On The Record

  • Your Monday morning re-up. Now with extra relish.

    December 1, 2008 @ 9:23 am | by Jim Carroll

    (1) The first great album of 2009 has arrived. Animal Collective’s hypnotic, bewitching, beguiling, be-gob-awesome “Merriweather Post Pavilion” has a majestic sense of purpose which is just going to rule in the next 12 months. If last year’s “Strawberry Jam” was a little overshadowed by Panda Bear’s solo run with “Person Pitch”, there will be no such mis-steps this time around. After a weekend spent listening to it over and over again, “My Girls” (which is perhaps Noah’s finest moment to date - it sounds like the loveliest recession 2.0 era ode imaginable to his wife and daughter), the outrageous “Brother Sport” (a track which will knock your head off as it goes about its business) and “Summertime Clothes” are the ones I keep coming back to.

    After the jump: Malcom Gladwell and his hair, Foals, pubs with no cash, Wolf Parade, Kanye West and much, much more
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  • Here we go again - the Monday morning randomiser

    November 24, 2008 @ 9:12 am | by Jim Carroll

    (1) It’s the end of an era. Abbey Discs in Dublin closes its doors this evening after 25 years in business in the capital. Yep, another record store says feck this for a game of cowboys and heads for the hills. There cannot be a DJ or music fan in this city who hasn’t bought some tunes from Billy Murray over the years in either the Abbey Mall or, in more recent years, Liffey Street. He was a man who always knew how to get a sale. We have fond memories of being told week in and week out that he’d have that particular 12″ in stock the following Thursday. Come Thursdays, the tune was sometimes in but even when it wasn’t, he’d sell you something else instead. Best to luck to Billy and all the other Abbey staff wherever they go from here.

    After the jump: help the government form the new Arts Council, Silvio back on the box, in the ring with Kenny Egan, Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve really want to gig in Ireland and much, much…
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  • Monday morning randomness for the gaiety of the nation

    November 17, 2008 @ 8:47 am | by Jim Carroll

    (1) Just how good were TV On The Radio on Saturday night? How about intense, searing, life-affirming, rollicking, immense and magnificent? Anyone who walked away from that show feeling otherwise must have lost the power to be moved by music or to have their synapses blown away. It was a show to remind you just how incredible a bunch of folks with guitars, drums, microphones and a Moog can be when the mood is right. If everyone at the gig who claims to be in a band went away after that show and set about trying to produce music as good as that, the world would be a much better place. And that’s a show which didn’t even feature one of my favourite tunes of Zero Nine, “Halfway Home”. Interesting to see too that TVOTR were flogging their tees from the tour-bus outside the venue after the gig.

    (2) Unlike some people, On The Record did not receive an invitation to Silvio’s supper last week, but we’re not bitter about it. No, really, we’re not bitter about missing out on all that food (house-cured Irish salmon, grilled tenderloin steak and vanilla crème brulee - don’t flaming like crème brulee anyway) and entertainment (the Irish Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Prof Micheal Ó Suilleabháin as well as a troupe of set-dancers - sure, it was like a night out at Johnnie Fox’s). The guest-list does make fascinating reading - wonder if there is any connection between some people on the list and soft interviews carried out with Silvio in the past? Where was the love for Silvio’s fellow Feck Lisbon advocates from the Sinn Fein camp? And will Silvio be throwing similar bashes (with vegetarian options and line-dancing) for all those who plan to vote No in the Lisbon 2 referdendum?

    (3) As most of you will know by now, Jay Reatard was a no-show in Dublin last night leaving a couple of dozen fans of Memphis garage punk-rock kicking their heels on a Sunday night. Dude missed his flight from Hotlanta, y’know. Shame on the Heineken Green Synergy people for not sending a private jet to pick him up. Fecking sponsors….

    (4) Malcolm Gladwell’s new tome Outliers is published this week and Tim Adams had a fascinating piece on Gladwell and the book in yesterday’s Observer. Gladwell fans who find themselves in London next Monday might like to know that he’s giving two lectures at the Lyceum while he’s in town.

    (5) Staying with the Observer, there was an odd piece on Jamie Oliver in the Food Monthly supplement yesterday. It would seem that Rachel Cooke had a bit of her chip on her shoulder about Oliver (at least three mentions of his cars and jeeps) and his Ministry of Food initiative which led to a piece which as disjointed as a badly roasted rib of beef.

    (6) If you’re only going to see one film this year about a cowboy who found God, Karl Rove and the keys to the White House, it will unfortunately have to be W. Oliver Stone’s film is the cinematic equivalent of one of those cut and paste books you get after a band become overnight successes. Josh Brolin is superb, but the story hits more bumps and raises more dust than a drive down a bumpy Texan blue highway. John Waters, on the other hand, seems to go to flicks like W with his eyes on the audience rather than the big screen.

    (7) Those who have not already checked out the Nick Thinks blog should make amends this morning. Every day, Ruan plays his dad, Nick, an album. Every day, Nick tells Ruan what he makes of the album.

    (8) From the On The Record parish newsletter. Regular wisecracking reader and man-about-Dublin-town Matt Vinyl is back on the radio. Yes, the Golden Maverick rides again and this time, he ain’t got no calf milk replacer. Every Monday night from 11pm to 1am, Matt sits in his salubrious penthouse and plays a selection of tunes which, thanks to the wonders of the interweb and a VPN, are then broadcast on Power FM. He takes requests too.

    (9) Excellent piece from Keith Duggan on John Dower’s Thrilla In Manila documentary which revisits the Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier bout from 1975 and especially all the trash-talking which went on in the lead-up to the fight. On a similar boxing tip, the peerless When We Were Kings was also on the box last week, giving you another take on Ali in all his pomp.

    (10) Busted! Nialler9 has found some interesting, uhm, similarities between a review of a new Coldplay EP which appeared in The Sun and a review of the same yoke in Hot Press. Question: what the hell was Nialler9 doing reading reviews of a Coldplay EP to begin with?

    (11) And finally, one of the highlights from Saturday night.

  • The great Monday morning re-up in 11 easy steps

    November 10, 2008 @ 8:11 am | by Jim Carroll

    (1) There was an impressive turn-out last Thursday for the NI Music: The Way Forward all-day yakaton at Belfast’s Whitla Hall organised by the Northern Irish Music Industry Commission. While the number of heavy-hitters on the panels (new UK Music boss Feargal Sharkey headed a line-up which included reps from Domino, South By Southwest, Kerrang, Bestival, Sony ATV Music, POD Concerts and others) certainly helped, it was still very encouraging to see a couple of hundred folks turning out on a weekday for a music business seminar in Ireland. I don’t think they were there to hear the BBC’s Stuart Bailie, AU magazine’s Jonny Tiernan and myself gush away for an hour about our favourite songs. Still, maybe they were. Any road, one of the best music biz gatherings I’ve been to in an age.

    (2) Some interesting takeaways from the label panel courtesy of Smalltown America boss Andrew Ferris. He outlined how the 26 week campaign for each release rolls, from initially contacting 300 bloggers about the track or album (he says there’s usually a 40 per cent take-up from the music blogosphere to host or write about each track) to eventual release. Ferris also noted that an 8 out of 10 NME review five years ago would mean 5,000 sales - in 2008, the same rating means about 700 sales.

    (3) I finally had a chance to check out Stuart Bailie’s Oh Yeah music centre in the middle of Belfast. At the moment, it has more potential than a new US president - a vast warehouse located a plectrum throw from the centre of town with a stage and oodles of space for rehearsal rooms, studios, a cafe, offices and everything else you could need to get your show on the road. As things stand, there’s lots going on and Stuart is open to any new ideas people want to throw at him. There’s some cash already in the kitty from various public funds but, as you would expect, more is needed. Maybe some of the £5 million earmarked for culture projects Up North can be sent to Gordon Street? (By the way, Stu’s excellent BBC blog is well worth checking out)

    (4) Who knew there was such an appetite for Fox hunting in Dublin? A full house for the second visit in 2008 of the Fleet Foxes to town and much anticipation in the air. The audience thankfully hushed for the songs and, while those of us who saw them at Whelan’s in June probably prefered that gig, it was stlll a swell showcase for what is one of the albums of the year. Sure, even Fleet Foxes super-fan Joe Duffy tapped his feet and clapped his hands in the right places. It will be a while before we see the band in these parts again - when this tour wraps up, the band plan to record a bunch of new songs (nine are ready for the studio) before they hit the road again and avail of increased pay-days.

    (5) Did you know that Barack Obama’s campaign provided a crash-course for country music yahoos in how to build and maintain an audience? You didn’t? Chet Flippo is the man with the pages from the playbook.

    (6) Eva Wiseman checks out the state of NME life in yesterday’s Observer Music Monthly. Apparently, some of the staff are worried about the second album from Crystal Castles. Also in yesterday’s OMM, the first of many pieces you’ll read in the coming months on Motown at 50.

    (7) We shall never their likes again, if we’re lucky. Goodbye Progressive Democrats, you will not be missed.

    (8) Are you ready for a rake of would-be Barry Obamos knocking on your front door in the next couple of months to seek your vote in the local elections? Here’s the Sunday Business Post guide to what you can expect. And here’s Andrew Rawnsley from the Observer on why such cut-and-pasting will not work: “It’s preposterous. David Cameron is not the British Obama just because they both like to use the word ‘change’ a lot. Gordon Brown, a long-serving incumbent whose oratory has rarely been described as magical, cannot be Obama either. Much of the point about Obama is that there is no other leader like him. Not here. Not in America. Not anywhere. Not in a generation and probably not for another. His singularity is why he won and why his victory is so sensational.

    (9) Bruuuuuuuuuce! New album due from Bruce Springsteen in January to tie in with that Superbowl appearance. More of that ol’ “Magic”? That will do nicely. And Bruce, please note that giving away a free download of the first song from the album with the Irish Times worked a treated last time round.

    (10) Vaaaaaan! Rave reviews for the “Astral Weeks” love-in in Los Angeles at the weekend from the Washington Post and LA Times. What’s the betting he’s going to spend 2009 doing “Astral Weeks” all over the place?

    (11) And finally, as the world learns that it was Bob the Builder who bashed Joe the Plumber, lets have some love round these parts for Lee Dorsey

  • 11 things I learned this weekend

    November 3, 2008 @ 9:37 am | by Jim Carroll

    (1) I bet there must be at least five of you who wondered what ever happened to Phil Babb. OK, four. Three? Anyway, the former Liverpool, Sporting Lisbon and Ireland footballer (who also had a thing for walking on car roofs) has now moved into the weird and wonderful world of magazine publishing. Yep, there are still people who believe in the power of print. Per Richard Gillis’s interview with him in the paper on Saturday, Babb is now the publisher behind the Golf Punk mag and is planning a Football Punk mag too. Wonder how he would deal with a very well paid Premier League footballer telling him that he couldn’t be arsed doing an interview, eh?

    (2) Best take on the whole Brand-Ross-BBC kerfuffle? Hold onto your hats, blogging brothers and sisters - it was John Waters on Friday.

    (3) Would you give Ryanair a tenner for a flight across the Atlantic? I suppose the story is one way of taking the dirty look off some not very good financial results for the first half of the year.

    (4) One of my favourite Irish albums of the season comes from Waterford lass Katie Kim. “Twelve” (as reviewed here) is a slow-burner, all weird turns and fuzzy twists. Live, as seen in the Sugar Club on Saturday night, Katie and her two hooded co-players get tougher and grittier in a Mazzy Star rocking out with Cat Power kind of way. Best songs were the ones which book-ended the set, the glorious “Radio” and the rivetting “Jennifer”. She plays Cleere’s in Kilkenny on November 15 and Twisted Pepper, Dublin on November 20.

    (5) Does anyone know why Cork GAA folks are so intent on constantly pressing the self-destruct button? While a Tipperaryman like myself should be rubbing my hands with glee at even more lies, destruction and despair by the Lee, I actually find the whole affair to be quite strange and pointless. Does Gerald McCarthy really deserve all this? Good column by Tom Humphries on Sandwichgate.

    (6) I liked the Why? show at the ALT on Saturday, though not as much as I thought I would before the gig. The room was full-ish and the audience were in the sort of mood where they would probably cheer if even Tommy Tiernan was fronting the band and telling more of his Bernard Manning classics, but the material just didn’t quite seem up to scratch. Maybe it was one of those “it isn’t you, it’s me” situations.

    (7) One of the very first Tunes of the Week featured on this blog was the Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve still awesome remix of Midlake’s “Roscoe”. We posed the question then why no Irish promoter had brought over BtWS for a show. Well, Richard Norris has found his way to the blog (see comment number 7 here) and it seems himself and Erol Alkan are up for the challenge.

    (8) It seems that the band I should have gone to see on Saturday night were Villagers. Three different people in the course of an hour were raving to me about their show at Whelan’s. Villagers is the new band fronted by Conor O’Brien who used to be in The Immediate (and is also part of Cathy Davey’s all-star band) and “The Meaning of the Ritual” from their MySpace is well worth clicking on. Their next gigs are supporting Bell X1 (Vicar Street, November 12) and supporting Halves (Whelan’s, November 22).

    (9) Oddest promo on your radio right now? No, not the one with the fake Eddie Hobbs, but rather the one plugging Morning Ireland’s special extended US Election coverage on Wednesday. So what time are they starting? Midnight? 1am? 1.30am? Er, no, 6am. 6am! Sure, Sarah Palin will be the leader of the free world at that stage. And what are RTE broadcasting through the night instead? Repeats of the Tubridy Show, Today with Pat Kenny, Liveline, the Gershwins in Hollywood and The Arts Show.

    (10) Ahead of next weekend’s Van Morrison shows in Los Angeles when the Great Grump plays “Astral Weeks” in full for the first time. Sean O’Hagan muses on that seminal release 40 years on.

    (11) And finally, some music for the week that’s in it.

  • Great issues of our age

    October 20, 2008 @ 12:40 pm | by Jim Carroll

    No Age. Damn, they were good. Their appearance in the middle of the Drowned In Sound Shred Yr Face triple-bill in Whelan’s on Friday last put the cork on it for me - they are the ones who are really pushing things forward. If you haven’t already succumbed to the joyous put-blood-in-the-music thrillganza of their “Nouns” album, what the hell are you waiting for? Great turn-out for them too - met a ton of folks I hadn’t seen in ages (no, ages etc). Times New Viking were awesome too. Didn’t hang around for Los Campesinos. Did I miss anything?

    Gomorra. Go see right away. One of the finest flicks of the year.

    Gerry Ryan. Enough already. You know he has a book out, right? You can’t escape the damn thing. Bet there isn’t even a mention of the purple underpants in it. One interesting snippet which did emerge from the Ryan Tubridy v Gerry Ryan interview the other night (good to see that RTE are spending our licence fee so well, isn’t it?) was that Ryan once wrote a letter to the editor of this here paper giving out about a Shane Hegarty review of his lousy TV show. G Ryan even got a reply too - the editor telling him basically to cop on and take it on the chin.

    Ger Loughnane. Anyone seen sight or sound of him since last week?

    Liverpool’s weekly comeback. Great entertainment but shocking for the aul’ nerves.

    The withdrawal of automatic entitlement to a medical card for the over 70s. Imagine the very worst fuming you can from the ranks of Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Oasis and AC/DC fans about, oh, anything at all. Now, double it. Add a couple of zeros at the end. Multiply by the amount of money Irish banks won’t be getting back from developers any time soon. Now, treble that. And you’re still not even close to the sum total of stupidity behind that budgetary snip. Bet Bertie Ahern is having a grand old snigger at this one.

  • M is for Monday

    October 13, 2008 @ 9:52 am | by Jim Carroll

    Gongmania! All hail the winners from the first ever Irish Web Awards.

    Speaking of gongs, this post from Penny over at The Antiroom should get the nod for Blog Post of the Month for October.

    The DEAF line-up for the capital city over the October Bank Holiday weekend is looking mighty tasty. Also make sure you pick up a print programme - you can’t miss it.

    If you only read one interview where the interviewee decides to stroke the interviewer’s face, kiss her and grab her breasts, make sure it’s Grace Jones talking to Miranda Sawyer in the Observer Music Monthly from yesterday.

    As he inks a brand new contract for himself (lots of zeros, we bet), Universal Music boss Doug Morris yaks about his life and times.

    Just so he doesn’t feel left out, Clive Davis (the man who once believed that the CD was named after him) makes sure the world knows he’s still doing the do with a nice puff piece in the New York Post.

    Doom! Gloom! Credit crunch! Jason Gross looks at how Recession 2.0 will hit the music business. It’s already hit On The Record - we’ve noticed less and less readers from the banking community here in recent weeks. Come back guys!

    Absolut Vodka v Absolute Radio - the gloves are off and the lawyers are in the ring.

    As first noted here last Friday, the Some Days Never End festival will not now be held in a tent in the grounds of the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin 8. Instead, the 80s Horrors (AKA Human League, Heaven 17 and ABC) play (the much smaller capacity) Tripod on October 26 (going to be a tight squeeze because Roseanne Barr is already supposed to be playing there that night), Aimee Mann with Sharon Shannon play (the much smaller capacity) Tripod on October 28, Seasick Steve is at the (smaller capacity) National Stadium on October 29 with his original support act, My Morning Jacket, playing Tripod the same night. Those who bought tickets for the original SSS/MMJ gig can now swap ‘em, but you can contact Ticketmaster or the promoters for info on all that. While you’re at it, ask them if “unforseen circumtances” are to blame for the wholesale switcheroos. Those will long memories will remember that the same thing happened last year with Groove Armada and Dizzee Rascal. Just sayin’, like.

  • 11 things I know now that I didn’t know a week ago

    October 6, 2008 @ 8:50 am | by Jim Carroll

    (1) Remember this awesome guest post from Paul Tarpey about the early days of Irish club culture? Well, the Irish Blog Awards folks have just gone and given it the nod as 02 Blog Post of the Month for September. Congrats Paul! Memo to self: must get more quality guest posts.

    (2) Most of you culture-vulture folks will already have caught Louis Walsh having a pop at Irish radio stations for not playing enough Irish music. Louis was himself fuming because none of these radio stations would play the new Boyzone single. Feck, it must be really bad so. Thought it was interesting to note that three of the most played records on Today FM last week, per their chart yesterday, were Irish - that’s 30 percent innit? And poor old Lucifer got a little bit of a biff in the Girls Aloud feature in the Observer yesterday. Louis was slated to be the band manager after they won the Pop Stars: The Rivals talent show but ignored the girls for two years. They’re getting on quite well without him, thanks very much. Mmm, whatever happened to the Carter Twins?

    (3) On The Record is getting snippy comments (number 67) from some League of Ireland fans (worse, Bohs fans) for writing about Liverpool FC rather than our lack of coverage for the homegrown league. Hey, we used to be Thurles Town fans until the club went out of business so we’ll go back on the terraces when they come back on the pitch. (Manchester City 2, Liverpool 3).

    (4) Who do you think is going to be the first rapper to rhyme about the credit crunch and banking crisis? Our money (sorry) is on Lil Wayne.

    (5) Speaking of pop and politics, did you know that KT Tunstall, Jarvis Cocker, Feist, Laurie Anderson and Martha Wainwright are on a ship off the coast of Greenland? No? Well, thanks to Peter Paphides, you now do. It’s part of Cape Farewell, a coming together of scientists and artists to form a “cultural response” to climate change.

    (6) Twenty Major has hung up his blogging boots. On The Record understands that he will be appearing on Seoige sometime this week to talk about how he now has the time to join Liberatas, write a duet with Damien Rice, cook the perfect risotto and learn how to play the tin-whistle. We wish him well, wherever he shall roam.

    (7) The Economist thinks initiatives like Nokia’s Comes With Music may well save the music business. Not so sure if that will work for Boyzone. Meanwhile uptown, record label folks are optimistic for the future, chiefly because they still have jobs to go to, it seems, and didn’t take the call from Lehman Brothers (who are still hiring).

    (8) Yeah, old news but, hey, I’ve been out foreign. Two bands with albums of the year bring the noise to the big smoke - Vampire Weekend play the Ambassador on October 23 and TV On The Radio play Tripod on November 15. Hell yeah, we’re excited.

    (9) Per readers of Entertainment Weekly… sorry, the RTE Guide, The Wire is the 49th best TV show ever made. It’s not as good as Blackboard Jungle or Location Location Location, then.

    (10) If you haven’t read Generation Kill yet, Evan Wright’s awesome tale of frontline Marines in Iraq, make amends pronto before everyone starts talking about David Simon, Ed Burns and Wright’s TV take on the book.

    (11) And finally, time to get stoopid. It’s a hard Knux life, folks.

  • On The Record is away

    September 16, 2008 @ 7:00 pm | by Jim Carroll

    Have gone to form a new political party. Normal service will resume on October 3. Comments will be updated between now and then by the Pope. Time for an aul’ song to send us on our way….

  • The weekend in a wrap. Heavy on the guacamole, but no onions

    September 15, 2008 @ 10:11 am | by Jim Carroll

    (1) Liverpool 2, Manchester United 1. Oh, to have been a fly on the wall, dodging boots and Scottish spittle, when Ferguson started to rant and roar and rave at full-time. Our deepest sympathies on this occasion to all the Man U fans who gather here daily.

    (2) While it’s not quite on the same scale as Toronto’s Nuit Blanche, Ireland’s own Culture Night takes place next Friday night with loads going on in galleries, museums, halls and assorted spaces in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick. In a few years time, it will go all night. Like the Luas.

    (3) The best documentary I’ve seen in ages? That would be Man On Wire, James Marsh’s profile of the wide-eyed Philippe Petit, the man who took a high-wire walk between the towers of the World Trade Center in New York in 1974. Before he hit New York, Petit with his team of accomplices, many of whom seemed a little unsure when it came to explaining why they had agreed to be press-ganged into service by the Frenchman, had already scaled Paris’s Notre Dame cathedral and Sydney’s Harbour Bridge.

    (4) There are times when even machines fail. At the end of Kraftwerk’s near perfect display of how they invented techno, electronica and minimal house at IMMA on Saturday night, the curtains began to go across the stage to herald the conclusion of the show. Then, the curtains stopped moving and the four Kraftwerk-ers froze on the spot. They then gingerly walked offstage to huge cheers from the audience. Fantastic show, though. No-one else can do subtle, stately melancholic big-tent electronic sounds like Kraftwerk. My own highlights were “Tour de France” (though I was hoping they’d stick a big picture of Sean Kelly into the slide-show), “Neon Lights” (first time in five times seeing Kraftwerk that this tune has stood out a mile for me) and “The Model” (pure electro pop never goes out of fashion). We also hope that Ralf enjoyed the cycle from Roundwood to Dublin, as much as he enjoyed that spin around the Glen of Aherlow.

    (5) The scariest newspaper headline of the weekend? “Kilkenny’s All-Ireland Champions of 2013?” from the Tribune yesterday. After Tipperary’s under 21s failed to stop Kilkenny’s gallop yesterday in Croke Park to give the Cats a clean sweep of silverware for 2008, there’s more than a germ of truth in that headline. That said, as Davy Fitz put it after Brian Cody’s men had mauled his over-hyped Waterford the previous Sunday, someone will beat Kilkenny some day. Just hope it won’t be until 2014.

    (6) The only question which made the six managers participating in the Hard Working Class Heroes management panel yesterday afternoon squirm was, naturally, the one about money and their percentages. I was chairing the panel and I thought it was a good, robust exchange of views about how the role of the manager has changed in music business 2.0, with interesting points of view coming from all participants. I didn’t get to see as much of the HWCH showcases as I’d planned but you can read what Ian has to say here and I assume the State reviews will be up as soon as they get out bed this afternoon. (And Lauren Murphy and Jenny Mulligan’s reviews of the weekend for Entertainment.ie are here)

    (7) Abercrombie & Fitch, Habitat and Lidl may have said no to the sixth most expensive shopping street in the world, but American Apparel are set to set up shop on Grafton Street in the near future. Yep, Dov Charney is coming to town. Liveline researchers, please note.

    (8) This week, I will mostly be listening to old-school hip-hop from the early 1990s thanks to The Wackness, a wonderfully witty and quirky flick about a high school graduate spending a summer selling dope in New York. My ’90s rewind will start, naturally, with “Illmatic”.

  • Life goes on after Crazy Ol’ Tom

    August 5, 2008 @ 10:59 am | by Jim Carroll

    (1) Our good friend Crazy Ol’ Tom may have left town with a very large cheque in his back-pocket, but the chatter is still going on. I reckon it will still be going on until he comes back next year for a couple of nights at the 02. Ooops, did I just say that? Or did I just make it up? Your call, sports fans. (*)

    (2) Anyway, life rumbles on. Over the weekend, one festival fell apart and was forced to cancel. That would be Dysart, the music and arts bash in Thomastown, Co Kilkenny. You can read all about it here as the promoters first blamed the weather and then admitted they hadn’t sold enough tickets. The festival website, however, has still not been updated with the info, though they have stopped selling tickets for the weekend (tickets were still on sale on Saturday afternoon). Big thanks to Ken at Kilkennymusic for all the updates on this over the weekend.

    UPDATE The latest word from Kilkenny Music is that an extremely down-sized version of this festival will take place in a Kilkenny city-centre venue with a reduced line-up and reduced ticket prices. Meanwhile, there is still absolutely NO update on the festival website about this. We’ve already had a few comments and emails from people who purchased tickets for this festival and who are wondering what is going on. Maybe the organisers might like to comment on why they haven’t bothered to inform their paying punters what is happening?

    (3) More festival trouble and strife. We got a few reports over the weekend about tent trouble (as in tents blowing away) at Mantua. We await an update on this - and the music at the fest - with interest.

    (4) No such problems at the fabulous Farmleigh Affair. We had a lovely afternoon in Lord Iveagh’s back-garden, dodging marauding toddlers, babies in buggies and wasps (maybe that should be WASPs?) attacking make-shift picnics. On the music tip, we enjoyed Marseilles’s Lo Cor De La Plana (six dudes doing acapello dance tunes with stoming feet, clapping hands and rudimentary drums banging out a buckwild rhythm) and Grupo Fantasma (lads from Austin, Texas who brought the house down with barnstorming Latin boogaloo and salsa). The Farmleigh Affair - it could be our very own Camp Bestival, you know. Éimear McKeith’s review of Sunday’s performances is here.

    (5) The best live show we’ve seen in aeons? That would be Lisa Hannigan at the Spirit Store in Dundalk last Thursday night. Singing songs from her forthcoming “Sea Sew” album (due out on September 12), she was all sparkle and star quality. Her new songs are charming monsters and belters, each one adorned with very simple but very striking musical bows and ribbons. Her band - four dapper be-suited chaps - are perfectly in tune with where Hannigan wants those songs to go. Make no mistake about it, she’s the boss. She’s playing a couple of more dates this month before the Electric Picnic so check them out. By this time next year, she’ll probably be supernova and well on her way to selling a million copies of that album. Yep, that show really was something else altogether (see Tony’s review for more raving).

    (6) New additions to the gig-roll. The excellent Blitzen Trapper play Whelan’s in Dublin on October 2 with support from Absentee. We missed the Trapper when they were here earlier in the year so we shall make amends this time around.

    (7) Thanks to Analogue for the heads-up that the magnificent Our Brother The Native (we really heart their “Make Amends For We Are Merely Vessels” album) are coming. They play Belfast’s Limelight on September 27, Dublin’s Crawdaddy on September 28 and Galway’s Roisin Dubh on September 29.

    (8) We’re hearing word of a return to Ireland before the end of the year for No Age and Times New Viking. And expect to hear about Irish dates for Wolf Parade in the next couple of days too. Stay tuned.

    (9) Best interview of the weekend? That would be Rachel English talking to promoter Peter Aiken on Saturday on RTE Radio One (the audio of the interview can be found here - scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the “Saturday” show icon on the right-hand side of the page). A well-researched interview with good, solid questions, especially that one about why Live Nation are not seeking to take over Aiken Promotions.

    (10) The soundtrack for the weekend? That would be new albums from Abe Vigoda (“Skeleton” is a wow from start to finish), David Holmes (”The Holy Pictures” turns out to be quite an atmospheric thriller), Minotaur Shock (the best “Amateur Dramatics” in town), Oxford Collapse (“Bits” shows that the Sub Pop revival continues) and Lackthereof (smashing solo album from Danny from Menomena).

    * Just in case you’re wondering, I made this up. Sure, it would never happen. Or would it?

  • El randomiser

    July 22, 2008 @ 9:07 am | by Jim Carroll

    Are you in need of a Wire re-up this morning? And we’re not talking about Lauren Laverne’s woeful, cringeworthy, shoddy, pointless and amateur-hour interview with David Simon on the Beeb’s Culture Show last week. If you didn’t pick up the Observer at the weekend, make with the clicking here to read why a couple of crime writers rate the show so highly. When you’re finished there, click through to the full repository of Wire articles from The Guardian and The Observer.

    Speaking of the best TV show ever, season 5 kicks off on TG4 on Monday 28 at 10.30pm. Of course, some of you have already seen Season 5, lots of you are still working your way through seasons 1 to 4 and more of you are saving it all for the release of Season 5 on DVD in August. All of which begs the question - do we kick off a Wire thread here once a week? Seeing as Bryan has his book club, maybe it’s time On The Record got its Wire freak on. A new thread every Tuesday or Wednesday morning where people get to talk about that week’s episode on TG4 and the series to date? Or is this a truly terrible idea? Thoughts, people.

    Want to know where you will be sitting when you go to see Lenny at The Venue Formerly Known As The Point in December? Well, here’s how the venue will look for seating shows and here’s how it will look for standing shows. Interesting to see that one of the options is for a Coldplay gig. Wishful thinking or are the vastly overrated, mind-numbingly boring and outrageously bland ‘Play on their way to Dublin this year?

    By the way, I assume you did know that Lenny is coming back in December to get some cash together for the Christmas shopping. Lauren broke that story on Friday. Later that day, though, Hot Criminal picked it up, but they forgot to credit the source of their story. Seems to be a lot of that ol’ forgetfulness round Hot Criminal Towers of late. You’d want to be careful about that kind of thing, you know. I mean, what would have happen if all the red-tops did something similar with a Hot Criminal story, eh? Bang goes the publicity stunt.

    From the sublime to…..er, Russian emos. It seems that a bunch of young Siberian emo fans are not happy about plans to ban them from wearing “emo and goth fashions” in schools. The Siberian kids did what all good emos do when they’re in a strop and went for a good old stomp around the streets of Krasnoyarsk. I’m sure Dmitry Medvedev is quaking in his boots at the thought of a bunch of fuming My Chemical Romance fans. Stalin had it easy by comparison.

    Wonder will HMV be introducing these tax-free in-store kiosks in their Irish shops in the near future?

    Houston, we have an indie band problem. The Houston Press examine why the Texan city is not so hot right now for indie bands. Meanwhile, the Independent wonder do we really need yet more indie bands who look and sound exactly same as the last lot.

    “You know who they are, these smooth-chinned strummers, with their smart-arsed, self-admiring band names almost invariably prefaced by the definite article: The Kooks, The Courteeners, The Holloways, The Rascals, The View, The Wombats, The Automatic, The Pigeon Detectives, The Hoosiers. Their turgid, tuneless banalities use all the oxygen between ad breaks on XFM; they mop up the soggy midday slot on the main stage. Indie is the 30-year-old genre that gave us The Smiths, The Stone Roses, Blur and Arctic Monkeys. But in that period it has also produced Ocean Colour Scene, Menswear and Joe Lean and The Jing Jang Jong.”

    From the Old News Department. The Times says Italian rock bands are so hot right now and they go into rhapsodies of delight about Disco Drive. We here at On The Record were in rhapsodies of delight about them a year ago. Tsk, tsk. Our tip for the next bunch of non-English speakers which the Times will be writing about in the next few months? We’re going with the Catalans: El Guincho, Guillamino, Balago, El Chico Con La Espina En El Costado and Raven Heads.

    You wait for a book to come along on Clear Channel and two turn up at once. The Wall Street Journal takes a look at the “official” book, Clear Vision, by Reed Bunzel, and the (far more interesting) “unofficial” book. Right of the Dial, by Alec Foege, about the big radio giant with its equally fascinating Live Nation off-shoot.

    Where would El Randomiser be without a festival story? The WSJ (again - go on the WSJ) to the rescue, this time with its guide to festivals for grown-ups. What do you know, the Electric Picnic features. And, well, Oxegen doesn’t.

    And finally, one from the Good News Department. Al Green is coming back to town. Hallelujah! The Rev Al plays Dublin’s Vicar Street on October 26, ten years almost to the day since the venue opened. The price for love and happiness (and red roses for the ladies) in Recession 2.0? €69, €75 and €79.50.

  • The Monday morning re-up

    July 7, 2008 @ 9:52 am | by Jim Carroll

    New blogs on the block, people, so step on up and don’t be shy. There’s some smashing stuff from Dublin indie promoters Skinny Wolves at their new joint and we also welcome Hot Press writer (and dude with his “John the Revelator” novel due on Faber & Faber in early 2009) Peter Murphy to the blogosphere.

    Then, there are the blogs which are not really blogs, as in the Oxegen production blog. A lovely diary from the wet and soggy fields of Punchestown, the Oxegen production blog gives us the skinny on how a racecourse in Co Kildare is transformed into Oxegen City. Only thing, though, it’s an one-way thing as readers cannot comment on the posts. Er, right, so it’s not a blog, then. In fact, now that we think of it, there’s also no forum on the Oxegen site, a state of affairs which has remained in place since 2006. Does this make Oxegen the we-want-your-money-but-not-your-opinions kind of music fest?

    Speaking of money, it’s Crazy Ol’ Tom (™ On The Record) time! Waits has gone scalping for charity which means he is auctioning five pairs of premium tickets to shows in each of the European cities on his Glitter and Doom tour this month, with the proceeds donated to charity. This means you can get your hands on the best seats in the Ratcellar in the Phoenix Park for any of the three nights by making a bid here. I hope someone has told Crazy Ol’ Tom (™ On The Record) that there is now a recession on here. (Cheers to Bren @ Analogue for the heads-up)

    It’s official: Rick O’Shea is the new Gerry Ryan. Rick (real name: Brandon Anto Murphy) takes over the Ryanline from July 21 while Gerry is off (a) on his summer holidays and (b) writing his big buke about his life and times. 2fm chiefs can expect a big surge in the audience for the 9am to noon slot with new listeners, younger listeners and blogging listeners tuning in.

    I meant to write about Bono’s letter to the NME last week but completely forgot about. Una, though, didn’t and she had this piece in yesterday’s Tribune about it. Basically, U2 manager Paul McGuinness gave Radiohead a few digs in the mush a while back about their “In Rainbows” experiment, saying it had backfired and stuff. Hoever, Bono and the boys disagreed with McGuinness and wrote a letter to the NME in praise of the ‘Head and all that. Lovely hurling. However, it’s unlikely that U2’s solidarity with their brethern will extend to making the new album a pay-as-you-go affair. That might be a step too far for the pension plan.

    And finally, Irish Times reporter Ronan McGreevy had some quotes from Harry Crosbie in Saturday’s paper about his Giant Man project (AKA Big Bertie). Ronan also asked Crosbie about The 02 and what we were saying about the new venue on Friday. Here’s what Crosbie had to say about our speculation:

    “I was reading that. I think that the experience of seeing a show in the new arena is going to up the ante for all the punters. There is a huge win situation for the public here. The experience of going to a show is going to be vastly improved because the sightlines are perfect, because of its massive intimacy and because of the choice of catering, you can eat and drink around the venue.

    I fail to understand why you want to stand in a wet field in broad daylight and you can’t see the light shows. I really believe that people will be stunned when they see the Point.”

  • First-day-of-the-recession randomiser special

    June 24, 2008 @ 11:12 am | by Jim Carroll

    Here, forget about On The Record or even On The Telly, how about someone starting a blog called Recession Watch? It’s happening, folks. You know it’s happening when George Lee begins to talk with uncontrollable glee about economic downturns, belt-tightenings and paranoid bankers. For the first time in 25 years, the country is in the grips of a recession, but we didn’t have blogs back then (come to think of it, we had absolutely nothing back then) so get blogging.

    Anyone here at the Eric Clapton show in Dublin the other night? C’mon, there were 30,000 people (allegedly) there so some of you lot must have travelled to Malahide Castle and got soaked. The thought of the PA giving up the ghost during “Layla” is just too funny for words. Are people entitled to a refund if that happens? Apparently, lots of people were miffed that EC didn’t chat to the crowd about the weather, the hurling (we hear he’s a big Limerick fan) or the state of the traffic. At least he didn’t mention the recession.

    Rock the Casbah! Given the price of a barrel of oil these days, it’s no wonder they’re planning to turn Dubai into Rock City

    Slipknot are back and they’ve no love for festivals. Well, at least they’re honest. Here’s percussionist Shawn “Clown” Crahan talking about the Mayhem festival:

    “It’s a bunch of bands opening for Slipknot. We’re headlining, as it should be. Sorry — it’s a Slipknot show, kids. We’ve been gone for two years, and you’ve all had the chance to do what you’re going to do. But now we’re back; step in line. That’s what’s up. We’re the DNA that keeps whatever cell this is moving. Period. We’re back, and it just happens to be this thing called the Rockstar Energy Mayhem festival. That’s cool. But we didn’t want them, they wanted us. Everyone wants our fucking money and our kids. We’re playing a show, and a bunch of great bands are playing too. But we’re back, so get out of our way. Call it what you will, but we’re headlining. It’s our show, and we’re here to kill you.”

    I reckon they won’t be playing Lovebox

    Recession, what recession? For those of you with more cash than sense (and there are a few OTR readers who fall into that category), here’s an alternative guide to the summer festivals from Forbes magazine.

    Say hello to Mongrel, the new band from ex-Arctic Monkey bassist Andy Nicholson. The debut album is “likely” to feature Pete Doherty, Saul Williams and M.I.A. if she can spare some time between the gardening and manicures.

    Finally, seeing as it’s the first day of the recession, lets party like it’s 1983! Hey, it could have been worse. Kenny Rogers had a great ‘83, you know.

  • The post bank holiday weekend wrap

    June 3, 2008 @ 9:57 am | by Jim Carroll

    Just how good were Bon Iver last night? Initial omens weren’t great because the gig was bumped up from Crawdaddy to Tripod (by all accounts, Ticketmaster take the blame/kudos for that one because their SNAFU allowed everyone who wanted to go to the show to go to the show), especially given the uneviable ability of Dublin audiences to talk their way through anything. But no, that didn’t happen. Instead, you could hear a pin drop (or bar-staff bang bottles together - they obviously didn’t get the memo) as the Bon Iver three played. As Justin Vernon admitted himself, they don’t really have a lot of songs, but, jeez, what songs, what eerie, elegant and enigmatic songs! As the bittersweet likes of “Skinny Love” and especially “The Wolves”, which sprouted wings and headed for the stars, made their mark, you wanted to go back again and again to the truly spell-binding “For Emma, Forever Ago” for more of that. Probably the best gig you’ll ever see from someone who used to flog mobile phones for a living on Galway’s Eyre Square.

    Interesting to see last night’s gig didn’t end until after 11pm. Was it not the case that the recent Animal Collective show in Tripod was canned because of a 10.30pm curfew on Monday nights?

    I have a feeling that the forthcoming show by Fleet Foxes in Dublin will be well worth catching. Yes, it’s on the same weekend as Danny Deacon, Lenny Cohen, Princey Prince, The DoDos and the Future Days fun and games, but the Foxes’s self-titled debut album is a five-star stunner and was the ideal soundtrack for a sunny weekend in Dublin 3. Fleet Foxes play Whelan’s on June 14.

    I also spent the weekend reading the Lisbon Treaty from cover to cover. Very disappointing. Contrary to what Jim Corr and assorted other No campaigers have said, there’s no sci-fi aliens, conspiracy theories, new world orders, drugs, hookers or modern-day tales of Sodom and Gomorrah in it. I’d say they won’t be turning it into a film. Can I get a refund please?

    Speaking of refunds (effortless Tuesday morning link, that)…. Our old friend “unforseen circumstances” popped up over the weekend to explain away the late, late cancellation of a Soundtrack ‘08 show by Mystery Jets. “Unforseen circumstances”, however, didn’t prevent them from doing a spot of DJ-ing at the Button Factory on Saturday night. Is “unforseen circumstances” promoter-code for “we didn’t sell any tickets and we’d better pull the gig before we have to pay them the very large fee we offered to make sure we got the gig rather than a rival promoter”?

    Bo Diddley RIP. “If you ain’t got no money, ain’t nobody calls you honey”

    Hear that? That’s the sound of the latest batch of additions for the Electric Picnic coming to a computer screen near you this week.

    Calm down at the back, there’s a new Damien Rice album on the way. Here’s the word from the horse’s mouth

    On June 1st 2008, myself and my friends Ryan (images) & Mia (navigation) set off on a last-minute road trip from Dublin to Barcelona, squished into my little ol’ mini with a portable recording studio. The idea is to stop off along the way in random places where I have to write and record a new song every day, either in the mini or outdoors on a rock or something. 10 days = 10 songs = album Nuevo. We’ll update as we go… if we’re anywhere near an internet connection that is. We hope to arrive in Barcelona on June 10th, or at least in time to go see Radiohead play on June 12th and then fly home for the Leonard Cohen dates. Yay!

    Wonder how many tons of C02 emissions you’d get on a car-trip from Ireland to Barcelona?

    The moaniest rock’n'roll interviewees of the year? That would be Coldplay talking to Craig McLean in The Observer. Lads, lighten up. And enough with the make-your-own-clothes schtick. Take Mark E Smith’s advice, go to Primark.

  • The randomiser says “anyone for turkey sambos?”

    May 21, 2008 @ 8:44 am | by Jim Carroll

    About last night…. Broken Social Scene at Vicar Street were good, but No Age at Whelan’s were sublime. The BSS gig was a wonderfully ramshackle greatest hits set right from the heart of Queen Street, but No Age were awesome, throwing down a mean, energetic set of superbad bangers. If you haven’t checked out their amazing “Nouns” album yet, make amends today. As for that stupid turkey, it’s fantastic news that Dustin and his woeful, unfunny song and act was turfed out of the Eurovision. Why do we persist in thinking that a glove puppet in a shopping trolley is actually funny? Can’t wait to hear what Liveline is going to like today. Thank you Europe. I’m voting Yes to Lisbon after this.

    Great minds think alike and this also applies to commissioning editors and sub-editors at the Irish Sunday papers who suffered a nasty dose of the Ys at the weekend. Here’s Jennifer O’Connell in the Sunday Business Post writing about Generation Y. And, what do you know, here’s Christine Bohan in the Sunday Tribune also talkin’ about the Y Generation. Next weekend, how about a few pieces on Generation Z?

    From the Bleedin’ Obvious Department: Rolling Stone looks at how high ticket prices could hit the live music business. Jeez, they should ask some of the Irish promoters about that one.

    Also from the Bleedin’ Obvious Department: Rolling Stone (again) on bands need to do other things to make cash now that they can’t flog CDs.

    The reason why you hear the same tunes over and over again on the radio is because they test well, per the Guardian. And oh yes, Irish stations ruthlessly test their playlists too. One music programming dude told me a while back that Irish audiences always respond really well to singer-songwriters. Fact, sadly.

    We’re not the only ones to heart Lykke Li. Here’s an interview from The Times.

    Anyone for some fuming Radiohead fans? Don’t all rush at once. According to Billboard, a bunch of Yorkalists are up in arms over problems and delays encountered in getting to a recent ‘Head gig due to really bad weather conditions and the location of the venue in wildest Virginia. Lovin’ this comment:

    If you gave even one tiny llama turd about environmental impact, you would never have scheduled a show at a venue 40 miles away from downtown D.C., nowhere near public transportation of any kind

    There you are now. The first ever appearance of a “llama turd” in On The Record. Thanks Thom.

    Dallas to Live Nation: pay up. Turns out the live music giant owes the good people of the Texan city $800,000. That’s about €118, isn’t it?

    How to save the music industry (part 24,516). Wired details the five point plan which consumer research agency The Leading Question and music business info bods Music Ally believe might - might - just save the business. Most of them make sense, especially number five:

    Trust the DJ: Online means anyone can access or own John Peel’s entire record collection, but the instant and massive availability of music on demand means you need a trusted guide like John Peel more than ever. The new layers of value will come from the social connections that come about through music as much as from the music itself.

    And finally, here’s how the Recording Industry Association of America catches music pirates. Now you know.

  • The Tuesday morning randomiser. Horse-free zone.

    April 22, 2008 @ 7:20 am | by Jim Carroll

    We wrote last week about the Analog Festival. Well, the niceness continues with news that Ninepoint Records are doing a night at the Analog Studio venue during the fest featuring Thread Pulls, Danish act Mit Nye Band and UK outfit Petit Mal. It happens on July 19th and tickets are a tenner.

    According to some Universal Music Group legal eagle, throwing away promo CDs is a breach of copyright. Bang goes the frisbee Olympics I’d planned for next month using all those watermarked CDs lying in a corner of the office which no-one has bothered to listen to.

    You get a better class of article in the FT. Where else would you find Charlie McCreevy, Guy Hands and The Beatles in the the one piece? Yes, it’s another couple of hundred words on copyright extensions.

    The New York Times takes a close look at The Filter, the Peter Gabriel-backed music recommendation service.

    I can’t wait to see this widely available for the Wii

    Unfortunately, they don’t make record bosses like Walter Yetnikoff any more. Here’s Walter in full flow. If you have not read Howing At The Moon, the best book ever written about a former record label boss, make amends NOW. Note to self: must dig out interview with Yetnikoff from a few years ago.

    If Stereogum or Idolator write about some act signed to Universal Music, beware. Social networking set-up Buzznet, which recently acquired both music blogs, got a big cash injection of their own from, yes, Universal Music Group. Here, any major labels wants to throw what is left of their cash at On The Record? Or are you all involved in the bidding war for Nialler9? Yeah, thought so. It’s the pink banner, isn’t it? Memo to designers: we need a new look.

  • The Monday morning randomiser

    April 21, 2008 @ 9:57 am | by Jim Carroll

    It’s not just On The Record who goes around giving Radiohead and their fans a good-humoured dig in the collective belly. Oh no. Here’s Chris Salmon having a pop at the ‘Head over their new social networking site which he sees as just another instance of the band milking the lucrative cash-cow that is their fan-base. Meanwhile lots and lots of Yankee fans of the band are getting worked up about the fact that the band are using Ticketmaster to flog tickets for their forthcoming US tour. See, I just knew the band should have gone with the name-your-own-price tactic for the live shows. Maybe then, there would not still be tickets on sale, as there are this morning, for their shows in Dublin and the UK. Thom baby, Skype us or send a carrier-pigeon. We can help. We can do a competition or something.

    Speaking of Ticketmaster, it’s interesting to see Leftez Letter readers bringing up Ticketmaster rebates as a reason for high ticket charges. In a nutsell, rebates happen when the ticket giant allegedly passes a couple of dollars per ticket sold back to the promoter of the show in question. Yes, a couple of dollars from the various handling and convenience charges paid by the punter makes it make into the promoter’s bank account. Not surprisingly, we don’t really hear much about these rebates as all parties prefer to stay schtum about this practice. Indeed, it’s a long time since I’ve even heard anyone mention rebates - they came up during the Pearl Jam dispute with Ticketmaster and some clued-in consumers raised them in this discussion about high ticket charges. Mmmm, wonder does this happen in Ireland?

    The Daily Telegraph has seen the future of the record industry and it has a peculiar pong to it. Procter & Gamble, the company behind such brands as Pampers nappies and Crest toothpaste, is to start a record label called TAG Records, in cahoots with Def Jam, to promote a line of men’s deodorants and body sprays. Look, I didn’t make it up, it was in the Telegraph, OK? The Telegraph, not the Mail.

    A few weeks ago, we wrote about the MySpace Music hook-up between the social networking site and a couple of the major labels still in business. We asked then what it would all mean for indie labels and artists. Well, per Wired, it certainly won’t mean any equity in the new venture.

    Ever wondered what happened to all those writers who used to contribute to Melody Maker, Sounds and the NME when it was good? Are they still out there tilting at sonic cathedrals and cracking jokes about Dumpy’s Rusty Nuts? Or are they just writing for whatever broadsheet will have them? Well, a whole load of them, including Steven Wells, Chris Roberts, Neil Kulkarni, Angus Batey, Simon Price and John Robb, are set to contribute to new online yoke The Quietus.

    And finally, congrats to the Sunday Tribune hurling pundits for getting it wrong two weekends in a row. Last Sunday, Enda McEvoy and Liam Griffin had Kilkenny seeing off Tipperary. Yesterday, Enda and Liam had Galway getting the better of Liam Sheedy’s boys. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

  • The randomiser says “relax”

    April 8, 2008 @ 8:15 am | by Jim Carroll

    Some of you will remember the Vodafone’s Bright New Sounds yoke from a few months ago. Well, the competition is now over and it would be churlish of me not to congratulate winning band The Minutes. I’m sure the 407 bands who entered but didn’t win will agree that it’s just an unfortunate co-incidence that two of the three winning band members work for Vodafone.

    A couple of people (including Fearghal, Petee and Barry) have pointed out that €44 to see Hercules & Love Affair at The Academy in Dublin on June 1 is a bit much. It certainly is, especially when you consider the ticket prices for their UK shows earlier in the week - it’s £12 (€15) in Glasgow and just a tenner (€12.50) in Nottingham. Holy outrageous mark-up Batman!

    Speaking of tickets, Bono and pals know where the money is at. No, not that deal, but this move by his private equity company Elevation Partners to acquire a stake in everyone’s favourite whipping boys Ticketmaster.

    It’s official: Apple’s iTunes now sells more music than any other retail outlet in the United States. We give the CD another 4 years, 10 months and 16 days.

    Vinyl, though, that’s another story. Here’s some filthy turntable porn for you.

    Hear the drummers get wicked. But what about the noise of crumpling paper… is a one-day percussion fest taking place in Dublin’s Liberty Hall Theatre on April 26. Presented by Ergodos (the people behind the Printing House Festival of New Music), the event will feature New York’s Lehman College Percussion Ensemble and Dublin’s RIAM Percussion Ensemble performing Edgard Varèse’s Ionisation. There will also be performances of John Cage’s Third Construction in Metal, Michael Byron’s Music of Steady Light, works by Irish composer Aengus Ó Maoláin and English composer James Else and various drumming workshops.

    And just in case you hadn’t noticed, the revisionism has begun. From today’s paper:

    The media “has less time today for serious parliamentary reporting” than was the case in the past, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said last night.

    This the same Bertie who reduced the amount of time he himself had to spend in the Dail answering questions over the last few years?

  • That was the month that was - On The Record’s multiple-choice quiz for March

    April 1, 2008 @ 8:09 am | by Jim Carroll

    It’s April 1 so every other blog and news source worth its bacon will be trying to punk you with fake stories today, but not On The Record. Oh no, we won’t go there and not because we just realised it was April 1. Instead, it’s time for the first - and probably last - On The Record monthly quiz rounding up all the key stories from March. Grab a pen, pour yourself a decent cup of tea and get answering. You never know, this might become a regular feature.
    (more…)

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