Single Review: The Walls - Stop The Lights

The Wall brothers are back with the first single from their new album 'Stop The Lights'. The title track has been selected by Jon Richards from Galway Bay FM as the Play Irish artist of the week. 

'Stop The Lights' is a really good song that's typical from The Walls. Steve and Joe Wall have been making music for over 20 years at this stage and their musical recipe is well known by us Irish. There's the quality vocals, sing-a-long lyrics, big chorus, ooh oohing backing vocals and a decent brass section to fill in the sound! Is it going to make that old 'Brewing Up A Storm' fan happy? Yes it probably will. Is it going to bring a whole new batch of fans to The Walls? Sadly not.

The Walls - Stop The Lights [8 out of 12]

http://www.reverbnation.com/thewalls

Fund the new album here: http://www.fundit.ie/project/the-walls-stop-the-lights

Video Review: Battle for 2nd Place - Half The Fire

Battle for 2nd Place follow up their debut album with a four track EP entitled 'Half The Fire'. The title track has this super video accompanying it!



I like the sparse production on the song. Every instrument is crystal clear and there's nothing added that you wouldn't hear live. Irish singer Orla Pendergast's vocals are filled with the emotions the lyrics demand. Orla's performance in the video grabs your attention and enhances the song. Half The Fire is a good EP from a very fine band!

Get the EP and debut album from the band here on a 'Pay What You Want' deal: http://www.battlefor2ndplace.com/fr_shop.cfm

Introducing: A Mix of New Irish Artists #8

Here's a little round-up of artists that have entered my social network in the last number of weeks! If you're impressed by what you hear make sure to befriend or 'like' the artist!

Sarah Red

First up is Dubliner Sarah Red. I love the sound of Sarah Red. Her style of alternative folk brings to mind Ani DiFranco or Janis Ian comparisons. In this song 'Misdirected Fire' I love the double bass, vocals and lyrics.



Sarah Red on Facebook
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Valentino is Dead

Drogheda band Valentino is Dead are releasing their debut album this year with the lead single being this rocking track 'This City Tonight'. It's available for a limited time for free!





http://www.valentinoisdead.com/
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Karen Alice Dunbar

Cork's Karen Alice Dunbar writes sweet little radio friendly catchy songs like this piano based love song. Very impressive indeed!



http://www.facebook.com/KarenAliceMusic
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Rory Bowens

Originally from Meath but now based in Galway Rory Bowens is a singer songwriter of great potential who writes quirky songs like this!



http://www.facebook.com/rorybowensmusic
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Madra

Dublin rockers Madra are in the very early stages of their career but have a pleasant indie rock sound at the moment. With a few years of gigs and a bit of work in the studio and the band could come through! Here's a good demo to listen to!



http://soundcloud.com/madramusic
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Fergal Cox

Athlone's Fergal Cox is a singer-songwriter with great passion for a good song. The following track is well written and includes some superb backing vocals and male/female harmonies.



http://www.myspace.com/fergalcox
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Rebecca Gresty

Hailing from Co. Wicklow with a 10 piece band in tow Rebecca Gresty is in the process of releasing a huge sounding debut album entitled 'Mad at the Seems'. It's a sound that has it's place firmly in the mainstream!



http://breakingtunes.com/rebeccagresty
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Live Review: The Purple Sessions - Boyles Jan 26th

The first Purple Sessions of the year took place last Thursday night and it was a trial run for the official re-launch of The Purple Sessions in Boyles which takes place on Feb 23rd. More details below.

Thursday night was a great night of music featuring Slane's own Meridas, Drogheda's Sarah Something and one of my favourite band The Making from Co. Monaghan.

The Making

The headline set from The Making proved to me what a great band they are. Brendan McGahey's amazing vocals and songwriting were matched by the quality of the band with the intensity being appreciated by the Boyles crowd. Standout song was 'Summer's Gone' from The Making's debut album 'Expectations':



Sarah Something kicked the night off with a couple of covers and well written original tracks. Local act Meridas proved to me that there is a fine album in the the making from songwriter Alan Louth. Here's a video from Meridas at a previous Purple Sessions;



There's a special page dedicated to the finer points of The Purples Sessions above with Feb 23rd being the official re-launch in Boyles of Slane. Here's the line-up:

The Riot Tapes,
Marc O'Reilly,
Polly Barrett

Can Not Wait!

Live Review: Lisa O'Neill Jan 25th Button Factory

Opening this year's Temple Bar Trad festival in The Button Factory last night was Lisa O'Neill playing to a large appreciative audience in The Button Factory. It was a quality night of great tunes and funny quirky mid song explanations which charmed the crowd all night!

Lisa O'Neill had the pleasure of being introduced by Mannix Flynn who gave a 'William Wallace' style introduction by saying they can pay the Anglo bondholders but they'll never take our Lisa O'Neill! And so began a night of enriching music and great storytelling from Cavan's Lisa and her band of Mossy Nolan from Co. Galway and Stina Sandstom from Co. Sweden! 

The set-list was predominantly taken up by new songs from Lisa's forthcoming album. She also played a number of songs from her 2009 debut album including the popular 'Bobby D', 'Sparkle' and the concert closer 'I'm Gonna Get Me to the Road'. There was also a few traditional tunes thrown in for good measure. Many of the new songs like 'Muse Head' were love songs which Lisa was reluctant to explain yet it was the song explanations and Lisa's personality which glowed all night. 

The new songs were excellent and they'll hopefully be on the new album released throughout the year. 'It's Just Milk' and the song with the working title 'Denver' were particularly good. My attention waned a bit throughout the set as I felt Lisa needed something extra on stage. When I seen Lisa perform a few years ago she had a harpist play and it looked like at the Spirit of Folk festival a bassist performed with her on many of the tracks. Either a harpist or bassist would have enriched the performance for me. This is the only small negative from the gig. 

I'm really looking forward to hearing the new songs on the album. Similar to her debut, the new songs have attitude, bite and charm and now that she has a big fanbase, the new album will help Lisa make it to the next level at home and internationally!

http://www.facebook.com/Lisaoneillmusic

Single Review: Polly Barrett - February

February is the second single to be taken from Polly's debut album 'Mr Bookshop' and will be released tomorrow!

I love the imagery in the song. We have references to Valentine's Day, snow, Winters Sun, rivers, feelings of despair and descriptions of the effect of the Sun on the landscape. February is beautifully sung over a pleasant guitar rift and it's released in time for the arrival of February. It's one of the highlights from Polly's album 'Mr. Bookshop' reviewed here: http://2uibestow.blogspot.com/2011/11/album-review-polly-barrett-mr-bookshop.html and can be listened to here:

Polly Barrett - February [9 out of 10]

http://www.reverbnation.com/pollybarrett

Tour details: 

8th Feb, Spiritstore, Dundalk

16th Feb, Crane Lane Theatre, Cork

23rd Feb, Purple Sessions, Boyles, Slane

8th March, The Troubadour, London

10th March, The Ropewalk, Barton upon Humber

25th-27th May Ryedale Folk Weekend, Nth Yorkshire

Single Review: Heritage Centre - Don't You Ever Give Up On Yourself

Power Pop bliss from Ireland's prodigal sons 'Heritage Centre'. A sign of a great debut album on the horizon!

Heritage Centre are a progressive pop band with alternative leanings. The vocals are crystal clear and enjoyable to listen to. The music builds along quite nicely while not reaching ridiculous heights. The reason the music doesn't take off to an energetic high is because the song relies on it's meaningful lyrics. The song title hints at a song about friendship, hope compassion and being supportive which it most certainly is!

'Don't You Give Up On Yourself' is one of them rare tunes in which the lyrics are thoughtful and meaningful as well as the song being a radio friendly pop anthem!

Heritage Centre - Don't You Ever Give Up On Yourself  [10 out of 12]

  Don't You Ever Give Up On Yourself? by Heritage Centre

The single launch is this Saturday in The Grand Social!

EP Review: Rams' Pocket Radio - 1 + 2

Rams' Pocket Radio is this week's Play Irish artist with the song '1+2' taken from the new EP of the same name to be released in March 2012. The titled track deserves to be the Play Irish track this week as daytime radio is the best fit for the song!

This EP '1 + 2' is going to be the forth EP release from Rams' Pocket Radio. Each release from Rams' comes with more exposure and an increase in the fan-base which results in getting the recent Snow Patrol support slots! Rams' Pocket Radio is the musical vehicle for Drummer, Pianist and song-writer Peter McCauley from Lisburn and there's a really good chance he'll be making hit records for years to come!

'1 + 2' is a rocking radio friendly piano driven power ballad that is destined to be placed on some future 'Dads Rocks' compilation album between 'Yellow' and 'Run'! It's simply got to be a massive hit! Sure have a listen now before BBC Radio 1, 2FM and Spin makes ya hate it from playing too much!

  RAMS' Pocket Radio - 1+2 by philthemanager

I made the point that this is Rams' 4th EP so it's no surprise that the other three tracks on the EP don't live up to the '1 + 2'. There's a lovely 80s synth feel to 'Body and the Sea' which showcases Peter's fine vocals. The experimental electronic pop of 'Swallow' does nothing to me while the EP closer 'Love is a Bitter Thing' is a bittersweet piano ballad which closes the EP nicely.

On this evidence Rams' Pocket Radio is gonna be massive!

Rams' Pocket Radio - 1 + 2 [9 out of 12]

http://ramspocketradio.wordpress.com/

See Rams' Pocket Radio live:

Live dates;

Jan 24th Belfast Odyssey Arena w/ Snow Patrol

Feb 6 Birmnigham Academy TICKETS

Feb 7 Oxford Academy TICKETS

Feb 8 Camden Enterprise TICKETS

Feb 10 Cardiff Buffalo Bar TICKETS

Feb 11 Nottingham Bodega TICKETS

Feb 12 London o2 Arena w/ Snow Patrol

Feb 14 Aberdeen Drummonds TICKETS

Feb 15 Glasgow Nice �n Sleazy�s TICKETS

Feb 16 York Stereo TICKETS

Feb 17 Liverpool Shipping Forecast TICKETS

Feb 18 Northampton The Roadmender TICKETS

Feb 19 Southampton Joiners TICKETS

Feb 20 Brighton Green Door Store FREE ENTRY

Here's Rams' Pocket Radio performing 'Love is a Bitter Thing' from Glastonbury: