GAMAK

Giveamanakick

Friday 19^th April 2008

Cyprus Avenue, Cork

What do you get if you take two angry accountants (well, that’s what they looked like – either accountants or IT specialists – take your pick) and put them in a room with two drum kits, four guitars (one teeny-weeny one), a cowbell, a whistle and a scary-ass facemask? Giveamanakick, that’s what.

No one could claim no warning when you consider that the stage had been set up by men in nuclear boiler suits. The presence of a coat stand on stage should not have set any ingénue’s mind at rest. These two guys mean business and they mean it to be a loud and as fast as possible. And as incoherent. Ok, ok, audible melody does rear its head every so often and even the pace and freneticism calm occasionally, but we’re talking overall impression here.

They opened with the kick-ass “Spring Break” (not that I could make out the name or the lyric from what went on on-stage – this I gleaned from peering over the sound desk at the set list), which also opens the new album, “Welcome to the Cusp”. Playing in Cork for the first time since the last time, or so Steveamanakick said, they also claimed to be nervous. Really? It didn’t show, lads. Tracks like “Horses for Courses”, “Brittle Bones” and “I Dream of Shavings” showcase the pair’s tight timing and sheer professionalism. The whole set was loud, fast, pumping, alive and you found yourself moving without realising you were doing it. I defy anyone to go to one of their gigs and sit or stand still through it.

The audience (what a sedate word), aka their fans, loved them – that goes without saying. I’d never heard them before and I loved them. They should be playing to bigger crowds, if there’s any justice in the world, in bigger venues with even glitzier drum kits (loved the drums!)!

I’m not going to go on and on or try and describe their music; that would take from it, I believe. But it’s very simple. They are a superb live band so, guys, if you want a good night, go and see GAMAK – catch them if you can and try to keep up! (You might want ear plugs…just a thought.)

GAMAK

Steveamanakick – vocals/guitars

Giveamanakeith – drums/vocals

Ian Whitty & The Exchange

Ian Whitty & The Exchange

With guests Supermodel Twins

The Roundy Rooms, Cork

April 17^th 9:00pm

Opening the gig, Limerick-based, US-influenced band, the Supermodel Twins, were tight and very rehearsed, but the aftertaste left was that they were derivative and unimaginative, being something akin to American Pie meets the Feeling. However it was nice seeing Samwise Gamgee on lead guitar and backing vocals.

This left the floor for Ian Whitty and the Exchange. Ian Whitty is long established as a solo artist and this set-up is a new departure for him. Nevertheless, he was appeared relaxed and comfortable on stage. The Exchange comprises a mix-um-gather-um of local musicians, lured from other groups, such as Stanley Super 800, for the project. The group consists of guitar, bass, drums, violin & cello and it is a very talented group that Mr Whitty pulled together for the gig in The Roundy Rooms tonight.

It is rare to see an artist perform as well solo as he does with a group. In fact, it is more often the case that the change from going solo to fronting a group results in the loss of something, a flattening almost of the whatever quality which separates them from the pack. Ian Whitty does not suffer from this. Not at all. Actually, it is more like comparing apples and oranges and we got a taste of both this evening.

It was a long enough set with the five musicians squashed into the small stage area and the bass completely hidden in the background (which might be looked into for future gigs in this venue, purely on an aesthetic level mind…ahem). Mr Whitty chatted amiably before each track, giving a potted history of its origin, including tales about a kidnapped pit bull and ill-advised romantic encounters, all of which added to the seriously feel-good factor of the night.

“Houndstooth Shirt”, the first single for the group, is released on April 18^th. If you want to get a handle on exactly what this group are about, have a listen. It’s esoteric, quirky (I am not a fan of that word but sometimes needs must) and suits them down to the ground. Actually, there were no weak tracks in the set, but my personal highlight was a simply magic moment when he launched into a solo number, “Knocks me out”, and the background noise from the crowd dispersed like the red sea parting.

Bass: Paddy, not Flor

Drums & vocals: Anto Noonan

Violin & xylophone: Larrissa O Grady

Cello: Grace Mc Carthy

Guitar & vocals:Ian Whitty

The Smith Quartet

Music Network Presents:

The SMITH Quartet

With GERARD McCHRYSTAL saxophone

Thursday 10^th April, Curtis Auditorium, CIT Cork School of Music, 8pm

The Smith Quartet, referred to variously as Britain’s answer to the Kronos Quartet and Britain’s premiere contemporary string quartet, performed last night in the company of Gerard McChrystal on the second date of a ten-date tour which sees them play both north and south of the border, culminating on Saturday night in Portstewart, Coleraine. The programme chosen is one, which profiles some the leading contemporary composers working in Ireland and the UK today, including Mícheál Ó Súilleabháinn, one-time head of our own UCC Department of Music.

To quote their own notes and to give you a flavour for the group itself, “For almost twenty years, the Smith Quartet has been a leading light of the contemporary music scene: over one hundred new works have been written for the ensemble by a veritable who’s who of composers including Kevin Volans, Django Bates, Michael Nyman and Stephen Montague. The quartet has worked closely with Steve Reich, most notably on his work Different Trains …”. Heavyweight names indeed!

But enough background and on to the concert itself. It opened, after a bit of a chat from Mr McChrystal to set the scene, with five of jazz pianist Chick Corea’s Children’s Songs. Those chosen moved from the gentle fairytale to the realms reminiscent of 1,001 Arabian Nights and Pan’s Labyrinth. It was (possibly) coincidental that as the last piece opened with a startling robustness a young girl in a row ahead of me had a nosebleed. Definitely a coincidence.

Changing style completely, the Debussy and the Ravel were run together. I confess, Syrinx is one of my personal favourites and I’m always partial to a spot of Ravel. And this particular Ravel, with which I was unfamiliar, is a little gem. Perhaps, that is why, for me, the concert peaked early and was on a gentle slope downwards from then one, with the one high point in the second half being Farrell’s The Pilgrim’s Return. Hunting/Gathering & Stamp are both technically difficult, both to play and on the ear and Óiche Nollag didn’t settle until the it moved into a jazz interpretation towards the end of the piece. The final pieces, If & Why, by Michael Nyman, originally written to texts by a Roger Pulvers and included in the 1995 Japanese animated feature film “The Diary of Anne Frank” were saccharine in the extreme. A glance at the included lyrics only confirmed that feeling.

However, programming aside, the Smith Quartet are ruthlessly good at what they do and Mr McChrystal produced a sound that was so smooth and warm that it was only short of a cat stretched out in front of him, purring. Theirs is an (apparently) effortless grace and dexterity with none of the showboating, which can be prevalent in the classical world. They were a joy to see and hear.

The Smith Quartet (http://www.smithquartet.com/)

Gerard McChrystal (http://www.saxsaxsax.com/)

The Smith Quartet:

Ian Humphries – Violin

Darragh Morgan – Violin

Nic Pendlebury – Viola

Deirdre Cooper – Cello

Programme:

Children’s Songs - Chick Corea

Syrinx – Claude Debussy

Piece en forme de Habanera – Joseph-Maurice Ravel

Hunting Gathering – Kevin Volans

INTERVAL

Óiche Nollag – Mícheál Ó Súilleabháinn

The Pilgrim’s Return – Ciarán Farrell

STAMP (to avoid erotic thoughts) – Donnacha Dennehy

If & Why – Michael Nyman

Ham SandwicH

“Carry the Meek”

• St. Christopher
• Keepsake
• Click…click…BOOM!!!
• Never Talk
• Words
• Broken Glass
• Sad Songs
• Sleep
• Ashes
• Thru the Grass

Having reviewed their live show only a couple of weeks ago, I feel like I’m eighteen again, sitting the Matric. (ask your parents) and thinking to myself “Haven’t I just done this exam?” Well, in the second instalment of the continuing saga, I am pleased to say that they come off a lot better on vinyl (again, ask your parents) than they did in Cyprus Avenue, at least vocally. I have to admit though, and I know I am probably going to be in a very small minority here, but I don’t know where I am with Ham SandwicH. While I am reluctant to box things off or label extravagantly, they are neither here nor there for me. I love what they do harmonically and melodically. The double octave work between Ms Farrell & Mr McNamee is wonderful – powerful, attention-grabbing, distinctive. And the counter-melodies used are clever, relatively intricate and unusual for the modern band. But I find, once you get over the vocals, Ham SandwicH as a whole is washing over me without having much impact. Like I said, I’m probably not making myself popular here.

Carry the Meek is an excellent exponent of what it is to be Ham SandwicH and will doubtless delight fans everywhere. Click…click…BOOM!!! has a catching and clever hook. Their sound is driving, insistent, pounding and the lyrics are clever, intelligent. I don’t doubt that this will sell well and be a treasured part of many collections for some time to come…just not part of this reviewer’s. Mind you, I do really like Sad Songs…

Ham SandwicH:

Niamh Farrell

Podge McNamee

Johnny Moore

Ollie Murphy

Darcy

The Coronas

“Heroes or Ghosts”

• Grace Don’t Wait
• Make a Change
• San Diego Song
• Heroes or Ghosts
• The Talk
• The Great Divide
• I Choose Love
• Decision Time
• Filtho
• Real World
• The Joker
• Temporary Release

The Coronas manage to have their own sound in the densely populated world of the guitar-driven rock/pop band, which is in a large part due to their vocals, which is an odd blend of a stong voice that sobs the sentiment at you. Their sound overall puts me in mind of Live, but without the menace. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as it allows you to listen to it far more often. On first listening, the CD sounds like a lovely bunch of very happy-go-lucky tracks but, on loser inspection, the upbeat feel is masking an undercurrent of melancholy in the lyrics. Tracks like The Talk or the title track Heroes or Ghosts are simply beautiful. If I have any quibble with this at all, it is that the songs all appear to be in and around the same note range, even in the same key, which lends a same-sameness, which travels from one track to the next. I don’t know if this is due to the vocal range of the lead singer or whether it is simply an act of chance but changing this could lead to a more interesting work next time around. But this could be just a step on a long journey. In short, I love their sound and love this album.

The boys are lined up for gigs all over the country over the next couple of months so, if you can catch them, do. They’re even better live.

The Coronas:

Danny O’Reilly

Graham Knox

Conor Egan

Dave McPhillips

Primrose

“What you want to believe”

1. stranger come around

2. so alive

3. the best in you

4. pretty girl

5. insane

6. ambitious girl

7. rude

8. take on me

9. sad song

10. say’s enough

On first listen, it sounds American, on second listen, it sounds like nothing in particular, on third, it starts to grow and by the fourth, there are tracks on repeat. (Interestingly, the main, indeed only, image in the sleeve notes is from the U.S.A. moon landing.) This is the new album from Denmark-based, self-proclaimed Irish band, Primrose, “What you want to believe”. Having said that, however, there are only a few tracks that I find worth repeating. This would make a superb four-track EP, using just tracks #1,3,8 & 10. Stranger Come Around is an epic opener, with almost-OTT strings & vocals swirling, The Best In You & Take On Me are songs for a summer road-trip, with Say’s Enough a sparsely-arranged soundtrack closer. Frankly, I grew to immediately love this collection but almost as quickly found myself irked by most of it. The definitions of a primrose path (included inside the sleeve notes) using terms like ‘irresponsible hedonism’ and ‘tempting but hazardous’ didn’t help. (It put me in mind of someone who tells everyone that he’s ‘like, Crazy, man!’ in the hope that he will be thought more interesting than he actually is.) On a more serious note, lyrically, the work could be stronger and a number of the songs morphed into background noise within a few bars. Frontman Adrian Sullivan’s voice is wonderfully distinctive though and it adds a certain something to even the more wandering tracks (e.g. Pretty Girl). It is also no surprise that one of the more interesting tracks (#3) had input from Brother Bob, who has worked wth Madonna, Britney Spears and the Pet Shop Boys. However, at the end of all this, I am put in mind of the old saying “A good start is half the work” so I’m looking forward to their next offering.

One question though: what the heck does “It say’s enough for me” supposed to mean? Why the apostrophe?

Primrose:

Adrian Sullivan

Ulrck Aagaard

Kasper Olsen

Kasper Foss

Redtrack

Inside/Pretty Boy EP

·Inside

· Pretty Boy

·On The Razz

·Inside (radio edit-clean)

For my money, opening with Pretty Boy would have been a better plan than with Inside. Pretty Boy is a rocking track and the addition of one Eliza Nicholas as guest vocalist just works so well with her slightly hard-edged girlish tones set against the Essex-laden bovver boy of Redtrack frontman Billy Wright. However, I suspect that, due to the presence of a radio edit, Inside is to be the public face of this young trio. (Mini-rant: Why is it thought that blanking out the ‘uc’ leaving ‘f**k’ is going to hide the word? It sounds as obvious as the original, if not more so.) Looking at the CD in general, the whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts here and the end result belies their relatively tender years. The lyrics are current, intelligent and, listening to them thumping out of the headphones, you find yourself chair-dancing in the office. Pretty Boy & On The Razz are catchy and infectious and seem to be far more representative of their sound than Inside, which appears to have a far more commercial leaning than the other two. I’m not convinced that this commerciality is quite in their comfort zone though and feel a much better vibe from the middle of the CD. Check out their myspace account (myspace.com/redtracktheband) for a broader view of their sound.

I think these guys would be much better live. It’s hard to catch the raw energy jumping out of this E.P. on a recording to the same extent that it would be felt up the front at a heaving gig. And I, for one, would like to see them play here some time in the not too dim and distant.

Redtrack:

Lead vocals/guitar – Billy Wright

Bass – Phil Blake

Drums – Andrew Perry

Additional vocals on Pretty Boy – Eliza Nicholas