Xmas Singles + music

FUNZO: 'This Christmas' – In aid of Barnardos

Funky & poptastic outfit ‘Funzo’ have decided to dedicate all proceeds from the sale of their First ever single ‘This Christmas’, towards Barnardos charity. 

The song itself is a delightful appetizer in the form of a Christmas tune, that will leave you hungry for the main course album, which the band have promised will be out in the new year. Lush the whole way and with mellow as can be harmonies and effortlessly catchy music throughout, we shall be hearing this on the radio in the Month of December with all the other legendary Xmas tunes.

*It is Funzo’s belief that during the season of goodwill, people will be keen to support the single release and help raise significant funds for Barnardos. For more info on the band please go to their facebook page

*If you would like to make a Charitable donation please see contact details for Barnardos below.

Or click here to donate

THE SAW DOCTORS// RED CORTINA (First Love Stays With You Forever)

Official Release Date: 3rd December 2010 (exclusively to iTunes). 100% of All proceeds go to St Vincent de Paul Society**.

One line review: 'Legendary band- legendary re- record'.

Red Cortina (First Love Stays With You Forever): A song about the first time you fell in love… As the lyric says: Christmas Party Seventy-Seven… Heart Beat Like An Earthly Tremor…. First Love Stays With You Forever……

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Eleanor McEvoy exclusive stream: SHIBBOLETH: captures ‘A devastating economic crisis’.

When Eleanor began write her new album, I’d Rather Go Blonde, Ireland was in the grips of severe winter weather and a devastating economic crisis. The 6th song on the album, Shibboleth, is especially relevant in light of the news of the bailout of the Irish government:

LISTEN TO THE EXCLUSIVE STREAM HERE: http://bit.ly/fbS52Z

One line review: "Wow".

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THE FRANK AND WALTERS Release new Xmas Single ‘Song for a Future Love’

Release new Single ‘Song for a Future Love’ On Dec 10th 2010 (FIFA RECORDS)

With Indie hits such as ‘Fashion Crisis Hits New York’ & ‘After All’ (which reached the top twenty in the UK Singles Chart, where it peaked at #11. The group also appeared on Top of the Pops in support of the single; it went as high as #5 in the Irish charts). Their music today is as relevant as any of the new pretenders on the block and only a handful of bands anywhere in the world can lay claim to such longevity of popularity. Catch the band revisiting Indie classics and new material from their forthcoming album set for release in 2011, at a list of December shows around the country.

Dates:
11.12 Liverpool, Zanzibar,
23.12 The Academy Dublin,?28.12 The INEC Killarney,
29.12 The Savoy Cork,
30.12 The Royal Theatre Castlebar, Co Mayo,?31.12 Dolans Warehouse, Limerick.

One line ( or two ) review: "do this band know how to write bad music? NO I didn't think so. Brilliant".

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Various artists: Mark Lamarr’s Rhythm & Blues Christmas- Out Now!

“A satisfying blend of hits and obscurities ranging from blues to jazz, but predominantly R&B”

With Shake, Rattle And Roll, The Beginners Guide To Reggae and Alternative ’60s under his belt, Mark Lamarr’s current Radio 2 slots are the self-explanatory Shake, Rattle And Roll and God’s Jukebox, an eclectic mix of hip hop, funk, country and gospel. Mark is also regularly called upon to present a radio show on Christmas Day and it is the R&B, blues, doo wop and jazz element of that show that is reflected in this selection of favourites drawn from his own collection.

The Ravens’ “White Christmas” and Mabel Scott’s “Boogie Woogie Santa Claus” reached #9 and #12 respectively on the R&B chart over the 1948 Christmas holiday period; Felix Gross’s “Love For Christmas” and The Oriole’s “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” both peaked at #9 a year later; and “Far Away Blues (Xmas Blues)”, which featured Little Esther and Mel Walker singing with the Johnny Otis Orchestra, was a #6 hit in 1950. The remainder of Mark’s selection is a mixture of familiar names (The Moonglows, Joe Turner, Jimmy Witherspoon, Lightnin’ Hopkins and Louis Armstrong, among others) and a smattering of less well known artists, all conspiring to make your seasonal holiday a Rhythm & Blues Christmas to remember. Check out: http://soundcloud.com/fantasticvoyage/louis-armstrong-cool-yule

One line review: "A necessity for the Xmas collection!"

Falling for Nick Howard..

Falling for Nick

The press release writes that : There's a little something special about Nick Howard. Usually we like to find out these things for ourselves, so off we went to have a listen, and low and behold, it does not lie.  The press Release does not Lie. He is finally here, the guy that can potentially rescue us from the drowning scores of singer songwriter hopefuls that just aim, shoot, fire and miss the target. Overhyped or under hyped, no one has really caught our attention quite like this guy. He already sounds like he has been here for years, he already sounds like he has arrived.


It is an actual Fact. Hello Nick Howard.


As an Award winning British Singer Songwriter, he produces a mild folk/pop sound that beckons toward a brave, new, post-emotional future. His new offering ‘Falling For You’ effortlessly creates gentle background music that sways like the waves and feels twice as cool.

go check out:

Cd's in the pile up- the good and the very good.

THE SAW DOCTORS; THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF..

The Saw Doctors recently released their seventh studio album: The Further adventures of... I have been hearing it on the radio the past few weeks, and was delighted to hear radio giants: Rte and Today Fm give this incredibly talented and durable Irish band airtime, except for the old reliables of course, and we can't really argue with that either. Their former releases never really garnered much airplay in the past after their successful well known favourites: “N17” & "I Useta Lover”. So this is clearly their second, third fourth wind at it and it seems to be going very well. 

That they are one of Ireland's biggest music exports, is perhaps not so much common knowledge, they even recently gathered the attention of US governors whilst on a tour of the States - where they sold out venues with over 2200 seating capacities. and they played a handful of Festivals over the summer including: V festival and Oxegen and are off to do a UK tour in the coming weeks where I believe they have also nearly sold out Sheperds Bush Empire!

The album in its entirety is a collection of old and new sounds and should prove as a great reintroduction to the band. Fuelled with mid-tempo folk rock and melody along with the unmistakeable vocals of Davy Carton & Leo Moran, the record flows effortlessly. What I always loved about this band is their ability to base their tracks on stories of Irish life, telling tales about the confinements of living and loving in a small rural town in Ireland. ( Tuam, Galway )

Here is an album that occupies a distinct ‘Saw Doctors’ sound but added with clever production and a shot of youthful vibrancy in their newest addition to the band (Drummer and co- writer Eimhin Cradock). With a lifetime achievement under the belt already, International sell out shows, the album itself shooting to No. 1 in its first week (and still remains in the Top Charts over a month later) and adorning loyal fans throughout the years, the sky is the limit for this wholesome Irish Rock band.

Stand out tracks: Be Yourself,  Friday Town & WELL BYES.:

GROOVE ARMADA; WHITE LIGHT

Black Light has a companion set, the flickering 'White Light' containing nine tracks that complement the 11 of its immediate predecessor. In Black Light there was indeed flashes of genuine genius- so White Light - the remixed version is not any different. The stand out track for me is still  History,  which features a brilliant performance from a chart-topping Mr. Will Young.  

These aren’t remixes of what came before, more reinterpretations and a sequencing moving the album in a new direction – one that leads to instant gratification, whereas before some of these cuts were harder work.  Let  no mistake be made, White Light is an essential addition to Groove Armada’s sizeable catalogue; stupendous. here is the band playing HISTORY live on Jonathan Ross:

and last but not least::

This has been sitting on my desk for a while now. BUSTIN OUT: ‘Bustin’ Out 1983 – New Wave To New Beat Volume 3’ is the third installment in veteran DJ Mike Maguire’s sparkling, ongoing series chronicling the seismic developments in electronic based music through the often misrepresented  1980s.

This collection takes a microscopic looks on 1983, when the fallout from the previous year’s ‘Planet Rock’ spawned electro funk in tandem with the emerging hip hop and graffiti cultures, while electronic developments started infiltrating many more stratas of new music, whether disco, punk or even mainstream.

Steering clear of the obvious route the set kicks off with electro-punk poetess Anne Clark from Croydon, proceeding with an atmospheric mix of legendary film director-composer John Carpenter’s theme to ‘Assault On Precinct 13’, before hitting New York City’s boiling electro scene with Special Request’s ‘Salsa Smurf’ and later the Jonzun Crew’s ‘We Are The Jonzun Crew’, while Downtown is represented by Liquid Liquid‘s ‘Optimo’. New York’s clubs also massively influenced New Order, as beautifully shown on their ‘Power, Corruption And Lies’ album, represented here by the grand melancholy of ‘Your Silent Face’, while San Francisco’s innovative electronic movement is represented by Twilight 22 [formed by Stevie Wonder’s former synth programmer Gordon Bahary].

Rather than focusing entirely on US developments, the set carries on its tradition of exploring Europe’s often darker use of the new technology, including Belgium’s Front 242 and The Neon Judgement, Denmark’s Laid Back with the enigmatic electro of ‘White Horse’, German goth-punks Xmal Deutschland, while Koto’s dub of ‘Chinese Revenge’ spotlights the burgeoning Italo disco movement. Another standout track comes from German synth duo The Unknown Cases fronted by legendary former Traffic percussionist Reebop Kwaku Baah on the rousing Afro-electro of ‘Masimba Bele’. After such a potent, multi-strained hotbed, the UK’s Cocteau Twins make the perfect finale.

1983 was as unpredictable as it was exciting, with musical boundaries falling all the time and clubland on fire with the oddest anthems. At the time the word buzzing around New York summed everything up: fresh. Same goes for the latest gem to appear in this wonderful series, telling the whole story in the celebratory spirit of that amazing era. This Cd is a sonic gem.

Year Zero- Impossible Oddities. THE ORB

Year Zero is set to release a collection of tracks from the early '90s label WAU! Mr. Modo, entitled Impossible Oddities. on Oct 22nd.

Founded at the end of the 1980s by Alex Paterson of The Orb and ex-Killing Joke bassist Martin Glover, AKA Youth, WAU! Mr. Modo was one of the first labels devoted to acid house, dub and ambient. In addition to The Orb, the imprint housed Sun Electric and often overlooked artists like Paradise X and STP Twentythree. The basis of WAU's artistic ethic was to value sampling over conventional production methods. "We set about sampling our record collections and creating new music with a new vocabulary," says Glover. "We practically got rid of all musicians and created entire tracks from collaging other records."

Impossible Oddities collects almost 40 of the label's tunes, including a previously unreleased version of The Orb's classic "Little Fluffy Clouds." Slated for release late next month, the package consists of three discs, one of which is mixed by The Orb.

Check out LITTLE FLUFFY CLOUDS:::

THE CLOCK- It's their time again. ( The Frank & Walters )

Let us cast our minds back to the early nineties, when one Cork-based band The Frank and Walters- first burst onto the indie scene before the double whammy of grunge and Brit-pop came along to dilute the indie world and onto the commercial limelight. When it was still possible for bands to spend time crafting their music without being told how many sales they had to reach to become viably successful- the golden age of indie music. Learn your craft, work it and make your money from it.

With Indie hits such as ‘Fashion Crisis Hits New York’ & ‘After All’ (which reached the top twenty in the UK Singles Chart, where it peaked at #11. The group also appeared on Top of the Pops in support of the single; it went as high as #5 in the Irish charts). The band: Paul Linehan (Lead vocal & bass), Ashley Keating- (Drums) & Kevin Pedreschi (lead Guitar) took the band name in honor of two eccentric Cork characters. Two decades on from the release of their very first record, and the Franks continue to defy expectations.

The new single The Clock is a punchy, Indie Pop delight that verifies that this band are still in the possession of something rather special- what so many new bands search for- a unique ability and capability to write and record great sounding Indie Pop classics. their impending album can not come any sooner.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Frank-and-Walters-Official/137109879634722?ref=ts

Constant delight on Constant Sorrow release.

This compilation is A 'Must have' for Folk appreciators, enthusiasts and general music lovers.

Lets go back to a time when Brother acts were immensely important among the roots of bluegrass. And to recordings that featured the most intricate musical interplay and vocal harmonies ever heard. 

As a direct result of the enormous growth of the recording industry in America in the 1920s and 1930s, many rural markets were exploited by the early phonograph companies. It was out of this music that bluegrass evolved. 

And artists such as:

The Stanley Brothers (Ralph and Carter) formed their Clinch Mountain Boys in 1946 in emulation of Monroe’s new Blue Grass Boys. The brothers’ legacy has been acknowledged by Emmylou Harris, and Ralph continues to inspire at the age of 83, reaching a whole new audience through his involvement with the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack.

Charmingly known as “Old Time Music” or just “Old Timey”, the hillbilly precursor of bluegrass did indeed have a long history stretching back across the Atlantic to the pre-record folk music of Britain and Victorian parlour songs

This marvelous cd includes:  Uncle Dave Macon, Mainer's Mountaineers, The Delmore Brothers, The Carlisle Brothers, Roy Hall’s Blue Ridge Entertainers, Jimmie Skinner, The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, Jim Eanes & The Shenandoah Valley Boys, Mac Wiseman, The McCormick Brothers, Joe Maphis and Jimmy Martin. Classic bluegrass numbers include “I'm A Man Of Constant Sorrow”, “Footprints In The Snow”, “Orange Blossom Special”, “I'll Fly Away”, “Angel Band” and “Feudin' Banjos”-

May oh May what gal: Imelda May

Is there any thing bad one can say about this lady? no. She deserves every last bit of success she gets.

Since releasing her debut album 'Love Tattoo' in 2008,  to say that things have taken off for Liberties lady Imelda May would be the understatement of the year.  Platinum sales, Sold out shows and performing to a crowd loving Electric Picnic and alongside Jeff Beck at the Grammys in the intervening two years, Imelda is now on the cusp of stardom. And rightly so.

With the routinely back stories of paying ones dues while slumming it in pubs and bars of all shapes and sizes, Imelda May has been described as a lounge singer with a difference, but here is a MEGA STAR in the making. 

Joined by a superbly brilliant, flawlessly talented band, of snappy basslines, roaring Guitar licks and smooth as a thump in the night drum lines, Imelda may is not so much a solo act - more a part of something that only happens in certain musical lifetimes. 

LEGEND.

Mixing 1950s rock and roll influences with country western vibes, Imelda and band echo the 50's and 60's atmosphere of dance till you drop and can't stop, and in times like this, its just what the doctor ordered.

That there is nothing truly original in this music is a fair enough equation, but with all the right ingredients, and looks to match, Imelda May will surely rise and rise, we all need a little 1950's- and who better to reintroduce it that Lady Cool herself. Word of advice, you have GOT TO SEE HER LIVE SHOW- the best gig I have seen all year, was at Electric Picnic. A very proud to be Irish Moment.  www.imeldamay.com

if you haven't bought her latest album yet: you better get a move on:
here is her latest single: Mayhem

McEvoy back in ernest with superb album

Almost twenty years since that faithful day when Eleanor McEvoy was found by Tom Zutaut A & R from Geffen Records, who had previously signed Guns & Roses, Motley Crew, and Edie Brickell, and offered McEvoy a worldwide recording deal after watching her perform at The Baggot Inn in Dublin. The same week McEvoy also found out that her song ‘A Woman’s Heart’ was to feature on a compilation album of irish female artists, this launching her into the eyes and ears of many a House wife and Mammy the world over. Love that or hate it, McEvoy though, even then, always seemed more relevant than many of her counterparts on the album. And today, she is still focusing hard on music and in her eight studio album I think its safe to say that she is trying to remove the footprint that Womans Heart laid out, and imprinting the fact that she is so much more that the winsome song that helped in catapulting her into the spot light. 

Eleanor McEvoy- hones in her unique craft on this latest release.

Armed with a unique ability of writing songs with memorable melodies and honest lyrics. Her new album ‘I’d Rather Go Blonde’ is a slow burning triumph. The first single from the album ‘Look Like Me’ is an upbeat track with minimalist production and is about being yourself and conforming to what others think, pretty much summing up this acts musical stance and attitude.

It has the typical religious references on ‘Deliver Me’ as 'Precious Little' had way back, but on Deliver Me, it appears more outright and honest. True. A statement more so than a remark. Here we see a more mature attitude.

One of the endearing things about Eleanor McEvoy is that throughout her career she has never tried to change her vocal style, letting her accent comes across- however this may hinder or alienate higher levels that this album might reach. With so many artists singing outside their vernacular in order to get hopes in of TV/Film Placements. So perhaps a more acutely tuned resistance in this would have helped the cause a little.  As the album boasts incredible melody and vocals throughout. Some which would fit finely on Tv.

At the end of the day, McEvoy is a real and relevant artist. Who shudders under the limelight and almost refuses the glare. But I fear that in todays market place, she needs to glimmer a little more. Having said that it would defy the whole concept of the current album.

A close encounter with McEvoy will show you what she is made of: 

Oct 8th , She plays an intimate solo show in the Sugar Club.

www.eleanormcevoy.com