I was going to review the new Coldplay album tonight, ‘Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends‘. I put it on and thought ‘hey this might actually be good’, the opening track was interesting, the second track not so much, the rest of the album is drivel. I honestly went into it with an open mind, despite their first 3 albums and the first two singles from this album. Unfortunately the singles are the best songs on it. I couldn’t wait for this to end so I can’t bear to go through it again, it’s just terrible.

So instead on to a band Coldplay are trying to be like, Sigur Ros. You can stream their new album on www.sigurros.com. My internets is fuckered so I’ll review it next week when the download is available. Disc arrives on the 23rd.

‘Cosmosphere’ was good, ‘Monkeys in the Zoo…’ was brilliant, ‘Ritual’ is ten times better than both of them put together. Thoroughly enjoyable effort from one of Ireland’s finest. This album has everything Jape’s last two albums were missing. The songwriting is complete and accomplished, there’s nothing to disappoint.

The beats and programming is top notch, subtlety mixed with the not so subtle. The album opens with the catchy, yet puzzling, ‘Christopher and Anthony’, with a high tempo, pop inspired electro beat and clever lyrics. In fact the lyrics throughout the album are Richie at his best. Clever, witty and bizarre. The theme continues through ‘I Was A Man’, with a line to rival ‘Floating’s’ opener, “I popped my cherry to November Rain, I think she liked but don’t think she came”, it’s simple but brilliant. The synth work and programming here is prodigious.

Not to disappoint too early, which ‘Monkeys’ did a little, the upbeat tempo on ‘Replays’ keeps the foot tapping and the head nodding. The beat, guitar, lyrics and excellent use of vocoder pushes Jape beyond where he’s been before. Another gem of a lyric comes in ‘Graveyard’, “It’s such a short, short distance from the nipple to the soil”. I know people usually like lyrics that are fancy and pretentious but these are fantastic.

The momentum begins to let up slightly from ‘Graveyard’ into ‘Phil Lynott’, a rousing tribute to another of Ireland’s finest bass players. Really nicely crafted acoustic number with a rolling lyric style, again peppered with brilliantly conspired words. At this point you find the crossover from previous albums into the new work. It’s classically Jape but written with the experience of two albums.

A live favourite of mine, ‘Streetwise’ quickly drags the album back out of it’s short lived slumber with a catchy lead synth and a slow, dance beat. I love the pitched vocals on the chorus. It conjures up so many images that you just don’t know what he’s on about. I don’t think there’s much meaning behind it all, it’s just fun. “We smoked a teabag, to see what would happen”, I’ll say no more about the lyrics. The ending is classic hands in the air fun, you can’t clap enough.

‘At the Heart of All of This Strangeness’, takes it down a notch again to keep the balance of the album in check. Another sweet acoustic number, Richie’s voice is starting to shine. He’s not the greatest singer ever, especially technically, but there’s so much heart and passion in everything he says, it doesn’t matter. ‘Apple in an Orchard’ kicks the notch straight back up and adds a few more to boot. Another great beat with awesome wah-wah guitar and a great bass line. This album is just fun, fun, fun. It’s what music is all about. Makes you feel good, makes you smile, makes you think, makes you dance, makes you nod your head like an idiot, and ultimately leaves you reeling in awe.

I’d be happy if the album ended there, but it doesn’t. In fact there’s two more songs, possibly the two best songs to come from Jape, or Ireland in the last 10 years.

‘Strike Me Down’ carries the beat of the whole album and sums it up into a pulsating guitar driven electro heaven. Richie at this point is bordering on rapping, but stops just short and slides into a beautiful pre-chorus and chorus. From the second chorus through a nicely implemented solo the song builds into a monstrous mash of beat, rock guitar and beauty.

‘Nothing Lasts Forever’ is a gorgeous way to end an album. The intro sounds remarkably like a jingle I heard on a radio somewhere but can’t remember. It’s a simple electric piano with a bouncing delay overlayed with one of Richie’s best vocal performances. This is such a calming, soothing number, it feels like I could just drift away into space and be totally happy at being lost forever. It’s just a pity it’s only for 4 minutes.

Production wise it’s great. The sounds used and the synth work is exceptional. I love that I’m hearing new sounds with each listen. It’s been mixed to perfection and all the sounds work so well together. The combination of guitars and electronics is rare but to top it off with the stunningly witty lyrics is even more so.

Ritual is out now!

www.myspace.com/richiejape

What is it with Irish people at gigs? I haven’t been to many gigs overseas but Irish people are the rudest and most inconsiderate pricks at gigs. It just ruins the experience.

Anyway, the music made up for it. Day started with a nice, long and stressful journey out Malahide to a friend of a friends who lives right beside the castle. Scorcher of a day, so we sat around drinking, BBQ’n and getting burnt. The perfect warm up. The venue was about half full when we got there, the sun was still shining and didn’t stop until after 10pm. Beautiful setting for a beautiful gig.

I must mention the trickery of a friend of the friend of a friend, who managed to sneak into the gig. Dressed in slacks, a shirt and a waistcoat, armed with 5 litres of milk and a pass around the neck for some event in Croke Park, they walked right up to the gate and claimed to be delivering milk. When asked for a pass, they showed the Croke Park pass briefly, cracked a joke and in they went, then promptly dumped the milk in a corner somewhere. While this is pure genius and I can’t believe it worked, you’d wonder how many people sneak into these things. Bit harsh on the band in question but then again the price of the ticket was a bit harsh on the regular, honest punter.

So, Bat for Lashes kicked off at about 7pm. My review below was fairly glowing of Natasha Khan’s album ‘Fur and Gold‘, but unfortunately the live experience didn’t live up to it. Not that it was bad it was just a bit dull. The crowd weren’t interested because they were all snobs, impatiently waiting for Radiohead plus the sun was too tempting not to lie on the grass for the evening. The instruments employed were real nice however, including a bizarre one stringed violin sized piece that had a brass horn attached to it, played with a bow, which I must find out what it is. It was good but the album’s better.

After much roadie action and jostling for a good spot in the crowd, Radiohead took to the stage around 8:30.

From start to finish they were perfect, with a minor blip from Johnny on ‘Videotape’, which they promptly stopped and picked up a minute later perfectly. The general perfection was disappointing though. I mean, now I’ve paid €130 to hear the ‘In Rainbows‘ album as it was recorded (€70 for gig, €60 for boxset). Ok fair enough it’s not at the scale of the Tom Waits rip off and I’m happy that I got value for money with the boxset, but I expect more from a performance especially from a band of the calibre of Radiohead.

Anyway, not to be a complete downer, it was still enjoyable. They avoided most of the classics like the majority of their first 3 albums, apart from ‘Planet Telex’, ‘Climbing Up The Walls’ (a highlight) and ‘Airbag’.

The ‘Kid A/Amnesiac‘ songs were brilliant, in this case I’m amazed at how they reproduce this music live. It’s sheer brilliance. Then there was the best from ‘Hail to the Thief‘, no more than 3 songs. They also threw in ‘Bangers and Mash and a new song, ‘Supercollider’, that Yorke performed solo on piano, still rough around the edges though.

I guess my main disappointment was with the performance of the ‘In Rainbows’ tracks. They played it all except for ‘House of Cards’, including a nice little acoustic duet of ‘Faust Arp’. All these songs were performed exactly like they are on the album, with very little passion in the performances. There was some nice moments like ‘Videotape’ and ‘Jigsaw Falling Into Place’, but overall it felt a bit dull for a live performance.

The light show was amazing. As you can see from the pictures, there was strips of lights the height of the stage at the sides and back and about 10 foot above the stage in the middle. The colours and effects the came out of these was incredible, although it would have been nicer if it was darker but I’m not going to complain about the great weather and long evenings. The screens at the back and sides had mainly close up shots of the band and their instruments, a real nice touch for the musos. It also worked with the strips of lighting, creating a stunning visual experience.

All in all it was a good, enjoyable gig, and a great day out, would do it all again tomorrow if I could. Just a shame there was too many negatives. Also, surprising that the additional night (which was actually the Friday night) wasn’t sold out. The Saturday sold out within an hour or so but tickets for Friday were still available…

Well, I thought this album was going to be quite upbeat, I don’t know why. I guess from ‘What’s a Girl To Do‘, I thought that was downbeat. This is a very mellow album. There are beautiful textures, the rhythmic side is there just not as full on as I had expected, very subtle and a great mixture of sounds. Combined with a beautifully, almost elegant voice, this album is a great listen and one that won’t bore over time.

The themes explored in the lyrics are often about love and all that lark, which, being a man can be a bit much but at the same time you get the message. You don’t even need to listen to what she’s saying, just listen to the music and the voice. It’s heartwarming and fascinating.

The album opens subtly with ‘Horse and I’ and never really lets up in it’s underhanded means of evoking passion and calm. There are of course the obvious radio friendly tracks that do try to break the mould but they only succeed in making this album more enjoyable. From my post the other day, ‘What’s a Girl To Do’ and ‘Prescilla’, are these tracks. Really catchy tunes with great melodies and brilliantly executed percussion. Now I’m not saying the percussion here is the best ever, it’s far from it in terms of virtuosity, but it’s perfect for the music. You really don’t notice how good it is unless you listen for it.

The piano work is on a par with the percussion, again it’s not mind blowing, but it’s perfect. It sits right between the percussion and Khan’s beautiful voice. This is highlighted on tracks such as ‘The Wizard’ and within a beautiful string arrangement on ‘Bats Mouth’, perfectly executed songs.

The album ends on a strange note though, almost psychadelic. It’s mostly soft piano and vocals but has a period of messy, noisy, screeching guitars and excited vocals.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised with this album, not what I was expecting at all. A brilliant debut, calm, emotional and beautifully crafted. Can’t wait to see the live performance tomorrow night, almost wish I was going tonight!

Bat for Lashes are supporting Radiohead on their European tour. Dates and venues can be found here.

Hadn’t heard of these (her) until I heard she was supporting Radiohead on a few of their upcoming tour dates, Saturday in Malahide Castle will be reviewed. So I decide to check it out. Usually I’m disappointed with support bands. They’re generally there just to make to headliner look better but having listened to ‘What’s a Girl To Do’ and watched the video for it below, I’m very impressed. The video’s brilliant, you have to watch that. The music is sumptuous. Beautiful little melody over very simple music and beat. Very refreshing and calming sound. I will be seeking out a copy of her debut album ‘Fur and Gold’ and will post a review in the coming days.