May 12th, 2008
Tuesday gig madness - New Bloods
Tomorrow night, music fans are spoilt for choice with The National, Ane Brun, The Hold Steady, Yeasayer, The Pigeon Detectives, Black Mountain and Ain all playing in Dublin. One gig you might have missed, is New Bloods, an all girl trio from Oregon, who released their debut album, The Secret Life, (review here) last month on Kill Rock Stars. They sound like The Slits with violins and a little more pathos. It’s rough around the edges, but crammed with energy and huge potential. Above is the video for ‘Doubles’ but have a listen to ‘Deadly Nightshade’ on their myspace page.
They play the Boom Boom Room at 9pm and admission is just €8. They also play The Pavilion Bar in Belfast tonight as part of their European tour.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Thanks for that one. Also Texan band Octopus Project play the Sugar Club, with support from Duchess Says. The latter (from the incredibly bountiful Montreal scene) have an amazing debut album just out.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Octopus Project are great. Can’t stand New Bloods though. So grating and tuneless.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Will have to check them out when I get a chance- good description and sounds promising. Going to Yeasayer myself but would love to see Ane Brun as well! Argghhh its one of those weeks but loving all the gigs!
May 12th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Longman Oz - I think I’m suffering from Montreal scene fatigue though.
Una - I think NB’s music is challenging but I don’t think I’d call it tunelss, especially if you look at the canon its in, ie punk. In experimenting they can veer towards discordance, but then so did the Slits, and so many bands making that kind of music. I’ve found the new Portishead album far more grating than this. Or maybe it’s just not a morning album, which is when I seem to put it on.
Tim - I loved Ane Brun’s album from a couple of years back. She has a great voice.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
I’d quite like to see them live. I think the album is good in a lot of ways, but could have been so much better…
May 12th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Discordance is fine, I can deal with a lot of that. Maybe it’s the violin, I don’t know. I just found it REALLY tough to enjoy when listening. I don’t think it’s a question of it being challenging or not, I just think it’s of little merit really. In my opinion, there doesn’t seem to be any depth or exploration in the music they make. Maybe some people can see layers that I can’t, but I listened to the Secret Life quite a bit and couldn’t find any.
I think if New Bloods weren’t from Portland or weren’t signed with KRS, they wouldn’t be getting the attention they are. That said, I’m still going to go see them play at some stage (not tomorrow, but they’re playing a venue I like in London in a couple of weeks so maybe there) and see if there is another dimension to them live, because IMO the quality of their studio recording ‘demo-on-purpose’ stuff is pretty shocking.
May 12th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Shane, I think live is probably the way to see them. All that energy and chaos in person and perhaps as Una says, what’s missing for her on the album might come across live.
Una - I think there’s a lot of depth to the music and it certainly does challenge - the fact that some people find it tough going (and I’m sure you’re not alone) proves that it does exactly that. The violin works sometimes and not at others, but I think it’s brave throwing violin into an essentially punk set-up. I’m with you on the studio stuff. Some bands have asked himself for that ‘demo’ feel when he’s recording them, but it doesn’t sound as cheap and occasionally shoddy as New Bloods. The production, even if it’s intentional, does let it down a little. That said, I’m sucker for raw, rough recordings like that.
“I think if New Bloods weren’t from Portland or weren’t signed with KRS, they wouldn’t be getting the attention they are.”
Crikey, we could say that about a million bands.
If Octopus Project weren’t from the home of SXSW, maybe there wouldn’t be as much interest in them?
May 12th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
WEB SHERIFF
Protecting Your Rights on the Internet
Tel 44-(0)208-323 8013
Fax 44-(0)208-323 8080
websheriff@websheriff.com
http://www.websheriff.com
Hi Sinead,
On behalf of Dance to the Radio and PIAS, many thanks for plugging The Pigeon Detectives show… .. and thanks, also, on behalf of the labels and the Pigeon Detectives for not posting any pirate links to new material … .. for info on the new album and the band’s 2008 tour, check-out http://www.thepigeondetectives.com and http://www.myspace.com/thepigeondetectives for details and you’re also welcome to link to the official posts of the video for “This Is An Emergency” at http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=32354470 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFQyx8rlDQk.
Regards,
WEB SHERIFF
May 12th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
I was kinda hoping that the overload of gigs in Dublin would spill somehow into slattage sheds nearby me in the midlands.
naturally they didn’t.
May 13th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
That Web Sheriff comment is a bit strange. As Niall said, its like somebody from Revenue paying you a visit to make sure everything is in order…bit big brotherish!
May 13th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Tim, it certainly is. I think it has its own viral take on things, but then it seems genuine as it got past my very virulent spam blocker, which has zapped genuine comments in the past that have links, etc.
Enjoy all the gigs, I may get to the National.
May 14th, 2008 at 12:44 am
the national were brilliant at oxegen last year, really condensed 30 minute set
May 15th, 2008 at 11:30 am
It is genuine and I think that such comments are manually sent. For example, they are typically employed by labels to stop the leaking of albums onto the Internet prior to their release date. I have come across them more than once.
I quite resent the snide implication of their approach though. They seem to be saying that “although you have done nothing that might be considered illegal, be warned, we are watching you if you ever get tempted”. I know what Father Jack would say to that!
I do/would delete such comments as spam, as they are advertising a professional service without permission and add nothing to the blog entry!
Indeed, as this comment might fall into that latter bracket too, I will conclude by saying that Duchess Says and Ane Brun were both great!