Susan Enan - New Album

There is this beautiful Irish/UK/ now New Yorker I found a few years ago. I bought her EP and on it was a beautiful little tune called Moonlight [wma]which I adore. I love the lyrics, simplicity and the mood of the song. I have made wonderful love to this tune in the past. She has an album out I will be buying! Here are the details from the artist herself.

Directly lifted from her recent MySpace bulletin......

"I am very happy to announce that the new album (called 'Plainsong') will be released this Spring! (And since it is spring already that's not long at all.)

It will be available to buy and download at www.susanenan.com.
There is something exciting about keeping it simple to begin with. My brother (the tech whiz) is setting up the store and my parents will be sending the packages off from the family home I grew up in back in England. (The village post office has been warned!) It will also be available from itunes/amazon etc but that takes a few weeks to set up.

I'll be flying over the UK at the end of April for the mastering/manufacturing and to help with the store, then flying back to New York to try to work out what on earth we do next!

I'll keep you posted on the developments.
More news soon,
Susan"

I figure it's time to talk about a song written about making a mixtape. The song is on the Frames first album: Fitzcaraldo which I have been listening to in the car. Your face the closing track is as close to a perfect love song as you can ever get.


Your Face

I was thinking about your face
Rolling up the river
I was worried what you thought
And I'm sorry if I can't remember
But there's no time for crying
Only time for trying now
I remember your name
'Cause you sang it to me often
I was lying down beside
The river where we met
And now you face is hiding something
Something is burning
And I'm gonna wait for you
I've got to send this tape to you
And I'm gonna wait for you
'Cause I know something about you
Something about the things you do
Something about your voice
That reams in the good stars
It reams in the good stars
There's a road that follows everywhere you go
I stole your golden chaser
But I never meant to steal
Its not in my nature
But if you try again I'll fall
And if you want to save it all
Then all you have to do is give
Give me that look again
Give me that look
'Cause I'm gonna wait for you
I've got to send this tape to you
And I'm gonna wait for you

The frames - Your Face [BUY] [Website]

Mixtape from my FRIENDS

I asked my friends (both local and online) for the name of their favourite song either in the present or of all time. The list generated was very interesting. It ranges from pop to rock......from country to metal. A very nice mix of tunes in here!

Friends Mixtape

1. Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars
2. The Cure - Just Like Heaven
3. Regina Spektor - Samson
4. Paulo Nutini - Last Request
5. Sixx AM - Life is Beautiful
6. Breaking Benjamin - Dance With the Devil
7. Bon Jovi - Lay Your Hands On ME
8. The Jeff Healy Band - Angel Eyes
9. Keith Urban - Shrine
10. Alison Krauss - When You Say Nothing At All
11. LeAnn Rimes - How Do I Live?
12. The Beatles - With A Little Help From My Friends
13. Cat Stevens - Peace Train
14. Cara Dillon - Here's A Health
15. Sarah McLaughlin - Ice Cream
16. Chris Cornell - Seasons
17. Placebo - Wihout You I Am Nothing
18. Queens Of The Stone Age - Make It With Chu

If anyone reading this wants a CD copy of any of the mixtape lists I post about feel free to contact me and I'll send it out. Email is over there ----->>>>>

Sixx AM - Life is Beautiful



Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars (Alternative Video - Greys Anatomy)





Regina Spektor - Samson





Placebo ft David Bowie - Without You I'm Nothing

David Rovics - Needs to be Respected

I found the music of David Rovics about 2 years ago. I'll let him describe himself taken from his myspace page:

"I'm a musician, I like to write songs about how the world is going to hell and what people are trying to do about it. I spend much of my time playing concerts throughout North America, Europe and occasionally elsewhere. I have a lovely daughter. I'm polyamorous. I like hot tubs, good weed, good espresso, old-growth forests, mass social upheaval, and probably a few other things, and when I'm not on tour I'm often to be found at home in Portland, Oregon."

His music is inspirational, funny at times, tragic at other times, intelligent and controversial. The style of folk music may not suit many listeners. I recommend all of you to pop over to his myspace, website or his blog, download a few tunes including Falluja (his best song in my opinion) and if possible donate to his cause.










David Rovics - Soundclick (free mp3s)

David Rovics - Blog

David Rovics - MySpace

Mixtape 4 Easter

1. The Gutter Twins - God's Children [mp3] {buy}
2. David Gray - Please forgive me
3. Ida Maria - Oh My God [mp3] {buy}
4. Nick Kelly - Tiburan Prayer
5. Johnny Cash - Personal Jesus
6. Mark Ronson - Oh My God
7. Cake - Sheep Go To Heaven [mp3] {buy}
8. Paula Cole - God is Watching
9. Iron & Wine - Jesus The Mexican Boy
10. Ben Harper - Picure of Jesus
11. The Devlins - Heavens Wall
12. Beulah - Me and Jesus Dont talk anymore [mp3] {buy}
13. Michael Franti & Spherehead - Oh My God
14. Vic Chestnut - God is Good
15. Rodrigo Y Gabriele - Stairway to Heaven [mp3] {buy}
16. Nick Cave & Friends - Death is not the End [mp3] {buy}
17. Pearl Jam - Immortality


Happy Easter to my Readers!

"Hell is like an Irish Bar where its St Patricks Day forever"

So i messed up with the 3 Irish mp3s a night idea....sooooo I am posting 6 excellent tunes from Classic Irish Artists.

First up is a song from a man no longer with us after a tragic accident supporting the Waterboys in Holland. Simply put Mic Christopher fell over, caused swelling in his head and fell into a coma he never recovered from. Quote from campus.ie/review:

"Skylarkin is a sweet and optimistic album. In it's now retrospective context, many of the songs seem to take on a new nostalgic role easily yet always evading melancholy. The album opens with "Heyday", by now familiar to many after it's adoption by the Frames as well it being the title track from last year's EP from Mic."

WMA: Mic Christopher - Heyday


The Sultans of Ping from Co. Cork are an electric indie band whose HEYDAY was in the mid 90s. This track....Veronica is their stand out track on their forst album.

MP3: The Sultans of Ping - Veronica (7 version) (Veronica Single)


David Kitt is the son of an Irish politician Tom Kitt. He has a wonderful soft voice and this tune is one of my favourite David kitt songs.

MP3: David kitt - Song from Hope_St (Brooklyn, N.Y.)


I seem to be mentioning the Frames alot in the blog....but given their Oscar win and all the hype about the band its important for me to include my recent favourite frames tune:

MP3:the_frames-when_your_minds_made_up


Northern Ireland gets a couple of representatives now in the form of Peter Wilson as known as The Duke Special:

WMA:The Duke Special - Freewheel

.....and Foy Vance whose husky voice is destined for greatness ala David Gray! Already his music as been picked for Greys Anatomy....world watch out for a new superstar.

WMA:Foy Vance - First of July


I will finish this off with a Happy St. Patricks Day to all the readers.

Irish Bands on YouTube

Whipping Boy:

We Don't Need Nobody Else



The prayer Boat - Polichinelle



Gemma hayes - Hanging Around



The Plague Monkeys - White feathers

Irish Artist Post 3

For tonights post I'm gonna talk about 3 Irish artists who should have got more international acclaim and recognition. The first is a band called The Fat Lady Sings. They were formed in Dublin in the late 1980s and realeased two wonderful albums, Twist 1990, and Johnson 1993. The band’s second album “Johnson”, produced by Steve Osborne was preceded by the single “Show Of Myself”. The second single from the album, “Drunkard Logic” gave the band their highest ever chart placing in the UK, just falling short of the Top 40. The band once more threw themselves into a punishing 6 months of touring, culminating in a 3 month US stint that ended with a storming pre-Christmas show in New York punk mecca CBGBs. In January 1994, the band split with Nick Kelly’s surprise announcement that he was quitting.


WMA:the Fat Lady Sings - Drunkard Logic
MySpace


Nick kelly has since realeased two albums independantly without a record lable. He has also gone into directing advertisments including the following Guiness advert:




The next artist I posted a tune from in the colours mix! The prayer Boats "POLICHINELLE," is a collection of exquisitely crafted songs, marked by the Irish band's evocative acoustic-based musical backdrops and songwriter Emmett Tinley's astonishing vocals. Clear and pure and true, Tinley's urgent tenor is a magnificently resonant instrument, a voice which sends shivers up the spine and sweeps the heart away. "POLICHINELLE" is a true gem, a brilliantly multi-faceted work which already has the feel of something timeless. This song Saved is their second single from the CD!

WMA: The Prayer Boat - Saved
MySpace


The final artist is making a fortune from the royalties to the song i am posting here called "To You I Bestow". Mundy comes from Birr Co. Offaly and this song was on the soundtrack to the modern Baz Luhrman's Romeo & Juliet which went on to selling 11 million copies! He is still recording fine albums and seems to be happy with the mediocre success that he has achieved in Ireland!

MP3: Mundy - To You I Bestow MySpace

Irish Artist Post 2

With just a few days to go to the St paddys day celebration I have three more tunes for your listening pleasure.



The first is a collaboration between Sinead O'Connor and Shane McGowen of the Pogues. The song is called Haunted and its a love song sung beautifully by Sinead and accompanied by Shane distinct gravelly voice. The song first appeared on the soundtrack to the movie Sid and Nancy!


Mp3: SineadOConnorwithShaneMacgowan_-_Haunted.mp3 MySpace


Next up is a lovely little tune by a guy who grew up just across the road from me. He is a wonderful singer and a great person to know. Mark Dignam got mentioned in the first blog about Glen Hansard and this wonderful little sing along tune displays his superb voice well and highlights his songwriting talent. Mark is now residing in Pittsburg.


WMA: Mark Dignam - Bumble Bee MySpace

The final track for now is by Damien Rice called Rootless tree off his album of 2006 called "9". I love this tune and the CD. Alot of fans have turned away from him due to this CD but for me it was a return to the Damien Rice that was the frontman with Juniper in the mid 90s.


WMA:Damien Rice - Rootless Tree MySpace

Happy Birthday Tam!

So i will add some Irish tunes tomorrow....however is the day our good friend Tam has come to dread. Saying goodbye to the twenties and sniff sniff saying hi to the thirties! Mine is slowly aproaching so I'm trying to be good to her!

A few tunes for ya my friend xoxoxoxo

MP3:Altered Images - happy birthday
MP3:The Bird and the Bee - Birthday
MP3:Jack Johnson - Holiday (Madonna cover)

Thoughts for St. Patricks Day!

We have about a week to go until all Irish around the world sing to their hearts content about the wonders of our culture, history and its people. Our cultural unity is very strong. Our history as a people is drilled into us all by our elders and the textbooks. Our people own a sense of unity about their culture that is rare these days. Already i noticed a few St paddys layouts on myspace! From now till next Monday I'll post 3 mp3s of various irish artists.....starting tonight with my favourite song of all time!

WMA: Thin Lizzy - Dancing In The Moonlight
WMA:The Devlins - Surrender
MP3:A House - Take It Easy On Me

My trip to NYC!

Had a ball....took lots of pics and seen most of the major attractions including a lovely trip to long island.

Day 1: Arrived on the monday and shit the cold. I carried my suitcase up the subway steps and got to ground level out of breath. I took in deep breath....not good idea when wind chill in the city was 20. Anyway....found hotel...great spot....a little expensive but for first trip to NYC i think it was worth it. We then walked around times square...i bought cds in borders, we got kids toys in Toys R Us and had food in TGI fridays (a little disapointing)before going to a comedy show in the laugh factory. It was funny at times mainly thanks to a middle aged aussie who was totally out of his head. My favourite joke of the night was when a female comedian said she went to the slutty catholic school where the only virgen was in the front lawn.

Cds bought: Matt Nathanson: Some Mad Hope (2007) Track 4 Gone[mp3]
Jack Johnson: Sleep through the static (2008) Track 6 If I had Eyes[mp3]

Day 2: We woke early and had breakfast in the hotel cafe. Big mistake...was sooo expensive. Anyway we made our way to Queens to meet with our good friend AnnMarie. She brought us out to the big duck on Long Island. It was noted that there was a lack of enthusiasm on my behalf. However....it was a big duck on side of a road. Kinda what i expected. Anyway we went to duckwalk vineyards for a wine tasting and the wine was fab. Then lunch before going to the very tip of long island called Mantouk. Very pretty and the lighthouse was amazing. On way back...the journey should in normal circumstances have been 3 hours became 4 and a half with snow blizzards. When we got back to AnnMaries house (which is so pretty) we found out the subways might not be working and we stayed in the living room. We ordered chinese, and watched Shawn of the Dead.

Day 3: We made our way back to the hotel around 10 am.....but it was lashing rain big time. We needed to find the venue of the gutter twin gig in daylight. We did this after a cool lunch in the stardust diner. The waiting staff took turns to sing Kareoki with some of them being excellent. We then bought cut price tickets to see Monty Pythons Spamalot with Clay Aitkin who was actually very good. We then found the bowery ballroom and returned back to the hotel for a snuggle. Spamalot was fab...we really loved it and the tickets were in a great spot too.

Monty Python: The Luberjack Song[mp3]

Day 4: This was shopping day. Bloomingdales....saks.....macys.....disney store....the works. We got lunch in the hard rock cafe which was lovely. Bak to the hotel for snuggle number 2. We then went to the Gutter Twins concert. I loved it big time. But we were sooo tired too. One of the best songs in the gig was the cover of the massive attack tunes Live With Me.

The twilight Singers (aka The Gutter Twins) Live With me[mp3]

Day 5: Day of the best breakfast ever......brooklyn benedict.....pastrami, poached egg, benedict sause......so fecking nice. We then hit the natural history museum and central park. By this time we really missed the kids. Then journey to airport.

On our journeys we seen.....rockafeller centre....crysler building.....empire state....times square....carneige hall.....st patricks catherdral. We seen a fraction of what NYC has to offer but i loved it and i will be bak.

Further Reading!

http://www.mattnathanson.com/
http://www.jackjohnsonmusic.com/
http://www.theguttertwins.com/
http://www.montypythonsspamalot.com/
http://www.parkcentralny.com

Recent Survey - Top 40 Irish Albums!

dam

So in the Irish Times on friday 29th Feb, the below list of the best 40 albums was compiled by 4 Ticket rock writers. I found the list interesting due to a couple of exclusions and a few surprises. It is widely acknowledged to the Irish public that the Damien Rice CD "O" would be in the top three accompanied by the joshua tree and astral weeks. I have no complaint about the cd chosen in first place! No room for The Fat Lady Sings? Nine by Damien Rice? Dance the Devil by the Frames? NO Duke Special, Foy Vance, Devlins, Ann Scott, JJ72.....sigh!

1: My Bloody Valentine: Loveless (1991)
2: U2: Achtung Baby (1991)
3: A House: I am the Greatest (1991)
4: The Radiators: Ghostown (1979)
5: Van Morrison: Astral weeks (1968){wma}
6: Microdisny: The Clock down the Stairs (1985)
7: Rollarskate Skinny: Horsedrawn Wishes (1996)
8: The Pogues: Rum Sodomy & The Lash (1986)
9: The Undertones: the Undertones (1979)
10: Whipping Boy: Heartworm (1995){mp3}
11: Ash: 1977 (1996)
12: The Blades: Raytown Revisited (1985)
13: Thin Lizzy: Live and Dangerous (1978)
14: U2: The Joshua Tree (1987)
15: Therepy?: Troublegum (1994)
16: Planxty: Plaxty (1973)
17: David Holmes: Lets Get Killed (1997)
18: The Stars of Heaven (1988)
19: Stiff Little Fingers: Inflammable Material (1979)
20: The Revenants: Horse of a different colour (1993)
21: The Stars of Heaven: Sacred Heart Hotel (1986)
22: U2: Boy (1980)
23: The Blades: last Man in Europe (1984)
24: My Bloody Valentine: Isn't Anything (1988)
25: Sinead O'Connor: I do not want what i haven't got (1990)
26: Van Morrison: Moondance (1970)
27: Snow Patrol: Eyes Open (2006)
28: the Divine comedy: Promenade (1994)
29: Rory Gallagher: Live in Europe (1972)
30: Van Morrison: It's too late to stop now (19724)
31: Bellx1: Music in Mouth (2003)
32: The Cranberries: Everybody Else is Doing it, so why can't we (1993){mp3}
33: The Frames: For The Birds (2001)
34: Something Happens: Stuck together with God's glue (1990)
35: Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill: Live in Seattle (1999)
36: The High Llamas: Hawaii (1996)
37: The Undertones: Hypnotised (1980)
38: Damien Rice: O (2002){wma}
39: the Pogues: If I should fall from the Grace of God (1988)
40: Microdisney: Crooked Mile (1987)

Further Reading!

http://www.ireland.com/theticket
http://www.irishmusiccentral.com

All female artist mixtape - Mothers Day Uk and Ireland

Here is my all female Mixtape 4 Mothers Day.

1. PJ Harvey - Rid of me
2. Hole - Malibu
3. Laura veirs - Don't Lose Yourself
4. Lisa Hannigan & Damien Rice - The Blowers Daughter
5. Lucinda Williams - Real Live Bleeding Fingers and Broken Guitar Strings
6. Sinead O'Connor - Love hurts
7. Ani diFranco - Cradle and all
8. Beth Orton - Stolen Car
9. Fiona Apple - Not about Love {mp3}
10. The Breeders - Divine Hammer
11. Kate Nash - Foundations
12. Natalie Merchant - Jealousy {mp3}
13. Regina Spector - Samson
14. Katell Keineg - One Hell of a Life {wma}
15. Ingrid Michaelson - The Way I am
16. Ida Maria - Oh my God
17. Dar Williams - The Ocean
18. Tracy Chapman - Open Arms {wma}
19. Glen & Marketa - When your minds made up!
20. The Sundays - Here's where the Story ends!

Further Reading
http://www.myspace.com/fionaapple
http://www.myspace.com/tracychapmanfolk
http://nataliemerchant.com
http://www.katellkeineg.com

The First Blog -The Frames

Glen Hansard and the Frames have been around the Irish Music scene for two decades now. Glen played Outspan in the 1990 Movie The Commitments. Glen formed the band the Frames and to date he has released five studio albums, one live album, a b-sides album and formed a side project called The Swell Season with his oscar winning girlfriend Marketa. Glen loved playing live and busked for years around Dublin's main shopping streets such as Grafton Street, College green and St. Stephens green. Glen was at the centre of a young musical network of mates in the late 80s and early 90s. His mates included Paddy Casey, Mark Dignam (who incidentally grew up across the road from me), Terry Sutton and the late great Mic Christopher. I bet money on the fact that Glen would have had a pint to Mics memory this week. Final thought: I think too many Irish bands suffered from the pressure of being the next U2.....none more so that Glen and The Frames.

The Commitments - Dark end of the street.





1995 Live version of Angel at my Table (My personal favourite frames tune)





The frames - fake (glen gets shot)





Clip from the Movie Once




The concise bibliography of Glen and the frames:

Fitzcarraldo 1996


Dance the devil 1999

For the Birds 2001

Burn the Maps 2004



The Cost 2006

FURTHER READING:

http://www.theframes.ie
http://www.markdignam.com
http://www.irishmusiccentral.com