The Future Looks Rosey

Joe Kavanagh With Ten Irish Rock Albums To Look Out For In 2009

And So I Watch You From Afar

Not since the days of the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Jeff Beck has instrumental music truly been in vogue, but thanks to acts like Mogwai, Sigur Ros and Ireland's own God Is An Astronaut, it has retained a pulse and proven that a global audience remains for this sometimes forgotten genre.

Now the genre has another act to get justifiably excited about in the form of this Belfast-based four piece who have been plying their trade since 2005 but only really exploded onto the scene in the past year, with the release of their debut EP, This Is

Our Machine And Nothing Can Stop It. Fighting words indeed but entirely apt when backed up with the type of blistering tunes that this band are capable of creating, driven by imagination, flair and stellar musicianship.

Crucially for this form of music, their tracks are like epic journeys, with enough twists and turns to stave off anything approaching boredom and enough melodies and cohesion to assuage any semblance of pretension.

Given the fact that they back this up with a positively incendiary live show that recently won them NME's gig of the month, 2009 should be a big year for this compelling outfit.

Bell X1

If this selection of album choices were a horserace then Bell X1 would certainly be prohibitive favorites to the point where betting would likely even be suspended.

As impressive as their résumé has already been (appearance on Conan O'Brien, world tours and multiple songs showcased on US TV) perhaps most notable of all has been their unerring ability to build on their past, never taking a step backwards as they steadily climbed to the position of Ireland's "band of the people".

With all the planets seemingly aligned for their one big push on the global market, their fourth effort, Blue Lights On The Runway, could well end up being one of the biggest Irish albums of the new millennium and leave those label executives at Island Records, who wielded the knife in the belief that the band's career had stalled, with - as they say in France - omelet-sur-leurs-visage.

Dark Room Notes

Formed in Galway in 2004, this four-piece has since gone on to absorb members from Wicklow and Dublin, and they now base themselves in the nation's capital.

Purveyors of what could most simplistically be described as upbeat electro-pop with an edge, the band burst onto the national scene with their infectious über-cool single, Love Like Nicotine, which appeared on their 2007 Dead Start Program EP, and is a track that conjures up the best of acts such as New Order and Depeche Mode.

According to their MySpace blog, the band has endured several technical glitches in the studio, up to and including exploding desks, which have hampered their efforts to complete the final album mixes and thrown their initial projections of an early year release slightly off track.

No matter, because if early indications are on target, it will be well worth the wait.

Director

Winners of Ireland's 2007 Meteor Award for Best New Act, this Malahide four-piece now stand at a critical juncture in their career, given the huge success enjoyed by their debut album and the universally acknowledged difficult second album.

Their outstanding debut, We Thrive On Big Cities, won over huge swathes of fans in Ireland, where it spent 29 weeks in the charts, and, crucially, the UK where indie fans fell in love with the band's hook-laden, pop-rock, and singer Michael Moloney's rich timbre, which, at the risk of sounding lazy, calls to mind the late Ian Curtis.

Their quality and success was such that they even secured slots on tour with names like Goo Goo Dolls, Razorlight, Hard Fi and Fratellis.

In the interim, the band put out the first-rate single, Be With You, last year, which suggests that any worries about them having trouble with their sophomore effort may yet prove entirely unfounded.

Considering their undoubted ability to pen a pop tune, the fact that they spent six months locked away in a farmhouse in Sligo writing it and a further month or two in LA recording, this could be something special.

Kopek

Few, if any, acts in the history of Irish rock music have enjoyed as explosive start to their careers as this Dublin three-piece.

From winning the Global Battle of the Bands in 2005 only months after their formation, to the consequent world tour that saw them play in front of 50,000 people at a festival in Mexico to singles recorded in the US with Danny Saber (Rolling Stones, Public Enemy), their first three years of existence were the stuff dreams are made of.

Then last year they finally entered the studio with producer Leo Pearson (U2, Elvis Costello) to begin work on their hotly-anticipated debut, which is due to hit shelves in the coming months.

Driven by Dan Jordan's rasping voice (which might be one of the best rock voices the country has ever produced), and a backline that sounds like the thunder of the gods, Kopek are a hard-rock band with melodies so sweet that they can appeal to the mass market audience on a global scale.

Definitely one of the most talented bands on the island and utterly enthralling in a live setting.

Hooray For Humans

There is something irrepressibly happy about the songs of Hooray For Humans, a trait that can only bode well for them in a year where the ongoing economic gloom is expected to further envelop the globe.

Of course happiness is not a whole lot of good to you if you can't string a decent tune together but this Cork outfit has a knack for crafty pop songs, as evidenced by their terrific debut album, Safekeeping.

Their boy/girl electro-pop contains myriad influences from 80s new wave to 90s guitar bands, all distilled into their own distinct, modern sound, and it should be enough to see the band achieve international recognition if they can follow up the imagination and innate catchiness of their debut.

Myp Et Jeep

Formed in 2005, this four-piece announced themselves on the national scene by winning the Kilkenny Battle of the Bands outright only months later.

Since then they have spent the intervening years traipsing up and down the country playing every spit 'n' sawdust bar and venue that would have them, all the while honing their sound and gaining invaluable experience that has transformed them from a cagey outfit into a true live force.

Along the way, they have played with such names as Republic of Loose, Frank and Walters and even opened for Snow Patrol, before entering the studio with the aforementioned Leo Pearson last year to begin work on their debut album.

With a sound not unlike a more experimental version of Stereophonics, the band's long-awaited debut, Blood Is Not Enough, is expected to appear in stores this coming February, with a lead-off single anticipated for later this month.

Codes

This Dublin outfit positively exploded out of the traps in 2007, with a pair of singles in the form of, Edith and This Is Goodbye, which both entered the Irish Top 40, a feat that is usually unheard of for an independent Irish band.

Their brand of shiny indie pop is characterized by Darragh Anderson's arresting vocals, which contain the same androgynous quality evident in singers like Delays' Greg Gilbert, and it is obvious at first listen that this is certainly an act blessed with bundles of crossover appeal.

Squirreled away in the studio for much of the past year with Manic Street Preachers producer, Greg Haver, their album is expected out later this year and given their penchant for taut, skillfully structured pop music, theirs could be a bright future indeed.

Supermodel Twins

Quite how the Supermodel Twins developed their songs, which sing of sunny summers and happy days, while growing up in the distinctly rainy climes of Limerick is anybody's guess, but let us just be thankful that they did.

Armed with a hatful of hooks, clever lyrics, impressive harmonies and Thom O'Keefe''s vocals, which actually sound like he's smiling all the while he is singing, the band are the closest thing that Ireland has ever produced to Weezer, which could play well with collegiate audiences in particular.

With just a few tweaks, a little more imagination and possibly even a fraction more of an edge, this act could build on the already considerable national following that they have developed in a distinctly short period of time.

The Dagger Lees

Initially called the Stagger Lees, this Dublin act recently changed their name in an effort to head off any potential legal action should their career take them to the US. It proved a prudent move as the band recently jetted off to begin work on their debut album with none other than US producer Jim Diamond, whose résumé includes the likes of White Stripes and Von Bondies.

In fact, it is entirely in keeping with their musical identity that the band should end up in the US as, driven by Donna McCabes rasping, bluesy voice, the band's sleazy sound has more in common with the Mississippi Delta than the River Liffey.

Their modern take on the blues genre, which they refer to as "noir rock" has been gaining fans since the release of their 2007 debut single, Bad Shoes.

Their sound would not be out of place on a David Lynch movie and, in fact, their track, Scarlet Fever, was recently chosen for the soundtrack of the US movie Hospital, so things are looking pretty rosey, in a bluesy kinda way.