One of the best Irish blogs I have encountered over the last year is the relatively new Dublin blog, come here to me. With three writers, it deals with different aspects of Dublin life and culture. They have a monthly 'pub crawl' where they visit five different pubs and report back. There is really interesting social history pieces like when an 'iceberg' floated down the grand canal, all the houses James Connolly lived in and an article on the Hellfire Clubs. They have unearthed some great music and film gems as well, including this rare Behan documentary on Dublin. Also, it doesn't appear that anyone of them is using this as a springboard to a media career. Refreshing.
The timeless concert series which celebrated the works of Mulatu Astatke to J. Dilla to Arthur Verocai with full orchestral works was a major success for Mochilla in 2009. Now those of us not able to get to L.A will able to see what we were missing with a 3 DVD box set, extremely limited and numbered edition of 4000, which is released at the end of March. In the meantime, some short extracts from the concerts are online. Eric Coleman, one half of Mochilla put together a special audio mix from the series, which can be downloaded here.
I have been doing a 2 hour radio show weekly since July 2007, on Spin SouthWest. So much time and effort goes into finding music to play that I
thought I should start putting up some archives as I'm sure Saturday
night is a time most people are out on the town instead of listening to
me !
The music policy is broad - basically any style of electronic music if
I like it ! Generally you'll hear D&B, Techno, Dubstep &
Electronica / Ambient. Here's the blog that I'll be updating weekly with each show.
Don't forget, if you ever want to tune in live, 'Future Beats' goes out
weekly on Saturday nights from 11.45 - 01.45 on Spin SW 102-103FM &
94.7 in the South West of Ireland. You can also get a stream from www.spinsouthwest.com
The Systems work of Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert created the classic templates that have been used in European roadsign design since the mid 60s. Their design template was carefully applied in the layout of the flyer for tonight's hidden performance. This was the first conceit as usually the information delivered by these templates is emotionless and directional. The info on this flyer however promised a ‘pure’ secret location with the Bandits hosting The Hardy Bucks, Walter Mitty and the Realists followed by ‘Topless Lesbians firebreathers who shift each other’. The second conceit now associated with the flyer is the recasting of the traditional Xmas performance fare as an occasion of a fantastical anti- materialist catharsis. Its in your face while you stuff your face.
In gentler contrast, over in the Southcourt Hotel in Limerick City, Brendan Grace's sold out whimsical take on the season gently loosened another button on its waistcoat.
And so the subliminally charged flyer drifted towards Birdhill where it settled on a tent on the side of the motorway. This is the venue, and as we cross the road we avoid the American styled trucks blaring their horns as they spot the lit up encampment. They must have regretted having to deal with the recession deadlines that prevented them pulling in to enjoy sum sorta hoedown.
In a carpark Limerick club tribes - perhaps the nieces and nephews of 40 year old Limerick Rave veterans - spill from the bus to stake their claim on new territory. The ‘Don't rubbish Tipp’ border sign on the road offering a wan welcome. The local Security team alternated between fixing wristbands while slugging buckfast with a multi tasked calm found only on such county borders. Later, a near naked young man was bounced from the tent by very these same men. After throwing himself from the stage and getting evicted he only found himself rubbed down and returned back under the spotlight for the Bandits encore.That's the service every exhibitionist is guaranteed in Tipp.
(As we come to the end of the year, I'm going to post up a few articles that were meant to go up earlier in 2009, apologies for the delay)
When B+ brought his tradition in transition show back to his hometown in June, it was a very special night. For a variety of reasons, we didn't get many photographs but it was special. As one well known local rock musician commented to me after "B+ ..was savage ... Limerick felt like a big city that night". During that week, Brian was a special guest on the Donal Dineen show on Today FM. As a testimony to the special magic of the crazy cumbia funk and off centre tropical beats he was spinning, after one particular mix presenter Donal Dineen told the following story.
If you are in Empire Music on O'Connell Street, over the next few days you can pick up two great Limerick releases from this month. The first is the Rubberbandits ep, "Drawing pictures of each other smoking fags" which features a number of phone pranks along with their best known songs, Bag of glue, Pure Awkward and Gardai. The second is 13 by beatmistress Cait. A full album of 15 tracks, featuring a range of futuristic styles fused by a unforgettable percussion, Caits tracks having been receiving a lot of critical acclaim on Reverbnation. This is the first opportunity to own them physically. Like the Rubberbandits ep it is very reasonably priced at 10 euro. Proceeds from '13' will go to Rainbow support services in Limerick and if you don't make it to Empire, you can also pick it up in Mickey Martins or at the Cauldron Bar in Nicholas Street.
This
saturday night, 12th of December, a2df & leon invite you to join them at the
underground bakerplace for another Uptown Sounds -playing funk soul
disco house jazz and hiphop -this month they have a special guest,
Tony Roche (deloreansuite) -on percussion , its only a fiver and there are drink promos
on the night
The spirit of the late 80s and parties at secret locations seems to be back this xmas. In the course of just three days Limerick will see two major events in undisclosed locations. First off is the night after Christmas (26th DEC) which promises over 20 DJs and live acts on two soundsystems at a Limerick location. Then two days later
"Monday 28th December 2009 .Chalk it down ! ... The Rubberbandits have announced a strictly limited capacity Magical Mystery Christmas Show at a secret location on Monday 28th December.Buses will leave the city centre from 6.30pm and the only way to get tickets is by emailing munkytennis@gmail.com"
Operating from a very impressive O Connell Street premises Viva Music Studios have really come to be a vital cog in the Limerick music wheel in 2009. From their successful hosting of the WFMU radio broadcast to the production classes which already has students releasing albums (Beatmistress Cait next Thursday) Viva is definitely bringing positive change to its environs. The feature above include contributions from DJ Eggs, Brigadier JC, Dan Sykes and some footage of that 3 hour radio broadcast last March.
Feb 25th-26th Love Supreme weekender the best Sunday afternoon in Limerick stretches itself over out to include a Saturday night with special guest Laurent Fintoni, joining the residents
. 
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