Top Ten Albums of 2014 from Indielimerick

Another busy crazy year draws to a close, As you might have noticed the blog has been very quiet this year due to being very busy with work and also busy with our band 'Randolf & the Crokers' . We finally released our debut single Hangin' on the 12th of December and our debut video on the 18th of December (Check it out here) .
Very little gig reviews this year but I did attend some super gigs such as the Arctic Monkeys in Marley Park , The Pigtown Fling in the Crescent Hall , Fox Jaw releasing their album in Dolans , The Lost Brother album tour in Dolans and have yet to get around to posting about them but will when I have time.
Below are a few albums I really enjoyed over the year and kept coming back to, would love to hear what you enjoyed so be sure to leave a comment. Hope you have a great 2015 Cheers!

Beck - Morning Phase

Interpol - El Pintor

dREA - Bravest of All

The Black Keys - Turn Blue

The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream

Ryan Adams - Ryan Adams

The Lost Brothers - New Songs of Dawn and Dust

First Aid Kit - Stay Gold

Damien Rice – My Favourite Faded Fantasy

Fox Jaw - Ghost's Parade

 

Albums Worth Checking out in Nov 2014

Royal Blood - Royal Blood

Ben Howard – I Forget Where We Were

Anna Mitchell - Fall Like That'

Damien Rice – My Favourite Faded Fantasy

The Young Folk – The Little Battle

She & Him - Classics

Albums Worth Checking out in October 2014

Rhob Cunningham - The Window and Day

The Coral - The Curse Of Love

Johnny Marr - Playland

John Blek - Cutting Room Floor

Neil Young - Storytone

Hozier - Hozier

Albums Worth Checking out in September 2014

The Pigtown Fling

Fox Jaw - Ghost's Parade

Ryan Adams - Ryan Adams

Ethan Johns - The Reckoning

Interpol - ElPintor

The Lost Brothers - New Songs of Dawn and Dust

Albums Worth Checking out in August 2014

The Gaslight Anthem – Get Hurt

The New Pornographers – Brill Bruisers

Ryan Adams - 1984

First Aid Kit - Stay Gold

The Magic Numbers - Alias

Carswell & Hope - A Hunger

Albums Worth Checking out in Jul 2014

Morrissey – World Peace Is None of Your Business

Manic Street Preachers – Futurology

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – CSNY 1974

King Creosote – From Scotland With Love

SaintSeneca - Dark Arc

Angus And Julia Stone – Angus And Julia Stone 

dREA live at Cobblestone Joes 16/05/2014 Review

Managed to check out local band dREA launch their album in Cobblestone Joes at the start of the month. The 11 tracks 'Bravest of All' is a superb record and well worth checking out. The vocal layering and massive amount of instruments played throughout the album is simply excellent. Its an album you will constantly be going back to for another listen and hear another superb inclusion in the song structures.

Lead singer Damien Drea's voice is a deep almost Matt Berninger type vibe adding a darkness to the tracks. Had the pleasure of heading along to the acoustic launch of the album the week previous and then tonight we saw the band giving the songs welly on front of packed venue. 

Do yourself a favour and go buy the album and go check them out live, Cheers for a great night of music!!

SetList:

Bravest of All

Through the Wire

Voice on the Road

Lost in the Water

Crystals

Science

Fear

To the River

Animal

Father is a Drummer

Violence

Kasabian live at The Big Top , Limerick 16/05/2014 Review

So this years Glastonbury headliners Kasabian played down the local Milk Market recently , What a treat to have such a high profile act call in to us. The band have played in Dolans on two other occasions and love to come back to the city before hitting every festival known to man for the summer. The hard working lads have just brought out there 5th studio album "48:13" titled due to the running time.
Been to see them many festivals including last year in Marley Park, The always bring a great energy and showmanship to a gig. The party atmosphere was in full swing in the big top in limerick on the night in question and the crowd got more into as the night went on, The new tracks are very much party anthems relying heavily on dancer beats going back to their routes. They work perfect on a live setting and as we saw clearly on the night.
Waterford band O Emperor opened up proceeding , unfortunately the early start and small crowd and festival sound rig didn't really show how brilliant this band are, There latest album is a must have and do go see them live if you get a chance over the summer.
As you will see below in the set the band left a few festival classics right to the end and the tent was well and truly hopping by the end of the night. Hopefully they will be back before another string of summer dates down the line, Cheers for a great night!

Setlist:

1. Bumblebeee
2. Shoot the Runner
3. Underdog
4. Fast Fuse
5. Days Are Forgotten
6. eez-eh
7. Where Did All the Love Go?
8. Running Battle
9. Take Aim  (Snippet of "The Doberman")
10. Stevie 
11. Club Foot
12. Re‐Wired
13. Empire
14. Fire
Encore:
15. Switchblade Smiles
16. Vlad the Impaler
17. Praise You  (Fatboy Slim cover)
18. L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever)

Albums Worth Checking out in June 2014

Sharon Van Etten - Are We There
Jack White - Lazaretto
Neil Young - A Letter Home  
Paul Weller – More Modern Classics
Kasabian - 38:13
The Phantom Band – Strange Friend

Albums Worth Listening to in May 2014

L-R

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Only Run
Pixies – Indie Cindy
dREA - The Bravest of All
The Black Keys - Turn Blue
Conor Oberst – Upside Down Mountain
Coldplay - Ghost Stories

We Cut Corners live at Cobblestone Joes 02/05/2014 Review

Managed to catch the superb We Cut Corners recently as they headlined the wonderfully newly refurbished Cobblestone Joes last friday night.
The show was run by Seoda Shows which is now running gigs throughout the city and tonight saw the Dublin duo take to the stage as they just released their second album offering 'Think Nothing'. I picked up a copy of the album in vinyl form at the gig , Its an amazing quality record which included a cd copy within the sleeve (Nice touch). The artwork and weight of the vinyl is excellent and no expense was spared. Their debut album 'Today I Realised the I Could Go Home Backwards’ was nominated for a choice music prize and I have no doubt the new record will reach the same heights.
They played a stormer of a set to a packed crowd , The lead singer , Guitarist and drummer Conall O’Breachain puts an amazing amount of energy into the live performance. I suppose you would have to when your playing most of the instruments. Go check them out live if you get a chance! Cheers for a great night.

Albums Worth Listening to in April 2014

We Cut Corners - Think Nothing
Printer Clips - The Left Sleeve EP
Ingrid Michaelson - Lights Out
Wilko Johnson & Rodger Daltrey - Going Back Home
Eels - The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett
Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots

Albums Worth Listening to in March 2014

L-R

Elbow - The Take Off and Landing of Everything

Windings/Land Lovers - Split EP (Buy Here)

We Are Scientist - TV en Francais

Sun Kil Moon - Benji

Band of Horses - Acoustic at the Ryman

Wild Beasts - Present Tense

Suggestion very welcome!

Albums Worth Listening to in February 2014

 

L-R

Beck - Morning Phase

Bombay Bicycle Club - So Long, See You Tomorrow

Hard Working Americans - Hard Working Americans

Hawk- The Sum of All Things (Buy Here)

Lisa O'Neill - Same Cloth or Not

Patrick Freeman - Perfect Fit (Buy Here)

 

As Always Suggestions Very Welcome!

Girl Band live at Bourkes 30/01/2014

Managed to catch Dublin outfit Girl Band in Bourkes last night, These lads sure pack a punch!
The musical equivalent of jumping head first into the cold sea. The massive loud sound is backed up by a singer who has no care for his vocal chords, The guitarist and bassist were equipped with a huge armament of pedals adding to the wonderful chaos with various loops and distortions. The foundations of Bourkes were well and truly tested by this young quartet as they smashed through their set. Extremely enjoyable to watch this energy fest, check out the clip below for a sample of it. Cheers Lads!

Albums Worth Listening to in January 2014

L-R

Yann Ryan - Apple Picking EP (Check out the local lads ep here)

James Vincent McMorrow - Post Tropical

Little Mammoths - Shoot the Crows (Free album here)

Boy & Bear - Harlequin Dream

Cat Dowling - The Believer
Harrison & the Devil - Cat Matters (Buy the Galway bands ep here)

Suggestions as always welcome!

Teenage Kicks coming to Limerick

RTE are bringing out a new TV series akin to School of Rock, They will be getting a band together made up of Limerick young wans aged 16-14. The criteria is below :

Are you from Limerick? Aged 16-24? Do you sing, rap or play a musical instrument? If so, the producers of a new RTÉ TV series want to meet you on SATURDAY, 8TH FEBRUARY in the Limerick School of Music, Mulgrave Street.
‘TEENAGE KICKS’ follows musician, and The Voice of Ireland coach, Bressie as he travels to Limerick with the goal of forming a band comprised of different musical talent.
For more information go to the TEENAGE KICKS Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/RTEteenagekicks

Eamonn Hehir live at Dolans 30/12/2013 Review

Apologies for the delay in putting this one on the blog, Just getting back into the swing of things after a great Christmas.
 

On the 29th of December a gigging tradition was renewed as local singer songwriter Eamonn Hehir assembled a band and played Dolans..

 A couple of Decembers have gone by without this tradition so it was great to see it back.

Support on the night came from another local singer songwriter by the name of Yann Ryan. Nine days before the gig yann had released a three track ep entitled 'Apple Picking'. I managed to pick up a copy on the night and I was very impressed by the quality. His relaxed story telling much like Fionn Regan with a voice similar to the style of Belle & Sebastian and nice plucking on an acoustic guitar made for a perfect opener. You can check out Yann over here.

 

Eamonn arrived on stage with his newly formed band slightly different from his last outing back in November 2012 to release his album 'The Flag Listeners'.  (Review) .

This time the line up comprised of John Steele on guitar , James Hanley on keys , Sean Fox on Bass and Tony Brennan on Drums with backing vocals from Siobhan O'Brien and Jenny MacMahon.

The band lashed into a 21 track set on front of a packed upstairs, The band being only newly formed played a blinder and looked like they had been playing for ages The set was mainly taken from the wonderful 2012 release and also some old classics from his Toucandance days and a cover from former band mate the late Des O'Dwyer.

The line up are hoping to play a few gigs around Limerick during 2014, It would be great to see another release too. Cheers for a cracking night!

 

Set: 

Downtown

Cold Year

Angels Share

California

Rider's Song

Things Will Happen

Before the Song was over

Dry Land

Restless Kind

Carpet

Little Man

Running Scared

People are Happy in Canada

Clapham Omnibus

Almost Drowning

Lincoln

Gates of Limbo

Steve Brodie took a Chance

Joe Cocker

Cat Stevens

Women on Trains