Bonnie Scotland!

I'm off to Scotland for the weekend to see The Temper Trap, so I'll leave ye with this:

Have some Faith!

House/Dance

The Dance (2010)
Tracklist

1. Not Going Home
2. Feel Me
3. Crazy Bal’heads
4. Comin Around
5. Tweak Your Nipple
6. Flyin Hi
7. Love Is My Condition
8. Feelin Good
9. North Star
10. Sun To Me
11. Scandalous






(Album streaming from MySpace )


Up there with one of the best acts I've seen live, Faithless are returning to Dublin next Wednesday, to play the Olympia, tickets available from Ticketmaster, (€45/50).

"Faithless have always been musical movers and shakers. When this British collective first emerged in the mid-1990s, the idea that a dance music act could produce rich full-length albums rather than one-off tracks, pack out live concerts, and bring together all kinds of genres and music fans, seemed quite revolutionary.

Fourteen years, several albums and numerous global tours, festivals and hits later, those Faithless qualities have become benchmarks of the 21st-century music scene. Now their sixth studio album ‘The Dance’ reunites the central trio of Buddhist MC/poet Maxi Jazz, indomitably cool club doyenne Sister Bliss and visionary producer Rollo, and extends that Faithless energy even further – always passionate, always progressive.

“We definitely put an effort into returning to our dancefloor roots on this album,” agrees Bliss. “To All New Arrivals, was a beautiful record, but its mood was more quiet and reflective. This record was a big thank you to our fans as well as a mark of the eclecticism of our band. It’s a reconnection with where we’ve come from – we definitely wanted to feel that housey, anthemic energy again – but it’s also about renewal.”

‘The Dance’ is the first Faithless album recorded and mixed outside London, as they relocated to Rollo’s studio in the Norfolk countryside. While their previous records have embraced an array of guest vocalists such as Cat Power, Robert Smith and Boy George, this time the Faithless extended family includes the soaring tones of The Temper Trap’s frontman Dougy Mandagi on ‘Comin Around’ (“He has such an exquisite voice,” enthuses Bliss)."

Got Milk?

Details:
Who's going? 5,000 of Ireland’s bold and beautiful gays will strut their stuff in August at Europe’s first ever outdoor music festival for the LGBT community.

Whens it start? August 12th - 12pm to 12am

Where is it? Ballinlough Castle
                     Clonmellon
                     Navan, Co.Meath

Who's playing?
róisín Murphy (DJ Set)
Andy Moor, 
Bodyrox & Luciana,
Seb Fontaine,
Alexandra Burke,
Right Said Fred,
Bananarama,
Sophie Ellis Bextor,
Samantha Fox,
PnP,
Heathers,
Amasis,
+Panti MC....PLUS MANY MORE (to be announced.)


How much? €99.99 + €7. 50 (charges)

Lady of The Sunshine

Indie/Folk

Lady of the Sunshine - Smoking Gun 
(Buy It)

So for the past year, this album has been hiding from me, until, yesterday, and as with Angus and Julia, I am in love.

Lady of the Sunshine is a solo project for Angus Stone - one half of Australian folk / acoustic duo Angus & Julia Stone.

Angus wrote, sang and played electric and acoustic guitar on the album of which he co-produced with his accomplice ‘Finn’ (Govinda Doyle) on drums and bass. The album was recorded over 6 weeks throughout 2008 in an old water tank in the scorching hills of North QLD, Australia. Finn’s wife would cook supper for them and her new born baby whilst they worked till the young hours of dawn.

“I’ve been skipping off in between tours for about a year now to shake my head of these songs” explains Angus. Every one of the emotions in your head has it’s own voice and this album is what became of them’.

Smoking Gun sees Angus crawl into the alt music underground world, embracing a myriad of themes, emotions and genres that allowed Angus the freedom to take a simple idea for each song and let it take whatever trip it lead him on.

In my opinion, it's a good album, but I miss Julia.

Lady Of The Sunshine - Smoking Gun

Lady In The Sunshine - Daisychain

Whats that? The sound of Sleigh Bells?

Treats, the debut album from the Brooklyn electro-pop duo Sleigh Bells, is a thrill ride: It's aggressive but not macho and smart without losing its sense of fun. Most of all, it's somehow both an aural assault and a piece of pop candy, albeit one in a overblown wrapper. In Sleigh Bells, Derek Miller is responsible for the excessively compressed beats and abrupt guitars, while singer Alexis Krauss provides a melodic counterpoint, with a sweetness that can turn fierce.

For all the aural assaults contained therein, Treats lives up to its name. A guitar in "Infinity Guitars" sounds like The Kinks' Dave Davies playing "You Really Got Me," while a liberal sample from Funkadelic's Maggot Brain forms the basis for the breeziest song on the record, "Rill Rill."

The overblown percussion can be exhausting — Treats will certainly be polarizing — but this music is much warmer and bassier than any of the demos I'd heard leading up to the album's release.

Sleigh Bells' Treats will stream here in its entirety for a week, starting on its May 11 release date.


Sleigh Bells - Beach Girls

Sleigh Bells - Crown On The Ground

Girls on Tour!

I'm a big Heathers fan, so time for some fresh news! They're on tour!

STILL haven't heard of them? This might refesh your mind, this track features on the new Discover Ireland Ad.






Very Angry Girls (V.A.G) will also double up with the Heathers in Mullingar! I imagine it'll be a good show!

Why not check out their myspace while you're here too!

Katy Perry

Not her biggest fan, but she obviously has some, so here it is, Katy Perry's new single, streaming over on her website here