The Christmas break is pretty much over, in terms of work anyway, the tools that have been downed are slowly getting picked up again, inboxes here being cleared, diary coming out to play and start getting filled and all in the name of starting 2011 on the right foot. Admittedly, things have been quiet here on the web front for a few weeks now but give it a few days and we’ll be right back on track again with a firm and fresh focus on all things local music for 2011.

We’ve got some new contributors on board for gigs and news, starting this month, but don’t forget that if you want your show or gig given a plug here on KKM to drop the details in an email to gigs@kilkennymusic.com and we’ll take care of the rest.

We’ve a good bit of work to do in terms of the online activities and looking at our 2011 programme (we’ve traditionally taken January and February to lay out the bulk of the year) so while we’ll be quiet on our own gig front for a while yet, fear not as we’ll have plenty of things coming up online and offline over the course of the year.

If you’re not doing so already, you can link up with us via Facebook or Twitter.

Here’s hoping your Christmas was good to you and Happy New Year to all y’all.

K

Voting in the final of the Kilkenny 400 Busker 2009 competition got underway last week and runs until this Friday. Today through Friday we’ll be showcasing one finalist a day in the run up to close of voting.

On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week between 3:15pm and 3:30pm, The Edwina Grace show on KCLR96FM will feature snippets and chat from one of the buskers. Last week saw Sean Watmore, Vicky Day and Beef Supreme were featured on the show last week with performances and chat from Annie Chambers, Quintet Tarantino (above) and Fionn O’Hargain due this week.

You can register your vote at Busker2009.com until 11:59pm on Friday night. Once the votes are counted and validated, one busking act will be announced as winner and walk away with a €1,000 cash prize.

Good luck to all involved from ourselves at KKM.

Problems At The Pancake House return once again this coming weekend (tomorrow night) with a night of music with an electronic edge at the next Problems at the Pancake House show as The Holy Roman Army and Sing Song join Kilkenny’s electro-pop purveyors Supernova Scotia in Cleere’s Theatre.

The Holy Roman Army is Chris and Laura Coffey, siblings from Co. Carlow who have been making music together on and off for fifteen years.

They make the music during time away from their day jobs working as a doctor and psychologist respectively.
They blend samples, synthesizers, vocoders, live vocals and guitar both in the studio and onstage with dark and occasionally obtuse lyrical
They have played several gigs in the Dublin area recently, the most high-profile of which was a support slot with Low as part of the Future Days festival- the smatterings of applause heard faintly in the back of the quarter-full venue have only served to fuel their monstrous egos.

They are currently recording their debut album with Steve Shannon of Halfset, which they plan to self-release in the autumn of this year. It features a contribution from Kilkenny’s own Captain Moonlight and the track will debut live in Cleere’s which you can also hear on the group’s myspace.

Sing Song begun their life as a duo: the dynamic vision of two young men, Danny and Cian, who refused to play to conventions. They showed up to gigs with Danny’s mother’s crystle glasses entow, posted bewildering pictures on their myspace and most worrying of all, seemed to have emerged from somewhere in the midlands of Ireland.

One wet windy evening Simon happened upon them playing to a less than patient crowd in Pravda. How he weasled his way into the band we might never know but he did bring with him a certain warmth, a certain knowingness, a certain mix of beeps and bips and bass that blended almost seemlessly with their sweeping sonic landscape and Danny’s creepying yet comforting voice. They are currently recording more music…

So stay tuned. Or just get to Cleere’s tomorrow night for 9:30pm, admission only a fiver!

A band I’d featured before Christmas on the Playlist Mix podcast, here’s A Band Called Quinn with their offering, ‘DIY’. A little something nice to start your week off with.

We’re working on the forums since late last night (and early this morning).

You’ll notice the links on the homepage (top 15 posts) have now changed to /boards/ instead of /forum. This is the new location for the member’s forum i.e. www.kilkennymusic.com/boards

The software has been changed, the look and feel has been changed and there’s a few added features as well. We’ll be toying around with it for most of the day but would appreciate your comments, either by leaving a comment here, starting a thread in the forum.

There will be updates during the day (e.g. we’ve to bring the avatars back) etc. but all feedback is appreciated!

Something has to be listened to while all this work is going on on the forum, so here’s some Rage Against The Machine for your Sunday with ‘Testify’

Check back to this post for updates, where available.

–

Saturday 22:20: Forum disabled.
Sunday 00:05: Forum backup complete.
00:24: Forum reopened, passed test-phase 1.
00:47: Forum disabled.
01:26: Kettle boiled.
02:26: Tools downed.
08:47: Tools picked right back up again, forum still disabled.
09:33: Second database fully restored, forum location on the move.

One of the most popular ringtones to ever hit the Nokia 3210 or 3310 in Ireland, number one here 8 years ago…. madness. Here’s a little robot hip hop for you all the way from Finland with Bomfunk MC’s ‘Freestyler’, waking you up this Saturday!

“D-Day” has arrived for Ro Tierney as his debut album, ‘Tics & Politics’, is now available to buy from RoTierney.com.

Ro appeared at the One Take Sessions towards the end of last year and had some advance copies of the album with him on the night.

According to the man himself

Its been a good week so far with some great reviews coming in and news that my single “Sticks and Stones” is now on almost every radio playlist in the country including 2fm.

He’s a serious talent, there’s no doubting that and if you grab yourself a copy of the album I think you’ll find yourself going back again, and again, and again for a listen. You can order your own copy direct from Ro’s website, physical CD copies costing 10 euro and digital downloads of the full album a fiver.

Get down with your bad self! Lipps Inc (what a name) with an absolutely classic in ‘Funkytown’. Winding back the clock on Friday… awww yeah. Pretty much a one hit wonder, Funkytown made it to the top of the US charts 28 years ago.

Still as good as ever in my books….

Podcast 40 has gone live and is full of the usual banter and music. This week you’ll discover the latest celebrity death, news of the 2008 One Take Sessions, some updates from Mycrofilms, local gigs and more. There’s also music from The Arrangements (Waterford), Fireland (Belfast), Angel Pier (Dublin) and previous guests at the One Take Sessions, Reclaim.

Listen now below or take a look at SoundSystemPodcast.com.

Sound System Podcast 40 (Download @ 41mb)
[audio:http://podcast.kilkennymusic.com/podpress_trac/web/61/0/podcast_040.mp3]

The official video for Adela Meally‘s ‘Party For Three’ is your video of the day for Wednesday February 7th.

We’re also wondering is there anyone mad enough to take part in our “love cast” next week. Seen as it’s heading toward Valentine’s day and all, would you be mad enough to record a song for inclusion on the podcast?

That plus we want to know what’s the worst, absolute shite Valentine’s gesture that you’ve either done, received or have witnessed from friends…. Let us know before next week!

So, if you’ve got gig dates you’d like to add, comments to make, anything to plug, give us a shout by emailing podcast@kilkennymusic.com.

As always, we’ll have four tracks from four more Irish acts so keep an eye out on the site for the podcast later on!

An old video for certain, remember when all those big acts got together for the ‘Perfect Day’ video? Hell, Boyzone are in there in their matrix finery.

Here’s Lou Reed, David Bowie, Bono, Boyzone, Elton John and more with ‘Perfect Day’

This one winged it’s way in via email earlier this afternoon, but if you’re interested there’s a 2-day beginners bodhran workshop being held in Mullins Mill, Kells, the second weekend of March. It might interest some of you drummers looking to add some trad instruments to your lineup. Here’s the details…

Cost: 65 Euro per person
Dates: Saturday March 8th, Sunday March 9th
Booking: 087 2383678 (Contact Sophia)
Places: 10 (Limited)

What you’ll learn? An introduction to the Bodhran – The instrument itself and the playing technique. Initially using the hand and then the stick. Learning basic Jig and Reel rhythmic patterns.

A willingness to learn and persevere with the basic playing technique is required and a love for Irish music is encouraged and welcomed!

Jim Higgins, hosting the workshop, hails from Renmore in Galway. Born into a musical family, he went on to study music in University College Cork under Micheal O Suilleabhain amongst others. While in Cork, Jim caught ‘the bodhrán bug’, playing alongside players such as Mel Mercier, Colm Murphy, and Frank Torpey.

During this period Jim was also an active member of ‘The Stunning’ rock band playing trumpet and keyboards as well as percussion. He also went on to play drums with fellow Galwegians ‘The Sawdoctors’ following a four year stint with ‘The Riverdance Show’ which took him around the world. He is also an honorary member of the Donegal based traditional group ‘Altan’ having recorded and toured extensively with them for the last fifteen years from the Hollywood Bowl to the Sydney Opera House. He has also recorded and performed with such luminaries as Paul Brady, Christy Moore, Liam O’Flynn, Donal Lunny, Bill Whelan, Martin O’Connor and Lunasa.

Jim also specializes in ethnic percussion encompassing the djembe, the darabukkas, the dumbeq and the mbira.

• Thursday, March 6th 2008
• Thursday, March 27th
• Thursday, April 17th
• Thursday, May 8th
• Thursday, May 29th
• Thursday, June 19th
• Thursday, July 10th
• Thursday, July 31st
• Thursday, August 21st
• Thursday, September 11th
• Thursday, October 2nd
• Thursday, October 23rd
• Thursday, November 19th
• Thursday, December 4th

More details will be published this week on OneTakeSessions.com.

Your video for Tuesday (while it continues to rain in Kilkenny)… here’s Coheed And Cambria with ‘Welcome Home’.

It’s not a slow news day for new services launching on the Irish scene or at least for press releases getting doled out.

Today’s turn is that of Vodafone and their ‘Bright New Sounds’ service which has gone to launch. The competition (that’s what it is – a competition) is offering the chance of a deal with Universal Music, signing to their new NoCarbon label, recording time in Windmill Lane Studios while each member of the winning act will receive a SonyEricsson K850i with 1,000 Euro Vodafone credit.

The competition is open to bands of all genres and you’ve got until February 22nd to get your tracks in. A judging panel including Ken Allen (Faction Records and a nice chap to boot!), Jack Hyland (Phantom 105.2FM) and Tom McFall (Producer).

The top 20 acts will be selected by the judges and the tracks will be uploaded to the Vodafone live music store, the top five most downloaded acts then showcased at a gig in the Tripod (Dublin) on April 3rd where the overall winner will be crowned.

The winning act will record and release a new single, produced by Tom McFall.

For all the details, check out BrightNewSounds.ie.

The latest feature length film produced by Young Irish Film Makers gets it’s premiere tonight in Kilkenny with Langton House Hotel hosting the event at eight pm. Shot in high definition, Suckers follows a group of secondary school students stuck in detention when their school becomes overrun by vampires.

Give the trailer a look and if you’re amongst those invited to attend tonight (attendance by invitation only), let us know what you think.