IRISH music’s answer to Statler and Waldorf of ‘The Muppet Show’, disagreeable old-timers Theme Tune Boy and Jinx Lennon join forces for a show at Foley’s in Limerick on Saturday November 12^th.

Dundalk mouthpiece Jinx rolls into town in support of his fifth album ‘Hungry Bastard Hibernia’. Lennon, who has been described as “part punk folk poet troubadour, part gospel music energy preacher”, was recently the subject of a documentary on Irish national TV, has co-written a "parlour play" for Irish national radio and recently appeared at the Galway Theatre Festival performing his newest show ‘Man v Energy Vampire Behold - This S-S-Self Indulgence Gene’. 

Jinx will be joined in Foley’s by Limrock legend Theme Tune Boy aka Niall Quinn who gained mini-infamy in the late 90’s as drummer/songwriter with The Hitchers who won much critical acclaim and support in the UK from such luminaries as the late John Peel, Steve Lamacq, Bob Geldof, Sean Hughes and a host of others. Theme Tune Boy will give an airing on the night to tracks from his eagerly-awaited debut album ‘The Return of the Living Dead’.

Don’t miss this opportunity to catch two of Ireland’s very finest heckling Muppets in action! Doors open at 9pm.

Clancy

Clancy EP

(Catchy Go Go)

THIS posthumously released four-track EP from the hugely gifted Paul Clancy is gorgeously haunting and hard to listen to without being gently reminded of the 35-year-old singer’s untimely passing in February 2010.

The four tracks here are poised and intimate and it really is impossible not be moved by the achingly fragile sentiment of these heartbreakingly poignant ballads. Opening with a naked and captivating version of Beyonce’s stomping hit ‘Halo’, this track serves as a heartfelt and elegiac ode to the young Irish troubadour and a shining example of his exemplary talent. ‘To The Even Flow’, ‘For Wanting You’ and ‘The Town Where I’m From’ are plaintive ballads filled with a mixture of hope and resignation.  There’s a warmth and insular beauty to Clancy’s music that is now, sadly, prophetically embroidered with his premature end. But rather than feeling morose or mournful, this new EP affords us a golden opportunity to celebrate and remember the life and music of a truly great Irish talent taken way before his time.

 

Ginnels

Mountbatten Class

(Long Lost Records)

SOUNDING like a long-lost treasure from the vaults of the ‘Elephant 6’ collective, ‘Mountbatten Class’ is a fuzzy lo-fi pop gem worthy of bands like Neutral Milk Hotel and The Olivia Tremor Control.

The side-project of Grand Pocket Orchestra and No Monster Club’s Mark Chester, Ginnels’ eight-track mini-album is a masterclass in infectiously nostalgic and jitterbugging pop music. Overachieving underachiever Chester best describes his delightful sound as “like your dickhead neighbour drowning out your Byrds and Feelies records with his poorly recorded noise jams with his… more stoned mates, except actually good.” The ‘Elephant 6’ collective’s ethos in a nutshell really!

‘Ssummer!’ sets the tone perfectly. Opening with its crackly vocals and tuneless acoustic strumming it quickly descends into a goofy fuzz-pop noise-fest with distorted guitars and swirling synths adding perfectly to the song’s wide-eyed and open-hearted sentiment.

‘In My Arms The Sedative’ is a mishmash of sixties sunshine, cheery harmonies, twanging guitars and off-beat lyrics closing with the wonderfully maudlin and sparkling mantra of “bad dream” repeated cheerily over gushy “ooh-oohs” making it reminiscent of Of Montreal’s earliest and best work.

‘Mountbatten Class’ is meticulously-crafted oddball pop music. It’s fun and catchy with its heart totally in the right place. Ginnels’ lo-fi DIY production values only add to this record’s endearing charm.

Songs like ‘Stink It Out’, ‘Algebra’ and ‘Same Same’ are sunny anecdotal vignettes complete with soul-crushing harmonies and wacky psyche pop wonderment. ‘Mountbatten Class’ is easily one of 2011’s finest Irish releases.

‘Mountbatten Class’ is now available as a free download from http://ginnels.bandcamp.com/

Water Cycle

The Company of Friends

(Some Tulip)

‘THE Company of Friends’ is an atmospheric and accomplished affair that will have you wanting to return time and again to fraternise with Aaron Page and his enthralling Water Cycle solo project.

The influence of a diverse range of artists from Bon Iver to Burt Bacharach, Nick Drake and Jeff Buckley can be heard over nine elegant tracks. And while Page’s emotive brand of ‘electric folk’ bears most resemblance to Sufjan Stevens for all its seductive, graceful and ambitious artistry it’s also rich in enough soaring sentiment and wry whimsy to have Neil Hannon and his chamber indie-pop pals sit up and pay better attention in class.

Water Cycle’s debut album opens with the haunting and reflective tones of ‘So Bright’. Page’s swooning vocals float over a sombre bed of chiming guitars before erupting into a tempestuous wave of elegiac brass, synths and vocal harmonies to celebrate the dawn of a new day, dazzling us with new possibilities, and the prospect of another eight tracks to follow.

‘Good Friends’ is a triumph. Its dizzyingly upbeat chorus, a celebratory life-affirming coda, is so spirited it could turn the world on its axis and I wouldn’t bet against it turning up to soundtrack a beer commercial either. Page’s fervent vocals on ‘Hazel’ find him sounding not unlike Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan over a charming lo-fi din of cheap drum machines and synths. ‘Sparks’ proves one of the album’s finest moments. Its dreamy and gooey point of view shimmers brightly over a flurry of syncopated twitches that tug at heartstrings and implores feet to dance.  

Page never ceases to impress throughout this remarkable debut for all its baroque arrangements, engaging ideas and almost organic grandeur. One thing is for certain. You should always keep in touch with your friends.

Bouts

Bouts

(Self-Released)

DUBLIN four-piece Bouts prove on their brand new eponymously-titled four-track EP that they are serious heavyweight contenders capable of punching well above their weight. From the opening bars of lead track ‘We Tried’ they pack a mighty and confident wallop that is sure to knock any lover of indie guitar music for six.
Bouts have a no-nonsense approach that is refreshing and totally infectious. The driving guitars, drums and bass lock together in unison like a beautifully well-oiled machine to create elaborately constructed pop tunes that literally leave you gasping for breath. Tracks like ‘Barbs’, ‘The Drift’ and ‘This Part Of Me’ are mesmerising math rock-influenced floor-fillers loaded with emotionally bruised lyrics, propulsive beats, dynamic energy and necessitous rockstar-in-the-making brashness. This is absolutely thrilling stuff.
Going on what’s on offer here I wouldn’t bet against Bouts wiping the floor with Pinback in a title fight!

Bouts is now available as a free download from http://gimmebouts.com/

Elevens

Torn At The Seams

(22 Recordings)

PICKING up where they left off on the exquisite ‘Tender To The Touch EP’, released earlier this year, Elevens are back to tug at the heartstrings once more with six achingly beautiful songs of love lost and found.
Featuring former Sack frontman Martin McCann on vocals and Tony Barrett of Brilliant Trees and Mark Healy on guitars, Elevens craft poised and intimate acoustic ballads that have the power to both bruise and soothe, in equal measure. But of course, with McCann, one of Ireland’s greatest ever singing voices, there to guide us through the lonely back streets of love where broken dishevelled souls and star-kissed lovers’ crash and burn at every turn, it was always going to be a ride worth taking even if it does get a little bumpy along the way. Newly recorded gems like ‘Torn At The Seams’, ‘We Really Do Care’ and ‘Love In An Instant’ are hope-filled torch songs that are rich in emotion, tender restraint and redemptive force.
Elevens take the broken-hearted and world-weary under their wing and patch them back up with a delicate embrace without ever descending into schmaltzy sentiment. There’s a poignant, autumnal feel to these gorgeously haunting snapshots of the heart. Live tracks ‘The Art Of Landing On Your Feet’, ‘Dry Land’ and ‘No Two Clouds The Same’ are equally sublime. Rather than wallowing in their own misery Elevens make purifying music that is uplifting and celebratory. In fact feeling heartbroken never felt so good!

DELORENTOS return to set our hearts alight with the release of their new four-track EP, ‘Little Sparks’, on Friday November 18th. The first fruits of the band’s recent recording session with Mercury Music Prize-winning producer Rob Kirwan (Bell X1, PJ Harvey, Editors, U2), it features the songs ‘Did We Ever Really Try?’, ‘Hunting’, ‘1521’ and ‘Door Left Open’. The EP will be packaged with a full colour 40-page magazine edited by the band themselves and featuring the wisdom and art of a broad array of Irish artists, musicians, filmmakers and photographers.
Announcing the new EP Delos recently enthused: “It’s almost five years to the day we first recorded something as a band and released our first EP, ‘Leave It On’, so we decided it would be cool to release a new EP of new music before the album. Like everything else on the album however, we’ve tried to make the release interesting and special as possible, and so we’ve enlisted the help of some of our friends for the release.”
The follow-up to 2009’s ‘You Can Make Sound’, which is also to be titled ‘Little Sparks’, is due for release early in the new year. But before Delorentos’ third album hits the shelves in 2012 there is a new EP as well as the band’s first ever acoustic tour to whet our lips over.
“We think this is the best album we have ever done, so we want to take the time to get everything right,” Delorentos explained.
Delorentos release the ‘Little Sparks EP’ on DeloRecords on Friday November 18th. You can catch the band unplugged in John Daly’s, Mullingar on Wednesday November 23rd, Triskell Arts Centre, Cork on Thursday November 24th and Unitarian Church, Dublin on Friday November 25th.