The 2006 Frequency-Ireland Music Awards!

Here's a run down through Frequency-Ireland's favourite albums, EPs, singles, gigs and demos from Ireland over the course of 2006.

2006 album of the year: Crayonsmith

The album of the year is Crayonsmith's Stay Loose. At the time it was released, I hinted that it could well be my favourite for the year. Well, it turned out that way. I've never really put the album down. Whereas a lot of albums shrink over time, this one has grown personal. It's not just that there is influence from many favourites here, everything from Sparklehorse to Pavement and Grandaddy to Sebadoh, but in essence this is an album bursting with endearingly personalized songwriting. A real favourite. Anyway, here's my choice top five albums of 2006:

1. Crayonsmith - Stay Loose
2. Humanzi - Tremors
3. The Ruby Tailights - Dressing up
4. The Hollows - It was On Fire When I Lay Down On It
5. Si Schroeder - Coping Mechanisms

Related Links:

http://www.crayonsmith.com

http://www.myspace.com/crayonsmith


2006 mini-album/EP of the year: Butterfly Explosion

This was quite a difficult category to narrow down to just a top five, as 2006 has been a particularly good year for the mini-album from bands from Ireland. However, the choice EP as overall favourite was quite a straight forward one, and is the Butterfly Explosions' Turn The Sky EP, an EP which contains some of the most beautifully haunting and mesmerising shoegaze sounds to come out of Ireland in a long time, and leaning into some more generally accessible indie-rock melodies, it is an EP which has a much broader appeal than others of the genre. All in all however, these are five really excellent EPs listed here, none of which should be missed:

1. Butterfly Explosion - Turn The Sky
2. Glenwash - Bottle Of Cop
3. The Star Department - Flickering Lights
4. The Terribles - Mistake: Do Over
5. Sanzkrit - Yeah But What If

Related Links:

http://www.butterflyexplosion.com

http://www.myspace.com/butterflyexplosion


2006 single and/or music video of the year: The Things


What I consider a great single is one that grabs you by the balls and arrests you, demands your attention. In that sense, this has been quite a massive year for those associated with Sound Foundation Recordings, who dominate this years' top five. The Things could well be the best garage punk band to come out of Ireland in the past 10 years. Some Kind of Kick was their anthemic single from last summer, indulging everything from Hammer Horror to Elvis to The Stooges. When this has also been a damn good year for Humanzi (a truly rebellious band, who were unfortunately over-hyped and over-embraced by the media here, perhaps to their disadvantage) and the superbly unique Twin Kranes (is it psychedelic kraut electronica punk or what?), it seems that Sound Foundation Recordings have managed to sweep up most of the best of what has festered in 2006. Here's my choice top five singles/vids of 2006:

1. The Things - Some Kind of Kick
2. Humanzi - Out on a Wire
3. The Rags - Razors & Ropes
4. Sickboy - The A-Tune
5. Twin Kranes - Plateau

The videos to these, amongst others, can be streamed from the Frequency-Ireland myspace page.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/thethings

http://www.thethingsireland.moonfruit.com


2006 live band of the year: Whipping Boy

If the focus of Frequency-Ireland had not been on emerging bands in Ireland, I would have mentioned Whipping Boy long before now, one of my all time favorite bands from Ireland. It's almost a decade ago now back to when I first enjoyed and grew to love songs such as 'We Don't Need Nobody Else' and 'Twinkle', but while those songs had grown to become a massive part of my past, they had more or less been confined to memories. It was a real awakening to see them back on the circuit in Ireland this year again. I caught them live when they played in Dolans' Warehouse in Limerick in March of this year. A night which started with a very fine performance by emerging band Dry County (new to me at that time, but whom I now rate very highly), and then led into a rather polarising Jinx Lennon (whom I openly derided, although I was not amongst the bottle throwers), finally saw Whipping Boy take centre stage. It was quite a late showing, and I was quite pole-axed already from many beers, but highlights of the night still ring vividly clear - first to hear tracks such as 'So Much For Love' and 'Bad Books' live, I'm not quite sure if it was my first time hearing those songs live, but it was certainly my first time hearing them live in familiarity, as Whipping Boy had split before that third album from which they were taken was released, but also being there again for 'We Don't Need Nobody Else', and to witness them giving equal measure to some of the older material. On the night the performed 'I Think I Miss You', which really struck a chord with me. I think I miss you? I know I missed you, Whipping Boy. An immense gig by a legendary band.

Here's the choice top five local gigs by Irish bands attended this past year (i.e, in the Limerick area), with the supports indicated also an important deciding factor:

1. Whipping Boy - Dolans' Warehouse. Mar 2006 ( /w Dry County).
2. Crayonsmith - Limerick Boatclub. May 2006 ( /w Windings).
3. Berkeley - Limerick Boatclub. Nov 2006 ( /w Walter Mitty & The Realists).
4. We Should Be Dead - Underground, Baker's Place. Dec 2006 ( /w Hatch77).
5. Coldspoon Conspiracy - Dolan's. Nov 2006 ( /w Givamanakick, Crayonsmith).

Related Links:

http://www.whippingboy.net

http://www.myspace.com/dublinwhippingboy


2006 best demo by an emerging band: SUPER-8

This catagory is specifically for bands who have yet to release any material to date and who either sent Frequency-Ireland their demo material for review over the course of 2006, or who first made their demo material available online this year.

This was a really tough catagory. More than anything, what has perhaps differentiated Frequency-Ireland from other webzines/blogs has been a focus on demos and unsigned bands. There has been a lot of material waded through over this past year, both of bands uploading material online and those who have taken the time to post me CDs of their demo material. Apologies to bands who have sent in demos I have not had the time to write a review on, but I can assure you that I have listened to just about everything I received this past year, and I thank you all for sending on the material. The very best demo I received this year hailed from Ballymena in Northern Ireland. The band are called Super-8. They have still yet to perform any live shows, but their home-recorded material is exemplorary (ok, rock n'roll for those who love feedback-drenched melodies), I've chosen their track 'Undercover Blues' as the winner, but I could have just as easily picked out one of a half dozen which could have fulfilled the purpose. Here are the top five demo tracks of this year:

1. Super-8 - Undercover Blues
2. Black Soul Strangers - Down and out in Vegas with Amphetamine Psychosis
3. Star Belgrade - Disconnect
4. The Ugli Violas - Sick
5. Carnival - Sunday Morning

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/wearesuper8

Christmas Boys

Some months ago I had bookmarked an emerging band from Belfast I found by the name of Christmas Boys for a timely mention here on Frequency-Ireland this holiday season. Playing a somewhat experimental alternative folk-rock, they had just started gigging earlier this year in the Belfast area. Despite this lowly status, in the interm they have received a massive volume of visitors as an unexpected side-effect of their name in the run up to Christmas, so the secret of Belfast's Christmas Boys is well and truly out now it seems (150,000 profile views, the majority of which occurred over the past month). Anyway, a few words on Christmas Boys here now regardless.

They have a few demos up on their myspace, with 'Heebie Jeebies' and 'Xmas Music For A Film' their finest efforts to date in my opinion. The sound is somewhere between Neil Young and an acoustic Violent Femmes on sedatives. Not quite in the traditional spirit of Christmas as their name might suggest, when I first encountered their myspace they had described themselves rather wryly as 'Satan's little bit of honey'. The demos have an alluring folk-leaning, somewhat embellished in degenerate life, and an overall sound which is a touch experimental in the sense that the recordings sound a bit warped, almost as if ghosted out on an old tape recorder. So, in a holiday season where we hear too much of the same old glossy Christmas songs year in year out, I’ll glady take Christmas Boys demo ‘Xmas Music For A Film’ as an alternative theme tune on Frequency-Ireland this festive season. Happy Christmas to all from Frequency-Ireland!

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/christmasboys

Ham Sandwich - Words

Dublin based Ham Sandwich, fronted by the dual vocals of Podge McNamee and Niamh Farrell, have been frequently referred to as a treasure from the underground scene in Ireland, with a following of cult-like status to be envied. I picked up their most recent single 'Words' recently.

For those less familiar, what you get is an unlikely dual vocal with a euphoric indie-harmony always veering on chorus, coupled into some strong guitar crunch with influence from the likes of Pavement. There's brushes of The Delgados and Doves here too, some of the eccentricity of The Flaming Lips, the tenderness of Camera Obscura, and a fun touch of the throwaway fun-pop appeal of (eek) Prefab Sprout. More than anything, though, what you get with Ham Sandwich is a rather uniquely lovable pop rock, and something definitely not to be overlooked.


As for 'Words', it’s not their best song to date, that credit I'll still hold out for the brilliantly warm 'Sad Songs', but it is a good one. Actually, 'Words' is insanely euphoric, and such is its repetition that it seems almost like a half-baked concept, rushed out while the idea was still fresh, but that's one if its appeals - it can't but make you smile at its audacity. What hasn't had enough attention from the release however is it's b-side, a beautifully touching indie-ballad on the familiarities of regret in 'Stars'. By the time the fun of the 'Words' has tired with me somewhat, 'Stars' has embraced, this one is quite special, and the reason why the single won't be taking a back seat for a while just yet. Available to stream on their myspace are their three singles 'Sad Songs', 'Words' and 'St Christopher'.

Related Links:

http://eathamsandwich.bebo.com

http://www.myspace.com/eathamsandwich

http://www.eathamsandwich.com

Cap Pas Cap – Not Not Is Fine

Described before as sitting somewhere between Talking Heads and Sonic Youth, Dublin post-punk band Cap Pas Cap released their limited edition debut 12" “Not Not Is Fine” recently on their own Skinny Wolves label. They have been touted by many to become huge over the next few months, and have played several critically acclaimed shows in Ireland and the UK including an appearance at the Reading festival in the UK earlier this year. However, for all the hype which has surrounded Cap Pas Cap, I can’t help but feel a bit left outside the Cap Pas Cap party. Yes, their sound is infectious, fresh and excitable, but while the experimentalism in their sound has much to be applauded, their actual songs tend to be a touch trivial, almost empty. Perhaps I'm looking for too much from them though, as this is a band a lot more about the sound and the rhythms, the experimentalism, the effortless delivery, the energy and the hooks. The actual songs don’t really matter quite as much. It’s what the sound does to you. Some material from the release can be streamed from their myspace, where a video of 'Said Say It' performed live at their 12" launch can also be viewed, a video which best captures what Cap Pas Cap are all about, in the live environment.

2007 is likely to see Cap Pas Cap tour further afield, see a more global release of the debut 12”, and also see the release of a debut album, which is expected sometime around next summer. With melodies which are quirky, tight and sparse, yet 'viciously spiked' - as one reviewer previously put it, and with a post-punk vocal style always raised in pitch, effusing an off-kilter swagger and confidence in everything they do, they may well become the next sensation from Ireland, as touted by their many admirers, although without enough substance behind it all, I can’t help but feel the bubble will burst not long after that album is out.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/cappascap

http://cappascap.net

The Tupelo Incident

Looking north to Belfast, overdue a mention here are The Tupelo Incident - a band for lovers of The Stooges and all things good about rock n'roll punk. Playing with quite a ferocious intensity, they shell out rock n'roll melodies buried under squalls of feedback, backed by primal drums and infectious bass lines, and have been doing so in venues across Northern Ireland for a few years now.

It's an old school sound and a good one. They liken their sound to the intensity of Queens of the Stone Age, or more tongue in cheek as 'when the angel of the lord opens the seventh seal'. I hear some of The Cult in their early days in there too. If this sounds like your thing, then take a plunge for these guys straight away. You'll love it. They've a number of tracks available to download from their website. My recommended listens would be 'Start Again', 'The Calling' and 'Overheard', but don't stop there, the material is quite consistent.

They played this weekend in Belfast with Dublin's psychotic punksters, The Things. Perhaps before long they'll be returning the compliment and gigging down south here with The Things. One hopes so. The Tupelo Incident deliver quite an awesome frenzy, not bettered by many here.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/thetupeloincident

http://www.thetupeloincident.com

The Flaws

As far as writing predominantly about emerging alternative music in Ireland, and more often than not around indie/shoegaze/punk music for that matter, it has been only a matter of time before I felt obliged to write something about The Flaws here. I've actually been avoiding saying something about them for quite a while now, as, it seems, everyone else is already going on about The Flaws - the latest and greatest indie/shoegaze/punk band to grace these lands (sic). For those not in the know, the Flaws are a four-piece band from Monaghan in Ireland, and have been growing quite rapidly in stature over the last few years, culminating in the signing of a five album deal with Polydor last December. Following the release of their 'No Room' single earlier this year, they set about working on the first of those albums, which to the best of my knowledge is due sometime early next year. It will undoubtedly sell by the ton, although I'll not be one of the punters buying it.


With The Flaws you get a quite full shoegaze-rock sound similar to the likes of Editors, which they've toured with before, and the vocals are close to the Bowie cast, or somewhere between Bowie and an early Radiohead perhaps. The Flaws do have their flaws however. I don't think there's anything particularly daring about their sound. It sits safely in the mid-zone for the genre and the vocals are too crystallized for a rock band for my liking. Actually, while I'd expect their debut album to do well, unless they think hard about direction, I can see them petering out long before they reach the end of that five album deal. Harsh words perhaps, but it all sounds just a bit too uninspired. As a band billed as one of the leading lights of the genre in Ireland, they are simply not up to it in my book, and while The Flaws get the hype, there are far more inspired/imaginative bands on the circuit being overlooked (I won't list them all here - dig through the archives here and discover them for yourself).

Perhaps if I could get beyond what I'd term a 'proud' vocal, their loud but humable alt-rock and full-on sound does have its merits, even if their songwriting doesn't particularly push any boundaries for me. They complete quite a successful Nov/Dec tour of the country with a number of gigs over the festive period, details to which can be found on their myspace. Expect a UK tour in the new year.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/theflawsmusic

http://www.theflaws.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flaws

My Brother Woody

My Brother Woody uploaded a few tracks from the forthcoming album, titled 'It's A Long Way From That Sort Of Thing You Were Raised'. The album is due sometime next April or so. Track 'Wish I Was A DJ' recently received a big thumbs up from the mp3hugger blog for capturing that Beach Boys meets Teenage Fanclub without sounding to have a particular need to sell out to the masses. I couldn't agree more, it's a rather excellent tune.

While it’s a music not to my general tastes, it would be hard to knock it for what it is, cosey indiepop with melodies and harmonies which will effortlessly work their way into your head and make you feel it was summer again. In that light, the choice track of those currently available on the myspace page is 'Hanging Around' which perhaps best captures the mood of what My Brother Woody does best in a carefree indiepop spirit, although the more laid back 'Another Wave of Harmony', the opening track to the forthcoming album also has a lot of charm. These tracks can be previewed on the My Brother Woody myspace, where the track 'Wish I Was A DJ' is available for download.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/mybrotherwoody

Come join the Carnival...

Carnival have finally uploaded two demo recordings to their myspace. They describe their sound as "a return to chord based folk, country and pop music of the 60s and 70s" but with the "free form noise and looseness of alt rock from the 80s and 90s". Here you get a guitar indie-rock sound mixed with a female vocal taking influences of folk-country (along the lines of Mazzy Star), although more indie-pop-punk and varied, fluidly moving from the seductive to sarcastic taunting in a breath.

Leading off with an equally seductive and contemptuous line in "Sunday Morning is laughing time..." their track Sunday Morning is the one which immediately demands attention, and by the time you are led into its alt-country refrain of "and you want it all this time" and then onto the expletive anger of "you can still taste the carnival that was happening in your mind", you get the sense of a vocal that does it all, its almost manic-psychotic in the way it captures multiple moods in its expression. Add in a chunky guitar sound just the way I like it, and I know I'm listening to something quite special here.

As a band I haven't had the opportunity to catch live as yet, these two demos are all I have to go by, and while the other track, a more fun indie-pop Andy's 15, doesn't quite rise to this same level, I'm still left with the feeling that if there's more material this good I could love this band. They're back recording further material at the moment and making a video after which they return gigging, and I'll be watching out this time. Come join the Carnival, this is a band with a lot of appeal.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/comejointhecarnival

Two Yukinas

Unmistakable for the deep gravel voice of front man Stuart Doyle these days, Yukina are a Dublin 3-piece band whose recent material appeals at times to a side of me that likes bands such as Motorhead. It's an unsophisticated rock n'roll played out loud, rough and rugged. There is also quite a lot of blues influence in their song writing, but Yukina and their "We're doing our thing, we keep it simple, we play rock 'n' roll" attitude is gradually winning me over regardless. They are now in the process of recording a debut album, several tracks from which can be downloaded from their sonicbids and myspace pages, with "Tongue Twister" and "Gotta Go" the two that rock out most appealingly for me. However, that is just one half of the Yukina story...


Back in 2002, an earlier incarnation of Yukina self-released an album titled "Comin' Around". It had an altogether different sound; the vocals were far less gravel, the sound a lot more indie-experimental, and listening to tracks from it, it is difficult to consider the two Yukinas as one and the same band.

The 2002 album was a very low profile release, selling just 149 copies at that time, with proceeds going on paying off 3 months back-rent, according to their myspace profile. They now refer to that album as 'a cardboard box album' and an 'an experiment in lousy recording practices', but sometimes interesting albums fall out of the most unusual of situations, and such seems to be the case with this one. They've a separate myspace page where tracks from that album can be downloaded, of which 'Las Elvis' is a rather brilliantly shambolic piece of tripped out indie-rock, held together by a rumbling bass hook and overlaid with odd scratches and samples. The downbeat alt-rock of 'Singo' is my favourite of the Yukina tracks here however; it has a despondency that seems unforced, almost effortless in getting the mood across, one of those songs where although there's nothing particularly strong about individual lyrics, they paint up the mood perfectly as a whole. Also worthy of attention though is a husky ballad in 'Timerbline' which has a vocal strikingly similar to that of Leonard Cohen, and in short, this 'cardboard box album' seems to have been a lot more varied and interesting than the paltry sale of 149 copies would suggest, regardless of its wayward production, and easy to see why it was well received amongst the small audience it had reached.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/yukinaband

http://www.sonicbids.com/yukina

http://www.myspace.com/cominround

A Lazarus Soul

I've had it on my mind to write something about the downtempo songs of A Lazarus Soul for quite some time. When Brian Brannigan formed A Lazarus Soul and released a debut album back in 2001, we were treated to some of the most chillingly impassioned song-writing heard in many years in Ireland. A follow-up was always going to de difficult. Often delving deep into taboo subjects, he proved a talent at hitting the raw nerve, none more so than in the bruised and battered portrait of the culprit in a broken relationship painted by 'Sober Me' from that debut.

A Lazarus Soul finally release the follow up album, 'Graveyard of Burnt Out Cars' next February, and by the material which has so far been made available from it, it seems it will have been well worth the wait. While considerable attention has been drawn to a more indie-pop 'Icon', which was released as a download single earlier this year, the better of the newly unveiled material lies elsewhere. In 'Stray Bullet', we are treated in typically controversial style, to the romance and the taunting passion of joy riding and stolen cars, while an incredibly difficult and solemn ballad in 'Star Of David', deals with the anguish of a closed community loosing a friend through suicide. A Lazarus Soul turn through both the controversial and the unmentionable, always impassioned, and beautifully difficult. If you haven't indulged before, and have a taste for music somewhere between Arab Strap and The Smiths, you could well enjoy A Lazarus Soul immensely. Two tracks from the debut album can be downloaded from A Lazarus Soul's website, namely 'Sober Me' and the lead track 'Only Say The Word', while those mentioned tracks from the forthcoming follow-up album are also available for download from their myspace.

Related Links:

http://www.alazarussoul.com

http://www.myspace.com/alazarussoul

The Negative Way

The Negative Way are a new 4-piece electronica alt rock band from Dublin with quite a strong influence of Depeche Mode in their sound. I found them on myspace earlier this week. As far as emerging bands go, these guys have a lot of quality, and more than worthy of mention here. It seems they've yet to even start gigging though, and their website is still largely under construction, but they have made a few of their songs available to download from it as a taster of what is to come. Anyway... this is a band who are likely to appeal if you've a penchant for a sound retrospective on perhaps the softer side of 80s electronica rock. Well, it appeals to me, plus they're very good at it, so a big thumbs up from here.


In 'I Waited For You', the retro-80s electronica indie appeal is most pronounced, and where the Depeche Mode influence can be most clearly heard. Its quite downhearted, a touch despondant even, but there is warmth there too, and a good song. However, the choice song is 'Regret', still with an electronica backbone, the application of some warm indie guitar riffs not far removed from those of Snow Patrol give it a more contemporary indie-rock balance, and a much stronger song overall regardless. Take a listen to these guys while they remain below the radar - you could well be impressed.

Related Links:

http://www.thenegativeway.com

http://www.myspace.com/thenegativewaydc