Analogue Episode 2

Analogue Episode 2 from Analogue on Vimeo.

Analogue is proud to announce the launch of Analogue Episode 2, the second installment in a bi-monthly web series that brings together interviews, music videos, short documentaries and live performances. Following the successful release of Episode 1(Kronos Quartet, Patrick Kelleher, So Cow) in 2009, Analogue returns with a brand new episode featuring the dark electronica of Irish artist Angkorwat, a short mini documentary style piece on fishing in Ireland soundtracked by the brooding music of Irish electronic enigma Hunter-Gatherer and an interview with recent Matador Records signee, psychedelic rocker Kurt Vile.

With each episode Analogue aspires to use an innovative visual aesthetic to explore the diverse spectrum of music we love (from indie and folk to classical and electronic) from both local and international talents. Analogue’s aim is to break from the traditional approach to music television and starts afresh with a progressive format applying diverse cinematic techniques.

The Analogue web series is Directed by Graham Seely & Tim Gannon and produced by Brendan McGuirk.

Free Matador sampler

Matador have kindly made an autumn label sampler called Intended Play available. Seven of the songs haven’t been released as MP3 before. Read their original post here. If you like a song, support the artists and buy the album.

The Fucked Up song is a beast, their album The Chemistry of Common Life is one of my favourite albums of the year. Can’t wait to see what’s on the Brighten Corners reissue too so I’m looking forward to that in December.

Download the Intended Play sampler.

Track listing:

1. A.C. Newman - There Are Maybe Ten Or Twelve (from Get Guilty, due out January 20)
2. Belle and Sebastian - The State I Am In (BBC Version) (from The BBC Sessions, due out November 18)
3. Jennifer O’Connor - Here With Me (from Here With Me, released August 19)
4. Shearwater - The Snow Leopard (Remastered) from Rook, released June 3)
5. Lou Reed - Caroline Says, Pt. II (Live) (from Berlin: Live At St. Ann’s Warehouse, due out November 4)
6. Mogwai - The Sun Smells Too Loud (from The Hawk Is Howling, released September 23)
7. Fucked Up - No Epiphany (from The Chemistry Of Common Life, released October 7)
8. Jay Reatard - An Ugly Death (from Matador Singles ‘08, released October 7)
9. Jaguar Love - Humans Evolve Into Skyscrapers (from Take Me To The Sea, released August 19)
10. Pavement - Cataracts (from Brighten The Corners: Nicene Creedence Ed., due out December 9)
11. Brightblack Morning Light - Oppressions Each (from Motion To Rejoin, released September 23)
12. Times New Viking - Call & Respond (from the Stay Awake EP, released October 14)
13. Condo Fucks - What’cha Gonna Do About It? (from Fuckbook, due out March 2009)

Future days festival: Matmos live at ALT

Matmos, Si Schroeder
Foggy Notions Future Days Festival, Andrews Lane Theatre

Si Schroeder have gradually moved along from their shambolic days as Schroders Cat to what has become a steady duplication of your favourite American indie sounds from 1994-96 distilled by living in Dublin. This is no bad thing but like many of the acts, that they seem to sometimes appropriate when the hit is good it presses the correct buttons, but when the hit misses the vein it attended to reach you can be left fumbling around for a more direct contact. Bright in many places, commendable.

For me though the night was only about Matmos. There has always been something of the chameleon about Matmos, with each record you anticipate what Matmos will present itself. And with each record they have always presented something entirely different. Tonights appearance was to throw out many different forms of Matmos.

With house lights dimmed three small laser lights appeared in the audience. Initially thinking this was a further continuation of the bizarre practice ALT appear to have of people constantly running back and forth from the stage with torches pushing the crowd out of the way (can anyone explain this?) I huffed that this was what was happening. However, within a couple of seconds I realised that it was actually Matmos using the lasers to play off thermins installed on the stage. They had not even faced their audience and already they had astounded them. As little lights turned into big noises, an Autchre-esque rumble groaned from the speakers. What a seemed like thousands of notes falling around until they all clambered together to make a sheet of a dark noise that occasionally loosened its limbs to reveal a one-two-stumble beat. Perfect.

Thereafter the set ebbed and flowed between experimental flourishes married to a backbone of locked inquisitive beats. All chimes, clanks, rhythms fusing into a hypnotic mass played under a backdrop of accompanying visuals. To look……to listen………the senses were kept happy. Impossible to select which was best, I’ve settled on two; ‘Supreme Balloon’, an elongated journey in a boffin’s playground and ‘Rainbow Flag’ which sounded like Stereolab after a day spent exploring a science museum.

So good it should have been recorded and put in an archive for future generations.

Times New Viking - Rip It Off

Coming straight out of art school, Times New Viking have been surfing a wave of “critical acclaim” big enough to drown Holland this year. Part of their selling-point seems to have been their intentionally poor recording technique. Because of their methods, ‘Rip It Off’ sounds quite a bit like it’s been fed through a distortion pedal and a phone speaker. Of course, many other bands have used home-recording to make albums nowhere this abjectly noisy, so the question must be asked - is the DIY thing affected? It’s hard to see another way of explaining it off. The fuzz acts like a built-in excuse, a buffer between the band and the listener. It even makes listening to them slightly painful.So it can get annoying.

Luckily, there is an excellent album somewhere underneath. They make a very American brand of guitar-driven indie pop, as it sounded circa 1994. Names like Yo La Tengo and Guided By Voices spring to mind throughout, and while Times New Viking aren’t necessarily breaking new ground, they’ve made a really endearing album here. Every song is short and to the point, with unschooled male and female vocals bellowing hooks and unpretentious everything else backing them up. It would be eminently listenable, if it wasn’t for the dense layer of obfuscating fuzz.

Songs like My Head and Drop-Out are insistently catchy, and they can switch gears with more sprawled (though still short) tracks such as The Wait. The highlight overall, however, is probably the last twenty seconds of End Of All Things. Fourteen tracks into the album and two minutes into the song, the fuzz drops for the first and only time, leaving two voices and a guitar. It’s like a revelation, a first glimpse of something that’s been on the cusp of appearing for forty minutes. It may take a little more time to get to the rest of the music, but it’s worth it.

Some songs on MySpace. Out now on Matador Records in a record store near you.