Interesting Noises

When you've just released your fourth album, your fourth EP and your drummer has left for the second time, you should probably take it easy for a while. Not BRMC. They saw it as a perfect time to release an instrumental noise rock album.



The Effects of 333 is just that. Apparently having been in the works for years, written whilst they were touring for the past few years what better time to release it than now. And when I say release it, I of course mean they released it themselves without their record label. What's cooler than that? I don't think anyone really noticed it's release. And it's all for the wonderful price of €6. Now if only they had released it on vinyl (or even tape), then it'd be one of the indiest albums of all time. Also, isn't that one of the coolest covers you've ever seen?

"That" Time of Year

It's unavoidable.. the time of year where people jump on the biggest band wagon in the long and complicated history of band wagoning. That is of course Religion.
Not that I have any particular beef* with religion, but it has a tendency of standing for almost everything that I disagree with. To me it's more than a bit suspicious that as soon as i let slip that i think gay folk should be allowed to marry or that perhaps i kinda feel like murdering someone, that suddenly a religious institution draws up a law against it.
Now i have to wait until some women commits adultery before i can stone her to death. How can they possibly expect me to live under their unbending rules!

So this time of year I take a stand. I will not be one of those "part-time" atheists who give up their hatred for all things holy for a bit of turkey or perhaps a funny lookin' candle. i would find a legitimate way to remain anti-religion but of course still get turkey/candle without looking like a hypocrite. For those of you looking to do the same here are your options.



1) Unitarianism
So ever get a bit confused when you find out that Jesus is the son of god and in fact god himself? kinda makes you wonder... perhaps the relatively obvious question "who rose Jesus from the dead and subsequently to heaven if he in fact is god, and he had died" or ever find yourself thinking, "that old testament stuff is pretty crazy, can't we just pretend it doesn't exist?" if so then you should try Unitarianism! They ditched the old testament as well as for all intents and purposes, demoting Jesus to super hero, because (like i learned from highlander) there can be only one god.


2) Humanism
If for some reason you didn't read enough comics or bibles as a kid and have problems believing in super powers then this might be your cup of tea. the good points include having the same moral guidance that moderate Christians think they have, but without having to apologise to anyone when you fuck up. Bad points include a necessary grasp of correct punctuation, turns out that being "humanist" and being a "Humanist" are different things, so you may find yourself looking up which one you are when a census form comes around (as if the person reading it is going to make the distinction).



3) Apathiesm
This is kinda like the waster teenage son of Atheism. These are the people who have better things to do than wonder about god. the good points are that you have become Mormon Kryptonite! Not only have you not found Jesus but if he was dancing on your face, the power of your sheer apathy could kill him... again. bad points are that everyone hates you. If Theists and Atheists would join together for one reason it would be to get you to stop playing World of Warcraft for one bloody minute and either embrace or debunk god.

So what ever way you decided to scam your way to getting gifts for an imaginary persons birthday. Make sure you don't loose your integrity because being Indie and Religous ensures you miss out on being condensending to people not just about what they like to listen to but also what they beleive.

*just to let you know i was going to try and make a joke at that point about either meat on a Friday for Catholics or perhaps something to do with pork for Jews... but it wasn't funny enough, points for effort?.

Indie Laughs

Yes, somewhere out there, there are indie people laughing for one of two reasons. Either they're listening to popular music, or their watching the latest indie comedy troupe. Here's a couple you may or may not have come across in your travels.

The Mighty Boosh



A surreal journey through the minds of two clearly insane lunatics... and it's absolutely brilliant. These are one of the indiest acts around. Having done a radio show, a late night cable TV show and now a live act they've managed to garner themselves an audience now. I was a huge fan of the TV show, and even went to seem them live (and I'll be going again soon), I suggest you all see them if you can. It'll be the strangest few hours of your life. And even if they're not the indiest act around, they're still made indie awesome.

Picnicface



Youtube's indie answer to Smosh or Fred. They've a few more popular videos like Powerthirst. These lovely Canadian guys and gals have been going around for a while and thankfully (unlike a few other people on Youtube) do actually have a life and some talent outside of the internet as can be seen by their stage shows and performances and comedy festivals and the likes. Keep and eye on these folks, they might just be coming to your town. And when they do, bring your friends and you'll look like they indiest comedy lover in town, which we can all agree is a good thing...

Today's pictures are from Ella Mullins (The boosh) and some mysterious (and therefore presumably indie) fellow named Bradleclerc (Picnicface).

First Lines of Indie

The first few seconds of any song is usually all you need before uttering "this is shit" or perhaps "this has the potential to not to be shit" what can be make or brake it the first line of the song, and here is a selection of some great opening lines from some indie music

Bonnie "Prince Billy" and Tortoise: Pancho
Pancho.. don't you like me no more?..


Hawksely Workman: Little Tragedies
You bought a gun, cos you though i wouldn't listen..


Shins: One By One All Day
"Howdy, lem," my grandpa said with his eyes closed..


The Postal Service: We Will Become Silhouettes
I've got a cupboard with cans of food, filtered water and pictures of you, and i'm not coming out until this is all over..



Malcolm Middleton: Autumn
Ah, Autumn, You fucking cunt

A little further north

Last time I forayed into Last.fm's radio is was American Indie, this time it's Canadian Indie.

Stars - The Woods



Toronto indie pop. A good start. Though the song is a little mellow for my taste and a little weird in placed. It's a good example of Stars as songwriters though. Definitely would make then warrant more research.

Ron Sexsmith - How on Earth

Another catchy Toronto artist. Feels like one of those future Sun Kil Moon's of the world, though he's not there yet. Nice poppy (but not too poppy), with all the jangly guitars and piano's one would ever need. Lyrics are pretty decent too. Might have to get this album (Retriever).

Mother Mother - Train Of Thoughts

Vancouver this time. Different, interesting, cool. The guitar playing is amazing, the harmonies, pretty awesome. Check 'em out. I can't describe it in words.

The Weakerthans - Plea From a Cat Named Virtue

Nothing too special here. No offence to any Weakerthan fans out there, but it sounds a lot more commecial than what I prefer to listen to (though my last.fm profile might say otherwise). All that being said, it's a decent enough song. Last.fm describes them as folk influenced punk. I'd say more post-punk influcenced rock, but that's just semantics I suppose.

Sam Roberts - Don't Walk Away Eileen



Feels like something from 1970's (in the good way). Even a little Rolling Stones influcence can be heard. It's got a little bit of folk, some blues, punk even that weird sound of Brit Pop in the mid-90's. This I like, and so might you.

Not bad for a 15 minute foray into Canada... Not bad at all.

Today's snaps: Stars by AJ and Sam Roberts by Martin Cathae. Both awesome indie photographers.

Indie Movie Reviewed: Waltz With Bashir

An animated anti-war documentary... don't think i've ever said that before. Can you really show the truth and ruthlessness of war through animation? wouldn't the animation just remove the idea of war even further from reality?
It was quite a brave movie to make. but it worked. After the movie i thought hard about why it had worked so well.. war seemed more truthfully nightmarish in this realistic animation then it ever has in filmed live action documentaries.



As the film maker searches for his hidden memoires of war, i thought animation is certainly the closest anyone could come to seeing into his thoughts. I imagine that any memories of war would have to be be painted with a pallet far removed from reality, how else could anyone cope with them?

Indie With Accents!

Sometimes it's really nice to hear a strong accent in a singer's voice. It can sometimes be enough to make an otherwise average band or song interesting enough to keep my attention.
Here are a few examples of that:


Duke Special: "Irish (Northern)"



Well his songs aren't particualrly brilliant but he doesn't fall short at being "nice to listen to". He sports what was, from the 60's to 80's, the number one must-have terrorist accent. It's sad to see it lose the top spot to the Arabs; its coffin nailed by chirpy 16 year-old girls giggling about how cute it is.

The Mountain Goats. "American (West Coast)"



They're a pretty well known band at this point and I quite like their music but if i am to be honest, only in short bursts. They're touring Australia & New Zealand at the moment so if you're dossing around that part of the world you should drop in and take a look.

Malcolm Middleton: "Scottish (Glasgow)"



If there ever existed a more depressed songwriter it's likely they committed suicide midway through their first song. Despite that, and an accent that could start a bar fight in less than four syllables, he's done some great work that often helps me remember that there is someone out there worse off than me... and he's ginger.

Soko: "French (Not Paris)"



She doesn't have too much music out yet. Last i checked she was working on an album. The music that she has released is a big slice of "crazy girl brain". Most people understand how girls can be at times frighteningly neurotic. Luckily for humanity most ladies are well aware of it and often get away with simply thinking things like; "This may be a first date, but i want your babies". Sometimes girls will inadvertently say these things. But then we come to Soko... Who writes songs about her craziness... Luckily they're very good.

Search for the Grail

A long time ago in galaxy far away....



Actually it was about 15 years ago in Glasgow, but it was indeed Tigermilk the album that is mostly responsible for me catching "the indie". Sadly Belle and Sebastian never seem to reach the same heights with their other albums. So I've been biding my time and waiting for someone annoyingly talented enough to creating a sequel.
There have been a few contenders but so far no album has quite made it. The most recent hope came from a random last.fm play. A band called Voxtrot with a song called Start of Something (full song). The songs analogue recording makes it wonderfully warm, lyrics are pretty good and the tune sounds very Sarah Records-esque.
Subsequently I got an album of theirs. I played it from start to finish which wasn't easy... after the first few songs I told myself "it must get better".. it didn't. After the halfway point i told myself "i've gotten this far, i should finish it out..".

I could go on about how predictable this is or how over produced it is but it's not worth my time.
It's a bad album.. Don't get it. The quest continues....

Bringing back the indie awesomeness!

Ok, so it's been a while since we've put up a blog. It's not out of not wanting to, but more out of lack of time and energy. Time has spent between going to gigs, working or sleeping. Life is hard sometimes...

So, today's band for the weekend is Cut Copy. I've become a fan Austrailian electropop trio of late. After going to see The Presets last Sunday, I decied to research their lable a bit more. Modular are a pretty big label, half owned my EMI I think, but still holding on to their indie beliefs. They've signed other band such as New Young Pony Club and even Wolfmother so they've a pretty diverse taste in music (something that is key to an indie label). And so, I stumbled upon Cut Copy.



I couldn't get tickets to their gig last week, they managed to sell out just as I went to get tickets... So I contented myself to listening to their albums from start to finish. I prefer their first album, Bright Like Neon Love, is by far their best. All good indie bands make sure their first album is better than any consecutive efforts. So people like us can profess out love their earlier work, whilst liking their new albums which the popular masses like. That's not to say In Ghost Colours isn't awesome as well... Check both out... right now!

Today's photo is from, Ryan Ruppe, who is apparently occasionally awesome...

Greatest Indie Album Titles

Indie albums often don't have a marketing team, and so something uttered in a drunken trance to your manager in a philosophical tone may some time later be the very thing that inspires you months later to say "What idiot decided on calling the album that?".

Of course there are other indie albums that, while the creation process is identical, by some fluke the album name appears to be very well liked. Here are some examples:



Sparklehorse: Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot
Mark Linkous came up with this name for his debut album back in '95. He's pretty lucky the album is so good, cos if you had to order it over a counter or something you might have given up in favour of the Foo Fighters or something. So perhaps it was his plan to keep the album indie by making it impossible to ask for.


Belle and Sebastian: Fold your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant

A band of great album names, matched only by their great albums. The unique albums names started with "If You're Feeling Sinister", that was subsequently topped by "The Boy with the Arab Strap" which itself was beaten by the album above. While "Dear Catastrophe Waitress" deserves an honourable mention, "Fold your hands child, you walk like a peasant" was taken from the wall of a toilet cubicle and so wins outright on trivia. Ironically, Tigermilk, the tamest of B&S album names is probably their best album.


Of Montreal: Satanic Panic in the Attic
Another band of great album names, the source of which is unknown to me. But I like to think it's a case of say what you see (while stoned) sort of inspiration. That would probably explain this album as well as "The Gay Parade", "The Bedside Drama A Petite Tragedy" and perhaps "Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer".


Yo La Tengo: And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
This album is quite something, I've talked about this album to a lot of different people on several different continents and iIve discovered that this album name, when quoted has the power to force a uniform response from any listener. Irrelevant of colour, creed or taste in music, quote "And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside out" and "WHAT?" religiously follows.

What say you indie folk?

Each and every day, I get awesome suggestions for indie bands, films and the likes off a variety of people. From the people I work with (the fact I work in a record shop helps), the people in college, random awesome tshirts, or just indie folk standing on the street corner shouting the name of their favorite band (the latter is quite effective). But for all these ways, coming across a band randomly is by far my favourite.

While searching for a picutre of an indie person shouting I came across a picture for The Shout Out Louds, and instantly regretted not having heard of them before. These indie "four boys and a girl" are pretty awesome, and the fact their Swedish only helps matters.



Don't let the fact that singer/guitarist Adam Olenius looks somewhat like Erwin Sparks from The Hoosiers bother you, they sound nothing alike (which is what matters).

The photo is curtosty of some Spanish indie webzine. So, thanks whoever you are indie photographer person.

TV on the Radio on the Internet

TVOTR... Some new up and coming stars of indie. These guys are fairly big in Americaland, and have been making serious waves amongst the indie people this side of the ocean too. If you haven't heard these guys and you were to ask someone to describe them, they'd probably give you a blank stare. Not because they're so indie that no one has heard of them, but rather because it's impossibe. Each song is completly on its own.



You can blanket them and just call them post-punk art rock, but they're much more subtle than that. Their songs go from upbeat poppy rock, so downbeat blues or gospel. It's got something for everyone really. Except people who like popular music, but no one will mind about that. And I think we can all agree they're very Alternative Electro Bus Funk.

They'll be playing Tripod in Dublin on the 16th... If you can get hold of tickets, I highly recommend going.

The really awesome photo was by Mark Trammel. Web, music, and photo geek. Amateur man of leisure.

The Future of the Left

Noise rock... Now there's an interesting genre, loosely described as "when avant-garde acid jazz got angry". Now, I've never been to a noise rock gig, but it sounds like a lot of fun. t was a genre created in the 80's, sort of like me but these guys are so indie, they won't even play in key or use normal song wrtiningness.



And speaking of noise rock, The Future of the Left will be playing Whelan's on the 14th and the pretentious indie boys will be going. Tickets are only €15.. You know it's indie when tickets cost that little (it also leaves plenty of money for beer).

And thanks to Mr. Tim Morris awesome indie photographer for the super awesome picture.

Film Review: The Fall

Good points:
The story is unique and compelling, great performances especially from the 11 year old Catinca Untaru. The set and cinematic shots are often incredible.

Bad points:
for some people the direction may appear a bit arty, as well it doesn't always spoon feed the audience the story so if your looking for something that you don't have to think about, your going to be lost.



Full Review:

Despite being a few years old now The Fall has only been released here in Ireland this month, and if your around Dublin and want to head over the Iffy to see it. your to late it's finished showing, but you'll get to enjoy the Horrorthon instead. (horrorthon has also ended.. so best of luck)

The Fall is really two stories. The first where a little girl in a hospital and comes across a friendly looking guy on a hospital bed, they become friends. The man in the bed (who appears to have been crippled in some way) begins telling her a story about a band adventurers including the trademark characters such as a bandit and an explosives expert, also including some less likely heroes such as Charles Darwin. In this story the reality of the hospitalised man is reflected very cleverly and in a way which greatly entertains his new friend. Knowing this, he makes a deal with her to continue the story in return for her help in getting him some pain medication...

The story progresses at a palatable pace with perfectly placed pieces of dialogue to make you laugh just as you thought you should cry.

if i was to rate it... 89%

Happy Music for Happy People

Ok, so I wrote this yesterday, and forgot to hit publish, better late than never I suppose.

Today's band made of indie awesome are...

The Pink Spiders



Glam punk, power pop, punk rock... I've no idea what to call this, but whatever it is, it's awesome. They've been around a while (long enough to make three albums), yet they've never made the trip over to this side of the world from what I can tell. Their first album was released on a nice indie label, their second on some evil big company one, and their third on another indie label. Finally, a band that managed to use the big bad lables to their advantage only to leave before bad things happen.

Their latest album was made before bassist Jon Decious and drummer Bob Ferrari jumped ship and made for greener, less pink pastures. Guitarist Matt Friction is still going around having replaced the others now, but at least this album has the original lineup.

That super awesome photo is by Jessica F who also has here own indie blog (if only ours looked as good as her's).

The Swedish Charts

"The"; definite article. "Sweden"; country in northern Europe known for it's impeccable music tastes. "Chart"; the worst way to rank musical success. So, here's a few of the more interesting picks from this weeks Swedish Album Chart.

2. "RallarsvÄng" by Lasse Stefanz



A "country-music inspired dansband". Yes, in Sweden they apparently like to dance to the jitterbug still. How indie is that! If you want to dance, then this is the stuff to do it to.

5. "10 År En SnÄll Mans BekÄnnelser" by Patrik Isaksson



I'm sure it would sound a lot different if I understood what he way saying, but from what I can tell he's got a lot of emotion and he's not afraid to let you know. I'll leave it to you to figure if that's a good or bad thing.

9. "A State Of Mind" by EMD

Every country has it's own boy band, and this is theirs. All three members have competed in a Swedish TV show called "Idol", one of those shows were people with telephones and too much time decide who has more musical ability, and from what I could tell none of them won. I suppose the only thing worse that being in a reality TV show is winning it.

Photography... The Lasse Stefanz tour bus was by Geir Arne Brevik and the one of Mr. Isaksson was by Bengt Nyman.

Indie Ear Bleeders

Some times an Indie band is so ground braking and unique that your ears literally bleed with joy at there insane chaotic greatness. This alternative music genre is an important part of indie, often helping to weed out people who assume indie music is some how bound by abstract pop music concepts like Cords, Rhythm and Talented Singers. The fine trail blazers i shall describe to you have avoided so many music paradigms that simply calling it 'music' is about as accurate as referring to Adolph Hitler as "That relatively good Austrian economist". Similarly these bands may use instruments to product sound but that is where the similarities with other musicians ends.

1) The Shaggs



Some time in 1968 a man called Austin Wiggin was approached by his wife who claimed that after a palm reading years earlier she had been told that their daughters would earn great success in a band. Austin of course a man of logic and reason understood that this would be pretty unlikely considering none of the girls played any instroments or had any interesting in music at all. So he had no choice but to take the girls out of school, buy them instroments and make them form and a band. this resuled is music history:
here is one of their song 'My Pal Foot Foot'



2) Wesley Willis



There are over 50 albums from this talented schizophrenic who pressed the auto cord button on a casio keyboard while he ranted about various topic from crime and violent confrontations to bus routs and McDonalds. just.. wow.. there is just too much to say about this guy so i'll let his "sound" do the talking. Here is one of my favourits Rock n' Roll McDonands, enjoy



3) Daniel Johnston



Mr Johnston is a lot more well known then most in his genre for a few reasons. Kurt Cobain wore a t-shirt with Daniels first album on it so people thought he must be ok, there's in fact a documentary about him The Devil and Daniel Johnston. and of course he's an absolute loon, so stories about him, including chasing a woman out of the window of her apartment because she had demons in her or something. Causing the plan himself and his dad were in to crash by taking the keys out of the ignition in mid air, because he thought he was Casper have made him an easy guy to have a conversation about.. here Livin' Life a song i very much enjoy:



At this point i must admit, that i have not only listened to these bands often, but on several occasions i enjoyed it, it really does take a particular mood for anyone to listen and enjoy this little branch of indie but if you find yourself wanting to hear something that's going to dull your senses for a while this can be better than drugs.

Music from upside-down land

Ok, so I'm a day late, but how and ever...

I'm not one to frequently listen to what most people would call "dance" music, but I'll make an exception for The Presets. Australia's best electronic duo, henceforth referred to as electoduo. It's something very different to the dance music you hear blasting from small hatchback cars as they do 50mph down the road. The Presets will be coming to Whelans next month and I may just swing by. Check out their myspace or if you're the type who likes indie music videos, have a gander at this.


You can't talk about Australia, without talking about New Zealand, and Liam Finn is by far one of the best New Zealand musicians out there at the moment. He's one of those lovely singer-songwriter guys, but he plays guitar, bass, even drums and loops them all together in some spectacular one-man band awesomeness. I saw him at this year's Oxegen festival, and he was certainly a sight to see live, as playing on Later with Jools Holland, on Letterman or at some live set...



If you've any other suggestions for awesome bands from the southern hemisphere or have ever been there and liked (or disliked) it give me a shout in comments...

Today's photos are from these lovely people... The one of The Presets is from Dani Lurie, who's never read The Da Vinci Code (neither have I). The one of Liam Finn is from someone known only as rchappo2002, who's still learning how to use his digital camera. Old fashioned is the more awesome indie way to go.

Indie Randomness

Sometimes, you have to leave it up to fate to pick the music... Fate in this case is Last.fm's "American indie" music station.

First up was Cat's Blues by Palace Music (otherwise known as Bonnie "Prince" Billy"). As with all his work, it's that kind of nice mellow indie folk sound, but Mr. Billy's voice has a certain distinctiveness... He's no Sun Kil Moon, but he's still worth a listen.



Next, What a Wonderful Man by My Morning Jacket. It's kind of good luck that these guys came up, since I'll be seeing them with Seasick Steve in a few weeks. Weird rock sound, lots of distorted guitars, hardly Alternative Country as Last.fm describes them, but nice anyway. I think it's kind of what Deadstring Brothers would sound like if they got with Rory Gallagher.

Together Somehow. by Lousy Robot. Defiantly as last.fm describes them... "Happy, danceable Post-punk Pop a la The Kinks and The Jam." Now, this is the kind of music that the clubs these days should be playing. If they did, I'm sure I'd dance a lot more.



King Of Spain, Part Two by Galaxie 500. A lot more shoegazy (it's a word now), kind of what I imagine Sigur Rós being if they spoke English, and were from America, but were still somehow Scandinavian.



Finally, after quickly skipping over Smoosh for reasons that become very apparent after about 5 seconds into their song, up comes That's When I Reach For My Revolver by Mission of Burma. Old school post punk from the 1970's. Nothing entirely special, not to say it wasn't good. Perhaps worthy of some more research, but you do have to be in a certain mood (or certain decade) to listen to that type of music.

Indie pictures du jour... Bonnie "Prince" Billy by Pieter Morlion, Belgium's finest Indie photographer. Lousy Robot by Jack Moffett from Albuquerque and Galaxie 500 vinyl by Matt Locke aka "Matlock" who runs an awesome blog.

And so concludes our 15 minutes foray into the world of random indieness. Hope you had fun.

A few things from America

In a world where the most popular albums tend to be so commercial it's a wonder that producing them doesn't devalue the worlds currency, it's nice to come across something that sounds different. And theses guys, Cage The Elephant, are certainly playing something different.



It's a kind of bluesy rock and that certain indie style from Britain (but before it got over used by people like The Kooks and Arctic Monkeys). They were even on Jools Holland and the singer was on Never Mind The Buzzcocks last week.

Also on the subject of Blues, Seasick Steve will be playing in Dublin on the 29th of October which should be a super awesome gig.



Former hobo, turned blues musician certainly knows how to rock. It's probably easier for you to check him out on Jools Holland, and you'll know what I'm talking about.

Today's photo of Cage The Elephant is from Rob Thomas. Who likes Brighton, and the sea side, and cycling. And that Seasick Steve on is from Rob Harris, who's picture on Flickr is of Disco Stu.

Indie Battle: Scandinavia

Scandinavia seems to have been an important part of the Indie scene for a long time. Each country producing important music as they joyfully hold hands and skip through the meadow that is Indie culture. Now the time has finally come to drop the namby-pamby hand-holding and fight for coveted "Super Indie Heavy Weight of Scandinavia 2008" title. This is and award so indie that no one knows who even won last years title. Let's welcome the contenders:
Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Denmark and the Indie wild card Aland.

Round 1: Finland vs. Aland


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The Finnish have more then just angry suicidal metal heads, they also have a very lively indie pop scene; many are Indie Pop bands documented on One Chord To Another. Thats not all, in case you're one of the many Indie Rock Folk, free Finnish music is at your fingertips here.
As for Aland... well as you may have guessed they don't have much to offer in the way of an "Indie Scene" but with a population of just 20,000 it also doesn't have much of any scene. Which, when combined with the fact that no one knows it exists makes it pretty damn indie indeed. So due to Finlands overly popular indie scene it hands the victory to Aland.

Round 2: Norway vs. Iceland

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Both very strong contenders here. Both with a strong indie scene, both rejecting EU membership in favour of fishing and of course neither with much imagination as far as flag design is concerned. With these countries sharing so much in common there is only one way to settle this. A hypothetical fight between the country's respective Indie heavyweights. Sigur Ros vs Kings of Convenience. While it could be assumed that the 4 Icelandic guys would kick the 2 lanky Norwegians around the ring pretty easily, these of course are 4 very pretentious, highest order arty-farty Icelandic guys and it's unlikely they know what a fight looks like. Victory Norway, likely to be the first and only guys to land a punch.

Round 3. Sweden vs Denmark

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This battle would be a hard one to watch. Denmark brutishly beaten in almost every department of indie from the merciless indie pop of Billie the Vision to the soulful Female vocals of Anna Ternheim. Sweden still looking for blood as they throw in the electro-synth duo The Knife. Denmark aren't out yet, they unleash their long time Indie heavy weight Kashmir. Sadly there isn't much they can do to change the Danish fortunes. Sweden walks away with the victory.

Join me next time for the FINAL where:

Sweden will take on Norway and people will once again forget not only where Aland is, but that it ever existed.

Be one step ahead

Always remember to stay one step ahead of everyone else, make sure you know when the next awesome indie album is coming out. If you get caught out, you can try and pretend but that doesn't always work. You most likely won't know what guest musicians are on the album, where and when it was recorded and all the other useful trivial that you need to know. If this happens your indie creds will be in danger.

Research is the best strategy. Avoid magazines, they tend to be generic and useless for our purposes. Read the bands website (or talk to them in real life if possible), check their posters, go to their gigs, ask other people about them (though not those whom might frown upon you for not already knowing).



This Friday will see the debut album "Never Leave Anywhere" from The Hedge Schools, and awesome Dublin band, and when I say band I mean singer-songwriter who assembles bands to go touring and spread the awesome. Pop over to their (his) myspace page and give the songs a listen. I have a feeling you'll like it.

Indie facts: Pat used to be the bassist for Dublin indie band Ten Speed Racer before they disbanded. The album was produced by Joe Chester, also of TSR and a solo artist in his own right.

Remember people, you your indie facts and beat the indie competition.

Indie Albums To Cycle To.

I've talked before about my love for cycling, it certainly being the most indie of all transport methods. There are sadly some down sides to cycling, namely the danger (at least in Dublin there is) constantly having to listen for cars, sirens and buses is actually a lot of work, so i generally try to dull out the sense completely with the help of some great cycle-friendly albums.

The Go Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike



This album is likly either to shave a good 10 mins off your trip or have you "cycle-dance" your way into a car, having experienced both potabilities while listening to this album the second option is preferable, that way is makes is more likely you'll get to hear the full album before you

Hawksley Workman - (Last Night We Were) The Delicious Wolves



This album is just great fun and thus makes cycling more fun. Sadly the cover doesn't really reflect the music very well but you know what they say, never judge a book by it's movie.
Jealous of your cigarette is particularly good fun, and here's the video for it:



I'm From Barcelona - Let Me Introduce My Friends



This album can turn your dull grey commute into a happy-clappy trip through the country. this does have some side effect, usually by the 3rd song you start to look at pedestrians with less disdain. Often thinking of them as the best friend you haven't met yet... this produces a dangerous feeling that can result in slowing down for or giving right of way to pedestrians.

I hope these albums help you avoid the annoyances that come with cycles, like having to watch where your going, listen for on-coming traffic and of course not having a steady beat to dance to while on your bike.

The Indie Hangover Cure

So you were at a gig last night... You wake up and everything hurts. You've got the Indie Hangover!

The combination of alcohol (usually imported, therefore stronger than usual), dancing (all indie kids dance at some point during the night) and all the general merriment combine to make the worst feeling in the world the next day. So, when you wake up with that feeling that makes you want to hurl yourself on front of a truck filled with Amy Winehouse CD's, here's a few things that can help:

1. Sleep



Not The Big Sleep, but regular sleep. Sleep is the indie way. When not lounging around your favorite coffee shop, record store or book shop, or enjoying the latest film to come out of northern Sweden sleep is the distraction of choice. Coupled with some motilium beforehand, sleep is the most effective weapon in the indie arsenal against indie hangovers.

2. Music



Sun Kil Moon, Sigur Rós, Sparklehorse and the likes. Anything acoustic will do, or with nice jangly electric guitars. Nice music can take your mind off anything, including an incapacitating pain in your head and/or stomach.

3. Food



Ok, so you've managed to drag yourself out of bed and have a shower, but when then? Pop down to your kitchen or failing that your local café. If you can stomach it (and the motilium should have helped) some nice coffee, tea and breakfast. The nice ambiance of an indie coffee emporium should help awake those senses and get you ready for the day ahead.

Today's snaps belong to the following... The café one is from Danielle Blue, indie awesome photographer from Baltimore. The CD collection belongs to White Plains, NY resident Joe Mad. The photo of The Big Sleep is Jonathan Feinstein's who is an awesome band photographer (check his stuff on flickr).

How to Stay Indie During Election 2008

Even though it's miles away in far away land and the results are unlikely to effect me. On the 4th of November it's going to be hard to think about anything other than who will become the next president of Republic of Palau.

While some people on that very same day will be vainly hoping that The United Stupidity of America will finally elect someone who won't start a war. I'll be glued to my seat awaiting news of the Palau election. Now you must be asking yourself "why should I care about a country I've never heard of", well it's simple indie people are growing in numbers and a time will come when we (not unlike the Jews) we will require a country of our own, where we can freely and secretly practice our worship of indie music. So why have i chosen the republic of Palau? Here is your answer in convenient point form:



1) In 1994 it became independent of the USA (we're not sure yet if the USA noticed). Doing this is the closest any country can come to ditching it's 6 album deal with Columbia and setting up their own record label. also their flag seems to have a rare picture of Pac-Man sleeping.


2) There are only got about 20,000 people living there, so if about 15,000 of the most indie people in the world head on over there before the 4th, we can easily elect me as president of the worlds first Indie State. Also the people of Palau seem like a happy folk and probably wont mind to much.

3) We'll be learning from others mistakes by choosing Palau as our indie state. while the jews decided to go for a nice place in the sun, they neglected to do any research on who they share their boarders with. This resulted in a situation quite similar to what i would imagine happening if (due to a clerical error) a nerd found himself in a critical position in his high schools sports team. To clarify, Palau is very far away from Palestine.


4) If you aren't convinced yet then this sentence should seal the deal, when it comes to music "There are no intellectual property restrictions in Palau." i shall say nothing more about it.


So join the campaign and help The Republic of Palau make Seb Berkovich it's next benevolent leader