Tagged: joechester

With 2011 at an end I'm bringing my 'Amhrán Gach Lá' project to a close with my Top 10 songs of 2011 by Irish artists. 1. Jukebox Gypsy - The Month For me the lyric 'These are fading pictures now falling from our wall' is exactly what it's like looking back with memories of people who've passed away. It's a poignant track about a month in the songwriter's life which was devastating and turning it into a [...]

With 2 days left in the year I'm going to bring my 'Amhrán Gach Lá' project to a close by bringing my Top 10 songs of 2011 by Irish artists to the blog in 10 installments! Beginning at 10 and heading to 1! 2. I Draw Slow - Goodbye Beulahland My top ten was picked based on the songs that demanded repeated listening and the line in 'Goodbye Beulahland'; ' .. and I keep coming back to the [...]

With 3 days left in the year I'm going to bring my 'Amhrán Gach Lá' project to a close by bringing my Top 10 songs of 2011 by Irish artists to the blog in 10 installments! Beginning at 10 and heading to 1! 3. Declan O'Rourke - Be Brave and Believe I wrote about this song a few weeks back and I've kept listening to it since. This is a life changing song about hope and belief. If [...]

With 4 days left in the year I'm going to bring my 'Amhrán Gach Lá' project to a close by bringing my Top 10 songs of 2011 by Irish artists to the blog in 10 installments! Beginning at 10 and heading to 1! 4. Lisa Hannigan - Paper House This track is all about the charm Lisa's vocals, the strings and the harmonium create. The lyrics are heartfelt and beautifully crafted. This was the highlight of Lisa's album [...]

With 10 days left in the year I'm going to bring my 'Amhrán Gach Lá' project to a close by bringing my Top 10 songs of 2011 by Irish artists to the blog in 10 installments! Beginning at 10 and heading to 1! 6. The Gorgeous Colours - It's OK to be Normal This epic tune from start to finish hits the spot for me. It's a perfect indie song from the strings at the beginning to the vocals and the sentiment [...]

With 10 days left in the year I'm going to bring my 'Amhrán Gach Lá' project to a close by bringing my Top 10 songs of 2011 by Irish artists to the blog in 10 installments! Beginning at 10 and heading to 1! 7. Favourite Sons - The Great Deal of Love The title track of New York's finest Favourite Sons is a tragic tale of love sung perfectly by Ken Griffen formally of Rollerskate Skinny. This song for me [...]

With 10 days left in the year I'm going to bring my 'Amhrán Gach Lá' project to a close by bringing my Top 10 songs of 2011 by Irish artists to the blog in 10 installments! Beginning at 10 and heading to 1! 8. Joe Chester - Most of the Time This song is another recent favourite of mine. 'Most of the Time' is the standout track from Joe Chester's new album 'She Darks Me'. It's a beautifully written song [...]

JOE CHESTER is your PLAY IRISH artist this week. The track is '"Foreign Correspondent" and you can hear is all week at 3.30pm on Galway Bay FM. Joe has received a Choice Music Prize nomination; a Meteor Irish Music Awards nomination; an Irish Single Of The Year in The Irish Independent', and to top that all off his previous album "A Murder of Crows" has been included in the new Tony Clayton-Lea book "101 Irish Albums You Must Hear Before You Die"!! Have a listen to 'Foreign Correspondent' here: [...]

Ten Speed Racer had a great line-up of Dermot Barrett [Vocals & Guitar], Pat Barrett [Bass Guitar], John Barrett [Guitar], Terry Cullen [Drums] and Joe Chester [Guitar & Knob Twiddler]. The band are back in my attention as current Norwegian resident Dermot Barrett got in touch about his new album using the name Maskedman. It's next for review on the site! Here's the video for Ten Speed Racer's 'Hang on Starlight'. Apparently this was the world's first 360 degree music video from over ten years ago! [...]

Last week I described Cork XSW 2011 as my dream festival line-up and it did not fail to impress in any way. I loved everything from the line-up to the surroundings to the atmosphere and charm. I also loved how I got to hear possibly the best voice in Ireland ...... There really can't be a better location for a festival. Set in the Liss Ard estate the main stage took it's place downhill from the Liss Ard house with [...]

• 45 - Nick Kelly
• God Is An Astronaut - All Is Violent, All Is Bright
• LOWmountain - It's Been So Long
• Nina Hynes - In a Million
• we cut corners - 08 the male mind

I've sometimes wondered what the artists I've critiqued have thought of that review. That, of course, makes the massive assumption that they actually cared enough to read the review. InReview attempts to answer that question. In this series, I will engage in face-to-face interviews with musicians, basing my questions on my critique of their current record. Confused? Hopefully, it'll make a lot more sense when you get to the end of this post. The first thing I notice when I enter The International Bar on Dublin's Wicklow Street is Brian Brannigan's beard. Last time I saw [...]

A Lazarus Soul are releasing their third album "Through a Window in the Sunshine Room" on Jan 29th and includes some excellent tracks in the typical ALS understated way. Bookended by instrumentals 'Through A Window in the Sunshine Room' contains nine tracks of unglamorous beauty. There's no indie classic, breakthrough single or sing-a-long choruses here. It does however have Brian Brannigan's pure vocals, his astute social observations and a soundtrack which is complex in nature but entirely listenable. Brian along with Tony Hegerty [...]

'Amhrán Sa Lá' is the big ambition of the blog for this year. If google translation is to be believed 'Amhrán Sa Lá' is the Irish for 'A Song a Day'. I will post a song a day in the guise of a downloadable song, bandcamp or reverbnation widget or simply through YouTube. It means that you the reader should get to hear a song [new or old] from an Irish artist every day. There will of course still be the usual reviews, lists and features on the blog. A Lazarus Soul - We Start Fires [...]

Joe Chester: Take Me With U (Prince cover) I'll probably be shot, but the original Take Me With U [Spotify] by Prince & The Revolution never did much for me. How strange then that Joe Chester's glossy version manages to be brooding, a bit sexy and an altogether better proposition. You can download it for free as part of his Contre la Montre EP which also features covers of Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen and the Beach Boys. [...]

• Gypsy & The Cat - Sight Of A Tear
• Toro Y Moi - Blessa

'Nine Lives' is the product of Nick Kelly's 'Gestation' project which was conceived in September 2009 with nine monthly gigs upstairs in Whelans. Alien Envoy is the new recording name of Nick Kelly with 'Nine Lives' being a live collaboration with numerous quality musicians. Oh and it's a damn good listen too! Image by Clare Langan 'Nine Lives' was recorded at Whelans, Dublin between September [...]

A Lazarus Soul are returning with a third album entitled 'Throught The Window in the Sunshine Room' very soon and have offered their new single as a free download! A Penthouse View by alazarussoul According to their MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/alazaru ssoul "The record was done by myself, Tony Hegarty and with Joe Chester engineering. We also were very lucky to get some of our local heros involved, Martin Kelly (Sunbear/ [...]

Nick Kelly recently completed his 'Gestation' project to come up with a new album over nine concerts in Whelans over nine months. The album's called "NINE LIVES", and according to Nick's message below to his mailing list it's very special for at least nine reasons. From Nick Kelly ..... 1. As the name suggests, it's live. "NINE LIVES" was recorded at Whelans, Dublin, over the course of Gestation, the nine-month interactive project which concluded in May. I can't think of anybody since [...]

In the space of five days I got to see four of Ireland's finest artists in Whelans. Here for what it's worth is my take on the gigs! Friday 3rd April - One Day International with support from The Hedge Schools The Hedge Schools were Pat Barrett assisted by his mate, the legendary Joe Chester who produced last year's album 'Never Leave Anywhere'. I'm a massive fan of this album. Perfect escapism in the car. Performed live the tunes seem even more poignant and mesmerising. Their sound reminded me of old mid week gigs in pre-renovation [...]

I been listening to Gemma's 2005 album The Roads Don't Love You alot this week in the car and it's a timely reminder about how brilliant this girl is. I remember seeing Gemma many times live around 1999/2000 as she was the support act of choice for people like Nick Kelly, Juniper and I'm sure at one stage she supported one of the many Mark Dignam shows I seen in Whelans. Here are some video clips well worth a look: In Over My Head Another For The Darkness [...]

Ok, let's finish this - I know I've been milking it this last week. 5. Hercules & Love Affair: Blind Of my entire 40 (41 - I really meant to include Ting Tings), this track will probably be the least controversial. It's one of those tracks that pretty much everyone agrees is magnificent. The indie heads will dig it because it's way cred. The disco bunnies love it because you can shuffle to it. It's got Antony in it. [...]