Found while perusing Thumped which also reminded me of Solen’s Wu-Tang / Autechre mashup mix.

Look at that press shot. How can Ponytail not be good?

Like a giddy Angelica Pickles fronting a frantic, spastic mess of an art-rock group, Ponytail’s sound is decidely naive and a little freeform. No bass player. Two guitarists play riffs which don’t seem to pay attention to each other yet work analogously together. People have compared them to Deerhoof but that’s a little glib in my estimation.

OK, here’s the thing though. Vocalist Molly doesn’t actually sing real words. Instead, she shouts, screams and yelps, coos, caws and hoots, but never sings about being dumped by her plaid-shirted boyfriend. It should be really annoying but it’s actually deadly. Check out their second full-length Ice Cream Spiritual on We are Free. The mighty Foggy Notions are bringing Ponytail over to Ireland from Baltimore on September 10th with support from R.S.A.G and The Vinny Club.

Ponytail - Beg Waves

Ponytail - Celebrate the Body Electric (It Came From An Angel)

Neon Neon. November 4th in Tripod. Support from Yo Majesty. Tickets €24.50 / €28 (inc. booking fee). On sale next Monday. I’ve been waiting for this.

Those in Dublin in heavy withdrawl from dancing like a mentaller to hard fast bass-heavy electronic music at Mantua could do worse this Friday by popping on down to *ALT for a night hosted by Statis Collective this Friday. The line-up takes in UK dubstep heads Gatekeeper and Elemental alongside Kachanski with an apocalyptic dubcore set and DJ sets from Patch and Richie !Kaboogie. Also featuring a specially-installed 10K rig and multi-screen visuals from CoolHandLoop and Razz. Oooh well sexy. And it’s only a tenner.

Here are a few sets to get ya in the mood: Gatekeeper | Elemental | Patch

Speaking of Mantua and sets, how about giving Sixfoot Apprentice’s banging live set a spin? He even wore a dress, bless him. Yes, that’s Christina Aguilera at the start, yes.

You may remember me enthusing about Afro-beat band Nomo way back in 2006 with their album New Tones. Here’s what I said around the time: “Michigan-based Nomo take their cue from the Congolese band, Konono N°1, respectively appropriating their percussive tribal sound to the Northern Hemisphere. Extending that ethos with breakneck brass, organ and guitar to produce a post-Afrobeat sound - the songs on instrumental New Tones are refreshlingly effervescent. Definitely a live act I’d like to see hit these shores sometime in 2007.”

While they have never made it to these shores just yet, they do have a new album in the aptly-titled Ghost Rock. It’s jazzy, ethereal, beat-heavy electronic space-jams have been washing over my ears the last few weeks and now it’s your turn. Seriously, Nomo look great live. Won’t someone bring them over?

Nomo - All the Stars

Nomo - Rings

Ghost Rock - eMusic | Amazon | All City

Thanks Mercury Music Prize! It’s all your fault! He must have thought he was going to win it or something. Now other anonymous music nerds can’t dream Burial is actually the The KLF AFX Kode 9 Jarvis Cocker The Purple People Eater etc etc ad infinitum. Here’s what William Bevan had to say about his identity in a myspace blog.

Hi, For a while there’s been some talk about who I am, but it’s not a big deal. I wanted to be unknown because I just want it to be all about the tunes. Over the last year the unknown thing has become an issue so im not into it any more. I’m a lowkey person and I just want to make some tunes, nothing else. my names Will Bevan, I’m from South London, I’m keeping my head down and just going to finish my next album, there’s going to be a 12″ maybe in the next few weeks too with 4 tunes. Hope u like it, i’ll try put a tune up later. Sorry for any rubbish tunes I made in the past, I’ll make up for it. A big big thank you to anyone who ever supported me, liked my tunes or sent me messages, it means the world to me. Big up everyone, take care, Will (Burial)

Can I go back to thinking Burial is average now? Neon Neon FTW! K Thanx bye..

SEBP Panda Graffiti by Askim.

• It’s official: Mantua 2008 > Mantua 2007. There may have been a few organisational problems again this year, namely the lack of a main stage until the magical “Stagecoach” float turned up in time for Múm but in every other aspect of the festival, it was a complete success. The people of Bellinagare I spoke to were very happy to host the festival and the local pub/shop owner was delighted with the mobile cinema, which nobody at the festival seemed to notice. Also, the line-up was delayed and chopped and changed all over the gaff. Plus! There was a special appearance on my face, of the rarest of summer novelties - festival sunburn. It kinda hurts and I’m dayglo red.
• Friday was looking like it was going to be a complete washout when we arrived. Putting up a tent in the rain is not recommended. Thankfully, Saturday and Sunday were largely rain-free days.
• Múm were due to play at half past midnight but the mobile truck which was brought in to replace the main stage was only just ready by then. Nearly two hours later and the Icelandic band finally played. They took ages to soundcheck but were in jovial mood and played with steam from the crowd swirling around them. Their set was rather pleasant but compared to everything else going on, it was a little bit tame. Patches of brilliant melody and song but I tottered off to bed towards the end.
• The Rootical reggae tent was omnipresent no matter where you were on site. The constant rumble of bass coming from its soundsystem was disorientating for many and the planned stoppage of all music on Saturday to allow mass in the nearby church to take place also had the added bonus of giving my ears a rest from reggae for a bit. I don’t hate reggae, I just don’t want to hear it for three days straight y’know?
• The Alphabet Set tent was the place to be for me. The best line-up and the best stage going with LED strip lights and all sorts of lighting at the back of the stage. It looked like a row of six Johnny 5 replicas. Various Production were superb as was Cotti.
• Tardis - the bar decked out like Newgrange also hosted a superb beatboxing showcase from White Noise and Murrough.
• There was a strange proliferation of Reggae everywhere on Saturday afternoon which was annoying. Saturday’s Highlights were Sarsparilla, SEBP, Clark and a smashing, smashing set from Ed Devane.
• Sunday was where everything came together. A varied line-up with some stellar performances. Fringe and Nouveaunoise kicked things off nicely. Plus, the Binocular Soccer was amazing!



• A decent spate of bands on the Dionysus stage included Adebisi Shank with stage invader (below), Terrordactyl and Bats. Missed RSAG, Ily a K and Jinx Lennon (who played a day earlier than scheduled).



• Went to the pub in Bellinagare in the afternoon for a pint of Guinness which was some nice relief before I caught some of BLK JKS’ set which wasn’t very exciting to be honest. The Infomatics were great though as was the total headfuck Egyptian Lover - electro, hip-hop and rude lyrics played by an overbearing man in a patterned shirt. Splendid.



• DJ Halfdutch was knocking them out in the Tardis bar before and after Daedelus. She’s seriously an underrated DJ. I’m pretty sure she dropped a messed up Sugababes sample during the set at one point.
• Daedelus was totally amazing. He was dressed in a Victorian-style jacket and was playing with his customised Monome box. His movements were hypnotic. Seriously, I’ve never seen anyone press buttons with such stylistic aplomb. The set consisted of heavy electronic beats and with snippets of songs from Love to Make Music To fleeting in and out. There was also a bit of Nirvana’s ‘Drain You’ and Portishead’s ‘Only You’ in there too.
• When I got home last night, I went straight to bed for 12 hours but I’m still wrecked. Great festival though. To everyone I met there - thanks for saying hello. There was a general great vibe there even if the feral hippy children were running around the place all day. I may revisit this post later when I can think (and write) straight.

Don’t end up like this though..

This weekend I will be in a field in Ballinagare, Roscommon along with Daedelus, Múm, BLK JKS, Clark, Gravenhurst, Various Productions, Ital Tek, SEBP, Infomatics, Adebisi Shank, Bats, Terrordactyl, Sarsparilla, Ed Devane, A-Force, The Things, Rarely Seen Above Ground, Choice Cuts DJs, !Kaboogie, DJ Halfdutch and loads, loads more.

There’s the obligatory Main Stage, Electronic Set stage, a Reggae tent, a Punk/Ska tent, a Jungle/Dubstep tent and a bar called Tardis. Tickets €100 / €120 on the gate (3 day ticket including camping). Full line-up info and website.

Last year seems so far away. Check out Vince McMahon from last year.

‘The Magical Amount’

The website has also commissioned a mixtape with remixes from Diplo, Z-Trip, Mixmaster Mike, DJ Spooky, Pete Rock and more. Basically, each remix takes its samples from the above ads (which is why for the last week I had no clue what messed up cartoon about smoking they came from). It’s an interesting concept, deserving of a quick poke around the site and a listen to the songs which can be downloaded in a ZIP file.

Tough Love (Mixmaster Mike’s Ashtray Edit)

Typo (Diplo Hip-Hop Remix)

In other mixtape news: Try out Pascal’s Country Sounds “Party Hardy” Mixtape” - Go Go Ninja Dinosaur!

I am looking forward to the likes of: Armoured Bear, Bats, The Brothers Movement, Carly Sings, Class Of 1984, The Dagger Lees, Dublin Duck Dispensary (because of the name), Fighting With Wire, Fred, The Holy Roman Army, Hooray for Humans, Kill Krinkle Club, Le Galaxie, Lines Drawing Circles, One Day International, Robotnik, So Cow, Sounds of System Breakdown, The Vinny Club at first glance. Unfortunately, the Saturday clashes with the Kraftwerk gig…

I’ve been keeping loads of these tunes back from regular posts to put in this podcast. Loads of new material from Beck, Madvillain, Field Music, Grizzly Bear, Jahgan Blakkamoore, Minotaur Shock and Mogwai. Again, Santogold pops up, twice on this podcast. She can’t stay away. Enjoy 56 minutes of nialler9 approved and Aoife Mc-voiced bliss. Oh, and join the near 300 podcast if you haven’t already!

nialler9 Podcast #17 - July 2008 (MP3)

Podcast #17 -Tracklisting

1. N*E*R*D, Julian Casablancas, Santogold - My Drive Thru [Free Download]
2. Rarely Seen Above Ground - Moon Movin The Ocean [Contact him]
3. Beck -Walls [Modern Guilt]
4. Women - Black Rice [Women - Album removed from non-US/CA countries???]
5. Magnetic Fields - California Girls [Distortion]
6. Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks [MP3 rip from the Letterman performance]
7. Taken By Trees - Hours Pass Like Centuries [Open Field]
8. Santogold / Diplo with Radioclit - Get it Up (featuring MIA and Gorilla Zoe) [Top Ranking]
9. Jahdan Blakkamoore - Buss it Pon Dem [We Are Raiders EP]
10. Madvillain - Can’t Reform’ Em [Madvillainy 2: The Madlib remix album]
11. Benga & Coki - Night (Rubidan The Heatwave It’s On Tonight Vocal Mix) [Free download @ Curbcrawlers]
12. Minotaur Shock - This Plane is Going to Fall [Amateur Dramatics]
13. Field Music - Worst Love [Forthcoming second album]
14. Mogwai - The Sun Smells Too Loud [The Hawk is Howling - out Sept 22nd]

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I was aware that two special shows were to take place in Whelans and were to feature Daniel Johnston, Mark Linous of Sparklehorse, Scout Niblett, James McNew of Yo La Tengo, Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub and Jad Fair and Bob Sluggett of Half Japanese. When Daniel played Vicar Street last year, I was wary of going. I had just seen The Devil and Daniel Johnston months previous so although I was fascinated by his story, his unique and sometimes painfully simple songs but I decided I wouldn’t go. Was I going to gawk at some fucked-up guy from that movie or did I genuinely think he was some kind of god? Neither. Afterwards, I remember hearing reports that people were laughing at him so I was glad I didn’t experience it.

When tickets returned on sale two weeks ago without thinking about it, I snapped two up, mostly out of latent curiosity. The initimate setting and the supporting group of indier-than-thou messiahs was enough to convince me to give it a shot. They were not my indie messiahs however. Let me explain. In the years a lot of my peers were probably finding themselves in a Yo La Tengo albums or Wilco, I was listening to Beastie Boys and discovering hip-hop. I have 1 Sparklehorse album, 2 Yo La Tengo albums and 1 Daniel Johnston album but none of them are regularly played if I’m honest. So that’s the mindset I approached the gig last night, thinking the names were attracting the crowd more than their back catalogue.

It was a singular kind of event last night, not too dissimilar to the Hal Willner’s Rogues Gallery of Indie music except for a lot more engaging and a lot less forced. Sure, people were clearly fawning at the site of Daniel or Mark Linous or James McNew but in the end there were enough decent songs played to ensure, it was an engaging experience. Mark Linous played ‘Homecoming Queen’, a Sparklehorse song I’m familiar with, getting the audience to sing the backing vocals in hushed tones. Jad Fair led a musical game of stop-start song with NcNew and Blake watching for the cue. Scout Niblett impressed with an idiosyncratic performance which I hate to say, reminding me of PJ Harvey’s caustic morbidness. She bleated out the line “We’re all going to die soon”. How Lovely. Norman Blake played a short acoustic set full of simple pop melodies and the first Teenage Fanclub song the band ever wrote ‘Everything Flows’. The Scotsman’s set was a highlight.

Daniel Johnston came out and played a short set on a miniature guitar. He introduced himself by telling us he had a dream where he was sentenced to death for trying to commit suicide. That sums up Daniel for me. He was joined by his guests for a full band set which included ‘Speeding Motorcycle’ and ‘Casper The Friendly Ghost’.

I needn’t have worried about the gawking factor at a Daniel Johnston show. Being schizoprenic and bipolar removes the shrinkwrap around the part of Daniel’s brain which filters honesty and that’s his unique talent. His ability to convey directly through his lyrics and simple melodies, emotions and feelings that most people would hide out of embarassment or awkwardness. That is why people are there to witness him in the flesh. He is loved, not laughed at. I’m glad I witnessed that for myself.

Massey and Welly had been looking for a suitable charity but were turned down by the perfect match of The Irish Cancer Society, proving that they had no sense of humour. In the end, the Nicole Cahill Fund stepped in. A representative from Massey and Welly’s label, Shyhhy Records told me “we had to ask them to double check the website and make sure they really wanted to be associated with us. They still said yeah.”

The video features cans of Dutch Gold and a number of iconic world figures sharing their love of boobies. It’s for a good cause!

‘Two Weeks’

The ‘Gum has an MP3 rip. Also there’s this - ‘While You Wait for the Others‘.

Fleet Foxes come close in fairness to ‘em. Check out ‘English House’ from Pitchfork Music Festival.