As skyscrapers, lightning storms, and oceans blaze above them in lieu of further communiques, it becomes clear that this wordless, relentless music is in desperate love/hate with planet earth, testing the boundaries of its ugliness and majesty
They named themselves after a Japanese biker gang, they won t give details of their line-up to the music press, and their first ever recorded release was limited to 33 copies. GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPEROR also happen to be one of the most exciting new bands to emerge in years. PETER MURPHY investigates.
Support slots with British Sea Power and a star turn at this year’s Eurosonic showcase event have given Dublin’s Halves the opportunity to hone their ambient post-rock sound.
Adored by fans of similarly inclined outfits such as Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Lift To Experience and Sigur Ros, this Austin, Texas four-piece return with their first long-player in four years.
"...a powerful collection of passionate, anthemic rockers that will no doubt please their hardcore following whilst winning new converts to the cause."
They've tangled with the legends of Krautrock, extended the hand of friendship to Eastern Europe and campaigned against light pollution. But what you really need to know about British Sea Power is that they're being hailed as this year's answer to Arcade Fire.
Although dissatisfied with mainstream media and wary of having his own work pigeonholed, former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr revels in his role as elder statesman to a generation of maverick musicians and is no less proud of his new album, Boomslang.
The fans took For The Birds to their collective bosom, and it went multi-platinum, establishing Hansard and co as the pioneers of Ireland’s burgeoning independent scene.
Along with the likes of Jimmy Behan, Joan Of Arse and Daemien Frost, Estel are the much undervalued and underexposed anti-christs to the Frames, Mundy and Damien Rice’s hand-wringing preachings.
If it s sombrely beautiful, slow-moving, Mogwai-esque instrumental mini-epics you re after, you ve come to the right place. EAMON SWEENEY meets THE REDNECK MANIFESTO.
Gone is the major label deal, along with most of The Ataris' members, and Welcome The Night sees them return as a seven-piece, complete with cello player and handling their own affairs.
RAIDIS NA GAELTACHTA seems an unlikely home for one of the most adventurous music shows on the Irish airwaves. Drop your prejudices and check out An Taobh Tuathail, says EAMON SWEENEY.
A fresh generation of bands is tearing up the rule book and redefining what it means to be Irish. To celebrate this new wave of talent, we catch up with the best of them.
Not so long ago mavericks and experimentalism were thin on the ground in Ireland. But with the growth of an independent scene, all of that has changed. for confirmation, look no further than the rise to eminence of The Jimmy Cake.
They love Ireland and Ireland loves them. As the Arcade Fire ramp up for world domination, the band talk about love, death, war and making music in churches.
In a sense, ATP is an anti-festival. Each year's 'curator' - the band who decide what other acts to invite - is willfully chosen on the grounds of their rejection or open denunciation of the mainstream music system
This year’s genre-redeemers, here to re-prove that words are for losers who can't say it with music, are the pathos-laden, relentless, positively monumental The Uptown Racquet Club
It's been a long strange trip and no mistake, one that describes a discernible line from
Harry Smith's Anthology Of American Folk Music through to the Handsome Family.
But there's even more going on beneath the surface. GREIL MARCUS, the music critic's music critic,
is PETER MURPHY's guide on a mystery train whose other passengers include Elvis Presley, Robert Johnson, Mark Twain, Nick Cave, The Blair Witch, Bill Clinton, The Band, Siniad O'Connor, Beck, William Burroughs, William Faulkner and Bob Dylan. And that's just the first class carriage. All aboard
SAME LABEL, same country of origin, same release date, different acts, same effect. On the evidence of the treasures currently being produced by the Constellation label, Canada looks like becoming the post post-rock capital of the globe.
SAME LABEL, same country of origin, same release date, different acts, same effect. On the evidence of the treasures currently being produced by the Constellation label, Canada looks like becoming the post post-rock capital of the globe.
