With the time of year that’s in it I decided to base this month’s mixtape on all things Irish, even if I’ve borrowed from a Glaswegian band for the title ‘Paddywagonesque’. I’ve tried to stay away from the more obvious choices so here’s hoping you’ll find the gra for some bands from the Emerald Isle. Beannacht Lá Fhéile Pádraig!




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Want more? Listen to Smells Like Theme Spirit #1.

Given its status and its undoubted potential to lift a band’s profile far beyond their own fans it seems a bit odd that so few of the Irish acts appearing at SXSW have promo tracks floating around. So despite an exhaustive search I failed to locate anything by Fight Like Apes, Channel One or Iain Archer (or even short arse Paddy Casey for that matter). Very little green on the torrent (SXSW and band endorsed I hasten to add) doing the rounds containing over 700 tracks gathered from the deep recesses of the SXSW website. It is always an intriguing listen as the fare on offer contains a sweep of genres. One minute you’re basking in the cutesy vocals and lithe melodies of Cathy Davey’s ‘Reuben’, the next you are being subjected to a badly maintained field of Bluegrass. Sometimes you gotta work hard for your aural pleasures but when they come in the shape of Delorentos that gigabyte of dross you’ve just deleted is quickly forgotten about. Guinness is good for you, as is the knowledge that Dublin County Council saved €20K on the green dye they were going to spill into the River Liffey after a savvy civil servant surmised that last year’s dye was still doing the trick. KD

Cathy Davey - Reuben

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Delorentos - Stop

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Buy Songs: Delorentos

Some songs just hit you square between the ears immediately and ‘All The People Under The Sun’ is one of them (it reminded me of how I felt when I heard ‘The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth’ for the first time). Boasting an Arcade Fire-esque sense of adventure and all the emotions that those journeys entail it should be your gateway to discovering this fine act. The song is taken from AM Syndicate’s second album ‘Liberation’ which came out at the tail end of last year. From what I’ve heard so far the Austin 3-piece completely pour their heart into what they do and in the process throw up a fanciful spread of winning sonic tapestry's. The result is an album stuffed with future indie anthems and in vocalist Omar Chavez they have a star in the making. Take a peek at the video (link below) for ‘To the Peasants of the Emperor’ which not only includes some wonderful music but could also kick-start wools reinvention. This should ensure that the knitters of the world get on board quickly and the rest of us will surely follow in their wake. And just in case you were confused AM Syndicate sound equally well in the PM. KD

AM Syndicate - All The People Under The Sun

Watch The Video For To The Peasants of The Emperor

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Buy Songs: AM Syndicate
Year: 2007

Throw the bodhran into the lake, fling the tin whistle down the deepest ravine, puncture the nearest uilleann pipes for today is the day to announce a new act from Ireland with the bleeps rather than the sheeps on his mind. Phil Porter is the man behind the mask and Weakling & King is the end product from his moonlighting activities away from the day job with Dry County. I have been playing his ‘Is Dead’ album all weekend and I have fallen badly for its indie-electro charms. Porter may not be truly blessed in the vocal department but he is a master at the looped synth line. So much so in fact that ‘Fuel The Flame’ has to be best dance-indie crossover I’ve heard since Paris Angel’s utterly dreamy ‘Perfume (All On You)’ from a long time ago. Weakling & King also has a neat ear for reworking classics so if you’d like to hear Nilsson’s ‘Everybody’s Talkin’ or Louis Armstrong’s ‘What a Wonderful World’ operating out of a completely different temple of sound then ‘Is Dead’ is for you. This is wonderful stuff and wonderfully free. Better be lightning quick though because this kid is going places. KD

Weakling & King - Fuel The Flame

Weakling & King - Lightning Quick

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Buy Songs: No Need
Year: 2008

Some context first and then perhaps the realisation that for once we have a song that goes way beyond the usual soporific themes. Add in the fact that half of the profits from the Oaks ‘Our Fathers’ CD goes to the Afghan Widows fund and you begin to realise that this is a Florida band that has ventured beyond what is put in front of them. The music for its part is just as thoughtful; in fact the alluring ramble of ‘Masood’ provides a soothing backdrop for whatever occasion you find yourself in. Ryan Costello’s soft vocals are grounded in a similar style to that of Midlake’s Tim Smith, 70’s MOR, but it still offers a fascinating foil to the cascading music. The Oaks proves that music with lots of heart doesn’t necessarily have to sacrifice its soul. KD

The Oaks - Masood

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Year: 2007

Streaming, much like renting, serves a purpose up to a point (I have 3 on this site alone!) but ultimately gets you nowhere. Before the advent of the internet music fans would have killed for a device that allowed them to pick and choose what they could listen to. I can recall the NME website offering up various streams of hot new tracks from their website in the mid-nineties and it all seemed so magical. But this is 2008 and the landscape has changed dramatically. Free downloads are ubiquitous and given the choice between owning a song to listen to at your leisure or playing it via a wonky web player most would chose the former. Kids today are impatient and spoilt for choice when it comes to music and when this is twinned with rapid fire broadband streaming is viewed as yesterday's innovation. Media pages laden with streaming tunes as opposed to mp3 freebies could soon become the stuff of irritation and hinder a band's chances of acquiring new fans. KD

Would you like to rant and deck something/someone, get in touch and release the pressure. The best flights of fancy will be published here.

Funny, in the wake of that somewhat lightweight rant against Radiohead, that I am this morning lost in a world as created by Berliner Apparat. For without the Oxford lads I am convinced there would not have been an Apparat that sounded like this. Sascha Ring may still be able to orchestrate a sense of rave at his live shows but on record his music is introspective and challenging. His vocals are undeniably Thom Yorke in nature as are the electronic landscapes that accompany them yet despite the comparisons songs like ‘Arcadia’ engage as if they are the only tune in the room. ‘Arcadia’ can be found on Apparat’s 4th album ‘Walls’ came out last year. KD

Apparat - Arcadia

Watch The Video To Wooden

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Year: 2007

This is the European wing of the small group of bands that call themselves the April Skies. The Jesus & Mary Chain may have been the inspiration but this quartet from Bergen never threaten to emulate the white noise for which the Reid brothers have become synonymous. Instead they strain elements of their near neighbours Cats on Fire and slowly bake them with the jangliest of C86 moments. The union is particularly tasty as you’ll see from the April Skies bag of precious indie pop belters. ‘Rise & Rise Again’ should become the hallowed template for eager new bands hoping to push the twee pop envelope. Just bask in the energetic chord chime and Alexander Unhjem's dextrous word streams. The April Skies aren’t holding back in getting their music out there and if you look carefully you can, without too much expense, be the proud owner of their complete back catalogue. KD

The April Skies - Rise & Rise Again

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Buy Songs: The April Skies
Year: 2005

I don’t know about you but I have finally become completely bored with Radiohead. Bored with the endless drivel being spoken about their innovative distribution methods, bored with Thom’s increased airbagging about Earth’s demise (the latest being their withdrawal from this year’s Glastonbury due to the lack of public transport to the venue, goddamn tube is being shown up for its shortcomings again) and most disturbingly bored with their musical output (is it just me or is ‘In Rainbows’ an absolute snoozefest?). Radiohead were for so long untouchable, but at the current rate of progress they could soon become the new R.E.M. KD

Batten down the hatches cause you’ll soon be listening to the contemporary sound of an air raid siren. In its wake will be the ferocious noise of dropping bombs but instead of dispensing lethal carnage these bombs contain the ingredients that could yet herald the UK’s most promising new band. Ritzy, Rhydian and Justin are hot off the press (forming less than a year ago) and much like that other hotly tipped act the Ting Tings they have yet to release a record (slight dramatic licence). The Joy Formidable are particularly well named because their music is infected with such an irresistable joie-de-vivre. Steve Lamacq has been going ga-ga for ‘Austere’ and it is easy to see why when you clasp ears on guitars going at it at full throttle. I prefer ‘When The Flies’ which supports more ideas than Einstein during a particularly lucid brainstorming session. Voices spring from hidden spaces; guitar chords are stretched and bent to within an inch of their life and a hallucinogenic bass line hovers menacingly just out of reach. Joyful and triumphant. KD

The Joy Formidable - Austere

The Joy Formidable - While The Flies

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Buy Songs: Soon
Year: 2008

Thems a good band, thems are. Oh sorry, forgot I’d been to school for a few years. The M’s are from Chicago and did what most respectable indie bands were doing in the early/mid section of this decade by having a tune on an episode of the OC. It’ll be interesting to see how rock history will treat such an achievement, perhaps it will be written with dollops of snark. The M’s have a neat view of the world, a world where the Kinks were the only band that mattered. ‘Future Women’ is a dedicated follower yet still sounds utterly fresh and contemporary. It may lose some of its wonder towards the finish but at that stage your pop receiving nodes should be more or less sated. The M’s third movement will be with us later this year or whenever that new series of Grey’s Anatomy gets aired. KD

The M's - Future Women

Watch The Video To Mansion In The Valley

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Buy Songs: The M's
Year: 2006

You gotta love this Swedish band Second-Hand Furniture, as much for their music as their carefree nature. On recording their debut EP in 2003 they promptly gave all 100 copies of it away free to indiepop-lovers. Needless to say Second-Hand Furniture’s time together was over in the blink of an eye but not before they recorded another EP and several unreleased tracks. The good news is that hip Peruvian label Plastilina Records have gathered all the recordings together on one retrospective ‘Game, Set, Match…’. That’s where you’ll find the twee pop glory of ‘Nice Try Sunshine’. With appropriately lo-fi production it nonetheless highlights the quirky cool of singer Miralda Madar Johansson. A voice like that is always going to grab the attention and the fact that it’s backed up by a coterie of ramshackle instrumentation makes it all the more endearing. KD

Second-Hand Furniture - Nice Try Sunshine

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Buy Songs: Second-Hand Furniture
Year: 2003

Around Christmas time Detroit band the Silent Years announced that they were giving their eponymous debut album away for free. The gesture came with a nice touch as there was no guilt promoting tip jars to be seen in the general area as you snapped up the freebie. So what would push a generously gifted young band into giving their goods away for free? Well they probably listened closely to that wise new proverb that said ‘it’s better that lots of people get to hear your music gratis rather than a few who pay for it’. If such a policy was adopted by newbies everywhere they would be giving themselves the best opportunity to be heard. Ok, they won’t become flush overnight from record sales but what price can you put on a hoard of eager new fans? ‘Someone To Keep Us Warm’ displays what the Silent Years are capable of and is one of 12 reasons why their sophomore is eagerly anticipated. KD

The Silent Years - Someone To Keep Us Warm

Watch The Video

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Year: 2006

Headlights have been here before, most recently with their contribution to Christmas 2007. The latest appearance brings with it the first fruits from their new album ‘Some Racing, Some Stopping’ which was recorded entirely in a farmhouse in rural Illinois. And the change of location seems to have worked wonders, as you’ll see for yourself on first single ‘Cherry Tulips’. This is something that you’d expect from a bespeckled group of Swedish sorts such is its grasp on freewheeling pop arrangements. Lead singer Erin Fein is in particularly inspiring form as she gracefully glides over the dainty music with the skilled acumen of a Phil Spector starlet. Headlights play several dates at the SXSW music fest over the next week, so you can expect their stock to rise miraculously in its aftermath. KD

Headlights - Cherry Tulips

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Year: 2008

Sunday evenings, don’t you just hate them? I do and get grumpy if I have to chew too intensely on a piece of music. As the weekend crashes to earth around you it really should be soundtracked by an accessible slice of jollity. And this Sunday PM Belfast’s Watercress will do just fine. This is a band that superseded the Spinto Band by about a decade in their mischievous use of the mandolin in a pop song. ‘Candlemaker’ was their biggest success when released as a single in 1996 and demonstrated the chaos that occurred when the foursome picked up their vast array of instruments. You can also pick up on Dan Donnelly’s strong Northern accent, which is a refreshingly honest approach given the homogenous approach taken by many of today’s acts. Sadly there is little or no information to be had about Watercress on the net as their website has long since become occupied by the scavengers. Ah well, good to see they still have the wherewithal to cure the Sunday evening blues with their pithy singalongs. KD

Watercress - Candlemaker

Watch The Video

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Year: 1996

I adore post-rock but the sudden noisy bits sometimes have an unstabling effect on my senses. I’ll give you an example, Explosions In The Sky’s otherwise shimmering ‘Yasmin The Light’ harbours a shocking bolt of white noise that never fails to have me jumping from the comfort of my armchair. Once expelled the tune resorts to type and chimes ever so prettily like all good EITS’s tunes do. Codes In The Clouds’ ‘Fractures’ (a b-side from their ‘Distant Street Lights’ single of last year) has similar ambitions but thankfully the loud moments won’t necessarily lead to hearing loss and seeing as they are from Kent they probably have more than enough space to let rip. It all starts out so chimingly, chords are tinkled delicately while a hit-hat is gently brushed which to all intensive purposes means we are witnessing that tried and trusted post-rock calm-before-the-storm trap. And when it arrives the storm is as electric as you wished it would be. The band put it best by admitting that they ‘like making pretty music that can explode at any second’. KD

Codes In The Clouds - Fractures

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Buy Songs: Codes In The Clouds
Year: 2007

For about 6 seconds there is complete silence, at which point ‘Amser’ gracefully jumps from the speakers. You’ll hear Nick Drake in the vocals, the svelt finger pickin’ and the lush instrumentation but this is no lost classic (a future one perhaps) it is the work of Cardiff singer Gareth Bonello. The remarkable thing is that Bonello as the Gentle Good remains unsigned and his only recorded output to date has been an EP from around 2005. Things seems to be progressing well on the debut album stakes but surely there must be a savvy label out there willing to push such high quality material. With heart wrenching songs like ‘Amser’ it would be a tragedy if Gentle was to pass unnoticed into that Good night. KD

The Gentle Good - Amser

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Buy Songs: The Gentle Good
Year: 2007

Ah, that was nice, 48 hours in a completely www free environment is the cleanest way to refresh a blogger's appetite. Not that I was completely divorced from new music, I took a couple minutes out every now and then to get down with the Notwist’s new song ‘Good Times’. I am a relative newcomer to the German quartet (‘Neon Golden’ to be precise, 5 albums in) and if ‘Good Times’ is anything to go by upcoming album ‘The Devil, You + Me’ should see them move away from their electro leanings and back to their guitar indebted origins (they recorded the album with some help from the Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra so I’m probably way off the mark here). Either way this is a pretty excellent taster for what lies ahead. The Notwist are adept at squeezing interesting sonic patterns from somewhat overused resources, so where ‘Good Lies’ should fall on its arse through repetitive chord changes and minimal lyrics it instead accompanies the listener on an intriguing journey where around every corner lays enough thrills to keep the pulse racing. This is a rare quality so make sure your bookmark this band for further inspection. KD

The Notwist - Good Lies

Watch The Video To Pick Up The Phone

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Buy Songs: The Notwist
Year: 2008

Not sure if it still holds true now but from memory the worst insult that you could get from a girl you fancied was for her to label you ‘nice’. Nice being as safe and downright dull a description that could possibly be ever hoisted on a young buck looking for a peck on the cheek. Hearing those 4 letters and your name together in one sentence more often than not meant that the writing was on the wall and love was inevitably not going to be in the air. So how come then that the only word that spins round my head when I hear ‘Aculiplantar Dude’ starts with an n and ends with e. The 1990s are not to be confused (believe me I was) with their Glaswegian namesakes, for one thing they have at least 4 more members and come from the less windy environs of Chicago (!). Their debut ‘Cold & Kind’ is flush with airy numbers like ‘Aculiplantar Dude’, who cares if nobody understands what they are singing about when lush harmonies populate the environment like pollen on the hottest day in summer. Sometimes I guess it’s nice to be nice. KD

The 1900s - Aculiplantar Dude

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Buy Songs: The 1990s
Year: 2007

For some reason the immaculately turned out third outing from Brooklyn’s Oxford Collapse failed to make the impression the songs it carried deserved. It’s hard to reason why because ‘Remember The Night Parties’ flourished where so many have failed. In peering back to a time when guitars sparkled with shiny ambition your commoner gardener outfit can often get lost in recreating that retro feeling. But Oxford Collapse succeed in sounding familiar without ever losing their own voice which incidentally comes via Michael Pace and Adam Rizer. ‘Let’s Vanish’ is awash with shimmering chords and a bass line that the Ned’s would have been proud to call their own. Oxford Collapse’s time could yet come and with a new album scheduled for release this August it may be sooner rather than later. KD

Oxford Collapse - Let's Vanish

Watch The Video To Please Visit Your National Parks

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Buy Songs: Oxford Collapse
Year: 2006