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Tuesday December 19, 2007

Blarney Rock

Kildare's Finest: Super Extra Bonus Party

The Twenty Best Irish Albums of 2007 (Part One)

Declan O'Rourke: Big Bad Beautiful World

Hailing from the Dublin suburb of Ballyfermot, Declan O'Rourke enjoyed a slew of compliments upon the release of his debut album, Since Kyabram, with no less an aficionado than Paul Weller saying that if there was one song he wished he had written in the last 20 years, it would have been O'Rourke's Galileo. The singer/songwriter returned in September with a far more accomplished second act that has seen him compared most frequently to Bruce Springsteen, due to its overall Americana sound and lyrics that deal with the issues of the everyman. O'Rourke's voice, which oscillates between a rich baritone and soaring falsetto, is the perfect tool for his alliterative storytelling and if this album is any gauge, then we will be listening to O'Rourke's stories for many years to come.

Cathy Davey: Tales Of Silversleeve

Cathy Davey sprang on the scene three years back with Something Ilk, a debut album that showed some promise but - for me - did little to separate her from the pack due to its formulaic makeup. Well, such criticisms are no longer warranted as Davey returns with an album that is both poised and mature, which contains enough gems to ensure a few trips around the world for her and her band, at the very least. Sounding like a blend of Debbie Harry, Luscious Jackson and the Sundays' Harriet Wheeler, this young singer/songwriter has truly discovered her own niche, thanks in part to producer Liam Howe (Sneaker Pimps), whose work on the album has added an edge to proceedings and the type of balance that was missing from her debut. Tracks like the wistfully dramatic, Sing For Your Supper, or the almost maddeningly beguiling, Reuben, are examples of an Irish artist that has just burst into flower. With bags of crossover potential and a dedicated student of her craft, Cathy Davey is only getting started.

Dry County: Unexpected Falls

This Dublin quartet made a huge splash on the Irish scene with their critically-acclaimed Nothing Stays In Place EP and then, for three years, nothing. It later emerged that the band had spent the intervening time working on their debut album, only to scrap everything they had recorded and start again. Judging on the basis of this album, their rebirth was a prudent decision as this solid and imaginative effort shows. From pounding floor-fillers packed with energy to dreamy, synth-drenched soundscapes so vivid that they are almost visual in their nature, Dry County wear influences such as Chemical Brothers, Boards Of Canada and Massive Attack on their sleeves, yet still manage to create something distinct, even if there are some moments where their efforts appear to bow under the pressure of their lofty ambitions. Even still, this remains an album of electronic rock at its very best.

Hooray For Humans: Safekeeping

There are those that believe that the best bands find the art of making music to be an easy task. Making music should not be arduous and legends like how The Killers wrote Mr. Brightside in their very first jam together, abound in the music world. Cork's Hooray For Humans fit comfortably into this category, having only come together a year ago, the band has managed to create an album that all but guarantees them a place in the Irish music pantheon for years to come. Quirky, electro-pop, given a summery edge with male and female vocalists, the band explode from the traps with infectious opener, Signature, and never really let up, with a well textured album that ensures the listener's interest is easily held - often by the throat. The band undoubtedly describes it best, referring to themselves as a "brazen pop outfit who flirt with everything from post-rock to new-wave electro".

Super Extra Bonus Party: Super Extra Bonus Party

For many years, Irish contemporary music was often criticized for sounding "too Irish", with many acts tending to occupy the same sonic ground (read: The Frames). Kildare's Super Extra Bonus Party put this notion firmly to the sword and offers an ideal example of just how diverse and adventurous Irish artists have become over the past couple of years. Employing a Brazilian MC, the band storm through a set of sonic palates that bring to mind everybody from Prodigy to De La Soul to Zero 7 and beyond, as they employ every technological trick in the book, while still managing to produce songs that are poised, potent and often capable of enticing anything with a pulse onto the dance floor. Having recently been handpicked to open for the like-minded Go! Team, it looks as if this band will get the break beyond Irish shores that they so richly deserve. Let the party begin.

A Lazarus Soul: Graveyard Of Burnt Out Cars

As its name might suggest, the second effort from this Dublin five-piece is certainly not the most uplifting and optimistic record you will ever listen to, but then again what would you expect from a band whose own motto is: "f**k your show business". Uplifting no, but cathartic yes, as a combination of powerful lyrics, melodies and dynamics reel you in and gently seduce you, in a manner that is not unlike valium. The most obvious influence evident within is Joy Division, due to the album's melancholic nature and singer Brian Brannigan's rich timbre and Curtis-like delivery, but there are others evident such as Tindersticks, Nick Cave and even Irish legends, A-House. Although the album does owe a heavy sonic debt to decades past, it manages to retain a contemporary edge and is certainly one of the most engaging and rewarding albums to emerge from Ireland this year.

Cathy Davis - discovering her own niche

Jenny Lindfors: When The Night Time Comes

Since picking up a guitar and falling in love with music as a youngster in Dublin, Jenny Lindfors never even considered any other choice of career and fans of singer/songwriter types will be forever grateful if she continues to produce records like this. Wearing her love of 60s west-coast music on her sleeve, this is an album that harkens back to a time when Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young ruled supreme but make no mistake, Lindfors has stamped her own distinct style all over these 12 tracks. Ordinarily, I tend to find most singer/songwriter somewhat monotonous, but Lindfors has packed enough changes, quirks and hooks into this album to charm even those of you suffering from ADD. Tracks such as Let The Seas Calm, Voodoo and 2 x 1, are so well crafted and executed that it is actually difficult to believe that she is only 25-years-old and her voice has the power, nuance and savvy of a well seasoned-blues singer. Already working on a follow-up, 2008 could well be the making of Jenny Lindfors.

Headgear: Flight Cases

I know that I said that these selections were not meant to be in any particular order of merit, but this little known album is probably my favorite of this week's choices, truth be told. Headgear, which essentially consists of Darragh Dukes and whomever he calls upon to assist, actually released his self-titled debut a couple of years back, but that outing in electronica bears little resemblance to the quirky and complete collection evident today. With a voice that sounds somewhere between a subdued Roger Waters and Lambchop's Kurt Wagner, Dukes sings about the quirky things that intrigue him, such as the man who walked a tightrope between the World Trade Towers (Mister Petit) or even the man who died after refused to leave his home during the 1980 Mt St Helens eruption despite repeated warnings (Harry Truman). You want quirky, he even gets comedian Pat Shortt to play a bit of sax in earnest. The result is a marvelous blend of carefully constructed tracks that ebb and flow thanks to some wonderful dynamics and just enough electronic increments, on an album that is engages you on the very first listen but only shares its secrets when you get to know it a bit better.

Future Kings Of Spain: Nervousystem

Upon the release of their critically-acclaimed self-titled debut album almost four years ago FKOS were roundly and resolutely hailed as "the next big thing to come out of Ireland", as media types across the globe became smitten with their sweet and engaging melodic rock. Then came a protracted and bitter legal battle with their former record label and in the interim the band went from featuring regularly on the pages of NME to appearing in the "what ever happened to? " lists. When some of the members went on to form A Lazarus Soul, it appeared that the band's moment may have passed, until they returned in September with a collection that reinstalls them at the very top of the Irish music scene. This kind of alt-rock may indeed be music without chances and the greatness that so many predicted has yet to emerge but it is certainly not music by numbers.

The Thrills: Teenager

The Thrills enjoyed one of the most successful launches of any Irish band with the release of their debut album, So Much For The City, achieving global sales and acclaim that most acts could only dream of. Perhaps fearful of waiting too long, they released the hugely ill-conceived Let's Bottle Bohemia only a year later and it has been downhill ever since as the band saw themselves deserted by both media and fans, in quick-smart time. They returned last summer with what is undeniably their best work to date, on an album that is packed with soaring harmonies, slinky riffs and the kind of honesty that was missing from their last project. All departments show a marked improvement as the band focus in on the freedom, pain and possibility that characterize the years spent morphing into an adult. Realistically speaking, given the vast changes in the music landscape since the emergence of The Thrills in 2003 (ie. the influence of bands such as the Libertines, Franz Ferdinand, Klaxons etc.) it is most likely impossible that they will ever truly regain their lofty position, but to dismiss this album would be to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

I would like to wish all our readers a very Happy Holidays, Nollaig Shona Diabh

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