Keep It Fresh

They kicked up a blogging storm at the start of 2006 and provided me with one of the best weekends of the year by playing Water Rats the night after CSS played Ding Walls with the 1990s. They recently recorded two new songs (’We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives’ and ‘Frontwards’) plus re-recordings of ‘Death to Los Campesinos!’ and ‘You! Me! Dancing!’. A great collection of songs which you can hear on the myspace or download below. Los Campesinos! hope to have an EP sometime in the early stages of 2007. I’ll keep you updated.

Los Campesinos! BBC Session.zip

A new month is upon us and with a new multi venue music festival descends onto Dublin from the 6th - 12th of November. Bud Rising follows in the footsteps of October’s Hard Working Class Heroes which was sponsored by Bud in preparation for Novembers event. Bud Rising has established itself with cracking lineups and this year is no exception. So here’s this year’s lineup:

• 6th - CSS/1990s @ The Village (SOLD OUT)
• 7th - TV On The Radio @ Temple Bar Music Centre
• 7th - Spinto Band @ The Village
• 8th - The Futureheads @ Ambassador
• 8th - The Gossip @ Temple Bar Music Centre
• 9th - Tapes n Tapes @ The Village
• 9th - Metric/Cowboy x @ Spirit
• 10th - Primal Scream @ The Olympia
• 10th - Peter Bjorn & John @ Whelans (SOLD OUT)
• 11th - Mylo/Simian Mobile Disco @ Temple Bar Music Centre
• 12th - Brain Jonestown Massacre @ The Ambassador
• 12th - Delays/Butterfly Explosion @ The Vilage

And loads more! Theres a wealth of free nights and DJ sets across the city as part of the festival. Check budrising.ie for full details. All tickets prices come in at under €15 with the exception of the headline acts (Primal Scream, Futureheads, Brian Jonestown Massacre & Tapes n’ Tapes). Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster.

I’ll be doing my best to check out the following:

• CSS/1990’s
• TV On The Radio
• Mylo/Simian Moblie Disco
• The Brian Jonestown Massacre/Delays/Butterfly Explosion

I couldn’t recommend these acts enough. CSS/1990s promises to be one of the highlight gigs of the year. Tout if you must. TV On The Radio have had major success with their fifth release “Return To Cookie Mountain”. A highlight album of this year for many, this show is a must. Mylo produced one of my favourite dance records and is billed for a DJ set so expect anything. The 12th then throws up a bit of a predicament for me. I became a fan of BJM after watching the excellent music documentary ‘Dig‘ and have wanted to see them live ever since. However they go up against two of my favourite bands of 2006 Delays & The Butterfly Explosion. What to do, what to do…?

The must go to free gig is this little beauty.

Apply for your free tickets at the Bud Rising website. I’m still holding out for mine. Cya all at the front row of The Village on the 6th!

***UPDATE*** TV On The Radio is SOLD OUT! ***UPDATE***

I can’t believe I haven’t updated in over a week! Lots goin on I guess. But regular transmission shall resume from tonight. Lots of posts on the way, included a look at the Bud Rising line up. If you thought October was good, November shows signs of topping it. Of course there will be the Super Massive November Gig Guide to gently take your hand and lead you through some of the months highlight gigs. The latest podcast is also up. Just a little Winter Mix I slapped together cos I still don’t have a mic for the Mac. Next podcast will have a nice relaxed by the fire vibe to and will probably also be minus me talking shite. Anywho heres the latest tracklisting…

***Subscribe to the Keep It Fresh podcast***

PHIL K WINTER MIX - 30mins
Aim - Walking Home Through The Park
Junior Boys - In The Morning
Datarock - Fa-Fa-Fa
Ratatat - Wildcat
Kid 606 - Spanish Song (Kid HSH Remix)
CSS - Let’s Make Love And Listen To Death From Above (Spank Rock Edit)
The Go! Team - Huddle Formation

photo Dan

Okay its been a busy last few couple of days so theres just time for one last HWCH highlight. Not a band I know much about and I only discovered them through HWCH but they sound fantastic! It’s Queen Kong and they featured in the latest podcast. You can find out more about them here.

• Queen Kong
• Rock Room @ Spirit
• Saturday 14th @ 21.25 - 22.00

MP3 - Queen Kong - Photograph

Queen Kong on MySpace

HWCH Official Site

And that’s that. The Hard Working Class Heroes festival kicks off tonight in six venues across Dublin for the next three days. A weekend pass will set you back a measly €25 and nightly passes are €10. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.ie or the festival box office located in Filmbase on Curved St. Temple Bar. Be sure to check out a new exhibition of Irish music photography taking place at Filmbase.

Named after on obscure Sesame St. character (funnily enough he’s a cowboy who has a thing about the letter X…who would have thunk it), it seems Cowboy X are playing whenever they can, be it to promote their recently released debut album (’Who Are These People?’) or playing support for the likes of Neosupervital. And they should be when their putting out music as good as theirs. With a loyal and ever expanding fan-base, the band fall into the standard ‘girl fronted/one guitarist/one bassist/one drummer’ category but there’s nothing standard about front woman Karen McCartney and her boys. With a voice and sound that channels 1990’s Americana, Cowboy X wouldn’t seem out of place on a Zach Braff Soundtrack. The uber sexy Karen deleivers lyrics with ease while the rest of the band play with an infectious enthusiasm the likes of which is only seen at school Battle of the Bands competitions. This HWCH gig marks the start of another massive Cowboy X run and is not to be missed.

• Cowboy X
• Temple Bar Music Centre
• Saturday 14th @ 21.25 - 22.00

MP3 - Cowboy X - Gabbi

Cowboy X on MySpace

HWCH Oficial Site

2006 marks a great year for Dublin indie rockers Boss Volenti. After previously picking up a large underground fanbase while playing support slots for the likes of Republic of Loose and The Chalets (that’s how I saw them…NYE Chalets gig…oh the memories) and their own headline tours around the country February 2006 saw the release of their independent release “Deeper Than Deep”. Following that was the release of second single “Ain’t No Use” in June. Both went down a storm as did their debut album, released just two weeks ago, the self titled “Boss Volenti” (check Daves review). With the cancellation of their Vicar St. gig on the 12th, HWCH is the ideal time to catch Boss Volenti in their stride. Energetic, groovy and unique, Boss Volenti is a must.

• Boss Volenti
• Meeting House Square
• Friday 13th @ 21.40 - 22.15

MP3 - Boss Volenti - Ain’t No Use

Boss Volenti Official Site

HWCH Official Site

***KEEP IT FRESH EPISODE SIX - HARD WORKING CLASS HEROES SPECIAL***

No waffle…all music. Songs in this transmission include…

1. Cowboy X - Gabbi
2. Ham Sandwich - click…click…BOOM!
3. Boss Volenti - Ain’t No Use
4. The Butterfly Explosion - Chemistry
5. The Things - Some Kind Of Kick
6. Novastone - Got To Get Away For A While
7. Michael Knight - Waves To Shore
8. Kill City Defectors - Messed Up
9. Queen Kong - Photograph

***SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST HERE***

A band that claims ‘its still in the development stages”, singer/songwriter Patrick Freyne has surround himself with Bad Intentions otherwise know as Jack Cawley, Les Keye, Eoin Mac Ionmhain and Frances Mitchell. Electronic beats, various stringed instruments and strong vocals combine to from songs that can at times haunting, others uplifting and all memorable. If the concept of county/folk meets indie/electro seems a bit too much to handle then fear not. The charismatic Mr. Freyne will have you at ease and enjoying his music in no time.

• Patrick Freyne & His Bad Intentions
• Pravda
• Saturday 14th @ 22.30 - 23.05

MP3 - Patrick Freyne & His Bad Intentions - Why Are Things So Hard

Official Site

HWCH Official Site