Fadin’ fader

New year, new thoughts.

This blog is now a year old and even though I didn’t blog very frequently. Happy enough so far.

Tune of the Crimbo period…

30th September…

Academy 2.

Alice In Chains Album Preview!

Apocalyptic

www.myspace.com/amusementparksonfire

Listen to ‘In Our Eyes’.

Loud.

Immense.

Actually listen to them all… fook me, APOF rule.

Tune!

I love the break down in the middle… build build build, crash, quiet, crash!! Then… the slowed down sequence towards the end…

Watch out for these dudes!

Life’s what you make it.

So it’s been almost two months. And what a two months.

Not only is this a mega piece of tunage, the sentiment is exactly what I took from my absent bloggy Ireland/ Oxegen/ Nottingham/ Devon/ NYC adventuring time, and what I go forth with from here on in.

Also, this video reminds me of those times when you are up all night, jabbering about the meaning of life and getting excited about tunes in someone’s gaff, and then you look outside and it’s bright, and people are going to work… ah.

Life’s what you make it indeed.

alice in chains return to form

Wowee, they have not let me down.

Alice In Chain’s new song is totally amazing. I gotta say, I was a little bit unsure as to how this new guy would work out in Layne’s shoes, but after their Metallica support at the Dublin leg of the Download fest a few years back, I was reassured that he would do the legacy justice.

He replicated Layne’s voice on old Chains tunes, obviously not perfectly, but pretty closely. While Jerry Cantrell, Mike Inez and Sean Kinney brought their timeless style to proceedings. And hiring a new vocalist for a band so revered for their vocal performance is a tricky thing, in some bands it would not have worked. But you gotta remember, Jerry Cantrell was and is the driving force behind most of the AIC songwriting, Layne wrote some of the lyrics and contributed to those amazing signature harmonies. So hearing Cantrell’s vocals predominantly on their new tune, A Looking In View, doesn’t surprise me. I’m pretty sure that’s the way it’s gonna go for the new stuff and William DuVall will continue to help out on live versions of the old stuff.

Many have said that any new AIC records would sound dated, watered down and would ruin the legacy. I disagree. I thought that Cantrell still had some really good stuff in him, and due all the reasons AIC fell apart in the mid 90′s, he never got a chance to really grow and evolve as a songwriter.

Particularly after hearing Degradation Trip in 2002, which was dedicated to Layne Staley, there was still a spark. I guess it kind of annoys me when people say that Alice In Chains are basically nothing without Layne. Yes, he was an integral part of what they were and in some ways gave a really great rock band it’s edge, but AIC are a sum of some amazing parts, and dismissing them as merely Layne’s band, does not do them any justice. Sean Kinney and Mike Inez are still there too. I sometimes get the impression that people figure that Jerry Cantrell ran off with the iconic name and hired some dudes to make him some cash. It’s still the same band, minus only one member, and lets not give Layne credit for more than he actually did in the original line up.

Phew! Some overdue AIC ranting of a sunny Friday morning there!

Pretty delighted with the new tune, they still manage to capture those urgent harmonies that made me fall in love with them in the first place. What a way to begin the Summer. This tune will be on my soundtrack for NYC August ’09 for sure.

Thanks to Karen Mason Blair for the use of the really great pic.

And here it is.

Artificial Flight

Check this out… I used to live with Jen, amazing pianist and gal in general. They played Whelans last Sunday week and it was a thoroughly engaging performance, the room stood so silently and still throughout. On the back of the launch of their fetching new website, they release this video.

Amazingly well filmed, not something you’d expect from an unsigned Irish artist, but Artificial Flight really do represent better things, fiercer choruses, bigger riffs. They are a pretty arresting outfit.

Sit up and take notice.

Best named band in the world are back! Plus Heart-melty tunage.

Betamax Format are BACK!!!!!!!!!!! Watch this space for future Club AC30 linkage.

Also… Swimming album title track ‘The Fireflow Trade’ is sending me to heavenly places!

Bought Hotpress today as I was waiting for Janette to arrive townwards and was unreal surprised to see a Sleep Thieves pic on page 28, from the Club AC30 gig back in  February… And the AC30 backdrop all bright and shiney in the background. Plus Sorcha tells me their new EP (launch next Wednesday in Whelans!) has similar pic on the sleeve!!! Woop!

Doesn’t take much to make me happy eh?!?!

And here is said Hotpress pic in all it’s glory…

Swimming release ‘The Fireflow Trade’

Had used up all my emusic credits for the month and then realised that I never downloaded the new Swimming album, after a year and a half of sheer anticipation of its release, it was ready for world consumption as of May 11th. Had to sort myself with an extra few download credits.

And it really lives up to the wee hype party I had long established in my head.

Only one listen in… surprising. I knew Panthalassa, Tigershark,  Crash the Current (my fav)and Crescents already. But the other 5 tracks are so varied and draw on millions of different obvious and not-so-obvious influences. Mesmirizing, emotional vocals and  hypnotic beats (well, drummer Peter Sampson is UK beatbox champion ’06, check out Petebox on YouTube!) …packed together with that intense thrashing guitar sound I love so much.

Title and last track, The Fireflow Trade particularly caused much blank and dazed euphoric staring at the stereo as it blasted out my open patio doors, over the Liffey,  in rush hour traffic this evening.

At last it’s mine.