MAINLINE

I had been waiting for a chance to catch Mainline live for quite a while now, and finally got to just earlier this week, when I went to see Jim Reid, over from the UK playing a rare gig in Dublin, whom they were supporting. Delivering a loud and dark psychedelic rock n'roll groove steeped in Jesus and Mary Chain tradition, there is really no Dublin band that could have fitted the bill better than Mainline, and packing an awesome punch as a 6-piece, leading off with their flagship song Black Honey, they performed a cracking loud set which lasted about 30 minutes, and was a really fitting curtain raiser for such an occasion.

Ever since Black Honey was released in 2005 as a limited edition 7" and 12", Mainline have been receiving an abundance of praise from both the press and public alike, although I feel it is rather unfortunate that further material has not followed since then, as it has resulted in perhaps an over-emphasis by the press on one song, which although a top quality song in its own right, sounds a bit too close to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club to showcase the band as something more varied and unique.

I prefer some of their other material, in particular 'Where The Ghost Meet' and 'Once More Because Of You', which although delivered with that same noisy groove, are both more broody and melancholic, longing and ultimately hurt, with an aching vocal style comparable to that of Spiritualized at times. In 'Where The Ghost Meet' the influences rise to their finest, where primal drumming echoing The Velvet Underground's 'Heroin' can be heard, and an excellent riff towards the finish touches on some from The Jesus and Mary Chain's Honeys Dead era.

Four songs can be streamed from their myspace, 'Black Honey', 'Once More Because Of You', 'Where The Ghost Meet' and 'The Healing Song', plus the recently made '52 Strings' video. Playing this years Psycho Fest at Dublin's Voodoo Lounge tonight (which I previously mentioned some weeks ago in a review of The Things), details of their upcoming gigs can as ever be found on their myspace, including Psychotic Reaction @ Crawdaddy in Dublin on July 1st and the Hi:Fi Ireland Festival in August.

Related Links:

http://www.mainlinesounds.com

http://www.myspace.com/mainline

envelope.

Dublin band envelope released a rather excellent debut EP entitled State & Nature last month, three tracks from which can be previewed on their myspace. They describe their sound as alternative/shoegaze/rock, although with a vocal style which has been compared before to Jeff Buckley, I'm not so sure a shoegaze tag is really that appropriate. Their sound is mostly delicate and melodic, deliberate and cogitative, quite layered and always tight, with a deep clipped bass at times and often raising to some excellent guitar riffs. They are undeterred from interleaving what is often a radio-friendly sound with more ambitious noises, and perhaps reach their finest moment of soaring distortion towards the end of 'Cost Of Living'. There are clear influences of Sigur Ros, Elbow and Radiohead in there, although they're a lot better than that might suggest.

The EP can be purchased from cableattack!!, their online shop and label, and they play at Crawdaddy in Dublin this June 29th with special guests Panda Kopanda from Belfast.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/envelopemusic

http://thepostroom.com

http://shop.cableattack.com

BLOOD OR WHISKEY - Alan Confrey Memorial Gig

A memorial gig will be held for Alan Confrey of Blood or Whiskey on Friday 30th June at Dublin's Voodoo Lounge, with proceeds from the show going to The Irish Heart Foundation. Joining Blood or Whiskey for the gig, will be special guests Whipping Boy, the legendary Dublin alternative rock band, who will perform an acoustic set on the night.

Alan Confrey died suddenly of a heart attack on 23rd of March 2006 aged 33, the day after Blood or Whiskey completed a UK tour supporting Stiff Little Fingers.

"Alan was a poet, a story teller well versed in Irish history, a talented musician, and a tattoo artist, he is sadly missed by all his friends and family, and the night will be a celebration of his life that he lived at 100%" - Toxic Promotions.

Delivering a punk rock in a traditional Irish music guise for over 10 years, with influences ranging from The Clash to The Pogues, Blood or Whiskey are widely regarded to have been the first and finest post-Pogues band. Three tracks from their most recent album, the highly rated 'Ca$hed out on Culture', can be streamed from their myspace, including the intensely spirited and rousing punk song 'Poxy Pub'.

Related Links:

http://www.bloodorwhiskey.ie

http://www.myspace.com/11584433

http://www.whippingboy.net

http://www.irishheart.ie

HATCH77

Hatch77 are a rather excellent band from Limerick who play with an invitingly catchy balance between melody and guitar noise in their music, and come across sounding quite like a merge between The Wedding Present and Ride.

They have three songs available for download from their myspace; 'Charisma', 'Lovesick' and 'Point of Regression', all of which are taken from their 4 track debut EP titled Barriers, which was self-released a while back, and available online through Rimbaud Records.


Formed around 2003 initially as a four piece with two bass players, one of which left the band earlier this year, they are now continuing as a three piece for the foreseeable future. I saw them live a few months ago, in what was just their second gig as a three piece, performing a set of about eight songs. The performance was solid, with the sound sufficiently full to suggest that a second bass player is perhaps surplus to requirements now. Hopefully more will be heard from Hatch77, they certainly have enough first-rate material to warrant it.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/hatchseventyseven

http://www.hatch77.com

http://www.rimbaudrecords.com

HUMANZI

It's not often that a band I really appreciate get recognition in The Irish Meteor Awards, the annual national music awards in Ireland. Humanzi, winners of The Best New Irish Band award earlier this year, are one of the very few exceptions.

However, no other band could really have won it. Humanzi signed to major label Fiction/Polydor in 2005 and then ambitiously went about setting up their own label, Sound Foundation Recordings, which they have used since to showcase other upcoming bands in Ireland with a similar edge, including The Things, Channel One and TwinKranes. Then they released their much lauded debut single Fix The Cracks (available for download from their myspace), an anthemic song with an incredibly great bass line of Joy Division immensity, and some elements of Primal Scream in the mix, although not as apparent as in some of their other songs.

It's been a long time since a band as riled and disgruntled as Humanzi have been making it big from Ireland, a band whom under the watchful eye of the media have the balls to deliver an angry anti-establishment punk anthem with a line taunting "this is the shit so get used to it" in their latest single, which preceeds their debut album release.

Their new single, 'Diet Pills and Magazines' is released on July 17th, the video to which can currently be streamed from their myspace, with their debut Album 'Tremors' released the following week on July 24th. Having already toured extensively in the UK and Ireland over the past few months, they play a number of festivals this summer, including T in the Park and the Reading/Leeds festivals in the UK, and Oxygen Festival in Dublin, all the details to which can be found on their website and myspace.

Related Links:

http://www.humanzi.com

http://www.myspace.com/humanzi

ALEKO

Bringing an infusion of early electronica and an abundance of punk attitude into their sphere of space-punk, unsigned Dublin band Aleko have been making infectious sounds with an incompliant edge of late with admirable conviction. Aiming to "merge the sound of the club with the sound of the sweaty underground venue", steeped in adrenalin, with doses of aggression and an unashamed leaning towards sleaze, they include Primal Scream, Death In Vegas, New Order, The Fall and Kraftwerk amongst their influeces, although ultimately its their own sound.

Having just played at the IMRO tour highlights showcase last week, they have a few festival dates in Ireland lined up the summer, including 'Your Festival' in Tullamore on 24th June and 'Hi:Fi Festival' in Mullingar on 5th August (a sister festival to the UK's breakthrough Hi:Fi North and South festivals which take place during May in Newcastle Upon Tyne and Winchester). They play Club Radiator @ The Hub in Dublin this Friday June 9th, accompanied by Sickboy, supporting Canadian new-wave punksters You Say Party We Say Die. Details of these and other upcoming gigs can be found on their myspace.

They've also been working on material in the studio recently, and hope to release an EP towards the end of the year. Meanwhile, a few songs can be streamed from their myspace, including the superb 'Dead On The Inside'.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/alekosounds

http://artists.cpu.ie//bands/825

http://yourfestival.ie

http://www.myspace.com/yourfestival

CLIVESTAR

Although not reaching any notable status, citing Can, tompaulin and Spacemen3 amongst their main influences, Clivestar have created some rather excellent sounds which could be described, as they do, as experimental ambient shoegaze.


There has not been much Clivestar material released that I am aware of other than two tracks, 'Something Special' and 'With You', which both appeared on a Reverb Records compilation in 2001. More recently, in 2005, The Great Pop Supplement, an off-shoot label of Earworm Records, advertised an upcoming limited edition Clivestar single release, although this does not seem to have materialised.

A few tracks are available for download from the Clivestar myspace however, including 'Something Special', which has an ingenious mechanical spaced out vibe to it, with tremendously downbeat detached vocals, and also two fine instrumentals; the sparse and atmospheric 'Bink Freud' which has a GSYBE post-rock feel, and the much darker and grittier 'Animal Love, Animal Lunch', which was recorded sometime around the turn of the millenium, and shares some very distinctive parallels with Death In Vegas from that time. Interesting listens to say the least.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/clivestarmusic

http://www.clivestar.com

http://www.reverbr.com

http://www.greatpopsupplement.com

SICKBOY

An assured sound of disobedience in Dublin right now is that of Sickboy. Punking out energy laced guitar rock songs, they've been bringing their non-compliant sounds to Dublin venues for the past year or two. With an impressive demo last year and recording sessions from late 2005 and early 2006, they have shown a new determination, and although still currently unsigned, they aim to release some of their material later this year. As a measure of their recent progress, participating in the 2006 IMRO Showcase Tour for emerging bands in Ireland, they have been selected as one of the few to appear at the tour highlights showcase at The Village club in Dublin this Saturday June 3rd.

Three songs can be streamed from their myspace. A favourite, simply titled 'The A-Tune', captures a great balance between melody and guitar noise which reminds me a bit of the exhilarating sounds of The Jesus and Mary Chain around the time of Rollercoaster, blended somewhat with the effortless euphoric energy of The Stone Roses in their early years. The other two songs, 'Silence In Conversation' and 'Moderator' show a more punk edge of The Clash or The Stooges, infused with an influence of Joy Division in some great driving bass lines, while a fourth song, 'Help You Go Down' available from their cpu.ie space runs in a similar vein. A recent video of a live performance at The Shotgun Club can also be found on their myspace, along with details of their upcoming gigs.

Also certainly worthy of attention is a rather excellent side-project on the go by two band members of Sickboy called Crimes Against, which has an altogether more experimental psychedelic electronic rock sound that approaches Primal Scream at times, with perhaps hints of Death In Vegas in the mix. Two demo tracks are available on the Crimes Against myspace, 'Distance' and 'Filth', both of which were recorded last year, with 'Distance' available for download.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/sickboyofficial

http://artists.cpu.ie//bands/439

http://www.myspace.com/crimesagainst