Jimi Cullen - When The Last Leaf Falls

Jimi Cullen, Wexford's self-proclaimed 'political folk grunge' singer-songwriter activist, is here to make a difference. I picked up a copy of his album 'When The Last Leaf Falls' at one of his gigs recently. So, how does the material fare?

"When the last leaf falls, stained by nuclear waste, it will land behind scorched walls, walls of lies and hate. Walls first created in our central heated homes, walls of injustice, hate and cruelty that our politicians built with racism and crimes against humanity. Beyond our great cities of battered families and violence lay the rising deep blue seas slowly washing away the blood stained debris of our failed society. We raped the planet's nutrients to whore away her beauty. Men in power pretend its all ok, letting oil and waging wars, forgetting one day we must pay. So when the skies are scorched and war no longer pays, our planet like a tree will dry up and fade away. Then our powerful leaders will retreat behind their walls, but who will save our children when the last leaf falls?"

An intro which is spoken in the voice of school children about the future of our environment in a near prayer-like manner sets the tone of the album with a rather sobering message, before launching into a Dylan-esqe stormer in The Poverty Song. One delivered in style not far from that of Subterranean Homesick Blues, it is perhaps the highlight of the album. A stirring song which touches on themes of refugees, wars, famine, poverty, human rights and of "fear and paranoia spreading like a disease", it comes as a call for change. Delivered with the simple message "we gotta help see each other through it all" or "get up off your ass and do some good", Jimi Cullen doesn't tend to mince his words and makes sure his point is taken.

Elsewhere, themes run from the heartbreak of abusive relationships in Get Out While You Can, through to another war protest song in G&T On the Rocks, while For Your Smile steps into the more generic singer-songwriter territory of the love song, and stands out as one of the more commercially viable tracks on the album. A few blues-folk songs of varying merit add some much needed variety. The most notable of these is perhaps the harmonica infused Talkin' Religion Blues, which again brushes with Dylan, albeit delivered in quite a light hearted manner. With influences taking in Young, Dylan, Drake, Christy Moore, Byrne, Blake, and even The Beatles, this is an album which will be accessible to most listeners, although all in all is perhaps just that little bit too accessible for these ears. 6/10.

Related Links:

http://thejimicullenshow.bebo.com

http://www.myspace.com/jimicullen

http://www.jimicullenmusic.com

SUPER-8 - Raptured In Time

A favourite of Frequency-Ireland's for some time, SUPER-8 from Ballymena, Northern Ireland, have decided to start all over again with a new myspace, new material, and a new band member in Chris Eaton (No More Yesterdays).


Reuniting their alt-rock back to its familiar roots of the 60s, two tracks currently available for download from their myspace lean close to the sounds of The Velvet Underground. 'Good To Be Alive' chills out on semi-acoustic vibes and an exploration into a strange mind-expanse across space-time, reaching along the lines of an Oasis Champagne Supernova precursor finding its way to the minds eye of The Velvet Underground's Jesus. An imaginative direction to say the least, good drugs are required to take this one for a ride. 'Can't Get My Head Around You' is the more upbeat, a retro-spun rock n'roll song evoking images of one in from the cold of dead end streets trying to get their head around the heartbeat of a candy clerk girl in a 60s diner to the tune of unrequited love 'I let you treat me like a stranger, I treat you like a queen, I let you place my life in danger, you like to hear me scream'. A quality song capturing a lost essence of the past in a way too few can achieve these days in rock n'roll motions.

Keep it coming guys, good to have you back.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/super8sounds

Hope Is NOISE - APPLAUD FRIENDS... The Comedy Is Over

More often than not, releases from Cork label Rimbaud Records tend to reach beyond the comfort zone of many listeners, a label which proudly pitches itself as a 'slap in the face of public taste'. However, 'Applaud Friends, The Comedy Is Over', the debut album from Hope is Noise, whom have become a favourite among the vibrant Cork scene, is a notable exception, and is an album which has aptly been championed as 'a gem from start to finish'.

A blend of noise and punk melody, influences of early Whipping Boy, Hot Snakes, Idlewild and Fugazi, all the way through to Trail of the Dead can be heard on the release. Angular without being particularly abrasive, anthemic indie-punk-rock melodies dominate over a backbone of quite emphatic songwriting. Described once as 'laced with caustic lyrics of rejection, heartbreak and uplifting revenge', opening track Lions Led By Donkeys sets the tone, but it is Dancing With Johnny Five that perhaps stands tallest here for me, opening on themes of urgency 'and we can talk about it at the airport, and we can write about it in my contract'... it quite soon launches into perhaps the most emphatic chorus of the album 'i'm dancing with johnny five, he asked me was it true'... quite an awesome song, perhaps we should complete a trilogy of Short Circuit movies just so this song can be used as the soundtrack. Continuing the analogies to science fiction celebrity, the album closes with a propulsive punk anthem in I Live With Bruce Banner. Whether this refers to vocalist Dan Breen's personal demons or something else entirely its hard to tell, but regardless it is a fitting psychotic way to take the album a close. 9/10.

Hope is Noise's debut album 'Applaud friends, the comedy is over' is a co-release between Rimbaud Records (RB10) and Squint and Draw Records (SD02) and produced by the legendary Ciaran O'Shea (El Bastardo, Rulers of the Planet, Rest, etc..). The band are currently touring the West Coast of America.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/hopeisnoise

http://www.hopeisnoise.com/

http://www.myspace.com/rimbaudrecords

http://www.myspace.com/squintanddraw

http://www.johnny-five.com/

No More Yesterdays - A Sin Of Omission

In general, the sin of omission, consisting as it does in a leaving out of good, is less grievous than a sin of commission which involves a positive taking up with evils. The sin of omission referred to here? Well, given a release which brisks through eight tracks in just over 20 minutes, outtakes in The Cut Throat Manifesto and Skinner Box Experiment previously reviewed here may appear to be unwarranted omissions, but without them we have quite a finely balanced release, offering brief windows into the minimalist post-rock world of No More Yesterdays.

Neatly bookended by line in (intro) and line out (outro), perhaps the most striking track is Sunshine, with voice-overs which account the threat which solar weather and coronal mass ejections cause to radio and satellite communications systems, providing ample headgear for those who are inclined to worry about world issues. Elsewhere, we have a predominantly instrumental release, minimalist and elegantly ambient, though backed with quite compulsive mechanical beats. As for shortcomings, tracks tend to be too short to allow the listener time to settle into them entirely, though a distinctive flow between the tracks helps overcome this. Respect Me Respect Yourself, a hidden bonus track, built on radio talk buried in static, and accompanied by a minimalist guitar melody is a simple but highly effective inclusion at the end. Overall, a release of interest to those who appreciate GSYBE inspired post-rock, but delivered minimalist and with coarse industrialised beats that pull it together rather nicely, and works well on repeat play. 7/10.

Tracks from A Sin of Omission can be streamed from the No More Yesterdays' myspace, where it can also be purchased via paypal. As for those who are curious about CME related phenomena, visit Space Weather.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/nomoreyesterdays

http://www.spaceweather.com/

We took it underground...

Here's some footage of A Lazarus Soul headlining at the recent Frequency-Ireland event in Daffy's Basement, a fundraiser in aid of The Samaritans:








Earlier, support on the night was provided by Red Eskimo and Minus Circus:




A Lazarus Soul release their new single, The Day I Disappeared, the final single to be lifted from their album Graveyard Of Burnt Out Cars this August 17th.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/alazarussoul

http://alazarussoul.com

Frequency-Ireland presents... A Lazarus Soul




Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/alazarussoul

http://www.alazarussoul.com

http://www.myspace.com/minuscircus

http://minuscircus.com

http://www.myspace.com/redeskimo

The Bonevilles - Hardtale Lurgan Blues EP

Limited to just 100 copies, The Bonevilles released their Hardtale Lurgan Blues EP last Monday 30th July on Motor Sounds Records. The material isn't new, with some of the tracks appearing previously on the Blood On The Scratchplate '65 garage compilation released a few years back (when they went under their former name of Motorsounds), but that doesn't make it any less of a collectors item to get hold of, and rather tastefully, each copy individually numbered by the band. The release also provides a timely reminder of what The Bonevilles are all about, with a new album set for release later this year.

Garage punk blues influenced by old amps and dodgy recording techniques, The Bonevilles are a duo from Northern Ireland who came south earlier this year to play Crawdaddy and are currently lining up for a number of UK appearances including The Future Of Blues festival in Bristol this September. They've had all the appraisals by the music press already, and described as 'a huge behemoth of a sound, unchained from the traditional structures, and allowed to wreak havoc on the eyes and ears of innocent bystanders', they deliver songs with grit and intensity that are hard, angry and relevant. The title track 'Hardtale Lurgan Blues' rolls through with frantic intensity, comfortably fitting the description of 'reinventing blues for those who grew up with punk and grunge'. Following through with a slower blues-rock slumber in 'Alabama Train' and a gritty free-rumbling instrumental in 'One More Nail outta Rock n Rolls Coffin', the EP closes on a high with 'Army Of One', an assault of emphatic punk-rock blues with a riff that doesn't let up and lifts the adrenalin undeterred. All encompassing, The Bonevilles borrow heavily on the spirit of old school garage, punk and blues, but are highly invigorating in doing so for those who appreciate the genre. 8/10.

The Hardtale Lurgan Blues EP can be purchased via the Motor Sounds Records website, as can the Blood On The Scratchplate '65 compilation. All tracks from the EP can be streamed from their myspace page. The forthcoming album, titled Good Suits and Fightin' Boots, is set to be released later this year.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/thebonevilles

http://motorsoundsrecords.com/

We're putting on a Carnival...

Producers would screw them over at the start and they knew it was all part of learning curve, but now things were beginning to fall into place for them in a way they could only have dreamed of. In the end they knew their time was here. The quality street would be dumped and it would be Ferraro Rochet all around... or at least so goes the Carnival biography on their myspace page.

After some time in wait, Carnival are finally putting out their debut single this August. We're throwing a party to celebrate, where we've got Carnival headlining a show at Daffy's Basement in Limerick this Sunday 5th August. We're putting this on as a FREE event, so do come and enjoy if you are in the area. Carnival are spreading rumours that 79Cortinaz will play as special guests on the night, and there may be some truth in this, so it should prove to be quite a memorable night.

Carnival of course have been one of the finest to rise from the underground here in recent years. Fronted by Karen O'Neill who has a vocal close to that of Sheryl Crow finding pop-punk-rock. With a lot of fun, taunting and angst in their music, they've attained an indie-rock stamp of approval here without loosing touch with other genre, right through from alt-country and folk to indie guitar pop, though happily laced with noise as needed to make sure songs are not too pleasant of a journey for those who look for compromise. Enjoy... Everyone loves a Carnival.

Related Links:

http://www.myspace.com/comejointhecarnival

http://comejointhecarnival.vox.com