Keep It Fresh

I’ll keep this brief! This Sunday go to Pod/Crawdaddy.

Forget whoever the headliner is and forget all the Bacardi shit is and make sure you go and dance and have fun with A-Trak and DJ Medhi….

Blag guestlist if you can - otherwise you’ll have to pay E22.50 which is a bit nasty!!!
A-Trak @ MySpace
DJ Medhi @ MySpace
The way they play at the moment is a tag team set… it’s fun.

I’ll be seeing Medhi in Brighton in 2 weeks at the Vice Unitaur.
Here’s a flyer for the Brighton leg:

It’s all free!!! Get online and get tickets for it!
Then a week later I’m hoping to catch both A-Trak and DJ Medhi at Fabric in London along with loads of people at an Annie Mac night.
Oh yeah… I haven’t blogged in about 6 weeks due to a fucked up laptop. New MacBook is arriving any day now so I thought I better get back into the routine!

- Kieran

It’s Friday and I am sleepy. Very sleepy. So to whip things into a frenzy, I attempt to supply you with a quickfire inventory of musings that are occupying my overactive mind:

• Robots In Disguise are rather terrible.
• Lightspeed Champion is rather not terrible.
• Black coffee saved my life today. And not for the first or last time.
• I await the Kevin Drew gig with fervour.
• If you still haven’t seen Control, get on it.
• Mark and Dave are DJing the Lobby Bar in Crawdaddy tonight. Get thee there. There promises to also be some lady action – ladies who have already been referred to in this post, in fact.
• If Jessica Alba can’t wear neon denim effectively, then neither can you or I mere mortals.
• Why aren’t more people tickled pink by the fact Super Furry Animals are playing next week?
• My assumption accuracy is not as honed as it used to be.
• The Some Days Never End Festival has much, much potential, though I have a feeling I will be disappointed.
• Arts and Crafts are fun.
• Did I mention Blur are probably reforming?…yup, thought so…
  

 http://www.entertainment.ie/festival

I like forgiving and forgetting

I dislike constant lethargy

 _sarah_

Following on from the success of their debut single Love Like Nicotine, Dublin-based electronic pop act Dark Room Notes are set to release their first EP Dead Start Program on 12^th October. There’s something instantly appealing about Dark Room Notes with the band being compared to likes of New Order, Depeche Mode, Talking Heads and Interpol. Dead Program Start is sure to be an instant hit, comprised of tracks that proved popular during their high energy live performances. We pegged the band as one to watch at HWCH and from what I hear they were a huge success, playing to packed room. You can preview the entire EP by heading to their myspace…

The Dead Start Program tour kicks off this week with gigs at Cyprus Avenue tonight, Spirit Store tomorrow and Tower Records (2pm) / Crawdaddy on Saturday 13th.

***COMPETITION***

To celebrate the launch of Dead Start Program we’ve got a copy of the new EP and a pair of tickets for Saturdays Crawdaddy gig to giveaway. First answer this simple question:

Name Dark Room Notes debut single?

Then email your name and answer to freshcompetitions@gmail.com. First email in the door wins!

-phil

Some things I liked about The Minutes in Whelans last night: (Phil will probably have more to say on the topic in a while…)

• They look at each other when they’re playing – it’s endearing.
• They manhandle their instruments – it’s strangely alluring.
• Footwear is their niche – it’s impressive.
• They tell the crowd to do things – it’s commanding.
• They have good songs – it’s refreshing.

I like Mark’s shoes the best

I dislike when my train of thought is interrupted..choo-chew

_sarah_

Last night was excellent and The Minutes continue to show great promise with a real mature rock sound akin to the likes of Interpol or The Strokes, which in my opinion is hard to come by in this country. Despite a couple of technical errors throughout the nights proceedings the band kept things together perfectly, showing mastery of their chosen instruments and a charisma that flows easily from stage to crowd. While there was a healthy gap between crowd and stage this was merely down to lovely Irish audience sensibilities (C’mon people! Lets shuffle to the front. I’m nearly sure the band doesn’t have cooties). Despite their inability to move closer to stage there was a large crowd for a young band, a crowd which surely would have filled “Old Whelan’s” nicely. Bottom line…start listening to The Minutes now so you can claim true social status by saying you were there from the start.

MP3 The Minutes - Ukraine (via zShare)

-phil

The post title should give you some sort of idea of how much fun last night in the new look Whelans was, when Los Campesinos! front man Gareth informed the crowd of guitarist Tom’s celebrity look-a-like, which had been pointed out by a passing crowd member before the band took to the stage. But let’s backtrack a little first.

Support band Betamax Format played a blinder and rustled up some impressive crowd numbers for a support act. Thanks to some good airplay and HWCH hype, single “You Are Welcome In My House” went down a treat. Some material from the forthcoming EP wormed it’s way into their set sounds pretty damn good. That’s touted for release early 2008. Talking to the band after the set, I found out there’s been a wee hitch with their new, extremely sexy t-shirts but expect the first batch in a couple of weeks.

Some quick sliding to the front, a brief encounter with Sarah, Lisa, Tracey and Sarah’s new camera and it was Campesinos! time. After the band wrapped up their opening track the crowd when mental. Singer Gareth tried to address everyone but couldn’t get a word in edge ways as the crowd kept cheering. Eventually hellos were exchanged and the gig really kicked off. Predictably the roof was kicked off Whelans when You! Me! Dancing! dropped and I fully believe the band when they hoped that the rest of the tour dates where this much fun. The set came to a perfect climax when un-released track Sweet Dreams Sweet Cheeks (one of the tracks that helped them pick up blog fame a year ago) started up. It had everything from Gareth charging into the crowd to full band dance routines. When all this came to a close a genuinely humbled band said their goodbyes and thank yous then made their exit. Not a bad start to your first major tour with only one EP under your belt. And all this in Dublin on a Tuesday night.

Heres the video for forthcoming single “The International Tweexcore Underground” which is released through Wichita.

-phil

*** CLOSED ***

Yesterday I suggested checking out The Minutes when they play Whelans this Thursday. Well now you can for free! Thanks to the band we’ve got two pairs of tickets to giveaway and all you have to do is answer this piss easy question.

How many seconds in a minute?

I’ve always wanted to ask a really stupid competition question like that. Its the kind you get on Saturday morning kids TV. Email your name and answer to freshcompetitions@gmail.com. Tis that easy. Remember that this is an over 18’s event.

MP3 The Minutes - Harmonic

MP3 The Blonde Majority - We Got Fire

THE MINUTES
WITH SUPPORT FROM THE BLONDE MAJORITY
WHELANS
OCT. 4TH
€5

-phil

pic: Betamax Format @ HWCH ‘07 - misslili

Before I head out for some house party action (flu tablets and jager…yes!) I want to claim how excited I am about tomorrow. As already mention earlier today current music industry darlings, Los Campesinos! play Whelans tomorrow night but I just discovered that Beatmax Format are lined up for the support. Most excellent news as I was pretty annoyed at having to miss them at the weekend (plus I’ll be able to get my mitts on a BF tee). Tickets still available at the door for a meager €13.

MP3 Los Campesinos! - You! Me! Dancing!

MP3 Betamax Format - You Are Welcome In My House

And while I have you…another one of my “favorite bands that I missed at HWCH”, Butterfly Explosion have put up a new track for download on their myspace. It’ll only be up for about a week so go here to download new track ‘Vision’ along with two tracks from their ‘Turn The Sky’ EP.

-phil

pic: Super Extra Bonus Party @ HWCH ‘07

Well there ain’t many unfortunately as I could only make Friday. Saturaday was a family gathering of the grand scale and Sunday was spent in bed sick. Boo-urns. So here’s a rather small report.

First off the ‘all-in-one’ building setup works. I was a smidge late getting down to Pod so I missed Gavin Glass but I hear good things which is nice to know. After meeting the gang myself Bernie and Sinead headed to Tidal District in the Working Man’s Club. I was instantly blown away but this is defiantly a band worth checking further down the line.

Next up was festival favorites Super Extra Bonus Party. I really like the Party’s instrumental material and it was a great show filled with high-jinx. The Crawdaddy room was full with bodies been directed to the balcony area upon arrival. It’s a bit late but shout out to nialler9. Happy Birthday dude!

After a quick bevy (Budweiser, Budweiser, Budweiser or Guinness) we popped off to the Lennon Lounge for something a bit different. Los Langeros sang and danced into the crowd and were made for a Spiegeltent performance but their certainly not everyone’s cup of tea (ahem…Sarah!). Real fun band worth checking out.

In a continued attempt to hit every room at the festival (missed Tripod!) we headed to the Pod room to check out The Minutes upon Bernie’s recommendation. Their a really together band with some good tunes so do check them out. They play Whelans with the Blonde Majority on October 4th.

Finally I dashed over to the Odeon by my lonesome to check out Le Bein. I could natter on about the duo all night but the bottom line is they continue to get better and better. Roll on a hard copy release.

Props to all those involved with photo exhibition including our boy Dan and Miss Lili (photo at top of post). The work looked fantastic and Crawdaddy’s Lobby Bar should be used for more of the same in the future.

The drive home was filled with power ballads and garlic/cheese chips. Great night and I’m gutted I couldn’t make the rest of the weekend. No dice I guess.

HWCH 2008 anyone?

-phil