MCD.ie presents
+ SLEEP THIEVES
PLEASE NOTE:
DATE CHANGED TO TUESDAY 29TH MAY – ORIGINAL TICKETS STILL VALID OR REFUNDS FROM POINT OF SALE.
One of the most heavily tipped bands to break in 2012 from the UK –Spector have announced their debut show at Whelan’s on Monday 7th May.
+ Support from
Joe Chester released his third album, She Darks Me, on October 3rd, 2011.
All profits in aid of The Irish Cancer Society!
Come along and show your support.
€8.00 incl booking fee go on sale this Friday 2nd Dec from WAV Tickets [Lo-Call 1890 200 078]
+ guests
OrphanCode, an alternative 3-piece fromDublin, have just completed their second album ‘I Am a Country,’ with long-time producer and engineer Ger McDonnell. The first single ‘My Meaning, Your Feelings,’ described as “Slowdive with a hint Spiritualised” is due for release in April with the album to follow later this year.
Demented presents
– Album Launch –
+ LETHAL DIALECT, BANG BROS, RATS BLOOD & NIBIRU
Confirm on Facebook HERE
Whelan’s Indie Club w/ Late Bar from 10:30pm or check out the bands playing The Midnight Hour in the upstairs venue (FREE ENTRY, 12am).
featuring –
Upstairs@Whelan’s from Midnight.
Whelanslive.com is proud to bring you The Midnight Hour. Showcasing the best new talent in Ireland.
Balancing infectuous riffs with celestial harmonies and sonic mayhem, Agitate the Gravel exist between the old and the new. Taking influence from the past masters of My Bloody Valentine and Blur, the band forge ahead in their own genre.
In their first year, ATG have clocked up over 70 shows, sharing bills with Mike Watt, Fighting with Wire, R.S.A.G. and Tera Melos to name a few. The band were also chosen as one of Whelan’s ‘Ones to Watch for 2012’ and picked up a slot on Hot Press’ ‘Freezer Sessions’ late last year.
The release of their debut single ‘Wilderness Years’ saw the band tour nationally, pick up Drop-D.ie’s ‘Single of the Year’ award and receive airplay from 2FM, Phantom FM, 96FM and RedFM. The band will release their next single ‘Wait’ in April.
“Agitate the Gravel pursue blissful, shoegaze pop with promising tunes such as the excellent ‘Wilderness Years”
– Jim Carroll, The Irish Times
“All hooks and irresistible immediacy; the band feed all their tunes through the filter of shimmering shoegaze”
– Celina Murphy, Hotpress
“Their shoegaze-by-way-of-Ash-meets-Adebisi squall gives us the chills…one of the best live bands up-and-coming in the country.”
– Mike McGrath-Bryan, Drop-D.ie
“Agitate the Gravel wear their influences most visibly on their sleeves, sounding like the genetically-blessed lovechild of Weezer and My Bloody Valentine.”-
– Nicola Byrne, Goldenplec.com
Tickets: FREE before 10:30pm, Club entry applies after 10:30pm (Thur/Fri/Sat)
Doors: 11:30pm
featuring –
Whelanslive.com is proud to bring you The Midnight Hour. Showcasing the best new talent in Ireland.
Tickets: FREE before 10:30pm, Club entry applies after 10:30pm (Thur/Fri/Sat)
Doors: 11:30pm
featuring –
Upstairs@Whelan’s from Midnight.
Whelanslive.com is proud to bring you The Midnight Hour. Showcasing the best new talent in Ireland.
Tickets: FREE before 10:30pm, Club entry applies after 10:30pm (Thur/Fri/Sat)
Doors: 11:30pm
featuring –
Upstairs@Whelan’s from Midnight.
Whelanslive.com is proud to bring you The Midnight Hour. Showcasing the best new talent in Ireland.
Tickets: FREE before 10:30pm, Club entry applies after 10:30pm (Thur/Fri/Sat)
Doors: 11:30pm
featuring –
Upstairs@Whelan’s from Midnight.
Whelanslive.com is proud to bring you The Midnight Hour. Showcasing the best new talent in Ireland.
Tickets: FREE before 10:30pm, Club entry applies after 10:30pm (Thur/Fri/Sat)
Doors: 11:30pm
Confirm on Facebook HERE
featuring –
Upstairs@Whelan’s from Midnight.
Whelanslive.com is proud to bring you The Midnight Hour. Showcasing the best new talent in Ireland.
Tickets: FREE before 10:30pm, Club entry applies after 10:30pm (Thur/Fri/Sat)
Doors: 11:30pm
featuring –
Upstairs@Whelan’s from Midnight.
Whelanslive.com is proud to bring you The Midnight Hour. Showcasing the best new talent in Ireland.
Tickets: FREE before 10:30pm, Club entry applies after 10:30pm (Thur/Fri/Sat)
Doors: 11:30pm
Garageland.ie presents
+ SUPERSTAR TRADESMEN & NEXT IN LINE
RED EMPIRE – Gathered from across Dublin City, from Finglas to The Liberties to Tallaght, Red Empire have been together since the start of 2009. However, the real story of the band started much earlier than this.
FRONT BAR
Hailing from Dublin, Little Ass Bird will be playing our Front bar with their unique blend of Bluegrass, Country and Folk from 6-8pm.
featuring
DJ SET FROM NIAMH FARRELL PLUS SPECIAL GUEST
Little XS for Eyes
A follow-up to their critically acclaimed eponymous EP, S.A.D. sees the band apply their harmony heavy, folk-tinged sound to an album of harder-hitting pop songs.The band’s songs tell of tragic heroes, failed lovers, empty dancefloors and the unchanging seasons, taking placeon trains, boats, wrestling rings and the inevitable long walk home.
Some reviews for S.A.D:
Officially our favourite Irish pop band – State Magazine
In the Light is one of the most touching and beautiful Irish tracks of this or any other year. This début is one of the most deliciously sweet hues of bitter you could possibly taste – Eamon Sweeney / day&night / Irish Independent
The execution is perfect, a crystal clear combination of twinkling instruments and beautifully balanced vocals. S.A.D. is a record of real substance – Phil Udel
genuinely swoonsome folk-pop melodies…the girl/boy vocal interplay of songwriters – Bennie Reilly and Davey
Moor sounds natural at every juncture…A cosy blanket of sounds for all seasons – Lauren Murphy / The Ticket
bursting with clever, engaging melodies and decorated with delicate vocal harmonies…a superb record -Eamonn Seoige / AU Magazine
winsome, breathy…full of delicious close harmonies and hooks you can hang your coat on – Hot Press
a fantastic record that will send pop fans into raptures with its gorgeous blend of hooks’n’harmonies – Nay / Harmless Noise
Dublin-based group blessed with dashing harmonies and wistful, wry, infectious tunes – Irish Times
definitely one of the best debuts of the year – Dan Hegerty
S.A.D. is chockablock with brilliant harmonies – Jim Carroll
Little XS for Eyes are:
Bennie Reilly :: voice & guitar
Davey Moor :: voice, guitar, mandolin, ukulele, psaltery & lap steel
Michelle Considine :: voice, glockenspiel & keys
Lucy Jackson :: voice, keys & violin
Adrian Reilly :: drums
Harry Bookless :: bass
The Riot Tapes
The Riot Tapes have been described as ‘one of the breakthrough bands of 2011’ (Le Cool – Dublin) and as a band, “nigh-on guaranteed to break into the mainstream in 2012” (Hot Press). They are currently playing and recording and playing and recording and playing and recording and playing and recording and playing and… well, you get the point. This gig will mark the debut of their new 5-piece line-up. Fingers crossed.
acrobats of desire
acrobats of desire formed in 1991. members david duke-guitars, clem duke-bass/vocals & mark smith-drums/bvs all hail from county roscommon. influences at the time were bands like sonic youth, wedding present & ride. they gigged up & down ireland & in the UK a couple of times over the next many years. they appeared on a number of compilation cds & released a 7″ single in 1996. it was a tribute to the old punk records being on red vinyl & in a poster bag. much fun was had by all but by 2003 work, life & more took over and gigs stopped.
2011 marked the 20th anniversary since they started & so the acrobats decided 2 play some gigs again. most of them were in sweeneys of dame st with punk bands like paranoid visions & liz is evil. age certainly hasn’t slowed them down, quite the opposite. an acrobats of desire gig is not for the faint hearted..this year; 2012; will see some new material being recorded & released.
Tickets: €6.oo
+ guests
Oisín has supported Imelda May, performed with Ten Time Grammy Award Winner Bobby McFerrin, who selected Oisín from over two thousand artists to perform with him on a collaborative project in Germany.
featuring –
Upstairs@Whelan’s from Midnight.
Whelanslive.com is proud to bring you The Midnight Hour. Showcasing the best new talent in Ireland.
Tickets: FREE before 10:30pm, Club entry applies after 10:30pm (Thur/Fri/Sat)
Doors: 11:30pm
MCD.ie presents
+ Cry Monster Cry
Northern Irish singer-songwriter Gareth Dunlop has just announced details of an exclusive headline performance Upstairs at Whelan’s on Saturday March 10th 2012.
MCD presents…..
+ LEAVING LA VEGAS
The Galway band’s Choice-shortlisted single ‘Radio’ was co-produced by the band and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (A Tribe Called Quest) and mixed by Chris Potter (The Verve, Keane). A constant presence on the airwaves since its release, it’s a contradictory combination:
+ guests
Donations Welcome!
JOEL KACHEL, original singer-songwriter/performer (Minneapolis/St. Paul), a child of the new ACOUSTIC POP ROCK wave will be sure to get your attention with his engaging stage presence and lively music.
– ALBUM LAUNCH –
+ CIAN NUGENT & DRUNKEN BOAT
The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock is music from Dublin, Ireland. Named after a poem about a haunted canal lock, The Spook play in the Irish folk tradition delving into the realms of psych, prog and post rock.
Musiclee.ie presents
+ guests
Otis Gibbs is a man in search of an honest experience. Gibbs is often referred to as a folk artist, but that is a simplistic way to describe a man who has planted over 7,000 trees, slept in hobo jungles, walked with nomadic shepherds in Romania, was a fifth grade yo-yo champion and once wrestled a bear (and lost).
Musiclee.ie presents
+ guests
Stacey and Mark are each veteran Dukes (of Steve Earle and the Dukes)
Few husband-wife musical duos provide audiences with the complete entertainment package that Stacey Earle & Mark Stuart dish out in a live performance.
THIS GIG HAS BEEN CANCELLED – REFUNDS FROM POINT OF SALE
AN ACOUSTIC EVENING WITH
+ guests
€12.00 incl booking fee available online from WAV Tickets [Lo-Call 1890 200 078]
In Aid of Amnesty International
The mixture of hypnotic guitars, mesmeric drums, bruising basslines and life affirming lyrics. This is House Of Dolls. This is everything. This is life and death.
Blitzkrieg guitars attack the senses from all sides. The pounding, tribal drums puncture the skin. The stacatto, overdriven basslines cajole the ears like a chemical cosh. Layered over this sonic maelstrom are plaintif, haunting vocals delivering infectious choruses that get straight into the bloodstream.
The Candidates
Banging out whomping funk originals, b-sides, rarities and a sprinkling of standards, The Candidates are tearing the roof off both suckers and mothersuckers all over Dublin. Get your chickeny ass down to our next gig and get funky with the people. Taking their lead from the great funk and soul sounds of the 60’s and 70’s
Sweet Jane
In 2008 guitarist and songwriter Danda Paxton asked Lydia Des Dolles to provide vocals on some songs he had written, and with the addition of Danda’ s brother Ruairi on bass and Donagh O’Brien on drums, the project evolved into Sweet Jane, and the recording of an EP ‘ Blackboots and Blackhearts’.
The EP was released to very positive reviews, and things developed more quickly when the band signed to Irish label Reekus at the end ‘ 09, together they released You’re Making This Hard, with Sweet Jane’ s own take on the Xmas classic Silent Night, brought a greatly increased media awareness of their music.
Their debut album Sugar for My Soul was released in Ireland July 2010, to superb reviews, and a slot at one of Europe’ s leading festivals, Oxegen that month. Their live set has been described as an energetic roller coaster of sleazy guitars, achingly sexy vocals, split between Lydia & Danda, and topped off with their trade mark ‘dream-pop rock ‘n roll’. Sweet Jane are in their element in the live arena and have been touring furiously throughout the UK and Ireland, gigging alongside Glasvegas, Black Rebel Motorcycle club, A Place to Bury Strangers, The Kills, White Lies, The Duke Spirit, and The Besnard Lakes, as-well as tour dates on Alan Mc Gee’s Death Disco.
€12.00 available online from WAV Tickets [Lo-Call 1890 200 078] (50c per ticket service charge applies on phone or creditcard bookings from WaV).
+ guests
A very well kept secret. Shannon has been quietly learning her trade by supporting acts such as Hazel O’Connor and Frances Black. She is just about to release her debut EP “A Million Miles”. Best descibed as jazzy rock n’ roll, Shannon’s brings her full band to Whelans for what shall be her first ever headline show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7CHqUKhVNg
€8.00 available online from WAV Tickets [Lo-Call 1890 200 078] (50c per ticket service charge applies on phone or credit card bookings)
GIG CANCELLED
+ Guests
Gypsies on the Autobahn are a four piece band from Dublin. The band enjoyed a successful summer playing at both Oxygen and The Electric Picnic festivals. They have spent the better part of the last year more focused on getting material together and demoing some tracks, and are slowly starting to get out and play more shows. In December the band performed in the Other Room at Other Voices in Dingle.
Tickets: €5.00
Harmonic presents…..
+ TOM McSHANE
“Neither beholden to tradition nor self-consciously moderne, she crafts skeletal songs of great warmth and grace.” UNCUT
Three nights – Upstairs @ Whelan’s
Sunday April 22th, 29th & May 6th.
+ guests
A rare chance to catch a true performer and an Irish legend in an intimate venue
Twice winner of the meteor award in the best folk/trad category, John Spillane has toured the country and the world spreading joy with a mix of melodic tunes, entertaining stories and poetic lyrics. Described as ‘one of the truest Irish voices of his generation’ by Irish music magazine, Spillane truly embodies the Celtic spirit.
Three nights – Upstairs @ Whelan’s
Sunday April 22th, 29th & May 6th.
+ guests
A rare chance to catch a true performer and an Irish legend in an intimate venue
Twice winner of the meteor award in the best folk/trad category, John Spillane has toured the country and the world spreading joy with a mix of melodic tunes, entertaining stories and poetic lyrics. Described as ‘one of the truest Irish voices of his generation’ by Irish music magazine, Spillane truly embodies the Celtic spirit. 
Spillane is also a dedicated & fierce champion of the Irish language as demonstrated by his double platinum selling Irish Songs We Learned At School in 2008 followed in 2009 by the logically titled More Songs We Learned At School featuring such music luminaries as Christy Moor and Séan Ó Sé.
What makes John special is that he is an artist who knows how to deliver all that he has to offer to anyone of any age, male or female, no matter the musical preference. Place him in the genre of folk, acoustic, traditional, world or pop – that’s fine with John. He’s a man who is very comfortable in his skin. Whether performing solo with guitar, with gentle accompaniment or with full band before 10, 10,000 or 100,000, John entertains, charms, and mesmerizes.
John is a native of Cork, the County he lovingly describes as “the centre of the universe”, and it has been a huge creative influence on him. Vocally, he is quite unique with an almost sean nós-like element in his singing and he is said to have a voice “full of honesty, commitment and sensitivity”.
The only thing that’s for sure is that whether from the emotive tunes with which he whisks you on a journey or his dynamic playful Cork wit, at the end of a John Spillane show there won’t be a dry eye in the house…
Nominated for “Cork Man of the Year”John also was awarded the Irish Music Association (USA) “Top Solo Performer in Concert” award 2009
“ … funny, quirky, massively entertaining. John is a story teller, a shanachie.” Dan Regan, Founder, Kansas City Irish Festival.
“One of the great songwriters to emerge in the last 10 years is John Spillane”- Christy Moore “Other Voices” Feb ‘09
“… some of the most skillfully crafted, vividly realized songs anyone has written in Ireland over the past dozen years.” – Earle Hitchner, premier writer/reviewer for Irish Echo and The Wall Street Journal.
Why isn’t John Spillane a major star? [John] writes catchy, heartfelt folk-pop songs with the bonus of actually meaning something.” – The Sunday Business Post
€15.00 (incl booking fee) available online from WAV Tickets [Lo-Call 1890 200 078] (50c per ticket service charge applies on phone or creditcard bookings from WaV).
Three nights – Upstairs @ Whelan’s
Sunday April 22th, 29th & May 6th.
+ guests
A rare chance to catch a true performer and an Irish legend in an intimate venue
Twice winner of the meteor award in the best folk/trad category, John Spillane has toured the country and the world spreading joy with a mix of melodic tunes, entertaining stories and poetic lyrics. Described as ‘one of the truest Irish voices of his generation’ by Irish music magazine, Spillane truly embodies the Celtic spirit.
Spillane is also a dedicated & fierce champion of the Irish language as demonstrated by his double platinum selling Irish Songs We Learned At School in 2008 followed in 2009 by the logically titled More Songs We Learned At School featuring such music luminaries as Christy Moor and Séan Ó Sé.
What makes John special is that he is an artist who knows how to deliver all that he has to offer to anyone of any age, male or female, no matter the musical preference. Place him in the genre of folk, acoustic, traditional, world or pop – that’s fine with John. He’s a man who is very comfortable in his skin. Whether performing solo with guitar, with gentle accompaniment or with full band before 10, 10,000 or 100,000, John entertains, charms, and mesmerizes.
John is a native of Cork, the County he lovingly describes as “the centre of the universe”, and it has been a huge creative influence on him. Vocally, he is quite unique with an almost sean nós-like element in his singing and he is said to have a voice “full of honesty, commitment and sensitivity”.
The only thing that’s for sure is that whether from the emotive tunes with which he whisks you on a journey or his dynamic playful Cork wit, at the end of a John Spillane show there won’t be a dry eye in the house…
Nominated for “Cork Man of the Year”John also was awarded the Irish Music Association (USA) “Top Solo Performer in Concert” award 2009
“ … funny, quirky, massively entertaining. John is a story teller, a shanachie.” Dan Regan, Founder, Kansas City Irish Festival.
“One of the great songwriters to emerge in the last 10 years is John Spillane”- Christy Moore “Other Voices” Feb ‘09
“… some of the most skillfully crafted, vividly realized songs anyone has written in Ireland over the past dozen years.” – Earle Hitchner, premier writer/reviewer for Irish Echo and The Wall Street Journal.
Why isn’t John Spillane a major star? [John] writes catchy, heartfelt folk-pop songs with the bonus of actually meaning something.” – The Sunday Business Post
€15.00 (incl booking fee) available online from WAV Tickets [Lo-Call 1890 200 078] (50c per ticket service charge applies on phone or creditcard bookings from WaV).
MCD presents…..
+ MIKILL PANE
The Original Rudeboys continue to break boundaries having just achieved 1 million Youtube views for their videos.
Their Grand Social album launch date at the end of March sold out in less than a day – six weeks in advance. Due to demand, they have added another Dublin headliner at Whelan’s on Saturday 2nd June.
DUE TO ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS ON THE IRISH SEA THE DOOR TIME HAS BEEN DELAYED TO 9:30PM.
Aiken Promotions presents
+ guests
Doors 8.00pm / Show 8.30pm Delayed to 8:30 doors
Tickets on sale Friday February 17th priced €12 (including booking fee) from www.whelanslive.com & www.ticketmaster.ie & Ticketmaster outlets nationwide.
100 CUTTING EDGE LIVE ACTS
15 VENUES | 2 DAYS | 1 TICKET
London’s award winning Camden Crawl has become an internationally recognized calendar fixture renowned for showcasing the forthcoming year’s most hotly tipped cutting edge live music artists alongside special guests to sell out audiences since its inception in 1995.
100 CUTTING EDGE LIVE ACTS
15 VENUES | 2 DAYS | 1 TICKET
London’s award winning Camden Crawl has become an internationally recognized calendar fixture renowned for showcasing the forthcoming year’s most hotly tipped cutting edge live music artists alongside special guests to sell out audiences since its inception in 1995.
Sons of Caliber evoke a sound once narrated as an echo from time’s past, and a sensation from time’s present. ‘Music for folks’ it has been rendered. From time spent in the North Carolina mountains, Andrew Farmer’s manifesto was birthed : fusing the rhythm of his Northern Irish home land with a beat from the Bible belted South. Expect a melodic journey of innocence, the kind where lyrics fall from his sleeve and you slowly leave your chair for home, tunefully content. Acoustical? Yes, for the most part, instruments of the earthy nature, Sons of Caliber emerge from the woods to tell you tales of Irish wolves and starry nights.
Sons of Caliber started their journey in January 2011 when Stephen George Williams traveled to Northern Ireland form Georgia USA. He and I had worked together before but not on such a great project. We combined our songs and styles and hit the local scene with zeal and fervor playing every hole in the hedge. After five months of camaraderie and relentless gigging Stephen flew back to America to look after business and the torch passed to me to carry on the dream. The band has now grown to a five piece folk troupe of dear friends and great musicians. We have played Open House Festival, supported Nathaniel Rateliff, and are currently in the throws of recording our debut EP.
Whelanslive.com presents
“one of the most extraordinary groups on the planet…not so much a trio as a revolutionary
consortium redefining music… “ – The Guardian.
“One of the greatest bands in the world”– The New York Times.
The Necks conjure music that defies description in orthodox terms. Not entirely avant-garde, nor minimalist, nor ambient, nor jazz, the music of The Necks is regularly described internationally as, simply, unique.
Together for 25 years, the Australian cult trio have honed an assured process of building around repeated motifs through subtle shifts and layering, to produce an extraordinarily dense and hypnotic effect frequently underpinned by an insistent deep groove. As their dedicated followers know, their performances are entirely improvised consisting of two pieces evolving over around 50 minutes each and are an experience that has to be heard to be believed.
In his book “The Blue Moment” Richard Williams reviews the making of Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue and the development of music from that seminal point. He dedicates a number of pages to The Necks, saying:
“…the new music I would find it hardest to do without, fifty years after ‘Kind of Blue’, is that produced by the Necks… the Necks exploit the spaces that were opened up for them all those years ago, spaces in harmony, rhythm and melody, but also spaces in the mind”
2009 and 2010 proved outstanding years for The Necks, with an invitation from Nick Cave to appear at All Tomorrows Parties, two performances with Brian Eno in PURE SCENIUS, a 3-concert improvised collaboration, at Sydney Opera House and Brighton Festival 2010, and major tours of US and Europe including their collaboration with Back to Back theatre group.
In late 2011 they will release their 16th album Mindset…their first on vinyl
2009’s album Silverwater gathered widespread critical praise:
**** “they arrived fully formed, in a treeless plain where Kind of Blue’s narcoleptic haze meets Steve Reich’s pin-sharp minimalism, where time expands to fill the available space… deliriously, deliciously, Silverwater will drown you.” – The Times
***** “austerely elegant” – The Guardian
“The Necks are among the world’s most consistently great exponents of improvised music” – BBC Music online
“…a band so singular in its purpose yet so universal its appeal” – the jazz breakfast
“Silverwater is an emphatic statement from three thoroughly original musicians who, at the start of their third decade together, continue to create compelling and inspirational works of art. At the end of the sixty-seven minutes that is Silverwater, you emerge from an exquisite dream state, transformed by the experience.”
http://musicfeeds.com.au/news/the-necks-silverwater-out-23rd-october/
At this point in my life, there are few artists on earth whom I genuinely get excited about when I hear they have a new album coming out…The Necks are one of those bands. 20 years later and umpteen records behind ‘em and they still boggle my mind. http://manwithoutshame.blogspot.com/2009/10/necks-silverwater-cd-fish-of-milk2009.html
Watch a full length concert via streaming video:http://www.abc.net.au/rn/musicdeli/stories/2008/2250134.htm
€20 available online from WAV Tickets [Lo-Call 1890 200 078] (50c per ticket service charge applies on phone or credit card bookings)
Whelan’s Indie Club w/ Late Bar from 10:30pm or check out the bands playing The Midnight Hour in the upstairs venue (FREE ENTRY, 12am).
+ guests
Pearse Halpin is a singer songwriter based in Kells co meath. Over his long career in music which he primarily started as a session head playing bass with the likes of Frankie Lane and Gavin Glass he has always written his own songs.
+ guests
“I’ve heard great stuff in there.” – Brian Quinn – IRL
“Somewhere in between sweetness and alienation.” – La voce di Gubbio – IT
MCD Presents…..
+ guests
“A gift to those of us who still believe in magic” Observer ****
“The vibe is irresistible” The Times ****
Harmonic Presents ……
+ EXITMUSIC
“It takes some guts for a woman to name an album Tramp, particularly when that album is a nuanced exploration of the workings of the heart. Brooklyn-based Sharon Van Etten, then, deals not in come hithers but in toxic love and its radioactive half-lives. The saturated swoop of Tramp‘s rocking first single, “Serpents”, simultaneously recalls Liz Phair, Throwing Muses and Neko Case, while “We Are Fine” supplies a spell to calm panic attacks. On her third outing, Van Etten has been Americana’s best-kept secret for some time. But the producerly hand of the National’s Aaron Dessner and cameos by the likes of Beirut’s Zach Condon only add to the conclusion that Tramp is one of the must-hears of early 2012.” – Kitty Empire, The Guardian ****
The shimmering sound of Sharon Van Etten’s Jagjaguwar debut album, Tramp, both defies and illuminates the unsteadiness of a life in flux. Throughout the 14 months of scattered recording sessions, Van Etten was without a home — crashing with friends and storing her possessions between varied locations. The only constant in Van Etten’s life during this time was spent in Aaron Dessner’s garage studio.
A two year journey brought her to that point of instability. Upon the release of epic (Ba Da Bing; 2010), Sharon Van Etten surprised the music world with a touching embrace. Having established herself as a reliable performer around New York, and coming off the release of her spartan first effort, Because I Was In Love (Language of Stone; 2009), Van Etten created a short album of diverse songs connected by a shared goal of expanded sound and her unmistakable voice. Fans quickly picked favorites, discovered their choices changing, then changing yet again. That is the magic of epic; the intricate, understated record covered so much ground within its 33 minutes, it required more than an initial half hour to absorb. Since epic’s release, she has opened the Pitchfork Music Festival, played The Hollywood Bowl with Neko Case and at Radio City Music Hall with The Antlers, sung on new records for Beirut and Ed Askew, and collaborated with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and Megafaun on the Songs Of The South project. Dessner, a member of The National, heard Van Etten early on, and in collaboration with Justin Vernon, performed a cover of “Love More” at the 2010 MusicNow Festival in Cincinnati. Van Etten heard about this and contacted him. Almost immediately they formed plans to work together, with Dessner offering both a location for Van Etten to record new songs, as well as the opinions of a wise producer.
Now, one year later, Van Etten unveils Tramp, an album showcasing an artist in full control of her powers. Tramp contains as much striking rock (the precise venom of “Serpents,” the overwhelming power of “Ask”), as pious, minimal beauty (the earnest solemnity of “All I Can,” the breathtaking “Kevins,” “Joke or a Lie”); it can be as emotionally combative (“Give Out”) as it can sultry (“Magic Chords”). Contributions from Matt Barrick (Walkmen), Thomas Bartlett (Doveman), Zach Condon (Beirut), Jenn Wasner (Wye Oak), Julianna Barwick, and Dessner himself add a glowing sheen to the already substantial offering Van Etten has traveled far, and if her displacement took an emotional toll, she offset those setbacks with a powerfully articulated vision. And so, once again, each listener will discover their own moments along the way, and the debates as to the best song start anew.
€16.50 available online from WAV Tickets [Lo-Call 1890 200 078] (50c per ticket service charge applies on phone or creditcard bookings)
Whelan’s Indie Club w/ Late Bar from 10:30pm or check out the bands playing The Midnight Hour in the upstairs venue (FREE ENTRY, 12am).
featuring –
Upstairs@Whelan’s from Midnight.
Whelanslive.com is proud to bring you The Midnight Hour. Showcasing the best new talent in Ireland.
Tickets: FREE before 10:30pm, Club entry applies after 10:30pm (Thur/Fri/Sat)
Doors: 11:30pm
Whelanslive.com presents
In association with Dublindoesfridays.ie
Live in the Front bar from 6pm.
Drinks promos and complimentary platters from 5pm.
plus guests
At the end of 2011 Dan Boyle released a debut album Third Adolescence. In this his first full concert he is joined by some good friends Eamon Keane, Úna O’Boyle and the hard rocking The Grunts from Cork, playing tuneful songs with some sharp lyrics.
Whelanslive.com presents
+ SCHOOL TOUR
Molly Nilsson has been running her own label and producing her own music since 2007, releasing 3 albums, several eps and producing evocative videos that elaborate on the themes she is obsessed by. ‘History’ is her fourth long player and follows a busy year of touring, writing and surprises.
Whelanslive.com presents
“a sonic explorer like Wilco or Crazy Horse – a cult classic” – Uncut (review of Song Of The Pearl)
“It’s stoner-folk-rock, like a heavier version of Midlake or an opiated Fairport” – The Independent.co.uk
Album Fundraiser Show
+ GERRY GORMLEY
TKO return home to Whelans after a successful EP launch last year. This time around its an album fundraiser show for their debut album which is due for release in the summer.
