Kraftwerk play at the one-day A Day In The Life event in Luggala, Wicklow, this September, with a stellar support line-up just announced, including Soulwax and The Jimmy Cake.
Fabrik Ireland are planning an electronic music fest for next month, with artists Wolfgang Flur (formerly of Kraftwerk) taking to the stage along with three support acts.
Simple Minds will be teaming up with OMD, special guests on their current tour, to perform a cover version of Kraftwerk's 'Neon Lights' during their Graffiti Soul shows later this year.
Kraftwerk's upcoming planned appearance at Luggala Estate in Wicklow has been moved to Dublin's Royal Hospital in Kilmainham due to recent inclement weather.
So how do you review a Kraftwerk concert? With four members, including two from the original line-up, the undisputed godfathers of electronic music would never really disappoint, particularly in an intimate venue like the Olympia. Yet, even as a huge fan, it is important not to get carried away and resign all objectivity.
In what promises to be one of the gigs of the summer, Kraftwerk are playing a tented 4,999-capacity show in Luggala, County Wicklow on September 13, which tickets on sale this Friday.
On the eve of Kraftwerk’s headlining appearance at the Electric Picnic, mainman Ralf Hütter talks with rare candour about David Bowie, U2, hip-hop, cycling and why sometimes even man-machines have to smile.
There are so many retro records around but so few capture the flavour of that era quite like 'Electro Boogie'. It's hard not to be seduced by the squelchy beats, cheesy Italo hooks and shiny Kraftwerk synth sounds. More of this please.
Culled from their 2004 world tour, this generously endowed 22-track live album finds the German electronic pioneers giving a fresh lick of paint to classics like 'The Model', 'Autobahn', 'Trans Europe Express' and 'Tour De France'.
Slash can go boil his silly hat, but Iggy Pop, The Rolling Stones and Kraftwerk are welcome to come and stay in Fagersta any time they want. Howlin’ Pelle and the boys talk heroes and zeros with Stuart Clark
‘Kidney Issues’ doesn’t quite reach the heights Steadycam achieved with the seductive ‘Knock Kneed’, but the title track features a ridiculously squelchy bass underpinning synths with echoes of classic trance and Kraftwerk.
Using just a few elements, Meredith provides an entrance into a wormhole in the Can-Kraftwerk-’70s disco space time continuum. The heavy, heavy bass (man), cowbells and trippy electronic synths all sound spacier than a hash cake convention in Amsterdam.
You do begin to wonder how the Pet Shop Boys keep managing to court critical favour, then you hear a record like ‘Minimal’ and that godfathers-of-electro tag makes sense. A little bit of New Order here, a touch of Kraftwerk there and a big dollop of dry English humour - in other words your typical classic Pet Shop Boys tune.
While part two was never going to be as eventful, there is more than enough on offer to justify its existence – SP overlord Etienne De Cercy and Alex Gopher’s ‘Overnet’ is a thrilling, punk/funk meets acid house stormer, ‘Fasttrack’ updates Kraftwerk for 2004 while ‘Soulseek’’s is a intruiging blend of synths and beats.
Italian producer Marco Passarani’s work flits between acid and electro, techno and house, and, on ‘Sullen Look’, his playful nature comes to the fore. There’s melodic, Warp-esque bleeps on ‘Red Panda Sunrise’ and ‘Earth’s Heart’, shades of Kraftwerk on ‘CBS Master Theme’, the sexy, infectious Italo of ‘Clair’ and, best of all, an androgynous male vocal fronting a twisted electronic house cover version of 80s soul sugar daddy Alexander O’Neal’s ‘Criticise’. Like much of Passarani’s work, this is bizarre but brilliant.
Like a cross between Derrick May and Kraftwerk, ‘Heures’ may not sound original, but these electronic compositions offer sweet relief from the funky grind of tracks like ‘Hasard’.
Look, these guys are set to be cool this year, so you’ll have to like them, OK? It’s Daft Punk, Chic, New Order, Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode… you know the du jour drill. Except, instead of the usual deadpan ice queen vocals you’d expect from such a venture, there’s a pop heart beating at the core of this record.
Music Review | Album
43% | 20 Apr 2007
Jackie Hayden
Dry County's unique brand of electro-rock mixes conventional instruments, drum loops, synths, buckets, boxes and a nutritious diet of influences, from the Boards Of Canada to Kraftwerk, The Propellerheads and Radiohead.
Their contribution to Robbie Williams' 'Rock DJ' may have gone unacknowledged, but Soul Mekanik, aka brothers and acid house veterans Kelvin Andrews and Danny Spencer, are now earning kudos in their own right for their dynamic and eclectic '80s-influenced debut album, Eighty One.
He’s been the artist to watch for years in Belfast, with a critically acclaimed David Holmes collaboration one of his many achievements. Now Phil Kieran is finally getting around to releasing an album. He talks to Colin Carberry about the long journey from drawing board to completion.
We hope you're feeling hungry because on September 3 and 4 over 50 of the hottest live acts and DJs around are descending on Stradbally Estate in Laois for the Electric Picnic.
‘The Mission Statement’, while firmly rooted in his off-kilter breakbeat and electro, takes in techno, house and just a hint of euro-disco, all adding up to a thouroughly enjoyable, tongue-in-cheek journey.
Having survived a flirtation with coke-addled infamy, nice-boy Britrockers Keane natter about the long road to recovery and how it feels to be Bret Easton Ellis' favourite band.
EAMON SWEENEY meets LLOYD COLE to talk about his forthcoming Dublin gigs, the changing face of music, and why he doesn t want to write songs for a while.
His dreamy electro-pop is winning Ulrich Schnauss an international fanbase. In his native Germany however, they’re still not convinced. Maybe it’s something to do with all those guitars.
The pressure’s on for Roisin Murphy. She’s no longer shielded from public scrutiny as a member of Moloko and Electric Picnic is her first outing as a solo star in her native Ireland.
He’s remixed Franz Ferdinand, Mylo and Radio 4, and released one of the most innovative titles of recent years in 2001’s It Rough. Now Robi Insinna, aka Manhead, is set to take his music to a larger audience with his eponymously titled new album.
In a rare interview, DJ, Sabres Of Paradise mainman and all-round geezer andrew weatherall tells stuart clark about why he won t be working with Primal Scream again, comes clean about his Van Morrison obsession, and does his best not to slag off Kula Shaker and Mansun.
“There’s still nothing like the sound of a fat four/four kick drum on a great sound system,” say UK house merchants Futureshock, and Barry O’Donoghue isn’t about to disagree with them.
This month, the 2006 RTÉ Living Music Festival, sponsored by IMRO, celebrates Steve Reich, arguably America’s greatest living composer. Jackie Hayden meets the 70-year-old whose influences stretch beyond the contemporary classical world to rock and rap music.
With their debut album about to hit the streets on a hip French label and some prestige support slots in the offing, 202s are one of Ireland’s hottest properties.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it s not a new game we ve invented to pass slow days at HP Central, just a reflection on the confusion you can face when a CD or tape arrives which is recorded and packaged so well that you don t know whether it s a demo or an actual release that should be re-directed to the Album Dissection and Resuscitation Department.
He helped invent synth-pop and is famous for his huge open-air shows. Now Jean-Michel Jarre is going back to basics to reprise his landmark Oxygene album.
Having moonlighted under the Von Sudenfed banner with Mark E. Smith, Mouse On Mars get back to the day job on April 25 when they play The Button Factory
One of the greatest penslingers in rockdom, he’s championed U2, Joy Division and Kylie and taken a critical scalpel to Oasis, The Strokes and their “miserably narrow mates”. he’s also locked horns with Germaine Greer, helped Frankie to relax and let The Frames slip through his fingers.
Olaf Tyaransen sings the reunion city blues as an unhappy DEBBIE HARRY forces him to take the scenic route through the rise, fall and rise of BLONDIE. But, hey, it all ends happily ever after...
Forget The Sunset Grill or Whisky A Go Go, it was Osborne Mushet Tools that gave birth to the only hard rock band capable of giving Madge and Wacko a run for their money. The man who put the steel into Sheffield tells the story
In a 25th anniversary rose-tinted special, Hot Press' dance correspondents select their 25 most influential floor fillers. The editor's decision is final and all that
Hero of the underground; the fastest, most exciting DJ in the world; creator of wildly experimental, white-knuckle techno; and now a photographer hosting his first ever show! Richard Brophy catches up with the Purposemaker in London and discovers a new side to the Jeff Mills mystique.
Scanner In The Works
SCANNER aka ROBIN RIMBAUD is a technological maverick, surveying the airwaves for random mobile phone calls which he then samples for use on his records. But there s more to the Londoner than just a penchant for electronic eavesdropping, as his cracking new album Delivery proves. He talks to JONATHAN O BRIEN.
SCANNER aka ROBIN RIMBAUD is a technological maverick, surveying the airwaves for random mobile phone calls which he then samples for use on his records. But there s more to the Londoner than just a penchant for electronic eavesdropping, as his cracking new album Delivery proves. He talks to JONATHAN O BRIEN.
EDITORS’ new album finds them re-booting their sound with the help of super-producer Flood and the Prussian soldier’s helmet gifted to him by Bono. Also on the agenda when the band meet Stuart Clark are fatherhood, baby poo, Brooklyn block parties and stealing Michael Stipe’s megaphone.
Well it’s one for the money Two for the show
US3 GET READY . . .
. . . Now go cats go! When a critic talks about awarding his favourite gig, album and band of the year accolades to the same outfit then we gotta be talking about something special. In this case it’s transatlantic Jazz Rappers US3. And the, er, critic in question: MR. STUART CLARK
Well, a trio of humans, to be precise. Confronted with the flesh and blood reality of Phil, Susanne and Joanne munching sandwiches right in front of his eyes, Nicholas G. Kelly accepts that we must come to terms with the fact that The Human League have indeed risen from the grave. But not, repeat not, the ’80s.
It’s no rest for the wicket, as Stuart Clark gets bowled over by the DUCKWORTH LEWIS METHOD. Musical odd-couple Neil Hannon and Thomas Walsh explain why they decided to record a musical homage to cricket and talk about hanging out with Blur’s Damon Albarn, the Governor of the Bank of England and Sir Tim Rice.
SIMON FOWLER of OCEAN COLOUR SCENE speaks to Colm O'Hare about the band s new album, his outing at the hands of the tabloid press, and hanging out with Noel Gallagher.
Seven years after his last solo LP, David Holmes lost his father. That trauma, and working on the Bobby Sands-era drama Hunger, seem to have brought a new humanity to his work.
Whether with THE SMITHS, ELECTRONIC, THE PRETENDERS or in brown trouser mode sharing a stage with PAUL McCARTNEY, GEORGE MICHAEL and NEIL FINN, he remains, by his own admission, the best JOHNNY MARR-style guitar player around. GEORGE BYRNE meets the cat others like to copy.
Or not without crediting your sources at any rate! Their first three Top Ten singles sampled Annie Lennox, Kate Bush and Phil Oakey. Here modernist electric dance crossover ???? Utah Saints argue the morality - as well as the aesthetics - of sample-theft, explain its problems, name the guilty men, and then glimpse a vision of the future playing support to U2 in Portugal. Interview: Andy Darlington.
THE PRODIGY may be one of the biggest dance acts in the world but, increasingly, they’ve been developing a rock ’n’ roll attitude. As the band line up for their Friday night headlining slot at Féile, techno guru LIAM HOWLETT talks to STUART CLARK.
Their debut album Hopes And Fears launched a host of hit singles, going on to become one of the most successful British records of the past five years. But, their indie background notwithstanding, Keane have still been dismissed by some self-styled aficionados as just too nice to be considered real rock'n'rollers. "If only people knew," says lead singer Tom Chaplin.
The Sultans of Ping may have a penchant still for fetishwear and dirty three-minute pop songs but they’re definitely mellowing as Stuart Clark discovers when he meets Niall O’Flaherty and Pat O’Connell for
afternoon tea. Pix: CATHAL DAWSON
Cakes: Mr. Kipling
BECK is one of the most eclectically talented musicians of his generation. STUART CLARK sees the man play a stormer at Witnness and hears him talk about fame, musical obsession, heroes like Bowie and Black Sabbath and 'Britney fascism'
Why are four Birmingham lads skulking through Barna Woods in Galway, and why is there a camera crew following them around? john walshe met up with ocean colour scene on the set of their new video, Traveller s Tune . Pix: AENGUS McMAHON.
Back in the saddle witha politically charged new album, Burning TimesChristy Moore and co-collaborator Declan Sinnott are putting the agit-prop back into folk. In a rare interview, Moore speaks frankly abot Hattie Carroll and Rachel Corrie, Richard Thompson anoraks, interpreting Morrissey and recently being detained by British authorities under anti-terrorism laws.
June 6 sees Radiohead's Colin Greenwood and Ed O'Brien spinning old faves, previewing newies and generally making with the conversation on BBC Radio Ulster's Across The Line
Back in their terrifying heyday, they threw pigs’ heads around on stage, covered themselves in muck, provided Marilyn Manson with a career and wrote ‘Community Games’ for Aidan Walsh. Having escaped the clutches of a sinister born-again Christian turned transvestite, they’re now making movies with Neil Jordan, dining with Damien Hirst and consorting with Tony Blair. All in all, it’s been a long, strange trip for The Virgin Prunes
A flyover near the old Harland & Wolff shipyard was the starting point for a remarkable three months that has seen Franz Ferdinand challenging U2 and Coldplay for the title of ‘Biggest Band In The World'. Daredevil photographic exploits completed, Hot Press jumped on their tour bus and got the lowdown on Snoop, Bono, Kanye West, Natasha Bedingfield and nights of debauchery with the Scissor Sisters.
At the end of a year which saw (most of) Fleetwood Mac reunited, on CD and stage, drummer Mick Fleetwood recounts the story of a legendary band and the making of a classic album – Rumours.
Bobby Gillespie's still staying up all night but now it's because there's a baby in the house. Otherwise, it's all systems go for Primal Scream at their bunker hq - Witnness cometh, Mani's back and Kate Moss, Kevin Shields, Robert Plant and AndrewWeatherall all feature on the groundbreaking evil high
Moby Comes Out To Play
IT S NOT often a Grammy nominee saunters into the Hot Press offices in the midst of the controlled explosion that is production weekend. But then, Moby s one of those freaks of nature a pop star who seems interested in what goes on around him rather than employing people to block it out.
GARBAGE are a band who absorb all the detritus, darkness and despair of the pre-millennial zeitgeist and spit it back out in a torrent of searing guitars, futuristic technological trickery and lyrics that freeze the blood. They've also made two of the most sinister pop records of modern times - the second of which, Version 2.0, is due for imminent release. PETER MURPHY met them in London to discuss sex, surveillance, studio strife, pre-2000 tension and their special fondness for The Beach Boys.
Having read about them in the Hot Press news pages, the organisers of Scotland’s Retrofest have added Dublin synth merchants Empire State Human to the August 30 and 31 bill.
Unfortunately, too much of this album is taken up with annoying, repetitive dirges or ill-advised efforts to make abstract techno, which does not kompute.
The synth-rock (or electro-indie if you like) bedroom ascetics – who heretofore brought you the charming line “I’m like Stevie Wonder, but I can see things” – have by their own acknowledgement looted the mechanical music museum, spending a lifetime distilling their record collection into manageable, tongue-in-cheek precipitates like whiskey or MSG.
As first revealed by hotpress.com "Vertigo" has been confirmed as the first single to be taken from the band's as yet untitled 11th studio album. Due to hit the racks on November 5th, 'Vertigo' is an epic U2 track laced with big guitars and soaring vocals.
Fatboy Slim, Flaming Lips, Damien Dempsey, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Mercury Rev and Public Enemy are some of the heavyweight attractions at the Electric Picnic, which this year is a two-day event taking place on the Stradbally Estate, County Laois on September 3 and 4.
U:Mack's long- running Static night made a welcome return to The Shelter last month, with a fantastic Radioactive Man gig. For March there's a DJ set from electro maestro DMX Krew, with support from some tantalising homegrown talent.
Yes, with explanations like that it couldn't be anyone but Bobby Gillespie talking us through the song titles and tracklisting of the new and as-yet-untitled Primal Scream album
Yes, with explanations like that it couldn't be anyone but Bobby Gillespie talking us through the song titles and tracklisting of the new and as-yet-untitled Primal Scream album
Even though it’s only 35 minutes long, ‘ASDR’ is draining – scratch at the surface, and the ‘whaHEY!’ veneer wears thin: it’s either to abrasive, too carefully considered or, occasionally, shit.
The stakes are high, and BOC raise the benchmark further by opting for a final selection of 23 tracks sprawled across a lush electro-symphonic soundscape
Perhaps I’m placing too many expectations upon the nine tracks that made the final cut, but suffice it to say that were it not for nostalgic value, this might well have been the album the discography forgot. Die-hard fans might well be appeased but for anyone seeking cutting edge, grab-you-by-the-cochlea dance music, then you won’t find it in this release.
South London’s Add N To (X), when not making hardcore porn promo cartoons, specialise in a bolstered and reupholstered variation of what used to be known as electro-rock (pre-post-post rock anyone?) constructed from real-time drums, manipulated synth, robot bass and vocoded vocals.
When Sons and Daughters first came round our way last year via an Arts Council grant and an obscure US indie label, there was much scratching of heads as to where they fitted in. Then we discovered that they were touring with fellow Glaswegians Franz Ferdinand and, hey presto, there you go – part of at least two scenes, job done thank you very much. Except they weren’t, inhabiting instead their own little dark corner of a world that drew on influences way beyond those currently in vogue.
Skoda Mluvit has patches of incoherency and over-ambition, but it’s a testament to Dresslehaus’ musical dexterity that he manages to stitch together such a rich and varied sonic tapestry.
Toy, the debut album from Dubliner, Greg, is a curious, eccentric affair; a mixture of electronica and whispered vocals, surreal lyrics and experimental arrangements. It's music Jim, but not as we know it.
Audience-involved spin-the-bottle, colourful strobe lights and a man wearing a feather boa while crooning Marlene Dietrich’s ‘Lili Marlene’ and ‘Falling In Love Again’? A remarkable ‘Ave Maria’ coming from an opera singer who could be the lovechild of Gene Simmons and the bride of Frankenstein? The combination may seem a bit puzzling – but when it’s coming from the bold and brilliant mind of Gavin Friday, it all makes perfect sense.
To the unending delight of the crowd, the choice of Neosupervital to support The Divine Comedy was a good one, as they clearly share the desire that art should draw attention to its artfulness.
It’s hard to think of a more perfect setting for Jurassic 5’s good-time party vibes than twelve o’clock on a Saturday night in Vicar St. The venue is sold out and from the off, everybody is up and dancing for what proves to be a pulsating couple of hours’ entertainment.
Do you want the good or the bad news first? Here’s the bad news: Christmas came and went, the goose got fat and the bean counters at EMI got plain tetchy. Paralysed by self-doubt and pressure, Coldplay set in motion the album that was to make or break them. How impressive and honorable, then, that this is their most hearty, ambitious and effortlessly striking work to date. But as we all know, nothing good ever comes easy.
A problem is that, as Belle And Sebastian, begin a two night, sold-out run at The Ambassador, the album has not yet been released. A clutch of journalists and downloaders aside, not many are in on the secret.
For a band that started over three decades ago, Devo put remarkable energy and imagination into their live shows, with a performance that retains its unpredictability right to the finish.
Everybody Hertz is an album of re-mixes of three selected tracks from the previous album, mixed by luminaries such as Daft Punk's Thomas Banghalter, Mr Oizo, Malibu, Adrian Sherwood, Modjo, The Neptunes and the Hacker
Apparently S.W.A.T. was a short-lived 1970s cop-show which made a seismic contribution to Western civilisation by spawning a related disco hit. Those of you who missed out on this cultural zenith can rest easy, however, for the new movie version is unlikely to inspire pangs of nostalgic regret for this lost televisual opportunity.
Bloc Party's A Weekend In The City is both less oblique and more understated; initially the album proves harder work than its predecessor – at the same time it's more open about what it has to say.
Barcelona might have Sonar, but, on the strength of its debut outing, Dublin’s DEAF is also set to become an essential date in the global electronic diary.
Yes, there really is a new Kate Bush album, a double album no less, though even while listening to it one can scarcely believe such a thing has come to pass.
Forget brain surgery or being Shane MacGowan's oral hygienist, the toughest job in the world has got to be that of an A&R man.
At around about the same time that I was telling everybody that Thee Amazing Colossal Men were going to conquer the world with their second album, a demo from five pasty-faced Londoners went from the Clarkian desk to bin in record time on account of its tired Bowiesms.
In which Murph goes to Motown - where he discovers a vibrant arts scene, defiantly thriving in the cracks, despite at the neglect of the Motor City authorities....
Hot new Irish release this fortnight is the Vorsprung Durch Celtik EP on Belfast label Nice & Nasty Records. This quality package from Desy Balmer’s long running imprint includes a couple of deep and uplifting Irish techno soul productions from Derek Carr, Teknik and Slow Chocolate Autopsy, plus remixes by Fabrice Lig and Tomas Jirku…
Think you've got them all right? Or maybe you fancy a sneaky peak (you're only cheating yourself you know!). Either way, you've got the questions – we've got the answers....
12 steps to start your own Guatemala adventure with all the best accomodation, restaurants and hot spots. Plus, top travel news from around the world.
Music Review | Live
18% | 7 Sep 2006
They said it couldn’t be done, but this year’s Electric Picnic achieved the impossible by being even more joyous, vibey and action-packed than its predecessors. Hot Press was in the thick of things as 200 acts and 30,000 music lovers descended on one very big house in the country.
RTE2 have plenty of live music action to keep us placated for the next few weeks - here's the line up of bands and when to catch them. For more about the Other Voices series, click on the link at the very bottom.
