In light of The Torture Garden's request for some tracks from the almighty Chuzzle (which I couldn't find), here's a selection of some fine tracks from some finer Irish bands. Enjoy.
LOST
This Conversation Never Happened
Patterns In The Static
JJ72
Heat (wma)
The Mighty Stef
Liars
The Pirate Song
NJH
Armony
The Crossroads
The Fall of the Roman Empire
Here Come The Planes
Dry County - 2 tracks
Rollers/Sparkers
Eye Wiper
Josef Stalin
King Sativa - 'My Life'
The Immediate - 4 tracks
Leya
The Dream Money Bought
Humanzi
2 tracks
enjoy
Una
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Democracy
If anyone has any particular requests for mp3s, or can't find something anywhere and want to ask me in the vain hope that I might be able to find it, just post here.
Una
Una
Oh Nancy
I love Nancy Sinatra. And I love her even more this morning, because I'm listening to 'It Aint Me Babe' on a loop and it's putting me in a good mood. People discredit her as frivolous, but she has one of the most original, most instantly recognisable and most imitated voices ever. And she rides motorbikes. And shagged Elvis. Props Nancy, props. I interviewed her a while ago and she was such a sweet heart, really polite and interesting. We talked about the war in Iraq, making movies with Elvis and she took the piss out of people who said she'd never sound as good as her father ("first of all, being his daughter, I'm not a man.") So Nancy, I salute you.
FRANKLY, NANCY
Rat Packers be warned, the F(rank) word, does not appear in this article. And there’s a reason for that. Nancy Sinatra was always more than her father’s daughter. Far before Debbie Harry was storming CBGBs, and before Cher had ripped open the fishnets, Nancy Sinatra was the female artist. And she remains an icon today, not just because of anthems like ‘These Boots Are Made For Walkin’’, but also because of her longevity, her charity work and her humbleness in a world of Divas and wannabe-divas. In other words, Nancy is the woman.
Today, following a hectic Memorial weekend (more about that later), she’s at home in LA, hoarse and reflective. So, in her opinion, what made her the icon she has become? “The fashion angle is always there. I think I was perhaps the first person to wear the mini skirt and the boots – in this country (the US) anyway. Until Twiggy came along I suppose! I brought the mini skirts home from London. There was no one else doing that, although Europe was way ahead of us as usual. Musically, I wasn’t the first female to do what I did, but I was the first white female. The people who were doing what I ended up doing were in RnB. They had the attitude. People like Ruth Brown. And the guys I liked; Elvis and The Everly Brothers influenced me too. I grew up with the great American songbook of course and I learnt from that.”
No one could have foreseen the success that these factors brought, although there was a fair amount of hard work involved too, “there were four years when I was recording and releasing single after single and nothing was happening. When he first song that really worked, ‘So Long Babe’, hit the US and I was asked to be on every TV show and called for interviews, I knew things were going to change. My Dad would walk out on stage and introduce himself saying, ‘I’m Nancy’s father’.”
So, back to the surname. When Nancy started out, the cynics rushed to slam her for trading on a family name. “It was kind of funny being compared to a male singer”, she laughs, “It’s pretty absurd when you think about it. They used to say, ‘Nancy will never be the man her father is’ – a lot of people didn’t even see the irony in that!” She was just trying to make it on her own, and a famous Pop help in some ways, but also demanded that she worked even harder to carve out her individuality, which she did with style. By the time the album ‘Boots’ had arrived, Nancy was a superstar across the globe. She pioneered fashion statements, and even photographic stances that still remain to this day, “sometimes I see Britney dressed in something, or Mariah posing in a certain way and I think, ‘I did that in ‘71!’ It’s flattering when people say they look up to you, or that you influenced them, although it did take me a long time to believe that I could be so powerful as to influence somebody”.
“Excuse my voice”, she continues, slightly embarrassed, “it’s just after memorial weekend here, and I don’t know if you know about ‘Rolling Thunder’, but at the weekend, there were 400,000 of us on motorcycles in Washington. We actually managed to get an audience with the president. So some of us went into the Oval Office and addressed him about the issues of war veterans. There is a struggle in the US with veterans. They’re just brushed under the carpet. We ride to call attention to that and to rally round. It’s not an easy task.” Committed to causes outside of music set Nancy Sinatra apart from the beginning of her career. “ Serving people is part of my upbringing - my father was the same. My grandmother invited in people off the street for meals. When we’d go to her house for dinner, you never knew who you’d be sitting next to at the table.”
In a career spanning decades, with hundreds of parties, hit singles, movies and a life in an ultra-famous family, one would expect a memory in that vein to have remained with Nancy until now. But when I ask her what times and what memories she would not part with for the world, I’m met with a charitable answer, “my USO work, because those images are still as vivid and real as when I was experiencing them. I met two people this weekend who saw me during that time and thanked me for bringing a smile to them. People are always thanking me, but I have to tell them not to, because it’s not me who should be thanked. In those memories, I found a brotherhood I can rely on. There are happier memories too, of course. I mean I made some of the worst movies!” I interrupt Nancy to remind her that she was to top female box office draw for two years in a row. “Yeah, well, the movies were with Elvis and Peter Fonda I guess! Y’know, It was a ride.” And it still is? “Yeah, and it still is!”
FRANKLY, NANCY
Rat Packers be warned, the F(rank) word, does not appear in this article. And there’s a reason for that. Nancy Sinatra was always more than her father’s daughter. Far before Debbie Harry was storming CBGBs, and before Cher had ripped open the fishnets, Nancy Sinatra was the female artist. And she remains an icon today, not just because of anthems like ‘These Boots Are Made For Walkin’’, but also because of her longevity, her charity work and her humbleness in a world of Divas and wannabe-divas. In other words, Nancy is the woman.
Today, following a hectic Memorial weekend (more about that later), she’s at home in LA, hoarse and reflective. So, in her opinion, what made her the icon she has become? “The fashion angle is always there. I think I was perhaps the first person to wear the mini skirt and the boots – in this country (the US) anyway. Until Twiggy came along I suppose! I brought the mini skirts home from London. There was no one else doing that, although Europe was way ahead of us as usual. Musically, I wasn’t the first female to do what I did, but I was the first white female. The people who were doing what I ended up doing were in RnB. They had the attitude. People like Ruth Brown. And the guys I liked; Elvis and The Everly Brothers influenced me too. I grew up with the great American songbook of course and I learnt from that.”
No one could have foreseen the success that these factors brought, although there was a fair amount of hard work involved too, “there were four years when I was recording and releasing single after single and nothing was happening. When he first song that really worked, ‘So Long Babe’, hit the US and I was asked to be on every TV show and called for interviews, I knew things were going to change. My Dad would walk out on stage and introduce himself saying, ‘I’m Nancy’s father’.”
So, back to the surname. When Nancy started out, the cynics rushed to slam her for trading on a family name. “It was kind of funny being compared to a male singer”, she laughs, “It’s pretty absurd when you think about it. They used to say, ‘Nancy will never be the man her father is’ – a lot of people didn’t even see the irony in that!” She was just trying to make it on her own, and a famous Pop help in some ways, but also demanded that she worked even harder to carve out her individuality, which she did with style. By the time the album ‘Boots’ had arrived, Nancy was a superstar across the globe. She pioneered fashion statements, and even photographic stances that still remain to this day, “sometimes I see Britney dressed in something, or Mariah posing in a certain way and I think, ‘I did that in ‘71!’ It’s flattering when people say they look up to you, or that you influenced them, although it did take me a long time to believe that I could be so powerful as to influence somebody”.
“Excuse my voice”, she continues, slightly embarrassed, “it’s just after memorial weekend here, and I don’t know if you know about ‘Rolling Thunder’, but at the weekend, there were 400,000 of us on motorcycles in Washington. We actually managed to get an audience with the president. So some of us went into the Oval Office and addressed him about the issues of war veterans. There is a struggle in the US with veterans. They’re just brushed under the carpet. We ride to call attention to that and to rally round. It’s not an easy task.” Committed to causes outside of music set Nancy Sinatra apart from the beginning of her career. “ Serving people is part of my upbringing - my father was the same. My grandmother invited in people off the street for meals. When we’d go to her house for dinner, you never knew who you’d be sitting next to at the table.”
In a career spanning decades, with hundreds of parties, hit singles, movies and a life in an ultra-famous family, one would expect a memory in that vein to have remained with Nancy until now. But when I ask her what times and what memories she would not part with for the world, I’m met with a charitable answer, “my USO work, because those images are still as vivid and real as when I was experiencing them. I met two people this weekend who saw me during that time and thanked me for bringing a smile to them. People are always thanking me, but I have to tell them not to, because it’s not me who should be thanked. In those memories, I found a brotherhood I can rely on. There are happier memories too, of course. I mean I made some of the worst movies!” I interrupt Nancy to remind her that she was to top female box office draw for two years in a row. “Yeah, well, the movies were with Elvis and Peter Fonda I guess! Y’know, It was a ride.” And it still is? “Yeah, and it still is!”
Nancy: Rock star
Una
DIRTY DOZEN - special album edition vol. 1
1. Audioslave - 'Out Of Exile'
2.Beastie Boys - 'Ill Communication'
3.Bloc Party - 'Silent Alarm'
4.Sigur Ros - 'Takk'
5.Radiohead - 'Me And This Army'
half a dozen.Goodfellas Soundtrack
7.Dead Kennedys - 'Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables
8.Billy Corgan - 'The Future Embrace'
9.Depeche Mode - 'Playing The Angel'
10.NWA - 'Niggaz 4 Life'
11.Spoon - 'Gimme Fiction'
dozen.Clutch - 'Robot Hive Exodus'
Una
2.
3.
4.
5.
half a dozen.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
dozen.
Una
Saturday, October 29, 2005
It's Raining, It's Pouring...
listening to: Antony & The Johnsons - 'River Of Sorrow'
It's raining. Hard. It's funny how Irish people never actually get used to the rain, despite the fact that it pisses down about 14 times a day. And that's just in the summer. Instead, taxis, roof smoking terraces, phonecalls to your mother and sticky pubs are filled with shocked rain-hating conversations. "It's desperate, isn't it?" "Yeah, shite." This time, it's apparantly the last breath of Hurricane Wilma. This is as hardcore as hurricanes get in Ireland. It rains. Everyday is a motherfucking hurricane in that case then.
So, I got soaked on the way home from work. It's kind of my own fault though, because my 'way home from work' involved looking for a Cleopatra costume with Izzy, buying a dress as close to what Courtney Love would wear for my own Hallowe'en purposes, calling into Sarah as she began work, going to the Asian market to buy jasmine tea, buying Softmints that I didn't need on Grafton Street and walking leisurely to the bus stop listening to 'Fuck Forever' by Babyshambles on my ipod. In the spirit of things, I mentally changed the lyrics to 'fuck the weather.' Genius.
listening to: The Clash - 'The Right Profile'
At least I just got wet, and not attacked by bears like Brad Pitt:
Brad vs. bears.
The Enquirer says that Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and her children were heading home to his hideaway in the Calgary wilderness when they heard "scary noises coming from inside!" Thinking he'd caught a burglar or paparazzo, "Brad hustled Ange and kiddies into the car, tiptoed back to the house, barged in bravely and … ROARRR! … suddenly came snout-to-snout with two burly black bears who were rampaging around his kitchen! Brad back-pedaled fast, slammed the door and high-tailed it to the car!" Turns out they had been attracted to his kitchen by the food they smelled in there, and Pitt reportedly had to endure a lecture from the Canuck police about keeping his doors and windows locked.
Angelina would've saved him if things got too hairy, I reckon.
listening to: Sambassadeur - 'Between The Lines'
DO NOT go and see 'Guy X'. Me and Sarah went to see it last Saturday and it is truly the worst movie of all time.
I was all out of ideas for articles this week for some reason, which has put me in a bad mood. And I love Hallowe'en, but I wasn't feeling Hallowe'eneee at ALL. But then lovely Kevin at work bought me a mini pumpkin (A REAL ONE) for the top of my computer, so I felt a bit more festive then.
listening to: Dogs Die In Hot Cars - 'Lounger'
But next week shall be fun. Apart from the fact that I am preparing my brain to be a NEWS MACHINE so I can have a good week at work (this involves saying to myself over and over again - THINK OF STUFF UNA YOU DUMBASS), Monday (no work!) is Sarah's Birthday Part I. Fancy dress Hallowe'en fun - yay! Tuesday (no work!) is my graduation and Sarah's Birthday Part II. Wednesday night is the Graduation Ball and on Thursday I have a late morning, so I should be sorted by then. Or dead.
listening to: The New Pornographers - 'Use It'
If you like Slurpees, you should read this article by one of my journo HEROES David Amsden
listening to: The National - 'Wasp Nest'
Medea so go see them!
Una
It's raining. Hard. It's funny how Irish people never actually get used to the rain, despite the fact that it pisses down about 14 times a day. And that's just in the summer. Instead, taxis, roof smoking terraces, phonecalls to your mother and sticky pubs are filled with shocked rain-hating conversations. "It's desperate, isn't it?" "Yeah, shite." This time, it's apparantly the last breath of Hurricane Wilma. This is as hardcore as hurricanes get in Ireland. It rains. Everyday is a motherfucking hurricane in that case then.
So, I got soaked on the way home from work. It's kind of my own fault though, because my 'way home from work' involved looking for a Cleopatra costume with Izzy, buying a dress as close to what Courtney Love would wear for my own Hallowe'en purposes, calling into Sarah as she began work, going to the Asian market to buy jasmine tea, buying Softmints that I didn't need on Grafton Street and walking leisurely to the bus stop listening to 'Fuck Forever' by Babyshambles on my ipod. In the spirit of things, I mentally changed the lyrics to 'fuck the weather.' Genius.
listening to: The Clash - 'The Right Profile'
At least I just got wet, and not attacked by bears like Brad Pitt:
Brad vs. bears.
The Enquirer says that Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and her children were heading home to his hideaway in the Calgary wilderness when they heard "scary noises coming from inside!" Thinking he'd caught a burglar or paparazzo, "Brad hustled Ange and kiddies into the car, tiptoed back to the house, barged in bravely and … ROARRR! … suddenly came snout-to-snout with two burly black bears who were rampaging around his kitchen! Brad back-pedaled fast, slammed the door and high-tailed it to the car!" Turns out they had been attracted to his kitchen by the food they smelled in there, and Pitt reportedly had to endure a lecture from the Canuck police about keeping his doors and windows locked.
Angelina would've saved him if things got too hairy, I reckon.
listening to: Sambassadeur - 'Between The Lines'
DO NOT go and see 'Guy X'. Me and Sarah went to see it last Saturday and it is truly the worst movie of all time.
Guy X: shit
I was all out of ideas for articles this week for some reason, which has put me in a bad mood. And I love Hallowe'en, but I wasn't feeling Hallowe'eneee at ALL. But then lovely Kevin at work bought me a mini pumpkin (A REAL ONE) for the top of my computer, so I felt a bit more festive then.
listening to: Dogs Die In Hot Cars - 'Lounger'
But next week shall be fun. Apart from the fact that I am preparing my brain to be a NEWS MACHINE so I can have a good week at work (this involves saying to myself over and over again - THINK OF STUFF UNA YOU DUMBASS), Monday (no work!) is Sarah's Birthday Part I. Fancy dress Hallowe'en fun - yay! Tuesday (no work!) is my graduation and Sarah's Birthday Part II. Wednesday night is the Graduation Ball and on Thursday I have a late morning, so I should be sorted by then. Or dead.
listening to: The New Pornographers - 'Use It'
If you like Slurpees, you should read this article by one of my journo HEROES David Amsden
listening to: The National - 'Wasp Nest'
I am looking forward to seeing The National play Whelan's in November. If you're not into them yet, you should be.
listening to: Arcade Fire - 'Jingle Bell Rock'
Playing the day after The National are
Medea so go see them!
Una
Gigs This Week in Dublin
Sunday 30th
Unabombers @ The Sugar Club
Zrazy @ The George
Hallowe'en Fake & DEAF DJ Weekender @ Hogans
Decal and Bird On Wire @ International
Belle Monde @ Solas
Pendulum @ Temple Bar Muaic Centre
Godskitchen @ The Point
Goldie @ Traffic
Monday 31st
The Urges @ Eamonn Dorans
Tuesday 1st
Mylo @ Ambassador
Wednesday 2nd
Niall James Holohan @ Pravda
Miriam Ingram @ Temple Bar Music Centre
Thursday 3rd
Sinead O'Connor with Sly & Robbie @ The Helix
The Mighty Stef @ Soul 28
Soul Food @ Bia Bar
Friday 4th
Lost @ The Sugar Club
Tracy Chapman @ The Point
Saturday 5th
Dublin Gospel Choir @ The Sugar Club
Cut Copy @ Spirit
Humanzi @ Temple Bar Music Centre
The Kitchen Reunion @ The Vaults
Sunday 6th
Matt Lunson @ Temple Bar Music Centre
Sunday Roast @ Bia Bar
Belle Monde @ Solas
European IFT DJ Championships @ The Sugar Club
Unabombers @ The Sugar Club
Zrazy @ The George
Hallowe'en Fake & DEAF DJ Weekender @ Hogans
Decal and Bird On Wire @ International
Belle Monde @ Solas
Pendulum @ Temple Bar Muaic Centre
Godskitchen @ The Point
Goldie @ Traffic
Monday 31st
The Urges @ Eamonn Dorans
Tuesday 1st
Mylo @ Ambassador
Wednesday 2nd
Niall James Holohan @ Pravda
Miriam Ingram @ Temple Bar Music Centre
Thursday 3rd
Sinead O'Connor with Sly & Robbie @ The Helix
The Mighty Stef @ Soul 28
Soul Food @ Bia Bar
Friday 4th
Lost @ The Sugar Club
Tracy Chapman @ The Point
Saturday 5th
Dublin Gospel Choir @ The Sugar Club
Cut Copy @ Spirit
Humanzi @ Temple Bar Music Centre
The Kitchen Reunion @ The Vaults
Sunday 6th
Matt Lunson @ Temple Bar Music Centre
Sunday Roast @ Bia Bar
Belle Monde @ Solas
European IFT DJ Championships @ The Sugar Club
Friday, October 28, 2005
blog wars are fun
i love blog wars!
sitting in sarah and corinas and antos flat swapping comments of the lowest demoninator of insults, via commenting on blogs.
ah, how far has our civilisation evolved...
by the way, I interviewed Darcus Howe (if you dont know who he is, google him) yesterday. I will publish the full transcript soon.....
good night world
PS: BURCO: sorry I couldnt hear you on the phone this eve, something was up with the sound. Talk soon xxx
Una
sitting in sarah and corinas and antos flat swapping comments of the lowest demoninator of insults, via commenting on blogs.
ah, how far has our civilisation evolved...
by the way, I interviewed Darcus Howe (if you dont know who he is, google him) yesterday. I will publish the full transcript soon.....
good night world
PS: BURCO: sorry I couldnt hear you on the phone this eve, something was up with the sound. Talk soon xxx
Una
Thursday, October 27, 2005
YO YO YO
"My sexy ass has got you in a new dimension"
Sarah and I have decided that this is our favourite Sugababes lyric.
Tonight we went to Helen from the Tribune's book launch 'What Lies Beneath' in the underwear dept of Brown Thomas. yay! Fun. Loads of West Coast Coolers (with straws)
Then to Bia Bar for some Cosmos, and then to the party that did not happen in Sam Sara.
Then Corina the legend got bottlesof wine from her restaurant (that we are drinking now. Yay!)
Una
Sarah and I have decided that this is our favourite Sugababes lyric.
Tonight we went to Helen from the Tribune's book launch 'What Lies Beneath' in the underwear dept of Brown Thomas. yay! Fun. Loads of West Coast Coolers (with straws)
Then to Bia Bar for some Cosmos, and then to the party that did not happen in Sam Sara.
Then Corina the legend got bottlesof wine from her restaurant (that we are drinking now. Yay!)
Una
Monday, October 24, 2005
Congradulations to THE KILLER!
Congradulations to the Killer who won a fancy dress party in Barcelona thanks to his fantastic Buddist Monk constume.
Nice one Killer!
Also, the Killer has a new record out on Takeover Records - I shall be revealing more details as them come
Una
fuckin' 'ell
Arctic Monkeys are number 1 in the UK singles chart with 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor'.
didn't see that one coming...
didn't see that one coming...
Numero Uno
Mercury Rev and JJ72
listening to: Babyshambles - 'Pipedown'
Mercury Rev and JJ72 play together at the Shepard's Bush Empire on December 8th, so here are both bands interviewed in preperation:
MERCURY (STILL) RISING
Six albums in, and things are only getting better for Mercury Rev, who play two consecutive dates in Vicar Street. Una Mullally had some face time with front man Jonathon Donahue.
Jonathon Donahue is deep. He may not look it, hugging a bar table and forking chocolate cake to his mouth in sharp wrist movements, but his very stature and movements single him out as different. He is not at one with those around him - even his band mates - always positioned an extra one inch outside the accepted personal space, slightly protruding from the landscape of surroundings. There are many types of musicians, but as a general if sloppy rule, they can be split into two groups. Those who struggle to write music, and those who struggle to extract the music from their very selves. Donahue belongs to the artistic latter.
When I ask him how he feels, a dramatic “divine” is the answer. Every sentence begins light-heartedly and flippant, before plunging into an unexpected depths. When he leans in to talk, there is no easy decline from small talk to profundity; he skips steps and whole staircases, falling straight into meanings of magnitude. On their sixth album, “The Secret Migration” Mercury Rev are facing more critical acclaim than ever, not that Donahue saw it coming. He believes that no artist worth their salt can predict how their art may be seen, “you get so far into your own perspective, your own struggle to get the stuff out of you, that you really can’t take in an awful lot of prophesising or predicting,” he smarts. “It’s often why for a lot of artists - especially the good ones – the stuff that we love is not always the stuff that the public at large enjoys and visa versa; the stuff that the public may be rather blasé about is stuff that means an awful lot to us. And I don’t mean specifically Mercury Rev, but just artists in general, authors, painters. And I don’t know why that is, it’s probably because we see each other differently. The way I see myself is sometimes at odds with the way the public sees me. Sometimes.”
Perspective is a big issue with Donahue; putting things in it and examining the very nature of it. Mercury Rev was a mess after their first UK tour thanks to “a lot of strong personalities” and it all nearly never went further than that set of shambolic shows. What kept the band together was Donahue’s friendship with his band mate Grasshopper. Donahue speaks of an exceptionally special resonance between the two. Both were determined not to sacrifice that friendship for the band. It transpired that such a promise worked to make the band stronger in order to keep the friendship, “you can’t put that (friendship) aside and say ‘well, we’re really not talking but we’ll just make a record together for the fuck of it with a big publishing cheque,” explains Donahue earnestly, “ultimately, you make the choice for friendship. Music can come and go, but it’s the friendships you have that can pull you through the darkest times.” This is the case Donahue makes, but the persistent commitment to friendship is echoed in the perseverance of Mercury Rev as a band.
This work ethic stems from the bands that Donahue respects the most, namely Sonic Youth, who through thick, thin and trend have continued to create the music they love. It is a journey Donahue aspires to, using the ever-changing vogue as a template to sculpt around and not within, “we’ve been in and out of fashion,” he mutters knowingly. Of course, it is the quality of the music that ultimately dictates the trend itself, which is why, now, Mercury Rev sneak once again from outside the musical radar of zeitgeist to relevance. Donahue doesn’t care for ‘relevance’. He views the attempts to latch onto a current sound or trend as a tricky game to play, saying, “it’s a lot more sincere to just, what’s in you let it come out.”
As intimating as Donahue may initially appear, his honesty breaks down any barrier. Yes, he describes touring metaphorically in terms of guitar strings, and connecting with an audience as “a universal vibration that doesn’t get stopped at customs”, but it seems his ambitions are not as grandiose as his turn of phrase, “you do the best you can. Not every song is meant to change the world or change someone else’s life. Some of them are just a really good way of saying ‘hey, how was your day? Chin up.’”
FOX ROCK
In 2003, one of Ireland’s most successful rock bands was criss-crossing the globe on the strength of a deep second album that was struggling to match the mass appeal of their debut. Their dynamic was a songwriter with a stunning ability to sew melody, climax and earnestness into a hit record, a drummer who said little and hit hard, and a bassist whose name matched ‘ice queen’ in journalistic shorthand. The bass player, Hillary Woods, became road weary and left the band. At a Harvest Ministers gig in Whelans, JJ72’s Mark Greaney and Fergal ‘Gus’ Mathews saw Sarah Fox play bass and set in motion meetings and auditions, and a process that culminated in Fox, a harpist by trade, joining the band.
The first records Sarah Fox heard were Willie Nelson and Kenny Rogers. Her parents weren’t country and music fans per se, but that’s what she remembers. “The first album cover I remember was a Blondie one. With the black and white lines, and she’s wearing those green shoes. I used to listen to that with my Dad’s massive headphones with the coil wire, sitting next to the record player.” There wasn’t much to do out on the prairies of Saskatewan and her parents signed her up for gymnastics, swimming, dance classes, and music lessons. “One of my early dancing memories was at this tap dance year end recital. I was wearing this butterfly thing and doing shuffle tip tap bippity bop or whatever and my shoe went flying off. Out of the entire audience, it hit my father.” Fox doesn’t dance these days.
The music took prominance and she explains how, aged five, she took up clarinet and harp, forsaking both of them during a Toronto-induced Goth phase to teach herself bass, before taking the harp seriously enough to become an internationally accomplished musician. Her words fall slowly and purposefully, dragged out by erratic hand movements, as though swatting invisible insects. More than once, words escape her, “fuck! How do I answer that?” she will ask herself, peering around her living room to one of many references to her shark fixation; ornaments, stuffed toy, posters. She begins the interview distracted, bringing me to her Temple Bar apartment to feed her goldfish ‘One’ and ‘Two’, then to eat orange jelly. Just before we’re set to begin, another nervous tangent, “do you want some porridge?” Kinda. “Let’s do it,” she whispers, and proceeds to lecture me from the kitchen, “porridge rocks. There’s nothing better than porridge. It sets you up for the whole day,” before grinning, “put that in your article.”
Her uneasy energy evaporates when JJ72 is mentioned, a subject Fox speaks eloquently on. Things weren’t so easy in the beginning. Faced with the task of replacing a popular band member, an excitable press and JJ72’s fans made their initially disgruntled and derogatory attitude known, “I’ve been through all the comparisons,” Fox grits, “right now, I think they’re comparing our boobs and butts. It’s amazing how people will concentrate on those things but that’s the danger of being a woman in a band. But now,” she pauses and lets a sideways smile, as always, creep through, “now I know that we’ve become such a great live band it’s pretty fuckin’ good. I’m not just a chick, I’m a contender in the music stakes.” A quick look at JJ72’s numerous fan message boards reinforces the respect Fox has earned, with fans commending her performances after every gig. “What’s importance to us is our closeness. I love playing with Mark and Gus, and sometimes it feels like it’s the three of us against the world. That closeness is important. The music will speak for itself, because it’s so good.” Mark Greaney has spoken recently about how the band’s desire to make the best music they can has driven this third album. Fox says you can hear the camaraderie on the record. Recent live reviews have been astonishing, almost over the top (until the superlatives are justified upon witnessing a live performance). And for all the non-believers and detractors, JJ72 answered with a storming gig at the Village mid July, with Fox’s accomplished musicianship adding a new density. The upcoming single, ‘Coming Home’ along with the album tracks ‘Radio’ and the radiant ‘Take From Me’ pierced brighter than anything that went before, honed on the road this summer at festival appearances at Download, Wireless in Hyde Park, Turkey and outside Prague.
Turkey remains a prized gig, “playing gigs like that make moments where the three of us are just best friends. Playing on a cliff overlooking the Black Sea at sunset, it’s ridiculous how good that was. You think ‘how the hell did I get here,’” she chirps, shrinking in the awe of memory. Later, drinking whiskey from a plastic shark cup, Fox liberates how much this band means to her, revealing how she has experienced moments of elation and transcendence on stage with this band, where she doesn’t even know where she is, lost. “It’s the kind of thing that has only happened a few times. Once, with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and during a few gigs with the JJs. I used to think you had to pull rock moves, and I do sometimes. But after one gig on the last tour it just happened on stage and we came off thinking ‘oh, that’s what we’re meant to be doing,’” Fox laughs in remembrance. Since then, the band has ‘done’ just that, clicking live and elevating the band and the music to a commanding and compelling mould.
The next day, Fox is making the most of her (ice-cream and candy floss-filled) photo shoot, before leaving for a ten-city 72-hour radio and press tour of Britain. She calls to Corina, the stylist, not knowing what to “do with” her arms or legs and pulls uncertain faces, bending the edges of her mouth down. The photos come when she just decides to laugh, looking out to sea, where the sharks swim. The jumble of her behaviour combines an intense urge to relate how much JJ72 means to its band members, how proud they are of the material (and at times her honesty is striking, vunerable and leaking with sentiment) before flipping into a joyous surrealism. What does she think about last thing at night, “um,” he chin tilts, and I expect a deep musical revelation, “cheese? Though, recently it has been my pet fish,” she leans back, satisfied.
Since this interview, ‘One’ the goldfish gave up his ghost. RIP.
www.mercuryrev.net / www.jj72.com
Book Tickets
Una
Mercury Rev and JJ72 play together at the Shepard's Bush Empire on December 8th, so here are both bands interviewed in preperation:
MERCURY (STILL) RISING
Six albums in, and things are only getting better for Mercury Rev, who play two consecutive dates in Vicar Street. Una Mullally had some face time with front man Jonathon Donahue.
Jonathon Donahue is deep. He may not look it, hugging a bar table and forking chocolate cake to his mouth in sharp wrist movements, but his very stature and movements single him out as different. He is not at one with those around him - even his band mates - always positioned an extra one inch outside the accepted personal space, slightly protruding from the landscape of surroundings. There are many types of musicians, but as a general if sloppy rule, they can be split into two groups. Those who struggle to write music, and those who struggle to extract the music from their very selves. Donahue belongs to the artistic latter.
When I ask him how he feels, a dramatic “divine” is the answer. Every sentence begins light-heartedly and flippant, before plunging into an unexpected depths. When he leans in to talk, there is no easy decline from small talk to profundity; he skips steps and whole staircases, falling straight into meanings of magnitude. On their sixth album, “The Secret Migration” Mercury Rev are facing more critical acclaim than ever, not that Donahue saw it coming. He believes that no artist worth their salt can predict how their art may be seen, “you get so far into your own perspective, your own struggle to get the stuff out of you, that you really can’t take in an awful lot of prophesising or predicting,” he smarts. “It’s often why for a lot of artists - especially the good ones – the stuff that we love is not always the stuff that the public at large enjoys and visa versa; the stuff that the public may be rather blasé about is stuff that means an awful lot to us. And I don’t mean specifically Mercury Rev, but just artists in general, authors, painters. And I don’t know why that is, it’s probably because we see each other differently. The way I see myself is sometimes at odds with the way the public sees me. Sometimes.”
Perspective is a big issue with Donahue; putting things in it and examining the very nature of it. Mercury Rev was a mess after their first UK tour thanks to “a lot of strong personalities” and it all nearly never went further than that set of shambolic shows. What kept the band together was Donahue’s friendship with his band mate Grasshopper. Donahue speaks of an exceptionally special resonance between the two. Both were determined not to sacrifice that friendship for the band. It transpired that such a promise worked to make the band stronger in order to keep the friendship, “you can’t put that (friendship) aside and say ‘well, we’re really not talking but we’ll just make a record together for the fuck of it with a big publishing cheque,” explains Donahue earnestly, “ultimately, you make the choice for friendship. Music can come and go, but it’s the friendships you have that can pull you through the darkest times.” This is the case Donahue makes, but the persistent commitment to friendship is echoed in the perseverance of Mercury Rev as a band.
This work ethic stems from the bands that Donahue respects the most, namely Sonic Youth, who through thick, thin and trend have continued to create the music they love. It is a journey Donahue aspires to, using the ever-changing vogue as a template to sculpt around and not within, “we’ve been in and out of fashion,” he mutters knowingly. Of course, it is the quality of the music that ultimately dictates the trend itself, which is why, now, Mercury Rev sneak once again from outside the musical radar of zeitgeist to relevance. Donahue doesn’t care for ‘relevance’. He views the attempts to latch onto a current sound or trend as a tricky game to play, saying, “it’s a lot more sincere to just, what’s in you let it come out.”
As intimating as Donahue may initially appear, his honesty breaks down any barrier. Yes, he describes touring metaphorically in terms of guitar strings, and connecting with an audience as “a universal vibration that doesn’t get stopped at customs”, but it seems his ambitions are not as grandiose as his turn of phrase, “you do the best you can. Not every song is meant to change the world or change someone else’s life. Some of them are just a really good way of saying ‘hey, how was your day? Chin up.’”
FOX ROCK
In 2003, one of Ireland’s most successful rock bands was criss-crossing the globe on the strength of a deep second album that was struggling to match the mass appeal of their debut. Their dynamic was a songwriter with a stunning ability to sew melody, climax and earnestness into a hit record, a drummer who said little and hit hard, and a bassist whose name matched ‘ice queen’ in journalistic shorthand. The bass player, Hillary Woods, became road weary and left the band. At a Harvest Ministers gig in Whelans, JJ72’s Mark Greaney and Fergal ‘Gus’ Mathews saw Sarah Fox play bass and set in motion meetings and auditions, and a process that culminated in Fox, a harpist by trade, joining the band.
The first records Sarah Fox heard were Willie Nelson and Kenny Rogers. Her parents weren’t country and music fans per se, but that’s what she remembers. “The first album cover I remember was a Blondie one. With the black and white lines, and she’s wearing those green shoes. I used to listen to that with my Dad’s massive headphones with the coil wire, sitting next to the record player.” There wasn’t much to do out on the prairies of Saskatewan and her parents signed her up for gymnastics, swimming, dance classes, and music lessons. “One of my early dancing memories was at this tap dance year end recital. I was wearing this butterfly thing and doing shuffle tip tap bippity bop or whatever and my shoe went flying off. Out of the entire audience, it hit my father.” Fox doesn’t dance these days.
The music took prominance and she explains how, aged five, she took up clarinet and harp, forsaking both of them during a Toronto-induced Goth phase to teach herself bass, before taking the harp seriously enough to become an internationally accomplished musician. Her words fall slowly and purposefully, dragged out by erratic hand movements, as though swatting invisible insects. More than once, words escape her, “fuck! How do I answer that?” she will ask herself, peering around her living room to one of many references to her shark fixation; ornaments, stuffed toy, posters. She begins the interview distracted, bringing me to her Temple Bar apartment to feed her goldfish ‘One’ and ‘Two’, then to eat orange jelly. Just before we’re set to begin, another nervous tangent, “do you want some porridge?” Kinda. “Let’s do it,” she whispers, and proceeds to lecture me from the kitchen, “porridge rocks. There’s nothing better than porridge. It sets you up for the whole day,” before grinning, “put that in your article.”
Her uneasy energy evaporates when JJ72 is mentioned, a subject Fox speaks eloquently on. Things weren’t so easy in the beginning. Faced with the task of replacing a popular band member, an excitable press and JJ72’s fans made their initially disgruntled and derogatory attitude known, “I’ve been through all the comparisons,” Fox grits, “right now, I think they’re comparing our boobs and butts. It’s amazing how people will concentrate on those things but that’s the danger of being a woman in a band. But now,” she pauses and lets a sideways smile, as always, creep through, “now I know that we’ve become such a great live band it’s pretty fuckin’ good. I’m not just a chick, I’m a contender in the music stakes.” A quick look at JJ72’s numerous fan message boards reinforces the respect Fox has earned, with fans commending her performances after every gig. “What’s importance to us is our closeness. I love playing with Mark and Gus, and sometimes it feels like it’s the three of us against the world. That closeness is important. The music will speak for itself, because it’s so good.” Mark Greaney has spoken recently about how the band’s desire to make the best music they can has driven this third album. Fox says you can hear the camaraderie on the record. Recent live reviews have been astonishing, almost over the top (until the superlatives are justified upon witnessing a live performance). And for all the non-believers and detractors, JJ72 answered with a storming gig at the Village mid July, with Fox’s accomplished musicianship adding a new density. The upcoming single, ‘Coming Home’ along with the album tracks ‘Radio’ and the radiant ‘Take From Me’ pierced brighter than anything that went before, honed on the road this summer at festival appearances at Download, Wireless in Hyde Park, Turkey and outside Prague.
Turkey remains a prized gig, “playing gigs like that make moments where the three of us are just best friends. Playing on a cliff overlooking the Black Sea at sunset, it’s ridiculous how good that was. You think ‘how the hell did I get here,’” she chirps, shrinking in the awe of memory. Later, drinking whiskey from a plastic shark cup, Fox liberates how much this band means to her, revealing how she has experienced moments of elation and transcendence on stage with this band, where she doesn’t even know where she is, lost. “It’s the kind of thing that has only happened a few times. Once, with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and during a few gigs with the JJs. I used to think you had to pull rock moves, and I do sometimes. But after one gig on the last tour it just happened on stage and we came off thinking ‘oh, that’s what we’re meant to be doing,’” Fox laughs in remembrance. Since then, the band has ‘done’ just that, clicking live and elevating the band and the music to a commanding and compelling mould.
The next day, Fox is making the most of her (ice-cream and candy floss-filled) photo shoot, before leaving for a ten-city 72-hour radio and press tour of Britain. She calls to Corina, the stylist, not knowing what to “do with” her arms or legs and pulls uncertain faces, bending the edges of her mouth down. The photos come when she just decides to laugh, looking out to sea, where the sharks swim. The jumble of her behaviour combines an intense urge to relate how much JJ72 means to its band members, how proud they are of the material (and at times her honesty is striking, vunerable and leaking with sentiment) before flipping into a joyous surrealism. What does she think about last thing at night, “um,” he chin tilts, and I expect a deep musical revelation, “cheese? Though, recently it has been my pet fish,” she leans back, satisfied.
Since this interview, ‘One’ the goldfish gave up his ghost. RIP.
www.mercuryrev.net / www.jj72.com
Book Tickets
Una
A Very Arcade Fire Christmas
HAPPY CHRISTMAS! (almost)
Christmas comes early with this selection of Christmas songs recorded by the Arcade Fire in 2002. Sounds like they've had too much egg nog.
Tracks include - Chesnuts Roasting, Oh Holy Night, Headlights and Jinglebell Rock, and a bunch of others.
Enjoy.
Arcade Fire - 'The Christmas Album"
Una
Christmas comes early with this selection of Christmas songs recorded by the Arcade Fire in 2002. Sounds like they've had too much egg nog.
Tracks include - Chesnuts Roasting, Oh Holy Night, Headlights and Jinglebell Rock, and a bunch of others.
Enjoy.
Una
Dirty Dozen
Here's a bonus Dirty Dozen considering I didn't post for 2 weeks.
All about the compensation bitches:
My Morning Jacket - 'Z' (album)
The Go Team - 'Get It Together'
Mountain Goats - 'Nine Black Poppies'
The Secret Machines - 'Breathe'
Beck - 'I Get Lonesome'
Elliott Smith - 'Basement II Demos' (22 songs)
Electric Six - 'Gay Bar'
Fallout Boy - 'From Under the Cork Tree' (album)
Live 8
The Jam - 'Going Underground'
The Ramones - 'Blitzkrieg Bop' (live, New Jersey 1987)
Arcade Fire - 'Jinglebell Rock'
Una
All about the compensation bitches:
Una
Babyshambles - 'Down In Albion'
Track Listing
————-
01. La Belle Et La Bête
02. Fuck Forever
03. Á Rebours
04. The 32 Of December
05. Pipedown
06. Sticks & Stones
07. Killamangiro
08. 8 Dead Boys
09. In Love With A Feeling
10. Pentonville
11. What Katy Did Next
12. Albion
13. Back From The Dead
14. Loyalty Song
15. Up The Morning
16. Merry Go Round
Download it
Thanks a lot to the UnaRocks reader who posted the links under my Strokes post.
Una
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Is This My Favourite Song?
Is 'Do You Remember The First Time' by Pulp my favourite song? I've always been afraid to admit having a favourite anything, because it's a bit of a Francis Fukuyama End Of History moment, isn't it? "Thus far and no further". Etc. But I don't know, maybe it is.
You say you've got to go home
cos he's sitting on his own again this evening.
I know you're gonna let him bore your pants off again.
Oh God, it's half past eight,you'll be late.
But you say you've never been sure,
Though it makes good sense for you to live together.
Still you bought a toy that can reach the places he never goes.
and now it's getting late.
He's so straight.
Do you remember the first time?
I can't remember a worse time.
But you know that we've changed so much since then, oh yeah, we've grown.
Now I don't care what you're doing,
No I don't care if you screw him.
Just as long as you save a piece for me, oh yeah
You say you've got to go home.
Well at least there's someone there that you can talk to.
And you never have to face up to the night on your own.
Jesus, it must be great to be straight.
Do you remember the first time?
I can't remember a worse time.
But you know that we've changed so much since then, oh yeah, we've grown.
Now I don't care what you're doing,
No I don't care if you screw him.
Just as long as you save a piece for me, oh yeah
you wanna go home
Like most of Pulp's stuff, it's intentionally retrospective. It's a pretty neat songwriting mechanism to fish from the past to illustrate present feelings, yet still, because it's detailing past events, there's that insecure buffer zone of disconnecting the emotions, and passing them off as something that has gone by, even though, perhaps, it hasn't.
Most of Pulp's stuff, and especially this, is dispairing. It's fatalistic, usually drawing on social inadaquacies that are painfully true. It's embarrassing, it's real. And as always, it can be self-loathing and dramatic, because the lyrics are an internal monologue that are generally self-depreciating and oh so teenage.
As usual, the sexual ambiguity told from a female perspective details the male's failing at providing anything near a satisfaction. It's a reference to the own singer's guilt via the association of gender. Another self-inflicting wound. The desperation in pubescent cat-calls of "I don't care" are typically paradoxical.
Peers? Cocker shares the same fatalism and acceptance of the mediocrity as Douglas Coupland - rigidly unhappy, but perceptive enough to know that there's no way out. The frankness of the sexual references, while narrating frustration, are a bit Michel Houlbeque-esque.
And I still haven't figured out why it may be my favourite song. Maybe it's the sense of failure "you wanna go home." Because we all do, right? Even when we're always there. 'Home' the representation of some kind of defeated happiness is where we really want to get with. Like a drunk head on a 4am pillow, or the greasey-haired atmosphere of airport arrivals. The relief of reaching somewhere where you go thus far, and no further, however defeatist and anti-progressive is where we want to go.
I need to get something for this insomnia
Una
listening to: Pulp - 'Do You Remember the First Time?'
You say you've got to go home
cos he's sitting on his own again this evening.
I know you're gonna let him bore your pants off again.
Oh God, it's half past eight,you'll be late.
But you say you've never been sure,
Though it makes good sense for you to live together.
Still you bought a toy that can reach the places he never goes.
and now it's getting late.
He's so straight.
Do you remember the first time?
I can't remember a worse time.
But you know that we've changed so much since then, oh yeah, we've grown.
Now I don't care what you're doing,
No I don't care if you screw him.
Just as long as you save a piece for me, oh yeah
You say you've got to go home.
Well at least there's someone there that you can talk to.
And you never have to face up to the night on your own.
Jesus, it must be great to be straight.
Do you remember the first time?
I can't remember a worse time.
But you know that we've changed so much since then, oh yeah, we've grown.
Now I don't care what you're doing,
No I don't care if you screw him.
Just as long as you save a piece for me, oh yeah
you wanna go home
Like most of Pulp's stuff, it's intentionally retrospective. It's a pretty neat songwriting mechanism to fish from the past to illustrate present feelings, yet still, because it's detailing past events, there's that insecure buffer zone of disconnecting the emotions, and passing them off as something that has gone by, even though, perhaps, it hasn't.
Most of Pulp's stuff, and especially this, is dispairing. It's fatalistic, usually drawing on social inadaquacies that are painfully true. It's embarrassing, it's real. And as always, it can be self-loathing and dramatic, because the lyrics are an internal monologue that are generally self-depreciating and oh so teenage.
As usual, the sexual ambiguity told from a female perspective details the male's failing at providing anything near a satisfaction. It's a reference to the own singer's guilt via the association of gender. Another self-inflicting wound. The desperation in pubescent cat-calls of "I don't care" are typically paradoxical.
Peers? Cocker shares the same fatalism and acceptance of the mediocrity as Douglas Coupland - rigidly unhappy, but perceptive enough to know that there's no way out. The frankness of the sexual references, while narrating frustration, are a bit Michel Houlbeque-esque.
And I still haven't figured out why it may be my favourite song. Maybe it's the sense of failure "you wanna go home." Because we all do, right? Even when we're always there. 'Home' the representation of some kind of defeated happiness is where we really want to get with. Like a drunk head on a 4am pillow, or the greasey-haired atmosphere of airport arrivals. The relief of reaching somewhere where you go thus far, and no further, however defeatist and anti-progressive is where we want to go.
I need to get something for this insomnia
Una
listening to: Pulp - 'Do You Remember the First Time?'
Old Skool photees
Here are some old skool photos I've just come across while wandering through my computer.
Mark Kozelek
I was just listening to Sun Kil Moon, as I tend to do weekly and thought I'd post this old interview with Mark Kozelek who I truly adore.
ALMOST FAMOUS
Mark Kozelek may be better known for his time with Red House Painters, but subsequent incarnations have offered music of a far higher calibre. He returns to Europe following a tour with Sun Kil Moon he didn’t particularly enjoy, taking some time out for a rare interview with Una Mullally.
A few weeks ago, the father of one of Mark Kozelek’s friends died. At the funeral, all the people he had known came together. Some got up to speak and Kozelek himself played the funereal music. In an odd way, it was very beautiful. It is indicative of Kozelek’s spirit that this anecdote is the reply to a question on what memory of the recent past does he most treasure. It’s not a matter of beauty in the mundane, but a moment of quiet splendour in an outline otherwise filled with sadness. As with Kozelek’s songs, here lies a constant battle over what will overshadow what, the vaguely beautiful or the utterly sad.
Nowhere is this seen more than in Sun Kil Moon’s last record, “Ghosts Of The Great Highway”, a regretful and helpless ode to all the things that have been done. “I worked really hard on that record,” sighs Kozelek in his distinctively unusual manner of speaking, a mixture of drawl and grind. “It took a year and a half. It was a cathartic experience and it’s going to be a while before I have that amount of songs again.” There is always a weariness in Kozelek. Some say he is awkward, abrupt, but on this second occasion of us talking, his grace and gentility are once again marked.
This voyage to Europe comes after a less than successful run with Sun Kil Moon, about which Kozelek makes a point of honesty, “I was disappointed. The tour wasn’t promoted well. We had just toured the US and had a lot of success. It didn’t translate well to a lot of the other countries.” This time around, the financial strain of a full band is ridded, “with my own name, I do OK. Financially, it works out pretty good.” As he has voiced on a previous occasion, Kozelek dislikes the hassle of touring; the practicalities of travelling and the contradicting effect on his psyche, “it’s really hard,” you can sense him physically shifting, “it’s an odd experience. It’s a really extreme dynamic between playing a show and for those few hours you’re an important person in your own little universe and then the weird extreme of the next day when you’re getting a cab and queuing at the airport. It’s a pain in the ass to do that every day. And then you just have to go back to be a regular person when you’re done.”
It seems many things in Kozelek’s life hold this contradicting exertion. His songs are laden with striking riffs and mourning melodies and lyrics telling of nothing but life. To speak to, he seems on the brink of vulnerability, perhaps a man just short of satisfaction. Fittingly, his New Year resolution was to find happiness and “nothing specific.” He and his songs are not complaining, but lethargically honest, and in an odd way, very beautiful.
Una
listening to: Brand New - 'Me V Madonna V Elvis'
ALMOST FAMOUS
Mark Kozelek may be better known for his time with Red House Painters, but subsequent incarnations have offered music of a far higher calibre. He returns to Europe following a tour with Sun Kil Moon he didn’t particularly enjoy, taking some time out for a rare interview with Una Mullally.
A few weeks ago, the father of one of Mark Kozelek’s friends died. At the funeral, all the people he had known came together. Some got up to speak and Kozelek himself played the funereal music. In an odd way, it was very beautiful. It is indicative of Kozelek’s spirit that this anecdote is the reply to a question on what memory of the recent past does he most treasure. It’s not a matter of beauty in the mundane, but a moment of quiet splendour in an outline otherwise filled with sadness. As with Kozelek’s songs, here lies a constant battle over what will overshadow what, the vaguely beautiful or the utterly sad.
Nowhere is this seen more than in Sun Kil Moon’s last record, “Ghosts Of The Great Highway”, a regretful and helpless ode to all the things that have been done. “I worked really hard on that record,” sighs Kozelek in his distinctively unusual manner of speaking, a mixture of drawl and grind. “It took a year and a half. It was a cathartic experience and it’s going to be a while before I have that amount of songs again.” There is always a weariness in Kozelek. Some say he is awkward, abrupt, but on this second occasion of us talking, his grace and gentility are once again marked.
This voyage to Europe comes after a less than successful run with Sun Kil Moon, about which Kozelek makes a point of honesty, “I was disappointed. The tour wasn’t promoted well. We had just toured the US and had a lot of success. It didn’t translate well to a lot of the other countries.” This time around, the financial strain of a full band is ridded, “with my own name, I do OK. Financially, it works out pretty good.” As he has voiced on a previous occasion, Kozelek dislikes the hassle of touring; the practicalities of travelling and the contradicting effect on his psyche, “it’s really hard,” you can sense him physically shifting, “it’s an odd experience. It’s a really extreme dynamic between playing a show and for those few hours you’re an important person in your own little universe and then the weird extreme of the next day when you’re getting a cab and queuing at the airport. It’s a pain in the ass to do that every day. And then you just have to go back to be a regular person when you’re done.”
It seems many things in Kozelek’s life hold this contradicting exertion. His songs are laden with striking riffs and mourning melodies and lyrics telling of nothing but life. To speak to, he seems on the brink of vulnerability, perhaps a man just short of satisfaction. Fittingly, his New Year resolution was to find happiness and “nothing specific.” He and his songs are not complaining, but lethargically honest, and in an odd way, very beautiful.
Una
listening to: Brand New - 'Me V Madonna V Elvis'
Personally, I don't think Arctic Monkeys are very good
there, I've said it.
Hear for yourself:
Fake Tales of San Francisco
I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
Una
Hear for yourself:
Una
The Strokes
Here are two new songs taken from the new album 'First Impressions of Earth'
Una
PS - can anyone help me? I want to find some tracks off 'Down In Albion' by Babyshambles. I know it has leaked online, but I can't find it anywhere. Little help?
Alexisonfire
Let me set aside a few minutes of the evening to blog about a favourite band of mine, Alexisonfire.
I came across Dallas, Wade, Jesse, George and Chris in 2003 when Vital Distribution sent me an advance of their debut and self-titled record. The cover was a crummy photocopy of their smiling heart-shaped skull logo, and the tracklisting had names like 'Polaroids of Polar Bears' and '.44 Calibre Love Letter'. I thought, "how emo".
So I left Alexisonfire for quite a while, but had uploaded the album into my jungle of Windows XP player. Now and then (considering that my player is ALWAYS on shuffle), I'd be surfing away, or typing up an interview or something and an Alexisonfire song would float through. I'd always leave what I was doing and click on the player and see who or what this was. And it was always Alexisonfire. Gradually, their prog intros, abstract emo lyrics and screamo vocals mixed with another clear vocal layered on top, with random spoken word parts and other backing vocals reeled me in.
The 5 guys from Ontario are a lesser known branch of the Candian-indie-strange surge. Everyone is keen to namecheck Arcade Fire, Stars nad Great Lake Swimmers, but Alexisonfire rarely gets a look in. So that is my ode to them. A great band, and one that I wish to fuck I could see live at some stage. My good friend Jenna testifies that they rock supremely. Please come over here Alexisonfire.
If you haven't already discovered them, check out their first record 'Alexisonfire' or their second album 'Watch Out!'. They're also playing some dates in England and Scotland next week, before hitting the Axis in Boston.
Official site: www.theonlybandever.com
mp3:Accidents
A Dagger Through The Heart of St Angeles
Pulmonary Archery
videos:watch them here
I came across Dallas, Wade, Jesse, George and Chris in 2003 when Vital Distribution sent me an advance of their debut and self-titled record. The cover was a crummy photocopy of their smiling heart-shaped skull logo, and the tracklisting had names like 'Polaroids of Polar Bears' and '.44 Calibre Love Letter'. I thought, "how emo".
So I left Alexisonfire for quite a while, but had uploaded the album into my jungle of Windows XP player. Now and then (considering that my player is ALWAYS on shuffle), I'd be surfing away, or typing up an interview or something and an Alexisonfire song would float through. I'd always leave what I was doing and click on the player and see who or what this was. And it was always Alexisonfire. Gradually, their prog intros, abstract emo lyrics and screamo vocals mixed with another clear vocal layered on top, with random spoken word parts and other backing vocals reeled me in.
The 5 guys from Ontario are a lesser known branch of the Candian-indie-strange surge. Everyone is keen to namecheck Arcade Fire, Stars nad Great Lake Swimmers, but Alexisonfire rarely gets a look in. So that is my ode to them. A great band, and one that I wish to fuck I could see live at some stage. My good friend Jenna testifies that they rock supremely. Please come over here Alexisonfire.
If you haven't already discovered them, check out their first record 'Alexisonfire' or their second album 'Watch Out!'. They're also playing some dates in England and Scotland next week, before hitting the Axis in Boston.
Official site: www.theonlybandever.com
mp3:
videos:
Dirty Dozen
Una
Gigs This Week
Sunday (today)
Duke Special @ Whelan's
Backstreet Boys (you know you wanna) @ The Point
Zrazy @ The George
Tuesday
KT Tunstall @ The Olympia
Thursday
The Four Tops & The Temptations @ Vicar St
Kool Keith @ The Village
Roisin Murphy @ The Ambassador
Friday
Tom Vek @ Whelans
Saturday
Buck 65 @ The Village
Sunday
The Unabombers @ The Sugar Club
Duke Special @ Whelan's
Backstreet Boys (you know you wanna) @ The Point
Zrazy @ The George
Tuesday
KT Tunstall @ The Olympia
Thursday
The Four Tops & The Temptations @ Vicar St
Kool Keith @ The Village
Roisin Murphy @ The Ambassador
Friday
Tom Vek @ Whelans
Saturday
Buck 65 @ The Village
Sunday
The Unabombers @ The Sugar Club
I'm a bad bad blogger
listening to: Ash - 'A Life Less Ordinary'
Yes, I have been a bad bad blogger. This week feels like the first one in ages, if you know what I mean. I've been trying to get used to not sitting on a beach drinking 14 Long Island Ice Teas for lunch. Yes, j'arrive dans la real world.
Met Lili Iano the cafe king on Thursday (was it Wednesday?) for some catch-up fun. Went to the Mezz for the first time in a million years for a couple of quiet pints and then onto the new Wall of Fame at the Temple Bar Music Centre where Dave Fanning was holding court.
Friday after work, we headed to Toner's for the best Guinness on Baggot St and then on to kig Adrian's birthday party; whiskey dropping, cake fighting, Buck Whaleying, Sarah picking upping fun. Work the next morning wasn't the greatest, neither was the movie Sarah and I went to see last night - 'Guy X'. SO CRAP!!!! Maybe it would be good if you smoked crack before walking into the cinema or something, but that remains to be seen...
Awesome interview with Hunter S's widow, Anita, in the Observer today, check it out.
Una
Adrian in Justin Timberlake/Snatch mode
Yes, I have been a bad bad blogger. This week feels like the first one in ages, if you know what I mean. I've been trying to get used to not sitting on a beach drinking 14 Long Island Ice Teas for lunch. Yes, j'arrive dans la real world.
Met Lili Iano the cafe king on Thursday (was it Wednesday?) for some catch-up fun. Went to the Mezz for the first time in a million years for a couple of quiet pints and then onto the new Wall of Fame at the Temple Bar Music Centre where Dave Fanning was holding court.
Friday after work, we headed to Toner's for the best Guinness on Baggot St and then on to kig Adrian's birthday party; whiskey dropping, cake fighting, Buck Whaleying, Sarah picking upping fun. Work the next morning wasn't the greatest, neither was the movie Sarah and I went to see last night - 'Guy X'. SO CRAP!!!! Maybe it would be good if you smoked crack before walking into the cinema or something, but that remains to be seen...
Awesome interview with Hunter S's widow, Anita, in the Observer today, check it out.
Una
Adrian in Justin Timberlake/Snatch modeMonday, October 17, 2005
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Bye For A Bit
I'm off to the sun for a couple of weeks. Got a bit of a forboding feeling about this trip, but what do I know...(as Keane once sang. ugh)
Bye!
Una
Bye!
Una
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