So I get back from my trip and I finally get my filthy paws on the Hercules and Love Affair EP. Oh lordy, it’s funktastic. I was a bit apprehensive at first when I heard Antony Hegarty would be doing a lot of the vocals. His voice is unquestionably unique but at times it can be grating and once in a while reminds me of a half dead dog moaning. However to the right sound and situation it can be perfect and chillingly haunting or dare I say it romantic. But the idea of putting Antony with some funk/disco sounded like putting stew on your cheesecake or something, I don’t know. It just doesn’t feel like it would work. Strangely with Hercules and Love Affair it does.

The EP is great. It has that sun setting on a tropical island feel. It is not time to get into your groove but the funk and disco beats will get your hips moving and be the perfect exercise and preparation for more gyrating later on in a night. It’s a funny little record in style, substance and tempo. The meshing of Antony’s voice to the calypso dance of Blind is em, strange? You Belong sounds like something you would have heard in the Hacienda at its height while the rest of the album skirts close to Studio 54 disco. Strangely my mother likes it, which threw me off a bit and I think that is the beauty of it. It IS strange in some respects but an admirable mix of the best funky sounds of the last thirty years.

Stew on a cheesecake? Or some poutine?

Talking about strange mixes. In Montreal I was lucky (or unfortunate depending on your taste) to try their ‘delicacy” of poutine. Now this is a weird mix and I would love to know where the idea came about and what twisted genius thought of it. I am guessing that a certain intoxicating amount of alcohol was involved.

Poutine is made of three ingredients-chips, gravy and cheese. That may test some of you guys’ gag reflex but don’t diss it until you try it. I think I could make a lot of money out of it on Dame Street at 3a.m on a Saturday and Sunday night as the heaving mass of drunken zombies lurch out of the bars and clubs ravenous for a kebab or chips. Almost anything at that state of inebriation will be considered delicious. If you feel rank the next day IT WAS THE DRINK RIIIIII?!?!!

To be honest I didn’t do much in Toronto. Hell, I didn’t even do the CN Tower, that wonderfully bombastic symbol of the city and until recently the tallest structure in the world. Toronto is a great city but I was left a bit unsatisfied. It’s a young city (It only surpassed Montreal in size and as the commercial capital in the 1960’s) and you feel that as you walk down the street. The buildings are relatively new and the people youthful. IN parts it is picturesque. The University quarter would give Trinity a run for it’s postcard perfect architecture and Queen Street West buzzes with great shops and vibrant graffiti. But overall you feel it is lacking something special. It didn’t captivate me like other metropolitan sirens like New York and Montreal, the two other cities on my itinerary this time. Nevertheless it was a thoroughly enjoyable place to be.

“Peaches was here last week”

That’s how my Toronto mates sold the Drake to me. The Drake Hotel, situated on Toronto’s hip strip Queen Street West is like its home city wanting to make a statement and that statement is to be the epitome of cool. Owner Jeff Stober has very much achieved that garnering acres of column inches in Canada and abroad for what is a beautiful retro-styled hotel. One could call it boutique with its 19 rooms all fitted in various 20th century styles but it is more than a hotel. This is one of the nicest hotels I have been to in style and service. Ok I only went for a few drinks and didn’t stay the night but the staff were impeccable in their fashion (understated cool) and talkative. The music in the background of the main bar switched from Matthew Dear to Dandy Warhols effortlessly. It deserves its accolade as a Bohemian Mecca. Open late it has a club that has a varied array of nights. Check out their listing on their website.

American Apparel-tastic!

I don’t get the mad ravenous craze that is American Apparel. Their clothes are a cross between that Eric Prydz video “Call On Me” and a 1980’s low-end hooker from the Bronx. Also their print ads are paedophilia-lite. But hey they make great hoodies. So it was after a drink in the Drake that I ended up in the Social. I have begun recently to garner how cool a place is by how many American Apparel hoodies I can count in a room (you’d think that it would be so un-cool to be wearing the same thing as someone else) and this place was swarming with them. The Social is a great bar. Minimal in its bare limestone walls and rough metal edges the music flirted from Boys Noize style electro to early 90’s hip hop and dance. In fact in judging from the style of people and the music it would be somewhere that someone like M.I.A would feel comfortable after a gig (in fact it is actually what she did after a recent gig). Surprisingly the drink was cheap too. $2 drinks before midnight was a great way to start a night in my opinion.

The Social
1100 Queen Street West
Toronto

That job in between becoming a pop star

Canadians are known for their social tolerance. This has created ample space for the gay community to flourish. Church Street in Toronto is the official gay village full of gay B+B’s to a multitude of saunas and leather clubs. However I was being conservative when I decided to meet a Dublin friend in the most famous (non-fetish) gay bar in Toronto, Woodys. It was a Sunday and we expected a quiet night with the ubiquitous drag queens singing dire Dolly tunes (we were not disappointed). As the night was closing I ended up talking to the bar man. Named John it transpired he was the bassist for local band Kids on TV. Being signed to Chicks on Speed’s record label you can kind of guess what they sound like. Irreverent rock with a twisted electro tinge courtesy of a trip down Peaches’ rabbit’s crack hole would be a good idea of what it is.

Their most noticeable song “Breakdance Hunx” contains the great lines “Surely you must realize you have market value/little blonde boy who break dances and suck cock” and the video is stupid but in a good way.

Canadialand Part I

So I have finally returned from my spur of the moment trip to North America. Back not long ago in December I kind of well, how can I say it, I kind of cracked and decided to drop everything and get the bloody hell out of Dublin. It was London I decided to go for a few days. However during the process of booking my flight to Blighty I got distracted by a cheap flight to Toronto. In the end I ended up booking a flight to London and then another to Canada in March.

Gypsy Punk in Canadialand

So I arrived on the Sunday the 3rd of March into Toronto where my good Canadian friend Steve picked me up at the airport by saying “So, would you like to go to see Gogol Bordello? Like right now?” Even after 12 hours of traveling I ended up watching what has been aptly described as gypsy punk. I had heard about these guys before and simply decided to discard them to the wayside of my attention. I’m sorry luv but I just don’t do that sort of thing. It was also around the same time that Madonna, the musical vampire that she is (she MUST be a vampire, just look at her aged 50) adopted them, robbed them from a T in the Park appearance to parade them in front of millions at Live 8 or whatever it was as her back up band. I don’t know why that irked me but I had no patience for them afterwards. But I couldn’t say no to a free ticket and the excitement of my first gig in Canada so it was straight to the venue.

It was kind of appropriate in some way that the venue was in the docks. Dark and seedy it seemed apt for a band like Gogol Bordello. It started off bad for me. Little did I expect that in Ontario that when a gig is open to all they have strict drinking policies. So we were shunted off quite briskly by security men to the drinking pen, like alcoholic sheep where we HAD to drink our alcohol there and not take it out. Conor don’t like that. SO it was from here that we got the beginning of the gig. As a band they look like a rabble of drunken Romanian labourers from the Caucesceu era at a dodgy wedding and sounded like the house band you would find at such a wedding. However it ripped through the crowd. And here’s me thinking all Canadians are calm, quiet and reserved. No, there goes a leg there, a plastic cup here and was that a sock? Hmmm. Odd. However somehow I was swept up in it as I apprehensively ventured out of the drink pen.

Gogol Bordello are undeniably a great band live but I just didn’t get it. Maybe I am not astute or open to such world rhythms blasted through some sort of musical particle accelerator that defines their sound at times. They are an acquired taste but a band that must be experienced I suppose sometime even if you’re not really into the sound of Moldovan wedding bands.

www.gogolbordello.com

Band member and the man behind the greatest thing to come out of Brazil since Giselle! Adriano from CSS talks to Analogue.

So 18 months on the road and over 5 concerts in Ireland alone, you must be the hardest working band today!

Yeah our agency, since we have been through a lot of bad things made this little frame or picture saying “Most Hard Working Band Of the Year”. We played like a 180 shows last year!

When you were leaving Brazil 18 months ago you were just getting big. You went back recently for the first time since and now you’re huge. How was that?

It’s weird as a lot of people didn’t like us and then they wanted to interview us but we didn’t do anything we didn’t want to. Like we didn’t speak to Globo Television (Brazil’s largest tv company). They wanted us to go on the like the David Letterman of Brazil and we said “no way we’re not doing this”. We don’t sell that much records there, we don’t have a record label there. So there’s no point in doing those things. We were wasting our time rehearsing and recording and we didn’t want to waste our time doing those things for people who didn’t like us. Just because we were famous in Europe and America. It’s really boring.

But you did a few shows in Brazil when you got back. How was that?

Yeah we did. We were at a festival and 6000 people were there watching us, which was cool. We were on at the same time as Lilly Allen and people left her to see us! That was emotional. For a moment I thought people were there to criticize us but they were all there singing and dancing. It was really beautiful.

The first time I met you guys was when I was living in South America and you were on a bus, a normal bus from

Sao Paulo to Rio in November 2005. Then I see you less than two years supporting Gwen Stefani on her European tour. That must have been weird, that quick rise, that trajectory from local band to world tours.
Yeah we played the Wembley Arena 4 times! Like 12,000 people each night! Ok they’re not there for us but to see Gwen Stefani.

But you must get people who go to those gigs to see Gwen but come back to you and say “Wow, I didn’t know you guys before and you’re really good!

Yeah! I never thought of the marketing aspect of touring but when we do tours like that our sales increase tremendously after. Of course there’s a lot of people who have never heard of us. You know if we play in front of those 12,000 people and only 10% of those like us and buy our record that’s 1200 people buying our record. So they are in HMV or Virgin and they see our record and go “That’s the band that opened for Gwen Stefani!” and they buy our record. That’s really cool.

How do you come about nabbing these big names to support? Is it a question of the record company coming to you?

Nah, it’s the agent. It’s the people who schedule our show. Like Gwen Stefani is from Primary, our agent. Primary, they have been really good to us. Our agent, he’s brilliant.

You’ve supported over the past year or so Ladytron, Basement Jaxx and Gwen Stefani. Which one was the best?

Ladytron. We became really good friends with those guys. They are the sweetest people ever. Like Daniel from Ladytron, he lives in Milan so everytime we go there we meet up. His wife is Brazillian. She’s really nice and we really became close friends. Like Helen from Ladytron always goes to our gigs in London. And Gwen, she’s really, really cool. She always went to our dressing room and she brought her kid Kingston and she is so down to earth. But she’s also kind of unapproachable as she’s a big star, you know. So we didn’t get that close so I don’t have her email or her phone number so I can’t ring her up and go “Hey Gwen, how are you!?”. Basement Jaxx, we met them 3 or 4 times in the catering area at the gigs and they are really nice. We had the most fun supporting Gwen. Basically we had a show and a day off, a show and a day off. Her show is also amazing. Watching that show every night it was amazing.

So you’re working on the second album. How is it different in sound from the first album?

I think it’s gonna sound more like a live show. It’s going to be less electronic but still sound very pop. When we recorded the first album we weren’t a band. We didn’t play that much and I didn’t know what we would end up doing. I have been working on this album since we started touring. I work on it on my computer touring and I am a workaholic so I am writing all the time. We already have 13, 14 songs so the album is all done. Man, at the beginning we didn’t even have songs. We would have maybe 4 songs and we would do one song twice and move on. And everyone was so shocked we had the guts to do that. But now the girls have gotten way better. I really trust them as musicians. I know I can make a bassline and Ira would pick it up. At the beginning they couldn’t. But now we play every day and we’re practicing. I still write all the arrangements for the instruments but now when we’re playing they’d change something as maybe it’s easier for them or they discover it’s better. Although I’m not really happy as we won’t be able to rehearse all the songs before we record and that’s something I really wanted to do. I wanted to go somewhere like a farm away from things and play the songs for almost forever but it’s not gonna happen. It was funny we were thinking about songs in ways like how it would sound on the main stage of Glastonbury or we would go “let’s make a break here so Lovefoxx can jump into the crowd” and stuff.

What goes on in Lovefoxx’s head when she thinks of things like “Music is my hot hot sex”?

She’s really unique. I think she’s a little genius. Her first thing is not music. It’s drawing. She’s an amazing illustrator. She’s more graphical than musical. I think her lyric writing is very visual as she is so graphical. She’s one of the best artists I have ever met.

So how did you two meet up?

It’s all Ira’s fault. I used to have another band called I Love Miami, which was the worst band. It wasn’t a proper band . It was me with like 10 other girls and we would just go on stage and make loads of noise. Then Ira saw us play one time and said “ I would love to be in a band like that” and she called me and said “lets make a band” and I said ok. She invited the girls. I never met Lovefoxx before the first rehearsal. She said we met once when I was in my other band but I don’t remember.

Did you get on well from the beginning?

Yeah! Ira was thinking when starting the band about who would be the best people to party with so she thought it would be cool.

With touring and the stress, do you still get on well?

Yeah we do. I think it’s because were a lot of people. I get along very well with Ira. Yesterday we went for dinner and I live very close to her in Sao Paulo. Lovefoxx hangs out with Luiza. Its not that we are jealous of each other and we have two gangs, it just seems natural.

So what is it like as the only guy in the band?

I never really thought about it. Most of my other bands had girls. I was in one band with all guys. The difference when you
have a band with girls is that people tend to treat you better. In Brazil they would put you in a better hotel as they would think they wouldn’t put a girl in certain hotels.

Have the girls rubbed off on you? Have you developed an appreciation for good shoes and make up?

Ha, and astrology too! We speak a lot about astrology too. I don’t know how they do it but they guess the star signs of everyone. They go “ Oh you are a Virgo” and I go “Yeah!” They are always right. And it’s good. They always have creams like when my hands are so dry….

So what do you think of today’s fast moving world where people come and go and more specifically bands form, go global and break up in such a short space of time?

Since we get along so well and we had a lot of shit together and we didn’t break up or fight I think that if we want we could be a band that could last 10-15 years. This idea of brief famousness is so new now. I think our fans are not those trendy people looking for trendy bands. They like our music so if we get smaller or become less famous we would do well.

Are you the beginning of something new, a wave of Brazilian bands to come over here and make it big?

Nah. There are a lot of bands that suck. There are a lot of bands that sing in Portuguese. Bonde do Role kinda work cause they have this different funky kind of sound. But they’re not big in Brazil because their lyrics are so filthy. Like if you understood what they were saying you would freak.

What is it with Brazilians? You guys and Bonde do Role.You seem to be overtly sexual? And your lyrics are too?

Well it’s when we sing in English and its not our first language. Like when Lovefoxx sings Art Bitch she would be ashamed to sing it in Portuguese.

But why sing in English and not Portuguese?

Well because I was listening to bands singing in English. I’ve been that way since I was in bands at 14 years or age. I’m a terrible Portuguese writer. In English the words are very small.

And so you’ve been on the road almost 2 years non stop. Are you going to take a break?

No! All New Year we are recording the album and then we are back in March. Actually in January we are going to Australia from Brazil for three days, which from Brazil is awful. We have to go to Chile, then New Zealand and then Australia. Its gonna be awful. Then we will be back. In February we have 2 or 3 shows.

And this year you’re making the big move to London. Are you apprehensive about going to London?

I don’t think about it much. We stay so much there so don’t think about it. Once I have my own house Ill be fine. I hate hotels. I’m paranoid to the point I travel with my own pillow! I keep thinking about who has drooled into that pillow. I was even thinking about bringing my own sheets but I thought that was too much!

Star Little Thing are brimming with a certain Dublin charm that permeates this album, blending the sounds of early 90’s dance and Irish rock. This creates a sound that elevates them above the crammed monotony of many a local band. They have fashioned a debut album with some great songs but a few unnecessary fillers. In songs such as the recent single ‘Where Is The Child Gone’ one hears the latent potential of the band. It is a single layered with melancholy, menace and hope covered in a dance rock beat. While in a number of songs you feel they have over-salted the soup, Star Little Thing have concocted a commendable debut for an Irish band. It’s Easy To Be Alive You Just Are is the sound of a band with a lot of promise.

Roisin Murphy is a woman of understated charisma. Quietly and contentedly wallowing just under the radar, her debut album Ruby Blue was an idiosyncratic blend of jazz, break beats and pop, but with her sophomore outing, Roisin has gone all disco. Overpowered is a much stronger, ultimately more lucid piece of work. Gone are the more out-there sounds and in comes in the mirrorball. Aptly named “Mirrorball” burns with a techno intensity not seen since the early nineties while recent single “Let Me Know” is Kim Syms Mark II. It is in the pumping techno sounding “Movie Star” we see the star herself showing her mettle and potential.

Overpowered is a giant platform shoe step above her debut and a thoroughly enjoyable album. Long may Roisin continue to entertain us in her own flamboyant way.

With Prince’s crowning residence at the O2 Arena ended and musicians like Justin Timberlake unfortunately moving towards a more hip hop sound, I ask you this question. Who’s gonna funk us up now? A good healthy dose of funk is good for the hips and as a means to get close to that hot guy or girl on the dance floor. Germany’s Michael Fakesch is a man who with his debut album Dos has combined the classic funk sound of Prince and to a lesser extent Michael Jackson with a good old dose of electro.

Dos is an album that is unquestionably funktastic and as Michael says on the first song ‘Escalate’, “I’m everything you need”. Michael Fakesch has cultivated a sound, which, with its electronic beats and twiddles, is unquestionably modern. At first listen one may think that Har Mar Superstar has returned minus the joking lyrics. Michael has a voice quite similar to the pervy Har Mar but the beats are more professional, more confident and more astute. It laces its sexuality in the squeaks of the turntable and beat box.

So what about the songs? ‘I Want It’ is pulsating, slinky and undeniably sexual with a throbbing electronic beat and suggestive lyrics. ‘On The Floor’ is a nasty, filthy song sung by a voice that sounds like a banshee having sex. That may sound weird but it is incredibly affective. It’s filth, there’s no denying it, as Michael screams “Lets get on the floor!” to a throbbing beat that is achingly good. However it is in songs like ‘Escalate’ where you see the comparisons to that artist formally known by an odd little symbol. It positively pulsates and is littered with provocative lyrics.

Dos is an album to test many fans of old funk. It sounds like the next technological level of the genre, while also appealing to fans of electronic music too. Michael has delivered an album that drowns in electronic break beats. It is this mix that elevates this album above the other graduates from the School of Prince. Here is 21st century funk fused successfully with modern electro and break beat. It may be a bit too dependent on technology and the computer. The more natural sound of a guitar would add a more basic feel to accentuate the sexuality. Near the end the quality also dips but there is enough here to get anyone frisky.

Michael Fakesch has created a slinky and very funky album. It is a musical black dress that will at times appeal to many people and many styles- So let’s all get sexed up to Dos!

Music producer Jacknife Lee knows how to tickle my bits. With his eponymous fourth album, he has borrowed filthy underlying sounds more akin to artists like Whitey and The Whip. Jacknife Lee seamlessly fuses a good old rock aesthetic with a contemporary electro beat. ‘What You Want’ is a pounding electro-rock song with a mission to get the Indie kids deep down and dirty while opener ‘Fear of Nothing’,proclaims the uninhibited nature of the album. With lyrics such as “filthy, surging, finger, burning” you know where this music is leading to. It may at times sound over-produced. Jacknife Lee is knicker-droppingly good with enough nasty electro sounds that would make other dance rock outfits like Justice and Digitalism seem harsh in their sound.

Denmark’s Masters of atmosphere return with their second album, the enlightening Parades which continues in the same musical fairytale realm where debut album Tripper left us a few years ago.
Layered to sensual perfection with abundant violins and sparse drums peppered with a few string pricks and somber voices, it is an album that drips with emotion and atmosphere but is never overwhelmed by it. One almost feels like being called to attention by the sparse, militaristic drumming on songs such as ‘Maison de Reflexion’. However this is an album of strange beauty. ‘Polygyne’ feels like a trip down a nightmarish rabbit hole which still somehow makes you feel good. Parades is a vibrant cocktail of sounds and emotions that will warm your heart.

There seems to be a wealth of talent within the ranks of BellX1. On one side we have the electro-pop Tim O’. Donovan a.k.a Neosupervital. On the other we have the melancholic charm of David Geraghty. Where Neosupervital want make you dance in your sharp suits and high heels, David wants you to pull up a stool beside the bar and tell you stories of love lost, gained and lost again.

Kill All Your Darlings is story of life and love wrapped cosily in lush layers of piano and strings. Songs such as “Back Seat” are earnest yet mournful. There are some cheerful songs like “Fear To The Hitcher”, however this is the sound of a man with a heavy heart.

David Geraghty has created an album full of heart and soul with a delicate layer of hope. Coupled with his velvety husky voice, Kill All Your Darlings is a little gem albeit a fragile one. So pull up that stool and listen to the stories which David has
to sing.