2005 you say? Are you sure it’s not 1995, what with Kerbdog, Pop Will Eat Itself, The Wonderstuff and, er, Take That all doing the rounds?
Not that there’s any complaints from this scribe, who’s overjoyed that after losing hope of ever hearing certain tracks in the flesh again, second chances do exist. Let’s hope those Welsh noisemongers McLusky (RIP) take note.
Of those bands, Kerbdog proved their parting of ways was premature with what can only be described as a triumphant set at the Temple Bar Music Centre, followed by a similarly energetic performance at Oxegen. Meanwhile at “the other festival”, Bob Mould resurrected both Husker Du and Sugar tracks, meaning I can now die happy, but band of the musicfest season was undoubtedly the very contemporary LCD Soundsystem. Actually no, they were always going to be magnificent; Keane on the other hand turned what could have been a drippy, dull, sub-Elbow, sub-sub-Coldplay performance at Oxegen into a glorious 45 minutes that was swelling with passion and energy and movement and choons.
Proving themselves to be a band way ahead of their time were Seattle’s Idiot Pilot. Two guys, one with a laptop who screams to high heaven, the other with a guitar who sings as sensitively as Thom Yorke from Radiohead. Humbling stuff to watch, as I had the pleasure of doing when I was still resident in London. Living in the UK’s capital gave me the opportunity to see a myriad of blinding acts that lazily considered Dublin too much effort, including the Martini Henry Rifles, Absent Kid, Jimmy Eat World and Nine Inch Nails, who were a sheer privilege to witness. They were phenomenal both times they came over, but no surprise considering their most potent ammunition was the perfectly-crafted With Teeth. At the opposite end of the musical spectrum but just as high a standard both live and on record were BellX1, who proved their mettle was life-affirming, powerful, modest, innovative, humorous and danceable. And that’s just the first song from Flock.
Yet both miss out on that coveted band of the year award, which goes to LA’s Open Hand. They may not be an obvious choice, but their album You And Me is a musical menagerie of styles and sounds, linked by nothing but innovation and the most powerful guitar you’ve ever heard in your life. New to the GanatRadar, but tantalisingly yet to unleash their full potential, are Derry’s Fighting With Wire, who rock with absolutely no trace of emo, thanks be to God.
If all goes to plan, their demise will be aided next year by new very non-emo releases by Muse, Therapy?, Billy Talent, JJ72, The Bleedin’ Bleedins and The Marshals. Then we’ll see how much the world needs super-stylised haircuts and widdly-widdly guitar. Oh wait, I have just described Muse?