-husband and wife. At the end of every show Jack takes Meg’s hand to gently guide her to the front of the stage and take her bow, they walk arm in arm along the beach, they sit in companionable and comfortable silence. One of the most touching moments comes at the very end of the film when, seated side by side at a piano, Jack delivers a heartfelt rendition of “Little Ghost” as Meg rests her head on his shoulder, large tears rolling down her cheeks. It is an instance that captures the essence of the entire documentary; unexplained but illuminating, Under Great White Northern Lights provides a beautifully shot, enigmatic insight into an equally elusive band.

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