Star Little Thing – It’s easy to be alive you just are

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 – Overpowered

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.

Michael Fakesch – Dos

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!

Jacknife Lee – Jacknife Lee

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.

Efterklang – Parades

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.

David Geraghty – Kill All Your Darlings

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.

The Pyramids: Organic, Animal and Raw Rock and Roll

Dirty, raw guitars; powerful, visceral drums and a voice that gives the impression of a heart layered with pain, I was pleasantly surprised upon meeting lead singer Sam. Here in front of me was a quiet, unassuming if not shy man. Sipping a pint of Guinness in Anseo one evening a completely different persona begun to reveal itself from the one found on record.

The Pyramids are an offshoot of the masterful and compelling band from Wiltshire,The Archie Bronson Outfit. Comprising of members Mark Cleveland and Sam Wendett, this is a band with a skuzzier sound than T.A.B.O.. But how did The Pyramids come about? Disillusionment?“One of the ideas was to have an outlet” Sam tells me quietly. Earlier this year Sam and Mark headed into the countryside of their native England and in a converted barn of a friends house their eponymous album was brought into this world.Its gestation was brief and simple. “This would be a fun project. We are not going to do much with the Pyramids. It was really the idea of having something quick and not fussy. We are not going to tour. It’s more to make an album and that’s it”. Within two weeks the lads had created a batch of songs that have the heart of the Archie Bronson Outfit but with an edgier sound. “It was intentional to make it rougher and more garagey” explained Sam, wiping the froth from his beard slowly, “We had a more basic set up. It’s a bit more exciting to work that way”.

Basic is exactly what The Pyramids are. From their sound to their favoured themes of love and pain, they have sculpted a sound that harks back to the early days of vinyl. So are the band some form of musical luddites? “Not really” comes the reply. “It depends on what it is. I like some things like the Flaming Lips. That’s really produced stuff in a really good way. I’m not a fan of really over produced stuff”. So if the band were to put a bit of time into production, a twiddle here, more bass there, would that cause the songs to loose a bit of soul? “We thought that if we added some extra layers it would suck. I don’t think our songs are intelligent enough to be dealt that way.”. After another slow sip, savoring both the pint and question at large he continues. “Some of the soul gets sucked away if it’s overworked. There is nothing to keep you coming back if it’s overdone. It may sound impressive at first but there’s nothing there to get you going again”.

With a new Archie Bronson Outfit album eagerly awaited and the close relationship between the two bands I wonder if there will be some influence and experience from The Pyramids brought into their main band in the future. “I am sure some bits will make it into The Archie Bronson Outfit but hopefully the new Archie Bronson Outfit album will sound different from everything before but there’s definitely crossovers”.

Though they have a more cracked and jagged sound than one might expect, The Pyramids extol an organic rock n’ roll experience, one which may at times intentionally put some people off. “I am not that worried about people hating it” Sam states with quiet resolution. “Just a small amount of music fans get it and that’s good. I don’t mind getting slagged off by the NME crowd. It’s nice to have the hardcore people liking it”. Here is a band guttural and abrasive yet refreshing at the same time. So get your bottle of whiskey and rock out in the old way to The Pyramids.

Efterklang

Contemplative and endearing music from the inspiring wilds of the Danish countryside.

There’s something to the wild, barren landscapes of Scandinavia and Iceland that seem to breed such beautiful and jaw-dropping music. The faintest sound of dripping water or the howl of the northern wind seems to inspire their natives into creating cascading walls of sound that bring shivers down one’s spine.

Efterklang hail from tamer wilds of Denmark. They have, over the years, released numerous mini-albums and their accomplished debut Tripper. October saw the release of their second album Parades. Efterklang has its genesis in the wilds of the Danish countryside, on the island of Als to be precise. “It’s extremely beautiful with many isolated places” local and lead singer Casper tells me. “It’s pretty desolate. I wouldn’t call it a cold place but it’s extremely beautiful”. Casper and fellow band members Mads and Rasmus grew up on Als but in time they felt this “common feeling that we were too big for this place”. So they left for the bright lights and cosmopolitan charms of Copenhagen. Over a few years they met fellow band members Rune and Thomas and with the addition of visual artist Karim Ghahwagi, Efterklang was brought into this world.

Efterklang are an odd bunch. “We are just curious about sounds in general”- Casper explains -and it shows in their music. Combining an orchestra of violins and electronic beats with harmonious vocals, it’s a rich mixture that tickles the mind and soothes the soul. “We don’t think we can find music that won’t fit into the Efterklang universe”. Would that include such things as garbage cans? Well maybe. “If we find a nice soda can we would generally bring it home and start a song with that one”. That’s what constitutes the Efterklang universe, and what a universe it is. This is no ordinary band churning out album after album, it is more of an overall sensual experience. The eye is treated just as handsomely as the ear. “We are all fascinated by cinema and visuals in general and we use it in our music” Casper continues. “Sometimes it is nice to have a visual to create a scene and story in picture to help to make the music. It felt like a natural way of making music”. Because Karim is an integral part of the band all this works to a mesmerizing degree. “We would make the music and he would create the universe”.

Debut album Tripper left many a critic salivating over its lavish musical texture. Comparisons with the aforementioned Sigur Ros made others sit up and take notice. The band embarked on a European tour and then it was time for a return to Copenhagen to create a new sensual experience. This time the band members decided to enlist an outsider to produce second album Parades. “We wanted to find a person who could deal with epic things, with both electronic and acoustics”. The band decided on Darren Allison- the man behind such classics as My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless and Spiritualized’s crowning glory Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space. The result is an album more coherent and more lush than its predecessor.

Efterklang are not content with just music and visuals. They have taken it upon themselves to set up their own record label Rumraket. But what brought about this recent foray? “It was just a reaction” Casper tells me. “We wanted to release our first mini album and it was simply just nice to have a label behind it. We created it for that purpose and afterwards we used it to release some special editions of Tripper. Efterklang didn’t think much would come of it but opinions and fate soon changed. One day an email popped into the Rumraket inbox from none other than Grizzly Bear asking the band to remix one of their tracks. The band said yes,one thing led to another and Grizzly Bear ended up on Rumraket. Score!

So Efterklang are a band that want to wrap you up in a warm, sensual duvet and treat you to an overall experience bordering on the religious. Go catch them in Dublin in Whelans on November 28th.

You’re Only Massive

Up and coming bands play gigs, do interviews where they extol the massive influence Bowie has had on their lives and how they want to make it big and tour America all while they glaze behind you to the mirror to fix their angular haircut or to-scraggly-to-be-natural hair. So when someone says to you “I really wanna play every county in Ireland!” and with such playful eagerness you sit up and take notice. Comprising of two bezzie mates Meabh and Megan they have combined a love of techno with the added spice of rap to create something, which stands out from the normal swathe of Irish bands.

Meabh and Megan are an odd mix. Meabh has spent many a month over the past few years in Berlin soaking up the avant garde lifestyle that city uniquely has to offer. She learnt how to MC and get into German rap there among other things. Megan on the other hand is still in school. In fact our interview was delayed so that Megan could finish supervised study! However as it is in all such cases it was a love of music and mutual friends that brought them together. They met each other at a friend’s club in Waterford. “Our eyes met across a crowded room and we knew that it was meant to be!” jokes Megan on that fateful night. So a few weeks later in June just past they met up, found out they both loved the same music and so in Megan’s bedroom over Alex Gopher’s Motorcycle Clutch they decided to join forces and unleash You’re Only Massive on the country.

So what are they like? Well think Chicks on Speed without the pretentiousness. Add in some rap and a bit of techno with some girly charm and there you have it. Since June they have toured relentlessly and although they havn’t yet made it to every county in Ireland (I’m still dubious about Longford) they have garnered a lot of praise for their tongue in cheek style and music. “ we don’t have the knowledge to sound like a proper group” Megan explains, “I don’t really know how to mix properly so it [our sound] just sounds like this out of necessity”. Nevertheless as a band live they seamlessly and flirtatiously rap over their favorite vinyls. Justice’s Phantom becomes a saucy, slinky number while Alex Gopher is transformed into the whimsical ‘SugarShake The Cool Away’. It seems all so odd. It shouldn’t work but somehow it does and it has taken them around the country to Hard Working Class Heroes, Kilkenny, Dublin Fringe and em, Navan. “That was a really weird gig” Megan giggles “Girls were coming up to us afterwards and going ‘that was the best fun we ever had!’”

This all seems quite a lot for such a budding band, especially when Megan is busy preparing for the Leaving Cert. How does it all work? “Its kind of really hard actually” Megan tells me “not that it affects school really but in terms of playing gigs”. A recent gig in Limerick on a school night resulted in Meabh roping in a friend to take the reigns for that show. So nothing will stop this band. A possible brief pause coming up to the exams will be followed by a massive burst of shows around the country. Gigs-a-plenty will occur. “We really like playing shitty little towns” Meabh eagerly tells me. So watch out Longford.

You’re Only Massive may not be the most professional band out there. They may not think much about what they are doing or care about how they are perceived but as they rap in SugarShake The Cool Away “I’m tearing it up/Get ready to rave/Right here/Right now” it’s all fun and games to Megan and Meabh. So catch them the next time they hit, um, Ballina.

Star Little Thing: It’s all dinosaurs and dancing in the street for these guys

So here we are, in the back of a Ford talking about dinosaurs. This is not your average interview. Talking with Analogue just hours before their album launch in Crawdaddy band members Grattan, Arron and Crickey are debating the higher merits of the water born dinosaurs without a hint of worry or expectation of the night ahead. In less than a few hours they will launch their debut album, the oddly named It’s Easy To Be Alive You Just Are, but it’s dinosaurs that are nagging on their minds.

Star Little Thing are a strange mix. Lead singer Grattan is quiet and contemplative. Arron is an average, cool Dub. Then there’s Crickey- sporting an odd mix of fashions (including a hat seemingly formed from the backs of a legion of sheep)-the enigma, carefully pondering our questions like a scientist working out an equation. Last year they released the explosive and incredibly danceable single ‘Lovers of Life’ that was a revelation in sound and style compared to what many of their Dublin peers were throwing out. It felt as if they had blown away the cobwebs residing on the morose shoulders of the singer-songwriters glutting Dublin and were heralding in a new exciting era in dance within our fair city.

Grattan and Arron had previously been in a rock band together, which over time dissipated. On the way they bumped into the wonderfully eccentric Crickey. A sculptor and a lover of jazz he is never without a bunch of slightly worn notebooks in his hand in which he jots down words, lines and lyrics about anything and everything. Though unorthodox, something special happened in the brew that has now become Star Little Thing. “When we meet up it’s like a fusion of the three of us” Grattan explains from the driving seat. “I could be writing on anything. I could be somewhere completely different and the guys can be too and then we meet”.

Hours were spent in Grattan’s basement over the last year creating the album. Their first single ‘Where Is The Child Gone’ is a brooding stomper of a dance tune that simmers with ambition. Though it is the video that catches Analogue’s eye. Part of the video involves Grattan dancing in the middle of a busy Dame Street in front of bemused onlookers. “ We did it once with four or five cameras” Grattan tells us, trying to hide his grin. “This cop was literally on us so. If you look at the footage the cop is just looking at us for ages and he was just sitting there on a bike”. “The cop literally said to him what was he doing wearing a top with a map of the world on it and yellow trousers” adds Crickey, “so he said it’s a map of the world so he knew where he was going!” This wasn’t the first foray into the strange on a video shoot for the band. “The one on Moore Street was weirder!” Grattan continues. The video for ‘Lovers of Life’ involved a trip to Moore Street with the three lads wearing an odd metallic chassis with seven cameras strapped onto it, made by Crickey himself. “It took twenty minutes. We ran down the road, than another street, which was a dead end and all there was was this Chinese guy just looking at us!”

The oddness continues into the live set. While the two giant hands which were a regular feature are gone, Crickey spices things up with glow sticks and flashlights. “The music’s full on” Arron tells us. It is in their live show that one gets the full experience of Star Little Thing. They blast out a set which by the end of their crowning night in Crawdaddy has a bunch of Brazilians at the front almost fellating one of Crickey’s glow sticks in a fit of music induced ecstasy. It is this combination of quirkiness, great music and blistering live sets that make Star Little Thing stand out from the crowd. “We want it to be about the music” Crickey tells me quietly and affirmatively, “that’s what we want”. And that’s what we want. Star Little Thing is a band that is bursting with potential, all wrapped up in a cheeky and affectionate Dublin charm.

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