Following on from yesterday’s news that Spiritualized will be performing at Wired @ the Kilkenny Arts Festival, the rest of the line-up has been unveiled.
‘Got Perspective?’ enquires an overhead projection, one of dozens of metaphysical koans Mercury Rev will pitch at us tonight, in between flashing fuchsia-and-violet images of, er, double-helixes and em, animals flying through abstract space and stuff. Yes, we do have perspective: for a start, if these screen-saver squiggles and Be Your Own Life Coach mantras are meant to inspire feelings of blissed-out philosophical introspection, the Rev should know that what they’re actually doing is making us think of patchouli-reeking Transit vans with the Egyptian pyramids airbrushed onto the side...
Purveyors of pristine psych-pop, cult rock heroes and musical innovators par excellence – Mercury Rev may be many things, but garrulous interviewees they certainly aren’t. Frontman Jonathan Donahue grants hotpress an audience and grudgingingly opens up enough to discuss music, religion, quantum theory and the delicate balance between commercial success and artistic integrity.
. . . and ready to go. Mercury Rev s recent album Deserter s Songs was met with a rapturous critical reception, even topping the Hot Press critics end-of-year poll. On their recent Dublin visit they spoke to Peter Murphy about the album, The Band and their volatile past. Jonathan Donahue pics: Cathal Dawson
Space rock is a term that has been bandied about a lot recently, in a facile attempt to nail down the other-worldly magical sounds of Spiritualized and Mercury Rev.
Wexford quartet Salthouse finally deliver on the promise of their debut album with a simply gorgeous single that calls to mind the best bits of Mercury Rev, Sparklehorse and Bright Eyes.
It may be grim Oop North, but this single suggests otherwise. As the latest in Manchester’s line of highly ambitious hopefuls, Engineers have already mastered the art of sky-scraping, celestial wonderment. As well as doffing their collective caps to fellow Mancs Elbow and Doves, this single owes much to the expansive, melancholic leanings of Spiritualized and Mercury Rev.
Beautifully-titled, Irish duo Stellarband’s debut is as melancholic and wistful as its title might suggest.
First coming to prominence after being asked to support Cake in Vicar Street last year, the California link is one which rears its head time and again. Brian Durnin’s warm and soft vocal will doubtless draw comparisons to The Thrills’ Conor Deasy, however the band are far closer to Mercury Rev or Woodstar.
This is particularly the case through the lush and tender soundscapes Steve Lynch sketches on the staggered ‘Break It’ and the ultra harmonic ‘Stop The Music’. A fine debut.
They got knocked down, but they got up again – Dublin rockers 66E have weathered their setbacks and are now attracting serious attention for their epic soundscapes, which critics have likened to the work of Mercury Rev, Doves and Radiohead.
Stop press: Witnness have just confirmed some of the leading lights of this year's festival. Mercury Rev, Badly Drawn Boy and Chemical Brothers sound good for starters? Read on
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.
The rise and rise of the female singer/songwriter is fast achieving phenomenon status in Ireland - here,
Peter Murphy profiles an eclectic mix of new and distinctive talent
Engineers’ debut mini-album, Folly, indicated a love of all things arcane and prog, and their self-titled LP honours this tradition nicely. Coming across for all the world like a post-apocalyptic Mercury Rev, or a Zen-like Air, Engineers have mastered a wondrous union of adventuresome, obtuse sound-scapes and autumnal calm.
Their hour has come round at last. The Flaming Lips could've been forgiven for feeling usurped when their sister ship Mercury Rev steamed away with the garlands for Deserter's Songs last December, but in truth, both collectives are in competition with no-one but themselves and the gods.
Rock ’n’ roll has also long been obsessed with the dual totems of cars ’n’ girls, and of contemporary bands the likes of Mercury Rev and the Vulgar Boatmen have made sure the Americana idyll doesn’t run out of gas.
Wayne Coyne would like to share a secret. Thing is, he shouldn’t really be telling you. Maybe he’s stirring hornets here and, well, that’s not what he’s about.
The third LP from The Delgados is their finest yet as their beautiful vision of sweeping strings, chiming guitars, melancholic melodies and glorious harmonies becomes fully realised.
Electric Avenue in Waterford City is now a firmly established stop-off on the Irish circuit. Proprietor and promoter Mick O'Keefe talks a little about his past and explains how he's in this for the long haul.
Coldplay, White Stripes, Strokes, Queens, Garbage, Oasis, JJ72, Franz... With a whole slew of major albums in the pipeline, it looks like ‘05 will be the wrong year to kick that addiction to noise.
She may have left Ash, but to us Charlotte Hatherley will always be an honoury Irish woman. The good news for fans of her excellent Grey Will Fade solo debut is that the follow-up is in the can and awaiting early New Year release.
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.
Give praise for obnoxious guitars. Without them, Semifinalists' wistful, precious debut might be too much to take. As it is, a patina of unruly powerchords and blowsy bass riffs saves the day for the London-based American/Indonesian three-piece.
Astounding new single 'Another Morning Stoner' from Texas eardrum massacre-ists ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead to feature on tonight's No Disco (N2, 11.15pm)
No, they’re not Jack White’s extra-curricular band. Rather, The Racketeers are long time veterans of the Irish scene with shades of Nick Cave and Johnny Cash in their darkly fascinating sound.
Phil Udell talks to blink frontman Dermot Lambert about how he pulled through the dark times to re-establish his band as one of the leading lights of the Irish indie scene.
With bands like New Order, Nine Inch Nails, Bauhaus and Snow Parol announced for the bill, this year's Coachella looks set to blast the Californian desert
ONE OF the most widely held mis-conceptions about the rock 'n' roll business is that the moment you scrawl your 'X' on a contract, you can forget all this 'suffering for your art' nonsense and move into an elegant country retreat where snorting showbiz sherbet and indulging in all manner of perverted sexual practices is the order of the day.
They may have started out as avant garde indie noisemongers, but The Flaming Lips have matured into one of the greatest and most musical bands on Planet Earth. Plus, they do an utterly magnificent live show!
Cork Independent outfit The Waiting Room have just released their debut album Losing Patience, yet they're quite prepared to hold on to the day jobs for a little while yet as Marc O'Sullivan discovers
They may have hit a few bumps earlier in the year, but Northern indie-rock whippersnappers The Embers have regrouped and are now back on the agenda with an excellent new EP, Vice And Virtue.
Richard Fearless and Tim Holmes, from Death in Vegas, explain how they survived Big Beat, made one of the albums of the year and ended up working with their heroes.
Interview: EAMON SWEENEY.
Roo are confident, savvy and unflinching in their aim to make remarkable music. There s something about their looks and attitude that remind you of George Best in 68: blessed with handy skills and unfazed by older, less talented rivals. Roo are the best new prospect from these parts. They can be funny, too.
Difficult second album syndrome has no place in the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah vocabulary. Not that the blogger faves are exactly busting a gut to have a hit.
This year’s Heineken Green Energy festival has something for every music lover. Whether anthemic stadium rock (Snow Patrol) is your thing or you enjoy boisterous pop (Kaiser Chiefs), it’s a festival packed with sonic treats.
In a year that saw events which will forever change the world in which we live, selected hotpress contributors offer some personal recollections of the past twelve months. We begin by listing the critics’ choice of 2001’s single and album releases
Their languorous, minor key songs and stripped-to-the-bones arrangements have seen them dubbed the torchbearers of "slo-fi" across the water. But London duo Olly Knight and Gale Paradganian have also won praise for their uncompromising adherence to the dark soul of their material.
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.
Since 1996 the Heineken Green Energy Festival has lit up the capital city with some of the brightest stars of modern rock. Patrick Hedlund and hotpress assistant editor, Stuart Clark, report
In the second and final part of an extensive interview, MIKE SCOTT discusses inspiration and influences, recalls his difficult solo years and explains the death and resurrection of THE WATERBOYS. Interview: PETER MURPHY
Holy high expectations, Batman. Here are some of the phrases being thrown around about Chichester five-piece Hope Of The States. “Like Godspeed You! Black Emperor” (gorgeous, instrumental-based, violin-led apocalypse-rockers),.“Like…Trail of Dead” (gorgeous, song-based, guitar-led, er, apocalypse-rockers). And, not least: “First credible possible heirs to Radiohead”. Arooga!
SEBADOH, for so long the epitome of the slacker rock band,
seem poised to finally make the breakthrough.
NICK KELLY met them in Dublin only to be asked for cocaine,
and told that Kurt Cobain was so lame he killed himself .
Psychic and physical disintegration! Quacks, pulsars and Marshall amps! The sound of the end of space and time! And, oh yes, silly song titles too! Welcome to the world of WAYNE COYNE and The Flaming Lips. Interview: Peter Murphy.
The album is heavy on melody and harmony – but they’re in danger of being over formulaic and although their choruses tend to be strong, their lyrics lack originality.
Following in the footsteps of Joy Division, The Smiths and The Stone Roses, Mancunian rockers Doves have continued the tradition of musical excellence for which their hometown is internationally renowned. With their new opus Some Cities in the offing, vocalist Jimi Goodwin here discusses apocalyptic weather, urban decay and those abandoned recording sessions with Madonna’s producer.
We re surrounded by American culture from the breakfasts we eat through the beer we drink to the music and movies we define our lives by. And with Independence Day coming on July 4th, you might as well go ahead and enjoy it to the full. Here EAMON SWEENEY suggests how to become an American for a day.
Starting at Moray Firth Radio in Inverness and ending seven days later at BBC WM in Birmingham, ASTERIX are on a mission to conquer England s airwaves. Joining the tour in Nottingham,
SUSAN DARLINGTON witnesses three days of maps, mobiles and milkshakes.
With preparations well underway for Cork city’s hosting of the European City Of Culture festivities in 2005, the indigenous music scene is already rising to the challenge
Some bands graft and grind and eventually come up with something that cuts the mustard; others produce music of wondrous, lilting beauty without seeming to break sweat. Wheat, the pride of Massachusetts, belong quite emphatically in the latter camp.
From A to Z, Paul Nolan and Ronan Fitzgerald introduce all the runners and riders for Punchestown – throwing in a baker’s dozen of acts who are not to be missed* along the way
The Heineken Rollercoaster Tour is taking to the road again and this time the capital is nobody’s hometown gig. From Kells come Turn, from Limerick Woodstar and from Cork The Frank and Walters. Next stop: a venue near you.
So what happens when an indie band goes major league? how can you stay cool when your date’s a Charlie’s Angel? how important is the boy/girl song in a flag-waving time? and like Alexander The Great, do you weep when you have no more worlds to conquer? in addressing these and other pressing questions of the day, The Strokes salute John Lennon, Bob Dylan and their own undying band of brotherliness.
With the release of their fourth and finest album "For The Birds", THE FRAMES have zoomed straight into the Irish top ten for the first time. Now, with critical acclaim ringing in their ears, and their glowing fanbase sensing that something special may be about to take place, they prepare to take the Green Energy Weekend by storm. could it be their time has finally come? Interview: KIM PORCELLI. plus mainman GLEN HANSARD gives us a glimpse inside his private diary. out of frame: MICK QUINN
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.
In an age when hype springs eternal, DAVID GRAY is that rare phenomenon a success story scripted by the fans rather than the industry. And a distinctly Irish success story at that. A certifiable platinum-selling box-office blockbuster in this country, the Welsh singer-songwriter still awaits a similar eruption of Gray fever in Britain, Europe and America. But his latest album, White Ladder, could be the record which tells the world what Ireland already knows. Now as he prepares to wow the faithful at Galway s Big Beat festival, JOHN WALSHE presents the inside story of the best kept secret in the west.
Pics Mick Quinn
Until recently one of the ultimate indie cult bands, The Flaming Lips have survived the ravages of heroin, acid and a hunting trip with William Burroughs. Now, their new album At War With The Mystics finds them taking their funky psychedelia to strange new places – including the upper reaches of the charts for the first time. Could it be that their moment has finally come? Interviews: Craig Fitzsimons (now) and Peter Murphy (then). additional reporting: Stuart Clark, Ed Power and Jackie Hayden
Falling in love not only altered David Kitt’s heart but helped reshape his musical vision. Olaf Tyaransen visits his home cum studio and hears about the family affair that is his new album and how meeting Poppy reawakened his love of pop. all this and why the son of a Minister opposes the smoking ban! Photography Roger Woolman.
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
Baxter inhabits a soundscape very much of the moment, with lots of atmospheric noises, shuffling rhythms and shifting arrangements that have you on the edge of your seat for most of the album
Prince may be content just to party but in a four-page special the Hot Press journalistic elite takes a look at everything 1999 has to offer. And then some.
With the recently released Some Cities completing a trio of gorgeously layered masterpieces, Doves are the band many take for granted. Brilliance is expected, and we have become accustomed to excellence from the Manchester trio. If there was anything unexpected about their set at a sold out Olympia, it was that we may have forgotten beforehand just how special they really are.
If there was anything unexpected about Doves set at a sold out Olympia, it was that we may have forgotten beforehand just how special they really are. It didn’t take long for one's memory to kick into gear.
Spiritualised, The Redneck Manifesto, Redsettaz and Telepopmusic are merely a few of the latest additions to the delightfully overstuffed Witnness '02 bill
Adem Ilhan plies his trade as bassist with brittle post-rockers Fridge (also home to the acclaimed-but-bland Kieran Hebden, aka Four Tet), but is now set to release the second album of a promising solo career.
Over the last decade or so, Brooklyn’s Oneida have steadily built a reputation as one of the most interesting and creative-minded US indie acts working today. Despite the fact that the core band members trade under the deeply silly names Hanoi Jane, Kid Millions and Bobby Matador, they make intelligent music that’s woven from myriad unlikely influences.
This melting pot of sound is like Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes fronting a band made up of members of Arcade Fire and Elbow, with Radiohead’s Thom Yorke handling production duties.
Catering For Headphones beats with an experimental heart, backed up by superb musicianship and genuinely moving songs of real artistic and musical merit. Refreshingly inventive, often magical and consistently brilliant.
Credit to Las Vegas Basement, then, that they don’t collapse under the weight of these luminous spirits, but still manage to create an album of heavily layered, well-crafted songs with the kind of glorious ‘la-la-la’ harmonies not heard since the Fab Four were at their peak.
Gorge yourself on a selection of exclusive (and in some cases never-before-seen) hotpress.com video interviews from Witnness past, as well as some of the artists gracing the stage at Witnness 2003
In a world largely punctuated with angular, upturned-collar punk riffery, Hal are a glittering exception. For an audience weaned largely on scruffy garage angst, Hal stands alone as an affable, nicely hazy sort of record. This is the kind of gloriously textured album that confounds expectation and subtly surprises with every track.
Crank up the stereo, and let the pregnant, shimmying tones that are the opening of the Chemical Brothers' latest invade the room. Sit back and prepare to be entertained like you have never been entertained before.
THE CRITICS PANEL WHO VOTED FOR THE TOP 30 ALBUMS AND SINGLES OF THE YEAR ARE AS FOLLOWS: BILL GRAHAM, LIAM FAY, GEORGE BYRNE, STUART CLARK, LORRAINE FREENEY, TARA McCARTHY, GERRY McGOVERN, NEIL McCORMICK, DERMOT STOKES, OLIVER P. SWEENEY, SIOBHAN LONG, STEVE AVERILL, ANDY DARLINGTON, COLM O’HARE, JOE JACKSON, HELENA MULKERNS, DAN OGGLY, CATHY DILLON, NIALL CRUMLISH, OLAF TYARANSEN, PATRICK BRENNAN, JACKIE HAYDEN AND NIALL STOKES.
Thankfully for them, the Manchester three-piece deliver on the promise of their debut, as their sophomore effort is brimming with the kind of timeless guitar tunesmithery that marked their earlier work
Even before I’ve opened the PR release, I know the reference points to expect: Dylan, Petty, The Byrds and The Band with a more than-is-strictly-necessary side order of Tonight’s The Night-era Neil Young.
This issue’s forecast... a cold front moving in from the west guarantees a storming night of top tunes from The Blizzards in Whelan’s on September 11. The Mullingar act have been the subject of much attention of late.
A shaggy dog story: Tom Waits shows up at a Northern Californian studio, prospecting for premises close to home so that he can ferry his kids to and from school while working.
PHIL LYNOTT would have been 50 on 20th August this year. Here, PETER MURPHY profiles the legendary Philo, and talks to other stars about his enduring influence.
The dark textured soundscapes of The Optimist LP have gently established London duo Olly Knight and Gale Paradganian of Turin Brakes as a force to be reckoned with, prompting comparisons to the likes of Mercury Rev.
