Colette has been categorised as Irish country/folk/rock.She’s a talented songwriter who has had airplay on KFM ~ the sound of Kildare.Collette has also toured with Bob Wootton (Johnny Cash’s guitarist)!
Lovin You ~ is a real country slow waltz, backed with fiddle and guitar.‘Brings a tear to the eye.
I'm surprised there's not more bands like Colenso Parade around. After all Oasis being such a huge part of the CD buying consciousness in the 90's & 00's they must have influenced hundreds of todays floppy-fringed, indie botherers (they just don't want to tell everyone) and, without doubt a good pedigree to take your queue from. If you listen to Colenso's tracks especially 'Chase the train', 'The impressionable Miss Reilly' and the dangerously close to Oasis 'I'm the maker of my own worries', the Gallagher brothers' DNA is all over it. I say this merely as a point of comparison for you, dear reader and is no criticism of the lads well put together, laddish and tuneful tracks. Neither are the songs *all* carved out of the same (indie) rock, they are far more contemporary and Libertines-like on other, equally good tracks such as 'I don't mind the weather' or even a spoonful of Franz Ferdinand on 'As good as it gets'.
A great little band, if you like that Oasis stamp. They have written some great songs and definitely have an ear for a good tune (its also worth noting the excellent and subtle overlay of horns, keyboards and chorus filling backing-vocals). They also have a few moments that could use a bit of spit and polish (the gear-crunching tempo change in 'As good as it gets' or the unexpected and probably best forgotten recorder solo in 'The impressionable Miss Reilly'). If Colenso Parade can move forward from the comfort zone of their obvious influence and introduce more of themselves to their songwriting (as they successfully do in 'I don't mind the weather ') they will continue to grow and prosper and will leave the Oasis comparisons behind.
The advent of the internet has provided the opportunity for a solo artist like Chris Keys from Northern Ireland to record an album of his own material ('Blistered Eyes') and release it to the whole world. There is always the possibility that such unrestricted access to the public could produce for an inferior product, but not a bit of it in Chris's case. His guitar based songs soar with effortless strength and a relaxed warmth. Chris's voice has a spring in its step and an unashamed freedom which radiates a joy in what he does. I'm sure that there are a number of comparisons to other singers that can be made but I got traces of Paddy McAloon, especially on 'Fix It' or when there's a band behind him on the catchy 'Road Trip' or 'Reliving' the sound really opens up to some great little rock tunes.
All in all, with Chris's hint of a Northern Irish accent and bouncy, driving music provides a definite modern American, West coast feel to the album, it feels right, upbeat and is superbly played and made. I wish him every success
French electro trio, Copernic are really quite cool. Classily put together trip-hop, with Reginas ambient ethereal vocals. Layers of soft and subtle, but obviously well thought out, instrumentation bring waves of some rather beguiling and minimalist music that before you are even aware, are 2 or 3 minutes in. An almost European film noir soundtrack in places - check out 'Pure Lust' and the Monkeynaut remix version, on their Myspace which is top drawer ambience (despite some lyrics being in German - sorry but German will never be sexy...especially when you have French to play with!) summoning up imagary with sound, its quality. Tracks like 'Red Lines and Sparkles' and 'The Path' add trip-hop drumbeats to the mix and it dove-tails very well and doesn't detract from the arty minimalism, which in itself refuses to sound stark or cold.
Copernic will be unlikely occupiers of the top 10 singles charts but their album should be in your CD collection for those Jean Cocteau moments.
Dan Sheen is a (mere) 17 year old from Nottingham who is already showing some good potential. He has a musical foot in both the trippy rock and electronica camps. Despite Dan's best attempts to describe his own music you should really try it for yourself because I don't think even he really knows what he's got. There's controlled feedback of a guitar, drum machines, sequences a semi-sung, slightly ethereal/trippy backing and vocal line. The end result is a somewhat of a home-made sounding electro/ambient vibe, but he clearly already has a good ear and a sharp mind for structuring music.
'Everyone does it' is quite a cool track that leans towards a more commercial Jesus & Mary Chain or maybe early New Order. The production won't be winning any awards but it is a hypnotic and really catchy song that shows a maturity beyond Dan's years. All in all, a very promising start. Dan doesn't seek to copy anyone else and manages to produce some very interesting and commercially viable material. There's still a long way to go to get up that greasy pole but Dan has both the time and the promise.
Such is the plethora of singer/songwriter demos and profiles winging their way in from Ireland, that when I next visit Dublin I fully anticipate to see groups of ferral musicians on every street corner clutching their acoustic guitars... What makes it even harder to keep up with, is that they are all so damn good as well! So it seems that despite James Blunts' best efforts to trash the genre, it seems that good old fashioned songwriting is in abundance at the moment, especially in Ireland.
Conor O'Tuama is one of those products of Irelands current high quality singer/songwriter production line. The title track, "All I summon" is several guitars layer a folksy/poppy song that from the very first listen embeds itself in you head and stays there for hours to come. In fact so infectious is the chorus hook, that for a short while I was convinced it was a cover of something I'd heard before... its not, its just the mark of a very well written song. This could easily be a great single that could hold its own with anybody, given the right exposure. The only redisual aftertaste the song leaves (apart from my family, rather annoyingly humming the chorus, hours after I played it) is that Conor records using a fairly spartan layer of bass guitar, acoustic guitar and occassional electric/lead/slide guitar dubs...but no drums and a quite a few musical spaces. This kind of works on "All I summon" and keeps it nice and rootsy almost busker style, but after listening to a few more tracks - which I would recommend - such as "Chomh Fada Lem' Bheo" (which is a song expertly sung in a foreign language - I'm guessing Celtic but I have to plead ignorance to it) and "Keep me alive", I found myself desperately wanting to hear a bigger, fuller band behind him and maybe some more serious production to get going, which they seem to be crying out for and clearly deserve. For my taste, the occassional sparsness of instrumentation doesn't necessarily do full justice to the obvious quality of the songwriting.
Conor makes extremely well crafted, memorably catchy songs that are quaint, folksy and thoughful. I like his songwriting very much, but to elivate him from what is becoming a bit of a crowded house, style-wise, and stand out more to the mainstream, perhaps may require a fuller backing band (I would pay good money for some of those apples) ...That said - great songs.
First and foremost what *is* a 'Chitlin Circuit' ? Well by the wonders of modern technology, Wikipedia can tell me that it was the collective name given to venues in the southern States of America that showcased the best of black America from Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington to Aretha Franklin and even Jimi Hendrix. So what have four white guys from South East London have in common with the name? Not a lot it seems, other than having a minor fixation with the afore-mentioned Mr Hendrix. They are really into their retro look & sound of late 60's early 70's Hendrix/Kossoff era blues-rock rather than the soul, jazz and delta blues implied by the name
I have been given a single track to review by the band (not the venues, unfortunately) The Chitlin Circuit, a demo called 'Out Of My Mind'. Those of you that have read my reviews already will know, that I will call it straight so, here it is. What you have on Out of my mind is a fairly limp slab of blues/funk rock. It tries hard but it never really gets off the ground. It culminates in what sounds like a hundred pub/rock jams I've heard over the years up and down the country. Despite the best efforts of Dario on the lead guitar, emulating his heroes and noodling expertly for all he's worth, towards the end the song, it remains quite unremarkable. The song is ultimately killed off for me by Joe's vocal which remains slightly flat and strained throughout. Don't get me wrong, I like a bit of retro blues-rock, so undeterred I have had a nose through the remainder of TCC's offerings on Myspace and all, it seems, is not lost. Joes vocals thrive a little better in a more relaxed atmosphere, and finds his mojo. Yes Dario's guitar-hero noodles appear with regular frequency but I guess thats the Hendrix/Kossof/Page way. There are better executed songs that you can unearth if you look, such as 'Plot Loss' and 'Myself'.
Have a listen to what current retro rockers Black Stone Cherry or Rosehill Drive are doing in this genre and you will see that as far as 'Out Of My Mind' goes, there's a good idea in what The Chitlin Circuit are trying to do but there's still an aweful lot of work left to do.
Hailing from Dundee, Colour-Coded are four piece, jangly guitared indie/pop flavoured band, hot on the footsteps of artists such as those other leaders of the genre, Snowpatrol, Athlete, Coldplay,Dirty Pretty things and co. Listening through the well crafted, well thought out tracks, such as 'My Legend' and 'What we want' you get dragged into the ethereal and quite intimate vibe that they create and the quality of the vocals of Dave Broon keep you hooked into the songs. Broon has a singing quality which to me is reminiscent of burgeoning John Rzeznik of The Goo Goo Dolls circa 'Iris' (trust me, thats a good thing... if you don't know them, look them up). The feel of intimacy and heartfelt performing of the songs works very well for the style and I would recommend a listen. Despite their recordings sounding so timid they may have been done in someones front room, you will feel the warmth and enjoy their charm.
For the future, a word of caution. Colour-Coded have found their niche sound and, with some tightening up and a decent recording behind them, are on the starting blocks of being a decent band. But (and there's always a but) they are in a genre that has quite a number of million-selling big dogs in its backyard. They may now, need to 'up-the-anti' from being the 5 nice lads from Dundee making some nice tunes, to something a bit more corperate and confident in presentation if they want to be heard over the barking.Well worth checking out.
Review by Drumhead
RANK: **** 4 out of 6
you can check out this band at
www.myspace.com/colourcoded
CONOR FURLONG
Whelans January 8th 2008
Conor Furlong introduced a very strange hybrid of mad noises to his audience in Whelans this Monday night. While he is clearly trying to do something different with his performance (by singing along to a strangely put together backing track); the idea came off with nothing more than a dim headache for the unfortunate listening. Conor's performance was like an amateur air-guitar player singing along to some badly-produced recordings. Maybe with a little more confidence Conor might actually let us hear him and impress us this way, but this time we unfortunate did not hear anything even mildly musical.
This singer/songwriter album is full of strong and expressive guitar sounds, blended gently with Colm’s assuredly passionate voice.This mix is complimented by his soft lyrics and mild rock notes, along with his finely developed finger guitar playing techniques. Some of Colm’s faster tracks throw a new element to his song writing skills, with more contemporary and engagingly upbeat melodies. This album is a great addition to any collection.
While this collection of songs balance some promising musical sounds, they are much varied, and promote quite a disorganized and crowded sequence. Most of the songs are lyrically dominated, with the vocals taking most of the dynamic highlights. However, despite this, the tracks do provide some catchy numbers with decent melodies and the promise of an active live performance
Ceoltoir announced their album launch in Whelans with a flood of musical tastes from the past students of their Trad course in Ballyfermot College of Further Education. Though most of the acts had to keep their appearance to a minimum, the show was an overwhelming introduction to the subtle flavors of the contemporary Irish Trad scene and we would like to see more.
Fast jigs and reels were promoted by precision and incredible whistle tempo, and these speeding drives were energized by slow low Bodhran beats and running high mandolin kicks. The arrangement of this alluring collection saw everything from energetic full band ballads to a captivating harp solo.
The main act saw Caoimhe Hogarty play both accompanied and acapelo tracks, where the instruments were well arranged to allow her powerful voice to achieve the highest points alone. The high and low ends of this Trad performance were vastly separated from each other, giving the complicated and purposeful task to the melody, to run its mesmerizing compliance between the two. Accomplished flawlessly, the musicians demonstrated that the Irish Trad scene is not only alive and active, but still young and with many places to go.
Clair Rooney is a top example of the new generation of those entrepreneuring young female vocalists who are not afraid of their own voice. Playing mostly covers, her voice hits out loud thrilling high notes and then challenges the deeper, softer and more emotive tracks. She brings a jazzy, funky female sound to each song and her voice would work well with a full band to charge her adapting, varying vocal charisma. There are no lazy moments to Clair’s performance, and the lyrics are drenched with changing and seductive dynamics.
LIVE AT THE Áras Chrónáin CLONDALKIN, DUBLIN MAY 2nd 07
photo by musicreveiw
Caoimhe is a 29 year old singer from Dublin in ireland and has a gift in singing old traditional and folk tunes with a twist of her own original touch to them. Caoimhestarted off with great version of "Both sides of tweed" a very soft moving folk song and sang it so well you could her a pin drop in the venue she captured the audience with her mesmerising voice and gifted vocal ability, as Caoimhe progressed through the night with other songs like "sea shanty" her set went down very well, it would be great to hear some original music from this artist the vocal talent is definitely there!
This debut ep from Cascade has all the riches of the coming of a great band with a ambient indie sound and its hypnotic melodies reminds me of a early 90's band but cant put my finger on it, one tune on the Ep was paticulary good with a uplifting melody and radio friendly approch called "Chroma Key" would give alot of Dublin bands a run for there money at the moment the Ep is self recorded and mixed by the band themselfs and thumbs up for the courageuos effort looking forward for the next one due out in November, this one goes into the MUSICREVEIW collection.
This is an album with a lot of mood changes and different styles of music from country blues to soft jazz tunes with some fantastic vocals straight from the heart. “HOME” This first track has a great feeling coming from the vocals with a blues tone soaked in passion, guitar on this track is great with some nice tricky melodies giving off a country blues feel. “ITCH” Sounds great with a nice uplifting melody. “GREY SKY BLUE” This has nice vocals that creep in with the piano, kind of a Lennon feel but very well composed and the lyrics are fantastic with a nice sing a long theme. “SLOW MY WHEELS” Good dynamic tune with a great chorus and nice groove in the verses with a flamenco feel kicking in to a country rock tune. “ APOLOGISE” This song kicks in with a nice piano theme a real soft love song with some great lyrics and you can hear the passion from the vocals. “SO WRONG” This is a cool short country blues song with a great catchy chorus you will be singing after it is finished. “WE’LL SEE” The vocals sound fantastic on this track cutting through the back street jazz sound and a real sleazy trombone in the mix. “STANDING ON MY OWN TWO FEET” This tune gives off a real gospel feel from the vocals backed up with some great blues slide guitar. “FLYING” The vocals stand out in this tune with some great dynamics and nice lyrics to back up the soft melody. “BIRD IN A CAGE” This final song on the album is a beautiful love song with harmonic vocals and a nice jazz feel on the piano what a nice treat from a wonderful album by Celine Carroll.
Here is a up and coming artist from Toledo, Ohio,USA, with his new Ep ONE OF THOSE DAY'S with a mixture of funk and r&b style grooves and has the voice to back it up, a real cool cat with songs like "SLOW DOWN" and "ONE OF THOSE DAY'S" you can feel how much funk Chavar has running in his veins, excellent stuff.
SLOW DOWN - A cool funky beat in this tune with nice groove coming from the gutair, vocals have a great tone with funk elements, a good easy listener with plenty of motion to make you want to dance, sounds great.
WHAT'S YOUR NAME - A laid back tune with a r&b feel to it, gutair has a cool blues feel coming from the riff, vocals comes across with a r&b tone yet very relaxed through out the song with some good lyrics to add to it.
A EMERGING STAR FROM THE U.K WITH EXCELLENT LYRICS AND HAS SUPERB VOCALS TO BACK THEM UP.
WAITING FOR SOMETHING - This has a nice melody with great vocal and lyrics, the gutair picking is very hypnotic, a nice concept tune.
MANNEQUIN - Vocals are excellent they give the music a nice lifting feel, a real catchy number, strings sound great in the background they give the song a nice compliment.
Here is a ep with all the flavors of hip hop with freestyle beat box mixes and an Irish twist on the vocals, this three track ep has a old school look with the a and b mix of Breakthrough and one in the middle for good measure it is raw and very well produced the vocals both from CMX and Tanya D gives a unique style makes you want to get piece of lino out and get down to do a few backspins thumbs up for this ep!
