New Power Soul Revolution from Janelle Monae

Last week, before Glastonbury drew everyone’s attention to the fields of Worthy Farm, the Guardian published a rare and surprisingly revealing interview with my personal musical hero, Prince.

The normally reclusive and press-averse megastar spoke, albeit briefly, about his favourite current artists. He called out two by name. One was Adele. The other was Janelle Monae.

When the Minneapolis maestro speaks, you know it’s time to listen up.

Her show at Tripod last week was a perfect illustration of a brave new artist on the brink of much wider success, with her roots and influences squarely apparent and fully on show – wonderful covers of Prince, Stevie Wonder, the Jackson 5 and Sly and the Family Stone in the mix with her own already impressive material – and a live band so well-drilled and on the mark that they were a huge part of the show, as much as Janelle herself.

So much so that the theatrical aspects of this “emotion picture”, on top of some of the best future funk/soul you are likely to hear, made for one of the most mesmerising shows to hit Dublin for a long time, and probably for a long time to come.

After the bandleader had us call Janelle to the stage, the infectious energy and apparent joy of playing instantly transferred to the crowd as soon as the band broke in to Dance Or Die – an appropriate opener, because if you didn’t dance during the show, you probably were dead. That buzz did not flag until even after the main show, when the assembled ArchOrchestra returned to the stage for a hugely-deserved curtain call.

In between, Janelle’s vibrant and powerful soul voice weaved it’s way around Tripod, capturing all in its wake, as the band – made up of a string quartet, brass section, guitar, bass, keys, backing singers, dancers, MC, and drummer – put on a polished, soul revue-style performance that was utterly entrancing.

Her ArchAndroid was one of the best records of last year, and this live show will go down as one of the best of 2011.
Janelle promised at the end that they would be back – when she does return, don’t miss it.

A Bittersweet Harvest from Gillian Welch

Gillian Welch is renowned for two things — being one of the best singer-songwriters in music, and not being nearly prolific enough.

Eight years since their last release, Soul Journey, which had the Bob Dylan-esque audacity to feature an electric guitar in their previously all-acoustic sound, comes The Harrow and The Harvest, a return to Welch and David Rawlings’ darker, melodic roots.

As the title suggests, there’s a pastoral gothic at work here, and the instruments used, that include banjo, hands and feet show they have stripped the music back to it’s almost barest bones.

There is an indescribable familiarity about Gillian Welch’s music. It’s like nothing you’ve heard before, and everything you know.

Rooted in bluegrass and Appalachian styles, there is something fascinating and beguiling about The Harrow and The Harvest.

It’s shot through with a folk memory of songs long forgotten but that are still in your ears, and their shapes come into focus quickly after only a few bars.

It’s not even country music, it’s something more than that. It’s soul music, in the purest sense of that phrase.

The songs speak of scarlet and daggers, and, within the shadows of the music, there’s the feeling that there is something ready to reap what has been sown in the lives and loves of the characters in the songs.

This isn’t a great record, it’s an essential one. There’s the essential force of life and death within, and there’s very few records you can say that about.

Cars + Love + Girls = Great + New + Music

Cars Love Girls sounds like the blueprint for every great song of the last few decades, but it’s also the name of the new band from former Republic of Loose members Cormac and Orla Breslin.

The band came about when the brother and sister duo, who had always talked about working together, were looking for the next stage to their musical careers after leaving the Loose around two years ago.

“I had a good few songs left over that I had written for the band,” said Bres. “Usually, I would bring along an instrumentals and we would then put lyrics and vocals to them. So, I was left wondering what I would do next with them, and so I decided to finish them myself.

“Orla and I always said we would do something together, and the timing was right, so it happened pretty naturally.”

That natural progression has seen the band put together an album, Skip School, which contains ten highly-polished and accomplished songs that stand out from the current crop of sounds emerging from the capital city.

Imagine the chrome-plated production sound of Steely Dan, the loose funk of early Prince and the warm embrace of Prefab Sprout, and you’re getting close to the sound of Cars Love Girls.

“I’m not really affiliated with the Irish music scene, I’ve been in one band since college, and I don’t play with anyone else. The scene wasn’t an influence, what influenced it was me going back to my record collection and thinking about the artists that I loved and what did I want us to sound like.

“Things like Prince and Prefab Sprout, bands that I never stopped listening to, something that had a groove, and was really polished. It’s almost easy listening – clean, well-produced stuff.

“That was what we were going for and, hopefully, I’ve ended up somewhere in that ballpark.”

The band will play their first official gig at Crawdaddy on July 20, and their live sound is something that Bres and Orla have been working hard on perfecting.

“We’re looking forward to the first show, we’ve been rehearsing for the last couple of months, and it’s sounding good. It’s pretty much exactly the same as the record.

“It’ll take time to grow, and settle down on stage. We have a support slot in September; we’re planning on doing the Hard Working Class Heroes and EuroSonic festivals, as well as the IMRO showcase tour.

“We’re starting from scratch, really doing everything we can. I can’t wait to get the album out there, so we’re looking at the best way of doing that.”

When the album drops, don’t expect Cars Love Girls to remain in the shadows for long. It sounds like the first step on the road to international success.  Here’s one of the debut tracks from the album, Lose Your Mind. Clearly channeling Prefab Sprout, this is a great track.

Pierce by Pierce…

Having built up a legacy in the alt-folk scene since early 2000, The Pierces’ lack of success was inversely proportional to their obvious talent and appeal.

Their skewed take on the form showed some real invention, especially on their third record, Thirteen Tales of Love and Revenge, and it’s lead single, Boring.

Having been on the verge of giving it all up, their fourth album recently hit the streets. Having the backing of Coldplay’s Guy Berryman as co-producer, alongside Rik Simpson, who has previously been at the mixing desk for Jay-Z, Kasabian and PJ Harvey, The Pierces look set to achieve the breakout success their delicate, melodic tunes deserve.

Raised on Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon, Allison and Catherine Pierce have a strong melodic sense that weaves through all of the tracks on You & I.

There are echoes of Aimee Mann’s band, Til Tuesday, and The Byrds in the arrangements and harmonies that wrap you up and hold you entranced as you listen.

It’s not often that I put an album on repeat on my generic mp3 player of choice, but I did, and before I knew it, I’d listened to You & I straight through twice.

When things take on a slower tempo, on tracks like The Good Samaritan, The Pierces’ Alabama roots come through, their southern drawl seeps through the harmonies and give the sound a sun-bleached Americana feel.

Elsewhere, the music resembles a late 60s Atlantic Records sound, like the best moments of Dusty In Memphis, and displays a fine affinity with and understanding of 70s American rock, especially Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac.

There’s clearly a powerful depth of musical heritage at work here, and The Pierces don’t hesitate to let their influences inform their direction in every song, light and shade in every twist and turn.

You & I is shot through with delicious melodies and laser-sharp harmonies that have you hooked. This is where The Pierces take off.

Here they are, singing the one-two-three song 😉

Future Sounds of Derry

When I was a young teenager, I had a revelation that has shaped my musical taste ever since.

After Sunday’s religious ritual of listening to the new Top 40 countdown on BBC Radio 1, I left the radio on beyond 7pm. And the doors of a whole new world opened up. Annie Nightingale’s request show went on to be the place where I heard some of the music I loved from that day to this: Tom Waits, Beefheart, Zappa, and hundreds more.

Years later, once again, I find myself indebted to Annie for introducing me to another great band, the Japanese Popstars.

When she played a stomping remix of Let Go on her late-night breaks and beats show on BBC Radio 1, with its nation-conquering bassline, I was hooked, and searched out their earlier releases and remixes. They have worked with the likes of Editors, Depeche Mode and, heavens to betsy, Beyonce, and their debut release, We Just Are, was a fine piece of electronica.

Since then, the Derry-based trio have been wowing club and festival audiences, winning plaudits from all quarters along the way with their live and DJ sets.

On Controlling Your Allegiance, their second album, the Japanese Popstars have, it has to be said, taken a huge step into the realms of superstar DJs and producers. Soaking up the subtleties and dynamics of dance from their time in the field, and applying that knowledge and experience into their new material has resulted in something which at turns is epic, infectiously danceable and utterly listenable.

There are all kinds of reference points from the roll-call of dance and electronic music in here – Underworld, Orbital, Kraftwerk and New Order, for instance – but the most obvious is Chemical Brothers. On this showing, the Japstars have the potential to be heirs to the former Dust Brothers’ mantle as one of the ultimate stadium house acts.

The collaborations with the likes of Tom Smith from Editors, Lisa Hannigan, Robert Smith from The Cure, Jon Spencer and James Vincent McMorrow on Controlling Your Allegiance are pitch-perfect uses of each contributors’ vocal strengths and idiosynchracies.

Japanese Popstars are taking to the East Dance stage at Glastonbury this weekend for a live set, and if there’s any justice, they should be representing high up the bill on one of the two biggest stages at that festival in years to come.

Close your eyes listening to tracks like Catapult and Falcon Punch, and just see the hands-in-the-air madness kick off at festivals worldwide.

If you’re lucky enough to have a ticket to the Sea Sessions this weekend, or Electric Picnic, you’ll be able to have that experience a little more locally. It’s just the way the future’s meant to feel, with 40,000 people standing in a field. And the Japanese Popstars leading the dance.

Just relax. And let GO!

Back to the future

Awaited like the return of a comet, Kate Bush has kept her legions of fans on tenterhooks in recent years.

In fact, after the inital burst of activity that saw her release four albums in four years, to four albums in 20 after 1985’s epic Hounds Of Love, anything that resembles a note on record is greeted with massive anticipation.

So, six years after Aerial, another masterpiece in her canon, and in the absence of new material, Kate has returned to her nineties releases, The Sensual World and The Red Shoes, in order to address the “hard-edged sound” of the original digital recordings and re-make the songs the way her original vision saw them.

Some tracks are entirely re-recorded – This Woman’s Work, Rubberband Girl and Moments of Pleasure – but each of the 11 tracks have new vocals, and the deeper and more mature sound of that unique instrument is apparent from the first “Yes” on Flower Of The Mountain.

With re-recorded drum and bass parts, there is something unquestionably warmer about these new versions, and the new versions of Lily, The Red Shoes and Top Of The City are – heresy warning here – better then their original versions to these ears at least. Whether the world needed another version of Deeper Understanding is questionable, but as I would happily listen to Kate sing the phone book, anything new is glorious in itself.

A deep love for the original recordings might hinder some from entirely embracing this approach, but, honestly, anything with Kate’s presence is to be treasured, and this record no less so for revisiting former glories.

The box set edition features remastered editions of the original recordings of Sensual World and Red Shoes, and it’s part of the joy of listening to return to these and comparing their original incarnations with their new, retooled versions.

The creative process has apparently inspired Kate and there are, apparently, recording sessions going on in her home studios right now. Of course, given her attention to detail and artistic approach to all of her output, it could be another six years before we see any new material.

But if Director’s Cut has awakened Kate’s muse once again, it has to be hailed as a wonderful thing. The anticipation is here again, but this time, we know how anticipation will sound when it is sung by this legendary siren.

Hmmm, yes…

Ooh ah Ga Ga, Ooh ah Ga Gaaaa…

I have to put my paws up. I’m a sucker for pop genius. My music collection is filled with an array of eclectic and bizarre guilty pleasures that friends would have me sectioned for if they knew that I owned them.

So when Lady Gaga first appeared on the scene, my initial scepticism was eroded by a succession of great pop moments – Telephone, Bad Romance, Paparazzi… But still, there was something not quite clicking.

The game-changer for me proved to be her performance at the Big Weekend event in Carlisle a couple of weeks ago, where she showed a depth and musicality that I wouldn’t have associated with LG before.

She reminded me of Prince in his mid-Eighties pomp, when everything he recorded was shot through with genius. Like LG, the Purple maestro was also mad as a fish, and his enigmatic presence coloured music at the time with a fresher palette, just at the time when he, Madonna and Michael Jackson changed pop for good.

We’re a good few years on from that, and now it’s time for Lady Gaga to take over that mantle, and the path to the throne starts with her new release, Born This Way.

Taking the next step from The Fame and The Fame Monster, Ms Germanotta has been trailing Born This Way for a long time now, at concerts and in interviews, and has been tantalising fans with snippets of tracks and individual songs appearing in all manner of places, from FarmVille to iTunes, in a masterfully orchestrated marketing campaign.

The record itself is a huge electro-disco burst of energy from start to finish. There is an sense on first listen that you have been subjected to an unremitting mirrorball-covered jack-boot march across your senses. But that is it’s appeal, to be honest: It is great, exhausting fun.

Admittedly, the producers she has brought in to assist in the gestation of these tracks, from Junior/Senior’s Jeppe Laursen to Mutt Lange and RedOne, put their own stamp on proceedings. The record is shot through with steely-edged industrial dance tracks and bombastic rock anthems.

But underlining it all is Lady Gaga’s inimitable, individual presence. Other reviewers and critics are caught up on her similarity to Madonna and, though the title track is unquestionably Express Yourself updated, there is some things that remain unsaid.

Yes, Lady Gaga is ploughing the same furrow as the female icon of the Eighties, but she is appealing to a completely new generation with her take on the same genre, who weren’t there to experience what Madonna meant back then.

There is a whole new generation, then, set to thrill to the same joyful pop rush that Madonna delivered in the Eighties, and who are going to experience the same immense cultural impact she had.

Critics also have to remember, it took Madonna four albums to come up with the definitive statement of her talent to that point, when she released Like A Prayer in 1989. Up to then, releases like Like A Virgin and True Blue were great pop records, but there was a good deal of filler in between the classics.

That is, it has to be said, what it feels is happening on Born This Way. There are songs that will be part of the pop lexicon for years to come, and there are some tracks that won’t be recalled so immediately in there as well.

That said, though, Born This Way is a joyful, ruthless pop-dance record that demands your attention and will make a lot of Little Monsters very happy. Gaga is going to have a very long career, folks, and pop music will be much healthier and interesting for it.

Leaning into the fall

Managed by the guru behind the rise of Suede, and with a safe pair of hands on the mixing desk in the form of Muse and Foo Fighters producer, Rich Costey, the self-recorded and self-produced, self-titled debut album from Nashville’s Mona finally hits the streets this week.

Having been tipped as ones to watch since last autumn, the Tennessee tyros first platter arrives with eleven tracks that drip with attitude and expectation.

The immense weight that comes from the NME, MTV and BBC voting you as ones to watch in 2011 hangs in the background, but you sense that there is something in the mix that might just see Mona rise above the hype and deliver something more than many of the hotly-tipped acts of recent years have been able to.

The album does not hang about in making its point – clocking in at a brisk 35 minutes – that this is a band packed with an infectious energy and the tunes to drive it home.

Lead tracks like Listen To Your Love and Trouble On The Way show their straightforward rock leanings, but Lines In The Sand demonstrate that Mona already know their way around an anthem.

As with all good debuts, the question is, where do they go from here? They have a fine formula that does not need  tinkering, their power pop/alt rock shapes will have an immediate audience, and their support slot at Slane next weekend will give them a shot at a wider base than their recent gig at Whelan’s allowed.

Comparisons will endure with Kings of Leon – the Followills also being from Mona’s home state of Tennesee. There is a certain similarity, but they have more in common with Rocket From The Crypt – propulsive rock delivered with a snarl and hearts-on-sleeves, and looking like they are the coolest gang in town.

Given the space and time to develop their obvious strengths, and there’s every chance that they will achieve their intention of being the purveyors of romantic rock’n’roll for city folk for years to come.

Oh, and here they are/were at Slane…

Chemical reaction

Oh, my word. Talk about coming back with a vengance.

The Chemical (I remember them when they were the Dust) Brothers have let loose one of the new tracks from forthcoming album, Further, set to drop on June 7.

Echoes of The Who and Underworld are the foundation for another track set to blaze across the skies at festivals in Europe and throughout the world throughout the summer, and the four nights at the London Roundhouse next month should be something to behold.

There is pure epiphany soundtrack material going down here, harking back to classics like The Sunshine Underground from 1999’s Surrender. This is, truly, immense.

(I defy you not to put your hands up, people.)

He said Captain, I said Whatmans

I don’t often venture out to gigs as much as I would have done back in the day, so it takes something special to get me over the door and out into the country.

Having heard rather a lot over recent months about a Battle of the Bands competition in a local town, with the prize at stake being a stage slot at the Glastonbury festival, I thought it would be prime opportunity to catch up on a lot of the best local and regional talent around, the creme de la creme, if you will, of the upcoming new wave of talent, especially in light of the paddywhackery of a recent Guardian article, and the great user comments that proceeded it about the current state of Irish music.

So I tripped along to sunny Shercock in Cavan and the Ship Inn, the venue for the contest, and saw some truly fine acts fight it out for the prestigious place at Pilton Farm in the summer.

The Myth, The Making, Turbulent Eddy, Serial Twin, Humbuzzer and Shouting At Planes all rocked well and gave hugely impressive accounts of themselves. The eventual outcome was a bit of a hometown decision, but the one true winner on the night, though, was the Navan-based Whatmans, whose set, supported by a fine turnout of fans and new converts on the night alike, was one of those goosebump moments that comes along very seldom in this pop life.

Opening their short set with the slow-burning and epic Soldier, and closing with upcoming single, Devil Shoes, they showed themselves to be possibly the best unsigned act in the country.

Soldier was an unlikely opener, but it came across as U2’s Moment Of Surrender without the pretension, filled with equal bombast and driving energy.

Tracks like Follow Me, Guns of Dublin and This One’s For The Music have an immediate and solid connection with their audience, and if their debut album, slated for November release, can capture their powerful live act, they are destined for a major label deal and all that comes thereafter.

The Whatmans’ uncanny knack with the anthemic twist, echoes of the Verve at their best and a canny pop sensibility, they showed potential beyond their environment and I would not be concerned at their loss on the night. They will one day grace Glastonbury, and at a headier slot than this win might have brought them.

They are one to watch, and if they continue to gig and develop their already confident and accomplished presence, the sky is the limit.

Watch them take off…