August 9th, 2006
Dj Shadow, Leechrum, Babylon Heights, The Tube
Fairly hectic this week but just wanted to mention a couple of things of note:
* The Leechrum festival in Drumshanbo last weekend was great fun. Halfset rocked, so did a psychobilly band I came across at about 3am. All good except for lots of us bumping in to the gigantic metal pegs of the teepees when it was very dark. I’m currently sporting a spectrum of bruises and some nasty gashes on my legs.
* Apart from all those crazy hip hop kids who are horrified at all the “hyphy” stuff on it, the new DJ Shadow album is rather good. I particularly love ‘This Time (I’m Gonna Try It My Way)’, a Marvin Gaye-style classic in the making. There are some sample only songs, songs that are all real, live instruments and some fantastic instrumentals. I spoke to the man himself today, who is currently on tour and was chatting to me from Korea. Looking forward to his set at the Electric Picnic.
* Last night, myself and himself shuffled along to Dundrum to see Irvine Welsh’s new play Babylon Heights and as I won’t have time to post a review before the weekend, I can safely say it felt like the longest play of my life. The Mill Theatre is a lovely space, though.
* Just when Top of the Pops has shuffled off this mortal coil, Channel 4 has announced that The Tube is to return - but as a radio station.
* Erlend Oye of the lovely, winsome duo Kings of Convenience has a new band. The Whitest Boy Alive are touring Europe over the next few months but there are no Irish dates scheduled as yet. In the meantime, scoot over to their myspace page to hear some tracks.
* In the last two weeks, music has been more of a mixed bag than usual:
*New stuff that’s disappointing: Captain, Thea Gilmore, The Dears
*New stuff that’s on the stereo: Amp Fiddler, DJ Shadow, Viva Voce, Oneida
*Old stuff that’s filling the gaps: Tim Buckley’s Happy Sad, The Scream by Siouxsie & the Banshees, Spank Rock
* I can’t make it, but if you’re not doing anything this Saturday night, you’d be mad not to go and see Peter, Bjorn and John at Crawdaddy. I wish I could.
August 9th, 2006 at 7:31 pm
i think the new DJ Shadow is very disappointing; a few good tracks on it but it isn’t even in the same country as endtroducing/private press. I can never get enough of Happy Sad however
August 9th, 2006 at 7:38 pm
One of the things he mentioned is how SICK he is of people constantly comparing everything he does to Endtroducing. I can’t say I blame him.
The best stuff is towards the end of the album (I can do without the hyphy stuff) so maybe give it a few more listens?
Broken Levee Blues, You Made It, Triplicate, The Tiger, Artifact, Erase You, What Have I Done? are all excellent.
August 9th, 2006 at 9:47 pm
Shadow’s new album has its ups but it doesn’t engage me the way his previous works do. That’s pretty much all I can say about it to be honest!
August 10th, 2006 at 9:42 am
I’m still waiting on my copy of the new DJ Shadow, but the few tracks that i’ve heard so far have been…interesting to say the least. They’re definitely a different direction, but i’d like to listen to the entire product before i jump to any kind of conclusions.
I think he gets a bum rap from people for not topping what he’s done with Endtroducing, but like i’ve said on my on blog that he doesn’t have to better that album, as it’s already established itself as a masterpiece. He has nothing to prove in my opinion.
Whitest Boy Alive is excellent as I think anything that has Erlend Oye’s involvement is going to be good. His vocals just add so much to a song. I’ve got a few tracks on our site if you want to check those out as well.
August 11th, 2006 at 12:48 am
Sinead, where is yr interview with Shadow? Did you have a chance to chat with him?
He’s such fascinating cat. So Northern Californian: all moody attitude. I think he’s super adept at causing a storm (either in one’s head or thru the speakers) and then, basically, leaving you alone with it to work your own damn way thru it. Once, a long time ago, I went to a record store event where he asked people drop by and bring their own vinyl and he would cut it up there in the store, live. It was really informal and fun and chill and there weren’t that many people there. I offered up a couple of what I thought were some fairly obscure albums from my collection. (I’m no pro DJ) I gave him a Revolting Cocks record with some ferocious beats. He worked with it for about 1 minute. Then stopped everything. Took the record off the table. Put the record back in the sleeve. And said “Who brought this?” I raised my hand, nervous, excited, embarrased. He gave it back to me. Didn’t say another word and just went on scratching with the next person’s records. WTF? What did THAT mean? Were the Revolting Cocks just total crap and he wouldn’t deem it worthy of his talent? Were the beats to much/complicated for him to deal with? Why did he want to point me out? What the Fuck? He left a big impression on me, and then left me alone.
You can’t buy The Outsider yet here in Brooklyn. So, I haven’t heard it. But it seems as though he’s really dropping a bomb and stepping back. (Back Into The Shadows!! heh-heh-heh!) I’d like to know what he’s like; I’d reallllly like to know how he works; I can’t wait to get the new album. But, I know I’m going to be left alone with it, loving the struggle of hearing it. Mainly, I just want to know why he wouldn’t play my stupid ’80s industrial record!
August 11th, 2006 at 8:36 am
Peter, Bjorn and John were sold out(at least when I tried last week) as are Flaming Lips….sold out in less than 3 minutes. Janey feck, what does a boy have to do to see a decent band in Dublin these days. Vicar Street is a bit of puny venue for the magisterial Lips, in my humble opinion.
August 11th, 2006 at 10:45 am
Sorry, update. Second show announced for the sunday. got tickets for FL. Phew.
August 12th, 2006 at 8:14 pm
Dislike the DJ Shadow album. Much prefer the Girl Talk album “Night Ripper”.
August 13th, 2006 at 8:43 pm
it can’t be much of a play when the first thing that comes to mind is that the walls were more interesting.
August 14th, 2006 at 11:08 am
Donagh, any reports on the PB&J gig last Saturday? Glad you managed to get some FL tickets.
Paul, totally agree. He shouldn’t have to replicate Endtroducing or apologise for exploring new styles of music. A great debut can be as much of a curse as a blessing.
Big Bee, stand proud, I’ve got a couple of Revolting Cocks albums that I think are great.
Thanks for the story. The interview is for The Irish Times so I’ll post a link when it’s published.
Damien, you dislike the whole thing, every song?
John, it was so disappointing. Not to mention overlong, boring and with one dimensional, predictable characters. His books have so much energy and the play was totally devoid of that. So is Lady in the Water as awful as it sounds?
March 31st, 2007 at 12:06 pm
I was looking around at some blogs related to my site about Punk in Asia and just happened to land here. Cheers on the nice site!
Jon