Ormston House to host a Gig!

The 19th century Venetian inspired building on Patrick street is set to host a gig this Saturday night (28th), The beautiful building has seen many unsuccessful ventures/tenants come and go in the last few years. Recently the house has become a home for a gallery space, With various exhibitions of art and culture taking place, Tomorrow night sees an exhibition of music being laid on by the local record label "Out on a Limb". The night will showcase two of their acts as they release a Spilt 7" featuring Crayonsmith and cork outfit Elk.
The gig is BYOB, an interesting concept :) Tickets are €5 or €8 with a copy of the new record, First band at 8. Should be a great night.
Crayonsmith: Heaven In An Aeroplane by Out On A Limb Records
Elk: Wet Stars by Out On A Limb Records

The Certain Three Tour 2012, Bourkes Bar 19/01/2012 Review

Tonight I finally got down to Bourkes bar to witness the place in full gig mode, The bar has been hand picking some great acts of late and their Thursday night gigs are now firmly on the local gigging map.

Tonight saw the third annual instalment of The Certain Three Tour come to town, The last two occasions took place in dolans and each year brings some great unheard music to limerick and all around Ireland thanks to the booking agency "Word of Mouth".

This would be my first live listen to all three acts tonight, The bar was packed from early on as they had transformed the back bar into a gig cave, complete with black curtain covering the walls and a make shift wooden stage. The seating plan could have been better as they need to change from high stools to low seating all round, well for these acoustic gigs anyways to give people a chance to view the acts. Swiping a small stool from the bar below helped me out anyways.
First up on the bill was Puzzle Muteson, This is the alter ego of singer songwriter Terry Magson. The isle of Wight native accompanied by his guitar played a nice set of dreamy thom yorke esque songs. His haunting vocals filled the room now with bodies strewn about the place all at weird angles trying to catch a look at the stage. Terry has just brought out his debut album En Garde on the Bedroom Community label, you can hear more over at his bandcamp page here www.puzzlemuteson.com

Next up were The Lost Brothers, The duo Oisín from Navan and Mark from Omagh played a super set to a much enthralled crowd. They offer effortless guitar playing and super tales of their travels intertwined with superb harmonies with a hark back to alt county American style genre. They probably get this a lot but they compare a lot to the Everly Brothers, it was quite funny to hear them play "All I have to do is Dream" in a tribute to Phil Everlys 73rd birthday that night. Having said that you could draw comparisons with alot of acts from that era including hints of Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Dylan and also a comparison to an indielimerick favourite The Guggenheim Grotto They certainly look the folk part with eschewed hat and buddy holly glasses and tailored suits among them. It was great to witness them live and I can see why in this months Hotpress they were tipped as one of “The 50 Irish Acts You Have To Hear”, I managed to pick up their two studio albums including their latest release "So Long John Fante". Looking forward to delving into their sound a bit
more.


Last up was Katie Kim, I had heard a lot about this girl and all good things let me tell you. Her last outing in Limerick was at the now not in use St.Johns Church (Daghda Dance Space). By all accounts Katie Kim stole the show that night in the church with Donal Dineen providing a superb plethora of visuals as a backdrop to her vocals. Tonight saw Katie minus band and visuals. Just a chair, Guitar , loop pedals and a glass of wine. It was nice to see such an intimate performance, She has a very haunting quality to her voice or should I say the microphone effect pedal has. I could see a duet with the first act working out really well as the comparisons were quite similar. I like that she throws in the odd quirky tone into her vocals and she has a super talent on the guitar. She informed us that she had special cassette versions of her album on sale, but being someone who as crossed into 2012 I didn't see any point in purchasing. I Really enjoyed her experimentation with the looping vocals, look forward to catching her again with a full band on tow.

The night was a great success, For me the Lost Brothers made the night. It was great to witness these great acts in a bar in town for free. Thanks very much to Bourkes, Looking forward to the next gig!

Senakah Unveil New Video

Superb local outfit Senakah have just released a video for their new single Human Relations. The four piece have had a few changes of late including a name change from Seneca to Senakah, The excellent quality of music staying the same.

The official release date for the single is the 17th of February and the lads will be doing a hometown show in Dolans to coincide with the release. 2012 promises to be a great year for the band, looking forward to hearing the full album in due coarse, Keep an eye on them here.

The Certain Three Tour is Limerick Bound Again

The first Certain Three tour took place back in 2010 (I think) in dolans, Its a tour made up of excellent artists signed up to the Word of Mouth Agency. It showcases 3 acts and is a great opportunity to catch new bands. The 2010 tour (Review Here) introduced me to the brilliant O Emperor and Alessi's Ark both of which are still regulars on the indielimerick ipod.

Last year saw the tour head to Dolans once more showcasing The Ambience Affair, We Cut Corners and local band Windings.

2012 see the tour take in a new venue in the form of Bourkes Bar, The line up this year is Katie Kim, The Lost Brothers and Puzzle Muteson. Thursday the 19th of January will hopefully be a chance to witness some new bands. Looking forward to it!!

Albums Worth Listening to in January 2012



L-R

The War on Drugs - Slave Ambient
The Staves - Mexico EP
Fuerteventura - Russian red
The Black Keys - El Camino
Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo
We Cut Corners - Today I Realised I Could Go Home Backwards

As Always Suggestions Very Welcome!

Brad Pitt Light Orchestra live at Dolans 28/12/2011 Review

BPLO seem to be having an annual bash in dolans to see out the year, Its been 2 years since I last caught the band live and its always a pleasure,

Tonight saw local young band Moscow Metro join them on the billing as the support act and also Mister Justin, The upstairs in dolans was mobbed with people and with still 2 hours to go before the gig. BPLO clearly have a great local following and the numbers tonight proves just that.

The first act Mister Justin played a handful of songs that I couldn't really hear due to the mass of people and their "How'd the Christmas go" conversations and then came Moscow Metro, This time with added drums which made the crowd sit up and listen a little. This band are going from strength to strength and tonight might not have been the clientele that would usually sample their type of music but they got a great reception. I am really looking forward to seeing how 2012 goes for Moscow Metro.
Setlist:
headlights
black honey
skinny love (Bon Iver cover)
westerberg
tunnel vision (Tuesday Blue cover)
venus
where it all ends
spirit of the city


BPLO clambered on stage to great applause, The blake siblings joined by a pletera of local talent on various instruments gave a great night of entertainment. Delighted they put in a seasonal song in the set in the form of an East17 cover :)
When you go to a BPLO gig you really get a performance, It is almost like witnessing a play and I love the theatrical nature of a lot of their tracks, The last time I saw them was the night they released their 2010 album Lowering the Tone(Review here), 2012 promises a new record from them, so fingers crossed. Cheers for another great night.

SetList:
Summit
We Walked On
Talking
Alibi
Grace Jones
Wake Up
Four out of Five
Soon
Tractor
Last of Me
First Dance
Stay Another Day (East17 Cover)
New Miracle
December
Millionaire
Devil & Me
All I Want Long
Time Rouge