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Month: November 2010

CONOR BOYLE

+ guests.

Conor Boyle is an Irish born and bred Singer/Songwriter from Dundalk. His first real connection with music sparked after a life threatening accident in 2001. Whilst recovering, he recorded and produced his fist album to raise funds for Beaumont Hospital. “It all came very natural to me and I was ready for more” says Conor. Over the next couple of years Conor got steeped in writing and started to record all his material at home. He played the open-mic circuit around Dublin for two years where he studied as a student. His first headline gig was at a home venue, The Spirit Store and it sold out. From then he has been in the studio working on his debut single and is embarking on a Nationwide Tour to launch and promote it with his band. His is influenced greatly by Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen as his lyrics tell those long winding stories.

THE MIDNIGHT HOUR

THE MIDNIGHT HOUR featuring – tbc Upstairs@Whelan’s from Midnight Whelanslive.com is proud to bring The Midnight Hour. Showcasing the best new talent in Ireland.

SARA WATKINS

+ guests You could say that Sara Watkins’ solo debut has been a lifetime in the making. The 27-year-old singer-songwriter and fiddle player spent nearly two decades—all of her teenage and young adult life—as one-third of Nickel Creek, the Grammy Award–winning acoustic trio that used contemporary bluegrass as a starting point for its no-genre-barred sound. Sara will be back in Ireland performing at Whelan’s on November 18th. Tickets are €17.50 on sale now through Ticketmaster and other usual outlets nationwide. Booking Line: 0818 719 300.

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MIRACLE BELL

Charity Fundraiser in Aid of Temple St Hospital MIRACLE BELL + guests – The Problematic and Stayokay

DUNGEN + HALVES

“Dungen’s latest album, Skit I Allt—loosely translated as “fuck all this”—is the band’s most focused, largely forgoing Ejstes’ wilder stylistic excursions in favor of insistent, precisely modulated “head music.” Obvious touchstones include early-’70s Pink Floyd and latter-day Flaming Lips, though with Dungen’s love of flute, strings, and sunshine-pop harmonies, Skit I Allt sometimes resembles a Windham Hill version of a Cardigans album, or vice-versa.” – The Onion “Dungen has a vision unmatched in music today, and an album their larger peers in rock experiments could only dream of producing.” – Filter “… the blissful summery mood hangs around for ages. If you don’t want summer to end, or you’re a SAD sufferer, then consider Skit I Allt the best and cheapest antidote on the market.” BBC Music “Constantly questing without ever becoming indulgent…” – Uncut “Dungen’s seventh album is a Swedish indie gem.” – NME “there’s a warm, graceful fluidity to Skit I Allt’s billowing jams that remains uniquely beguiling.” UNCUT Dungen sweetly return with a collection of gorgeous rippers and graceful jazz filled polyrhythms called Skit I Allt, which translates as Fuck it All. “For me, it means, don’t give a shit, forget about it, just go ahead and do it. A friend said, Skit I Allt; Fuck it, do as you want, time is passing and it’s changing, forget fears and hang-ups, we are small and everything is pretty insignificant on the whole. How will it be? What shall we do? We often worry so much unnecessarily. Skit i allt, it’s happening now”. – Gustav Ejstes In what feels like a very short decade, Sweden’s Dungen has mutated at a furious pace. Main man/ producer/ arranger/ singer/ golden child Gustav Ejstes’ only constant has been change. At ease with effervescent pop, third-eye popping psychedelia, heavy rock, spider-web folk and breezy jazz, Dungen’s dynamism astounds throughout Skit I Allt. Rather than remain only Ejstes’ studio vision, Dungen is a muscular full band now. Guitarist Reine Fiske, bassist Mattias Gustavsson, and drummer Johan Holmegard are fully integrated into Ejstes’ vision of Dungen: “Whether you perceive Dungen as a band or as me and my songs and my productions, the band is something totally free.’ Dungen debuted in 2001 with an album of long psychedelic tracks and aural tomfoolery. 2002’s Stadsvandringar found Ejstes coming to grips with the language of rock before the zeitgeist-grabbing third album, Ta Det Lugt ignited the blogosphere. Not content to revel in such accolades, Tio Bitar flashed the band’s pop smarts as well as their incandescent freak-outs while 4 put the band’s cohesiveness on display, at once gorgeous and biting. This latest album is the one that takes in everything they’ve done, and learned, and brings them whole. http://www.subliminalsounds.se http://www.dungen-music.com http://www.myspace.com/dungen HALVES It’s been long in the making but Dublin based band Halves debut long player titled It Goes, It Goes (Forever & Ever) will finally be with us on October 29th on CD and Deluxe gatefold vinyl (with free mp3 download). Darling, You’ll Meet Your Maker is the first free download from the album and its rich artful instrumentation sums up Halves’ modus operandi perfectly. It Goes, It Goes (Forever & Ever) was recorded in Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s studios Hotel2Tango in Montreal with Efrim Menuck in August of 2009. 11 songs were recorded live, in one large room on 2″ reel-to-reel tape with the use of the studio’s vast collection of instruments, amps, organs, effects (most of which dated from 1930s-1980s). Additional recording took place in the band’s own studio The Windfarm with Richard McCullough. Perfomers on the album include Amy Millan (Stars/BSS), Katie Kim, Phil Boughton (Subplots), Canadian harpist Elaine Kelly-Canning, Irish Chamber brass and string players and 27 members of the Kilkenny choir. Brian Cash, Elis Czerniak & Tim Czerniak, make up Halves.

NOVA STATIC

Nova Static were fully formed in late 2006 when Stradbally based Daniel Heffernan (guitar/vocals), Brian Scully (guitar) and Stephen Wall (bass), who had already been playing together for a couple of years, joined up with Carlow drummer Dara Comerford. The band immediately began focusing on their own material, and having such a wide range of musical touchstones from the start certainly helped shape Nova Static’s unique sound. The guys are reluctant to even attempt listing all their influences but, at a push, will mention Nada Surf, Pixies, Biffy Clyro, Sigur Rós, Sonic Youth, Weezer, Jamie T., Ramones, Bloc Party, Fleetwood Mac, The Smiths, The Libertines… even M.I.A. and Los Lobos before stopping themselves. Since their first gigs together in 2007, Nova Static have taken their time and slowly built a reputation as one of the most exciting groups around. The last two years have seen them secure support slots around the country with major acts like Republic Of Loose, The Immediate, We Should Be Dead, The Coronas, Fight Like Apes and The Blizzards The guys are now touring to promote their self-titled debut EP released in September. Recorded in April at Data Studios, Kerry, the disc is already creating a buzz. The next few months will see a promotional tour including a number of special launch nights. The EP is available in Tower Records now. It’s certainly a busy time for Nova Static and, having performed on the Electric Arena Stage at this years Electric Picnic, the guys have a chance to share their music with a bigger audience than ever before.

TOXIC

TOXIC FUNK BERRY Fresh from Sky 1’s ‘Must Be The Music’ Toxic Funk Berry are a dynamic and exciting three piece ‘dirty disco dance’ act from North London. The band consists of brothers Dom and Joe and their best friend Jonny Falls Over. Bored of the conventional music that has been flooding the commercial scene for the past 10 years; they have been working tirelessly to bring a new energy to the masses by fusing dance music with live instrumentals and creating a visual live performance like no other. Toxic Funk Berry are an addictive and high energy live act so check them out as they explode onto the Irish music scene for the very first time.

TUCAN

+ guests ‘ On stage this hybrid monster roams the space between their instruments and your ears like some kind of fairytale colossus spewing out metal, flamenco and jazz stained compositions that raise their guitar necks to Tool, Django & Daft Punk. Be warned………. Don’t feed the animal!’ – Ray Blackwell (Director, Clonikilty International Guitar Festival) Sligo instrumental group Túcan have recorded a series of eight live videos of interpretations of classic dance tracks as well as some of their own original tracks called ‘The Factory Sessions’. The release will be focused intensively on online mediums such as Youtube, iTunes etc with a heavy promotion aspect aimed at social networking sites. Beginning life as a mild mannered two piece (Donal Gunne and Pearse Feeney), they now have two new members, Paul Wherly and Keith Kelly. When playing live, the new additions combine acoustic instrumentalists Gunne and Feeney’s relentless energy and expertise with fat bass lines and atomic drums. Túcans debut album “Aliquot Strings”, produced by Lance Hogan of Kila and released in 2009 on their own label Túcan Music, charted in Ireland and was critically acclaimed both at home and abroad. The album is a firecracker of driving rhythms and virtuoso guitar craft which brings the listener on a considerable adventure in a concise thirty six minutes. They have attracted their fair share of attention during their rise through the irish music scene performing with international acts such as Jose Feliciano, Regina Spektor as well as contemporaries Rodrigo y Gabriella and Alabama 3. They have been banned from busking on Grafton Street in Dublin lived as street performers in Prague and Barcelona, and have played the Electric Picnic every year since 2007 to packed houses each time. Watch Tucan HERE