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Clockwork Noise are headlining The Twisted Pepper tonight, with support from BellaJane, and Biggles Flies Again, AKA Conor from The Gandhis (The Civilians are listed on the poster, but have unfortunately had to pull out).

With the season that's in it, Clockwork Noise have decided to go all festive, and record a Christmas song. The track, a cover of Elvis’ ‘Blue Christmas’, will be given away for free at the gig, along with a super-special-bonus track, all wrapped up and Christmas present-y. Yay.

Things kick off at 8PM, and tickets are €7- gig goers will also get free admission to the awesome Mr. Jones club night which is on afterwards in the Pepper.

Because it would be very 'bah-humbug' of us to deprive non-dublin folk of the chance to hear a christmas song, you can download it here. Go nuts!

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Upstairs at Whelan's, of course.

Lets all be friends, it'll be lovely:

8 Ball

Clockwork Noise

Powered By Springs

See ya there.

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Cowboy X launch their new EP, Analogue Droids, Upstairs in Whelans tonight with support from the excellent Candy In My Heels. Admission and doors are both a nice round 8. Look! A poster!



What better than a healthy dose of electro to help you forget the shittyness of the weather this weekend?

That's right- drinking yourself into oblivion would help too, but as socially conscious folk, we can't endorse that. So just get your ass down to the gig instead.

Here's the video for Cowboy X's Japanese Toy:
(Candy In My Heels don't have any youtube videos yet, but they do have a number one fan)

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Clockwork Noise play the Village tonight, with support from Neon Flea Circus & Val Normal. Tickets cost €12.50, but if you'd prefer to gettem for a tenner, just email clockworknoise@hotmail.com with your name in the subject line. Just think of what you could do with that €2.50...

The wonderful Jim Carroll has featured Clockwork Noise in today's issue of The Ticket as new music to watch. Check it out here.

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The word has been filtering across internetland all day- The Pixies have confirmed a third date for the Olympia this September, this time for Wednesday the 30th. All three dates will feature the band performing their classic album Dolittle in its entirety.

As the last two dates were snapped up in seconds I'd highly recommend recruiting an army of computers in order to stand a chance of getting tickets for this one.

The battle commences at 9AM sharp tomorrow (so about 8.57 then). Might as well start refreshing the ticketmaster page now...

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Good news from the land of gig announcements: The Pixies are to play Dublin's Olympia Theatre for two nights, October 1st & 2nd. Shockingly, it's been twenty years since their classic album Doolittle was released (still sounds fresh...), and rather than buying a cake, they're celebrating by playing the album in its entirety INCLUDING all related B-sides.

This can't really be missed...

Tickets go on sale Friday July 3rd at 9 in the AM, and are priced €54.80 (standing, circle) and €44.20 (nosebleeds).

Here's my favourite Pixies track, which unsurprisingly comes from the album in question:

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Tonight I shall be electro-ing it up at the Academy 2, where Cowboy X will take the stage. Having heard only great things about the band's live show, I'm looking forward to seeing it for myself.

Also playing are former Chalets Talulah Does The Hula, and, in their first full band appearance, our friends over at Happiness Machine- with their popalicious Candy In My Heels.

A high degree of awesomeness is promised. Which should be fun.

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TONIGHT: The excellent Heritage Centre launch their new single, which features two B-sides that could well be A-sides. It's also the band's last headline show for a while, as they head back in the studio to concoct more greatness.

TODAY: My last exam, woohoo! Normal service to resume post-hangover.

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In aid of Saint Vincent DePaul and their unending quest to rid the world of the evil that is poverty a celebration of things musical will rock the Twisted Pepper tomorrow week.

Details are in the poster above with bands such as "Disconnect 4", "So Cow", "Go Panda Go", "Friend", "Attention Baby" who will hopefully prove that their not just a bunch of great names. Get down and spend.

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Hype-tacular Massachusetts band Passion Pit may not have blown me away at their recent Whelans show, but Chunk of Change was still one of the best releases of 2008, and most of the music-listening world will be waiting with baited breath for their next offering. Thankfully it won't be a long wait, as Manners, their debut LP (cover art above), is set for release on May 19th. First listen below... (or on the band's myspace page)

'The Reeling' is along similar lines to what we've heard on the EP, but featuring a children's choir on the chorus. A few more crazy ideas like that and Manners could be quite an interesting prospect.

Passion Pit play the Academy on May 7th, and tickets are onsale here for 15.50.

Passion Pit- The Reeling

Manners Tracklisting:

01 Make Light
02 Little Secrets
03 Moth’s Wings
04 The Reeling
05 Eyes as Candles
06 Swimming in the Flood
07 Folds in Your Hands
08 To Kingdom Come
09 Sleepyhead
10 Let Your Love Grow Tall
11 Seaweed Song

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As above. Butterfly Explosion are class and from what the new sounds are coming from them sound like can only be getting more class.
First headliner in Whelans should be a blast and for all you lucky bastards who don't have to work Paddy's day get on down.

Check their Myspace for juicy Butterfly goodness

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Irish music's great white hope for 2009, Conor O'Brien & Co take to the stage at Crawdaddy for the third show of their first headline tour. To say that this band have been hyped up for 2009 would be an understatement, and often this level of attention can prove to be unnerving. Will this be the case for Villagers?

Pros

• The place is sold out, and even though a jam packed venue might usually imply drunken chatting and spilling of beer, very little of the sort is to be seen here. The air is ripe with anticipation and reverence, providing a perfect atmosphere for the band to manipulate as they may.
• I'm not familiar with many of Villagers songs, but my attention is grabbed with their first. O'Brien's lyrics challenge the audience to take what they will from his performance... but to bear in mind that it's a two way process, and that he's getting as much out of it as they are. What a brilliant way to start.
• The songs were perfectly formed. While the "Hollow Kind' EP is very good, it does not do the band justice enough.
  
• The whole mix is fantastic: Soft and steady acoustic guitar, demented electric lead, a constant reassuring organ hum, teasingly effective bass, admirably restrained drumming. All of this contributed significantly to the fact that these songs worked. Very well. And then there's the vocal...
  
• As a frontman, O'Brien is compelling. Every word is articulated perfectly, so the audience is at all times aware of the strength of the lyrics. Also, there's something weirdly honest about him. I felt like I trusted what he was saying.
• So... my jaw is pretty much rooted to the floor for the entire show. It was completely absorbing, even hypnotic. They took the audience's rapt attention and ran with it, from astonishingly impressive opening to fantastically raucous conclusion. I loved every minute.
  

Cons

• About halfway through the show, O'Brien was left alone on the stage to treat to audience of a solo version of 'Twenty-Seven Strangers'. This was the one point where the momentum faltered. The performance was still great, but the lyrics (about a bus breaking down) were the weakest of the night, and unfortunately owing to the style of play there was no hiding it.
  
• This is just nit-picking, but the new version of 'The Meaning of the Ritual' lacks the demented climax of the demo version, which I loved (the new version is still great though...).

In a nutshell, this was probably the best show I've ever seen by an Irish artist, and certainly the best gig I've seen in the last couple of years. They're playing this Saturday in Mullingar, and I will be going again. Roll on their debut album...

Villagers on myspace

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Now that Damon Albarn & Graham Coxon are bestest friends again (above), Blur seem to be setting themselves up for the summer festival circuit. So in an announcement bound to be conflicting for Evil Bob, the band have been confirmed as one of this year's Oxegen headliners. Blur will join Kings of Leon, Bloc Party, Snow Patrol, The Script, Katy Perry and (according to some reports) The Killers on the 2009 bill. Now for an amusing few days of watching Bob hum and haw over whether or not to play it safe and buy an Oxegen ticket, or just keep his fingers crossed in the hope that they'll announce for Glastonbury.

Tickets for Oxegen go on sale Friday March 6th, but are open to pre-sale for those registered at oxegen.ie from Wednesday February 26th.

The mystical Jim Carroll has made some predictions on other acts we can expect to see added soon enough, and as we all know, Jim has a tendency to be right about these kind of things. Here's his list: Franz Ferdinand, Keane, Kaiser Chiefs, Passion Pit, Glasvegas, Doves, Maximo Park, Justice.

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LA Confidential buffs Rolo Tomassi will be playing a handful of Irish dates in April and will bring their energetic live show to the following venues

23 Apr Auntie Annie’s Belfast
24 Apr Dolans (upstairs) Limerick
25 Apr Academy 2 Dublin
26 Apr Cyprus Avenue Cork

Rolo Tomassi - I Love Turbulence

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Two of the bands most widely tipped for success in 2009 are set to grace the stage of Whelans on March 1st.

Passion Pit (above) & Hockey will perform a double-headliner, giving us a chance to see for ourselves whether the all this hype is justified. This will be all about Passion Pit for me. While their Chunk of Change EP still sounds amazing, Hockey seem pretty weak when one ventures past the (admittedly great) single, 'Too Fake'. Further examination of this phenomenon in the readmore.

Regardless, it should be one of those 'shows you won't want to miss', so be sure to grab a ticket quick. They go on sale this Wednesday (Jan 21st) for a very reasonable 15 euros a pop.



Hockey- Too Fake (good)


Hockey- Um, pretty much the rest of the songs on their myspace (a bit razorlight-y)

Passion Pit- Smile Upon Me (awesome)

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Rising stars and egoeccentric favourites Story of Hair play Upstairs at Whelan's tomorrow night, giving folk a chance to hear one of the best albums of last year live.

Here's a sample direct from my albums of the year list:
Story of Hair - Unsteady

Story of Hair on myspace

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Although they never really officially broke up its always good to see a band completely reforming with all original members intact. Those of you who are tutting their heads right now are thinking back at the dirge that was Country House and clearly aren't familiar with all the top notch stuff that they brought out under the radar, particularly in their last three albums which proved once and for all that they beat the shit out of Oasis as far as properly musically diverse bands go, despite Damon Albarn being a bit of a cock too.

So far only one large Hyde Park show has been announced but hopefully they'll drag their asses over here or even to Glasto. The last time they played here was the Olympia in December 2003 which was a fairly small scale show for a band like Blur. I can see a likely headlining show at Oxegen for one.

Click in the read more for a reminder/introduction to some of their great tunes



Popscene


Out of Time


Good Song


Sing

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Its indicative of how few venues there are really in this country that a band like Ham Sandwich have to play two gigs in a day in one place in order to just get out there and play. Its indicative of how indifferent the country is to its own music scene that fuck all people turn up to the afternoon show. This could be down to a couple of reasons not least of which is the fact that most people are probably hungover to fuck still or more likely they might as well wait until the evening show because then they can stay out drinking afterwards. Come to think of it I probably should have done the same thing.

Emergency in Transit look like the type of band who either saved up all their pocket money very hard to pay for their equipment or have rich daddy's. Their sound is very tight but perhaps a little suspiciously tight for their age, which is about 16 (pun intended). Most of their songs have an opening riff that completely rips of "Helicopters" by Bloc Party which baffles me completely how nobodies pointed that out to them yet. Still they're not the worst thing I've ever seen and once they gain a few years and realise that their haircuts look fucking retarded then they might have something.

Ham Sandwich have quietly made a totally decent name for themselves over the last three years since the first time I saw them at HWCH in 2005. In fact they've gone and released one of my albums of the year in "Carry the Meek". They're stage banter is loose and their sound is full even when playing to only about 30-40 people like at this gig (most of them well underage including a couple or 2-5 year olds who run around wearing day-glo earmuffs). I start to wish, about 4 songs in that I had gone to the evening show instead as a crowd is clearly what they need although all the underages knacker drinking in the small crowd do get into it.

Their stage dynamic is impressive and now that Niamh has popped out the sprog she's got her frame into a more waif-like physique (with nice boobs). And of course one of the recurring questions that one must ask when attending a Ham Sandwich gig is "What outfit will Podge wear?" Clearly something stolen from his older sisters wardrobe in this case but of course he pulls it off.

Click in the read more for vids n'shit



Keepsake

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The super-awesome Story of Hair are back with a vengeance, and tonight sees them debut their first album with a live show at Whelans. The album is entitled Cheap Rate, and promises to be one of the Irish releases of the year (and this in a particularly good year for Irish music).

The Hairs' live shows are notoriously quirky, poppy, noisey and great... so tonight will feature all of those qualities turned up to eleven as it's the band's biggest headline show yet. Providing support will the the excellent So Cow, and egoeccentric favorites Hoovers & Sledgehammers. Doors are at 8, with tickets going for 8 euros a pop. With the night that's in it, tis no surprise that Halloween dress is essential.

Check out the Hairs' new website which is all fancified and spanking new to tie in with the album release. And have a wander over to Sinead's Musical Rooms blog to get a peek into where the band write & practice.

So what does the new album sound like? For a clue, check out the readmore, where you can watch the video for Nanny Natch, the first single from Cheap Rate.

Tis yummy.

Nanny Natch:

Story of Hair - Nanny Natch from storyofhair on Vimeo.

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