I’ll try and post more pics during the day if I get a chance but, thanks to The Ticket at the Electric Picnic, I reckon blogging might be light for the next few days.

If you’re on your way to Co Laois today or tomorrow, travel safely. There will be traffic jams, hold-ups and delays because that’s just the nature of the beast. Sit back, relax, stick on some Malajube or M.I.A. or LCD Soundsystem or Super Extra Bonus Party or Fujiya & Miyagi or Bat for Lashes or Serena Maneesh or Chk Chk Chk (and that’s as close as I’ll come to weekend tips) and chill. It’s going to be a good one.

From the Body & Soul arena, this morning. Your guess is as good as mine.

Bruce Springsteen has become the latest act to deal with new business realities for the music industry by giving away his music for free.
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Despite the weather, summer 2007 featured over 70 music festivals and open-air shows in Ireland.

Some promoters are already predicting that next year will be ever busier with a number of new festivals mooted and plans afoot to import UK fests Bestival and Latitude.

But this year’s festival season shows no signs yet of running out of steam. In the next few weeks, Dublin music fans will have the Spiegeltent at the Fringe Festival, Green Synergy and the Most Wanted hip-hop fest.

In late October, it’s the battle of the tents when POD’s Some Days Never End festival at the Irish Museum of Modern Art and MCD’s Big Top in the Phoenix Park open for business.

For those seeking a weekend away, there’s Sligo Live over the October Bank Holiday Weekend with Duke Special, Alabama 3, what currently passes for the Buena Vista Social Club, Dervish and many more.

Even more acts are clambering onboard the play-your-best-album-in-full live bandwagon.

Lucinda Williams is set to play five of her albums, including “Sweet Old World” and “Car Wheels On A Gravel Road”, in their entirety at separate shows in Los Angeles and New York

Nearer home, The House Of Love will mark the reissue of their 1988 self-titled debut album with a tour, which includes a date at Dublin’s Village on September 21, where the band will perform that album in full.

Expect even more acts to have a go at this in 2008.

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First things first - there’s no mud. Not a bit of it. The site is sound and the ground is bone dry. It’s surreal to be at an Irish music festival in 2007 without wellies. Surreal. Even Babs agrees with me.

Anyway, after the jump, some pics including The Ticket HQ, something I spotted in the Body & Soul arena, a view of the main stage (if you squint, you can see Bob the Builder on the extreme left of the photo), Foggy Notions (rule OK), some flags left over from Meath’s All-Ireland campaign, a big wheel and proof that the arts are good for you. See y’all tomorrow.
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Respect to Shane for pointing out that, while the match itself won’t be screened (boo!), there will be a Kilkenny v Limerick soundclash going down in the Homespun tent in the Body & Soul arena.

Repping the Cats will be Captain Moonlight (Saturday, 11pm). He intends to be in Croker on Sunday, but he’ll be rolling with tracks from his new album “Agroculture Part 2: Return of the Barnstormers”

Repping Shannonside will be Peter Curtin (Sunday 8pm). Peter runs things on The Block, the hip-hop show on Spin South West and, yes, he has GAA form.

And best of luck to the Tipp minors as they go about the business of retaining their All-Ireland Minor Hurling crown on Sunday.

3.15pm, Saturday, Electric Arena. We’ll see you there.
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They said it couldn’t be done, but we were obviously not listening.

This weekend, special Electric Picnic editions of The Ticket, everyone’s favourite entertainment supplement, will be produced and distributed for free to festival-goers on Saturday and Sunday.

The Ticket at the Electric Picnic will be the first time a daily publication has ever been produced at an Irish festival.

The Ticket at the Electric Picnic will contain news, interviews, the first reviews of the previous day’s events, various views on what’s happening at the festival, updates and a certain quota of smart comments.

For those who are not going to the Picnic, we’ll be linking to content from The Ticket at the Electric Picnic here next week.

One of On The Record’s many hard-working moles in Montrose tells us that RTE-TV have said no to screening Nick Ryan’s Electric Picnic documentary. The broadcaster was offered the doc for free, but it is believed that they turned it down because it didn’t fit in with their music policy.

While this confirms our long-held belief that the commissioning editors responsible for such utter tripe as You’re A Star and Celebrity You’re A Star now rule the roost when it comes to deciding what music gets covered by the national broadcaster (which is why RTE-TV’s music coverage has been so tragic in recent years), it makes you wonder just why RTE-TV have blanked an event which attracts an audience of 32,500 people to Co Laois every year and which gets across-the-board rave reviews.

Anyone have any further info on this? Did they take a dislike to one particular part of the documentary or do they have a beef with the promoter? The comments field awaits you.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Odyssey Arena, December 15. One night only. Only Irish show in 2007.

Another day, another festival, another dodgy lorry with lists falling off the back of it spotted in Dublin 3.

Thanks to the wonders of MySpace calenders and a few nods and winks, we know that you can expect to see Kevin Drew (Broken Social Scene dude whose new album is all that and more), Prefuse 73, The Field, Hexstatic, Asian Dub Foundation, Archie Bronson Outfit and old-school Jamaican roots kingpins The Gladiators in various Dublin venues from October 10 to 14.

Good news for a Tuesday morning - you can download “Radio Nowhere”, the lead track from Bruce Springsteen’s new album “Magic”, for free here.

And yes, the track rocks.

BTW Guardian Unlimited Music are plugging this as their exclusive, but their link actually leads to this rubbish Calvin Harris track for some reason. Maybe The Guardian need a crash course in Bruce….

The boy wonder has the full day by day and stage by stage running orders.

Caveat emptor - all line-ups are subject to change, the value of your Electric Picnic experience may fall as well as rise depending on who is playing where and when etc

(1) Battles doing “Atlas” live is pretty awesome. The rest of the set was excellent, but “Atlas” was sublime.

(2) Crash! Did you hear that? That was the sound of the Sunderland bandwagon coming off the tracks. It sounds remarkably like that Waterford bandwagon from a week or two ago, doesn’t it?

(3) Bloc Party, Phoenix Park, Dublin, November 3.

(4) Bang! What was that? That was the sound of the Bernard Dunne bandwagon hitting the canvas. Oops.

(5) One of the next would-be leaders of the Labour Party is a big fan of Rachid Taha. Or else he was just taking the air at the open-air creche that was the Fun Laoghaire Festival of World Cultures.

(6) Hurrah, Super Extra Bonus Party have been added to the Electric Picnic bill. They play the Bodytonic stage on Saturday at noon. Good job they changed their name from the Illegal Kids.

(7) Wallop! Crikey, that was loud! That was the sound of the Dublin football bandwagon coming unstuck, the team with the biggest entourage, greatest number of fine-weather fans and most hype in the history of the GAA - or, at least,, since the last bunch of Jacks on the Hill went around bigging themselves up. Now, anyone interested in a couple of thousand Arnotts sky-blue tops (slightly tight under the armpits and around the belly with just a few ketchup and Guinness stains)? We’ll throw in the car-top flags for free.

(8) It would seem that there’s another journalist about to hit the blogging trail. Go Nadine!

(9) Rick O’Shea and Gerry Ryan are not the only disco-jockeying fans of On The Record. Say hello everyone to our new arrival, Ray Foley. He seems to be a little unsure about our remark about the recent significant rise in his audience figures. Mmm, I wonder does Ray know “Dennis Shaugh” (see comments)?

(10) Re-watching The Wire is just as good as catching it the first time around. I’d forgotten what a fascinating character Frank Sobotka was.

(11) Cycling from Fairview to Fun Laoghaire and back is the new rock ‘n’ roll this week.

As played on Phantom FM, Saturday August 25, 10pm-midnight

The Electric Picnic special fought the gremlins which took over the sound desk for a spell and, like any great horror flick which turns out alright in the end, the gremlins didn’t win.

Simian Mobile Disco “It’s The Beat” (Wichita)
LCD Soundsystem “Get Innocuous” (DFA/EMI)
Bjork “Declare Independence” (One Little Indian)
Hot Chip v Diplo “Over & Over” (White)
Super Extra Bonus Party “Everything Flows” (Alphabet Set)
MIA “Bamboo Banger” (XL)
Skream “Check It” (Tempa)
Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip “Thou Shalt Always Kill” (Lex)
Chk Chk Chk “Heart of Hearts” (Warp)
Bonde De Role “Office Boy” (Domino)
Beastie Boys “Sure Shot” (Capitol)
Go Team “Titanic Vandalism”(Memphis Industries)
Fujiya Miyagi “Photocopier” (Tirk)
Ratatat “Lex” (XL)
Marlena Shaw “Californian Soul” (Capitol)
Spilly Walker “Let The Freak Come Out At Night” (Foggy Notions)
Final Fantasy “This Lamb Sells Condos” (Tomlab)
The Stooges “Loose” (Elektra)
Fight Like Apes “Jake Summers” (FIFA)
Serena-Maneesh “Chorale Lick” (Play Louder)
Sonic Youth “Eric’s Trip” (Blast First)
Jesus & Mary Chain “Upside Down” (blanco y negro)
The Aliens “Robot Man” (Pet Rock)
Malajube “Pate Filo” (Dare To Care)
The Good, The Bad & The Queen “Herculean” (Honest Jons)
Halves “Take Exact Revenge” (A Home For Halves)
Horace Andy “Skylarking” (Studio One)
Primal Scream “Shine Like Stars” (Creation)

It seems that monster concert promoters Live Nation (who, as you all know because you follow these things really closely, are in cahoots with our very own DMC, sorry MCD Concerts) have decided to end their deal with the much loved ticket selling service.

Per the New York Times (who thankfully care as much about this kind of thing as I do):

Signaling a shake-up in the financial structure of the live entertainment business, Ticketmaster said yesterday that it did not expect to extend its long-term contract with Live Nation, the world’s biggest concert promoter.

The split between two of the biggest powers in live entertainment comes amid a wide-ranging tussle over the division of money generated from ticket service charges and control of customer data. It also comes as the sale — and resale — of tickets has emerged as a coveted source of revenue in the music business as CD sales plunge.

So what does this mean? Well, for a start, it means a bit of a blow for Ticketmaster’s bottom line.

Sales from shows put on by Live Nation and House of Blues accounted for more than 15 percent of Tickemaster’s roughly $1 billion in revenue last year, according to an executive briefed on the company’s affairs.

It also means that Live Nation may have to set up their ticket selling service. Ticketmistress anyone?

Live Nation now faces the prospect of having to expand its own small internal ticketing operation or form a partnership with another outside ticketing agency. Live Nation took a step toward expanding its ticketing operation with the acquisition of Musictoday, a company that runs artist fan clubs and handles direct sales of tickets.

Expect this move to cause significant waves in how you buy your ticket for shows in 2008. And yes, you’ll still have to pay those “convenience charges”.

This morning, we’re opening a bottle of champers and waving big purple underpants around to celebrate Gerry Ryan adding an extra 24,000 listeners to his audience in the latest JNLR book. Who knew? The rot has stopped! Rejoice, rejoice etc etc.

Always big fans of the G Ryan round here, you know. Always. Never doubted him for a moment. Ahem.

Smart alec comments only please. We can take ‘em.

This year’s Dublin Electronic Arts Festival (DEAF) will be an Asian-themed event when it returns for its sixth outing in October.
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The Scandinavians are coming. Irish history may tell us to be wary of any Nordic invasion, but there should be little reason to fear the latest bunch of folk from up north heading here for the Hard Working Class Heroes fest.

Some 14 acts from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland are set to join 90 Irish acts at the event, which takes place at the Pod complex in Dublin from September 28th to 30th.

While Swedish band The Concretes are perhaps the best known of the bunch, On The Record’s tip is fabulous Danish band Oh No Ono. We caught them at the Eurosonic showcase in Holland earlier this year and feel that Silver Apples fans, in particular, will enjoy their avant-garde electronic pop.

Other acts making the trip to Dublin include The LK, Soda Fountain Rag, LoveNinjas and The Tupelo Honeys.

Ahoy me hearties! Turning Pirate is one of the more interesting musical turns scheduled for the Spiegeltent when it’s pitched in Dublin for next month’s Fringe fest.

An evening of unlikely musical collaborations, Turning Pirate will see the likes of Lisa Hannigan, Paul Noonan, Gavin Glass, Cathy Davey, Donal Dineen, The Walls, Mundy, Neosupervital and many more walking the plank (metaphorically speaking, of course).

Aside from the pirate show on September 13th, other Spiegeltent attractions include Marlena Shaw with Mad Professor (11th), Seasick Steve (18th) and veteran funk-soul brother Sweet Charles (22nd).

Dr Dre has found yet another distraction to keep him from completing Detox, the album that’s fast turning into hip-hop’s version of Guns N’ Roses’s Chinese Democracy.

Dre filed a lawsuit against his former label, Death Row, over the rights to his 1992 album The Chronic.

The superstar producer claims the label breached the terms of a 1996 deal by failing to fulfil royalty commitments.

Seeing as Death Row has filed for bankruptcy, Dre’s move is seen as a bid to stop the album falling into the hands of a third party.

The full JNLR figures are available for all to see and scratch their heads over here. No huge changes in terms of the headline figures, but individual audience figures from marquee-name broadcasters residing in Montrose yet to come.

The first hard data from today’s JNLR book to make it our way shows very good news for Today FM.

Ian Dempsey, Matt Cooper, Ray Foley and Tony “Hey! It’s Tony! Fenton!” Fenton have added 15,000, 13,000, 24,000 (you read that right) and 17,000 (the Tony revival starts here) extra listeners respectively to the audiences they were getting a year ago.

However, 11,000 people have decided they’ve enough of the other Ray. That’s really 11,001 people turning off Ray D’Arcy because I’ve had enough of him too (more music, less chat, Ray dude), but no-one asked me.

Wonder where those mid-morning listeners have gone? No! They wouldn’t, would they? Hold on a darn tooting second….

C’mon people, get happy.
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Gerry Ryan, John Clarke (dude, how are you? Long time, no hear. We must do coffee! What do you think of Rafa’s beard?), Ian Dempsey, Tony Fenton, Ray D’Arcy, Mary Wilson, Ana “Yee-Haw” Leddy, Tom Dunne, Ray Foley, Matt Cooper, Ryan Tubridy, the Morning Ireland team, Willie O’Reilly, everyone still working at Newstalk and dozens more of your favourite radio broadcasters, their bosses and their sidekicks will have woken up this morning with The Fear. Except Pat Kenny. He’s still on holidays. And Joe Duffy. He’s on holidays too.

The latest JNLR book is published today. This tome tells you everything you need to know about radio listenership figures in Ireland. It’s like the Leaving Cert results for radio folk every quarter.

It’s the day when you find out the answers to a lot of questions. Whose audience is going up and, more importantly, whose audience is going down? Will all that money which RTE have splashed out on securing the services of G Ryan for the next five years look like an utter waste of licence-payers cash by 5pm? Will Today FM continue to pull ‘em in? Who’ll be the big regional winners? Just how much spin will we be able to handle as the stations desperately try to find something - anything - good in the figures to stick on a press release?

Tune in later today, sports fans, for more mischief making and spin-free updates. Anyone who wishes to make a prediction should use the comment fields below.

Something else which fell off a lorry. I’m really worried about all these lorries with dodgy trailers around this neck of the woods of late.

Here’s a very long list of the acts who will be heading to Stradbally, Co Laois for Electric Picnic 2007 in day by day order. We’ve already given you the details on the Body & Soul and Leviathan stages so it’s all coming together.
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Mention of Nik Cohn in a post below brought a couple of comments from Fergal and JP about the great man and his books like “Heart of the World”, “Yes We Have No” and his New Orleans hip-hop tale “Triksta”. I interviewed Cohn after the publication of “Triksta” and, for those interested, it’s below the fold.
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Well, not the Irish blogosphere’s answer to Kinky Friedman. He publishes his debut big buke in February and it’s called Order of the Phoenix Park.

Here’s the Amazon blurb for it:

When Twenty gets an early morning wake-up call from Detective Larry O’Rourke it seems like any other day. But when he discovers that his friend, record shop owner Tom O’Farrell, has been murdered and that his dying act was scrawl the number ‘60′ in blood on his chest and dial Twenty’s number in to his phone — he begins to think something might be out of the ordinary. Meanwhile, time is running out for the people of Dublin. A plan has been hatched that is more sinister than seeing your granny tongue-kiss with an 18 year old and it all seems to centre around ‘Folkapalooza’ a massive free concert due to take place in the Phoenix Park. Soon Twenty and his pals from Ron’s bar find themselves plummeted into the crazy world of concert promotions, assassins, iPod based defence systems, mad taxi drivers, office espionage and devious minds. A combination that will test their friendships, and their ability to cope with hangovers, to the limit. What does the number ‘60′ signify? Why are avaricious promoters DCM concerts putting on a massive free gig? Who is the ginger albino and who is he working for?Can Twenty, Jimmy the Bollix, Stinking Pete, Dirty Dave and the rest solve the puzzle before it’s too late or will Dublin succumb to the dastardly mastermind behind it all?

DCM Concerts? Avaricious? Phoenix Park?

Of course, if MCD were to look for examples of commendable customer service, they wouldn’t have to take cues from their Irish competition. In fact, they wouldn’t even have to go outside the MCD tent.

Have a read of this message from Reading Festival chief Melvin Benn about conditions at the site ahead of this week’s three day festival. The Reading Festival is run by Festival Republic, the new name for what used to be the Mean Fiddler and which is now owned by MCD in conjunction with global promotion giant Live Nation (nee Clear Channel).

Benn, a hugely experienced hand at the promotion game, points out that certain campsites and car parks are unusable because of the weather and suggests alternatives for fans. He also acknowledges that while the weather forecast is good, it will not be enough to dry out the site in time.

Think back to Oxegen. Remember how it had rained and rained and rained for weeks before the event. Imagine if something as useful as this had been provided in advance. Why, it might even have been useful for Babs.

Lets hope that there’s no need for such a bulletin from POD Concerts ahead of next week’s Electric Picnic. The long-range forecast is promising, but lets really hope that the site will have dried up in time to cope with the arrival of 32,500 people, a couple of stages, hundreds of musicians, tents, camper vans, portaloos, food stalls and the Pieminister. In the meantime, anyone got a line on some Children Of Prague?

There have been a few pieces filed already following the Consumer Association of Ireland’s decision to publish their letter to MCD Concerts giving out about the recent Babs show in Dublin.

Readers will recall that MCD established a committee in the wake of the show to find out what went wrong (hey, people couldn’t find their seats - job done) and this commitee is due to report their findings in September.

Back when the Babs ruckus first occured, Shane made an interesting point about the lack of a customer services department at a company like MCD who deal with thousands of punters every year.

However, some promoters are taking action. MCD’s main competitors Aiken Promotions have come up with this (with thanks to eagle-eyed On The Record reader Lass for pointing it out).

I don’t recall seeing this customer care policy on their website before this summer and wonder what provoked them to publish it (the link is at the very bottom of their home page). Would it be, perhaps, Babs?

The policy is very comprehensive and covers such areas as how stewards should deal with customers, how serious incidents should be handled and how staff should deal with dissatisfied customers. Expect to see other promoters cogging this one in the coming months.

And yes Rockford, Babs is the gift that keeps on giving.

I usually don’t remember anniversaries like this, but I was doing some research on something else last week and copped that it’s 16 years ago today since Nirvana played Dublin’s Top Hat (and 16 years ago yesterday since they tore Sir Henry’s in Cork apart) as support to Sonic Youth.

I remember both shows for an abundance of reasons. The reaction from the audience in Cork round about halfway through “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, the first time most of us probably heard it, as people began to figure out that this song was huge. The way Kurt screamed his way through “Sliver”. All three of the band fast asleep in the Top Hat while Sonic Youth were soundchecking. The sheer translucent power of their Dublin show. The dozen or so punters who left after Nirvana finished - they’d come solely to see them and didn’t bother to wait around for the Youth. Talking to Nirvana’s manager John Silva afterwards as he clutched a guitar which Kurt had smashed. “David Geffen can pay for that now”, he said.

A couple of days later, they played a show-stopper at the Reading Festival and, a couple of months later, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” had become an anthem. It was 1991, the year punk rock broke.

It’s odd to look back now and note just how different things were then. While some would have know about Nirvana via ’89’s “Bleach”, the vast majority of the audience were encountering the band and the songs from “Nevermind” for the first time. In an era before MP3s, music blogs and downloads, finding out about new music was a little different. You had to make more of an effort because you didn’t have the same easy access to a global jukebox. But it could be done.

It’s odd too remembering those Nirvana shows and comparing them to the freak show which was about to take over their world. Back then, there were no celebrities, no Courtney Love, no spokesman-for-a-generation crap surrounding the band. Just three kids making an amazing racket and looking like they were having a hell of a time. Best to remember them that way.

When details of the Ian Brown show at the Big Top in Dublin’s Phoenix Park were announced, On The Records gallery of erudite posters chuckled long and hard.

He’ll never pull 5,000 punters, you cackled.

He can’t sing, you sniggered.

He picks a fight with his sound engineer at every show, you alleged.

But Ian Brown’s fans were not going to be take this sitting down. Over the last week, they’ve started to come here and outline the case for the defence.

Here’s Damien Phelan:

You guys cannot be serious, Brown is massive in Ireland and every performance in Ireland (apart from the ambassador) has been top drawer. Was also at Dublin castle, and the audience wanted him to keep playing.

And Bam Murkjera:

Where are you people getting this rubbish from? Last year he sold out 4 nights in a row at the Ambassador, thats what.. 2000 people a night, then he sold out Dublin Castle again in April which is massive itself, he’ll easily fit a headline slot at this.

And Nath:

Ian Brown is a legend, even if his voice can be a bit off on stage, he’s a great front man & his legacy alone is worth the entrance fee ..where do all the saps on this forum come from?? ‘oh, Ian Brown is soooo yesterday’ ..get a grip

And, best of all, King Monkey:

Could all the anodyne Coldplay fans get off this forum and go back to reading Maeve Binchy novels. Ian Brown is a musical legend. Everybody thought after the split that he would wilt but after 4 excellent and original solo albums the king is alive and well. Adore me.

That’s us told so.

(1) Jockette Jessica Kurten is not a happy camper when it comes to the media pointing out that her horse failed a dope test.

(2) The Rolling Stones played in a big field in Co Meath and everyone went home happy. Bad news for Joe and his researchers, though we hear they might have a story if they knew where to go looking for it.

(3) A lot of hurling commentators are still fuming that Waterford got knocked out of this year’s championship by Limerick. Apparently, the Deises were set to be this year’s “people’s champions” until the lads from the other side of the Carnahalla bridge went into action. The “people’s champions”? Certainly not the people round here who never warmed to Waterford’s badge-kissing brand of hurling. They got beaten by a better team. Get over it. At least that “Dan the Man” numptiedom is over till next summer.

(4) The new album from Menomena is so darn hot.

(5) Fernando Torres is going to have a great season - and Chelsea will always benefit from dodgy referees.

(6) Nik Cohn knew his beat. The Derry-born writer’s “Ball the Wall” collection contains one must-read pop culture zinger after another.

(7) Bill Deedes RIP

(8) Dont forget that the Festival of World Cultures takes over Fun Laoghaire next week. Rachid Taha is playing on Sunday.

(9) That Battles album “Mirrored” sound bigger and bolder and brighter and brasher with every listen. They play Dublin’s Tripod on Friday. Go on, you know you want to go.

(10) Malahide is a lovely place to be when the sun shines, as it did for a couple of hours yesterday.

(11) The Some Days Never End fest sounds - and looks - better and better. More news soon. Is that enough of a tease for you?

As played on Phantom FM, Saturday August 18, 10pm-midnight. And no, podcasts and listen-on-demand facilities are not available. Take it up with The Management, OK?

It’s amazing how hearing one tune can remind you of so many other tunes to play around it. Such was the way with the new cut from Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings lifted from the forthcoming “100 Days, 100 Nights” album. It led to the mighty Dawson Smith who led to The Stylistics who took us back to soul sistas Lyn Christopher and Vicki Anderson. I’m really digging the new album from Menomena and what I’ve heard so far of The Magik Markers (their “Boss” album is coming soon on Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace label). And I marked the fact that 70,000 people were in a field in Co Meath by playing Rolling Stones tunes albeit not played or sung by the Rolling Stones (and on a similar tip, there are some very interesting songs mooted for Cat Power’s forthcoming new covers album(s)).

Next week’s show will be an Electric Picnic preview extravaganza so tune in for that. NB: no tickets or wellies required.

Malajube “Le Crabe” (City Slang)
Cap Pas Cap “Said Say It” (Skinny Wolves)
Crystal Castles “Bitter Hearts” (Merok)
Tiger Force “Beat It” (Marquis Cha Cha)
Whitey “Leave Them All Behind” (1234)
Fiery Furnaces “Single Again” (Rough Trade)
Magik Markers “Taste” (Ecstatic Peace)
Menomena “Weird” (City Slang)
M.I.A. “$20” (XL)
Madlib/Beat Konducta “Indian Hump” (Stones Throw)
Oh No “Heavy” (Stones Throw)
Madvillain “Meat Grinder” (Stones Throw)
Lalo Schifrin “Jaws” (MCA)
PJ Harvey “The Devil” (Island)
Vicki Anderson “A Message To The Soul Sisters” (People)
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings “100 Days, 100 Nights” (Daptone)
Lyn Christopher “Take Me With You” (Paramount)
Dawson Smith “I Don’t Know If I Can Make It” (Original Roadshow)
The Stylistics “People Make The World Go Round” (Avco)
Love “A House Is Not A Motel (Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve remix)” (Third Mynd)
Andrew Oldham Orchestra “The Last Time” (Decca)
Cat Power “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (Matador)
Ana Kelly “Under My Thumb” (Dro Atlantic)
Ryan Adams/Beth Orton “Brown Sugar” (Lost Highway)
Bruce Springsteen “Atlantic City” (CBS)
Lee Hazlewood/Nancy Sinatra “Some Velvet Morning” (Reprise)

As if one Leviathan tent full of political cabaret, assorted mischief-makers, people onstage heckling the hecklers in the audience and Clint Velour was not enough to be going on with, there will be TWO Leviathan-helmed tents at this year’s Picnic. Full details of what awaits you after the jump.
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A new festival will bring such hip-hop luminaries as Mos Def, Madlib and De La Soul to Dublin in the autumn.
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Dan O’Connell is The Thurston Revival, the Maidstone-born, Vancouver-based one-man band who is laying claim to releasing the most expensive debut single ever.

O’Connell intends to sell 100 copies of his Somewhere There’s an Angel single (albeit on high- quality 12-inch vinyl, with artwork desiged by 10 rising UK artists) at £100 a go.

In an era of download over- load and free CDs with the Sunday papers, this may smack to some of insanity. Yet O’Connell and his backers, music industry website Record of the Day, view the price tag as a statement about the value of music. While the tune can be heard for free from today on O’Connell’s MySpace site, the artefact will remind people that music is, after all, supposed to be art.

As with all bright ideas, if it works expect others to emulate O’Connell. We’re sure the late great Tony Wilson, someone who also viewed pop music as art, would approve

The bubble has certainly not burst. A year on from launch, pureplay pop music cable channel Bubble Hits is pulling in viewers and is now as widely available in Ireland as it is in the UK.

Founded by James Hyland and Lee Walsh, Bubble Hits has attracted investment from MCD Concerts boss Denis Desmond. They plan to consolidate the rollout in Europe (Hungary, Germany and Poland were recently added to Bubble’s reach) and a Bubble Hits Ireland brand.

Here’s a name for 2008. Balbriggan teen Lesley Roy may be very much below the radar at home, but the same can’t be said abour her international profile.

Part of Dublin’s Religion Music stable, Roy signed last year to big swinging pop label Jive/Zomba. She recently completed her debut album, where the heads at the mixing desk included Max Martin (the Swedish producer who’s worked with Britney Spears and Kelly Clarkson) and Chris Lord-Alge (past clients include Green Day, Foo Fighters and My Chemical Romance).

Electric Picnic? Pah!

THERE’S A NEW BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN ALBUM ON THE WAY!

It’s called “Magic” and it’s out October 2nd in the United States (which translates to September 28th over here). Wonder will this get leaked?

Good news - he’s back in the saddle with The E Street Band.

Per manager Jon Landau:

“Magic” is a high energy rock CD. It’s light on its feet, incredibly well played by Bruce and the members of the E Street Band, and, as always, has plenty to say

Wow, the Boss does Hi-NRG.

Better news - they’re touring. Mmm, I may need a trip to the United States this autumn….

There are many, many acts I’m looking forward to seeing at the Electric Picnic, but I’m really relishing a chance to finally see Malajube. Especially since I’ve learned how to pronounce their name.
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If John Ryan thought he’d got a kicking in the past from the likes of The Sunday Indo, it’s nothing compared to the treatment which the Blogorrah publisher is getting from New York dog-blog Dig & Scratch since the demise of his New York Dog mag (”a Vanity Fair for dog-lovers”).

In Dig & Scatch’s world, Ryan really is in the doghouse and they’ve ran a couple of pieces on him in the last week (the latest is here).

We really dig the paragraphs in the report about Winky, his one-eyed chihuahua. John really should have hooked up with Roy Keane and Triggs for advice. Or got a greyhound instead. More money in greyhounds.

I used to do PR for bands and labels, but I’m OK now.

My colleague Shane also has a PR past. He must be going through Tony Soprano-like therapy at the moment because he’s been writing about it a bit. And it’s very, very funny - including this piece which we ran in the original Muse back in 2000.

Read. Chuckle. And thank your lucky stars you’re not in PR. Or are in PR planning to get out.

News of what’s in store when that lovely Spiegeltent returns to the city in September for this year’s Dublin Fringe festival.

Here’s what may interest On The Record readers. Yeah, there’s some theatre and cabaret stuff happening too which we’ve left out. Look, we’re not The View, ai’ght? The TV programme we mean, not the dodgy indie band. Like, we know On The Record readers are not the women with scarves who make up the Irish arts set. Yes? No?

Anyway, on with the show.

Red Hot & Brass (September 8th)
A brass band club night with Beat ‘n’ Blow from Germany. 

Marlena Shaw & Mad Professor (September 11)
Californian soul and heavyweight subsonic dub.

The Blue of the Night Live (September 12)
The Lyric FM late-night radio show brings us the magnificent Colleen, Mercury Prize-friendly Joanna MacGregor and Andy Sheppard, Argentinian quintet Lunfardia and Ian Shaw with the Phil Ware Trio

Crazy P (September 14)
The funky disco house band formerly known as Crazy Penis until they were circumcised (ho, ho etc etc)

B-Music (September 15)
Belfast Cowboy David Holmes joins Andy Votel and Dom Thomas for a night of off-kilter psych-rock.

Wax The Jam (September 16)
Nightmares On Wax dude DJ Ease keeps it mello’ with Negghead, Guts, Arveene, MC Ricky Ranking (N.O.W. and Roots Manuva) plus singers Chyna B and Ella May from N.O.W.

Seasick Steve (September 18)
Yeah! We’ve been digging this legendary hobo’s “Dog House Music” album all summer long. Support from King Creosote.

The Big Bang Symphony (September 19)
Congolese composer in Cork Niwel Tsumbu’s cross-cultural ensemble with music and voices from South and Middle America, Asia, Africa, Europe and Ireland. 

Sweet Charles (September 22)
Musical director, bandleader and producer Sweet Charles gets on up with his band. He’s worked with all the greats including James Brown, Al Green and Curtis Mayfield.

Honest guv, it fell off the back of a lorry. Thanks to the latest On The Record mole to join our merry gang for this - we owe u a pie.

I’ve always liked the Body & Soul area at the Picnic because it’s such a contrast to the rest of the site. That little stage they’ve got going on there has seen some very interesting stuff in ‘05 and again in ‘06.

Here’s what in store this year (there are a couple of TBCs and Special Guests which I’ve left out). I also hear there’s also a Village Hall late-night stage with more rootsier fare to look out for too

Friday

YOAV (Island Records)
DJ Noel Phelan
Love deadly Yeah
Mick Crehan
DJ Will Softly
David Turpin
DJ Andy Barlow (ex-Lamb)
Analogue Minefield
DJ Fiasco
DJ Stephan Manning (Space Camp)
The Egg
Cachimbo

Saturday

Small Hours Breakfast with Donal Dineen
Liam O’Maonlai
Somadrone
Pressure Drop
Jenny Lindfors
DJ Dave Donovan
Christy Mac
Chequerboard
Cane 141
DJ Shane Mannion
Si Schroeder (DJ & live solo set)
DJ Hazo
Les Bien
DJ Will Softly
Halfset
Donal Dineen & special guests inc. Liam O’ Maonlai
After hours: Djembe Faso & Timber Tramps

Sunday

Small Hours Breakfast with Donal Dineen
Galliano String Quartet
Adrian Crowley
Iarla O’Lionard
Eoin Dillon
Mick Flannery
DJ Fiasco
Harry J & the Conspiracy
Padraig Disconaut
Luna Seeds
Dj Ali Ji (ID Spiral)
Cinephile
Dj Ali Ji
DJ Stevie G
Gaudi
After hours: The Jahm

Who knew that Roy Keane had so much in common with Albert Reynolds? One of the former Taoiseach’s more embarrasing gaffes came during a Dail exchange many years ago when, replying to heckles from Fine Gael’s Nora Owens, he retorted “there’s women for you now”.

Keane’s comments on why players aren’t interested in coming to Sunderland to ply their trade will probably be viewed in a similar light. They’re certainly as good as his prawn sandwiches outburst from a few years ago.

“If a player doesn’t want to come to Sunderland then all well and good,” said the former Manchester United captain and Ireland midfielder. “But if he decides he doesn’t want to come because his wife wants to go shopping in London, then it’s a sad state of affairs. It’s not a football move, it’s a lifestyle move. It tells me the player is weak and his wife runs his life.

“The idea of women running the show concerns me and worries me, but the players we’re talking about are soft. Priorities have changed in footballers and they are being dictated to by their wives.”

It gets better (or worse, depending on how you view these things)

“I could name three or four big players now, and clearly their wives are running their lives,” he claimed. “They’ve started doing photoshoots - and they’re getting dragged in by their partners.

“You can see quite clearly now with one or two of the big players that their wives and girlfriends are running their lives and that’s a bad sign. I might have to start persuading players that Sunderland’s closer to London than it really is. The player won’t say it but you know what they’re thinking because they say: ‘I need to speak to my wife’. “

Keane himself once nearly ended up playing in Italy. Not for the shopping, mind.

“A couple of years ago I nearly went to Juve. People spoke to me about Turin, and said it is this and it is that, but Milan would be nice. I said ‘I’m not going for the bloody shops; I’m going because it’s Juventus.’ You have to sign for footballing reasons. If you retire at 35 you can bloody well live wherever you want to then.

“Your football has to be your priority and you don’t have to live in London or Monaco to be happy. You don’t need to be surrounded by expensive shops or fancy cafes.”

You have to wonder what his chairman makes of all this. And the season isn’t even a week old yet.

Here’s some news about one addition to this year’s Picnic that I hadn’t heard about before - Fossett’s Circus.

A world where aerialists defy death, jugglers defy gravity, acrobats defy description and the clowns simply defy everyone.

No lions or tigers, unfortunately.

I wonder what other bits and pieces are happening at the Electric Picnic that we don’t know about yet?

Ah Tony , there really was no-one else like you.

I know I’m not alone in remembering the life and times of Anthony Howard Wilson at the moment. Like so many others, I had several encounters with him down through the years and there was always something to take from each one. Tony was generous, gregarious, funny, smart, opinionated and always - always - on the money.

The last time I interviewed him was around the time of the release of the 24 Hour Party People film in 2002. I can’t find a link to the piece from The Irish Times online so the interview is replicated in full below the fold.
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Wilco dept - As predicted here, oh, months ago, Wilco are on their way to play a plush venue in Dublin with a roof on it (yeah, we mean Vicar Street, still the finest venue in the city) later this year. Tickets now on sale for November 14 and 15.

Dublin venues dept - It seems that Whelan’s, the Temple Bar Music Centre and the Point are not the only venues planning revamps. On The Record hears from one of its many sources that The Village is also about to undergo a facelift.

Hip-hop dept - Nialler9 has rounded up the current state of the nation. Get clicking.

Thrills dept - “Teenager” has fallen from number 25 to number 80 in the Irish charts and total sales are a smidgin north of 1,200.

Arcade Ire dept - We’ve now gone over 100 comments as people continue to give out yards about not getting their hands on tickets for the Arcade Fire in the Park thing. I wonder are we in for another bout of fuming next Monday after the Stones at Slane?

As played on Phantom FM, Saturday August 11, 10pm-midnight.

The show featured tributes to late greats Tony Wilson (besides Joy Division, there was also a connection to ESG as the Scroggins girls played at the opening night of the Hacienda) and Lee Hazlewood, new sounds from smart new-school Manc label Switchflicker (that Valerie track rocks), a continuation of the recent obsession with the Youth (this time, their Ciccone Youth offshoot), heavy-duty psychedelia from Gambia’s Super Eagles, a long overdue slice from the Ethiopiques series and more Bob Lind.

Joy Division “Love Will Tear Us Apart” (Factory)
M.I.A. “Paper Planes” (XL)
Ciccone Youth “Into the Groove(y)” (Geffen)
Bonde Do Role “Solta O Frango” (Domino)
Super Extra Bonus Party “Favourite Things” (Alphabet Set)
Girl Talk “Friday Night” (Illegal Art)
Bjork “Innocence (Ghostigital remix)” (One Little Indian)
Diplo “Now’s The Time” (Big Dada)
ESG “Keep On Moving” (Soul Jazz)
Oh No “Heavy” (Stones Throw)
Cadence Weapon “Sharks” (Upper Class)
The Cool Kids “One, Two” (C.A.K.E.)
Shape Of Broad Minds “Changes” (Lex)
Little Dragon “Twice” (Peacefrog)
Kevin Drew “Lucky Ones” (City Slang)
Valerie “Korgatron” (Switchflicker)
The Aliens “I Am The Unknown” (Pet Rock)
Super Eagles “Love’s A Real Thing” (Luaka Bop)
Mahmoud Ahmed “Belomi Benna” (Buda Musique)
Tony Allen “One Tree” (Honest Jons)
Lee Hazlewood “Little Miss Sunshine (Little Miss Rain)” (Smells LIke)
Simone White “I Didn’t Have A Summer Romance” (Honest Jons)
Jose Gonzalez “In Our Nature” (Peacefrog)
Tunng “Bricks” (Full Time Hobby)
Songs Of Green Pheasant “Ballad Of Century Paul” (Fat Cat)
Lee Hazlewood “I’d Rather Be Your Enemy” (Smells Like)
Bob Lind “Theme from The Music Box” (RPM)
The Innocence Mission “What A Wonderful World” (Badman)

Very sad news from the Manchester Evening News - the Factory Records, Hacienda and In The City legend Anthony H. Wilson has died. He had been battling kidney cancer for the last couple of months.

Wilson truly was one of the most fascinating, enthusiastic, colourful and downright entertaining figures I’ve ever come across in this business. It’s sad to think he won’t be around to cause mischief at any more music business panels or conventions or to patiently explain once again why Manchester was the centre of the universe. He was one of a kind. Rest in peace.

Well, the tickets went on sale at 9am and sold out within nanoseconds.

Already, On the Record readers are fuming.

Here’s Sharon:

I’ve been trying to buy tickets since 9am online and each time - ever since 9am, I’ve been told there were none left. How could 10,000 tickets possibly have been sold within no time at all?

And Paul:

The service charge for these tickets is an absolute disgrace. I just paid €24.60 EUR Service charge on 4 tickets. I heard Micheal Martin recently on the radio saying some comission or other was set up to look at prrcing charged by agencis but they would not actually be querying the service charge. It is a disgrace, a complete rip-off and must end.

And Ben:

Gone in less than two minutes? Anyone know how many were available?

And Enda:

Why can’t I get them on ticketmaster????????

They’re sold out, dude.

Anyone else not feeling the love this morning? Don’t talk to Joe, type to Jim. We do hope Win Butler’s and MCD’s bean-counters are chuffed to bits this morning.

Acts seeking to strut their stuff on a stage in Dublin in the coming weeks face a limited choice due to the temporary closure of some key venues.
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Arts Council head Olive Braiden had an interesting piece in this paper during the week bigging up cultural and festival tourism.

While Braiden concentrated her spiel on conventional arts festivals, there’s no doubting the huge domestic and international interest in Irish music fests and outdoor shows.

Despite the weather, it has been a bumper summer for outdoor music events, as readers of the On the Record blog involved in tracking the numbers know only too well.

New fests are still popping up. Pub landlords Thomas Read Group are holding the Eurocultured event in Dublin’s Smithfield Plaza on Augut 18th, while the Life trance fest organisers are planning a one-day Afterlife for Co Westmeath on September 15th.

Maybe the Arts Council, who have been extremely selective when favouring rock and pop funding requests in the past, will begin to reach out to this sector too.

Lets hope next month’s Hard Working Class Heroes new band beano at Dublin’s POD complex has some berths on board for bands operating under their own steam. Like Suddyn.

The Clonmel natives are getting a lot of traction thanks to A&R talent bank Hitquarters including them among their featured artists. Meanwhile, two of the band’s tracks have been picked up by Bebo for a BTV Cribs pilot.

Between all those promo jigs and reels, the band are prepping a new single, Gravity, for a September release.

Remember Spiralfrog, the record industry-backed firm promising free ad-supported music downloads? It missed its mooted December 2006 launch, and subsequent infighting nearly scuppered the ship.

Now, users have been invited to test a beta version of the site, with a full launch planned by the end of the year.

But, with just 700,000 songs and an iPod-unfriendly structure, the Frog has a lot of catching up to do

We need more warriors like of Shape Of Broad Minds. We really do.
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When the Oxegen and Babs nonsense hit the fan back in July, there was one notable absentee from the gallery of pundits having a go. Joe Duffy was on holidays and the nation wept tears of relief.

But he’s back and today, the Liveline host got his chance to have a tussle with MCD Concerts spokesman Justin Green, our favourite gold-chain wearing PR supremo.

Justin came on air to defend the support acts for the Rolling Stones gig at Slane Castle next week (hey, The Hold Steady and Tinariwen! You just have to put up with The Charlatans), but he must have realised he was going to get a belt in the gob about Babs.

You could tell that Joe was just gagging for a row. Joe had missed his chance in July (actually, where was Justin when people were fuming about Babs?), but he now had a chance for retribution.

He plamased Justin for a bit (he didn’t mention the gold chain, which was a shame) before he went on the attack about Babs. You could tell that Joe was getting excited because his voice went all high-pitched and squeaky. Joe even started talking about Gordon Brown and foot-and-mouth. No, it didn’t make any sense.

Naturally, Justin just batted it all away. It must be the gold chain.

Best radio since the weather forecast on Morning Ireland yesterday.

Shane has already covered RTE TV’s forthcoming new season in some depth, but it seems that the national broadcaster is going all out from September to wow and win us over. From today’s paper:

The Late Late Show will have a new set, while Tubridy Tonight returns and Seoige & O’Shea will have a live audience.

A new set! Live audience! No wonder RTE’s commissioning editors didn’t have the time to line up some innovative programmes or bright new young talents.

One of the more usually reliable On The Record sources has it that the Strawberry Jam band play Tripod on November 4.

I’ve been tracking the progress of the Underage Festival all summer long. In a nutshell, it’s an one-day event featuring the likes of Mystery Jets, Crystal Castles, Foals, Cajun Dance Party, Erol Alkan, I Was A Cub Scout, Tiny Dancers of Today and loads more in Victoria Park in London and it happens tomorrow. Tickets are just £20.

The twist? Over-18s are not allowed it. No amount of cash, attitude or do-you-know-who-I-am? will get you past the gates if you’re over 18. Parents keen to keep an eye on their offspring will be allowed into a creche on site.

The promoter, Sam Killcoyne, is 15 years of age and he runs the monthly Underage Club. The reason why he started up both club and festival is very simple: he was turned away from a club for being underage so he decided to start his own joint. “It was kind of a hit back for that - kind of ‘fuck you I’m going to start my own club”, he told The Guardian.

Of course, there are adults involved. Killcoyne’s dad is Barry Smith, who was in electro-indie band Add N to (X) back in the day. “Dad helps out with the managers, because managers can be dickheads”, Killcoyne said in a piece earier this year in The Observer. “I do all the creative stuff like flyers and choosing the bands.”

Killcoyne intends to stop running both club and festival when he hits 18 and leave it to someone else to do.

So would a festival like Underage work over here? Are there kids out there who’re capable of pulling off something on this scale? Or are they content to keep using fake ID to get into Oxegen?

RTE Radio One’s News At One spent about five minutes on this story about a German woman who had a pencil lodged in her head for 55 years and finally had it removed. Hopefully, we’ll get similar relief when this month is over.

Any other silly season sightings?

From the front page of tod